Chapter 220: Subdued The Beast With a Needle

Kane and everyone else stared in shock and disbelief at what had just happened. The Verpent, which had been thrashing violently only moments ago, was now lying motionless on the arena floor. Both heads had slumped to the ground, and even its enormous body had stopped moving.

For a moment, the entire arena fell silent.

Then—

A commotion broke out among the audience.

"W-what just happened?"

"Did Kane do that?"

"How is that possible? Or did the beast collapse on its own?"

The spectators exchanged bewildered looks as they tried to make sense of what they had just witnessed. Some had been watching Kane closely, while others had looked away for only a moment before the Verpent suddenly collapsed.

However, no one could confidently explain what had happened.

Even the announcer was momentarily caught off guard. He glanced at the fallen beast before turning toward the holographic display, which was still calculating the results of the evaluation.

A few seconds later, the numbers on the screen changed.

Kane’s record had surpassed Jayden’s!

The audience erupted into another commotion.

Before anyone could react properly, Jayden’s expression twisted in anger.

"That’s impossible!"

He pointed at Kane, his voice carrying across the arena.

"He cheated! There’s no way a D-rank Guide could knock out a C-rank Verpent! That beast is an aggressive corrupted creature, and even I couldn’t keep it down for long! So how could he possibly have won?" He glared at Kane and added, "What did you use?!"

Kane flinched at the sudden accusation.

"I-I didn’t—"

"Don’t try to deny it!" Jayden snapped. "You must have used something to cheat and win against me!"

Naturally, his accusation quickly influenced the audience.

A D-rank Guide with a purification value of only forty-one percent had somehow managed to knock out a C-rank corrupted beast, despite struggling to maintain his guiding ability for most of the evaluation.

It was difficult to believe.

Even a few people who had been rooting for Kane were left uncertain about what had happened. Some began whispering that he might have used an illegal artifact, while others demanded that the academy investigate the matter before declaring him the winner.

"Check him!"

"That’s right! If he didn’t cheat, then why did the beast suddenly collapse?"

"The academy can’t allow someone to win through underhanded methods!"

The accusations grew louder.

The announcer looked toward the professors’ viewing area, waiting for their decision.

After a brief discussion, one of the professors nodded.

"Allow the guards to conduct an inspection."

Several imperial guards had been stationed around the arena to ensure the students’ safety. They had expected nothing more than a duel between students and planned to stand by, but they certainly hadn’t expected to become involved.

Two imperial academy guards immediately stepped forward.

Both were A-rank Sentinels, and their imposing presence alone silenced some of the more unruly students. Each carried specialized equipment used to inspect participants and detect any unauthorized interference during an evaluation.

One guard approached Kane, while the other headed toward the unconscious Verpent.

Kane stood stiffly as the guard began inspecting him. His face was pale, and his hands were still trembling from the exhaustion of the previous fight.

He had barely managed to remain standing until the evaluation ended, and now he was being accused of cheating despite having no idea why the beast had suddenly collapsed.

Meanwhile, in the waiting area assigned to Class 7-D, Sabel was practically fuming.

"Those idiots! What do they mean he cheated? If anyone here should be accused of cheating, it’s that bastard Jayden and his accomplices!"

She gritted her teeth, glaring at the spectators who had been so quick to condemn Kane.

After what had happened to Vesper and the underhanded tricks Jayden had used during his previous matches, Sabel had no patience left for their accusations.

However, her anger didn’t entirely erase her confusion.

She had been watching Kane throughout the evaluation. Although he had managed to hold his ground longer than she expected, his condition had deteriorated considerably as he continued using his guiding ability.

There was no way he could have knocked out that beast with his remaining strength.

At least, not from what she had seen.

Sabel turned toward Aisha, intending to ask her for her thoughts about the match. But the words caught in her throat when she noticed what Aisha was holding.

It was a slender, barely visible needle, scarcely the length of a finger.

Aisha turned it between her fingers as though it were an ordinary object, her expression as calm as ever.

Sabel stared at the needle.

Then she stared at Aisha with wide eyes.

"Y-you...?"

Her mouth opened, but no words came out.

Aisha didn’t explain herself. She simply continued examining the needle before letting out a quiet sigh.

She had initially intended to let Kane finish the match on his own.

After all, he had finally gathered the courage to step onto the arena despite his fear, and she wanted him to prove to himself that he wasn’t as useless as he believed.

Unfortunately, things hadn’t gone as planned.

When Kane’s guiding energy began to weaken, Aisha had sensed the danger almost immediately.

The Verpent had been waiting for an opening. One of its heads suddenly lifted, its jaws spreading wide as a glob of venomous liquid gathered inside its mouth.

At that distance, Kane would have had little chance of avoiding the attack.

Even if the academy’s emergency system intervened, the venom could still have caused severe injuries before the protective measures took effect.

Aisha wasn’t willing to take that risk.

She couldn’t simply rush onto the stage and block the attack herself. Doing so would only create another problem, especially when the entire arena was already watching Kane’s performance.

Fortunately, she had something else at her disposal.

Aisha retrieved a needle from her storage bag and flicked it toward the Verpent at the precise moment it opened its mouth.

The needle was small enough to escape the audience’s attention, and the beast’s own movements had concealed its trajectory. With everyone’s attention fixed on Kane, Aisha had been able to throw it without anyone noticing.

She had aimed for the soft tissue on the roof of its mouth, near the palatine fossa, where a well-placed strike could interfere with the neural pathways controlling its movements.

Serpent-type corrupted beasts had particularly vulnerable structures in their upper oral cavities. Although their bodies were protected by thick scales and powerful muscles, the tissues inside their mouths were far less resistant.

Naturally, the needle hadn’t killed the Verpent. It had merely disrupted the neural signals controlling its motor functions, forcing its enormous body into a comatose-like state.

To everyone watching, it appeared that Kane’s final attempt at subduing the beast had miraculously succeeded.