KEEP BUANA (Rise of Darkness)

Sayembaran I

Baya's manic again floated down towards the stage quietly.

The gazes of all the audience were fixed on him and following every move of this bald man.

They were to the point of not realizing the sun-dazzling light covering the old man while around the statue's head had disappeared. Return to the eastern sky in the position the sun is currently in.

A look of wonder and curiosity encompassed all present. Especially the contestants. They wonder what challenges they have to overcome. Do they have to paint the statue? Climbing statues? Or the other one?

Unlike the curious audience, king Jayadilaga smiled while nodding his head, as if he could guess what Manik Baya would do next.

Manik Baya once again nodded his head at Jayadilaga's prabu, but the bald old man did not immediately return to his seat after the king returned his nod.

The old man known as the begawan actually stepped towards the other side of the honor stage, passing through the ranks of the other royal representative guests. Manik baya turned out to be towards the row of seats the king's family was in.

There, on the row of special chairs there are concubines and princes. Manik Baya met a beautiful girl with a graceful appearance beside the prince of Jatilaga, she was the daughter of Cendrawani.

Seeing Manik Baya walking towards him, princess Cendrawani hurriedly got up to her feet showing her respectful attitude. So too was prince Jatilaga beside him.

Seeing that, Manik Baya raised a little of his hand, gesturing for them to return to his seat.

Manik Baya then approached the princess and whispered something in the ear of the princess.

Princess Cendrawani, at first looks confused. However, after a while later the prettiest girl among the present was seen nodding a little hesitantly. Before finally nodding surely as Manik Baya ended his whisper.

As soon as he saw Putri Cendrawani understand his point, Manik Baya immediately moved on and returned to his seat. Then hand over a piece of note to patih mangkubumi as the leader of today's event.

The mangkubumi patih forehead immediately wrinkled when receiving the note in a sheet of palm leaves. The note only reads : ”start event after princess Cendrawani agrees”.

The slightly confused Patih Mangkubumi finally turned to his visiting lord, Prabu Jayadilaga. The king just nodded slowly towards him. Whether the king knew his point or gave everything to his shoulders.

Patih mangkubumi sighed softly. Then he turned to the row of chairs where Princess Cendrawani was. Like the father, the beautiful girl also just nodded her head at him, accompanied by a thumbs up.

Seeing the princess's thumb sign, understand that now is the time for the competition series to begin.

But, he was a little confused because he did not know what challenges would be given to the participants to be announced. Princess Cendrawani who saw the mangkubumi patih a little confused immediately rose from her seat and approached her father's right hand.

“Princess.” greet the patih, while slightly bending the body.

The princess stopped by Mangkubumi's patih side, saluting her father before speaking from the stage and addressed the participants.

“I want the ring that Eyang Manik Baya put on the head of the statue of the ancestor, uncle. .” he said while turning to the patih. The atmosphere became quiet afterwards.

“Whoever manages to take it, he has the right to marry me.. It doesn't matter if he's a prince, or not. Nobles or not. Even the market trader can also participate as long as he is not married.” The words of princess cendrawani are not too loud spoken, but loud enough to be heard by all participants and some spectators.

A reaction appeared afterwards. A new uproar was immediately created due to the laxity of the requirements put forward by the princess.

Some nobles seem to object to the loosening of the new requirements for fear that the emergence of warriors greater than their princes, will make the princes defeated easily.

Instead, an enthusiastic welcome was shown among the attendees. Some royal representatives, unmarried senopati and even the spectators seemed interested in participating in the competition.

Everything was completely outside of his expectations.

But he did not want to prevent his daughter. After all, since childhood the girl was known as a smart and hard figure with her stance, so Jayadilaga only resigned and believed her daughter's choice was the best.

Even if the conditions look loose, in fact there are no additional participants from outside the nobility present. Only a few young senopati showed enthusiasm, accompanied by lust that began to master their common sense.

The gong sound sign of the start of the competition was heard among the boisterous voices of the audience.

As soon as the third gong finished ringing, the fight immediately broke out under the feet of the over a hundred-meter-high statue.

They are the princes and nobles who were contestants from the beginning, and Gentayu in it.

They got into a fight because they both thought the challenge this time was easier than before. The participants were of course scrambling to precede each other to get the ring. As a result, the crowd of participants was immediately turned into a battleground of fellow participants.

The first victim soon fell among the contestants.

A prince with dreadlocks darted, half flying towards the top of the statue. However, just as he had reached the knee of the 20-meter tall statue, dozens of long-range energy attacks were aimed at him from dozens of people below.

‘BREBEBEBEBUMMMM...!!’

It was impossible to dodge such a simultaneous attack, the prince's body exploded in the air and spouted a mist of blood and flesh towards the participants below.

Along with the death of the gimbal prince, on the stage, another riot almost broke out.

The noble companion of the gimbal prince rose to his feet about to go berserk, but the sharp gaze of Manik Baya stopped their actions. With a flick of his pinky, the nobleman and his bodyguard fell in a kneeling position. Can't move.

The nobility's incredulous look led to Manik Baya.

He was the senopati responsible for the gimbal prince's safety. His abilities were not bad either, being at the peak of the sky swordsman level. But Manik Baya subdued him just by snapping his finger.

The events on the stage were quite attention-grabbing. At once managed to shrink the guts of the participants' companion envoys who intend to use the chaotic conditions for the benefit of his kingdom and his group.

They had initially thought, to ask for compensation if something happened to their princes in this competition. But now their minds have changed. They must think how to get out of the gate of this kingdom safely.

The fight under the statue continued. After the gimbal prince was killed, the other participants had to think dozens of times to try to fly in the air under current conditions. Moreover, among the participants, the highest of his abilities was only at the level of a celestial swordsman, nothing more.

Their energy shields would not be enough to dispel the simultaneous attacks of these dozens of participants.

Prince Karangwangge who initially felt confident to fly without having to engage in a fight also ended up undoing his intentions.

Everyone was now thinking of defeating all the other participants before flying safely to retrieve the ring at the top of the statue's head.

In less than half an hour, several participants began to fall. They were seriously injured, but no one was killed.

The emissary escorts immediately rushed to rescue the participants for treatment. A little late, there may be other stray attacks that they receive and can be fatal.