Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix-Chapter 1127: Victory, but at what cost?

Despite the destructive display, Rain found himself in a precarious position. The chaos of the disintegrating ring provided a brief respite. Still, Sealyn, undeterred, managed to close the distance between them before he could truly find her.

However, Rain had one more surprise in store. He raised his arms when she was about to hit him, and with them, he raised two massive blocks of gold. Without hesitation, he began to spin them around up and down and sideways. Before long, all the afterimages started to dissipate.

The forceful movement of the blocks created blasts of wind that eventually reached Sealyn, and she was forced to raise her arms to block them and protect her face against the countless debris. She never lost sight of Rain, though.

According to the rules of the tournament, the participants couldn't use weapons, but were those weapons? If they couldn't use the ring in any shape or form, they couldn't step on it as well. Rain knew that he was playing with words at that moment, but he acted without thinking, and that was the result… it didn't matter if he would win or not. His goal was another now…

Rain charged toward Sealyn, but his speed decreased tremendously thanks to the wounds and the blocks of gold in his arms. Just a few after images would be enough to defeat him, but soon Sealyn found a problem… the ring was destroyed. She wouldn't be able to move as fast as necessary for her to pull that off.

When Rain got closer and tried to hit her, Sealyn jumped to another block of metal and then turned to charge at him, but soon she saw the massive block flying toward her. Sealyn jumped to another block and avoided the hit, but as soon as she landed on it, Rain hit her with the other block.

Sealyn groaned thanks to the impact, and she was pushed backward as well… Still, there were other blocks along the way that she could use to stand on her feet… or so she thought. As soon as she landed on another one, the block was hit by a small rock that Rain kicked. When she began to fall, she jumped to the other side and threw away the block that hit her.

Only to see Rain right above her falling toward her.

Sealyn waited for an attack, but an afterimage passed through her… after opening her eyes widely. Sealyn tried to look to the sides and find Rain, but something grabbed her leg and swung her down. In the next moment, she was upside down, and her head slightly touched the ground.

"Ugh… you can let me go now," Sealyn said when her hands touched the ground.

As Sealyn's feet made contact with the ground, a stunned hush fell over the spectators, their collective breath caught in a moment of disbelief. The arena, once noisy with anticipation, now echoed with a palpable silence. Wide-eyed faces reflected the shock that rippled through the crowd, their expectations shattered by the unexpected turn of events.

The atmosphere had been charged with excitement, with spectators on the edge of their seats eagerly awaiting a dramatic conclusion to the intense match. The spectators had envisioned a triumphant victory in many ways – a powerful finishing blow, a skillful maneuver, or perhaps an epic display of martial prowess. However, what happened was far from the anticipated climax.

Sealyn's descent to the ground seemed almost anticlimactic, a resolution that left the audience in a state of shock. The prevailing consensus was that Sealyn had proven herself to be a superior fighter, showcasing not just skill but a deep understanding of combat. On the other hand, Rain, though cunning and full of tricks, was perceived as relying more on deception than true martial prowess.

Despite the perceived imbalance in skill, Rain emerged as the victor within the confines of the tournament rules. The shock on the spectators' faces was mixed with a sense of resignation, acknowledging that victory in the martial arts arena wasn't solely determined by raw skill but also by adherence to the established rules.

It was a bitter pill for many to swallow, as the outcome seemed to defy the underlying essence of the competition.

"... Rain is the winner?" Esmeralda declared.

"She is the better fighter, and I am just cunning old man, that is all," Rain said, and then he jumped from his platform. "Ugh…"

Rain's wounds made him tremble… only a few parts of his body hurt, but they hurt like hell. The piercing gaze of his daughter hurt even more… she wasn't satisfied with losing like that. Rain's words didn't help either. It made her look like she was dumb…

"Well, there is no point in worrying or arguing," Rain thought. "A wise man once said that we shouldn't argue with women. He said: Don't argue. You cannot win. You cannot beat a woman in an argument. It's impossible you will not win because men are handicapped when it comes to arguing.

After all, we have a need to make sense."

That kind of joke was probably something that Sealyn didn't need to hear right now, so Rain just stayed quiet and waited for the moment until the judges would nullify his victory and Sealyn would be deemed the real champion. Rain wanted to heal himself, so he decided to leave the arena for that in order to look less miserable… he took a beating from his youngest daughter, after all.

"Viva la true gender equality," Rain thought.

When Rain left the arena, he found Terra. She looked like she had a few things to say as well, but she stayed quiet and decided to heal him silently. Seara probably went to talk with Sealyn… probably with the goal in mind to avoid letting her hate Rain after the match.

In the end, Rain was fine with being hated as well… as long as Sealyn understood that she shouldn't show that much hesitation again in a battle.