Chapter 64: Relentless, Merciless.
The instant Astra’s voice resounded in Levi’s ear, he took off at the top of his speed on the right lane. His head was always lowered, but his movements were finer than sand.
He kept jumping from one sprinting lane to the other for a split second before they shifted, saving him from falling into the water like most candidates in front of him!
As for the punching arms? Levi could predict when they would push out from the faint gear noises produced inside.
This made him avoid them without losing a fraction of his speed!
He even bypassed the candidates holding up routes by jumping between the lanes, making him resemble a character from an old mobile game called Subway Surfer.
"The hell is that..."
By the time they reacted to what happened, Levi was already tens of meters away from them.
Meanwhile, as the viewers watched Levi’s peculiar sprinting form, they didn’t know how to react.
Everyone felt like he would bust his head into a wall or something, but Levi kept moving akin to a black panther...Nothing came close to touching his clothes.
In the blink of an eye, Levi made it to the entrance of the second stage, and his grade results appeared on a massive holographic screen.
—Fifteen seconds, speed grade ’SS’.—
Instructor Seraphis was stunned, the nightcrawlers were intrigued, and the viewers were silenced.
Levi’s results ranked him above both Demetris and Nurah! While his sprinting speed was great on its own due to possessing an amazing physical state, Levi aced the first stage simply because he never slowed down once!
Both Demetris and Nurah were forced to slow down due to the arms or the shifting lanes, but Levi sprinted from the start to the finish line like there were no obstacles in front of him.
While this performance painted him in a different light for some viewers, many were still not convinced...Possessing an ’F’ grade light affinity was like holding on to a massive turd.
Regardless of what achievement one did, he would always be looked at as the man holding a turd.
If only they knew the whole truth, their reactions might have resembled Shia’s, Sergio’s, Jamal’s, and the ones knowing of his disability.
"This kind of movement...Has he truly refined his other senses to such a supernatural state?" Feng Ling wondered as he watched the stream on a small holographic screen.
He was sitting on the ledge of a skyscraper while Mao was resting on his shoulder. Obviously, he was smoking a cigarette.
He usually never bothered to watch the yearly assembly, but he didn’t want to miss this one after finding out Levi had signed up.
"Maybe, or he has already signed a contract," Mao said.
"It can’t be...His spiritual aura would have gotten picked up immediately by Willow Grove." Feng Ling shook his head. "Plus, he isn’t desirable by most nightcrawlers, and I doubt he will sign a sleepwalker contract."
"Why?"
"If he wanted to, he would have done it years ago instead of taking in their daily abuse," Feng Ling replied calmly as he gazed at Levi entering the second stage.
"Well, we did see many special kids born with unnatural talents unrelated to light." Mao smiled. "I guess this desolate region was blessed with one."
"Maybe..." Feng Ling said calmly. "But, everything still depends on the nightcrawlers. I hope his talents catch someone’s eye."
...
Back to the trial...
Levi was seen bolting across the second stage, not slowing down for even a moment. Unlike his brother, he had been training in calisthenics since he was a child, which was the key to passing the second stage.
While it tested flexibility and agility, many challenges required amazing upper-body and grip strength...Such as Cliffhanger, a thin ledge that forced competitors to traverse it using their fingertips.
Many candidates ignored or gave up on this challenge, deciding to skip it altogether. Since points were scored based on the number of challenges completed, they weren’t getting out of it scot-free.
Every decision they made in the entire Gauntlet of Titans was going to affect their final score. It was so significant that candidates might get ranked much lower than another candidate who finished the track late but managed to complete more challenges.
In simpler terms, this was not a race, and Instructor Seraphis made sure to give the candidates a whole two hours to complete as many challenges as possible.
After finishing with the Cliffhanger, Levi landed on top of a blue cushion. Without lifting his head, he scanned the next challenge and pulled out his staff from its holster.
’It’s a Salamon Ladder connected to a zipline, leading to the end of the second stage. My staff will do the trick.’
Levi sprinted and then jumped while holding his staff above his head.
Cling!
The staff latched into the middle rung, allowing Levi to skip more than four rungs at the bottom...Then, he started to jump the staff up a series of rungs, using only the strength of his arms.
Cling! Cling! Cling!...
However, as Levi was climbing upward rapidly, his auditory vision showed him the aura of multiple candidates struggling above his head.
"Jump into the water."
His chilling voice slithered into the ears of a hairy man in his mid-twenties. As he looked down and saw that it was just ’Levi’, he couldn’t help but sneer cockily.
"Brat, this is my last chance to get signed...I ain’t jumping for no one, especially not for you."
"Fine, suit yourself."
Levi embraced the staff with his elbow, freeing his other hand. Without an ounce of hesitation, he caught the leg of the man and yanked his ass off the rung!
AAAAAAAAAA!!
The hairy man screamed with a horrified look as he fell into the water, splashing it everywhere.
A second later, he popped out and cursed out Levi with two middle fingers.
Levi continued on his climb, feeling absolutely no remorse for ruining the chances of other candidates.
In his eyes, this was a competition, and he was going to do anything within the rules to achieve victory...
Cling! Cling!
"F*ck, he is climbing so damn fast!"
"GO UP QUICKLY!"
The candidates felt their ass cheeks tightening with each metallic noise they heard underneath them, knowing that when Levi got close enough, their fate would be similar to the hairy man’s.
Too bad, there was nothing to save them as Levi caught the next one in no time. Similarly, he tried to grab the candidate’s leg, but this time, he was prepared.
"Get the f*ck off me!"
He started kicking Levi’s arm, trying his best to break his fingers or something to get him off. Alas, Levi’s ears had become a certified weapon.
The moment he tried to go for a second kick, the whooshing noise of the wind sold its trajectory on a silver plate.
All Levi needed to do was avoid the kick and grab it...The moment the candidate felt Levi’s cold hand tighten around his chin, he couldn’t help but gulp a mouthful in fear.
"Pleas...AAAAAAA!!"
Splash!
Another one was forced into an early swim.
"Mercy...Kyaaaaa!!"
"Please! I am just one rung away...just give me a few seconds...AAAAAAAAAA!!"
Just like a dog on a mission, Levi was relentless in his climb, stopping for no one and hearing nothing...Whether it was a girl or a boy begging for an opportunity to complete the challenge.
While it might seem merciless, Levi knew that whatever he was doing to them, it would be done to him in a heartbeat.
Cling!
After completing the last rung, Levi stood at the highest point in the entire structure. He found a gray boyish figure already standing there next to the zipline. He seemed to be holding onto a pile of objects.
Just as Levi was about to tune out the details of the objects, the blue-haired boy threw everything in the water and held a single piece.
This time, Levi saw what it was...A handlebar!
"Good luck getting down."
The blue-haired boy smirked coldly and used the sole remaining handlebar to traverse the zipline!
The hairy man and all the harmed candidates in the water couldn’t help but cheer with wicked laughs after realizing what happened.
"That’s called Karma, you b*tch!"
"Haha! Watch him struggle to get down."
"You get what you deserve, asshole."
Levi heard everyone’s muffled-out curses and didn’t let them affect him one bit...He had already thought of a way to finish the zipline challenge.
He tapped the zip line twice with his staff to calculate its distance through sound. Then, he nodded and tightened his grip on the staff, placing its center on top of the zip line, which appeared as a long vibrational string, leading to infinite darkness.
"Wait, what is he doing..."
Before the candidates, nightcrawlers, and viewers could react, Levi had already taken the leap of faith.
Sparkles flew everywhere as the metallic staff kept grinding against the steel zip line. Yet, Levi ate them up while his circular sunglasses protected his nonexistent eyes...Creating a fascinating scene that left many viewers staring with widened eyes.
Meanwhile, when the blue-haired boy landed on the cushion at the end line, his ears picked up on the grinding noise behind him.
"What the f*ck..."
As he turned around and saw Levi coming in hot, his face drained of color as he swiftly got away from Levi’s way. The handlebars had a brake mechanism, but Levi had no such thing.
Before Instructor Seraphis could wonder how he was going to slow himself to land on the cushion, he was left stunned at the sight of Levi letting go of one side of the staff way before he was under the cushion!
But, due to his insane momentum, Levi timed it perfectly, landing akin to a cannonball straight on the cushion!
A second later, Levi’s head popped out of the cushion, and he sprinted past the shellshocked blue-haired boy, heading directly to the weighted vests.
His score appeared again on the hologram, catching everyone by surprise.
—Two minutes, all challenges completed, ’SS’ grade.—
"What the hell am I witnessing..." Jamal murmured with a dazed tone, feeling like he was spectating a different Levi.
"I knew based on his training he was going to do good, but I didn’t know he would be this ’good’." Shia was also left astonished.
"If it wasn’t for the second stage being more crowded, he would have definitely scored much better." Jamal nodded.
"It’s Astra AI...She must be giving him full details of his environment, and by utilizing his enhanced senses, he is moving as smoothly as butter." Blee’der commented from inside Shia’s jacket.
"Most likely."
Everyone nodded in agreement as they knew that no other explanation could describe Levi’s insane movements. None of them bothered to consider Levi getting signed, as they also knew that Willow Grove would have snitched on him instantly.
Uninvited Daywalkers or Sleepwalkers could not enter Willow Grove without alarming it. It was considered impossible, as its spiritual presence could detect even Tier 8 nightcrawlers attempting to suppress their auras.
If even those monsters couldn’t pull it off, how could anyone expect a child to?
Meanwhile, inside the Blood Hunters Agency’s headquarters, Lord Idriss and Madam Naima were also taken aback by Levi’s performance.
"Marvelous...Not a single movement wasted." Lord Idriss praised.
"But how...Didn’t you tell me he is blind? How can a blind boy move in such a manner?" Madam Naima was astonished. "It defies all logic!"