One hour later...
The trial supervisors stopped accepting any more fighters after the total number reached three hundred.
Three hundred might sound like a lot for a single batch, but one should understand that more than 90% of the applicants had no plans to pay for the entrance fee from their pockets even if they passed the trial.
They were here purely to test their luck and see if a sponsor would pick them up. If not, the trials were their first and last step in this tournament.
Soon, more than twenty supervisors appeared above the fighters' heads.
Whooah!! Whooah!! Clap! Clap!!...
The Colosseum buzzed with an intense atmosphere as the appearance of the supervisors implied the start of the trials!
"As always, the fighters will be assigned randomly to the supervisors and they would be responsible for each fighter's trial."
Ti-ring!
The moment one of the supervisors finished speaking, all the fighters' cards made a notification noise, causing them to pull out and check them.
"Goliath." Felix muttered the name that appeared on his card and lifted his head to find him.
The moment he did so, his eyes came in contact with Goliath as he was seen staring directly at him with an indifferent expression.
Felix knew immediately that he was in for a treat...Still, he didn't seem fazed in the slightest. He merely lowered his head and waited for the trials to begin.
'Follow me.' Goliath ordered all the fighters under him while flying to the edge of the arena. When they arrived, they were presented with hundreds of targets, either in the sky or on the ground.
Some were affixed in their place, some moved slowly and erratically, and some moved as quickly and unpredictably as a butterfly.
"Looks like we are starting with an accuracy test, neat."
"Damn, this is one of my worst weaknesses, I hope the passing score isn't above 75%."
"75%? Heh, if you can't even score this sh*tty score why are you wasting everyone's time?"
"I will beat your ass!"
The fighters in Felix's group clamored noisily for a mere second before Goliath uttered coldly, "Another word and you will be eliminated straight away."
No one dared to open their mouths ever again as they knew that Goliath was renowned for his ruthless approach to testing potential candidates.
"This is an accuracy trial implemented to test out whether you guys can aim for sh*t with your abilities or not. Obviously, it doesn't matter what method is used as long you destroy the targets in half a minute."
Even though the fighters were allowed to use whatever to destroy the targets, the distant and fast targets still required them to use their abilities and be accurate...Otherwise, the time wouldn't be enough.
"The passing mark is 95%, if you failed to achieve it, turn back and don't bother coming back until next year."
The moment Goliath finished his announcement, everyone had their eyes widened to the limit in shock and disbelief.
"95%? 95%?"
"Did he make a mistake?"
"This can't be right..."
When they saw that Goliath's expression didn't even flinch or correct himself after a few moments went by, all of them felt their blood turn cold.
The worst part? They couldn't even protest as he had made it clear that elimination awaited them.
But, the viewers weren't under the same rules and most of them were taken back by Goliath's brutal requirement, creating plenty of noise around the arena.
"Sh*t, they really went for it."
Sekiro tightened his hands in displeasure, knowing that the Red Fangs Organization had manipulated the trial, not caring if tens of other fighters would get eliminated if it meant making Felix's life hell!
One by one, the fighters' expressions started to get ugly as this realization hit them the moment they noticed that the other supervisors had given a mere 80% accuracy rating for their groups.
"Motherf*cker, why is he here if he has gotten blacklisted!"
"Who is it?!"
"Bastard!! I have to wait an entire year to try again!"
"Is it you? It looks like you!"
The combatants around Felix started shoving and pointing fingers at each other with furious expressions, wanting to find out the culprit.
They knew that the moment a blacklisted spirit got targeted, there was no way he was going to be passing the trial. Unfortunately for them, they were considered mere collateral and they couldn't even involve law enforcers.
That's because supervisors were given a range of difficulties to operate on in the trials and Goliath simply decided to choose the hardest one available!
"Shut up and line up! When your name gets called, move forward and start the test!"
Goliath ordered loudly, causing everyone to shush down and refocus.
In their eyes, they could only give it a try as it was better than waiting an entire year to join the next tournament.
"Iron Grit!"
The crowd in the Colosseum murmured with anticipation as Iron Grit stepped into the spotlight.
Standing tall and imposing, his metallic body gleamed under the room's ethereal light. Despite the unyielding material of his body, there was a grace to him, an elven elegance that was not lost despite his armored form.
With a low, reverberating sound, Iron Grit summoned a quiver of iron arrows, their tips honed to a deadly point.
He positioned himself, eyes locked onto the first of the targets, which was the furthest one from his position.
"Timer starts now!"
With a swift motion, he released the first arrow, which found its mark with deadly precision!
Cheering erupted from the crowd. But Iron Grit's focus was unwavering. The next arrow was drawn, and once again, the target was pierced effortlessly.
Knowing that he could not afford to destroy them one by one, he was forced to create metallic spears, swords, axes, and all sorts of weaponry before launching them into the targets!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Some hit, but most missed as the moving targets were extremely difficult to touch unless one had his entire focus on them.
As the target numbers were reduced, only the smaller and furthest ones' remained, forcing him to return to his trusted bow and arrows.
Alas, Iron Grit's flawless performance began to waver.
Twenty...Fifteen...Ten...Five...
However, as the targets became smaller and fewer while the time kept counting down mercilessly, the pressure had gotten into Iron Grit's head and caused his performance to drop.
By the end of the round, his accuracy rating was calculated, falling short at 87%, missing the 95% mark.
Despite his failure, there was no shame on Iron Grit's face, only anger and frustration.
87% was an amazing score as most supervisors never got beyond 85%, which meant, he should have moved to the next stage.
Alas, he could only lower his head and curse his tragic luck while walking outside of the Colosseum.
"Next! Riptide!" Goliath called for the next victim.
Just like a prisoner walking into the guillotine, Riptide's face reflected nothing but utter despair.
Thirty seconds later...
"75%! Next!"
"71%! Next!"
"69%! Next!"
With each call, the performance of the fighters got worse and worse until the audience switched their focus to the other groups, giving up entirely on Goliath's group.
They understood that all of them must have given up and even if they didn't, the challenge was simply too challenging to be won through mere will.
In less than fifteen minutes, only three players remained under Goliath and Felix was one of them.
Goliath eyed Felix with a composed demeanor and called again, "The Traveller, it's your turn."
"At last." Felix cracked his knuckles with an indifferent expression and stepped up to the challenge.
"The Traveller...I wonder why Master chose this name?" Karra muttered under her breath as she sat next to Sekiro.
"Who knows?" Sekiro was just as clueless as her.
Unbeknownst to them, Felix chose this name to reflect his attitude on his stay in the heavenly plane.
While all spirits consider the heavenly plane as their eternal home, he was a mere traveler and there would come a time when he would return to his rightful place.
But for now? It was time to kick some ass. Without taking a moment to aim, Felix casually extended his hand and waited for Goliath's voice.
"Start!"
Before Goliath's voice could even reach the ears of the spectators, Felix snapped his finger...
It was a simple, nonchalant gesture, one that would typically go unnoticed in any other context.
But even in the rowdiness of the Colosseum, the snap echoed like a gunshot into the heart of every observer.
Before the echo had even faded, a chain reaction was set in motion.
BOOOOM!!
The first objective exploded into fragments, sending shards of material flying into the air!
But the spectacle didn't end there.
Boom! Boom! Boom!...
One after another, each objective followed suit, the subsequent explosions cascading like a symphony of destruction!
It didn't matter if the objective was big, small, near, far, standing, or moving at an extraordinary speed.
They were all reduced to smithereens under the awed and stunned eyes of the spectators!
Amidst the rain of debris and the thunderous symphony of explosions, Felix, with an aura as calm as a serene lake, turned his back to the spectacle he had just created.
There were no triumphant smiles, no grand gestures.
Instead, he simply walked away, leaving a trail of fragmented targets and awestruck spirits in his wake, like this was nothing but an everyday occurrence to him...
A moment later...A final rating appeared on the screens above Goliath's dazed expression.
"The Traveler...100%"
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