Great Demon King

GDK 801: The moment he appeared, I lost

Han Shuo’s victory was out of most people’s expectations. He was greeted with gazes of respect after he returned to the center of the mountain range. The three major patriarchs, five Divine Guard Chiefs, and other influential characters of the City had their gazes gathered on Han Shuo.

Han Shuo had expected this reaction from them. He believed that it won’t be long before the news of his triumphant against Ralph and his Second Corps spreads throughout the City of Shadows. By then, Han Shuo wouldn’t have to worry about the recruitment issue. People would beg to be a divine guard of the House of Han and the Fifth Corps.

“Bryan, did you actually just defeated Ralph?” Carmelita was still in disbelief even till now. Ralph, the Chief of the Second Corps had just lost everything he could be proud of to Han Shuo who had made an official debut only recently.

This was a significant change to the general situation in the City of Shadows which had not occurred for many years!

After that day, Ralph no longer had anything that could back his arrogance! The City of Shadows would no longer be a place that Ralph could throw his weight about because he had just lost all his pride to Han Shuo!

Han Shuo calmly smiled, pointed at the sand table, and responded, “Didn’t you see it?”

Carmelita stared blankly for a second before she turned annoyed and said, “See what? We didn’t see one bit of the process! Why did you produce that mist and conceal the whole fight?”

“Process isn’t the important part – what matters is the results!” said Han Shuo as he wore the most punchable mischievous smile. “In short, I have won the battle. That is all that matters!”

“Indeed. It’s not the process that counts but the outcome! Every one of us here has witnessed Bryan pressing his sword on Ralph’s throat. All of us here are eyewitnesses. Bryan has won, and Ralph has lost. It’s that simple!” remarked Caspar before he looked at Wallace smilingly.

“Here I come!” Erebus who was chatting happily with Han Shuo left impatiently after he heard the call-out from Wallace.

Based on Han Shuo’s understanding of Erebus, Han Shuo reckoned that it wouldn’t be difficult for Erebus to win this battle.

And the results were as Han Shuo had expected. After half a day’s time, Erebus successfully defeated Camilla. Next in line was Batúk and Rugersey. The results of this match were rather unexpected. Batúk, who was the last place in the ranking, with great difficulty, managed to defeat Rugersey who had previously defeated him. With that, the ranking of Divine Guard Chiefs changed slightly.

The victors continued to fight for higher ranking while the defeated strived to stay as high up as they could. Han Shuo, Erebus, Batúk, and Aobashi went for another round of lot drawing.

“Batúk, if you got the lot against Bryan, just surrender,” the Buller Family patriarch, Laurel, advised Batúk softly before he would draw lots.

Batúk forced a smiled and replied, “Lord Patriarch, can’t you have a little more confidence in me?”

Laurel smiled and replied, “Well, Batúk, do you have confidence in defeating Bryan?” Batúk was a member of the House of Buller. As the patriarch of the Buller Family, Laurel knew Batúk’s strength well. He did not think that Batúk could come close to defeating Han Shuo.

“Nope, not the slightest shred of confidence,” said Batúk as he shook his head. “But I have not seen how Bryan attacked just then. Even if I were to be defeated, I should at least try to gauge his true strength, right?”

Laurel stared blankly for a bit and thought for a moment. He nodded smilingly as he replied, “You’re right. Might as well make use of the defeat. A little bit of fighting wouldn’t hurt.”

The results of the lot drawing were obtained in no time: Erebus was matched against Aobashi and Batúk matched against Han Shuo.

“I surrender!” Erebus declared loudly and shamelessly before Wallace could announce anything. Under the astonished gazes of the crowd, Erebus shrugged and explained, “I have fought Aobashi many times in private and I know for a fact that I am no match against her. I don’t want to waste everyone’s time.”

The crowd unknowingly smirked after hearing Erebus’ words. It was known to everyone that Erebus had been pursuing Aobashi and that he was no match against Aobashi in strength. However, the crowd couldn’t help but suspect that perhaps something else was going on, given how straightforward Erebus was in giving up. They couldn’t help but look at Erebus and Aobashi suspiciously.

“Who asked you to surrender? Why can’t you fight?” scolded Aobashi in a fierce scowl. She didn’t expect that Erebus would actually straightforwardly give up as he said he will. He showed not the slightest courageous spirit.

“We all know that I cannot defeat you. There’s no point in wasting everybody’s time,” replied Erebus smilingly.

“Alright. Erebus has voluntarily surrendered. Aobashi will make it to the next round,” announced Wallace.

As Aobashi and Erebus will not be fighting, Han Shuo and Batúk proceeded to the arena. Right when the battle between the two started, the mist yet again appeared out of nowhere, completely blocking the spectator’s view of the entire fight. It tickled the annoyance of the crowd who wished to have a clear view of Han Shuo’s true strength.

When the mist finally dissipated, the arena was again visible to the spectators and Han Shuo was pointing his sword at an exhausted Batúk. It was similar to the fight between Han Shuo and Ralph but the battle took an even shorter time. Unlike Ralph, Batúk did not even have the energy to get up.

Batúk, whose head was spinning, was helped to his feet by Han Shuo. “Much apologies, Lord Batúk!” said Han Shuo sincerely after giving Batúk a hand. He knew that those surrounding the sand table saw the scene of his victory.

“It is a competition. There is nothing to apologize for,” Batúk, who knew that he will be defeated, couldn’t pull a smile as though nothing had happened as Han Shuo could. He nodded indifferent at Han Shuo and left the arena in a gloomy face.

As Han Shuo will fight Aobashi next, he did not leave the arena. He sincerely apologized to the leaving Batúk a few more times and stayed in the arena, waiting for Aobashi’s arrival.

As soon as Batúk returned from the arena, Laurel hastily went to him and asked in a low voice, “So, did you get anything?”

“It felt as though I was pulled into another dimension. I did not see Bryan even once from start to finish. By the time he appeared, I was already defeated. It’s basically the same as what you would see through the sand table,” said Batúk resentfully. He did not feel angry about the results. There was no shame in losing, but he couldn’t accept not knowing how he was defeated!

Batúk turned more sullen the more he thought about it. He remarked, “Had I known this earlier, I would have just surrendered. What’s the point of wasting all the energy!”

Laurel was astounded. The other two major patriarchs who had come to them at an unknown time also put on astounded faces.

<i>Just how powerful is this Bryan?</i>