As Ning and Saphandra waited for the match to begin, they noticed just how many people had come to the arena this morning.
"Look at those people, they look like nobles," Saphandra said.
"And that man over there, I think he's a well-known merchant around here," Ning said.
"Wait, aren't those the colors of the Darius royal family? Is a royal family member here today?" Saphandra asked.
They were truly surprised by just how massive the event was for what should have been a simple match between two summoners.
"I… might end up earning way more than I would have thought," Saphandra said.
"Are you sure you will be able to earn at all?" Ning asked as he looked around. "He might actually end up being monstrous given the people here."
"We'll find out soon," Saphandra said.
As if on schedule, a host arrived on the stage and started welcoming everyone in the massive audience. The fee these people had paid alone made the host be extremely respectful to everyone in the arena today.
The audience went quiet for the host to speak and the host graciously introduced the two fighters.
The man 5th in rank in the whole Arena was 39 times winner, with a 7:10 ratio of win to loss.
"Please give a round of applause to Varon," the host shouted.
From one side of the arena, a man wearing nothing but pants walked onto the stage. He was bald for the most part and had no facial hair, not even eyebrows.
He wordlessly greeted the audience and they cheered him.
Next, the host introduced the challenger that needed no introduction.
With 100% pro-scene win statistics for the last 65 games he had played, this man was the expected winner in today's match.
"Please welcome, the one and only, Barry!"
Before the host's words even finished, the arena was drowned in the maddened voices of the people that cheered for Barry.
"BARRY! BARRY! BARRY!" the voices called for him before he even walked out.
Barry walked out in simple battle attire with loose shirts and trousers to help him move around easily. The moment he walked out, his fabulous green hair surprised many that hadn't seen him before.
"Is that fake?" Ning wondered when he saw the hair.
"I can't tell," Saphandra said. "Can't you check?"
Ning nodded and did a simple analysis. Turned out he really did have green hair. He checked the other man and saw that he actually a Yellow-haired person.
However, his bald status didn't reveal anything to the public.
"They are both Rank 5, this will be an interesting time to see how much hair matters in a fight between two people," Ning said.
All of the different fights Ning had taken place in or watched were usually ones where the beasts were summoned. In those situations, the color of your hair didn't matter much.
However, when you summoned just a beast's abilities and attributes onto yourself, depending on how well your bond is, you could get up to a certain percentage of what you were summoned for the same low spiritual energy.
Since a person only needed to upgrade their hair once for it to be permanent and work with any beasts, most tried to improve it early on.
However, not many knew exactly how they could do it, so they were left with a low-grade hair.
Barry and Varon walked to the center of the arena and climbed onto the massive stage. As they waited for the fight to begin, the crowd started to go wild.
The betting house was filled to the brim as everyone wanted to bet on Barry. As such, Varon's price increased so much that even betting something simple as 10 Pearls would return in nearly a thousand pearls.
So, those that had money decided to take advantage of the situation and get richer by betting on Varon. After all, he too was an amazing fighter.
Still, most just bet on Barry.
"Are you ready?" the host spoke to the two fighters, but his words reached the audience.
When the two of them nodded in affirmation, the host got back to the edge of the stage and shouted, "Fight!"
Without a moment's delay, Varon jumped high into the sky with fire spreading from beneath his feet.
He front flipped over to Barry, and as he did, his feel left an arc of fire that burned its way towards Barry.
Barry simply smiled and took a step to the left. Then, he moved his palms and shot out wind that blew away both Varon and the fire.
This simple conflict made the crowd go wild. They chanted Barry's name and he relished in the fame.
He gave a wide grin to Varon who gritted his teeth and crouched a bit to get into a sturdier stance.
He punched forward, each hit releasing fire towards Barry, but Barry simply dodged it or used his wind powers to spread the fire away.
Barry then got on the offensive and started running around in a circle trying to confuse Varon, but Varon stood resolute.
Barry shot out a blast of air towards Varon, but Varon too could simply get rid of it using his fire.
He used to opportunity to shoot fire directly at Barry and the location he was going to be at next.
Barry was stuck in between two attacks, so he was forced to slow down and use his wind power to destroy the fire.
However, at the same time, an arched fire slice flew his way from down below, aiming at his legs.
Whatever he did, Barry was going to take the hit, so he did what no one would expect him to do in this situation.
He flew.
He jumped into the sky and hovered there as all 3 attacks flew off from the stage and hit the walls
Varon looked in surprise. Not in a hundred years would he have thought that Barry could fly.
Since he wasn't able to, this was going to be a tough battle.
