Rebirth of the Phoenix God

A silence filled the entire colosseum.

To have someone interfere in the match, and do so without even a shred of hesitation, was unheard of. But instead of letting the tense situation continue, Fen was focused on the man in front of him.

Taking control over the aggressor wasn't hard at all. Just by moving at a correct timing, something that was easily achievable due to the disparity of the agility between the two men, all Fen had to do was to catch hold of the enemy wrist. With that done, and enough of a pressure applied right on his veins, this man who dared to most likely harbour the intent of causing real harm to the girl, was unable to exert any force in his hand, forcefully rolling his fingers into a fist.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

After this moment of silence, when everybody was just trying to comprehend what was going on, the judge finally made its move. Instantly taking the authoritative stance, he cast a killing stare at the young arcanist, before moving it right on Stiel's face.

"You! Is this how disciplined your students…"

"Teacher, would you teach me something for I have forgotten? While we all heard the rules that going after one's health and life is forbidden, would you please enlighten me as to the matter of punishment for doing so despite the verbal reminder of the rules before every single match so far?"

As soon as the judge picked a target to focus his wrath on, Fen formed the proper response in his head before butting in. This slight delay was caused by the fact that although Fen already knew what points he would bring, depending on who he would have to defend, himself, Kaisha, Stiel, Fire-Serpent archarity or even the lord of the city himself, the words in which he would have to put his points varied greatly.

"This tournament is heralded by his majesty, royal envoy, so intentionally breaking the rules is… nothing less that lese majeste. On the other hand, if the infringement was accidental and not intentional, then the worst that could normally happen would be just disciplinary action against the party violating the royal's honour."

While in the beginning, Stiel's voice was cracking a bit under the pressure of being watched by nearly the entire city worth of people, as soon as he caught the underlying drift of Fen, both his tone and his face changed.

Only once Fen noticed those sublime differences appearing on his teacher's face, did this young man allow his eyes to wander off to observe the reactions of the rest of the crowd.

"What do you want to say by bringing up the rules right now?"

Normally, once a judge would ask something, then unless one's own position was sufficient enough, then answering the question would have to be placed at the highest priority. Yet, instead of doing so, Fen simply tightened his grasp on the man's wrist, crushing its delicate bones in the process.

"ARGH! STOP IT!"

Only when the pain became so unbearable for Kaisha's original opponent that the screams started to shake the area did Fen relaxed his grip. With the source of the pain finally gone, the man could no longer keep his hand closed into a fist, forced by its body natural reactions to open his palm.

And given how his previously clenched palm was outstretched towards the sky by Fen, everyone could gaze at the small blade made out of the hardened and polished wood, with a special handle allowing one to sneak just its tip from within the clenched fist!

"Given how he clearly broke the rules by bringing a potentially lethal weapon to a friendly spar, and from what I saw with my own eyes, clearly intending to use it right at the moment that I intervened at, this man committed lese majeste right in his majesty the envoy presence!"

Shouting his words right in the open, Fen openly bowed his head to the man hiding behind a thin and almost see-through curtain in the honour spot in the entire colosseum, yet his eyes were glued to the central figure currently talking with Basil.

From the elaborate insignia on its robes, it was fairly easy for one to deduce that rather than being one of the students, he was either their teacher or their leader, depending on what kind of regime the inquisition had in their schools.

Yet once this man actually looked back at the young arcanist, Fen could feel a creeping feeling of uneasiness travelling up his body. Given how the man whose wrist he was holding right now wore exactly the same emblems as everyone in the part of the tribunes given to Basil and his company, it went without saying that rather than just being a church's lackey, he was actually some kind of useful idiot from the inquisition!

"I'm not a judge myself, but in face of such a grave crime… I simply cannot stand idle on the side!"

Taking the wooden blade from the hand of the crying Kaisha's former opponent, Fen threw a quick look towards the girl still resting on her back beside him. While the entire situation was so tense that it seemed as if took ages to transpire, in reality no more than about a single minute passed from the time when Fen jumped down from the tribunes.

"Don't blame it on yourself, sweetie."

Gracing the shocked girl with a wide smile, Fen took this peculiar knife into his own hand, before locking it against his middle and weeding finger, before slicing the throat of Kaisha's enemy open!

In this one instant, it seemed as if all the shouts and cheering that went missing during the period of silence, now returned but reformed into an outcry of rage, surprise and even stronger cheering than before!