Radahn held the closing ceremony and the banquet that followed according to the original plan. He also extended an olive branch to Yuno and Ogha, hoping to recruit them into the Redmane Army. Yuno gave no answer, but Ogha was delighted. After treatment from the Witch, the two fellow sufferers had mostly recovered and regained their fighting strength.
"I'm willing to start as a soldier!" Ogha swore his allegiance to Radahn on the spot.
Radahn was very satisfied with Ogha's response.
Once Radahn had finished attending to everything, Jerren came over and said, "The more I think about this, the more something feels wrong."
"How so?" Radahn asked.
Demigods and humans saw things differently. Those in lofty positions overlooked many things, and that was when someone closer to the ground like Jerren needed to step in.
Jerren thought for a moment and said, "I think that coward did it on purpose."
"On purpose?" Radahn was puzzled.
"Yes. When he played dead at the start, it really might have been a strategy to conserve his strength." Jerren tried to analyze it. "He didn't do anything out of line in the later matches either, so why did he suddenly explode in those last two?"
"He had a bad temper and couldn't hold it in anymore." Radahn thought nothing of it.
"No, no, no. There was absolutely no need." Jerren rubbed his chin, racking his brains. "All he needed to do was win. And at the end, when he wrapped that whip around himself and tore his flesh open, he didn't look like a coward at all."
Recalling the sight of Zhao Si drenched in blood, Radahn began to have doubts too. "True. Then why did he say all those things?"
"Were you angry at the time?" Jerren asked.
"Of course I was!