Upon seeing the fight's result, everyone in the arena stands was impressed with this final part of the match.
Not because of the power involved. No, for the most part, the fight had been like any other on the peak of the 3rd stage would be. Instead, what had made many soldiers and competitors open their mouths in shock was the fact that Ed's gun had been disintegrated with Alina's skill!
Such a thing had been very effective, and within seconds, Alina had managed to paralyze Ed's combat ability by immobilizing him.
Ed had only one attack technique and one focused on defense. And when he lost his spiritual weapon that was necessary for his first technique, the young soldier had been left in a passive position. He could only defend himself while Alina attacked him freely, without worries.
That's why, at the end of the fight, this soldier had hardly shown any resistance!
And soon, the comments began to fill the surroundings of that arena.
"This girl is brilliant. She neutralized her opponent with a lot of prowess!"
"Truth. But this skill she used to destroy this soldier's sword is amazing! Who knew a person could do such a thing?"
"Is this an innate ability? It looks like the selection made a mistake with this girl…" Someone said this in the crowd, trying to understand why her opponent hadn't used anything like that.
Realizing the difference between innate abilities and cultivation techniques was easy. After all, a cultivator's power inherent in his being would always be better than something learned.
So, seeing the ability of a level 29 young woman to destroy that sword, it was easy for these people to conclude that it couldn't be a technique.
Another reason for this was that Alina had already used an attacking technique earlier, and she certainly had a defensive one as well.
Consequently, there would be no room left for her to have another technique!
...
Meanwhile, in the referees' tent, they were also shocked by Alina's ability.
"This competitor used an innate ability during her fight, while her opponent couldn't do the same. Is there a problem with this action?" One of them asked the others in doubt.
They had Alina's record, as well as the rules for this fight. Hence, this referee found it strange to see that there was a restriction on the innate ability of this young woman's opponent.
"It says here that her ability is a support type one. So, considering this point, the rules of the fight seem to be correct. I also don't think the soldier who made the estimate was wrong." Another referee said, giving his opinion on the matter.
Shortly after that, another man positioned himself in support of the previous soldier. "Hmm. All this competitor did was combine her support skills with her other abilities and intelligence. There is no restriction for this. Nobody said that competitors or soldiers could not combine their capabilities."
After that, in less than a minute, Alina was announced as the winner of the fight. At the same time, her opponent was removed by one of the soldiers and taken to the place where Dillian was.
This young soldier would need to fight for the next few days. And because of his low cultivation, he couldn't recover 100% without the butler's medical help. After all, his cell regeneration hadn't yet reached the necessary level for that.
As for Alina, she had left that place with a big smile on her face, leaving the stage to the following individuals who would fight in that place.
'Finally! I can't wait to register in the army!' She inwardly cheered as she felt electrified by the happiness of getting approved.
...
Meanwhile, at the location where Dillian, Minos, and Eda were, this group had also been positively surprised by the occurrence in that fight.
Eda had internally approved Alina's attitude in the fight, using all her abilities and advantages to oppress her opponent. 'This girl isn't bad...' She thought with a smile on her face.
As for Dillian, he didn't have much experience with fights, but he could also see that this young woman was smart enough to fight like that. 'She combined her support-type ability with her physical strength... Outstanding. She seems to have understood very well the changes in her body when leveling up, even though she was only in the 3rd stage!'
As for Minos, he was the most impressed of the three. Not because he had memories related to abilities like Alina's, he didn't, but because he could already see a great value in that quality of hers.
There were billions of people in the Spiritual World and at least a few hundred thousand different kinds of innate ability varieties. So, there was no way Henricus Longus could have left all the knowledge about this sort of thing to Minos.
However, even without such information, Minos felt that Alina's ability had the potential to resolve a problem quite relevant to him. 'I wonder if this destroys all of the artifact's components? Or modify its configuration? If only the spiritual part of the artifact is eliminated, keeping the item's components, so this can make it easier...'
Minos then turned to a soldier who was not far in that place and said. "Go to one of those five referees and ask for information on this woman who just fought."
"Yes, young master!"
After that, while that soldier disappeared from that part of the stands, other people came to that place, carrying Ed. He had several traces of blood on his face, with some purple spots on his abdomen.
Upon seeing this, Dillian immediately activated his healing techniques, quickly treating this young soldier's wounds.
Such a thing had not taken long, and in less than 5 minutes, Ed had woken up, having all his wounds healed by Dillian.
And such a thing was expected. After all, Dillian was almost at level 50. But, at the same time, Ed was just someone at level 24 who had suffered injuries from a person of equal power. In other words, it was nothing that the butler couldn't handle!
Upon awakening, Ed immediately had a disappointed expression on his face. Not because of his defeat, but because he lost his only sword!
'Damn it! I'll have to obtain a weapon in the army, or else I won't be able to keep fighting!' He thought to himself, still in that spot beside Minos' tent.
He was upset at the damage she had caused him, but there wasn't much he could do. Suppose a competitor could destroy things with her own abilities. In that case, he couldn't appeal to the referees to get his justice...
In a battle, what mattered was the result, and Alina had accomplished that without dirty tricks. She had used only her intelligence and abilities. In this case, Ed could only blame his luck for the outcome.
"Hah…" He let out a big sigh as he got up to leave.
But at that moment, Minos said something towards him and the soldiers who were there. "Eh, you can get a weapon of that same rating in the Rewards' Hall. Wait until the end of the day. Then, people from that place will get the notice."
Hearing this, Ed immediately celebrated, readily thanking the benevolent ruler in front of him. 'Ah, how lucky I am that Mr. Minos is here!'
After that, things returned to normal. When Ed and the soldiers left that place, Minos and his companions returned their attention to the fights.
The young Stuart had received the response from the soldier he had previously sent to inquire about Alina's information. Because of that, he was pleased to see the King-grade Physique rank on Alina's record.
Such a thing had satisfied him, to the point that he had done the generous deed before.
...
Anyway, things went smoothly for the rest of the selection, until finally days passed and this event had come to an end!