Luckily, Andrei managed to defeat another opponent with a knockout, he got up to the bleachers to rest and watch another match again.

Despite his desperate attempt to flee, he couldn't ignore those who were giving their all to fight, he admired and respected those feelings, he couldn't let himself trample upon the pa.s.sion of those knights, even if it meant that at some point he might even get defeated, as someone who's in the compet.i.tion, even if forced, needs to face them and fight them with everything he has.

"I really did not think that I could win against those who trained with all their life, is it the difference of techniques? Or a.n.a.lysis of the battle?" Andrei sighed and looked at the arena two fighters have already started fighting.

"Ohhh so it's Gerald's turn huh, if he wins this we might even get to fight at the finals... not that I want to win though," he thought, but while watching, he was enraged by what he saw.

His opponent was a grunt-like knight wielding a wooden greatsword with him, while Gerald, uses a halberd. Gerald was on the losing side, with the ruthless slashes of the greatsword, he could barely manage to evade, they both had speed, but the grunt has more strength for some reason.

But it's not what Andrei was enraged about,

[Clang]

[Clang]

"What the h.e.l.l is that sound?" The sound was different when the grunt's greatsword hit Gerald's wooden halberd, when he saw the wooden sword the knight was holding it resembled a wooden sword, but Andrei could quickly determine what is it.

"What kind of material is that? It could be seen as light as a wooden sword, but if painted properly could really imitate a wooden sword?"

Andrei gritted his teeth at how low the sc.u.m could get. He wasn't able to hold it and screamed at the referee.

"Stop the match! It's not a fair match!"

However, the old man was didn't notice, "Tch, he must be too focused on the match," Andrei thought as he tries to find another way, the greatsword gave off a s.h.i.+ne when it got hit by the light, there's no way he couldn't discern the difference.

He saw Gerald barely holding his ground, the blows caused the wooden halberd to shake. "d.a.m.n! He's using his build as a cover, to conceal the capability of the weapon, he could fake Gerald is in trouble because of his build, but in reality, it's not the case!"

"Just stay there and be a stepping stone for me to get into the Golden ranks you s.h.i.+tty little knight, I know you've been doing this test every year HAHAHA! You don't even have a useful talent, your hard work is meaningless against me! Hahaha, you're weak! You're weak!" The grunt said almost throwing off his saliva everywhere while dealing blows to Gerald, who fended them off with the halberd skillfully despite its weight, however all he could do was just to defend.

"It seems like he's provoking him to attack" Andrei knew what the purpose of those words for, it was to force his opponent to make a mistake by giving in to their emotions, this angered him more, he couldn't forgive those who prey on the weak, especially on the weak that works hard to get stronger.

Gerald who received such insults about his hard work being outdone by the grunt made him bit his lip, he started to become filled with anger that he started attacking. However, this was the moment, grunt was waiting for, he lets out a smile and deflects the halberd thrust at him, with the sword's durability, it was no problem for him.

In a flash Gerald was at the ground, but this wasn't the end, the grunt hit the collapsed Gerald until his helmet was taken off.

When this happened strands of brown hair fell down to the ground, this time Andrei could see his face and hair completely and realized that, "Gerald's a girl?!!" although he looked like a man inside his helmet because of her bangs and way of speaking, Gerald, rather Geraldine was a female.

Andrei looked around, but no one was surprised, "Perhaps they already knew the about her true gender, and still didn't help her?" Andrei knew how deeply the knights cared for their honour, however, this didn't sit well with him, "if only she had been beaten up in an equal fight I wouldn't be bothered this much."

?????? ??? ?????

"That wooden sword, it's not normal, it's many times heavier than what I expected, I'm sure I checked the details of all weapons available before going here, d.a.m.n I can't deflect it, my arms and sides are hurting just from receiving these blows" Geraldine scowled in pain, while skillfully deflecting the blows.

She didn't have any means to counter, "I might as well give up, but no… I have to prove to father, that I have chosen the right path as a knight, I will rise in the ranks of the gold, no matter what it takes" She waited for a timing to counter while deflecting the blows with all her strength, however the grunt provoked her by saying the things she hated the most to hear, with this she lost her cool went into the offensive prematurely.

"You moron, take that back!" she hurriedly opened up her defenses and switched into a thrusting stance, "Take this!" she thrust the halberd and it hit the grunts sword, but it was what she was waiting for, next she rotated the tip of the halberd hoping to unarm the grunt, however it seemed futile.

"This is impossible, why couldn't I… it's stuck? Why? Why the h.e.l.l?" Before she could figure out what happened the large s.h.i.+eld that the grunt was holding hit her so hard the she fell to the ground, she coughed blood out as it hit her stomach, she couldn't get herself to stand.

The grunt went over to the suffering knight and hit her with unending heavy blows.

"Hahahaha, that's it, that's it! Surrender or I won't stop you know? It's the "rule" after all, hahahahahah!"

The grunt keep on hitting the knight everywhere, until Gerald decided to end give up, "I give-" however she wasn't able to complete her words, as another blow landed on her face just under her jaw when she tried to speak.

"Huhhh?????? I can't hear you??? What did you say??" Clearly the grunt didn't have the intention of making her give-up, it gave him joy as he was. .h.i.tting the knight on the ground.

More and more blows. .h.i.t her, but she gathered all her spirit to try and speak again, "I giv-" but another blow hit her head and made the helmet fly that made her hair scatter on the ground.

"What is the referee doing? It hurts… it hurts… someone, please stop this, I can't… not anymore" she groaned in pain. On her past fights she flawlessly knocked her opponents out and allowed them to give up, however, she was treated the opposite.

"Hahaha, you should quit being a knight and just serve me with your body woman, I might even consider making you my concubine," the grunt just mocked her and deal her as many blow as he could, enough to make her split blood again and again.

The match couldn't be stopped until the one has been knocked out or have surrendered, however, Gerald was still conscious, and she couldn't surrender, and the blows wouldn't let her pa.s.s out.

"Someone, help me… someone" she was losing consciousness when suddenly the blows stopped, she could see a blurry image of a man standing up in front of her.

"Is it the referee? No, he's wearing the same armor as mine," she crawled to the edge of the arena and medics put her in the stretcher. She looked at the side and her vision became clearer, she saw a knight with the same armor as her, wielding two wooden swords, standing in front of the grunt unfazed by the grunts body.