Fairy Tail: You said you were just acting, are you serious?

However, the burning sensation and impact she had anticipated did not come.

The tree roots wrapped around her neck turned to ashes in the explosion. Freed from her restraints, Urudia did not fall onto the stone slab. Instead, she felt a warm embrace around her waist.

She opened her eyes somewhat bewildered and saw a magical phenomenon.

The surrounding heatwave from the explosion seemed to be blocked by an invisible, transparent barrier, which also pushed the smoke and dust away.

She looked up and saw a tall figure.

Ron had somehow ended up on the ring, holding Urtia in one arm and gently pushing away the aftershocks of the explosion with the other.

The flames raged wildly before Ron's power of cessation, but could not advance even an inch further.

Ultear stared blankly at Ron's profile, the magic she had gathered in her hands dissipating.

Her mind went blank for a moment, she was speechless, and she didn't even notice Ron holding her; she just couldn't take her eyes off him.

Azuma only then came to her senses and was shocked to find that Ron had already arrived in the ring.

What happened? When did he arrive?

Even the commander of the high-ranking officials watching from the observation platform stared wide-eyed, for this time he truly couldn't see Ron's movement trajectory.

As the other unsuccessful candidates and other members of Congress were stunned by the unexpected rescue, Ron lowered his head slightly and gave a reliable smile.

"Oh, it seems you've run into a little trouble. Do you need any help?"

"Why did you come to save me?"

Ron raised his gaze to the flames before him and casually explained:

"Because I heard you say you gave up. My hearing is perfectly fine, unlike that referee and that dark-skinned guy on the other side."

After the aftershocks subsided, Ron then dispersed the remaining flames and looked up at the referee, who had his head bowed.

"Hey, referee, they've given up."

He then suppressed his smile and turned to look at Azuma, who was staring at him in shock.

"Hey, is all you do is bully women?"

Chapter 118 is fine, because you're very weak~

Upon hearing Ron's question, Azuma paused for a moment, then frowned.

"What are you talking about? I didn't let go just now because I was afraid she would feign surrender. I was just in case. I didn't expect the referee wouldn't hear me admitting defeat."

Ron chuckled, then retorted without hesitation.

"Is it possible that the referee couldn't hear her surrender because you choked her?"

I think you're clearly using the competition as a pretext to maliciously hurt someone.

Azuma's brows furrowed even more, and she clenched her fists tightly.

"you......!"

"Stop arguing."

He angrily tried to retort, but the sound of footsteps behind him interrupted him from what he was about to say.

Just then, several judges hurriedly came over from the observation deck.

The lead judge, Yajima, looked at the two men with a grim expression and tried to reassure them:

"Let's deal with the immediate issues first."

He then patted Ron on the shoulder and nodded with satisfaction.

Seeing that Ajma had said so, Ron fell silent.

"Um, can you put me down now?"

Then Urudia raised her head and asked Ron, who was still holding her tightly, with a helpless look.

"Oh, I forgot, sorry."

Ron then came to his senses and gently put her down.

Urudia quickly stood up, frowning slightly as she glanced at Ron speechlessly.

Ron turned his head, looking puzzled, after sensing the gaze directed at him.

Why are you angry?

"I didn't."

Ron nodded calmly and turned back to face the camera.

"That's true, I haven't done anything to wrong you."

Hearing Ron's words, Urudia was even more speechless. She then turned her face away, her cheeks flushed red.

She realized that after being rescued by Ron, she felt a strange emotion she had never experienced before, which made her show a complicated expression.

Subsequently, Speaker Crawford and Toki Anderba also arrived in the ring.

With the intervention of judges Yajima and Toki, the chaos in the ring was temporarily suppressed, and the match was temporarily suspended.

The council first removed the judge who had committed serious dereliction of duty, preventing him from making any further judgments.

To prevent any further mishaps during the assessment, Toki Anderba personally announced in the ring that he would personally serve as the referee for the upcoming sparring matches.

The speaker and other council members unanimously agreed to appoint Toki Anderba, and the decision was passed unanimously.

Then, Toki Andba walked toward Urutia to make a final confirmation.

"Tia, did you just clearly express your willingness to concede?"

Urutia took a deep breath and nodded slightly.

"Yes, I just admitted defeat."

Then Toki Anderba walked up to Ron, who looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Ron, regarding what you just said about malicious injury, in the end we still think Azuma's judgment was correct, so he still advanced to the finals."

"Oh, is that what it is?"

Ron then adjusted his sunglasses, indicating that he didn't mind.

"You don't need to tell me specifically. This result is the same to me. It's okay."

Then, seeing that Ron had no objection to the result, Toki Anderba picked up the magic megaphone and officially announced the results of the competition.

"Azuma won the second elimination match of the third round!"

This concludes the third round of practical assessments!

After the announcement, the judges and the unsuccessful candidates applauded in agreement.

Upon hearing this definitive answer, Azuma gave a cold laugh.

"Did you see that?"

My judgment was correct; showing no mercy was my way of showing respect to the strong!

Azuma looked at Ron and began trying to save face.

To everyone's surprise, Ron burst out laughing and started to complain after hearing Azuma's words.

"What respect for the strong? Don't be ridiculous. Didn't you climb the ranks by beating up girls all the way up?"

Azuma was stunned for a moment, then retorted angrily:

"What do you mean? I advanced by fighting my way up honestly!"

Ron, with one hand in his pocket and slightly bent over, stared directly at Azuma.

"You were randomly matched with girls in the first two games, so I won't go into details."

Take this third round for example. As the first place winner, you had the option to choose from three people. Even though there were two other people present, including me and Max, you deliberately avoided us and chose to fight the only girl. Why?

"Aren't you just picking on the weak because you're afraid you can't beat us and won't make it to the finals?"

"Don't talk nonsense, I...!"

Azuma instinctively wanted to refute, but the words got stuck in her throat halfway through.

Then he suddenly realized that, on the surface, he had indeed been randomly picking girls from beginning to end, and in the end, he even chose Urudia, which was indeed true.

He widened his eyes, realizing that if he continued talking like this, he would be making excuses.

Seeing Azuma's frustrated expression, the previously quiet losers were instantly awakened by Ron's words and began to whisper among themselves.

"Yeah, isn't that bullying the weak and fearing the strong?"

"Yeah, they deliberately pick on weaker girls to beat up, and even after they admit defeat, they still try to kill them. It's really perverted..."

Upon hearing Ron's words, the judges' gazes towards Azuma instantly changed, and they all unconsciously revealed obvious disgust.

Speaker Crawford, standing to the side, was sweating profusely and deeply shocked.

What's suddenly wrong?!

With just a few words, Ron turned Azuma into the enemy of the entire crowd.

Azuma glared at Ron, knowing that anything he said now would be taken as an excuse, so he could only prove him wrong with actions.

Azuma turned to look at Toki Andeba and asked loudly:

"Commentator Toki, since there's only one match left, let's start right away."

I want to defeat him personally on the field and prove myself with my strength.

Toki Anderba paused for a moment, then looked around the ring, now a mess from the explosion.

"Even so, according to the assessment process, I'll still reorganize the arena, and besides..."

"There's no need to go through all that trouble."

Azuma shook her head, then spoke to the commentator, Toki:

"This minor damage won't affect the competition, let's start right away."

Faced with Azuma's impatience, Toki Andba sighed helplessly, then turned to look at Ron.

"If the competition is to be held earlier, it still requires the consent of both contestants, Ron, you..."

Ron smiled and nodded, indicating that there was no problem.

Azuma looked at him, then said in a sarcastic tone:

"Don't you need to take some time to recover your magic? Otherwise, if you lose later, you might say I won unfairly."

Ron maintained his confident smile and pushed up his magic mirror.

"No problem..."

He then waved his hand and raised his voice.

"Because you're weak~"

Chapter 119 The Virtual Form: Zi!

"you......!"

After being manipulated like this by Ron time and time again, the veins on his forehead bulged, and he was about to lose his temper.

Toki Andba's eyes widened. He knew that Azuma was on the verge of exploding with rage, so he wasted no more time.

He quickly stood on the suspended platform and waved to the others below.

"All other irrelevant people on the stage, please retreat outside the barrier. We'll begin once everyone is ready."

After he finished speaking, everyone else near the arena got up, and he controlled the suspended platform to retreat to a higher and safer altitude.

He made the announcement only after everyone had evacuated and returned to their seats.

"The final practical test has officially begun!"

As soon as Councilor Toki Anderba finished speaking, Azuma raised his hands and immediately channeled his magic power, creating a powerful shockwave around him.

"The Mad Wood Prison"