Sportsmanship

He took slow steps in returning to the Prince's side, eager to let the competition continue and focus shift elsewhere before showing his face. At least, that was the plan.

The moment he climbed the stairs to the royal seats and stood behind Prince Takis though, a great many eyes shifted to him.

Faidon Glaider and the men restraining him were nowhere to be seen. Neither was his opponent, Selena of the Floating Rivers, or his father, Count Glaider, in the audience.

"A small intermission" Takis said as he noticed Lucian's puzzled gaze on the empty arena.

He nodded to Takis as his ears twitched. Conversations were buzzing throughout the audience of the King's actions, the Glaider youth and his potential end, as well as "The Prince's Shadow" and a "Sir Valaran", spoken of in curious and confused tones.

'I acted too rashly' He criticized inwardly. 'I'm supposed to go mostly unnoticed. Just the prince's guard. I don't need to take a place on the chess board.'

He'd thought to apologize for acting as he had, when Takis spoke first.

"You did well."

Closing his mouth, he directed a questioning look at his liege.

"You waited until the moment his intent was clear, stopped a tragedy, and managed to seize Faidon in a situation his father could not prevent. Don't underestimate how big of a help it will be to have that fool in our custody."

After hearing all that, he couldn't just admit that he'd simply been distracted with his own techniques and caught off guard by the sudden attempt to maim.

"I acted without orders. I apologize."

Takis met his formal reply with a disgruntled stare followed by a shrug of his shoulders.

"It's fine. You're the one thrown into the spotlight from it. Besides, that fool had gotten cockier with every round and needed to be put in his place. Show him a hint of leniency and he tries to blind one of ours."

Takis scoffed in derision and disgust, and Lucian felt the latter surface in himself too. He'd not really had time to think about or ponder it, but now that he did, he couldn't help his upper lip raising slightly.

'My hands may run red with enemies, but at least I know that I will not cripple someone unrelated to get at another. Certainly not just to show my defiance.'

Yet in the back of his mind, another smaller voice whispered.

'But what if you were ordered to?'

Servants entered the seating area offering already poured glasses of wine. The king was served first, followed by royalty, nobility, and then those close retainers that stood by their sides. Takis took a glass, and for once, so did Lucian, earning a raised brow from the former.

The intermission lasted only an hour, during which time Takis conversed with the dukes and archdukes in the royal seating area, leaving King Magnus and Archduke Ballas to talk among themselves.

Lucian kept to himself until the tournament continued. The final eight, those that would follow their elders into the Maelstrom, had already been decided. What happened now was simply for competitions sake.

David Ballas fought first and won with only a bit of struggle.

Selene, who had continued on after the disqualification of Faidon Glaider, lost to a large man named Yorgos.

The woman from the Twisting Fates sect, Sara Ranil, won her match, though with an effort.

And the final position in the top four went to an unassuming, short man of skinny frame with soft strikes and explosive blasts, a daoist Lucian thought, despite his almost physical combat style.

"Do you think David will win?" He asked Takis.

The prince remained silent for a few seconds before responding. "I think he has a high chance, but I wouldn't be surprised if that Nil from the Mountain Mover sect hid cultivation equal to David's."

Despite the image associated with the Mountain Mover sect and their large, burly fighters, the one named Nil was the small and skinny man whose soft strikes produced great and explosive effects.

Lucian peered at the man with his lifesense and confirmed that his lifeforce was strong and vibrant, but it was hard to tell whether his cultivation could equal David's peak 3rd stage strength.

While not a knight or scholar, David was a metahuman with multiple attributes, and bore all the increased cultivation talent that came with that status.

"I guess I'll return the question, who do you think will win?"

Lucian reconsidered his thoughts for only half a second before nodding. "Either David or Nil are the most likely, though if that Sara gets matched against Yorgos I could see her reaching the finale."

They didn't have long to ponder, as the 5th of 6 rounds started after just a small break of ten minutes.

The first fight, Sara of the Twisting Fates sect against Nil of the Moving Mountains sect.

It started with the sound of an explosion as the small man leaped, or rather, was launched towards Sara as Lucian saw it.

He spun his body while parallel to the ground in a movement not belonging to any martial form Lucian knew of, and brought a palm down on Sara from above.

The air twisted slightly, in just such a way that make onlookers queasy, and Nil's strike just missed as Sara dodged and moved to deliver a strike to the man's side while he remained in the air.

But even as his palm missed her, an explosive, invisible force exploded from it, launching Nil back up into the air and sending Sara shooting back with her sleeves torn as her arms protected her head.

From up in the air, Nil moved his arm as if tossing a skipping stone across a lake surface, and a source of distortion flew from it, growing in size as it barreled through the air towards Sara.

Dust and small pieces of rubble, broken from the incredibly durable stage, were sent flying in a cloud as the woman's yelp came from within.

'That's the first time he's shown long range capabilities.' Lucian realized.

Meanwhile Takis leaned forward, eyes practically lighting up in surprise.

From within the dust cloud, a metal hair pin flew at incredible speeds, thrown at Nil who now stood waiting on the stage.

The small man palmed at it, releasing a grand shockwave even larger than those before to stop the hairpin before it could reach his hand, but even then it did not fly away. It had been sent flying with such incredible force that the shockwave only stopped its advancement, as the hairpin began to fall to the ground where it was.

Before it could however, from within the dust, Sara shot forth, her silver hair long and flowing now as a very large ribbon, the size of a scarf flapped in her wake.

With a flying kick, her foot hit the back of the hairpin and launched it forward again, but Nil stopped it with another telekinetic force, followed by a left palm that swung around towards the woman.

The strike itself held little power, but within that hand, a powerful and invisible force was primed to explode forth.

Sara landed and moved her feet as if dancing, flapping out the incredibly long ribbon enough to wrap Nil's left wrist and yank the palm away just before the telekintic force exploded.

An echoing boom rang out from the redirected blow, and Nil attacked with his other hand. The two became locked in combat as Sara redirected and controlled blows using her Twisting Fates technique and the lock and control fighting style of her exaggerated ribbon, delivering crisp and swift kicks whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Nil began to adapt to the ribbon quickly though, and soon he managed to position a hand right below one of Sara's outstretched legs from a failed kick.

An explosion rang forth alongside a resounding cracking noise, and the other palm came rushing towards the woman's chest.

The final explosion Lucian was waiting for did not occur, as instead Nil held his hand there, no more than a centimetre from her chest, signifying his victory.

Sweat ran down the woman's face as she held her fractured or broken leg, and the referee called the battle to an end as the two contestants remained where they stood, knowing the result.

Victory went to Nil of the Mountain Mover sect.

"You are right about that man" Lucian said after the battle had ended.

"His cultivation is greater than he lets on, no doubt close to David's if not his equal."

"More than that" Takis replied.

"His usage of the Mountain Mover's shock palm is incredible. He only used it once, but the Throwing Force technique is something I've only known elders of the sect to pull off, and even then not all of them."

Hearing that, Lucian reevaluated the short man, Nil. He had short black hair, flecked with brown, and a beady nose. He was not ugly, neither was he handsome, but his invested expression was likely to earn a positive opinion in a first meeting.

'And he knows when to hold back and when not to. The cracking of his opponent's leg, and his ability to follow up with another strike were all that was needed to prove his victory. He didn't need to complete the final strike, and so he didn't. Good sportsmanship.'

He found himself smiling as he thought of it. Nil would surely be fun to spar with if ever he was given the chance.

'I'd need him to catch up first though.' That part soured the mood slightly, but not by much.

The next match would be between David Ballas and the large man, Yorgos.

And then, the finals.