"He's nothing but trash.."
"The Earth Pavilion is truly lacking this time around."
"Haha.. Look at who their champion is."
"He can't even withstand a kick from our champion.."
"Get up, you boy.. Better get up.."
"I don't think he can even move a muscle anymore.. Your champion is as weak as fuck.."
Both the disciples of the Sky Pavilion and the disciples of the Earth Pavilion cursed as they watched Socrates lying on the floor, his battered frame half-buried in the red sand of the arena.
No one pitied him.. In the world of gladiators, there's no such thing as pity...
Socrates lay there, listening to their pitiful comments, but he couldn't help it..
He wants to prove them wrong.. He wants to stand up by showing them that he's not that easy to defeat, but his muscles won't move..
First of all, he has exhausted all his stamina into the endless swinging... Secondly, he had made use of a skill whose backlash weighed heavily on his body..
Finally, and the most important aspect of it, he's psychologically broken..
All of these weighed down on him...
It wasn't just the kick of Merkules that kept him pinned to the floor but those aforementioned factors..
Merkules had made sure he first of all break Socrates psychologically, which he succeeded, and then proceeded to defeat him physically..
But then the curses of the audience seemed to reignite a flame in his mind as he refused to give up..
He slowly raised his body up, grains of sand sliding off his trembling arms, but halfway to getting up, he was suddenly matched back by a foot..
GBAM..
The dull thud echoed as his head hit the sandy ground before his chest, kicking up a cloud of dust that lingered in the air.. The impact caused his backbone to crack as he yelled out loudly like a kid...
"Aaah..." He cried..
"Cry for me.. Cry for me, boy.." Merkules exerted more pressure with his foot as the sound of Socrates' bones cracking could be heard faintly beneath the noise of the crowd..
"Aaah.." Socrates yelled loudly, the leg of Merkules pinning him down, causing him unable to move...
The crowd jeered due to his yelling sound as they discussed amongst themselves how Merkules had reached Socrates' position in an instant, too fast for the eye to properly follow..
"Your back isn't even smooth enough for a footstool." Merkules stated, which caused Socrates' eyes to widen as a feeling of déjà vu overwhelmed him...
He recalled this very scene during the time he defeated his senior in the Heavenly Dipper Dojo and placed his foot on his back...
This same words... exactly the same way it was said by Merkules... Socrates had also said the same to his senior..
'Is this karma?' he thought as Merkules removed his leg from his back.
Before Socrates could adjust to the freedom, Merkules initiated another kick, which landed on his left rib, sending him twirling across the air and crashing hard into the ring, his body skidding across the sand like a ragdoll..
The crowd cheered for Merkules... He had used just one kick to send Socrates flying away and used another to send him back to the ring..
Cough!
Socrates violently vomited blood out of his mouth as at this point, he couldn't even move a muscle..
'His strength level is far higher than mine...'
'I can't beat him... I can't win...'
Socrates knew it's a lost cause... He knew the only way out of this situation is for him to surrender his token..
But he would rather die than do that...
Merkules returned back into the ring with one jump, landing lightly on his feet as he slowly approached the boy..
"The Son of Trueblood.. Aren't you going to surrender?"
Socrates tried to say a word, but he couldn't speak...
Merkules then walked up to him, grabbed him by the robe, and then drove a fist straight into his face.
Socrates' nose was smashed instantly as his head was thrown backward while his body tried to follow, but Merkules held on to him, forcing him to remain upright in his grip..
Blood trickled out of his forehead and nose as his eyes turned bloodshot.. He couldn't even see clearly as he watched Merkules reach out to his mechanical suit pocket and pull out the golden token..
"You're not even worthy of being killed by me." Merkules stated as he pushed the almost unconscious body of Socrates away..
Socrates' body crashed on the ground on his side, unable to even move an inch...
Merkules didn't even spare him any glance as he stored the golden token into his pockets and left the arena immediately..
"We won.."
"The Sky Pavilion is the winner.."
"The Earth Pavilion will surely decline in these few days."
"What do they expect after having a kid as Champion? Aaaah..."
The members of the Sky Pavilion teased as they also dispersed as well...
"We can't continue having that boy as champion..."
"Yes, we can't... We need a new champion that will represent us.."
"I'll be the new champion." One of the Earth Pavilion disciples stepped forward with his silver token, he was also dressed in yellow robes...
"My name is Niccolo... Any disciple that has a problem with me being the champion should come challenge me.." Niccolo bowed politely..
Disciples stepped out one after the other.. After defeating three top candidates, Niccolo solidified his position as the new champion while Socrates was discarded..
No one paid him attention or even offered to get him to the hospital for treatment..
The crowd dispersed while he remained unable to move as he reminisced on himself..
At this young age, life is really showing him a lot..
After having the title stripped off him, life is really showing him ups and downs..
He lay in that same place for almost a full day before he finally recovered due to his reflexive physique, but it's limited..
It couldn't heal his injuries but enough for him to get up...
He returned back to his room just to see that he had been kicked out.. His box was outside.. He went to the elder who told him that there was no room for him to stay...
His battle axes were also missing.. Since Socrates had nowhere to go, he ended up winding himself up beneath the female sculpture in the corridor..
'What if I don't have this mechanical suit? Or I don't have an earth rank physique? That means a kick from Merkules would've killed me instantly... Is that the power of Body Refinement..? He's very strong....'
'Senior.. Your disciple is unfilial... I lose.. I lose badly.. I couldn't last three strikes.. I couldn't even land a strike.... I'm not the genius you thought.. My talent is mediocre.. I lost the golden token we almost died for...'
Socrates cried profusely, his shoulders trembling, and then he felt a warm touch on his shoulder as the surrounding air around him grew cold..
'The feminine sculpture in the main hall.. Cultivate it..'
Those were Mr. Jaggers' last words...
The words he wanted to tell Socrates, which caused him to move towards him...
Socrates wondered why.. Why would that be his last word...
Since he doesn't have anything to do or anywhere to stay, Socrates began cultivating it....
He would sit in the lotus position before the sculpture without thinking of anything.. He would only stand up to eat at night and nothing else... He stayed focused, trying his best to sense something from the sculpture... Since Mr. Jaggers told him something like that, it's important then....
Socrates had been cast away... He wasn't even remembered.. One month.. Two months.. Three months...
Day and night... Every single hour... Socrates tried to connect with the female sculpture, but there was no way.. Nothing was working... For a full three months...
Everybody had forgotten him until points were shared again after three months and Socrates received 100 points again, which was publicly announced, while the rest received 30 points, which drew him back to the focal point of attention.