Sweat mixed with blood streamed down his forehead, but he had no time to wipe it away.
To the left, an Axelorian with bloodshot eyes.
To the right, another one who was already sliding on the ground, aiming for his legs.
And in front of him, one more who was running towards him with his arms open.
As Luther saw this almost perfect offense, the words of the King of Lanthanor rang in his mind.
"PASS, YOU IDIOTS! THIS IS A TEAM GAME!"
Hence, he, the commander of Lanthanor and the strongest fighter in the entire Kingdom, gave up on fighting head-on.
His instincts told him that he could take all three of them out easily.
In fact, if he hadn't trained with the King, maybe he would have done just that.
Yet, after these three would be three more, and then three more.
The last moment before impact, Luther jumped into the air and looked around, spotting a young soldier who seemed to be empty.
With all his strength, he threw the ball in his hands before letting himself be tackled from three directions.
The barrier trinket came into existence and lessened the damage, but it couldn't protect him completely from the sheer impact.
His head bounced on the ground, and his vision started to go in and out of focus.
He coughed out blood mixed with his guts, but hearing the sound of a loud bell, a smile came on his face.
"ANOTHER POINT TO LANTHANOR, BUT THEIR COMMANDER IS DOWN!"
And as Sylvesto's voice greeted his ears, Luther completely blacked out.
...
In the stands, Norcet punched his fist into his palm with frustration as he saw the commander of the Lanthanor Kingdom taken down in this way.
Yet, seeing that young soldier successfully reach the other end of the field, he threw his hands up in the air and started to cheer once again.
All over the stadium, scenes like this were common as almost everyone was on their feet, cheering on the intense competition that was taking place on the ground below.
The fifth day of the Olympics had started like all the others, with Sylvesto walking up to the stage to greet them all.
The anticipation had already reached new heights, and the crowd only started to roar more and more loudly, even managing to drown out Sylvesto's voice.
Initially, Sylvesto had started on another long and drawn out explanation about the rules of handball.
However, seeing this enthusiasm, he gave up and said, "I get it, I'm shutting up! The rules are simple: just take the ball to the other end of the court to win a point, and you can only pass behind, not forward! Now, let the fighter handball tournament begin!"
As if agreeing with his decision, the cheers reached a new height as they were joined in by the spectators from outside who had apparently just settled into their places.
The airspace was more crowded than ever, with many, many booths popping up outside the stadium, which were apparently occupied by all those who had money but hadn't been able to obtain tickets before.
Just like Sylvesto had said, the rules were very simple, and this was one of the main reasons why this competition enticed everyone more than all the others so far.
The ground measured 200 m x 75 m, and each team consisted of 15 Fighters.
The winning team would get a whopping 50 points, which might change the tables even if they had been lagging behind the other competitions.
As for those who came second and third, they would obtain 30 and 10 points respectively.
Unlike the competitions before, there was a winners and losers bracket according to which the games will be played.
It was a double elimination format, with those competing first picked by random draw after which the winners and losers would tough it out in their brackets. One team would, of course, get a bye initially.
Each match would be one hour long, split into two halves or four quarters, with 30 minutes of respite for each team which could be called for after any quarter or half. Getting the ball to the other end of the court would award one point. By the end, the one with the most points would be the winner.
When the names of the kingdoms had been drawn from the ballot box, the crowd couldn't help but get on their feet and scream with excitement when they saw that the two leading kingdoms in this event would be going up against each other first.
The Black Raven Kingdom had been the one who had been lucky enough to get the bye, but the citizens of the Black Raven Kingdom actually booed on seeing this as they had been looking forward to seeing their soldiers in action. As they were the ones whose coordination skill and teamwork came only second to Lanthanor, the Black Raven citizens had been thinking that this would finally be the competition where they would be able to cheer at their heart's content on seeing their soldiers finally perform well.
The 30 soldiers who had walked onto the ground all looked determined, as if they were ready to wade through hell to get the points to make their Kingdom win.
Little had they known that that was exactly what was going to happen.
All of the soldiers were outfitted with barrier trinkets which would protect against life-threatening injuries, but they weren't very effective against the impact that came from being tackled by three people at once.
From the moment the bell sounded, it had started to become clear that this was Lanthanor's game.
They were using a simple formation which was actually quite common on Earth, with a few team members arranging themselves with varying distances between each other from the spot the ball was to the end of the court.
Seeing this, the team of Axelor had been a little puzzled as in their training, the main objective had been to take down the one carrying the ball before using the fastest person to get the points.
The simple tactic they had come up with was that a few people would be assigned to be responsible for taking on the person who had the ball on the opposite team. After that, the ball would be passed to a different team which would be responsible for taking it to the end of the court.
The first team was comprised of the strongest Axelorians, while the second had the fastest.
In their practice, they had gone up against an equally powerful team of soldiers, and this tactic had proven to be direct and very effective.
This, coupled with the overwhelming power advantage that the soldiers of Axelor had over the fighters of all the other kingdoms, had been the reason why they had been confident enough to take the victory in the handball tournament.
However, that confidence had already been shaken after seeing the teamwork in the archery competition, where Lanthanor had pulled off something almost inconceivable.
Although they had known that teamwork would come into play a lot especially in the handball tournament, they could never have imagined that it would be this important.
The soldiers of Lanthanor moved like cogs in a single machine, with the one responsible for catching the ball passing it in the fraction of a second before the one it was passed to shot off like a bullet in a zigzag pattern which proved to be incredibly effective in avoiding the defenders.
After reaching a certain point, he would pass behind him to his teammate who would be waiting there, and this would repeat again and again until the ball easily reached the other end.
The beauty of this tactic was the fact that nothing was hidden, but it was still very difficult to counter without elaborate practice.
While the commentators raved on and on about the impeccable timing, skill, and creativity of the Lanthanorians, the Axelorians had already started to pull their hair out with frustration.
The score had been 5-1 at the end of half the match, and it was at this point that a message was given to the commander of Axelor from King Safiros which told him to implement their second tactic.
That tactic had a simple name: destroy.
And the first casualty of this tactic turned out to be the commander himself, who had just been carried out of the stadium, unconscious.
Using the power advantage, the Axelorians started to injure each and every team member of Lanthanor, until the points started to go back into their favor.
By the end of the 45-minute mark, the score was 8-8.
Just as everyone was wondering whether Axelor would clinch another victory in a sport where Lanthanor was slated to win, a new player set foot on the ground.
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Tournament Brackets:
https://imgur.com/a/HXrg0ES