Scott was originally very confident about his first match. With his strength, as long as he didn't encounter those few superhumans from the Xianzhou, he was basically invincible!
But when he clearly saw the white-haired little loli across from him, he immediately fell into confusion.
Th-this guy is...!
That familiar appearance, familiar gaze, familiar sense of oppression—one unbearable memory after another surfaced in Scott's mind:
Splitting alloy barehanded, one force conquering ten meetings, single-handedly lifting a giant robot over two meters tall... and that legendary Taiyi Divine Palm, suspected to be a miracle of an Aeon.
How could it be this guy?! What kind of matching mechanism is this?!
"What a coincidence."
Clara glanced at Scott and said indifferently.
"G-Good, good coincidence, good coincidence..."
Scott's face twitched as he stammered in response.
—"[The Martial Exhibition truly lives up to being a competition that draws the galaxy's attention—the two contestants actually know each other. This is truly a great fate!]"
The referee was the classic Mr. Squeak. It stood on the spectator stand, holding a microphone, and commentated the match in its own understanding: "[Please allow me to introduce the contestants of this match: contestant Clara from Belobog, and contestant Scott from the Interastral Peace Corporation.]"
"[What kind of match will these two bring us? Let's look forward to it with anticipation. Now, I declare that the match officially begins!]"
"[Time to clock in and get to work!]"
There were quite a few spectators for the Martial Exhibition, but the vast majority had gone to watch the popular contestants' matches. Although Clara's attention online wasn't low, her draw still couldn't compare to the others, so the audience who came specifically for her was only a scant few.
But there were plenty who came for Scott—this section of the spectator seats was basically full, mostly company employees he had invited, responsible for blindly cheering and booing the opponent for Scott, while also helping to boost Scott's fame a bit.
—"Oh oh oh! Lord Scott! One-shot this little loli!"
—"Lord Scott is invincible under heaven!"
—"For the company, Lord Scott, unleash that Thoughtless Strike on that little loli!"
"..."
Hearing the cheers coming from around them, Clara looked at Scott with a half-smile: "Looks like you have quite a few fans?"
"I'm in a good mood today. I'll give you a dignified way to lose—get down yourself. Don't make me do it."
"Gulp."
Scott laboriously swallowed a mouthful of saliva. His hand slipped, and the staff "clang" dropped to the ground, rolling to the side.
"Tsk." Seeing Scott like this, Clara immediately frowned. "Pick up the staff. Pick up the staff!"
"Ah... what..."
"I said pick up the staff! Don't waste my time!"
Scott had originally been in a daze, but being yelled at by Clara like this actually suddenly sobered him up. He picked up the staff from the ground, his face filled with grief and indignation: "Come on! If it's war, then war! I'm not afraid of you!"
"Where I fell, that's where I'll stand up. As a qualified lone wolf, I absolutely won't lose to the same person twice..."
Whoosh—
Before Scott could finish his words, Clara's figure vanished from the spot in an instant, as if teleporting. A flying kick struck straight at Scott's face!
"Drink up—!"
Scott didn't think too much, instinctively leaning his body backward. He had once watched a movie where the character inside relied on this move to even dodge bullets. As long as he imitated it, he would definitely be able—
Duang!
Scott only felt like he had been solidly hit by a humanoid armored train. The surroundings began to recede from him, and then... then his vision went black, and he knew nothing.
The facts proved that a movie was just a movie.
—"[Hm?! What just happened?]"
Mr. Squeak looked at the already-ended match in a daze. It had only felt a blur before its eyes, and when it could see clearly again, the situation on the field had already become like this.
It looked at the nearest company employee: "Did you see that clearly just now?"
The company employee shook his head.
—"Scott, get up! Fight on! Scott!"
—"Don't give up! Stand up, quick, stand up!"
—"Scott, what are you doing?! Did you forget we all bet on you to win before the match?!"
"..."
The company spectators in the stands, seeing this scene, immediately became extremely agitated, sparing no effort to wave flags and shout cheers.
Unfortunately, reality was cruel. After the ten-second knockdown count ended, Scott still hadn't stood up.
—"[Uh... what an exciting match! I declare that in the first match of the group stage, contestant Clara wins!]"
"[Don't be discouraged by this, fellow spectators—this is just the group stage. Contestant Scott still has a chance...]"
—"No chance left!"
One of Scott's camp spectators suddenly said angrily: "Can't get out of the group stage anymore! My money was bet in vain!"
"Scott! Are you worthy of us like this?!"
Seeing the crowd's emotions starting to run high, Mr. Squeak tried to soothe them: "[Fellow spectators, don't get too agitated. There are still chances for mistakes in the group stage—as long as you win all the remaining matches, you still have qualification...]"
—"Can we win them all? It's really hard!"
—"Refund! This match is way too watered down! No technical content at all! I just sneezed and it ended!"
—"Exactly! This is match-fixing, right?!"
Mr. Squeak knew it definitely couldn't persuade these spectators who had come in response to Scott's call, so it simply shut up honestly and slipped away sideways.
...
Stelle had waited outside the match venue for just one minute—not even enough time to think of a way to sneak in and catch a glimpse of Clara's match—when she saw Clara calmly walking out from the match passage. She raised an eyebrow and asked: "Did you go to the wrong arena?"
Clara rolled her eyes at her and said: "It's over. The opponent couldn't take a hit—went down after one kick from me."
"Ah? That... uh, doesn't seem like that guy's fault. By the way, who was your opponent? Human? Or Intelligence?"
"Let me think... hiss—this I really didn't pay attention to, but we knew each other before. Seemed like his name was something... Scott? Probably that. Had a staff in his hand."
"Him? That's weird—how is he everywhere... By the way, can that little frame of his withstand one kick from you? Don't kick him to death; then there'd be no more fun."
"Kick to death probably not... Wait, why did you say 'fun'? You know him?"
"Oh, that's a long story. Back when I first arrived on the Xianzhou..."
The one gray and one white pair chatted and laughed as they left the venue. Behind them in the venue, countless company employees were engaged in endless cursing and brawling.