CHAPTER 76: SAND CASTLE DUEL

Gideon and Victoria went ten meters away from each other and waited for Baal's command.

"You guys have two hours. Ready... Go!" Immediately he gave the mark, the two of them began to gather damp sand and started with the foundation of their castles.

There were many onlookers and some immediately noticed that their foundations looked a bit strange.

'There are some parts that are higher than others, do the plan on building an entire city in addition to the castle?' Many of them thought and their thoughts were spot on.

Gideon and Victoria's arms were blurs as they packed sand and started their constructions.

Gideon first built a huge moat around his foundation and the water that entered dampened the sand that was there giving him a large supply.

Victoria however simply made a path for the water to flow into and then gathered the sand from there.

The two of them then began to pack sand for the outlines of the different buildings. And amazingly, each individual building had its own area around it and also its own foundation.

More and more people began to gather to watch the small contest and were amazed by the speed of the siblings.

The two of them started to make small blocks where the buildings would be, this would make it so that the wouldn't need to spend time on each building one by one.

Thirty minutes went by and people began to livestream the duel. At this point, the cities the two were making began to take shape.

Gideon's city resembled what one would usually see in novels. Even though the buildings hadn't been carved yet, one could make out different places such as markets, residential areas, manors for aristocrats and so on. He even added hills with small forests on them. There was finally a massive wall around it.

Victoria however seemed to be making a small version of Alea city with the winding roads and high rise buildings. There was also the defense line along with the city's main wall.

Though one thing was clear, and that was that both of them would not begin to build their castles until the last moment, as the foundation for those were still empty.

An hour passed and the two of them immediately went into high gear as they began to leave afterimages from the speed the moved at.

Gideon summoned Frey and started to carve out the exteriors of the different buildings while Victoria summoned her gauntlets and used the sharp fingertips.

Time slowly ticked by and people began to root for one of the siblings.

"That guy looks like he's doing an ancient sort of civilization. It's pretty unique and has a nice sense of simplicity." Someone commented and some people in the crowd nodded their heads in agreement.

"Yeah, well the girl is making something much more futuristic, so she'll be able to add many more details. Though time might be an issue." Another person said and more people agreed with him.

Soon, an hour and thirty minutes went by and the two of them immediately began to build in the designated area for the castles.

Properly matching his city, Gideon went for a medieval style castle with tall walls with a courtyard, garden, barracks, stables, and the main palace.

Victoria on the other hand started to construct, their villa. Including the courtyard, training area, garden, walls, the staff residency, and the main mansion.

Both of them gave it their all and added as many details as possible. Gideon taking his time to carve out every individual brick on the building as well as making windows, pathways and so on. Victoria doing the same thing but with the villa.

Eventually, the two hours ended.

"And time is up. Step away from the sand castles." Baal announced just as the two of them finished making their work.

The two of them looked at each other's and castles and immediately knew that it would be a close game.

People began to discuss who they thought would win and Baal went to inspect both sand castles. He took ten minutes to inspect each one, taking his time to observe every small detail.

He finished inspecting and began to think carefully, everyone looking at him in anticipation. And then he gave the final verdict.

"It's a tie." He announced plainly and everyone was dumbfounded.

"Gideon's sand castle is simple at a glance, but look closer and you'll see that he paid very close attention to detail. Every road, every building is carefully done. Even the small forests are incredibly precise." Baal gave his analysis.

"And I'm Victoria's case, her attention to detail is no less than Gideon's. It feels like you are staring at an actual city from above if you ignore the sandy color. Both of them did such a good job that it's impossible to decide a winner." Baal finished his explanation and the onlookers found that it made sense.

"So I guess no one gets to do anything to the other." Gideon muttered. But then suddenly, Victoria looked at him with an evil smile and punched at his sand castle.

Sand sprayed in different directions, and when it settled down, all that was left was a whole that was filling up with sea water.

"VICTORIA!" Gideon shouted and the culprit stuck her tongue at him before running away and Gideon promptly gave chase.

Everyone could help but chuckle when they saw this. Baal especially.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Well that was fun." Baal remarked as the three of them left the beach in their original clothes.

"Mhm. This is the first time I actually went to a beach." Gideon said and Baal looked at him with some surprise.

"Oh, you guys didn't have one where you're from?" He asked.

"Oh no we did, just that we never got the opportunity." Gideon replied with a shrug. After all, why would Kalea city have only one defense line.

"Well that's odd. But I'm sure it was an enjoyable first experience for you two." Baal concluded.

"It was!" Victoria smiled and closed her eyes happily.