Solaris stared into the arena; the excitement and anticipation he had felt moments ago were now gone, replaced by shock and self-loathing.
Executioner... Class.. Solaris... why me? What have I done to be classified as an elite amongst Elites, the top tiers! I'm a useless nobody; I couldn't even save Ember! All I've done is hide, run, and attempt to fight... the being deserves the credit, definitely not me...What the hell are the higher-ups thinking...What am I supposed to do...
The battle had begun, yet Solaris felt no true joy in seeing the immaculate spectacle. Sure, all of the attacks were flashy, and the skill being coordinated at play was sublime, but Solaris was in no mood to focus on the near-perfect display of combat prowess.
Solaris practically didn't even care when Ember swung his mace, then followed it up with a slash of his wing, only for both attacks to be parried and Celer to dash backwards, dodging the fireball Ember had let loose above their heads.
Sighing, Solaris placed his hand over his lips and chin, then muttered to himself.
"This is the coolest thing I've ever witnessed."
Looking back at the arena, Solaris decided to bury his own thoughts about him being an Executioner for the moment and focus on the immaculate display before him.
Watching the arena, Solaris saw a new side of Ember's fighting style.
Before, he had not been able to see it all that well. When he and Ember fought the bird and hyena, they were not close enough for Solaris to truly get a look at the style he uses; then, when fighting the prince, it was too dark to see anything besides the occasional beam or fireball.
So seeing Ember fight like this was something Solaris had yet to witness.
Even though Ember uses a mace, his technique was very smooth and refined; each attack led into another, and every use of his Extramicy could lead into another swing of his weapon.
It was as if Solaris was watching a complex dance; he could understand that it was a dance, yet he couldn't fathom how to perform it.
I'm certain that even if I were to use Surpass, I couldn't beat Ember in pure technique.
Even knowing that the Crimson Cross considered Ember and Solaris the same class and rank, Solaris refused to believe he could contend with his mentor in any combative categories.
Ember threw a punch, then, in the same moment, morphed his arm into a torrent of fire and twisted his body as it disappeared into the fire and rolled across the air towards Celer.
The wave of fire was crashing down onto Celer, but before it hit him, he moved his arm and lance to intercept the attack as he had done before; his arm shot forwards as he mumbled something to himself.
Yet before the tip of the lance connected with the fire, the inferno split apart, and then ember reappeared from the flame, landing with a thud atop Celer's shoulders; his heels digging into his shoulders, and with a flap of his wings, Celer's arms disconnected from his shoulders.
As soon as his mace was to crack Celer's skull, he dashed back, his arms flapping with the sudden jolt of momentum.
Celer had been looking at the ground for a moment, then looked up at Ember, who had almost lost his balance as the thing he was standing under suddenly jerked back.
A large smile rested across Celer's face.
Then he laughed.
"YOU, EMBER, ARE AN ABSOLUTE BATTLE GENIUS!!!!!!"
The crowd erupted with cheers of all kinds.
"WHAT A PERFECT ATTACK!!! I'VE NEVER EVEN CONSIDERED THAT AS SOMETHING YOU COULD DO!!!"
Celer reeled his head back in an eruption of laughter, then his arms jolted up, and with a pop, they were back into their sockets.
Celer rolled back his shoulders for a moment, then opened and closed his hands a couple of times.
"That really hurt, now then, Ember..."
The lance Celer had dropped shot back into his hand.
Ember readied himself for a counterattack, while the audience moved to the edge of their seats.
The atmosphere of the colosseum was palpable; even the announcer, who had been spouting commentary during all of the fights, stopped to see what Celer did next.
Celer's Lance slid back under his skin, forming a deep black spiral on his skin, rolling up his arm and peeking out of his right sleeve.
His left arm moved and brought the goggles he was wearing off his eyes and rested them on his head; his brown hair had been slicked back in a bun, and now it seemed to fall slightly as if a pressure on it was released.
His long hair flowed in the wind, and his purple eyes gleamed in the sun.
The spectators were holding their breath, and then he spoke.
"I forfeit; I clearly can't beat you! I may be a bit mad, but I'm certainly not insane!"
Celer began to laugh at his own wordplay, then he turned around and walked back into the corridor that the fighters entered from.
The smiles on the audience slowly dropped into frowns of pure confusion.
For a few minutes, the entire audience was speechless.
"What?"
Ember's voice broke the silence, and then the announcer followed up.
"EXECUTIONER EMBER HAS... WON? BY FORFEIT!"
For a moment, the audience was silent, then a small, awkward amount of cheering started.
A few even asked in confusion.
"Forfeit?"
Others simply looked at one another with a questioning look.
From all of the bloody battles up until now, no one had dared to surrender.
Solaris stared at the arena with a deadpan stare for a moment the turned to look at Lucian.
Lucian did the same.
The two met eyes for a moment, then burst out into laughter.
The two continued to laugh, with Ania even joining in; the three were all laughing at the absurdity of it all.
In the world of hunting demons, to them, surrender was never an option, so the mere idea of a forfeit was genuinely hysterical to the three.
Solaris motioned with his thumb to the arena.
"Forfeit!!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT!!!!"
Lucian laughed a bit harder, then spoke.
"I KNOW, RIGHT? JUST ADMIT YOU ARE WEAK!!!"