"Sir, they"re giving up! Lanthanor is no match for our Kingdom, especially with the new mages! They have no choice but to bow down to your Majesty!"
In the private room that was floating in the air which belonged to the Axelor Kingdom, the King was sitting in front of a table and watching the ground with a suspicious expression on his face.
Meanwhile, the ministers around him who were mostly fighters had begun to cheer and gloat, thinking that their victory was near.
They couldn"t be blamed, as Axelor had gone all out to ensure that they would take home the ultimate glory.
Only, along with the King, the other mages were also just watching, knowing that Lanthanor was up to something.
This scene was common all over the stadium where all those who couldn"t view what was happening using elementary vision came to the conclusion that Lanthanor was giving up.
Those who had bet on Lanthanor and all those that were supporting it still cheered, hoping for some sort of miraculous comeback.
Meanwhile, the citizens of the Axelor Kingdom and even those from the Black Raven who had deep-seated hatred against Lanthanor started to shout insults with glee.
Yet, the King of Axelor, who had just realized what was going on, banged on the table and stood up, startling all those around him.
"d.a.m.n you, Daneel," he said with frustration, before teleporting away from the room.
….
35 soldiers had already come and gone, but Lanthanor was still absent from the leaderboard.
By now, even the people in the stadium who were rooting for Lanthanor"s victory started to lose hope.
The boos from before had gotten louder than ever, and it looked like the host would be the one who would be last among all the kingdoms.
"Useless Lanthanorians!"
"Axelor will win!"
"Bunch of useless wannabes!"
As shouts like these resounded across the stadium, the 36th soldier walked up to the stage and looked up with a wide smile on his face.
Seeing the smile, the gloating expressions of those watching with the zoom trinkets froze, as theyrealized that something was different.
Soon enough, this became apparent even to those who didn"t have the trinkets.
For the first time, an arrow had just risen up into the air and was now floating in front of the soldier.
The same funnel from before which had appeared in the same spot since the first compet.i.tor from Lanthanor had walked up to the stage came into existence again, and the arrow entered it smoothly.
BOOM
With a sound akin to that of a ballista that unloaded its bolt of death, the arrow shot forward and thundered through each target.
It was so fast that it almost become a blur, with the common citizens being unable to follow it with the naked eyes.
Yet, those who had trained to at least the Amateur Human level stood up with shock, as their eyes stuck to the arrow that seemed like it wouldn"t stop until it reached the depths of s.p.a.ce.
By now, the mages in the stadium had already started to understand what was going on.
Only, their shock seemed to be cemented onto their faces as the name of the 36th soldier appeared on the scoreboard.
Those who had been booing Lanthanor and shouting those lines stood up with a jolt, with their eyes wide open and their jaws hanging, as if they were the ones being impaled by the arrow instead of the targets.
Even then, they prepares to sit back down, thinking that this wouldn"t repeat.
Yet, they were proven wrong right away.
As they watched on with growing horror, each soldier performed similarly, making their names appear on the scoreboard with each only rising above the one who had performed before them.
Indeed, with time, the power with which the arrow was propelled forward only seemed to be increasing.
Almost half the stadium were standing up with shock, while the other half were screaming mindlessly.
Yet, most of them still didn"t know what was going on.
"Folks, in all my years as a presenter, I"ve never before seen someone put up such a brilliant performance using exquisite teamwork. For all those who haven"t understood what Lanthanor is doing, let me explain."
Sylvesto came to their rescue.
"All of you might have heard of mage formations where mages work together to create incredible things. Although this is supposed to be an individual compet.i.tion, no one said that teamwork cannot come into it. The speed with which the arrow is propelled forward depends on the stability of the first mechanism. You might have thought that the commander was only making one funnel, so many of you have missed that she also made others further up the route of the arrow, but these are invisible as only the foundation for them was laid. After her, each and every soldier took back control of those elementary particles that she used and made each funnel stronger and stronger. Of course, the focus was kept on the first and the others are almost out of sight, so many of you might not have noticed them."
This was met by nods from those who were majorly in the VVIP section, as they were in possession of the zoom trinkets capable of seeing that it was not one funnel, but multiple once that had been made by the Lanthanorian soldiers.
"Let me make it clear to you all. It was like building a house. The commander laid the foundation, and the soldiers after her made the foundation stronger and stronger. Finally, this foundation made it possible for each and every soldier to put up such remarkable performances. For all those with zoom trinkets, I encourage you to look inside the funnel to see that the tornado meant to shoot the arrow gets stronger with each soldier. In other words, Lanthanor sacrifices the majority of its soldiers so that the rest could reach the top. And if you"re all thinking that this is something easy that can be achieved by any Kingdom, you would be wrong. The skill required to be able to take over the elementary particles which had been stable but then left alone in the air to continue the spell is something that would require years of practice, and even uncommon talent. I guess it isn"t for naught that it is said that the mages of Lanthanor excel in teamwork the most, as it is required for them to be able to deploy the mage formations that are their trademark."
Sylvesto"s long explanation went over the heads of many listening, but the one thing they understood was that teamwork had been the key to this amazing performance.
And as for those who had been thinking that this was just a trick that would have been mimicked by any other Kingdom, they sat down with frustration.
Meanwhile, Norcet and the mage who had similarly been watching everything with awe on their faces turned to the side to see the kid who was grinning from ear to ear.
While resisting the irritation they felt, they remembered the thoughts their heads when they had looked forward to teaching the kid a lesson when Lanthanor lost and made him lose all the money.
No one could have imagined that he would be the one winning most of all, while both of them would be losing hundreds of Gold Lans due to the bets that they had placed.
After this realisation, they looked up to the booth which was marked with the logo of the Lanthanorian Kingdom.
All across the stadium, shock transformed into either happiness or frustration while everyone looked up at this room in which the king was supposed to be sitting.
In fact, inside the Black Raven Kingdom"s booth, even Faxul had turned around and was watching Daneel.
Meanwhile, the King of Lanthanor who was the target of so much attention sheepishly rubbed his nose and grinned, seeing the final scoreboard that was now s.h.i.+ning in the center of the stadium.
Lanthanor: 14 Points
Black Raven Kingdom:5 Points
Kingdom of Arafell:7 Points
Axelor:12 Points
Eldinor: 12 Points
"Daneel, isn"t this supposed to be an individual compet.i.tion?"
At this question from Faxul, Daneel chuckled before saying, "Of course it is. They acted individually, didn"t they."
As Faxul just shook his head at the answer, both of them didn"t realize that they were currently being stared at by many eyes filled with rage and the realization that they had been defeated despite all their elaborate preparations.
Four such eyes were watching from a spot over 10,000 m in the air, where there stood the King of Axelor with a man who hadn"t entered the Central Continent in decades.