Jason vs Lance

The first paart of the competition has begun. As the stars of the competition, the two princes are assigned to go last. The other competitors go one at a time.

Selena dozed off because she had no interest in hunting, she was only here to support Jason. Her body was also tired from making the satchet so she used this opportunity to take a short nap.

A short while later, she heard loud screams that instantly woke her up.

"Prince Lance!" the crowd cheered.

the screams were very enthusiastic. It can be said that the military faction did a fantastic job at promoting Lance as the hero of the campaign. It's hard not to respect someone who ended up in the war with the southern territory. Lance's popularity is the highest it has ever been.

"If I wasn't there myself, I might've been tricked into thinking he actually did everything himself", Selena said as she slightly scoffed at the reaction of the crowd after remembering that Lance did not even partipcate in taking down the castle defense walls due to his lack of magic.

Eventually, Prince Lance arrived at the center.

Selena watched closely and eventually saw dozens of rabbits being released.

The rabbits were fast and she was surprised that the competitors were set to hunt all of them.

Lance's eyes were closed at the time and then he opened them with his eyes full of fierceness. 

He used his bow and arrow and aimed at one of the rabbits. As if he could see where they would be, he shot and was able to catch a rabbit right after they dashed away.

Once the first rabbit fell, the others started moving frantically. Lance also ran forward fast and quickly grabbing arrows and shooting them at the fleeing rabbit.

The shots were quick and sharp. One by one, the rabbits continued to fall until they were all gone. Not one arrow was wasted. Lance showed great skill and the demeanor of a future king.

The crowd cheered at Lance's performance. He truly was the future star of the empire.

More and More beasts were released. Lance kept slaying them over and over, showing perfect accuracy with his shots. 

Eventually, they released bigger animals that could not be subdued easily with arrows.

Lance took out his sword and then got into position. He approached the big bear slowly and carefully.

The size difference was huge and the fight looked like a mismatch. It was way different from fighting from a distance using a bow and arrow.

The bear swung quickly but Lance was able to dodge it smoothly. It was almost like a dance; the fight between the big animals was very methodical and quick. Lance showed off his military prowess and battle experience perfectly. He could not get hit by the big animals and dodged everything as if he could see through all their movements.

Selen was watching the performance, very impressed with Lance's battle prowess. Seeing it during the campaign is one thing but having the point of view of an audience member lets her see things she didn't notice before.

Once the animals were defeated, cheers erupted around the stadium once more. Lance was a sensation. He perfectly subdued all the animals presented and even did it quicker than everyone before him. 

After finishing, Lance gave a quick bow and then went back to his tent without wasting any extra time.

The next up was Jason.

Jason walked up and the audience didn't have much of a reaction. Ever since the ball, most people caught on that Jason should be competing with Lance, the military hero, for the throne. Naturally, they would not give him a good reception.

As if their reactions did not matter, Jason's expression did not fluctuate at all.

The match got started with the bunnies being released for Jason to take down. 

Jason shot out tiny orbs all over the floor and the bunnies got attracted to them. He then took out his bow and filled it with many arrows at once. He shot them into the air and the arrows all aimed at the different bunnies at once.

Bunnies fell one by one with no chance of resisting. It wasn't the hunting skills that were impressive but the magic!

The crowd eventually reacted.

"What did he even do?"

"Was that magic? Woah, what type of magic is this?"

"That many arrows at once, that's not possible to do even with talented archers. I wonder how he did that?"

"This isn't our offensive magic, right? So what is it? It might be useful if we can learn it"

The crowd kept muttering and Selena's expression gradually changed as she was hearing their comments. This is such a big stage and Jason using her mother's magic will undoubtedly attract a lot of attention. This is great publicity!

The joy on her face was hard to hide as she continued to cheer for Jason. 

All the rabbits are almost taken down until Jason ends up missing the last rabbit.

Unlike Lance who got a perfect score, Jason was one off.

"Seems like he's just that. Sure he has some good magic but in front of Prince Lance, he is still a bit inferior", someone in the crowd said.

Many others joined in and said similar things.

Selena tried to control her anger as the same people complimenting Jason were now dissing him.

The next batch of animals came in. Jason was preparing his next spell. Shortly, smoke filled the area and the deer soon began to hallucinate.

As if they were dizzy and confused, the animals lost most of their mobility and Jason prepared another wave of arrows.

The arrows were shooting down the deer while the audience exclaimed in shock.

"What Spell is this? He used a different one this time!"

"What does that smoke do? Is that magic? He got so many of them!"

"It shouldn't be a weapon... nothing like that exists in our empire. Is it really new magic?"

Many people once again were in awe and questioning Jason's performance. 

Selena smiled once more and heard the excited words of the crowd.

The round was almost over but once again, Jason missed the last animal and failed to get perfect accuracy. 

This sparked another wave of the audience putting up Lance while putting down Jason, despite their earlier surprised reaction.

Finally, the bear was released for Jason to fight. 

"I wonder what he would show us this time?" Someone from the audience said.

Subconsciously, they already began to expect a lot from Jason and their excitement for this style of magic.

Jason faced the bear with the same vigilant and determined look that Lance had earlier. The bear faced him and was about to attack and then it froze because there were multiple bodies of Jason that surrounded the bear.

Some people stood up from their seats quickly and opened their mouths in shock.

What is this?!" 

The bear was caught off guard but then swung at one of the Jason's. The hand goes right through the body and the image slowly dissipates. 

Everyone realized that this must be some sort of illusion or mirage to trick someone else.

The more talented generals started speculating on how they could incorporate this kind of magic into some new military plans

"Are those illusions? Who knew magic was capable of this too"

"It may not be able to attack but surely there would be a cool way to use it right?"

"I wonder how much magic Jason knows? He seems to be quite talented"

The words of the audience became more and more positive towards Jason.

Selena smiled with a hint of pride on her face. "Now you see how good my man is?" She says in her heart while enjoying the reaction of the audience.

After awhile, Jason subdued the bear but when the announcer calculated the time, it was 1 second later than what Lance achieved.

More and more people got up and clapped when they realized that despite Jason having such a great showing, Lance was still the perfect soldier and outclassed him in every round.

Selena had an odd feeling in her heart as if something was not quite right. "Is it just due to my bias? I am fully aware of how strong Lance is but..." she started to think as she glanced towards Jason's figure.

Jason then headed back towards his resting area and let the announcers take over.

"The Round 1 results of the competition will now be announced". He then slowly named the participants from last place to first. Selena didn't recognize any of them due to her earlier nap but then it reached the second place.

Jason's name was announced and despite the earlier comments, he didn't get any loud cheers. 

Lance's name was announced and got a standing ovation. It is clear to see who the favorite was and given the current results, he did perfect! It was justified.

Selena felt a bit bitter but was still happy that Jason at least wouldn't be said to be worse than others below his status.

The announcers then announced that they would be moving on to the final round where the participants would enter the forest and actively hunt down the animals there. The ones who come back the most will win.

There was a short intermission to allow for the participants to rest but there was not enough time for the audience to come in and talk with the competitors. 

The participants then left for the forest while the audience moved to the edge and made their own camps while waiting for the competitors to come out.

The final round of the competition is much more dangerous than the first rorund where everyone is watching you and the animals are well-controlled. In the deep and dark forest, it is quite easy for something to happen.

This is what bothered Selena the most. Jason is someone who became a victim even in broad daylight, she can't begin to imagine what will happen in this situation.

She wants to use her illusory bird to contact him but he would need to use mana in order to return her message, he is not in a situation where he should be using his mana for anything else but surviving and winning.

Selena was sitting down while closing her eyes and praying that Jason comes back safely. 

A few hours pass and an illusory bird lands on Selena's hand.

"Selena... Lance... In trouble... Count Grenden... He's crazy... Assassination... Send help!" The faint voice sounded.

Selena's head buzzed as she heard the message. "Assassination? Is Jason Okay?"

Selena was in complete panic. She quickly went over to Duke Zenat who didn't partipcate in order not to dwarf the young princes. She quickly explained the situation but Duke Zenat found it quite hard to believe.

Selena was at a loss of what to do, she gritted her teeth and then just ran towards the forest herself.

Ivory who saw this scene turned pale and then chased after Selena.

Fiona, who saw her two rivals run towards the forest, furrowed her eyebrows and then chased after them. 

Duke Zenat, was was a little doubtful, had no choice but to believe this matter might be very serious due to the three stars of the graduating class all risking themselves to go and stabilize the situation.

Right when he was about to issue the order to follow, A man crawled from the forest, covered in blood. He weakly said, "Duke... Please... The Prince... He might die" and then he collapsed. 

The duker recognized him as one of the Lance's attendants and quickly took action. He mobilized the guards and quickly ran into the forest.

The duke had cold sweat all over his body. If he were to let both princes die in this competition, no amount of deaths would be able to make up for this blunder.

He gritted his teeth and continued forward.

"Prince Lance, For the future of the empire. You must survive this no matter what".

He continued to gallop towards the inner forest while mentally preparing for what drastic scene would come into view.