WINNERS OF THE INTER-CLASS COMPETITIONS

We carefully watched the match in silence, I and King Jason, and could see that both contestants we giving it their all. The king had said something about us both going up to give the results, and I'm not so sure that that was a good idea.

But back to the match, Flavo had just now realized that fighting Clive in close quarters wasn't his best option, so he had distanced himself away from him and was using ranged attacks now.

Clive was now the one finding himself in a defensive position, against the various fire attacks thrown at him. The amount of fire power Flavo was launching at him was just criminal!

Those fire balls of his were the size of large boulders, each and every one of them striking home. Clive couldn't dodge them even if he wanted to, since they seemed to be zeroing in on him, which left him with little choice than to just block the attacks with his armored hand.

"That has always been their main weakness. Though there are some half-orcs that can manifest abilities, most of them tend to focus on their strength alone, which is at times a real advantage in close combat, but a disadvantage when facing someone who is pro efficient in using his or her ability, especially from afar," the king explained while rubbing his beard.

Too bad I wasn't listening to him, cause of what he said earlier. Why is he choosing to observe this match with me? Did he know that I was forced to watch this match and is keeping me company? Not likely. He's probably he's here because it's a good place to watch the fight unexposed.

 Anyways, back to the match. To tell you the truth, if Clive continues defending himself against the fire like that, this is an assured win for Flavo. And I think he realized that too.

He slowly but surely started gaining ground towards Flavo, ploughing through the flames using that impossible strength of half–orc.

Hmm... if he ever considered it and tried that strength against me, would I be able to handle it? But compared to the gravity of Jupiter, maybe I could.

Flavo was no slouch in noticing what Clive was trying to do, but I think he realized that he too was in a tough position. If he let off the flames for even a second, Clive would quickly close the distance, and even if he had a large amount of mana at his disposal, everyone needs a certain amount of time to build up the attack he was using. No matter the time frame, even a second was just enough for Clive.

Now it was just a battle of who would last longer than the other. The crowd was quiet, filled with anticipation at the battle of resilience.

Flavo looked like the flames he was producing might have been a bit too much for him, cause they were really starting to take a toll on him. He was already on one knee, sweating profusely, where as Clive looked like he could do this all day.

But it's seems like Clive wasn't planning to wait this out, as the tactics for him to win should suggest. Through the heat (part of the armor he had on was mostly burnt up, but it somehow was still holding on), he took out a small dagger, then, while Flavo was still busy trying to maintain his flames, he threw it with excellent accuracy, straight at the defenseless monster.

"Dear invigilator..."

"Yeah, I know, your Majesty,"

***

<*Ability 'warlock king [LVL 10]' is in use!*>

<*skill 'speed' has been activated!*>

***

Before the dagger could strike Flavo, I yanked him away from its trajectory just in time using my speed.

"WHAT?!" everyone in the arena shouted in shock when they saw me standing next to Flavo, who too looked surprised that just a moment ago he was fighting a very different opponent, his flames already out.

Through the com I was handed by the general before I came here, I started explaining myself.

"So, Clive is the winner here, I think you all saw where that dagger was heading,"

"Don't worry, Max. The half–orc was already winning, he just sped up the process. Yeah, we saw the dagger, and that would have been a fatal blow were it to strike him. And you told us we didn't need an invigilator for this fight," the head general answered back. I could feel the creepy smile forming on his face when he knew he was right.

"Yeah, fine. Alright, I was wrong," I murmured.

"What was that?"

"I SAID I WAS WRONG! JEEZ!"

"As long as you know,"

"Then general, can you tell the crowd who the actual victor is. They look angry cause I stepped in, and they seem like they want to crucify me!"

"WHAT THE HELL, KID!" someone yelled.

"WHAT? PROTECTING YOUR CLASSMATE?!"

"LETS GO GET HIM!!!"

I raised my hands in surrender before the announcer came to my rescue.

"Take a look at the screens, monsters, before you blame the kid," the announcer adviced.

The screen showing the fight thankfully slowed down for everyone to see, especially Flavo, who gasped in shock when he saw that the dagger would have got him right in his...Ahem. I'd rather not say.

"Well then, there you have it monsters. The North representative would have been badly injured if the fight progress, and this, is definitely not a fight to the death. Anyways, I'm gonna say it cause no one else will, SOUTH CLASS HAVE WON THE FINAL COMPETITION FOR THE INTER–CLASS CHALLANGES!"

The crowd at first, were still viewing the final fights' highlight, but they soon recovered and all screamed up in joy when the announcer declared South the winners of the final event.

A certain corner to the side of the stadium filled with dark shirts were the only ones to remain neutral.

"Thanks for the save, Max. That would have been really bad. I couldn't even see it coming. I want to say good fight to the half–orc, but what would you have done if Max weren't there and the dagger did actually strike me?" Flavo asked as he turned to Clive, who at the moment was still trying to nurse his injuries as we waited for the med team to come up and help the two boys.

"Don't you worry yourself, representative. I could see Max from the corner of my eye talking to some nobody, so I knew he would save you. But if you're still sore about the fight, look at it like this; will you still say the same thing while fighting a demon soldier and he used the same trick on you? Try learning from this mistake, and you'll be more powerful than you are now," Clive advised, as finally the med team arrived and firstly placed a white cloth on him.

Flavo nodded his head in understanding, and seemed to actually gain something from the fight, even if he lost. But more importantly...

"Since when did you give such good advice, Clive? No, even more important, when did you ever give any advice to anyone?" I asked him in a surprised tone.

He angrily turned towards me and with his right hand, tossed another dagger at me. Too bad for him I was prepared. But before I could dodge it or even catch it just to show him I was better, someone appeared right in front of me and suddenly, the sun for the day blinded my eyes.

"I–I CANT BELIEVE IT! EVERYONE IN THE ARENA, HIS MAJESTY, THE BEAST KING!!!" the announcer screamed in shock from his speaker.

I heard multiple gasps and movement from the crowd, probably someone fainting, but unfortunately, at the moment, I couldn't see anything so I just assumed that everyone was surprised to see the king. That is until, my eyes cleared, and I realized everyone was kneeling down, all except me. I quickly joined then on the ground, hoping beyond hope that no one saw my mistake. Twice in a row caught lacking, I really I'm slow on the uptake.

But I think I was on the safe side, seeing as all cameras were trained in on the king, and a lot of people would have find it difficult to see me with their heads bent down.

The king, even if I'd already seen him, still looked impressive with that get up. He signaled for me to get up together with my friends, and we did just that. I noticed that he had a microphone on him, but he placed his hand on it to mute it for a little bit after tossing the dagger Clive had just throw at me away.

"You've certainly escaped a dangerous attack, young lad," he said, as he nodded at Flavo.

"Uh....ah... " even while he was still allowed to stand up he looked so shaken, that he couldn't even find the words to talk. He just nodded his head like a fool.

"And you, half–orc. Really impressive thinking there. Being prepared for anything is the best possible outcome for any battle. But really, did you have to say that the Furrha was talking to some nobody while in reality he was talking to me?"

Clive's eyes widened in shock before he dived to the ground in a prostrate manner, "I deeply apologize for my blunt insult, my king, and I'll take any punishment you see fit to give me, even death!"

"Calm down, boy! I was just joking. Now why don't you guys head on over to the med tents together with the med team. I've got a lot of announcing to do, and I don't think your tired legs can manage that," King Jason said.

"Yes, my king!"

We all answered together before we began heading out of the arena.

"Now where do you think you're going, Furrha? We're doing this thing together, or have you forgotten?"

"No, your Majesty. I haven't," I muttered in disappointment as he caught on to me trying to escape him. After waiting for everyone except us two to head over to the med area, the king Finally took off his hand from the mic to address the crowd.

"My fellow monsters, you are free to seat on your seats, the kneeling is not necessary right now. I know that I had promised to come here earlier but, seeing that I had a few serious matters to deal with, I couldn't make it. But I did see a good amount of the competition, and I'm proud to say that today, I think we achieved what was required," he began.

He patiently waited for everyone to take a seat first before he continued, "Firstly, let's start with the students. Not only have they showed us that they are more than capable enough to handle themselves in war, but also, we've seen first hand what the aim of this camps of ours is all about,"

A respectable clap came from everyone, including me.

"Now you parents can see why it was necessary to take your kids to camp. Moving on, the students have also learned a lot from this encounter and, how to improve themselves. But that's not why you all pulled me out of my castle to announce, did you? Well then, to the main agenda of the day,"

The entire area was silent with anticipation, everyone waiting for the announcement about the events cause both North and South had won the finals. You could feel the tension building up.

"Alright monsters, are you ready for this?"

"YES!"

"I know you are, and that's why this young invigilator of ours will be the one to give us the winners for the day!" the king proudly announced.

"Wait, what?!" I exclaimed in shock while staring at the king.

"YEEEESSSS! WE WANT MAX! WE WANT MAX! WE WANT MAX!"

"Your Majesty, you didn't mention any of this to me! And even if so, I don't even have a–"

The king snapped his fingers and a mic immediately appeared on my face together with a com.

"Now you do. What did you think I had you stay behind to do?"

"Come in, Max. Can you hear us?" the mic asked.

I switched the feature from communicating to the crowd to only the caller, "General Zard? Yes, I can hear you,"

"Good. We'll inform you of the winners right now,"

"I didn't sign up for this, general!"

"Tell that to the Beast king,"

I was going too, until he smiled at me a smile that said this wasn't up for debate. Ugh! Fine! Guess I'll have to suck it up!

"Um... hello everyone? Is this thing on?" I wondered while tapping on the damn thing, returning it back to address the crowd.

"WE CAN HERE YOU LOUD AND CLEAR KID!"

"YEAH! WHAT HE SAID!"

The king nodded for me to continue.

"Yes well, I'll be the one to inform you monsters of the winners, and don't ask for a speech cause I won't–"

"SPEECH! SPEECH! SPEECH!"

"HEY, HEY! WHAT DID I SAY JUST NOW?!" I Shouted back to the crowd.

"SPEECH! SPEECH! SPEECH!"

"To bad for you guys, I don't go with the masses!"

"BOOOOOOOOO!"

"Boo all you want. Anyways, as we're wrapping up this event, I just want to thank all of you for coming to this competition, thank all of you watching from your homes, and thank all the teachers and students for giving it their all for today,"

"I believe you remember the last results, so I'll just give you guys the winner. But before that, what about the trophy–"

The Beast King snapped his fingers again, and a trophy appeared in all its glory. And not just any trophy mind you, one made from titanium alloy, another of the rarest elements in the Beastverse, second only to adamantium.

The crowd all stared at it in amazement same as me. A lot of titanium had to be used just to build this?! I want to say wasteful, but respect too, for such a trophy.

"Ah... Shall we continue? We'll then, monsters, the winners of this year's competition is... NORTH AND SOUTH! BOTH TEAMS DREW AT POINT LEVEL!"

"WHAT?!" the whole crowd shouted in shock.