Once Sol was free from the gaze of the public, he looked around the colosseum in search of Lapis. After asking a few employees, he found her just as she was leaving the colosseum.
"Wait!"
She turned around as she heard him call out to her. He could tell she wasn't in a great mood, but it didn't feel like it was directed towards him, more towards herself.
"What is it?"
"Why did you surrender?"
"Because I lost."
"I get that, but you had another chance. Didn't you want to win?"
"I did."
Sol felt like he was running in circles. "Then why?"
Lapis didn't immediately respond as silence surrounded them for a few seconds. She then gave a deep sigh.
"I came prepared for your water magic and, more importantly, your earth skills. If we fought again, there was a chance I could have won, but even if we did, I already lost to you in another way. If I was in your place, I would have used [Frost Touch] to my advantage, even if it was unfair. I can tell how much you want to win, and yet you chose to risk your guaranteed victory just to give me a fair chance. I may have been able to win physically, but I lost to you mentally. You gave me a lot to think about. See ya, I'll be rooting for you."
Lapis spun around and began walking away once more but paused to say one final thing.
"Oh, and you may have won this time, but next time, I'll wipe the floor with you."
Sol chuckled. "Sure, you can even go all out. Just let me know where and when."
He was also curious if he could win against her with just his fake status page. Obviously, if he truly went all out, it would result in a similar ending, but what he actually wanted to see was how he fared against her poison without the help of the Immunizing Belt.
With Lapis now gone, Sol went back to his waiting room to pick up Nataly.
"Welcome back! What happened with Lapis? Tell. Me. Everything."
The moment Sol returned to his waiting room, he was immediately interrogated by Nataly. She saw what happened in the arena, but she knew that Sol would go after her.
"Nothing much. She wants a rematch later."
"I don't buy it! Spill it!"
Sol didn't really want to go into detail about his short discussion with Lapis because it felt a little too personal to share. He still didn't understand how his actions made her rethink her own actions.
'I only did it because the rules were unfair to her. If it was anyone else or in a real fight, I would have continued all the same. Maybe it has to do with the earned part...'
He could only assume Lapis did or was achieving something, but not in the way she felt was earned properly. Regardless, it wasn't his matter to pry into, so he didn't ask her to elaborate.
Nataly was still begging as he was deep in his thoughts. "Pleeeeeease. I gotta know!"
"Why do you even want to know? You don't even know her."
She looked at Sol, insulted that he asked such an obvious question. "Why?! Because of the drama! C'mon, spill the tea!"
Nataly continued to pester Sol, but he didn't budge an inch.
"Forget it, Nataly. Let's go back to the headquarters."
"Ugh, fine, Captain."
"I'm not your captain."
"Not yet! Getting used to calling you that before it becomes official."
"Please don't."
The two left the colosseum and split up to their respective rooms. Once in his room, Sol wondered how he would fare against Victor once more.
'The status page doesn't give me much to work with, and no one has been able to push him far enough to even use his own mana. I wouldn't be surprised if he was A-Rank with what he has shown, so assuming he is, how am I supposed to even win?'
This question still plagued him as, even with his training yesterday, he couldn't confidently say he could win against an A-Ranker.
'There might be one way... but I'll only get one shot at it.'
Even with his self imposed limitations, Sol felt he had a real shot at winning if he played his cards right.
Not wanting to waste any time, Sol immediately went into action. He left the royal palace and made his way to Necropolis. On the way there, more than a few people recognized him.
"Isn't that Sol?"
"It is!"
A small crowd formed around him consisting of the spectators and fans he had garnered from the tournament. Though Sol was unaware of this when he left the arena chasing after Lapis, Oeser fabricated a convincing story of how his chivalrous actions moved her heart so much she could not stand in his way. This moved a lot of people, and he quickly became a fan favorite.
Though there were four competitors still in the running, the spectators had mostly rallied behind two of them. The first group were those amazed by Victor's absolute power and how nonchalantly he defeated his opponents in one move. The second group were those who rooted for Sol, either because of his sportsmanship or how he was portrayed as a true knight by Oeser.
"I'm sorry, everyone. I'm very busy; I need to get ready for tomorrow!"
Sol felt overwhelmed, not expecting to become such a popular figure that he would be surrounded by people. Not wanting to forcefully push them all away, he tried to reason with them, and only after a few guards intervened was he able to sneak away with the help of [Burrow].
Arriving at the entrance of Necropolis, Sol waved at the guards as usual and teleported to the 21st floor, which unsurprisingly wasn't empty. Amber was already there training and utilizing her sand skills in various ways.
"Hey, Amber! I have a few ideas I want to try out. Can we spar for a bit?"