1153: Drawn

Drawn

The appearance of Elthor and his bloodthirsty aura seemed to cause something in the surroundings to shift. Even with how human Elthor's face seemed, his tall and branching white horns stood out like a sore thumb. However, he didn't seem to care about it all in the slightest.  1

Within the Oryx, there were two things a man could take pride in. The first was their smell. Out of consideration for the humans around him, Elthor had always restrained his own and even masked it quite well. However, this second pride was one thing he had absolutely no intention of hiding. 

The mark of an Oryx male, the pride of a Prince of the Oryx Kingdom, his horns. 

The stage slowly filled with participants. After the initial shock of Elthor's appearance and his momentum, many calmed. Right now, Elthor was only at Tier 1 of the Fifth Dimension, even a step or two behind a few of Earth's geniuses, let alone those that were here. Even the weakest of the participants were Tier 4 and 5. Elthor quickly fell to the bottom of his bracket. 

The greatest shame was that there was no one else of Earth chosen with him. Though the odds were low considering the sheer number of participants, it was now certain that Elthor would be on his own. 

"Hey, hey, hey. What exactly are you? Did your mom fuck a deer or something?"

A familiar young man stood forward, curiously observing Elthor from top to bottom. He was none other than 0000001, the archer who acted first. 

Being a member of the Arundo family, he was quite confident in himself. Much like every other genius from a family just beneath the heel of the Viola, Montex and Luxnix, they all believed they only needed just a single chance to shoot by them in a single step. 

He wasn't the strongest genius of the Arundo, but he was definitely up there. If an equivalent rank was made, he would be like the Rankers of the Luxnix Arms, probably in the top 100. Of course, that was only if the Arundo were taken into consideration. Whether he could replicate such a feat if he was a Luxnix… 

"What did you just say?" 

Elthor's gaze narrowed. 

His saber hovered just above the platform they all stood on. However, if one looked closely, after Osron of the Arundo family spoke these words, the slightest twitch of Elthor's wrist had caused the blade to nick the hard stone. 

The touch was so subtle and almost imperceptible that no one noticed, but the Force that coated the blade cut through the stone so smoothly that not a single sound was made. 

To Elthor, his mother was a great taboo. For as long as he could remember, it had always just been him, his father and his brothers. 

To birth a child with affinities for Force as powerful as Leonel's Scarlet Star Force or Elthor's Chaotic Particle Force took a lot out of a woman. Though Elthor was birthed with an ability rather than an Innate Node, and the difficulty was lesser as a result, it still wasn't a smooth process by any stretch… While Leonel's mother almost died, Elthor's own wasn't so lucky. 

Though Elthor's father and his brothers never blamed him nor made him feel like he was to blame, it was still a weight he carried with him. It might very well be why he was so independent as a child, always insisting on forging his own path.

For this Osron individual to dare to say such a thing to him… 

"Begin. The final three will make it to the second day."

Orinik's voice fell, uncaring for the squabbles of those on the platform. Even though there were just over a hundred on the stage now, he had seen too many die in the Void Palace, all of whom were hundreds of times more powerful than the few before him. He had seen hundreds just as eager and willing as Elthor as well, but weren't they all buried just the same… What did it matter? 

"Hohoho, you've got a temper, huh? Did that come from the beast side of your family?" Osron laughed. 

BANG!

Elthor had already vanished from his spot. His enormous saber trailed him like the tail of a comet lit by black light. 

Osron sneered, his bow having already appeared in his hands and two arrows having already been nocked. 

With movements as fluid as water and as easy as breathing, Osron glided backward as he released his arrows. 

Unlike Elthor, Osron had a few members of his own family present. They entered a loose formation together, leaving the former to Osron while they targeted the remaining members of the group. Almost immediately, the group stage was divided into several cliques. 

Those who had less to rely on immediately voiced complaints, but Orinik turned a blind eye to them all. Hadn't he already said clearly there wouldn't be absolute fairness?

Elthor, tho, didn't seem to care. A bestial aura continued to rise from him, the pores of his skin opening and closing as the white fur of his battle fur advanced and retreated. As furious as he was, he was having trouble keeping it all under perfect control, but that did nothing to slow his speed in the slightest. 

His saber glided forward, splitting Osron's two arrows despite their speed and appearing outside the encirclement of their loose formation. 

Osron's smile faded, his expression becoming a touch more serious. He hadn't expected a Tier 1 to deal with his arrows so easily. But, he still didn't panic, his Force surging. He realized that this wasn't a place for him to fool around. Since he had caused this mess, he would deal with it quickly. 

Osron nocked an arrow, his Force surging. The arrow seemed to double in size in an instant, a wild and untameable silver Force wrapping around it with a vicious piercing light. 

Osron took just a half second to prepare this attack. He could already see Elthor's head being skewered through. But, to his shock… He never got to release it. 

Elthor suddenly vanished, his speed suddenly exploding forth. 

The last thing Osron saw was the menacing glare of a beast and a row of sharp, glistening teeth. 

Elthor's saber swung downward with such speed that nothing seemed to happen even several moments afterward. 

It was only after a light gust of wind blew by that Osron fell into two halves, a bloody pool forming and filling in the cracks between the tough stones. 

The first blood of the tournament had been drawn. 

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