Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

Boom!

They didn't hold back at all. Each contender was determined to climb the rankings to receive more resources.

The arena was then filled with flashing lights and explosions that could be felt even at the seat of the audience. A lot was going on so it's a bit hard to choose where to focus.

But this is just the start though...the preliminaries if you will...

None from the Top 10 of the Senior Student Rankings got up yet, which means that whatever's happening is just a warm-up before the real deal.

Cedric watched the matches attentively while his seatmates looked bored. It couldn't be helped, after all they were used to this since it happens monthly.

Unlike them though, Cedric was learning by watching. Despite being in a league of his own, Cedric knew that he still had a long way to go. He's merely Tier 3 for crying out loud. Sure he could fight enemies above his tier but that doesn't apply to everybody.

The Starlight Royal Academy is the hub of geniuses all over the continent. Tier-surpassing geniuses were a common sight here so Cedric wasn't special. This applies more profoundly to Senior Students.

'...I see, so that's Laws, huh?' Cedric mused as he watched the current matches.

He has seen real flames erupting through sheer will alone. He sensed the difference between his fire and their fire. His fire was good, especially for someone of his Tier but it has nothing against the real intensity and profundity of Fire Laws.

If comparisons were to be made, then his fire would be akin to a candlelight against a real torch. Like he's playing with matchsticks while they're committing arson. There's just no competing with that.

Thanks to the Book of Laws (which he now owns thanks to City Lord Reiner donating it to him), Cedric had an introduction to them. He already memorized the book's contents from cover to cover but only now did he really see what they were like.

Laws, as he understood it, was 'THE' Force of Nature. The very concept that created the world as they knew it. The fundamental forces that make up the creation itself.

It's a profound subject that one could easily get lost in. Getting in touch with it could take ages, especially since luck is also involved in that, and this isn't even mentioning the time it'd take for someone to comprehend a single facet of it.

Still, if someone was fortunate enough to comprehend even a fraction of a specific Law, their power would truly ascend to a whole new level. And in this world, if you want to reach the heights where the real experts are at, then the might of Laws is necessary.

Aside from Fire Laws, he also witnessed Water, Earth, Wood, Wind, and etc. He even senses the usage of 'Conceptual Laws' like: Fluidity, Stillness, Mirage, and so on...

While Cedric does have an absurd level of comprehension, the subject of Laws remains a distant thing to him. Even if he's curious to learn more about it, he can only wait until he reaches a certain threshold before doing so.

Still, despite that being the case, he could still understand some nuances of Laws, specifically about wielding them.

'...Tiers don't determine control of Laws. It's about fortune and comprehension.'

Fortune in the sense of gaining more enlightenment about a specific Law. Comprehension is self-explanatory.

Because of this, it is quite possible for someone who's technically weaker to defeat someone stronger. Again, a higher Tier doesn't necessarily mean better control/comprehension of Laws.

With his exposure to Laws, his mind adapted to it, committing the feeling into memory and later into his subconsciousness. This meant that now, Cedric would start sensing the usage of Laws within his field of senses.

As he honed this particular skill, it might even reach a point where he could come in contact with Laws in the future, which will help immensely when the time comes that he's ready for it.

Taking a deep breath, Cedric closed his eyes briefly as he felt his senses adjusting to this new sensation. It didn't take long nor was it painful. More importantly, it'll be a work in progress. Something like this wouldn't happen overnight. It will happen naturally though and he didn't have to focus on it which was nice on its own.

His musings were interrupted when he noticed Floyd getting up from his seat and making his way toward the arena.

'Oh? So he's up next?' Cedric assumed inwardly.

"Finally, damn!" Francis swore as he adjusted his posture. "The boring matches are done, it's time for the main course!"

'Floyd should be high up in the rankings then, if he said that.' Cedric guessed.

It would seem that he's right. Unlike the previous setting where multiple matches were happening at the same time, when Floyd and his foe got up the stage, there were only the two of them. A sign that this was a special match.

"Hmm?" Cedric hummed and raised a brow.

Once they were there, Cedric sensed a sudden shift within the arena. It was brief and swift, he almost missed it, and he would had he not been paying attention.

"...that's a lot of arrays. Had I remained ignorant I would've thought that they were trying to seal those two forever in that place." Cedric muttered softly.

Cedric sensed, at least, 50 array formations scattered across the arena, and each one of those had at least millions of symbols in them...hence his comment.

"Good catch." Francis apparently heard him and praised him. "You aren't wrong though, technically at least. It's more for 'Containment' rather than 'Sealing' to be exact."

"A match with no holds barred could get...hectic and explosive." Erica added, "For safety's sake, those arrays are there to contain the clash between them."

"Yeah. That's what I thought too." Cedric agreed.

With that out of the way, the countdown started. The atmosphere became tense and the crowd was silenced.

Floyd held his bow as his eyes sharpened with focus. His opponent summoned his weapon - a pair of knuckledusters.

When the countdown ended, Floyd's opponent promptly disappeared from his previous location.

'Fast!' Cedric exclaimed inwardly.

The guy's speed greatly alarmed Cedric, and that's saying a lot. That said, this was normal since this guy was way stronger and older than him.

However, despite being fast, Floyd was still much faster.

Cedric was barely able to catch his movement but he could fill in the rest.

Floyd leaned back, evading the punch aimed at his face. Borrowing the momentum of his action, he backflipped while kicking the other dude's chin with enough force to launch him into the air.

This part was blurry but Cedric guessed that Floyd must've attacked his opponent after launching him into the air because the dude flew back.

He then saw three projectiles pinning the other dude into the formation surrounding the arena. This is the part where they slowed down, allowing Cedric's senses to catch up.

Then, he saw Floyd with an arrow ready and aimed at his opponent's head while the latter was struggling to get out of his predicament. It only took a couple of seconds of struggling before the dude sighed and admitted defeat.

Floyd sighed and retracted his arrow. He then snapped his fingers and the arrows pinning his foe disappeared. The formation was released and Floyd made his way back to their aisle.

'A minute...that's the duration of the entire match. A single fucking minute.' Cedric was seriously awed.

But thinking about it, this made sense. With how fast those two move, it's quite possible for them to exchange dozens of moves within a single minute. And in a fight of that caliber, a single mistake could prove deadly. That match was a great example of that.

The other dude's plan was sound and valid. Closing the distance against an archer was a wise move. Based on what Cedric was able to see though, the dude only lost because Floyd was much faster than him.

Of course, they have other things that could've changed the outcome of the fight but none of those were displayed so he could only reserve his judgment for that. What's certain is that Floyd won because if this was a real fight, that dude would've gotten his head blown up as soon as Floyd counterattacked.

'But still...damn!' Cedric swore in amazement inwardly.

That fight might've been brief but it gave him a solid impression of what a real fight between experts is like. He could barely follow their movements. Heck, at some point, Floyd moved faster than he could even react.

Which was normal of course...again, Cedric's just a Tier 3 Superhuman. He's abnormal, yes. But still a Tier 3. It would be extremely absurd if he was able to follow their movements closely.

"Nice job, Man." - Darwin

"Good work." - Captain Elric

"You were so handsome just now. Blow me." - Francis, who received a smack from Floyd.

As Floyd returned to his seat, Cedric couldn't help but take a deep breath. Witnessing a fight of this caliber made him realize how much growing he still needs to do.

He wasn't intimidated though. If anything, this just motivates him even more. After all, he's a monster compared to these geniuses.