Unfortunately, the Gods didn't hear Grace's prayer. The match on the next day was another sport from the track and field events, the triple jump.
Aglea gave a simple brief introduction before turning silent and simply watching, leaving the participants to figure out the rest for themselves. She was now waiting for someone to volunteer to be the first jumper.
"Uh… Is this triple jump sport the same as the long jump?" Stefan asked.
"No. It's different. It's in the name, you jump three times," Jack answered.
"Why?"
Jack shrugged. "I don't know, it's not my invention. Well, maybe because you can get a further distance than a long jump, because… you know, you jump three times."
"Why don't they just give us a simple sport?" Winson complained.
"You should be thankful they didn't ask us to do gymnastics," Jack said.
"There is still tomorrow," Dina reminded.
The others were speechless at the possibility that they had to do gymnastics to avoid being a sacrifice.
"Aren't you in a good mood since you don't have to participate in this match anymore," Stefan teased Dina.
"Speaking of which, if all the previous sacrifices are excluded, won't it just be a matter of time before every one of us gets to be one?" Winson asked.
Everyone again entered a period of silence upon the question. If these matches continued, by day ten, everyone would have to be a sacrifice at least once.
This revelation worried Jack. When it was his turn, could he depend on these folk to save him?
He instinctively turned to Master who was also glancing at him. The two seemed to be having the same thought. The others won't bother to save Master even if they could. Jack felt a bit better with that thought. Maybe this was the incident that would end their rivalries.
With their immortal soul sealed, they would die a wilderness death and lose everything. As long as Master had the same fate, Jack didn't mind. Maybe this world would be at peace then. He did wonder if Themisphere or Liguritudum would still acknowledge them as sovereigns if they lost everything.
With this thought, Jack made a resolution that he would be the last sacrifice. He had to get a better rank than Master in every match to make sure it was Master who was sacrificed first. Otherwise, he would be restless when it was his turn.
Aglea had been waiting for some time and she was about to pick someone randomly, but Jack volunteered.
Jack said to Stefan on the way, "I once played this sport when I am in school, so I know how to do it. Just imitate what I do."
Jack got into position on the prepared runway. After getting ready, he ran at full speed. Once he reached a marked line, he jumped using his right foot. On this first jump, instead of landing with his other foot like a normal jump, he did a shadow run in the air and landed again with the same foot he jumped with, which was his right. He then performed a second jump.
This time, he landed using the other foot before continuing with the third and final jump. The momentum sent him shooting far ahead as he positioned both his feet together facing outward and landed on the prepared sandbox.
The scoreboard next to the field showed that Jack's jumping distance was 22.2 meters.
"Yeah! Beat the world record!" Jack celebrated.
"What's there to boast? Our attributes were way past normal human's. You should be ashamed of such a meager record with your attributes," Master ridiculed.
"Do you think you can do better?" Jack challenged.
"Hmph," Master harrumphed and volunteered to be the next to make the jumps.
While Master was getting ready, Stefan asked, "Why did you land your first jump using the same foot? It looked weird."
"I don't know. That's the rule," Jack answered.
"Do we need to follow the rule?" Winson asked. "The last previous matches didn't exactly follow the rules one hundred percent. Perhaps this is the same? We can just jump in a way we are comfortable with?"
"Um… Who wants to volunteer to test this theory and see that you are not fouled for not following the regular rules?" Jack asked.
The others decided to just follow the rules.
They heard the sound of another mark filling the scoreboard. They turned and saw that Master scored 22.5 meters.
"Wow! He jumped slightly farther than you," Stefan remarked.
This caused Jack to narrow his eyes. He knew that even if Master had five classes, his physical stats should still be superior to Master's, even if they were not by a very wide margin. For Master to jump further, this indicated that Master's triple jump technique was more refined.
This meant that for the remaining matches, it was not certain that his result would be better than Master's. Master had taken the top rank in this match and also during the swimming competition. There was a chance that he could become the sacrifice before Master did.
"Next!" Aglea called.
Winson took a deep breath and went next.
The match continued. When no one was willing to go first, Aglea did a random pick. The sacrifice ended up being decided from a foul. Kerry, the native ethereal, went past the marked line before she made her first jump. She was instantly chosen as the sacrifice.
Like Dina, Kerry looked at Jack before Aglea took them all to the sacrificial round. "Sa… Save me," She pleaded.
For a native, the stake was more serious because they died for real. Jack didn't have the utmost confidence since most of his abilities were sealed, but he still nodded at Kerry to assure her. He resolved to honor that nod.
The space around them transformed. Different than before. This time, they were still outdoors after the space finished transforming. All of them minus Kerry were at the top of a platform. They saw ahead many connecting platforms. All those platforms were floating without any support.
They looked down and saw that the platform they were standing on was also floating on air. What was below was a vast expanse of white abyss.
Aglea appeared above them and announced while pointing at the far end of the floating platforms, "You people have ten minutes to go to that end to save the sacrifice. If you fall, you die."
