Emperor's Reckoning

Jugen pulled out an arrow from his quiver before he closed one of his eyes and set a target. With the opponents swarming at them it didn't take long for Jugen before he released his strike. One arrow was breaking the wind, then two, then three, then the final arrow was finally released in succession.

His golden hair was fluttering before he hid behind Lyon's back.

"Congratulations Jugen, you missed all five of your arrows."

The crowd had black lines over their head. How could someone miss that many shots in that distance? A swarm of opponents, even a blind man could hit one in any direction.

"Hahaha! That guy is impossible."

"My stomach hurt damn it! Just how the hell is he even one among the representatives?"

Lyon suddenly leaned forward before he leaped toward Faust in one single step.

Faust grinned before he said, "That's your first mistake, Lyon! Now eat my fist!"

Some of the crowd closed their eyes as the incoming assault was inescapable. Though he was strong, it seemed that he was inexperienced compared to the favorite.

"Hah!"

Faust let out a roar as he launched his fist to Lyon's face. "This is for the humiliation you gave me!"

"Huh?"

To his surprise, his fist actually punched through Lyon's face. He didn't feel any contact at all as if he was punching the air itself. His eyes blinked before he noticed the Lyon in front of him slowly blurred.

"That's an afterimage!" shouted one of the experts among the spectators.

"Impossible, at such tender age he managed to do it!"

(My, aren't you full of surprise handsome thief, the more you took action the more you are as described by the empress) thought Sophia as she clicked her tongue.

Old Dan furrowed his eyebrows and nobody knew what he was thinking. However, judging from his grunted face, it mustn't be a nice thing.

"Oi, oi, are you serious? Even I couldn't do it that well," spoke Van softly before he saw his friend Argeon taking all the glory as if that was his own achievement.

All the other four principals were furrowing their eyebrows toward the youth. Each of them was wearing different faces that were hard to discern what they were thinking about.

Faust gritted his teeth before his pupils shrunken. The moment the afterimage vanished he could make out a figure far behind with his golden hair fluttering. Jugen was smiling toward him before Faust realized an arrow was already an arm-length away from blinding his right eye.

*splurt

The blood sprayed the sky before the atmosphere was in a stilled state. Everyone was holding their breath and couldn't utter a word for a straight minute.

"W-was that a fluke?"

"T-that's a lucky shot isn't it?"

"N-no, we were wrong, we saw it the wrong way, it wasn't that he was unskilled that he couldn't shot a target at the time, but because he was skilled that he could do so."

One of the experts in the crowd realized their mistake before a wake-up call rang in the rest of the crowd's minds.

"You'll pay for this!" shouted Faust.

He was lucky that he managed to hold the arrow's penetration with his palm. Otherwise, he would be a one-eyed man by now. With gritted teeth, he pulled out the arrow from his palm as his blood sprayed the floor.

"Martis, cover Jugen, hold Faust off as long as you can."

"Yes, my lady."

"Xiaxia, hold the one with the black earring, I will deal with the rest."

"Yes, captain."

"Jugen, open fire!"

"Leave it to me!"

With simple commands from Luna, the four people formed a fan-shaped formation with Jugen being the pivot.

"Get out of the way you red-haired freak!"

"Hmph! Try and pass my greatsword first, I will not fail Master Tristan's teaching!"

The two of them collided while Xiaxia was already occupied with Erdrich. Jugen actively provided them to assist with his archery skill to make sure that they were not overwhelmed by their respective opponents.

"I hear you're from the world where Chloe came from."

The wild-looking youth was looking at Luna with interest. It seemed that the women from Deo were all special. Chloe was the strongest in his academy and now there was this woman who seemed to be the captain of their team. Logically, Lyon was supposed to be the captain judging by the strength.

"Yes, I am, though we are from different kingdoms and rarely met, yes, we are from the same world."

Luna pulled out her thick rapier and held it gracefully as she pointed at the young man. Her purple hair swayed before the tip of the rapier already embedded inside his right shoulder.

The young man opened his eyes wide before he saw his own blood dripping to the floor. The speed combined with his lack of caution resulted in such an easy strike.

"Y-you! I wanted to play nice since you are a girl but it seemed to me you need to be rough-?!"

Luna's neck swayed to the side before from her fluttering hair an arrow pierced through it. However, he didn't have time to be awed by the archery skills of the perpetrator since he only got a split second to dodge.

The arrow managed to graze his cheeks and a red slit made its appearance.

"Gah! You!"

Before he could mutter another word Luna already landed her kick on his chest, sending him flying to the ground.

On the other end, Lyon was silently making his way through the arena before he spotted Chloe guarding her pole. With a huge grin, he made a run for her.

The cold beauty instantly noticed his figure before telling the rest of her teammates, "Scatter, all of you are no match for him."

She readied her stance before a dark figure suddenly ducked between them.

"Lyon, you're battle is with me!"

A dagger flashed from under the figure's arm before making its way toward Lyon's neck. (Got him!).

*clank

"What?!"

His dagger was actually stopped by a pincher from two of Lyon's fingers with ease. A feat that should not be possible was actually happening to him.

"You have to wait in line," said Lyon with a smile before jumped to the side.

*boom

The floor cracked before Fue pulled her arm out of it. Her movements were inaudible but the moment she decided to attack the arena was left in a shake. "You're pretty quick."

Lyon crossed his arm before his eyes turned sharp.

"Sneaking beside being in the open field it's bold indeed."

Lyon turned his body to the side before a lashed out kick was dodged perfectly. The figure behind him immediately took a few steps back realizing his attack missed.

"Please, forgive me for sneaking out on you but that just proves how strong you are."

One of the twins with the white earrings was smiling before making a slight bow of respect.

"Well, well, well, surely I have not expected this kind of development.. The three of you against me? Now that's equal," smirked Lyon.