"Surrender?" Victor asked, as if making sure he heard correctly.
"I still have my spike while your star is gone. I won't give you time to cast another, so surrender."
"Hah… Hahaha…" Victor chuckled, the sound growing louder until it became hysterical laughter.
"HAHAHA! YOU THINK I NEED SPELLS TO BEAT YOU?!"
Intense heat began to radiate off Victor without any sort of spell. The ground beneath him heated up, melting and sinking.
Without hesitation, Sol launched his dense spike towards Victor. In response, Victor punched at the incoming spike. The punch itself had no finesse or technique behind it, just one single emotion, rage.
An intense blast of fire shot out of his hand, meeting the spike with such heat that the ground beneath the trail it left also melted. The spike, taking the full brunt of the flames, resisted for only a moment before it began to melt. Sol did his best to push it through the fire while preventing it from fully melting with [Terra Manipulation], but the flames were too powerful.
Sol's earth spike, which he had been stealthily condensing throughout the entire fight, was rendered a useless pile of molten lava in seconds.
"IT WAS OVER THE MOMENT YOU GOT ME PISSED!"
Victor's rage fed the fires, causing them to grow larger and wilder, spreading throughout the arena in all directions. Sol was still able to endure the flames, but only because they weren't targeting him, instead uncontrollably burning everything in the surroundings.
This was completely out of Sol's expectations. 'His rage makes the fires stronger?! How is that even possible?!'
Sol backed up to the edge of the arena, watching Victor's body release flames in all directions, some even hitting the barrier and causing cracks.
Seeing the cracks on the barrier, Sol realized this was getting way out of hand. "Okay, I surrender! You can calm down now!"
"YOU FUCKING CALM DOWN! FUCKING B-RANK TWAT TELLING ME WHAT TO DO!"
Victor always had a bad temper. Once he got mad, it was very hard for him to calm down, and it became even worse when he became A-Rank. Because he was forced to bottle up his anger to prevent his surroundings from catching on fire, it only made those moments when he let his anger loose much worse.
"I'M SICK OF YOU AND THIS STUPID TOURNAMENT AND EVERYTHING!"
His anger wasn't solely directed at Sol but everything he had been bottling up inside since his last outburst. This saved Sol, as it meant the fires weren't directed at him, and he just had to focus on dodging the stray flames that came near him.
"YOU'RE STILL ALIVE?! FUCKING HOW?! THIS IS ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!"
'Oh no.'
Sol's luck was short-lived as Victor, in his rage, noticed that he was still alive throughout his tantrum. The once directionless fires had a target as they all headed towards him with the intent to reduce him to ashes.
With no other option, Sol was prepared to use [Polychromatism]. It was his strongest ability, and utilizing the green's power, he hoped it would be enough to shield him from the flames.
Just as Sol was about to summon the hands, the fires suddenly dispersed. What were unstoppable flames were suddenly extinguished as a figure stood where they once rampaged.
"Commander Zaman?"
Sol saw the Commander of the Royal Knights standing in the middle of the arena, dispersing the fires that had been released from Victor with his halberd. With a swing, it would easily cut through the flames and cut them off from their source of power, which was Victor. Without any rage or mana feeding the flames, they quickly died out.
With an authoritative tone, Zaman spoke, "Stop."
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
Flames emerged once more, but this time heading towards Zaman. With his halberd in hand, he walked through the flames, slashing with extreme precision and destroying all the raging flames until he reached Victor.
BONK!
With the butt of the halberd, Zaman hit Victor in the head, sending him headfirst to the ground. Though this made Victor more livid, it also worked as a wake-up call, reminding him that he had lost control of himself. He knew if he didn't compose himself, it wouldn't just end with a single bonk on the head. He clearly felt the difference between him and Zaman. While on the ground, he steadied his breathing and did his best to calm his thoughts, eventually lowering the temperature around him back to normal.
Once he regained control of his emotions, Victor stood back up and faced the Commander. With the situation now safe, Zaman called for the barrier to be deactivated and announced the end of the tournament.
"Victor is disqualified from this tournament and from joining the Royal Knights. Sol wins by default."
"What?!" Though he had just managed to calm his temper, it almost accidentally unleashed itself once more. Knowing he stood no chance against the man in front of him, he once again stifled his rage and asked, "Why? I won!"
"When I entered the barrier, I heard Sol clearly surrender, and you continued with your temper tantrum. Not only that, you also lost control of your technique and let it loose upon everything around you. If not for the barrier in place, you would have killed many in the audience. We have no need for someone as careless as yourself in our organization."
Sol raised an eyebrow. 'So he was inside the barrier for a while? Why did he wait until I almost died to intervene?'
The Commander had snuck inside the moment the barrier was erected, but he silently waited for the perfect time to intervene. There were two reasons for doing so. The first was to see how far Sol was able to go against someone of a higher rank who went all out. The second was to let Victor's rage ruin whatever plan he had when he joined the tournament. It was a golden opportunity to not only discredit him but also justify kicking him out of the Royal Knights. Thanks to the warning he received from Orion, he knew it would be best to get rid of Victor on his own terms.
Victor was humiliated and shamed in front of the entire colosseum. While he wanted to protest, he knew it was over. It was never his intention to even endanger the people; he was doing this all for them in the first place.
He no longer spoke. Arguing would dig him deeper, and it was clear to him the plan had failed. His only option left was to turn around and walk away, trying to maintain whatever was left of his dignity.
Once the hot-headed Victor was gone, Zaman went back to his seat, letting Oeser wrap up the tournament himself.
Still stunned by the events that had taken place, Oeser tried his best to continue like normal.
"Umm… Well folks! That sure was something! After such an incredible fight, we have our winner! Give it up for Sol! The winner of the 487th annual knight selection tournament!"