Chapter 726: The King’s Crown (VIII)
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Contrary to what most people believed, Cedric’s flying swords don’t discriminate.
It only looked like they did because they snatched the crowns from their previous holders and somewhat intentionally passed them to others, which made a huge difference in the leaderboard. But that’s just a single display of how the swords truly disrupted the battlefield.
At this point, every participant, seeded or not, had to be wary of the flying swords because they could be attacked at any given moment. Not all of the swords acted aggressively, though; some just flew leisurely across the skies, while others floated still.
Even amongst the aggressive ones, there were unique cases. Some swords will only attack once they sense a living creature nearby; some wouldn’t attack unless they were attacked first. Some swords will pick one person and will chase them until either the target dies or the sword is destroyed, and some swords are purely out for blood.
In truth though, the flying swords aren’t really that strong. They could be disabled and destroyed with minimal effort. What they are is annoying and disruptive because there are just too many of them.
The only time when these swords showed a formidable force was during the initial moments of their release, precisely when all of them were sent out to snatch the crowns from their previous owners.
Cedric did this on purpose because most of those who were wearing the crowns were seeded participants; their crowns couldn’t be snatched through half-assed effort.
After that, though, Cedric relaxed his hold on the flying swords. His goal to cause chaos in the battlefield to alleviate his boredom was already achieved; everything that happens next is a bonus.
As stated earlier, he wasn’t specifically targeting the seeded participants and favoring the ordinary ones. The seeded participants were targeted because they had the crowns, and they had to be taken away from them to bring on the chaos he wanted.
After that initial change, though, the battlefield became more active. The participants not only have to retrieve or secure their crowns from other participants, but they also have to watch out for the flying swords lest they steal the crowns again.
Obviously, Cedric was the only one unaffected by all of this. He remained at the top of the leaderboard because his crown wasn’t snatched when everybody else’s was.
As he observed the chaos around him, he could also hear the participants cursing him. Some knew it was him who caused it; others cursed the person who unleashed the flying swords out of nowhere, not knowing that it was him.
Since it hasn’t been that long, the leaderboard was still relatively the same. The ones at the top were still him and the seeded participants since they held the crowns longer than the others. But because of what he did, more names were added to the leaderboard.
This unforeseen event caused a chain reaction on the battlefield.
The once confident and unbothered holders of the crowns are now scrambling to retrieve what they lost. Meanwhile, the new holders are searching for or employing ways to keep the crowns they just got.
It has truly become chaotic in this battlefield. And the ones benefitting from this were Cedric and the audience.
Cedric, of course, because his boredom was cured.
As for the audience, oh, they’re eating this up.
**
"Holy shit! That is a lot of swords!"
"Yeah, no kidding! How do you even avoid all of that?"
"Is it just me, or are the swords behaving differently from one another?"
"It’s not just you, my friend. The swords, indeed, have different mechanics in them."
"Like, how is he even controlling all of that?"
"That’s what I’d like to ask too."
"Is this even allowed?"
"Probably. I mean, the organizers haven’t shut it down, so we could assume that it is."
"True. Besides, this is a competition. Actually, they had to be thankful that Dawnbringer just wanted to cause chaos. Otherwise, he could’ve eliminated all of them with this."
"Yeah, for real. He’s clowning everybody, including the seeded participants."
"Dawnbringer’s dangerous when he’s bored."
The inclusion of the seeded participants in the fold turned the tournament a little dull and predictable. The seeds are, after all, too strong for ordinary people to handle, and it became almost certain that they will be the only ones who will move on to the next round.
Dawnbringer was different, of course. He’s almost no different from them, so he really doesn’t count.
But because of the seeded participants, the tournament had become boring to the audience. Lisa and Paul did their best to keep everything interesting through their clever commentaries, but there’s only so much they could do.
However, thanks to Cedric, the tournament became lively again.
Multiple clashes and chases were now being broadcast in real time. Too much was happening that even the hosts themselves couldn’t keep up. Just when everybody thought that things were slowing down, something new happened that caused the pace to increase again.
There were fights and flying swords everywhere, and the situation was just becoming more and more chaotic because the safe zone was shrinking.
But beneath all of this chaos and activity, there were a handful of people who could see some semblance of order.
At first, some of these people thought that they were just seeing things, but as they continued observing, they started to see some patterns, and they’re not talking about the flying swords.
Upon close and deliberate observation, some noticed that the whole flow of the battlefield was being manipulated, somehow.
It becomes obvious when the situation shows signs of slowing down.
Through clever and almost inauspicious ways, the flying swords will interfere and cause a chain reaction that will get things moving again in a new direction or development.
For example:
A seeded participant just got a crown back. But just as he was about to finalize his preparation to hide and secure his crown, one of the aggressive swords happened to fly above him. The seeded participant panicked but was relieved when the flying sword just flew past him.
However, his relief was short-lived because, as it turns out, someone was chasing after that aggressive sword. It’s another seeded participant, one that doesn’t have a crown yet. The flying sword missed him but not his fellow seed, and that person most definitely saw that he had a crown.
As a result, both of them are now fighting.
In the middle of their fight, they come across flying swords. Some stayed still; others attacked. Due to the intensity of their clash, they were unaware that the flying swords manipulated them by pushing them into the way of other participants, causing another set of chain reactions on the battlefield.
Events like this are happening all over the battlefield.
And sure, the flying swords made everything messy and chaotic, but they also kept things in motion as they should be.
Again, not many people noticed this. Those who could were renowned people on their own and were inwardly praising Dawnbringer for displaying one of the true aspects of chaos through this seemingly comical plot twist in this tournament.
The chaos in the battlefield continued just like this...
Due to how messy the battlefield has become, in addition to it constantly shrinking every two hours, many things have happened.
Some seeded participants got their crowns back; others were still searching for theirs. Some kept their crowns as soon as they got them; others lost them shortly after through some accident. Those who haven’t retrieved the crowns yet are still hunting for them. It sometimes forced them to fight their fellow seeded participant to take theirs or avoid them and search for another.
As for the ordinary participants who got the crown, some of them still manage to keep theirs, while most lost them, either because they’ve been taken by their fellow participants or by the seeded participants, or through the same way they’ve gotten in the first place: by the flying swords.
Even after hours since the appearance of the flying swords, many things are still happening.
Lisa and Paul had to take turns in their commentaries because their throats were becoming dry and aching from too much talking. This made them both thankful and resentful of Dawnbringer for doing all of this.
As for the culprit himself? Well, he stays unbothered.
He remains at the same spot as he’s always been, sitting on a flat rock and observing everything that’s happening like some spectator instead of a participant.
Only he kept his crown untouched. And even though some have already caught on that he’s the one who caused all of this, they still stayed far away from him, either because they’re more concerned about securing a crown or because they’re aware that they’re no match for him.
Well, at the very least, Cedric wasn’t bored anymore. The likelihood of him causing another disturbance was almost none. It also didn’t look like he’s burdened by the number of swords he’s controlling as of the moment, so there’s that.
All that’s left is to wait until this stage is over. Whether the seeded participants end up retrieving their crowns before the time is up or drop from their position because of this still remains to be seen.