Saiyan stowaways on the Ark

"The strong..."

He seemed to have used his last ounce of strength to squeeze out that short word.

Then, the hilt of the sword in his hand broke, and the Nightmare Knight's body fell limply like a puppet with its strings cut.

[Main Text] Terra's World's Greatest Martial Arts Tournament. Debate Chapter: Chapter 98: Nine out of ten operators have beaten you up.

Tora had a wonderful dream.

I dreamt that I was living peacefully on a grassland with my family and friends, undisturbed by outsiders.

He dreamt of the legendary, invincible Khan, who personally bestowed upon him the feathers of the Kheshig army, officially making him his right-hand man in battle.

Tora had a nightmare.

I dreamt that my kind and gentle mother suffered an undeserved calamity, her throat was ripped open by a ravenous beast, and then the beast turned its blood-soaked, ferocious face toward my young self.

—He learned what fear was and the power of fear.

I dreamt of the Kheshig army whipping the entire land, being chased and routed by a hundred-handed, thousand-eyed creature exuding a foul stench on the frozen earth where black snow was falling. Then, the monstrous creature with the terrifying form seemed to give me a "smile".

—But this nightmare doesn't belong to him; it only occasionally floods into his mind like an unshakeable ghost after he becomes aware of his control over it.

To eradicate the former, he needs to become powerful.

In order to conclude the latter's story, he needs to continue his journey through the heavens.

"Ugh...uh...ahh ...

The young nightmare struggled to get up from the hospital bed.

The unfamiliar environment and the pungent smell of medicine.

This is a hospital, and for the Nightmare Knights who despise civilization, it is also a prison of civilization.

In the past, when someone was injured, they would either leave it alone or go outside the city to gather herbs.

How many times on the long journey of heaven have you suffered such life-threatening injuries?

"...Damn it."

As a sharp pain shot through his brain, he remembered what he had gone through to end up here.

To be beaten unconscious—no, was that really a beating?

All he remembered was the vegetable knight raising his hand, and then a beam of light covered his vision, engulfing the Kheshig legion he had summoned.

Then came the pain as if he had been struck all over by a strong Minoan warrior, and the scalding heat of being bathed in Sargon's hottest sand.

Have you calmed down yet?

This was the only complete sentence he remembered after the war.

"Child, you're awake?"

One person opened the door to the medical ward and came to Tora's bedside.

The old Kuranta Knight Vald, who often appeared in Horror Martin, was here.

"...Batbayar, did you bring me here?"

Tora spoke in an ancient language and asked a question using the name the old soldier no longer wanted to use.

The mere mention of this name brings back memories of his time as a knight-errant.

There were also the various oaths he had made to the old Khan.

However, he is now a citizen of Qazimir, and no one would be attached to the identity of a subject of a fallen dynasty.

The old knight, Wald, also replied reluctantly, in somewhat halting words:

"It's not me, it's the food..."

Just as Wald was about to explain using the knight's name, Thomas's voice came.

Thomas wasn't wearing a mask at this moment; after all, they were on Rhodes Island, and there was no need to hide his identity.

"Tomat".

However, Tora's face is now wrapped in bandages, which is not much different from when he was wearing a helmet before.

"...I could feel it, the same aura, so that must be your true name. You defeated me; my army turned to ashes like withered grass on a prairie ablaze. So I will also reveal my true name to you..."

Tora seemed to be trying to sit up, but the old knight Wald pressed her down on the shoulder and made her sit down.

This nightmare seeking his compatriots had some unpleasant encounters with the old knight. Indeed, the two were far apart in strength. The old knight was long past his prime, but now, he could easily subdue a battered and bruised young man.

"...Tora."

Whether it was due to her physical injuries or the fact that her crazy obsession and youthful vigor had been utterly crushed by the person in front of her, Tora lost her previous arrogance after seeing Tomat.

"You can lie down normally, right? You were causing me trouble like a madman before, and I ended up getting scolded by Lin Guang for a long time afterward—you're the one who gets all the peace and quiet."

Tomat, seeing the other party's current state, was quite angry.

He looks like an ordinary injured person now.

That was just a suicidal madman.

If you can stay normal, why not do it sooner? Why wait until you're taught a lesson before choosing to behave?

"...So that's how it is. This is the organization where the legendary Radiant Knights reside."

Tora was quite quick-witted; after hearing Tomat's words, she immediately realized where she was.

"You know what, when Nearl and I brought you back, we found out that you'd actually tried to force your way into Rhodes Island several times already..."

At that time, although the armor was shattered beyond recognition, the operatives responsible for security at the entrance and exit still recognized the Nightmare Knight.

They shouted in surprise at Nearl and Thomas:

"Isn't this the rogue knight who's been trying to break into Rhodes Island for the past few nights?!"

Tora knew long ago that Rhodes Island had come to the Great Knights' Territory, and had also heard that the Radiant Knight, who was skilled in martial arts and of noble character, was on the island.

Driven by certain other obsessions—such as his fascination with the legend of the "golden-blooded pegasus that defeated the Khan"—he harbored a certain fanaticism towards the Nearl family.

Tora's path to heaven is filled with fascination with and imitation of the past, but he is completely unaware of it.

He had no interest in the cowardly Marna, nor was the young Maria worth his time. In his view, Margaret's return to the light was a divine revelation, giving him the opportunity to seize the challenge.

The result was a series of closed doors. The conflicts were so small and ended so quickly that Rhodes Island's gatekeepers didn't even bother to report them, simply regarding them as drunken rogue knights.

"...It is surprising and shameful that after repeatedly challenging the gatekeeper without success, I once thought that my martial arts skills were not good enough and I was determined to continue to hone them."

Tora continued speaking from his hospital bed:

"So I stopped focusing on those ridiculous competitions and stopped honing my skills in the cramped cages built by businessmen."

"So the rumor that you stay up all night looking for people to fight is true?"

Tora nodded, but then said in a confused yet indignant voice:

"But...something even more surprising is yet to come..."

"I...I was knocked down again and again."

"I would intuitively encounter those strong individuals in the streets and alleys, and then challenge them, but I... never won a single time."

“Sarkaz, Kuranta, Luper, Pero, Felin—none of them were wearing knight's armor, yet they readily accepted the challenge, easily defeating me with strength surpassing that of competitive knights…”

"I started to doubt myself, questioning why I was so weak..."

In Tora's account, he recently began to question his own power due to a series of events.

However, he, who craves challenges, will not give up the opportunity to challenge the strong.

He had inadvertently watched Tomat's game and found out that Tomat—the Rookie Cavaliers—would be attending the party, which is why he came to him.

However, at that time, Tora was already in a state of "severely undermined self-confidence".

His self-doubt, along with the indelible nightmares and obsessions in his heart, drove him to make a self-sacrificing, charge-like challenge.

The old knight beside him fell into deep thought as Tora recounted his story.

He felt that the young man was trapped in a nightmare he couldn't escape.

As a member of the same clan, he did not want Tora to continue to be mired in this situation.

Tomat seemed to have sensed something from Tora's story. He took out his improved communicator and took a picture of Tora's armor hanging on the wall of the medical bay.

It was then sent to the Rhodes Island members' casual chat group.

He also left a message saying:

"Does anyone here find this armor familiar?"

Soon, numerous messages responded:

Yan Guo's Little Master [Note: A-Jie]: "Oh, I've seen him before. A while ago, when I was strolling through the night market, a guy wearing this kind of armor came looking for trouble, and I beat him up."

Handmade Knight 02 [Note: Spots]: "This is the armor style of the Nightmare Knight. I know it. I just finished painting the white model of his figure."

Never back down! [Note: Grani] "You've probably run into an imitator. The Nightmare Knight himself also challenges strong opponents everywhere, but those guys who approach people dressed in everyday clothes and ask to fight are probably those people. The officials don't seem to care... Seriously, they don't even pay attention to security during the competition."

You who love 10005℃ [Note: Year]: "I also encountered one. He seemed quite skilled, at least someone who had practiced martial arts. It was a relatively old military technique, but he was just an imitator. The real thing might be even stronger."

The legendary super handsome guy [Note: Extreme]: "What a coincidence, me too. Is that person so popular? There are imitators everywhere."

The highest virtue is like water. [Note: Kal'tsit] "How many times have I told you not to fight privately outside? Those guys who were fighting upstairs, come to me later to pick up your apology forms."

.......

After reading these messages, Tomat turned to Tora with a blank expression.

In other words, nine out of ten operators on Rhodes Island have probably beaten up Tora.

After he repeatedly suffered setbacks, began to doubt his life, and challenged himself to the point of self-abandonment, they brought him here for treatment...

Thomas silently put away the communicator.

"Anyway, when Linguang was lecturing me, he forcibly gave me a lesson on your information for several hours... Let's just say we became friends after this fight. If you want to challenge me in the future, just say so properly, and I won't mind having a match with you."

It's best not to let the child whose self-esteem has already been severely damaged know some things.

"Anyway—just don't fight, okay? It's for your own self-esteem."