Winner Takes All

Rumble!

The proving ground was filled with shouts of surprise.

It was as if the snowstorm had fallen silent.

Not only was Jack dumbfounded, but most who saw the scene were also in a state of shock.

It was a fact that the Dragon Calvary Swordsmanship was mastered by some people in the three-hundred thousand strong Dragon Calvary, but there were definitely not many.

The tidal wave-like shouting was from those who didn't know how to wield it or from those who didn't wield it well enough.

Wow...

Following the Dragon Calvary Sword dragging just then, it spun in place and even set off a whirlwind at Achilles' feet, churning up the wind and snow.

And then, two bullets fell on the ground. Achilles kept his stance as the whirlwind surrounding him was clearly present. The churning snowflakes were twirling in an abnormal trajectory. And the next moment.

Achilles turned around and knelt on one knee to face the standing figure from before.

Immediately afterward, the sound of thunderous deference echoed through the proving ground.

"I, Achilles, thank the Commander for the trial!"

Rumble...

Just as he spoke, everyone on the proving grounds turned around. Some were shocked, some were horrified, and some were ...

Without exception, every one of them was like Achilles and were down on one of their knees with a loud thud.

As they shout in unison, the sound was like a thunderclap.

"It's an honour to meet you, Commander!"

Rumble...

The unison shout was as loud as thunder. It had broken the silence of the night sky, as it spreads outwards.

Within the Dragon Cavalry, Zenith Harol held the highest honour!

He, who bestowed all the glory and countless feats of the Dragon Cavalry.

He, who gave peace and tranquillity to the Northern Territory.

It was also him, who was the pillar of the Thegiant city and the three hundred thousand strong Dragon Cavalry. He was the soul of the army!

Normally, in the early morning drills, Zenith rarely showed up. It was usually the Twelve Golden Guards that conduct the drill and monitor the proving grounds.

No one expected that the Commander himself would show up in the proving ground that day!

And, he personally tested Achilles' Dragon Calvary Swordsmanship.

It was an honour and a great opportunity to a soldier!

Because it meant that you might get more advanced skill from the Commander!

But of course, some knew Achilles' identity and so didn't have high hopes for the promotion or the opportunities. But, it was an honour to be tested by the Commander himself! Everyone had already knelt, only Jack was still standing as he turned around and looked at Zenith in the distance and stood still.

Whoosh!

Thud!

A flint came flying and scored a direct hit on the backside of Jack's left knee.

Jack's body swayed and he fell on one knee.

He turned his head around, and saw Achilles was staring at him. It was obvious that Achilles was the one who did it.

"Continue your training, aye!"

In the distance, Zenith's voice was like a holy message, as it came through the crowd.

Although his voice wasn't as loud, yet it was surprisingly crystal clear to everyone's ears.

When Jack raised his head again, Zenith was nowhere to be seen in the pitch-black distance

After Zenith left, all of the soldiers got up in unison. Even a simple rise-up motion came with a loud thud.

Because of Zenith's appearance, all soldiers fired up their training. When training resumed, all of the soldiers trained even harder, their voices were like a tidal wave as the proving ground return to its bustling atmosphere.

"Get up."

Achilles walked to Jack's side and helped him up.

His eyes instead glanced at the direction where Zenith had left. And then he glanced at the direction where the bullets had fired from. The two directions were totally opposite.

He then proceeded to laugh lightly. Using the volume of only him and Jack could hear, "The Commander really cares about you. Your first training and he decides to show up himself. He also used the shooting trial to test on my Dragon Cavalry Swordsmanship so that you can have a look on it. Those two deadly shots were fired from two of the Golden Guards."

Jack was dumbfounded.

The scene... was quite exaggerating.

In the meantime.

The soldiers were training.

Shawn was in the middle of the fighting ring. But he waved his hand to his opponent at that moment, pretending to be out of breath and signalling for a time out.

When his opponent left, he immediately shrugged off his tiredness and stood up straight. As he stood among the crowds, his gaze swept over the crowd filled with resentment and gloom. He then locked on Achilles and murmured while gritting his teeth, "Damn it, he's already demoted to Sergeant, yet why does the Commander still pay so much attention to him? Could it be because the Chief Guard position is empty, and he wants him to rise back to it?"

When he said this, Shawn's gaze was filled with resentment and gloom to the core.

Achilles was demoted to the very bottom was a great news for all those in the middle ranks. And for him, it's even wonderful news.

The fact that right under Zenith, came the Twelve Golden Guards. And within the Twelve Golden Guards, the Chief Guard was the top position.

When the position of the Chief Guard was empty, it meant that someone else was needed to fill up the vacancy. Even though the position was only for one of the Twelve Golden Guards, there were also a few vacancies in the Twelve Golden Guards, which those middle rank officers who were eager to obtain.

But what he didn't know was that the position for the Chief Guard in the Twelve Golden Guards was already chosen.

As for the incident where Achilles had the eleven Golden Guards gathered to trouble Jack because of Chattis' affair in the past had been concealed by Zenith from all of the Dragon Cavalry. Zenith had single- handedly covered up everything.This is property © of NôvelDrama.Org.

Even officer with ranks like Shawn had no clue of what had happened back then. He only knew that the Twelve Golden Guards... had some vacancies!

"Hmph! For all the old and new hatred, I can't even compete with you, a mere Sergeant?"

The more of Shawn thought about it, the more furious he became. As anger grew stronger inside him, he gritted his teeth with his eyes filled with hatred, "When my time comes, Achilles, don't blame me for what I'll do to you. For what you had done to my brother when you were in power!"

At Jack and Achilles' side.

Jack asked Achilles in amazement, "How on earth did you do that just now?"

"Just follow the technique and do it!" Achilles had a calm expression.

"No, not only that!"

Jack dismissed Achilles' words in a decisive and robust tone out of the common. His brow furrowed and said in a deep voice, "How can a mere human be able to finish the technique before the bullets arrived? Especially when both rounds were shot at the same time!"

This was the hardest part for Jack to comprehend!

Both rounds were fired simultaneously, which meant that the rounds should arrive at the same time.

In this short moment, Achilles spun his sword in place and blocked the two bullets!

However.

Confronted by confusing and frenzied Jack.

Achilles smiled and handed the Dragon Cavalry Sword in his hand to Jack, "The Dragon Cavalry Sword has a special characteristic that the surface is covered with a tough yet malleable metal. When a bullet or an impact is made, there will be a dent. After a while, due to the properties of the memory metal, it'll return to its original form."

Jack was stunned for a moment.

As he lifted the Dragon Cavalry Sword to take a good look at it. The wide blade was covered with dents, tiny but discernible.

And at the tip of the sword, there was a very obvious dent made by a bullet impact.

Wait!

Jack jolted awake, the dents on the blade were bullets from Zenith when Achilles first fended off.

And the first of the two bullets, which had come from two very different directions, was deflected by the tip of the sword instead of the body. Seeing that Jack was getting onto something, Achilles raised his right hand and gently tapped his index finger on the hilt of the Dragon Cavalry Sword. With a teasing smile, he said, "The Dragon Cavalry Swordsmanship is all about the thrills. The second bullet dent was at the hilt!"