The bow master(3)

There were five arrows, and five oranges. 

All bets had been placed. All oranges had been counted, so had the arrows. If Haiser missed even a single shot, he, alongside all his supporters, would lose. To win, he had to make each and every shot. 

From the look on Carlos, things were going to get dicey. His usually mischievous eyes were shifty and glowing with a dangerous light. 

"Go Tim, you got this!" 

"Yeah soldier boy, go for it!" 

By now, Haiser was already gaining the sympathy of the crowd. The odds were heavily against him, and not the arbitrary ones Carlos had come up with. Felix and Joel were his lead cheerleaders, but there were so many more. 

"You ready?" Carlos asked, holding an orange. 

With his hands on his bow and an arrow ready, Haiser nodded, his muscles tightening with anticipation. His breath had quickened, his senses so much sharper. This was it. Everyone was watching, waiting for the show.

Almost like a professional baseball player, Carlos dug deep within his body, thrusting the orange with every ounce of energy within him. Watching this, everyone who'd made a bet grimaced. There was just no stopping that! Just the speed alone, how could an arrow match such a speed. 

No one saw when the arrow was loosed, but moments after Carlos's toss, the arrow was nailing the orange to the ground. For a moment, the silence that ensued was deafening. No one knew how to react, no one expected such a move.

The next moment, everyone was applauding. What a wonderful performance, and there were four more shots to go, the crowd could not wait. 

Joel released a sigh of relief. Truthfully, while he acknowledged Haiser to be an expert, he was not sure he had reached that level. 

With the advance of technology and multiple body refining techniques, humanity was at a golden age. Even people who were more than a century old were still very spry, with barely a wrinkle. With this, even the ways of fighting had changed. 

There were multiple fighting techniques and body refining methods that could make people perform superhuman feats, but only a select few who could do this. While fighters were a dime a dozen, especially in this world where humanity's population exceeded several trillion, expert fighters were quite rare.

Even then, to find someone who could execute a fighting technique was even rarer, yet to understand a fighting technique was only the first step in the journey of body refinement, just half a step. Yet, that half drew the line from the average joe and those that stood at the top. Such people were considered to be apex experts.

A fighting technique could improve someone's body and mind, making them supersede the levels of a normal human. This was especially considering the strength, agility and reaction time. 

When Carlos was tossing the orange, Joel's eyes were trained on Haiser. He was watching how Haiser would react. One thing he noticed, Haiser had already fired the arrow by the time Carlos made his toss. With that, he could confirm that Haiser was able to read Carlos's body movement and predict his attack trajectory. 

Only an apex expert would do such a thing. Joel himself was still only half a step in that direction, but he could tell, Haiser was well beyond that dividing line. There were many experts who'd taken that half step, but the true experts had taken the complete step, and they were extremely rare.

Not willing to believe that, Carlos grabbed the next orange and toss it. This time, he did it in a seemingly haphazard way. To the untrained eye, Carlos had simply tossed away the orange. As people watched the orange, some even had a look of disappointment, wondering if Carlos had given up that fast. 

However, when Joel saw the toss, he narrowed his eyes. That toss was not so simple. Seeing it moved, it looked slow, but it was actually spinning. Moreover, by the way it moved, Carlos had used a technique, but not a complete one. 

Like Joel, Haiser too was shocked. He hadn't imagined that Carlos was half a step into that realm. He hadn't taken the full step, so his technique was poorly executed, but still, to actually be accomplished to this level, Carlos had indeed put a lot of work. 

This time, Haiser's shot was slightly slower that last time. Just like Carlos's throw, the arrow seemed to glide through the air, without a worry in the world. However, despite how it seemed, the arrow was deceptively fast. So fast that in less than thirty meters, the arrow had pinned the orange to the ground. 

The crowd were on their feet, jumping and shouting. The small settlement had never been so lively. The nerve-wracking game set before them was more than any expected. 

By now, Carlos was panicking. When he made his first toss, he was just gauging Haiser's speed and reaction. He had to admit, the man knew how to handle the bow. However, with the second shot, Carlos had confirmed his worst fear. The man was a true expert. 

Thinking up to this point. There was only one more thing he could try. If even this did not succeed, then he would admit defeat. He had tried speed, and failed. Next, he'd tried technique, and failed. The only thing he had left, deceit. 

Standing in front of Haiser, Carlos grasped all three oranges. Taking a breath, he swung his arms three times. Each orange flew in a different direction, and the third one was even more cunning. He had tossed it behind his body. Obstructed by Carlos's body, Haiser couldn't even see the fruit. 

Twang!

Twang!

Twang!

Arrow after arrow left the bow in quick succession. Each was hurtling in its own direction, one shooting right above Carlos's head. The suspense was as thick as soup. 

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Every fruit that fell down had an arrow sticking out of it.