Gea quickly runs ahead followed by everyone. The female vampyer's eyes are fixed on Karl which gives him an eerie feeling. 'Why is this bitch here? Coincidence?'
Karl glances back at the vampyer and catches her staring at him with possessive eyes. 'Doesn't looks like it.'
The bright sunlight falls on Karl's eyes making him averting his view. The crowd cheers loudly as the female vampyer steps on the stage. Her glamours figure couldn't hide behind her gothic dress and in the sunlight her pale skin looks beautiful as if it was glowing.
The referee steps closer to Gea. "The match begins in a minute be prepared." After giving this instruction the referee walks away from the platform.
Karl looks around the crowd and spots the judges sitting in their majestic flying chairs. The Chief's eyes met with Karl's piercing gaze. In response, the chief gives a thumbs up with a cute smile.
Gea claps his hands together making a loud sound. "Alright everyone! In just a few moments a fate changing opportunity will be given to you, use it wisely as it can be the first step in your career. For the rest of the day trust each other as your life depends on it. Each of the person here is hand picked by me. Therefore the chances of betrayal is in negative. And Remember one thing you all represent Dandelion family. Defeat is not acceptable. If we endure this next few hours only fortune awaits us. For that reason, we need to win."
'Not bad. Despite being a moron he has few good qualities.' Karl smiles as he is impressed by Gea's words. Kol simply nods at Gea's words expressing her agreement. While the female vampyer blankly stares at Karl, only giving a glance for Gea.
"Uwahhh!" Rakhil starts to weep loudly. "S-Sir Gea! After my own parents you are the only one who still believes in me.... I will not betray your expectations." Rakhil tries to hug Gea tightly.
"I get it. Now unhand me, you damn peasant!"
Karl clicks his tongue in annoyance as he watches two kids fooling around.
"Hihihi."
Suddenly few giggles comes from behind and Karl notices that Kol is laughing. "Get away from meee!"
"Hahaha."
Seeing them laugh a foreign feeling blooms in Karl's heart. A feeling which has been experienced by every other person living in the world, a sense of comfort. This feeling of comfort is a different from when he is with Ian or Andressa. A person becomes comfortable or enough open about himself where he feels that the people around him are similar to himself. But with Ian, the social standing was just too vast and things with Andressa were good at first but after their date Karl sees her in a different light.
Suddenly one of the judge with brown skin raises his hand and the loud the stadium becomes quiet. A brown magic circle forms at the palm of Karlos Hema Ratan, the ground began to shake and a lustrous pillar made out of amethyst like rock surges at Kol's feet taking her high in the air. Karl is fascinated by the pillar's prisinte colour.
"Alright! The king has been chosen everyone get ready for incoming enemies." Gea shouts as he swings his short sword like a toddler.
"What's happening?" Karl asks in a panic. But nobody answers him. Rakhil quickly steps forward holding his shield followed by Gea.
Before Karl could grasp the situation, few large tiles merges together forming a golem like creature. It stood at 5 meter in height.
"Protect the tower. Began!" Referee's voiced echoed throughout the arena.
The golem has no complex joints nor any detailed structure. It exactly looks like a clay doll made by a 5-year old. Before the golem could even move, the charging Rakhil slams into the pile of rocks.
THUD!
The impact made a loud sound and the golem was pushed back a few steps. "URGHHHH!" Rakhil's face visibly turns red as he tries to push the golem further.
"Way to go, my retainer! Hiyah!" Gea shouts as he clumsly slashes the golem's leg. Despite all these attacks, the golem stands like a statue. The crowd who was excited for the battle are now dead silent.
"Keep the pressure. Don't let it approach me." Kol yells as she shoots ice arrows in the golem's direction. The arrows successfully hits the golem's head but they turned out to be too fragile as they crumbled without inflicting any minor damage.
"I guess this group will fail as well." Treypin expresses her thoughts.
"Of course. Unlike the first two phases which could have been cleared with brute strength. The third phase forces all such individuals to march together. A knight who cannot march in ranks against the enemies is not a knight." Karlos quotes at the end.
"Agreed. Hmm, what do you think Susen?" Treypin asks.
"Just watch." The chief responses coldly.
"It's working everyone! Keep the pressure!" Gea tries to motivate the team. In response, Rakhil pushes once more with all of his strength.
"HAHHH!" But this time the golem reacts and swings his arm. It directly hits Rakhil's shoulder and launches him in the air.
THUD! THAM!
A simple swing knocked Rakhil to the other side of the stage. The silent crowd cheers loudly as Rakhil gets tossed away like a pebble. 'Huh? What happened?' Gea's neck slowly turns towards Rakhil who is wiggling in pain.
The golem turns to Gea and raises his arm once more, another thought appears in Gea's mind. 'I should move. Yes. I should.'
With shaking hands, he looks back and notices the crowd laughing. 'Why? Why are they laughing?' He takes the first step, only to fall on the ground.
'Water? Where did this come from?'
"GEA!"
A faint muffled voice echoes in his mind. "RUN! GEAA!" Kol screams as she shoots arrows made up of ice at the golem.
BOOM! The golem slammed his arm into the ground, shaking the entire stage. Kol quickly looks away in guilt. 'If only my attacks were a bit stronger.'
The people's screams intensifies. A pair of red eyes observes everything with great interest. 'What an barbaric race. All of them laugh hysterically while one of their own kin is getting trampled by an insentient beast.' The vampyer is observing Kol reaction.
"Heh. Heh." Karl facepalms himself and chuckles. The vampyer glares at Karl, upset by his gesture. "A warrior looks away in shame and guilt because she couldn't save her comrade and you dare to laugh?"
Karl takes a few step forward. "Haah! You got it wrong. I was just laughing at myself. After all this suffering, I thought I met few talented individuals. I thought I could lean on them but….look at them."
The golem moves his arm only to reveal half flatten Gea covered in blood and piss. Gea's jaw and nose has been completely crushed along with his entire left foot. The armour around his chest and lower abdomen was crushed to pieces, but due to this very armour Gea's skull barely remained intact and he survived.
Seeing the enemy breathing, the golem raises his hand once more. "NOO!" Rakhil screams as he struggles to stand straight. Kol grabs her bow but before she could even pull the string the golem strikes.
BAM! The golem smashes the ground.
"WOOAH!!" The cheering suddenly becomes loud. The vampyer smirks and folds her hands. Karl stands behind the golem with dying Gea on his shoulder.
"Do I have to do everything?" He again uses levitating steps to jump back. Kol simply stares at Karl in awe.
"Ugh. Wow. Brother, I didn't knew you could do these movement skills." Rakhil says as he struggles to stand. Multiple trails of blood spills through the cracks of his heavy armour.
"Ugh! Don't get your piss on me." Karl drops Gea's body on the ground. The golem stands once more and turns to the Crystal tower.
"We have to protect the tower at all cost!" Kol exclaims in fear as golem drawing near her. Rakhil grits his teeth and finally draws his blade.
"FACE ME! YOU-" Just as Rakhil is about to dash at the golem, Karl grabs his neck. "If you want to die, then atleast make it useful."
Kol shoots her arrows which makes zero difference.
"Stop that!" Karl yells at Kol.
"You are just making a fool out of yourself." Kol notices the smiles and sounds of laughter around her.
"Is she doing that again?"
"Ha! This might be the weakest group we saw today."
"Even my 5 year old would make more impact than her...."
From below, the vampyer notices Kol's body trembling and sighs loudly. "I-I know...." Tears slowly slid down Kol's cheeks. "That I am not strong. B-but I am trying my best."
'Why so dramatic? I didn't say-' Karl caught Rakhil gawking eyes.
"Brother, you should refrain yourself from openly criticizing a maiden."
Before Karl could argue he noticed the vampyer's eyes gawking at him. 'She agrees?'
THUD! THUD! The golem is dangerously close to the tower, each step shaking the ground.
"ALRIGHT! Rakhil, drop the blade and tackle the golem head on."
"I did that before-"
"Do it. Trust."
"Kol, aim at the feet and freeze the ground behind the golem."
"What will that do?"
"And you." Karl looks at the female vampyer. She glares back, pride and superiority was clearly seen in her gaze. "Stand back and watch."
The vampyer's pupils dilated and her prideful face formed the most intoxicating smile Karl has ever seen. For a second, Karl's lungs forgot to breath. While maintaining eye contact, the female vampyer takes few steps back. "Kalonice Apate Tenebris. My name."
Karl takes a mental note.
Rakhil is on his knees, ready to run at golem on command. The golem is within striking range and with it's hand raised high in the air. Kol pulls the string to fire the arrow.
"Wait!" She stops at Karl's command.
From this close, she can see the golem's amateur and simple build. The joints can only make basic movements, it clearly lacks any sensory organs as well which makes golem's movements very predictable. In normal circumstances, Kol could easily dodge such attacks. But now she felt fear. Fear of getting crushed by 3 tons of rocks.
Fear of betraying people's expectation.
Fear of betraying her own expectations.
Fear overwhelmed her.
The golem's punch is just few metres away from her. "RUN!"
"HAAAA!"
The very next moment Kol sees the golem being pushed back. She looks down. Rakhil alone pushing the entire golem back. "AAAAHHHH!"
"A futile struggle don't you think?" Karlos smirks and expresses his thoughts. But none of the two judges entertains his words.
Sensing the disrespect, Ratan turns to the Chief. "Why so silent? Do you still think they can win?"
Lady Treypin turns her eye to the Chief.
"It is over. They already won." The Chief announces with a confident smile.
"What?"
"Your golem." Chief points at Karl. "Can't defeat him."
Karlos's hand glows as he glares at the Chief. "We see about that."
Rakhil's body is visibly shaking as golem stands strong and starts pushing back. Suddenly, the floor beneath Rakhil's feet cracks as golem bends down, trying to crush the tiny human with it's weight. With bow in hand, the female archer standing away from blood and battle simply watches the poor kid struggling.
"KOL!! YOU BITCH! SHOOT!!" Karl snaps at Kol.
She finally pulls the string and fires the arrows, freezing the floor behind golem's legs. 'Good. Stall him for few seconds. God, this is going to hurt.' Karl takes his left step back and brings his both hands to his face.
"Swoosh….."
He inhales mana through his mouth. His both arms starts to enlarge to an inhuman amount. It looks very grotesque as the blood flow in the arms fastens by a lot, the arms turns blackish red with large veins all over the forearms.
Karl dashes forward while holding the boxing stance, he takes first punch. BOOM!
Second punch. BOOM!
Third punch. BOOM!
A series of pressure punches is launched by Karl.
Rakhil felt the golem's body vibrating with each punch. 'Brother, I knew you could do it.' With a smile, he pushes the golem once more.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"HAAA!" With combined power of both, Karl and Rakhil the golem was being pushed back. The golem takes a step back on the frozen floor and struggles to hold ground down to slippery tiles.
'COME ON!'
Seeing the golem struggling, Kol jumps in joy. "ITS WORKING! Keep it up!" She fires another series of arrows far behind the golem, creating an icy path.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
CRACK! A huge crack appears on the golem's torso due to repeated impact. A floating chair hovers down closer to the stage, Karlos raises his glowing hand and swings it. Then, a third hand merges from the golem's lower joint.
"What?"
The third hand smashes itself into the ground. This becomes an anchor point which holds the golem in one place. Rakhil notices the golem stopped moving. Karl continues to use multiple pressure punch. 'Fuck! I need to destroy that arm or the golem won't move.'
Before Karl could move, the third started to tremble. Kol's eyes who is watching from above opens up wide.
Kalonice glances at the floating chair then to Rakhil. "I guess even pigs has it's benefits?"
Rakhil is lifting the whole arm of the golem in one hand while holding the body in another hand.
"BLESS THE GREAT SAGE!"
With the battle cry, Rakhil holds his ground.
Blood starts to come from Karl's nose. Despite this, he increases his pace. A golem has been pushed almost to the other end of the stage, just few more steps and it will fall.
"YAHHH!" Karl screams as his knuckles crack and starts to bleed. The front of the golem is now painted red with Karl's blood. A sharp pain felt in Karl's brain but he ignores it and continues punching.
Kol is still shooting arrows to keep the floor slippery. Rakhil holds the entire golem in one place. Lastly, Karl is using pressure punches to push the golem further back.
Rakhil finally sees the corner of the stage. Karl launches a series of pressure punches and pushes the golem.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! And it happens at the corner, the golem slips. Rakhil and Karl gives their final blow and tosses the golem off the stage.
THUDD!!
"HAAHH!!" Rakhil screams.
Karl looks at his broken fingers. He doesn't feel pain. He doesn't feel his hands at all.
The referee comes on the crystal tower and grabs Kol's hand. "The golem was disqualified as it fell off the stage. Hence, the tower was defended successfully by team Gea." He raises Kol's hand.
"UWAAA!"
"WHAT WAS THAT??"
"WHO WAS THAT IN RED HEAVY ARMOUR?"
"DID YOU SEE THAT LAST PUNCH?"
The sound of cheers and questions grew louder than ever.