Harbinger Of Doom: The Attainer

32. The Archery Contest (3) - Bad Blood

Lores turned out to be someone who wants to be the best in whatever they do. Before now, Mo had told him that winning the contest did not hold much importance to Snowfall Palace, but Lores just felt the urge to task himself with the position of the winner.

The princes took the contest as a medium to impress the king on their quest to be the crown prince. They must put up an outstanding performance if they must leave an indentation on their mission for the throne.

Prince Berg who saw the throne as his prime concern knew how pivotal winning the contest was to him. He did not disappoint. He was the first contestant to qualify for the second tier.

Prince Karick who thought the first prince was on his side bore in mind that the latter would tolerantly allow him emerge as winner. The first huddle was almost done and dusted. He was on his way to the second tier.

Mo watched from his spot with his cheek relaxing on the dorsal side of his hand. Was Snowfall Palace really getting knocked out in just the first tier of the contest? Although Seven seemed not to be the favourite, an incredible optimism in Seven grew inside of Mo. After all, Seven was a human with a lot of surprise packages. He was a surpriser by nature.

Lores recalled what he grasped from Vicksen while learning archery from him. 'it takes mind coordination for an excellent concentration' the knight had said.

"Now Lores focus. Concentrate. Do not mind what you see."

He took another arrow, and aimed for the second shot. When he was sure that his mind was as still as water, he released the arrow. It struck the target with a tremendous volant accuracy.

Now there were thirteen people remaining, and no more than three could progress to the next round. This idea made the competition more intense. They all had beads of sweat on their forehead. After daydreaming of receiving the golden bow from the king that would eventually change their status, they seemed to be apparently letting go of this golden opportunity.

However, Lores' intention was different. Other than testing his abilities and probably not trying to bring shame to Snowfall Palace, there was no other motive with respect to his status.

He took the third arrow and went for his third shot. He could hear 'two contestants remaining!' from the sidelines. He instantly became more focused and determined. He pulled the bowstring with his might, and let go of the shaft. Mo watched his representative with anticipation. His index finger gently stroked the moonstone ring on his thumb while he watched closely. The other hand held his knee. He longed to see one of those outstanding performance from Seven again.

Lores watched his arrow drift towards the target as he galloped over the yarn rope.

"One contestant remaining!" Lores sighed. A smile of relief animated his face as held up his bow. Mo relaxed on his seat and breathed a long quiet sigh. Now Snowfall Palace was lucky enough not to be kicked out from the first tier.

When Karick noticed that Lores had scaled through, he frowned. Besides getting the golden bow, the other thing he pined for was the downfall of Snowfall Palace. He clenched his fist owing to the progress of his archrival.

Few breaths later, a lackey of the second prince on the pretext of aiming for the last spot, shot an arrow that was destined not to hit the target. The arrow flew towards a certain someone and was about to strike them.

The lieutenant governor was on alert. He stood up at once. He quickly grabbed a bow and arrow from a closeby knight. As he pulled back, energy was seen surging from him.

His arrow was embedded in a burst of energy as it flew with an insane speed through the air. It collided with the killing inclined arrow, and diverted its destination. Due to the burst of energy it came along with, the killing inclined arrow did not go unscathed. The collision saw the arrow disintegrate to pieces and beyond mending.