"…"
Silence.
The crowd that once cheered like crazy turned silent.
The elders and the sect leader who came to watch the selection had wide eyes.
Stolz felt his scalp getting numb in fear while at the same time, he patted himself for not getting into that man's bad side.
Everyone looked towards the stage and sheer fear took over them.
The judge lost consciousness, the stage was turned into debris, walls were broken due to impact, and everything turned black as scorching flames were seen, burning as wildly as ever.
Ace left the stage and walked towards the participant's seats with an Imperial Aura surrounding him. Everywhere he goes, the other mages looked down, not daring to offend him, and who would?
The mage named Flink, who was considered relatively good amongst the new generation of mages, was lying on the stag-debris, unconscious. He no longer had that proud and arrogant demeanor. His clothes, burned. His body, scorched black. His face, beyond recognition.
Dead or Alive?
Dead.
"S-sect leader, h-he…" An elder spluttered.
"I don't know…" The sect leader replied with a grim look as he remembered the fig-one-sided-slaughter that happened in front of his eyes a few moments ago.
…
"Just conforming, it is fine until no one was heard surrendering or loses consciousness, right?" Ace turned towards the judge and questioned.
"Umm… Y-yes" The judge answered, a little shocked that the man completely ignored the provocations.
"That's good, I would love to see your expression when you surrender in fear!" Flink exclaimed with an evil smile.
*Cheers*
As for the crowd, they loved whatever was happening in front of them. For them, the more the drama, the more worth it the money they spent.
"Alright, commence!" The judge declared.
As soon as those words left the judge's mouth, Scorching flames covered the entire stage. The judge was knocked unconscious just from the impact as the crowd cheered in surprise.
Flink's eyes went as he saw flames surrounding the stage but didn't do anything to him, he then glanced at Ace who was covered with blazing flames.
"You spoke too much" Ace stated with cold, emotionless eyes that could invoke fear in anyone's mind and soul.
"I… I-I S-SURRENDER!
I SURRENDER!!" Flink roared but to his fear, no one did anything to stop the match. He looked around and realized that everyone acted like they didn't hear him.
Then he looked towards Ace who had a small smirk on his face.
"No one can hear you"
*Bam*
*Crack*
Ace informed while kicking him at the same time, Flink's body collided with the wall and the wall cracked.
*Cough*
Flink coughed blood before he looked at Ace, who was walking towards him slowly.
"I SURRENDER!"
"I SURRENDER!"
He roared but as Ace told, no one heard him.
Ace has already formed a layer of air all around the stadium.
The air, through which sound travels, was sealed, not allowing any sound to leave.
Ace walked towards Flink and kicked him again.
*Bam*
*Crack*
Flink's body collided with another wall, which similarly cracked due to the impact.
*Cough*
Flink coughed even more blood as he felt many of his bones breaking.
"I SURRENDER!"
He roared but no one heard.
He tried to summon water to at least have a chance of fighting back, but as the scorching flames surrounded him, the water evaporated as soon as it was summoned. Flink paled.
"Please… let me go…" He pleaded.
Ace didn't reply and kicked him again. His body clashed with another wall.
…
"Sect leader! Shouldn't we stop them?" an elder asked.
"How can we? It is against the rules" the sect leader replied.
"But he surrendered!"
"Did you hear that?" the sect leader questioned.
"…"
"According to rules, until no participant is 'heard' surrendering, or loses consciousness, the fight shall not be stopped" the Sect leader answered.
Everyone else turned silent but the elder who wanted to stop the fight refuted.
"But leader wouldn't the death of a mage in selection damage out sect's reputation?"
"Why would it? We were only following the rules laid by our ancestors"
"But…"
"We won't intervene, besides, I don't think offending him is a very wise move" The sect leader answered while pointing towards Ace.
"Yes, I am inclined to believe what sect leader says, we shouldn't offend him" Stolz nodded as he turned his gaze towards the stage.
…
"So, I won't be able to live for long?" Ace questioned calmly, as he was tired of kicking Flink like a ball.
"No… ARRGGGHH!" Flink screamed as the flames climbed on his right leg, burning his skin in as torturous way as possible.
"You want my Gracie to live in an orphanage?" Ace continued, at the same time, flames climbed on his left leg.
"AARRRGG!"
"And… you wanted to live with 'MY' Maeve?"
The flames climbed up to Flink's genitals slowly.
"NO! NO! N-AARRRGGGHHHHHHH!"
"You wanted to cripple me?"
"ARRGHHHHHH!!" The flames passed through his waist, burning Flink's core into cinders.
"You will take care of my Maeve? You? With your pathetic strength?"
"I SURRENDER! I SURRENDER! I SURRE-AAARRGHHHHH!" The flames continued and climbed on his both hands.
"AAARRGHH-" Flink continued to screech in pain as the flames engulfed his whole body, finally covering his face.
Ace saw the body burning with an expressionless look. The image of the burning body was being reflected in his eyes but he didn't even flinch.
The audience turned silent. They wanted a good drama, but what they witnessed was pure torture.
The other party didn't even have a chance to cast a single spell.
Even though they couldn't hear what was happening, they were pretty sure Flink pleaded for mercy till the end. Everyone felt a shiver down their spine when they imagined themselves in Flink's position.
…
"You didn't let my nightingale see anything, did you?" Ace questioned with a bright smile, completely different from what he was like before.
"Of course not" Maeve smile and extended Gracie towards Ace.
"Did you miss me?" Ace questioned playfully.
"Ehehe~" Gracie giggled as Ace rubbed her soft cheeks.
Ace held Gracie as she moved her limbs all over, giggling. While Maeve just smiled.
The other mage's eyes went wide as they weren't able to understand how someone can change so soon.
The one who was playing with a child had tortured a person seconds ago. This shocked them to the core.
But then they all decided to turn their gazes away, thinking that they might offend that monster somehow.
Many earth mages were called but it still took a while for the sect to fix the stage. Flink's body or more precisely, his remains was taken out.
30 minutes later, the selection continued.
Many mages fought, the crowd cheered and completely forgot what happened earlier. It was not like they had anything to do with Flink.
Sure, they pity the guy who died a horrible death, but that was it. No one cared any further, they were here to enjoy, and they were doing just that.
Even Gracie clapped and giggled with an excited look while Ace and Maeve smiled, they decided to show their daughter every competition that will happen in this city as she seems to enjoy them a lot.
The selection continued like normal, many challenged many, some lost, other won, but there was one identity number that no one dared to challenge.
1
Ace, nobody dared challenge Ace.
5 hours later, when Gracie was feeling a little sleepy and the competition was about to end, Ace stood up and jumped onto the stage.
"…" The crowd turned silent again.
Ace completely ignored the crowd and announced.
"I challenge number 2" He announced.
The mage with number 2 paled.
"I… I reject" He responded as he looked at Ace, trying to remember what he had done to offend him.
Ace didn't even look at the man and continued.
"I challenge number 3"
"I-I reject"
"I challenge number 4"
"Reject…"
"5"
"Reject"
6,7,8,9,10,11.
"Reject, we reject"
The crowd turned silent, but they expected this, the strength Ace has shown was even stronger than many elders, there was no way any other mage will fight against him.
Ace then turned towards the elders and sect master and spoke.
"With this, I get selected, but do you really think it is appropriate to have a disciple who is stronger than the elders of the sect?" Ace questioned.
The elders present inside has unsightly expressions but they couldn't refute it, they were in no way stronger than Ace.
The sect leader stood up and answered.
"I know that you are stronger than our elder but strength isn't the only thing required to become an elder. We need to know that the person is trustworthy and won't harm the sect"
"Do you really think I would need to use tricks to harm the sect? If I want, this sect will turn into ashes within minutes"
"Arrogant!" An elder roared.
Though he knew that he wasn't his match, the same couldn't be said for the sect leader.
Does he really dare to say that the sect will turn into ashes in front of the sect leader? Does he think that just because he defeated a single mage and is stronger than average, he can do whatever he wants?
The elder was enraged and was about to continue but the sect leader raised his hand.
He glanced towards the sect leader standing in front of him and noticed beads of sweat rolling on his forehead.