Chapter 339 339. ANOMALY
The battles continued to rage on for whole hours, some shorter than the others while many were lengthy. Noah gained a proper view of the individuals he would be fighting the next day, and many of them were far more spectacular than the man named Zar in the first fight.
Some fights were so one-sided he felt sad for the losers.
There were a few individuals he took note of due to how shocking their techniques had been seeing as they could rival his. At least because of the low level of proficiency he had attained.
But most of the said individuals were shockingly females, while a handful of them were men.
Soon his guild-mates were paired with others and as he expected experts of their caliber to perform, they won. However, it begged the question of what would occur if they were paired against each other.
They bore an oath that stopped them from hurting each other. He wondered how an outcome would play.
All in all, With each fight he watched, Noah gained confidence in his power and might. They would be enough to carry him far into the competition.
After watching the twentieth battle he got bored. Not because the battles were bad, but because he had longed for his turn so much that after hours of waiting, his excitement had drained him.
The number of individuals continued to dwindle and soon none of his guild-mates were within the auditorium.
Soon the thirtieth battle happened and by this point, he had begun to wonder whether the pairing was based on how early a person had registered. A grim expression appeared on his face at that thought knowing that if those considered for the matches were individuals that had filled in their names long before, then he would be part of the last batch.
However, if that wasn't so, then he could only continue to wait.
'What are the odds,' Noah asked in frustration watching the fortieth battle commence. Only about twenty individuals remained within the auditorium and all of them were already sitting, clearly as frustrated as he was.
The fight had been between two women, and the energy they poured into it was shocking, to say the least. At some point during their ten minutes battle, they turned the stage into a literal pile of rubble.
One was a hammer wielder, an oversized one. While the other utilized her bare fists, and surprisingly they were equally matched. But the bare-fisted fighter came out on top shockingly.
Her valiant figure stood bloodied as she continued to take heavy breaths, her chest rising and falling, stirring up desire in the hearts of some. She barely had any clothes on, as one of her boobs hung out; completely exposed to the eyes of all spectators, but she didn't seem to care enough and simply put on a cloak when she was done.
The female experts were no doubt the stars of the show. Not only in the amount of talent they displayed but how committed they were to winning, They reminded Noah of Elder Sarah. So he feared them.
A five-minute break had to be exercised to allow the staged repair itself after which the next pair were revealed on the screen. Noah still wasn't part.
Shock and wonder continued to fill his mind as he watched more and more battles commence, but he wasn't among them. It seemed the system that picked individuals had forgotten him, but he could only accept his fate.
That waiting was bound to happen to some people, he was only unfortunate to be part of them.
At that point, he had waited for a bit over eight hours and only two matches remained, but he noticed something strange.
"Why are there five of us," He frowned, and a bad feeling began to creep up his mind. Would he be that unlucky that day of all days?
The 48th battle ended and the next pair were picked, and Noah still wasn't part.
'Is there some kind of mix-up,' Noah wondered as his eyes fell on the other two. They too were as confused as he was. Weren't there supposed to be 100 people? A third person for the 50th pair would mean they were 101.
Then it dawned on Noah.
Lady Sarah had spoken about how the registration for the tournament would have ended the time they went to sign up, but she had gotten him a spot, but that had caused a problem. The number of individuals present wouldn't be even due to his addition.
Noah immediately feared he would be exempted and asked to leave, after all his presence caused everything. He was the anomaly not them.
A pensive expression quickly appeared on his face as the battle between the two men continued to draw closer to its finish. Their battle was mostly lighthearted and didn't feature too much violence even if both were still out to kill each other, weirdly.
One of the individuals was a lower-stage cultivator but he stood equally matched with the middle-stage man before him, at least in technique he was. The battle ended with the lower stage cultivator coming out victorious, but the young man had doubt on his face already.
He had seen the talent displayed by the 48 individuals that won before him, and although there were lower stage cultivators like him among, he couldn't help but doubt his prowess, and the struggle was all over his face as he was lead out of the stage to who knew where.
Noah suspected that they were being teleported, but outside of the screens range.
The last pairing began and Noah's anxiety shot through the roof. But the screen suddenly wet blank.
"I apologize to you all but there is an extra person amongst you, so the rules for the last battle would be different." The lady's voice sounded as the screen soon changed to display three names and three guild crests.
"You three will battle it out, but unfortunately we can only take one winner." She explained, and the expressions of all three individuals fell. Noah for the nth time that day, cursed his bad luck.