The Gods' Decree 223 W.T.F : Dark Horse

Like true nocturnal beasts their eyes pierced through the blackness taking as they pleased.

There was no one to stop them, essentially acres and acres of forest became vacant as markers kindled. Thus their rise to overnight fame as the whispers in the shadows uttered,

"By just swing of her sword, all is lost. With just a twist of its hilt, your time has ended."

By its conclusion, the darkness took with it an earth-shattering collection of markers inside merely a few hours in comparison to the day. 

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Daylight had now arrived at the delight of the masses. Outside of the forest, there were now huge gatherings of tens of thousands of disciples and a few elders.

They watched as thousands left the forest defeated and dejected.

"This many!"

A female disciple at the fifth stage of qi condensation exclaimed at the sheer numbers. If they were totaled, the sum would not amount to less than three thousand five hundred.

This meant that within the first day of the preliminaries nearly nine thousand disciples had been eliminated. That was 90% of all who competed.

To her side a male at the six-stage slightly her senior scratch his head. He then said,

"I suspect only the most elites of the third-ranked squads remain. This is why we need to work hard Tiya.

Only through grueling hard work will we be able to make our mark when finally eligible to participate."

After his words, there was a tinge of anticipation in the young disciple's eyes. With eagers in their hearts, the two then turned to stare at a whiteboard.

All had previously watched as it was erected by a few volunteers under the instructions of Elder Zen.

It was wide while at the same time towering into the air. Shortly afterward letters and numbers began to form on its black backdrop. The writing started from its lowest point, it stated in real-time:

Rank #1000 - [Marker points - 123] - Naro Valsker - Eliminated 

Rank #999 - [Marker points - 125] - Banton Felix - Active

Like this, it continued showing all those currently within the forest as well as their ranking and points gathered.

All waited with bated breath as an eagerness to see the starlet of this year's tournament festered. Of course, they knew these rankings were temporary with the true elites having not entered as yet. 

Hehe!

"Look at my squad captain."

A man proudly stated when he saw a name in bold letters ranked 923rd. Like this exclamation was heard one after the other as the ranking was made.

Before long the top 600 was breached as the tallies for markers soared,

Rank #567 - [Marker points 417]- Bishop Kelp - Active

"Wow! 417 Makers received by Bishop. That means he defeated the sum of 417 other disciples."

A bright-eyed disciple screamed in excitement while in the gathering of his peered.

Yet he slowly saw them distancing themselves as the surrounding crowd looked at him as though he was a real fool.

"Will you keep your voice down." One of his friends uttered in embarrassment before highlighting how wrong he was,

"Listen this is how things stand. Bishop did not defeat 417 of his fellow disciples. You have to remember that he gained markers that others had stolen.

So if he had a tally of 12 and pounced on someone with 40. After defeating that disciple he would have gained an additional 40. Bringing his tally to 52."

Seeing how naive he had been the disciple could only awkwardly smile. No wonder his peers had distanced themselves from him.

Returning to the board the top five hundred were now known. One thing that could be noted was that a lot of persons had lost their original spot.

For instance, the number 431st was previously ranked 400th and the 496th was previously 523th. This caused a few side glances and murmurs but nothing in comparison to when Samson and his squad were illuminated earlier the previous day.

Speaking of Samson their he stood slightly away from the masses with his long eliminated squad. He too looked eagerly on the board. Yet this was for another reason from the masses.

His anticipation was to see if his small plan which he had envisioned yielded dividends. Previously he had expected to see squad Malgrey exiting the forest dejected like all the rest. Yet this did not go as expected.

This was a bit puzzling for him so he summed it up to them being quite lucky evading the pursuit of Eto'o, his men, and the Barkers twins. So his attention then shifted to the board as it appears they were still within.

As the names appeared a frown grew on his face because not one member of the Squad Malgrey appeared.

"Are you sure they had not exited during the night in our absence." He once more tried to confirm with one of his subordinates. This was the red-headed tracker who had hunted down squad Malgrey previously.

She shook her head saying, "They have yet to exit the forest. To be certain I even consulted with one of the volunteers I knew who was in charge of listing all who left."

As they spoke the thousands of disciples became quiet all of a sudden. This was due to the series of names which appeared as follows:

Rank #411 - [Marker points 499] - Esker Naaz - Eliminated

Rank #410 - [Marker point 502] - Ferner Briggs - Eliminated

Rank #408 - [Marker points 512] - Calvin Barker - Eliminated

Rank #407 - [Marker points 515] - Aiden Barker - Eliminated

Rank #402 - [Marker points 533] - Jacob Starr - Eliminated

This news was quite appalling as all five were barely outside the top one hundred. Rumors also surfaced that they had gone into the forest as a group in order to take advantage of the elite being accepts.

Who could have possibly eliminated a squad that was nearly equivalent in strength to that of a fourth-star squad? 

Then...

Rank #398 - Marker points - 552 - Eto'o Nbombe - Eliminated 

It was all most instinctive the way each person turned to the closed individual to their side. There was no need for word as just the mere reaction on their faces told the tale....

What The Fu**! 

The previous years number 103rd who basically is just as strong as the two before him was eliminated. What on earth was going on within the forest? Not to mention he was the leader of the previous five in the makeshift squad.

Logic dictates they should be top of the rankings at this point with the tactic of holding on to the bitter end. Hiding if they possibly needed from the elites. Now the anticipation was sky-high as surely one of the elite squads had made it inside in secrecy. 

Yet there was one person who looked on in sheer dread and bewilderment. How could those six be eliminated before the member of squad Malgrey? This should be impossible.

By their reaction when entering this was the primary objective. A thought came to his mind but that would be absurd. Still, he looked on the board which had continued to illuminate at its leisure.

Within moments hundreds of names were seen as the onlookers bit their lips:

Rank #300 - [Marker points - 712]- Sara Talle - Squad Talle..

Rank #200 - [Marker points - 823]- Taman Ridge- Squad Ridge

Rank #150 - [Marker points- 899]- Tarrus Singh - Squad Singh

Rank #101 - [Marker points 960] - Barro Stern - Squad Stern.

With each name, Samson had an unsettling feeling in his gut. Deep down he knew the answer but never wanted to fathom it. How could they possibly have accomplished this feat?

When it arrived in the top one hundred the letters were lit in gold. All looked for the name of the fourth rank squad and its members that had boated Eto'o and his men.

Yet they were startled to find as the name illuminated in gold there were no fourth rank squads following.

Rank #86 - [Marker points 1100] - Mace Grendo - Squad Grendo[1]

Rank #75 -[Marker points 1198] - Selena Thorne - Squad Malgrey [TEMP]

When that name showed it did garner some intrigue,

"Isn't that Selena, Ava's younger sister? How could she have possibly made it into the top hundred? And since when did she join squad Malgrey?"

A disciple questioned out loud,

"I'm startled as well with her surge through the rankings. Guess there was bound to be one or two dark horses. Yet I am not certain as to why they listed under squad Malgrey." His counterpart replied. Overhearing their conversation another onlooker replied,

"Didn't you hear the news? Apparently the other three members of the previous squad Ava were killed in a mission.

Therefore, squad Ava is no more until they have gained three additional members. That is why the 'Temp' is listed beside her name as it seems she temporarily came to be a member of squad Malgrey." 

With her utterance, all became clear to the onlookers. Samson who was nearby heard the conversation as everything he feared became a reality. Soon all realized a recurring theme as squad Malgrey continued to illuminate the board.

Rank #20 - [Marker Points 1350] - Malgrey Zinshenko - Squad Malgrey

Rank #14 - [Marker Points 1385] - Ava Thorne - Squad Malgrey [Temp]

Rank #11 - [Marker Points 1400] - Malnor Peltrov - Squad Malgrey [Temp]

What on earth were they seeing? This was an unpopular squad. Why was it they were dominating the rankings at the moment? They were able to accomplish this feat when the more domineering Eto'o and his men couldn't even crack the top 300.

It seems this squad Malgrey is truly a starlet, keener attention must be placed on each and every one of its members.

Soon the discussion was moved from squad Malgrey to who the possible top ten might be. Now everything started to make sense as the previously ranked 108th on the ranking was in the tenth position

Rank #10 - [ Marker points -1620] - Sara Jones - Squad Jones...

Rank #3 - [Marker point - 2340] - Marcus Stark - Squad Stark

Rank #2 - [Marker point - 2500] - Rafael Tensen - Squad Tensen.

Yet again the onlookers became puzzled. This was after seeing who were ranked 3rd and 2nd. These were the previous years 101 and 100th ranked. Obviously, a fourth-ranked squad had not made it within the forest as they previously suspected.

So who could have possibly been the one to stand temporarily on the summit of the ranking? When the name was formed out in bright gold letters a pin could be heard in the distance as mouths were left aghast...

Rank #1- [Marker points -6000] - Niesha Oregi - Squad Malgrey

Unedited Version

To be continued...

[1] At this point, I am just taking the piss with the names lol

Chapter end