Chapter 45 Tournament start 1.

*August PoV*

I arrived at the Amphitheatre feeling very excited about today, the prospect of fighting mortals on my level made me smile. I really think the old man's habits are rubbing off me.

And I wasn't the only one feeling the excitement today, as everywhere I look is full of people enjoying the festive mood of the city.

As I looked around I spotted the Old man, along with lady Hestia and Denki waiting for me at the entrance.

"Captain!" Denki saw me and beamed a smile as he waved his hands calling me.

I walked to them, making my way into the crowded street.

"What took you so long?" Heracles asked as soon as I arrived in front of them.

"the Hostess was full so there's that." I answered and shrugged at him.

"Disrespectful as always." the old man spoke as he looked at me up and down. "At least you looked ready."

"Of course I am." I smiled and winked at him as I made my way inside. "You trained me so was there ever any doubt?"

"Hmmm." he just nods but I swear I saw a small smile on his stoic face.

They followed behind me as I confidently stride inside. I can feel multiple eyes staring at me but I paid it no mind. All that's inside my head right now is winning this whole damn thing.

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There were too many participants, that was the first thing that was said by the organizer when I arrived at the venue. Because of this I was asked to wait along with the others while they decided on what to do.

A mini tournament would be held and only 16 participants would be chosen out of everyone here.

"The rules are simple." A young girl no older than 22 explained. She has an aqua blue colored hair, and cyan eyes. She was the one who greeted us, or at least me when I arrived earlier. I believe her name was Asfi Al Andromeda or something. "As your name is being called you will come with me to another room where we will be testing your body and mana. Only those who are among the 16 strongest will fight in the arena."

"How will you determine the strongest?" A random adventurer who I didn't know asked her.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you the details here, it's more of an on the spot challenge. All participants will be given the same amount of time to prepare so that no advantage would be gained." She answered the question.

"That's fair enough." another adventurer nodded.

"Now everyone will draw lots to see the order of who will go first and so on and so forth." Asfi signalled as two adventurers entered the room carrying a box with a small hole on the top. "Now if everyone can please form a line so we can begin."

We did as she asked and formed a line, I was in the middle of the pack not too far away from the front.

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Minutes passed and it was finally my turn to draw my number, and I did without any issues. I looked at the number in my hand and read to myself.

"28 huh." I took a deep breath as I saw my number. I don't really have an idea what the challenge is but I'm glad I wasn't up first, or last at the matter.

I watched as the participants in line slowly dwindled arriving at the last one. It was Ais Wallestein of Loki's familia. She moved elegantly as she drew her number. She took one look at it and nodded to himself as she moved back. I followed her with my eyes and saw that she was headed to the twins.

Tione caught me looking and smiled as she waved at me. I waved back and smiled as well.

"Now that everyone got their number, we will call upon number 1 to join us first." Asfi said politely as she ushers the first participant to another room.

"So Gáe Bulg." a voice I'm unfamiliar with sounded right besides me. I looked to see a huge man twice the size of me and carrying a massive war hammer at his shoulder. "What do you reckon the challenge is?" he asked. "Oh how rude of me, the name is Hothor Clegane."

I recognize the name as one of the strongest in the city when it comes to physical strength. "It is an honor to be recognized by the mountain of Dia familia, sadly I don't know what the challenge is." I answered him politely. And the old man said I have no respect.

"The honor is mine Gáe Bulg." He said while smiling. "This old man is happy being known by an adventurer such as yourself." he then laughed laudly while he pounds his chest.

The two of us passed the time by talking with each other as we waited for our number to be called.

"Number 23!" Asfi's voice sounded.

"That's me." Hothor smiled and made his way out, I watched his back for a moment and focused on myself again.

I watched as the numbers dwindled closer to my own.

And then finally.

"Number 28!" I hear Asfi call my number.

With a deep breath I made my way towards the exit where she was waiting.

"Follow me." she said politely and without missing a beat she moved with me following not far behind her.

After a short walk we made our way to an open space, by the looks of it, it was a training ground of some sort.

"What exactly will I be doing?" I asked.

She looked over at me and smiled. "You will be attacking that." she points at a target dummy and continued. "it's one of my creations, it will measure your magic, strength, and attack potency.

I walked closer towards the target dummy and saw runes engraved into it, I can feel mana inside it. It has a dark metallic sheen, as I touched it, I felt the cold hard exterior of it. "I might break it."

"Please, that thing is as strong as durandal." she chuckled at my remarks. "You won't be able to scratch it, let alone break it."

"Interesting." I smiled at her. "So is it ok if I go all out?"

"That's the point. go as hard as you can."

I gave her a quick nod and took a couple of steps back. Twirling my spear I looked at the target and concentrated. These past two days have been hell, the old man has been nagging me non-stop and beating me shitless while calling it training. And right now I really need to let off some steam. And an unbreakable target would be a perfect device to use for cooling off. "You better take a step back miss Asfi."

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*Asfi PoV*

"You better take a step back miss Asfi." the adventurer by the name of August said politely while keeping that smug, and frankly arrogant smile on his face.

I have met my fair share of his type. Those who believe in their strength above all else, most of them are, as a matter of speaking... Disappointing to say the least.

I took a few steps back to get this over with. I can't believe Lord Hermes would put me in this spot. Well he is quite a slacker so I'm already used to it.

"A little farther." Again he said, I sighed and followed suit. Honestly I don't think he'll do much anyway, after all I created that device and know its capacity, but since I want this done quickly I honored his request.

"Is this far enough?" I asked him dryly.

"Maybe a little farther back."

"August, please be aware that there are plenty of other participants waiting for their turn." I gave him a stern look. "Just get it over with."

"...Ok, but I warned you." He shrugs and looks at the target again. He closed his eyes which made me dumbfounded. What in just get it over with didn't he understand?

"Au-" I was about to tell him to hurry up but my body suddenly jolted in fear. I took a step back, many many steps back.

My body felt very heavy, like a force was pushing it down, I couldn't stop myself from shaking uncontrollably.

My eyes widened as I stared at the adventurer named August. His mana was radiating out of him as he oozed with pure magical energy. His body glowed red, and black, as sparks started to crackle from his body. The room shook, his mana was so dense that it felt like a joke.

I couldn't help but to take a knee as the density of his mana pushed me down. He then opened his eyes.

All of the hairs in my body stood, fear gripping my very being, I can feel it grasping my heart.

His bloodlust and killing intent was so strong, it felt like I was facing death himself.

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*August PoV*

I let my mana loose as I gripped the spear, my eyes glued at the target, fully intending to destroy it to pieces. This should be enough.

My feet dug on the ground, I concentrated my mana in it. With my skill mana manipulation, I have perfect control over my mana and can bend it to my will.

With a burst I beamed at the target, as I did I let my mana move into my upper body, particularly in my arms. I even shoved mana inside Beowulf which it greedily devoured making it glow dark red.

My muscle bulges as I gripped the spear strongly, and with a grunt I stab my spear straight into the target.

*BOOM!*

As my spear made contact my momentum came to a full stop. Fuck this is hard, I could feel it absorb the mana and the blow itself, I can see the runes engraved to it glow as it resist my blow. It is so fucking hard, it felt like I was stabbing solid steel with an extremely dull blade.

*BOOM!*

Another explosion occurred as I was blown away by the shockwave, I balanced myself mid air and landed softly.

"Damn that thing's hard." I muttered to myself watching the target as the dust settled around it. "Well it didn't break."

I looked around and spotted Asfi kneeling in the ground, her mouth agape as she looked at me with wide eyes.

"What the fuck was that?" She asked me, her voice close to a scream.

"You did say not to hold back." I scratched my head as I laughed awkwardly.

Asfi has his mouth comically wide open at my words.

"So what now?" I asked.

"Just get out and wait for the results." I can hear that she's a bit pissed, frankly I don't know why. Either way, I should probably leave.

"Then I'll be off." I said as I made my exit and headed towards the waiting room.

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*Asfi Pov.*

That was scary. Never before in my life have I felt mana that dense, it was like swimming in a pit of mud. And that feeling, it was dark, and malicious. What the hell was with that kid.

I shook the feeling off and went towards my device to see his results. To be honest, I don't really see the point in checking for it, with that type of strength he is without a doubt among the higher echelon and his spot at the tournament was a guarantee. But I still have to do my job.

I input the runes on the dummy which started to compute his results, and It was pretty much how I expected it to be.

***

Adventurer number 28: August Kaiser

Strength: S

Magic: S

Attack Potency: S

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All S's, of course it is. Way above all the others that came before him. The standard power of a level 5 when using my machine is B's, those who are stronger than average would get A's. So far only August has scored an S.

"Well that's to be expected." I said as I reset the calibration of the target dummy.

But then at the side of my eye I saw something, something on the dummy. I move to get a closer look at what it is.

"You gotta be shitting me!" I couldn't help not curse out loud. A scratch, a fucking scratch. This is durandal steel, enchanted by myself... And he fucking scratch it. "Holy shit!" I seem to be cursing non-stop today.

I shuddered at the thought of a mortal receiving that blow, looks like it was not baseless arrogance after all.

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Chapter 45 is done now, how do you guys like the story so far?

Sorry for not updating last week. As you all know, I was sick as fuck last week, and frankly I'm still a little bit under the weather. Good news is I'm on my way to a full recovery and the doctor did not find anything wrong with me. So back to my scheduled update.

Quick note: still a bit lightheaded so short chapter today.

Please leave a comment, a review and feedback so I can improve on writing this fanfic. every little thing helps as it allows me to see your preference on things and would help me write a better fanfic for you all to enjoy.

thanks for picking up this fanfic. hope you guys like it.

good day, love y'all.