The bell rang to officially announce the end of the battle a few minutes after Chris executed the three challengers. The crowd was still excited but not as excited as when the fighting ended.
The crowd began calming down and grew slightly silent after the bell rang, and when the spotlight moved to only focus on Dennis, who stood at the edge of the ring, leaning against the rope, the crowd quietened down in anticipation.
"What a battle! A round of applause for the champion of Cube, Chris."
The crowd happily obliged and gave Chris, who got a spotlight as well, a round of applause.
"Ahem…."
Dennis cleared his throat to get the crowd's attention again.
"I'm sure I won't be the only one who can leave happy and satisfied right at this moment."
A few shouts of agreement supported Dennis' statement.
"But this is the grand opening of the Cube battle arena. The premiere! What fun would it be if it ended so early?! The night has just begun!"
"'Yeah!'"
Dennis waited for the crowd to calm down before he continued speaking.
"It's a little embarrassing to admit it, but those three were the only challengers we had prepared in advance. However! For tonight, and this night only! Chris will accept any and all challenges. For free."
The crowd was understandably silent. Even if they didn't have to pay to fight Chris, who would want to willingly step on stage just to suffer the same fate as the previous three challengers?
"What? Is no one interested in the two-hundred-and-fifty bronze coin prize pool? Wait, did I forget to mention that? Silly me."
Dennis looked at the stunned crowd that was still trying to understand the concept of two-hundred-and-fifty bronze coins.
"Anyone who wants to challenge Chris will get the opportunity to win the entire prize pool without even having to pay a single dime! And here's the kicker, you don't even need to win! If you can endure five whole minutes of uninterrupted combat against Chris, those two hundred fifty coins will be yours!"
Those words finally managed to get the crowd to stir. But it wasn't enough to make anyone step forward.
"Oh, and in case you're worried about that, the Cube will cover any recovery expenses. Even if you die, you won't lose a thing!"
At that, several desperate fellows shot out of their seats. There was nothing to lose and everything to gain. Two hundred fifty bronze coins were enough to buy a nice house in Vanitapolis. But it was also enough to make someone as strong as Chris or maybe even stronger.
After paying protection fees during the day and losing what few coins they had left on betting, more than a few wanted to grasp this heaven-sent opportunity to rise from the bottom of the city to the top.
"Woah, woah! One at a time, fellas."
Dennis calmed down the new challengers, who could barely keep their shirts on as they rushed down the stands toward the ring.
"There's no need to rush. We'll decide on order by drawing lots."
The new bunch of challengers obediently but anxiously gathered in front of Dennis. What if someone managed to snag the prize pool before they could? They quickly decided on who would go first, who would come next, and so on.
The guy who 'won' first place cheered with a gloating face as he stepped onto the ring and crawled through the ropes.
Chris had gotten help from one of the clerks to clean some of the blood off of himself and just generally freshen up a bit. And the other clerks had cleaned the ring to get rid of the three bodies and as much of the blood as possible in the short amount of time they had.
The challenger looked at Chris with a greedy smile. Chris had already fought and came close to losing against the three challengers. If he just played his cards correctly, the new challenger could win two hundred fifty coins. He just had to endure five minutes. It was less than the time needed to take a dump. That much should be manageable, even if Chris was stronger than the average man and knew how to fight.
Besides, after being stuck in Hell for so long, most people knew the basics of fighting. So, the challenger was quite confident that he would actually be able to win, despite Chris recently having emerged victorious against three challengers who teamed up against him.
"Good work, Art."
"Thank you, sir."
Micah greeted Art, who had returned to the booth after relaying Micah's orders to Dennis and Chris, as well as taking care of guiding the clerks in the clean-up duties.
And with that, the first crowd challenge of the night began with the ringing of a bell that signaled the start of a five-minute counter.
The challenger held his guard up high, but he didn't approach Chris. He just carefully circled around the ring and kept Chris at a safe distance. Even if he knew how to fight, his aim was to win the prize pool, not the fight. So, he only wanted to stall for time.
Chris indulged the challenger for a little while and just stood calmly at the center of the ring. Chris stretched his body a little to loosen up the stiffness that had set in after his fight with the first three challengers. He then began taking light steps toward the current challenger while raising his fists.
The challenger gulped. It was a lot scarier facing the approaching Chris directly than it was to watch him beat the previous challengers up from a distance. But he didn't back down. This fight was his chance to turn his life around.
The challenger clenched his fists and jaws even tighter than before and prepared to face Chris.
'A minute should have passed by now, right?'
The challenger used his estimation of time to encourage himself to fight against Chris. Since he thought a minute had passed already, only four were left. He thought he could handle four minutes, even if it was in a fight against Chris.