The mont Luca proposed the challenge, the crowd went silent.
Half of them were gripping their bows tighter, half of them clasping their hands nervously.
After all, they all knew this wasn’t a normal ga anymore.
One wrong shot, one twitch, one breath too heavy and soone’s life could end right there.
But despite that fear, there was an undeniable thrill in the air too.
As Luca had said, stakes made things exciting.
So, the elves, for all their nervousness, were watching with bright, eager eyes.
All eyes were fixed on the two standing near the dummies.
Nyx, with a bright red fruit balanced on her head, stood perfectly still, arms behind her back, looking utterly unbothered.
The faint curve of amusent tugged at her lips. If anything, she seed entertained by the situation.
Isaac, however, was another story entirely.
He was trembling like a leaf in the wind. Sweat poured down his face, his knees knocking together as he looked up at the fruit on his head.
"Master, no! Please—please don’t shoot !"
Isaac stamred, his voice high-pitched with fear.
"Please, I beg you! You’ll hit ! It’s not safe! I don’t want to die, Master! Please don’t—"
"Shut up, Isaac!" Julius barked, his patience gone. "You’re embarrassing yourself."
Isaac imdiately went silent—but his shaking only grew worse.
anwhile, Julius himself looked utterly torn.
His jaw twitched, his fingers drumd against the bow he still held, and the veins on his neck stood out sharply.
He had walked right into this trap.
Boasting about skill was one thing—but this?
Hitting a small fruit balanced on soone’s head was a whole other level.
He could barely land near a target from that distance, let alone hit sothing that tiny without killing soone.
If he missed and killed Isaac, his reputation would be done.
The other elves would never follow him again.
He’d beco a joke—a murderer and a fool.
He couldn’t back out. But he couldn’t go forward either.
Finally, he took a deep breath and turned toward Luca, glaring sharply.
"This is absurd." He said through clenched teeth. "I don’t know how things work in your human world, but among elves, we don’t play barbaric gas that risk soone’s life for amusent."
Luca’s expression didn’t shift at all. If anything, his smile deepened slightly.
"What are you talking about, Julius? Whose life is on the line?"
He tilted his head with mock innocence.
"You said it yourself, you’re a master archer, right? A natural talent. So for soone as gifted as you, this shouldn’t be dangerous at all. It’s just an easy shot."
"Easy!?" Julius snapped.
"Of course." Luca said smoothly. "Unless, of course...all that talk about being an expert was just smoke. Maybe you’re not as good as you claim and were running that mouth of yours?"
That struck a nerve.
The female elves giggled, whispering to each other as Julius’s face flushed with rage.
"You—" Julius started, glaring daggers at him.
"So what’s it going to be?" Luca smirked. "Show everyone how amazing you are...or admit you were bluffing?"
Julius’s jaw worked, his pride boiling under the mockery. He had to turn this around sohow.
So he took a deep breath, forced a smirk back onto his face, and said,
"Fine, Hero. I’ll play your little ga. But since you’re the one who proposed this..."
"...why don’t you go first?"
The crowd imdiately stirred. The pressure shifted to Luca.
"Yeah!" One of the male elves called out. "You go first! Let’s see if you can actually do it!"
"You talk a big ga!" Another shouted. "Let’s see if you can back it up!"
The female elves exchanged worried glances. Even though Luca looked calm, their hearts were pounding.
Nyx was standing there, perfectly still, with a fruit on her head and if he missed by even a few centiters...
...they didn’t even talk about it.
Leona’s expression also twitched for the first ti, a flicker of concern passing over her eyes.
She opened her mouth to say sothing, but before she could—
Nyx’s voice rang out lazily.
"Go on, Hero." She said, her lips curling into a teasing smile. "Show them how it’s done."
Luca turned toward her. "You sure you’re fine with this, Nyx?"
"Fine?" She chuckled softly. "I’m better than fine. And honestly, this fruit slls amazing. So, if you hesitate any longer, I might just eat it myself and there won’t be any fruit to shoot."
Luca exhaled through his nose, grinning faintly.
"You just don’t get nervous about anything, do you?"
"Not when you’re the one aiming." She replied smoothly.
"Alright then." Luca said, rolling his shoulders as he lifted the bow. "Let’s make this quick."
The mont he notched the arrow and pulled the string, the crowd collectively held its breath.
The sound of the bowstring stretching filled the clearing, sharp and tense.
The clearing was utterly silent now—so silent that everyone could hear the faint creak of the bowstring, the whisper of wind through the leaves.
Then, in a low voice, Luca muttered to himself,
"One freshly sliced fruit, coming up."
He released.
Whoosh!
The arrow whistled through the air—clean, fast, impossibly sharp.
Every elf gasped. So turned away, so covered their eyes, so even scread. Luna flinched; Leona’s hand twitched.
Lulu shouted. "Luca, wait—!"
But there was no way the arrow would wait.
Instead it sliced through the air like lightning, whistling towards Nyx’s face so fast it made her hair flutter—
—and then thunk!
It struck the fruit perfectly through the center, splitting it clean in half.
Both halves dropped neatly into Nyx’s waiting hands.
A stunned silence fell across the clearing.
Then Nyx looked down at the fruit, smirked, and took a bite.
"...Delicious." She said casually.
That was all it took.
The entire area erupted.
"H-He did it!"
"He actually hit it!"
"Did you see that!? He didn’t even aim that long!"
"It was so clean!"
"He just—just pulled and shot like it was nothing!"
Luna clapped her hands to her mouth, eyes wide in awe.
Leona just stood there, quietly impressed, a faint smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
Lulu, jumped up and down, shouting,
"That’s my Hero! That’s my Hero!"
The female elves were practically glowing with excitent, laughing, clapping, and cheering for Luca.
But Julius—Julius was frozen in place, his face twitching with disbelief and fury.
He knew how hard that shot was.
He knew even the best of the best would struggle with that precision—and yet Luca had done it so casually, like he wasn’t even trying.
That kind of control was beyond what any elf could master.
And that realization burned him.
"How...How did he...?" He muttered under his breath, fists trembling at his sides.
Luca wasn’t supposed to be good at archery. His entire strength was supposed to lie in brute force and physical combat.
After all, anyone with such power wouldn’t bother to learn sothing like archery which requires patience, precision, rhythm.
Or atleast he himself wouldn’t care for such petty tricks if he had such power and that arrogance of thinking no one was better was brought his downfall.
But before Julius could even think of recovering his composure, Luca casually turned back toward the crowd, lowering his bow with a grin.
"Wow." He said with modesty. "Seems like you guys really liked that shot, huh?"
The crowd roared in agreent, clapping and cheering louder.
He smiled slyly as he said,
Then I suppose we can’t stop here, can we? After all, that shot was nothing. Too simple. If I’m going to prove myself in front of a master like Julius..."
He threw a glance his way.
"...I’ll have to do sothing more impressive."
The crowd gasped, whispers spreading like wildfire.
"So, what do you say?" Luca’s grin grew wider. "Should we make this next one even more exciting?"
The response was imdiate and overwhelming.
"Do it, Hero! Show us more!"
"Yeah! Another shot!"
"Make it even crazier this ti!"
The atmosphere was electric.
The so-called death ga had turned into a spectacle and all eyes were on Luca now, who was scanning through the crowd right now.
"Well." He said with an easy grin. "since our lovely Nyx is busy eating her ’target’ right now..."
He glanced toward her, and she winked, taking another lazy bite of fruit.
"...I suppose I’ll need soone else for my next test. Any volunteers?"
For a split second, the clearing was silent. Then, as if a spell broke, dozens of voices erupted at once.
"! ! I’ll do it!"
"No, ! Pick , Hero!"
"I’ll stand right there! I won’t even blink!"
"Hero, please! Let be your next target!"
Hands shot up everywhere, so even jumping up and down like excited children.
Just monts ago, everyone had been terrified by the thought of danger.
But after witnessing Luca slice through the fruit with impossible precision, fear had been replaced by awe.
Now, all they wanted was to be part of the show.
But one voice rose above all others.
"! ! ! Look at !"
Lulu was practically bouncing like an overexcited rabbit, her golden hair fluttering as she waved both arms in the air.
"Pick , Luca! Pick ! I really want to try! If you choose anyone else, I’ll never forgive you!"
Luca chuckled, unable to hide his amusent as she jumped right in front of him, puffing out her cheeks in determination.
"Alright, alright." He said, raising a hand to calm her. "Fine, Lulu. You win. You’ll be my next volunteer."
"Let’s gooo!" Lulu cheered, pumping her fists.
She then ran over to the sa spot where Nyx had been standing monts ago and spread her arms wide.
"So what now, Luca? Are you gonna change the food? Maybe make hold it in my hand or balance it on shoulder, since I can definitely do that as well?!"
Her excitent was so pure that so of the female elves giggled, while a few males muttered that she was insane.
Luca walked over slowly, holding another fruit in his hand, this one slightly smaller and glossier than the last.
He crouched slightly to et her eyes and said with a mysterious smile.
"No, Lulu. It’ll be the sa fruit. But this ti..."
He leaned in closer, lowering his voice theatrically.
"...I’ll make it even more exciting than before."
The crowd collectively tilted their heads in confusion.
Lulu’s eyes sparkled. "Even more exciting?!"
"Exactly." Luca said, straightening up. "So, first—keep your legs straight."
Lulu obeyed imdiately, standing tall and stiff.
"Good. Now...bend forward a little. About halfway."
She bent at the waist until her body ford a perfect 45-degree angle, looking back at him for confirmation.
"Like this? Am I doing it right?"
"Perfect." He said.Then, with the faintest smirk, he added, "Now open your mouth."
Lulu blinked, confused. "My...mouth?"
"Yes." He said simply.
Still unsure, Lulu slowly opened her mouth and the crowd murmured again, wondering what he was about to do.
And before anyone could guess what he was planning, lifted the fruit and to everyone’s surprise, placed it right between her teeth.
"Bite down." He instructed.
She hesitated for a split second before doing as told, clamping down lightly on the fruit.
"There..."
Luca said, stepping back and clapping his hands together.
"Now we’re ready for the next shot. Don’t move a muscle until you want a arrow going through your head."
A stunned silence followed.
Then chaos.
"WHAT?!"
"Wait, wait, wait! Is he serious?!"
"He’s going to shoot that?!"
"Her mouth?! He’s aiming for her mouth?!"
"This isn’t a trick, it’s suicide!"
Even the male elves, who monts ago had been jeering, now looked dumbfounded.
This wasn’t a simple stunt anymore. This was insanity.
Because unlike before, where if the arrow went below the fruit, it would’ve shot right through her head and killed her.
But right now, it was the exact opposite.
If the arrow shot perfectly through the fruit, then it would an that it would go through it and pierce straight through her mouth and out the back of her head...
...which basically ans that Lulu would die a brutal death, if the arrow actually hit the target.
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