A burst of magical energy swept through the hall. This got the attention of the all competitors who were waiting there. As he was the chosen warrior from Hecate's faction he was very popular among the hunter's community. Though, he probably wasn't strong enough as Arnold because of the magic power being one of the mysterious powers in the universe, he was recognized as a potential force.
With that another burst of completely different energy appeared. This time it was Sasha.
" Well, touch him if you dare!"
Sasha got in front of Luke and faced Rex.
" Sasha, so you are really in love with him, huh?"
" Does it even matter to you? I don't owe you anything!"
Rex growled at Sasha and a dangerous aura erupted from him. His eyes was bloodshot with extreme rage.
" Bitch, you dared to cheat on me? Earlier I thought I should just beat him up so much that he would never look for you anymore! But now it seems I should first discipline you!"
" So you want to discipline me? Bring it on then!"
Bright dark red high tech armour appeared on her body along with cosmic energy powered mechanical wings. Those four wings were levitating in the air just behind her even though they had no connection with the armour. A highly detailed logo of a phoenix appeared on her chest and the surrounding area began to heat up as the red cosmic energy flowing out from her body. Her iconic weapon, the phoenix spear which had four large blades also appeared in her right hand.
This scene was new to everyone who had been watching. Even Rex hadn't seen Sasha using something like this before when they were hunting.
" Enough! This is not the arena. No participant can fight here!"
An old man who seemed to be at least 70 years old emerged from the onlookers. The man was wearing a long white robe with green strips and was wearing a batch which contained 4 stars.
" Look it's him! Saint of the god Poseidon!"
" It really is him! He personally intervened in this! I mean a high rank official like him to appear here? Isn't it suspicious?"
" I ask both of you to stand down or otherwise relinquish your right to compete and get the hell out of here!" He grunted with extreme disgust. Even though he was an old man who seemed to die in a few years the authoritative aura he displayed was so much intimidating that everyone for a moment had an idea of relinquishing their rights and run away from him to a far away place.
Both Sasha and Rex looked at each other for a moment and then she turned her face towards Luke.
Luke calmly nodded.
And then Sasha retracted her power and returned to her place by the side of Luke.
Rex still blinded by love watched this scene with a face as if he had suddenly eaten shit just now!
" Rex even though you are the chosen of Hecate, I don't mind kicking you out from this competition!" Old man grunted.
Rex looked at Luke and mouthed, " Pray that you won't meet me as your opponent." And then he retracted his energy.
Luke looked at his eyes for a few seconds and before returning his gaze.
The old man walked to them. He ignored Luke and turned towards Sasha.
" General Sasha. It's a pleasure to meet you in person. This little disturbance, can you just forget it on behalf of me? After we are all fellow humans here, no?"
" Senior Almos, it's better if he apologize to my boss, right now! If he did that faithfully I promise I will just let it go."
" Ah, who is your boss, Sasha? If I may ask you?"
" It's him, General Luke, the new Saint of my faction." Sasha showed Luke with extreme reverence after saying that.
Luke turned his face and looked directly in to Almos's eyes.
" Hello, Senior, I'm Luke Whitestone, the new Saint of Athena's faction. It's pleasure to meet you here"
The old man observed Luke from his head to toe before extending his hand for a handshake.
" Nice to meet you too!"
Even after the handshake Almos kept looking at Luke's face. It was clear that he was trying his best to find something special about him to justify him being a saint.
Even after touching his hand he couldn't feel any cosmic energy flowing inside Luke.
' Is he stronger than me? No it can't be! Athena isn't that powerful to make someone stronger than me! If it is Zeus or Hades I could have believed it, but Athena, no way!'
That was his thoughts.
" Excuse me sir!" A government official reached Luke and called him respectfully.
" Your rooms is ready. Here are your key cards. Please take it and proceed to the room number 419 and 420. They are at the 7th floor."
" Ah okay thanks!"
Luke then looked at Almos.
" Well if there is a chance, I hope to see you again, senior. Having your help was a great blessing for me."
With that Luke and Sasha left.
Almos looked at Luke who was getting on the elevator.
" Interesting, I hope you will survive at least in the first round!" His mouth curled in to a wicked smile.
After reaching his room, first thing Luke did was eat. It was a long time since the last time he ate something from the Royal Capital.
Of course, gods didn't depend on food to survive. But they could still taste. So, he thought even though he was a god, he must eat food from Royal Capital.
That day he ate several plates of roasted chicken, pizza and so many other food that he wanted to taste!
" Ah! This feeling of eating! Even a god can't resist this!" He screamed in satisfaction.
The next day.
" Boss, you just have to go in that direction and wait for your turn with other competitors until your turn, okay? Since, I'm not a competitor I can't go there with you. If you want any help, just call me, okay?"
Sasha had been repeatedly telling him about the rules and regulations of the competition and how the procedures of the competition are taken place and how should he get along with them and so many other things since the morning.
As the god of origin, he naturally knew everything he needed to know but Sasha didn't seem to understand that.
" Boss, I know you know these things, but I'm just repeating it for you to confirm it." That's what Sasha told him.
" Okay."
Luke gave her a confident smile before leaving her at the entrance to the waiting area.
Luke entered waiting area number 14. Inside he saw at least 500 hunters waiting.
And he saw a familiar face among them.
Rex wearing his red battle dress was also with the contestants of waiting area 14.
' Ah, it's him again. I think today is a bad day for me.' Luke sighed.
" Contestant number 652, Luke Whitestone entered the Waiting Area number 14." Just as he was about to leave from Rex's field of vision a system generated voice reverberated through the hall.
Rex noticed him immediately and his face curled in to a wicked smile.
Luke seeing that once again sighed and went to a corner where no one was paying attention to.
After a few minutes, a big holographic screen appeared in the middle of the hall. The image of the Saint of the Poseidon's faction, Almos was shown in the screen.
" Welcome, to the Annual Hunter's Competition!
And my dear contestants today is the first day of your way for eternal glory. And without further nonsense let's start the first round of the competition !
And unlike previous years this round had slightly changed due to the request from the gods!
The changes are as following,
Unlike previous years, this time the first round will be a mass battle between the contestants in their waiting rooms. Instead of fighting monsters in a virtual space and collecting points, this time you all have to defeat others to collect points by defeating others to get in to the top 10 places in their respective waiting areas.
And to maintain the competition's fairness the top 10 from the previous year's competitions are excluded from this round. So from now I declare they have already qualified for the second round."
" What the fuck? Do we have to defeat other hunters to pass this test?"
" That's unfair!"
" Does this mean they can even kill each other for a spot in top 10?"
Almos's voice awoke again.
" Of course, unless it was decided as an act out of defence, any attack considered to be fatal, will disqualify the contestant who is involved in that.
And I would like to guarantee that all these arrangements were done under the consent of gods.
The round 1 of the hunter's competition starts now!"
An uneasy silence appeared in the waiting room.
" Things are going to become ugly. Today really is my bad day." For the third time Luke sighed.