THE TRIALS 1V

"Kairos Leander Eros….Vulgar?"

Karios slowly stepped forward after hearing his name and could feel the intense gazes bursting through him, infact they felt even more intense than that of Eric and Astin.

Everyone visible in the arena currently had the expression of shock, everyone except Captain Blair as she was already aware of his presence…in fact even the old man that would occasionally call their names was not left out of this as his usual dull expression finally had a change as he continued to glare at Kairos as he made his way towards the center of the arena.

Kairos could currently feel overwhelming anxiety now he was standing at the beginning of the track and with Captain Blair and the others watching him intensely he could only feel even more uneasy.

Kairos took a deep breath and then focused on the hanging trunks in front of him. He had already planned to not give the first trial that much time as it involved strength which his current self did not have much access to due to the lack of mana in his body.

From his observations of other contestants' matches he had been able to figure out the trunks only get thicker as one continue to move past them and that led to him to his plan to just bash through the ones he could and when he gets to the point where he can no longer burst through the trunks anymore he would just avoid them and focus on the next trial.

After his deep breath he began running towards the hanging trunks, his pace increasing with every step he took and with his increasing momentum he began busting through the trunks with each hit he landed he could feel the pain in his hand increasing, but he didn't mind this…at least not until the pain got severe and he could no longer burst the trunks anymore.

To the surprise of everyone who had been watching after struggling with one of the hanging trunks and finally bursting through it after many attempts, Kairos began avoiding the remaining hanging trunks. This immediately caused everyone to look at him with mixed expressions, some sour and others shocked.

He continued in this pattern until he finally got past the first trial unto the second trial. The moment he stepped his feet on the second trial, a shot was fired towards him indicating the beginning of his second trial. Kairos managed to escape the shot and continued to escape some more that were fired towards him as he traversed past the second trial.

Half way through the second trial, he could already feel his mind slowly turn foggy and strained due to him constantly being alert and trying to observe his whole environment at once to avoid the arrows catching him off guard.

"Hhm." Kairos breathed in deeply as he continued to escape the shots fired at him, his movements already becoming laggy.

'Well this explains why most people fell unconscious during the second trial…who knows maybe this trial might have been actually set up to test one's mental strength rather than skills or luck.' Kairos thought as he dodged another arrow.

'...Luckily sparring with an immodest Ex Captain for many days isn't any less mentally straining.'

Kairos continued to successfully escape the arrows shot at him sometimes barely as his skin would occasionally get bruised by some of the arrows he had only managed to barely dodge.

Close to the end of the second trial, he was prepared to maneuver another shot but midway doing it he noticed that another one had been shot at the same time and was just behind the arrow he had initially planned on darting.

From the look of it the second shot seemed to be directed towards a crucial part in his body, like his stomach or head or worst chest. Being in such a critical situation where even a mili second mattered, Kairos decided on letting his survival instinct take control rather than waste anymore time trying to decipher a best way past his current situation.

He immediately slid past the first shot but with his current position and not too fast reflex he had no option but to use his own body…to shield his own body. He quickly stretched forth his left hand completely blocking the arrow from himself and taking the shot with it in the process

Immediately the arrow pierced through him, without realizing it he let out a sharp shriek. Although he had prepared himself to take the shot he hadn't prepared himself for the pain, he then slowly stared at his hand which was now dripping blood and the arrow that had passed from one side of his hand and was protruding through the other…despite the feeling he had to just drop down and sob from the pain he was feeling or at least attempt to attend to his injury, he was still in the trial and would need ultimately focus on passing through the trial.

He soon got back on his feet and without any more hesitation began his journey through the second trial again, dodging a few more arrows that were fired at him till he had managed to cross over to the final trial.

His breathing was more hoarse at this moment, sweat dripping from his body like it was blood, his body filled with numerous bruises and a trail of blood followed behind him from his unattended injury in his hand. He could feel himself slowly losing consciousness as his sight now seemed hazy while his mind seemed to whirl uncontrollably.

Despite his pitiable condition, Kairos still refused to admit defeat and rather tried to force himself back to his senses. Murmuring various inaudible words to himself as he slowly approached the rocks that immediately began levitating indicating the beginning of his third and final trial.

Kairos didn't show much difference towards the change and rather fished out his dagger in his clothes, with the one in his left hand occasionally fidgeting despite his firm grip.

He then began increasing his pace towards the lowest levitating stone he could find and with the dagger in his hand pinned it into the rock using it to push his already tired self up the rock. He continued the process a few more times, with the difficulty increasing with each rock he pinned to due to their varying distance and height and his already tired body.

He was about traversing through another rock but had mistakenly used the dagger his injured left hand to pin to the rock first before the right, the pain he felt in his hand immediately he pinned himself to the rock quickly pointed out his mistake to him as he quickly stared at his left hand lose its grip on the hilt of dagger pinned to the rock at an alarming rate.

"Shit." Kairos muttered in a tone that sounded both angry and in pain. With his teeth clenched he tried pushing himself up to pin the dagger in his right hand but that only sped up the rate he lost his grip on the left.

A few moments of struggling and just his left middle finger and thumb still hanging unto the hilt of the dagger, in a low tone and tears slowly dropping down his eyes he muttered:

"I am sorry mother."

Immediately he said those words his fingers simultaneously lost it's grip too on the hilt of the dagger throwing him many meters down the floor. Immediately he landed on the floor he could feel intense pain all over his body, his sight got hazy and the voices around sounded blur but the last thing he could remember seeing before falling unconscious was an outline of various people surrounding him and one of them putting something in his mouth.