BANG!
BANG!
At the same time, the sound of tables being broken in two could be heard from two different rooms that were floating above the stadium.
One was from the booth of Lanthanor, where the King had just teleported inside and activated a spell to shield everything he was doing from the mages in the room before bringing his bloody hands down on the table in the middle.
It broke almost without resistance, and the splinters went into Daneel's arms, but he didn't care.
He went after the chair next, and destroyed it too before looking around for something else.
If anyone could see him now, they wouldn't even be able to recognize the calm King who was known to handle situations coolly, like he had done in the air before when the fight had taken place in Olympia.
His brown hair was matted with blood, and his entire body had wounds everywhere which were still actively bleeding. His every step left a red mark on the ground, and his armor was in tatters, revealing most of his bare skin, all of which was red.
He was snarling with rage, and his eyes were so bloodshot that they matched the color of his body.
That moment when he had held two limbs in his hands kept coming back to him, along with the repeated feeling of his fist hitting and tearing flesh that he hadn't been able to ignore no matter how much he tried.
He had killed before, and although it had been difficult, he had gotten over it, knowing that it was necessary in this world.
However, this level of gore and bloodshed was something that he never thought he would experience.
Just the raw feeling of punching through flesh and even feeling the bones, again and again, had sent him into such a mad state that he couldn't even comprehend what he was doing anymore.
The plan was to disable the Axelorian monstrosity before Elanev's power-up ran out, but things went awry, leaving Daneel to give himself up to his instincts in order to even have a hope of winning the fight.
There had been no time to give instructions to the system; every attack of his opponent hit like a truck, and it took all the concentration Daneel to push through the pain in order to keep fighting.
Towards the end, when he had seen no other choice but to tear away the limbs, the decision had completely broken down his mind.
The barbaric nature of the act made him devolve into someone who was more bloodthirsty animal than man.
For the rest of the game, he had had to struggle very hard in order to play with the ball instead of killing all the Axelorians in sight.
This resistance wore him down further, and now that he was alone, everything burst out.
Daneel knew that he was in a dangerous state, but he didn't know what to do.
All he felt was hate and rage.
Hate for the Axelorians for making him do those…inhuman things.
Rage that was undirected, but was pushing him to kill, kill and kill.
At this moment, the system came to his aid.
[Host is in an enraged state. Analyzing stored data. Fighter Researcher Anton says in his book that Fighters can enter into an uncontrolled state of destruction when faced with intense situations for the first time. Reason is unknown, but help from a peer who has gone through something similar is advised, as they an guide one out of the state. Looking for best candidate in host's associates. Candidate with most probability of having been in an enraged state: Luther, Commander of Lanthanor. System recommends host to contact this person.]
Daneel wasn't sane enough to understand the message, but the cold and emotionless tone of the system helped somewhat in distracting him from the urge to murder.
He did understand the last sentence, and with the semblance of sanity that had been restored, he shakily moved his hand to his pocket before activating the communication trinket and saying, "C-come to the booth. He-Help."
Only a few seconds later, Luther appeared with Cassandra in the booth.
Entering the opaque barrier, he took one glance at the King before saying to Cassandra, "Leave. The King only wishes an audience with me."
Cassandra was still standing outside the barrier erected by Daneel to hide himself from the mages in the room keeping the room afloat, so she only nodded and teleported away.
After making sure that no one was watching, Luther did something that puzzled Daneel.
He apologized.
"My King, I am sorry for this, but it is necessary."
Saying so, he moved with a speed that he hadn't shown on the ground before.
Even before Daneel could even think about retaliating, his head had been chopped at by Luther's hand at a specific angle, making him lose consciousness and fall to the ground.
Heaving a sigh of relief, Luther walked out and used a mage in the room to go to his room to get some rope.
Then, returning to the private booth, he tied up the King so tightly that he wouldn't even be able to move an inch.
Sitting down on the sofa nearby and keeping a watchful eye on Daneel, Luther tried not to remember the time when he had entered this same state, but the memories came to him anyway.
Tears dripped from his eyes as they flashed through his mind, but he didn't even blink, keeping his eyes on the King for any sign of movement.
Meanwhile, the other room in which the table had broken belonged to the Kingdom of Axelor.
King Safiros had unknowingly acted the same way as Daneel. He had teleported to his room and erected an opaque barrier before deploying the Champion-level anti-eavesdropping trinket and smashing his hands into the table in frustration.
As the minister walked into the barrier, he looked up with a snarl.
"My Lord, Azael is still breathing, but very barely. We…don't know if he will ever make a full recovery."
That 'monstrosity', as it had been dubbed by the commentators, was actually called Azael, and he, or it, was a weapon developed by Axelor to cripple Lanthanor.
Azael was someone who had been one of the most talented Fighters in Axelor, but he had chosen a training path in over-confidence which had actually driven him insane. Loth to waste such a valuable seed, the King had imprisoned him while letting him train.
The ideal plan was to let him loose on the people of Lanthanor during a crucial time so that he could cause mass casualties which would distract the government.
He had spent almost a million Gold Lans worth of Ether stones on this weapon, but he had deployed it here anyway for victory.
Still, it had been defeated and rendered useless.
Now, there was only one thing left for him to do.
"Are the preparations for the golden mosquito ready?"
"Yes, My Lord. It has been tended to as per your instructions."
"Good. Get ready to deploy it on my mark. And send a message to those from the Sect to 'go all out, but keep an eye out'. They will understand. You are dismissed."
As the minister left the room, the King continued to smash things left and right.
His rage, unlike Daneel's, had a clear target, and he was going to make sure that it would be felt in its full force.
Those rivers of blood reflected in his eyes again, and his rage was swept away by anticipation.
...
Lanthanor: 52+50=102 points.
Black Raven Kingdom:26 points.
Arafell:46+10=56 points.
Axelor:75+30=105 points.
Eldinor: 44 points.
Watching the final standings in the display board, it became clear to everyone that the Mage Handball Tournament's results would decide the victor.
With this mind, it seemed that a new enthusiasm had entered everyone, as the mages started to resort to anything and everything they could to obtain victory.
Round 3 pitted the Black Raven Kingdom against Axelor, and the result was the latter winning with a 20 point lead.
Next was Lanthanor versus Eldinor, which was as exciting as the match between Lanthanor and Axelor.
The Eldinorians actually suffered from the same problem: lack of teamwork, but they did not seem to have anyone on their team who had such perfect marksmanship.
Hence, the tank of Lanthanor prevailed, but just barely.
The final score was 32-20, with Lanthanor being the winner.
Round 4 had Eldinor against the Black Raven Kingdom, and Eldinor won with a 23 point lead as expected.
Next, against Axelor, Arafell fought well but lost in the end due to the difference in power level again.
Finally, as the last round approached, the entire stadium stood up from their seats, waiting for the final showdowns which would decide the victor.
Meanwhile, in a certain corner of the stadium, a golden light glinted.