"I heard that your King broke up a fight last night, where he said that the compet.i.tion is still fair. What are your thoughts on this "fair" compet.i.tion, oh powerful commander of Lanthanor?"
Hearing the mocking voice behind him, Luther turned around to see the commander of the Axelorian contingent who was waiting just like him to enter the stadium to take part in the test of skill of the Fighter archery tournament.
The second day of the Olympics had started with as much vigor as the first, with the people all having spent the night to rest and gather energy to cheer on their favorite compet.i.tors today.
The report was that betting had s.h.i.+fted away from the a.n.a.lyst"s predictions, with many people spreading out their money instead of putting everything on one outcome.
Still, the scoreboard which showed the total score of each Kingdom clearly let everyone know that Axelor was in the lead to win, and that too by a lot of points.
"I can only say that your skin has reached new heights of thickness."
As a man of few words, Luther chose to say just this before walking forward as the bell had just sounded which was the indication for them to enter the stadium.
Yet, he still heard the snickering from that commander who knew very well where that trump card of the Axelor Kingdom had originated from.
For the past two months, Luther had completely absorbed himself in the training for the event, not allowing himself to mull over his memories that had been triggered by the meeting with the king where he had been asked about the Hidden Kill Sect.
Even now, he was completely focused on following his instructions and helping the king in every way possible as the guilt that he hadn"t been able to a.s.sist in that matter was still with him.
Walking up to the stage, he saw that Lanthanor was actually the kingdom that would go first today.
The announcer was in his usual jovial mood, joking around with the crowd and settling them in.
The rules of the test of skill were simple and straightforward: each and every soldier would be fitted with a trinket that limited their power to the peak of the Amateur Human realm.
This time, there were no floating targets in the air above. Instead, a large circle had been cleared on the ground on which targets painted on parchments were moving around in erratic patterns.
Some jabbed left and right, while others moved straight. There was an inherent randomness to them, making it so that n.o.body would be able to predict their next move.
"Will there be another upset? I sure hope not, but it"s the time for the Kingdom of Lanthanor to take the stage. Let"s see together what happens!"
The task was to stand in the center of the circle and hit every target.
Points would be given based on the accuracy with which each target was. .h.i.t, and also on the time required to finish hitting them all.
After the officials asked him to move forward to the center of the circle, Luther looked around at all the floating pieces of parchment which were trying their hardest to be as difficult to hit as possible.
There were over 100 targets, and as the bell sounded to indicate that his time had started, he surprised everyone by closing his eyes.
Seeing this, the crowd and even the announcers started to wonder just what the h.e.l.l was wrong with this kingdom that each and every action of theirs had to be something that shocked them.
Yet, what happened next made their minds go blank.
ZIP
The first arrow was shot by Luther while his eyes were still closed, but it actually went through three targets which just so happened to be in a straight line at the moment he had taken his shot.
Some people started to think it was a fluke, but he proved them wrong the next second as his next arrow had also managed to hit multiple targets, this time even penetrating a fourth one before falling down.
ZIP ZIP ZIP ZIP ZIP ZIP
Arrow after arrow impaled the targets one by one, with each of them not missing the bulls-eye even once.
His eyes were still closed, and even his breathing seemed to be steady, as if this was all just a walk in the park.
"Incredible! G.o.d-like! Who is this man?"
As this question was asked by the announcers, the spell of silence that had been cast on the audience was broken, making way for thunderous cheers that startled even the birds that were flying thousands of meters in the air.
Pure, unadulterated skill.
This was what they had come to see, and the joy and excitement they felt at being witness to such G.o.dlike talent was something that made them jump up and down while chanting the name "Lanthanor" over and over again.
In response to the adoration, Luther only turned towards the private booth of Lanthanor and bowed before walking back to the line of soldiers.
In this way, the second day of the Olympic started off with a bang, and even though there were no other performances that were as impressive to watch as Luther"s, the crowd still loved each and every second of the compet.i.tion.
Hence, even though the final results once again reflected the Fighter might of the Axelor Kingdom, most in the crowds were still talking about the excellent performance put up by the Lanthanorian Kingdom.
Meanwhile, the King of Axelor who was observing this had an ashen expression on his face.
He had expected that Axelor would be the most cheered contender for the dominating performance in all the stages of the compet.i.tion so far, but this clearly wasn"t the case.
"My King, this commander has always been known as the most powerful of those in the Lanthanor Kingdom, but he has never displayed this amount of skill. His file has been updated, and we have sent out new scouts to find out more about his past. Would you like anything else done?"
In response, King Safiros shook his head, knowing that this was probably being done by all the other rulers.
Indeed, the commander of the Lanthanor Kingdom, who was currently standing in front of the King of Lanthanor with his head bowed, had showed such a degree of skill that he had sent the information sections of all the other kingdoms scrambling with a bid to find out just where he might have learned something so impressive.
"It is from your past in the Hidden Kill Sect, isn"t it?", asked Daneel, but he wasn"t expecting an answer.
Just as he had thought, Luther just kept his head bent and did not look up.
That bow before had seemed like it was an apology, but Daneel was puzzled about something.
"You are the top scorer in the tournament and you"ve also gotten the people to talk more about us, but why did you expose your skill, Luther?"
Indeed, although Daneel was happy that Lanthanor now had more favor due to the amazing performance of his commander, he wondered why the man hadn"t chosen to hide what was clearly a hidden trump card of his.
In response to the king"s question, Luther only said, "My King, its all right because this is not the only skill I have."
Raising one eyebrow in response, Daneel nodded and said "Apology accepted," before dismissed him and focusing his eyes on the test of skill part of the mage tournament which was going on below him.
Unlike the test of power where he had been able to use teamwork to clinch a victory, this stage had no way for him to use that aspect of his soldiers to perform better.
The test of skill for mages was simple: they had to stand in the same circle with the floating targets on the piece of parchments like the fighters before, but they had to form arrows using the element in which they were specialized.
The soldiers in all the armies each had certain specializations, as not everyone was like Daneel who could equally comprehend all types of elementary particles easily.
All mages had rudimentary understandings and comprehensions of all elementary particles, but it was only in their specialization that they were able to cast complex and powerful spells.
This hadn"t come into play in the test of power before as they had only needed to strengthen the foundation of the funnel which did not require a very strong comprehension in other elements.
Hence, the results now were more in line with the skill of the soldiers who had been deployed.
As Daneel viewed the final scores at the end of the 2nd day of the Olympics, he sighed and prepared himself, as he knew that the next 4 days were going to be very, very crucial.