The Fourth Beast

28

Calm before the Storm

VII

The stadium was quite lively.

The crowd had every reason to be high-spirited. Each session of this tournament offered something unique not only to the participants but also to the audience as well. But today was a bit different. Today's session was simple but also the most anticipated one.

Today was the last day of the tournament and the theme was 'Test of Might', to see who was the strongest one out of all the participants.

No tricks, no hidden agenda. It was the usual 1 versus 1 duel until the end.

The first orb lit up...

What was not usual was the fact that each team was able to send a maximum of 3 people to participate. And since their opponents were selected randomly, there was a possibility that they would have to fight their teammates.

Still, Arjuna could see why this rule was implemented. One, it gave an easy way out for those who did not want to participate in this. Two, it drastically reduced the amounts of battles keeping the whole test short for the participants and entertaining for the audience.

What surprised Arjuna was that Khaoss was personally managing the arena and the safety of the contestants. Whenever a duel ended, he would heal both the participants and fix the arena. And he would do it thoroughly to the point it felt like the battle did not even take place.

After seeing this, the participants were more than willing to go all out.

Arjuna looked at his opponent who was standing at the other end of the arena.

Sairaorg Bael.

The second orb lit up...

Since Menma and Thorin were not here, Sairaorg was the only one that could give him a proper challenge.

Of course, Arjuna had no intention of using 'Agni Gandiva' or his other divine weapons. He did not use any of them in a single test or match. It was not because he was hiding them on purpose. This tournament, it was an opportunity to test his skills, knowledge, and experience. It would be quite foolish of him not to use this opportunity to its fullest.

Alas, this was not the final match. It was the semi-final. The winner of this match would advance to the final and would be facing Issei Hyoudou, wielder of 'Boosted Gear'. He was no genius but for someone who was recently introduced to the supernatural world, he made astonishing progress. Surprisingly he was able to defeat Bikou who went all out against him.

Unfortunately, he still had a long way to go before he could match his or Sairaorg's level... they who had been honing their strengths and fighting their whole life.

The third orb lit up...

Arjuna released an audible breath and took his fighting stance as the protective barrier around him disappeared.

"Start!"

The whole stadium became quiet instantly. As for them... none of them moved.

Arjuna and Sairaorg, they were having a staredown. And just one second into it told Arjuna that his opponent was exactly what he expected him to be.

A warrior.

There was an old saying – 'Eyes were the window to a soul'. It was true. He could tell what kind of opponent he was facing simply by holding their gazes. Many of the opponents he had fought in the tournament had the eyes of the 'Arrogant'. They were powerful, yes, but they did not respect their competitors. They would look at their opponents as if they were below them and meant to be there. Then there was the gaze of the 'Predator' who would only see their opponents as either a 'Prey' or another 'Predator'. Arjuna did not see any such individuals in the tournament.