Chapter 1018: Chapter 1005: If You Give Up Like This, I Can’t Explain Chapter 1018: Chapter 1005: If You Give Up Like This, I Can’t Explain “I surrender!”

Above the arena, a somewhat frail-looking girl walked up and surrendered without hesitation. As soon as she spoke, the audience erupted in jeers, but the girl herself was unfazed.

Against an opponent who clearly had no chance of winning, surrendering was the wise choice. To stubbornly proceed and end up beaten and in the hospital would be foolish.

The dissatisfied spectators had nothing to do with her; she gained nothing from them. Why should she satisfy them at the cost of being carried out?

“Well, a familiar scene has unfolded again. Faced with the overpowering strength of Jelos, his opponent has once again made the smart decision. Unfortunately, we won’t get to see the Starbuster Jelos in action,”
In the middle of the arena, purely going through the motions, Muria watched as the girl opposite him sensibly gave up, then turned emotionlessly and left. His matches these days were all like this.

His opponents, all exceedingly sensible, nobody wanted to confront him. Thus, his current competition routine was enter the stage, stand there, then listen to the referee announce the result and leave.

This scenario, familiar to both the audience and himself, could no longer stir up much in the Network—currently, the entire federation’s attention was not even on him, nor on the Star Armor Master League, which should’ve drawn the most interest.

The federation’s focus was almost entirely captivated by the first Martial Supreme in three hundred years, Aine, who had defeated the King of Radiance and continued challenging Titled Star Armor Masters without pause.

And the frequency of these challenges was incredibly consistent, with a new Titled Star Armor Master challenged every three days. Renowned and formidable Star Armor Masters fell one by one under the fist of this Martial Supreme, who seemed unbeatable and unstoppable.

The first Martial Supreme in over three hundred years, along with the peak existence within the Star Armor Master hierarchy, ‘Titled Star Armor Master’—these titles were enough to draw everyone’s attention.

Its influence far surpassed that of the Star Armor Masters Competition, held every three years by the federation, thereby causing this edition of the competition to experience a rapid decline in interest, arguably the least in its history.

Nevertheless, despite the low interest, the Star Armor Masters Competition was proceeding as usual; the competition would not be canceled or rescheduled just because of reduced attention—that would be a joke.

…

“Teacher, after the preliminaries comes the regular matches, I’m really looking forward to it!” On the communicator’s silver screen, a girl’s face filled with anticipation. Every competitor had a dream of making a name for themselves.

“What’s there to look forward to? This year’s competition is the least interesting,” young Robert muttered discontentedly nearby. “Because of that Martial Supreme’s appearance, the interest has decreased too much. Every time he challenges, the number watching the matches plummets.”

“It’s unavoidable. How can we compare to someone who can defeat Titled Star Armor Masters?”

“These matters aren’t your concern; they’re not issues you should worry about. Think about how to beat your opponents in battle instead!”

Seeing a trend of these not-yet-adult youngsters starting to complain to him, Muria cut them off directly. Although this issue was somewhat related to him, he didn’t intend to let his father stop the challenges.

“Speaking of the matches, I just remembered, our opponents in the matches are random. What if we end up facing each other? If we meet any of us before the quarterfinals, we can’t fulfill Jelo’s requirement to dominate the top eight.”

“Damn, I hadn’t thought about that. If I run into you guys, I’m not worried, but if by chance I run into Jelos, I might as well surrender. There’s no point in fighting,”
“You’re thinking too much. The opponents from other clans will be directly arranged; they won’t let us meet early. Other families will do the same, cleaning out all those not belonging to the Four Great Families or the government. Eventually, it’ll be just between us Four Great Families and the government. They’ll definitely avoid internal struggles within families,”
A young man explained in detail, having done much homework for this competition, even consulting his father for insider information.

Hearing this insider information, Muria’s face remained unchanged. The core purpose of hosting the Star Armor Masters Competition was to demonstrate the might of the government and the Four Great Families to the lower citizens and neighboring vassal states.

And also to display their roots to other powers at their level. To show how outstanding their new generation was, to gain more say.

Thus, under such objectives, directly arranging the matches, and eliminating any contestants not belonging to the government or the Four Great Families was a very normal operational procedure.

There was no question of fairness; allowing those contestants who belonged neither to the government nor to the Four Great Families to lose on the arena was the greatest mercy already.

This point was considered an open secret within the Alliance; among the top thirty-two of the Star Armor Masters Competition were primarily members of the Four Great Families and the federal government.

As for whether competitors not belonging to these clans could advance to the top sixty-four depended purely on luck. Sometimes a few were successful, while at other times not a single one made it, leaving heads completely shaven.

This was a normal occurrence. Star Armor was extraordinary equipment but also technological gear, possessing both characteristics. Under such circumstances, the Star Armor Masters trained by the Four Great Families and the government, who had access to cutting-edge technology, naturally were the strongest.

Other smaller families and some civilian groups, even if they produced Star Armor Masters with exceptional talent, had absolutely no competitive edge.

“Compete earnestly and perform at your best during the competition. I hope I can see you in the quarterfinals,”
“Brother, if we make it to the quarterfinals, you’ll be able to easily claim the championship without lifting a finger,” said Daisy, who had completely submitted to Muria, her half-brother from another mother, with a smile.

“That depends on you. If you want to challenge me and make me exert more effort, I wouldn’t mind,” he replied.

“You’ve already beaten me enough during routine training. In the full view of everyone at the competition, to save some face for myself, it’s better to admit defeat wisely,” said Victor, who had previously sparred “friendlily” with the pets Muria had taken in and had behaved himself for quite a long time after being educated.

…

The twenty-day preliminary competition had ended, and only ten days after that, giving the competitors a chance to repair, maintain, or replace their Star Armor Equipment, the main competition began.

Even in the main competition, where the average skill level had risen, nobody could stop Muria as he advanced dramatically.

For Muria, the only difference between the preliminary rounds and the main competition was that the ratio of people who surrendered immediately versus those wanting to fight and assess his strength had slightly increased.

However, this made no difference to him because in front of him, regardless of the opponent, he needed only one move. After that move, the opponents were all lying on the ground, waiting for the medical staff to enter, without exception.

Because of such overpowering results in his battles, Muria gained a group of fans and a domineering title: the Star Crusher.

The reason he earned this title was that the competitors who battled against him found their Star Armor Equipment needing complete reconstruction after being defeated by his moves.

The Star Armor Masters Competition was in full swing. As Muria advanced triumphantly, the seven others he had trained were also making rapid progress.

However, unlike Muria, who continued to dominate and advance, the battles for those seven became increasingly difficult as the competition progressed. At this level, everyone was nearly equal in terms of equipment and talent, and it came down to competing in other aspects.

…

“Victor Douglas, as someone with only 80% Star talent, you should be proud that you have fought to this extent with me. I will remember your name,” said a young man clad in purple Star armor, moving aside his faceguard, looking at his opponent with a composed and elegant demeanor, yet his attitude oozed an extremely abhorrent arrogance. “Surrender now!”

“My Star talent is 81.36%, not 80%, you remembered wrong, Arno Francis.”

“It makes no difference,” Arno replied, his face showing a trace of impatience, “Having fought to this extent, you can fully justify yourself to your family behind you. Give yourself a dignified exit and just surrender peacefully!”

“Indeed, having fought to this extent, neither my parents nor my clan could blame me,” Victor said, smiling as he faced the youth opposite him, who exuded arrogance from his very bones.

He looked around himself; at his side, there were only two damaged Floating Cannons. Compared to his opponent, surrounded by eighteen various models of Floating Cannons, he appeared tragically pitiful.

“I have accounted for my family and my parents, but I have not yet accounted for my teacher. Just giving up at this point—I wouldn’t be able to face him, not to mention he might kill me.”

Victor’s face broke into a carefree smile; he was one match away from advancing to the top sixteen, but he had encountered a particularly tough opponent from the Francis Family, a super-genius with a Star talent of 93.71%.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read