Many possibilities came to Allen's head as he tried to guess the identity of this attacker. He was hidden, just like Allen. Allen was facing this type of information for the first time, by using the skill in the game. The other opponent could have this ability in real-life too, not to mention that he understood what was the source of his agitation when he brutally lost the fight before too.
Allen said to himself, "So whatever this thing is, it manipulated my thoughts to control my emotions before. This may be, no. It probably is the same thing that is trying to attack right now, too. These things, whatever they are, need to be sufficiently taken care of. Before that, I need to what it is"
Allen wrote some more comments and included the suggestion to not listen to the other voice, but he could see that the man was confused now about what he was saying to himself.
He said, "What are you saying to yourself now. Haven't you decided you should get out of depression first and that's why you are no longer thinking about other things now? Have I gone so severely in depression that I don't know what is happening to me anymore"
Allen saw he was negatively reinforcing himself because he failed to interpret the situation now. The enemy had already exited the battlefield. It was just him and this victim now. He was just a fish waiting for slaughter on the slaughter board. Allen used emotional language so much that the man cried a lot. He cried for a few mins and only then calmed down. After the man had calmed down, Allen could see that he was outside in the arena, probably kicked from whatever that place was.
Allen didn't know what the opponent would do now, so he prepared himself for the combat. The man moved towards him, but the man suddenly threw away his weapon, which left him vulnerable. This also left Allen vulnerable. Allen was suddenly faced with the man who leaped and just grabbed him. Allen panicked but then calmed down, feeling that he was just seeking support for some time and had no more plans to attack anymore, probably.
The audience was a little baffled by this turn of events. They had expected some prolonged fight in which both of them would get exhausted and stamina would determine who was the winner, but now….
One of them said "Hey what's going on. If the fight stops, how am I going to sell the remaining food items. At least fight until then"
Allen could listen to some comments like this from the crowd. He choose to respond with silence instead. No point getting angry here. This may disturb the person next to him, too.
Soon the man calmed down and then he declared his surrender, and he disappeared.
Soon Allen got the message that the third one had also returned, and he was in a stable condition. Other than a little physical incapability due to not having walked for more than a day, he was fine mentally, and there was no further problem.
Allen shook his head a little at that message. He said," It is good that he is fine. But….that's why he is going to be bombarded with questions soon by everyone who can get his hands on him…I just hope that they let him take some rest before that. "
Allen said to the system.
"So, mission accomplished now?"
Allen said to the system that was also serving as a host to this little tournament of theirs. The system was silent for a little time and then said" Because of the overwhelming number of audience complaints and the weird behavior of the opponent, the system deems this match….invalid"
Allen looked at what this thing was telling him and could not hold back his complaints. He said, "So, what more do you want to do? Break the rules?"
The system actually showed him that what it was doing was within the rules. Allen didn't read this rules thing carefully precisely because these rules filled in there. What does it even mean that a match is invalid if the audience does not like it….it was not being done for entertainment….actually the rule itself said that they should give the entertainment of the audience priority…
Allen said," So, what do you want me to do now? There is no other opponent left if I remember right."
The system said," There is no need to worry about with the outstanding system still present here. You may leave the arena for now. The next match will be scheduled with someone else…and it would be the last match."
The system sent him a message again.
NOTE; Kindly respond to the arena invite when it comes within 24 hours of its arrival.
Allen thought 'You look too exceptional to me though. Too good that I don't want you'
Allen just left the game there, without responding to what the audience was saying.
Allen left the game, but the audience was still in a craze and that did not completely die down even after some time had passed them by. After all, now they had the opportunity to watch another action-packed match after a little while,
One of them said to his friend "I am dying with anticipation man, wish it would start already."
The other said, "Don't be too impatient. I also want to see the match. The genuine joy, however, is to expect in excitement"
When Allen returned, he could see that all the other three pods were empty now. He felt thankful a lot. First, he never realized that something like that could happen. It was a load away from him with this situation dealt with. There was already a lot of stress on the families. It was not right for them to have to handle anymore.
Allen pondered on the situation, and soon the commander came to him and patted his shoulders heavily. Allen felt a lot of pain because the commander did not take his strength into account because of the excitement at the good news. He said.
"Whatever you did in the game, you did well. All of them are getting rehabilitated, and they all test okay. They will choose whether or not they want to continue later.
There is a thing related to that. I wanted to ask you something. Were you able to identify the cause? Or even better if you were able to remove it once and for all"
Allen found it normal that he would ask for that. He also had to plan for the future and explain what happened in the game to cause this, to other military men and family members too.
Allen said, "I definitely wasn't able to remove it. It was even difficult to identify it-"
The commander interrupted. He said," So you know what causes it now?"
Allen said,"- Actually, it is only fifty fifty. I only know some things. It would be better though that you give me some time to organize the game events and take some rest before that."
The commander easily let him go. Sam was casual with him, unlike the other commanders would have been, that's why he took responsibility for him.
Sam said, "Okay, you are free to go. This is a really great service that you have done. You can't imagine how much this helped me.
But, now you need to discuss the details clearly with me before you take any action in the game. You understand the reason, right? Am I right or wrong, tell me."