Capítulo 22: Comprehending The Knife
Being mocked and antagonized the Kulga looked up at Aker who stood before it as if though it understood that its dignity was being trampled on.
It slowly stood tall, its face still covered in the remains of the meal it had just been enjoying. Once standing the Kulga's height dominated Aker as the Kulga was over two meters in height while Aker was only 1.3 meters tall. If someone was to see this outside of the arena, they would fear for the child to the point they wouldn't be able to contain themselves.
The Kulga walked around its previous meal until it had a clear and unobstructed path to Aker. Watching the lone Kulga walk the remaining three healthy Kulga stepped back out of respect and not fear despite the distance from where they were currently surrendering to where the battle was going to detonate. The sinister eyes of the Kulga narrowed onto Aker as if though a plebeian unworthy of its attention had interrupted it.
It became painfully obvious to anyone who knew anything about beast that this particular beast was the primary beast of this pack. Amongst beast they will always form a hierarchy based on strength. This is an absolute law of beast. As these ten beasts were put together, one of them would become the primary beast or the leader. The primary beast represented the strongest beast in any grouping.
This meant that the beast glaring down at Aker was the strongest of the bunch. It could be just a little stronger than the others and still be the primary but it was doubtful. Based on how the three Kulga moved back earlier out of respect signified that the strength of this Kulga was significantly stronger than theirs.
Seeing the Kulga tower above him Aker didn't take a step back. He held his knifes up and took the posture that Vance had taught him. He was roughly 2.5 meters away from the Kulga at this point. Aker swallowed his saliva and pushed down his fear.
When he was running around, he didn't just stand before these beasts and face off against them. He attacked and moved. He ran and protected. While there were some instances where he was in danger, overall, he had minimized the threat they posed significantly. He didn't give them an opportunity to take advantage of their size and strength and specifically attacked their weakness. This would be his first-time attacking head on against the beast. A head on battle was nothing more than a declaration of "I will take your best and you will take my best and let's see who wins!"
So, despite his resolve and despite the fact that he had fought the other Kulga this was the scariest moment since he faced the jaws of the first Kulga as he laid on his back when he first entered The Pit.
The scary thing was still scary!
Its teeth flashed as if though it was grinning to itself at the idiocy of the child standing in front of it. Of course, a beast was still a beast and it couldn't be mocking and laughing at Aker but based on what Aker was seeing it sure felt that way.
Suddenly the Kulga stepped forward and lunged at Aker. With that for the first time Aker would face an enemy head on of his own volition.
Vance's blood that was already boiling to the point that it almost couldn't contain itself. As he watched the boy posture into a fighting position with his two knifes, he found what he was seeing inexplicable. He had just showed that posture to Aker a few hours ago and now here he was executing it in a battle with the prime beast of the arena!
The Kulga moved and Vance's fist gripped together tight. While his blood was boiling a second ago, he was all for the boy to stand tall in front of that monster and train like he had told him too. However, now that the monster was actually attacking, he just wanted the boy out of The Pit and safe.
If Aker was to hear Vance's thoughts he would probably cry. While the crowd was fired up, while everyone's blood was boiling, while they were marveling at the spectacle that was playing out before them, Aker only did it because Vance said for him too. Why would he want to intentionally want to pick a fight with the scary thing!
As the Kulga moved forward it used its foot claws to swipe at Akers leg. Vance couldn't help but to scream out "dodge" as loud as he could. Vance was watching from inside the foray so there is no chance that Aker heard him. The guards for the prisoners are not allowed to leave the foray until their prisoner is back in their cell, so they cannot go out to the arena and watch the fight. However, in order to allow light to shine down on the foray, small barred windows were installed at the top of the walls. If you stood on a water barrel and were tall enough you could see what was happening in the arena.
Vance was currently standing on one of the barrels screaming out for the kid to dodge which caught the attention of several of the other guards and fighters. In this case it was midnight so the entire foray was being lit up by flames and as such Vance was no more than a half meter from one of the flames lighting up the room. While the heat from it was singing the hair on his arms, he was completely ignoring it and focused on Akers fight.
The boy took a step back and used a revers grip slash at the same time. Vance had taught Aker to dodge and attack simultaneously, as Vance watched he marveled at how well executed the action was. To never waste a movement, this was one of the cruxes of Vance's fighting style. As Vance saw Aker perform the move, he couldn't help but nod his head. While it wasn't pretty and had plenty of flaws, it worked. He looked clunky and disorganized in the move as he slid his foot and knife back at the same time.
After Aker missed, the Kulga snapped its head forward leading with its teeth aiming for Akers head. If this attack were to land there was no way Aker could survive.
Aker who was in a bad position from his previous dodge and attack took a small step to his left and swung his right arm in a clock wise direction. The arm guard caught the side of the face of the Kulga pushing it out of the way.
While in the process of pushing the face of the Kulga away with his right arm, Aker attempted to step forward while using a windmill swing of his left-hand knife aimed at the Kulga's neck.
Vance watched as Aker put the two moves together with a semi-proud look on his face. To connect two moves showed that he had a high aptitude for the knifes and combat. If they continue to practice in 5-10 years' time, he should be able to become a master with the knife.
Vance couldn't help but to begin to plot out Akers training. Unlike Akers counterparts who were all at specialized academies training to become stronger Aker was training here in The Pits. If he can keep him alive and he did a little begging he was sure that the training Aker received here wouldn't be any worse than what they got. No, it would be better. How many of those candidates have to face life and death struggles? How many of those candidates right now are being high and mighty kids? All of them are haughty and overly protected. While he would prefer for Aker to be there with them it didn't change the fact that it was impossible right now. Since that was the case, they just had to focus on what they had to focus on.
Vance watched as the fight continued on. It was if though the Kulga and Aker were dancing, one would step forward and attack while the other would dodge and counter attack. This sequence of events occurred over and over again as if the two were caught in a perpetual loop. Except, with each loop Aker was honing his skill. His movements were becoming more fluid. His attacks were becoming sharper. He began fainting attacks and started to understand hiding his attack and misdirection.
Vance watched on second by second and minute by minute. The Kulga's claws scraped across Aker a couple of times and the knifes in Akers hands would cut across the Kulga.
As Vance watched Aker's moves, he realized that he was changing them ever so slightly with each pass. Each time he countered he would adjust the smallest bit as if though he was trying to get comfortable with the knifes in his hands. He was communicating with them and they were telling him what they needed to be more deadly.
Centimeter by centimeter the knifes were finding their path. While his movements were still that of a novice, to Vance it was a beautiful work of art. He was comprehending the knifes and making them his own. Each swing was telling the story of the struggle Aker was facing. Each stab and slice signified the effort and courage he had when facing this beast.
The two must have taken hundreds if not thousands of swings at each other, everyone them fully intending to end the others life.
Vance couldn't help but notice that remarkable improvement that Aker had made from the moment he shared the first stance with him yesterday until he was fully utilizing it in the battle today. What Vance had showed him was only the basics. For most people the basics were the hardest to learn. Understanding where to start the journey was the most difficult part of the journey and here was Aker clearly on the path.
How does he learn so fast? Why is his comprehension so high? Are all candidates able to learn like this? Vance couldn't help but ponder on the fact the Emperor Candidates are different from us.
While Vance was a powerful and feared man in his own right before he was betrayed, that was only in the outer district of the universe. While the King of The Underground does drive fear and panic into to trillions of lives across the universe it is only in those lives that the powerful would never waste their time looking at.
As Vance was thinking these things he was drawn back into the battle between Aker and the Kulga when the sound of the crowd cumulatively gasping caught his attention.
As Vance looked out, he saw Aker and the Kulga standing across from each other both breathing heavily. Their chest was both raising and falling so high and so fast it was if though they were now competing to see who could suck in more air.
After roughly 10 seconds of standing and staring at each Aker began to slow his breathing indicating that he had caught his breath.
He proceeded to get into his stance suggesting that the role of predator and prey had changed, Aker was now on the prowl.
Seeing this the Kulga must have realized what was coming as it took two steps back and lowered its head indicating that it was submitting to Aker.
While beast were vicious and instinctual animals they were also committed. In essence, once a beast submitted to a person, that person would never have to concern themselves with it betraying or attacking. It was extremely difficult to get a beast to submit. The stronger the beast was the more impossible it was. The truly strong beast would rather die than submit, but once submitted there was nothing a person could trust more.
Seeing the beast submit Aker moved out of his stance but didn't let his guard down. Aker didn't know or understand that now that this monster had submitted to him it would never pose a risk or try and challenge him again.
He slowly walked past the Kulga who maintained its position of keeping its head down. He continued to walk step by step towards the exit of the arena. His tiny figure like a mountain moved slowly and tiredly away from the center of hell.
As Aker was leaving and approaching the doors the crowd finally came to its senses. For those that had bet on Aker this was the greatest day of their life. They had bet on Aker with 500 to 1 odds. Some won more in this single battle than they had earned in their entire life combined. While others earned 10's of times more in this battle.
The excitement of the winners started to flood through the entire arena drowning out the misery and suffering of the losers. Unlike the previous fights the oppression that existed while Aker left the arena did not exist today.
As Aker walked out of the arena, he could make out the smiling faces of the people who had taken a wild crazy chance on a boy facing impossible odds. Unlike the losers who were filled with countless regrets their only regret was that they couldn't or didn't bet more.
Laughter filled screams filled the crowd as they gloated in other people's misery while basking in the glory that was theirs.
Sneed who was further back never let anyone know that he had bet on the boy. In fact, out of the entire crowd he had bet more than anyone else. Since he had first laid eyes on this boy his life had been completely changed. Sinner? Deserving of death? No name? How could someone who had brought light to his world, someone who saved his daughter be that kind of person?
Before he realized his voice rang out and into the boy's ears.
"What's your name?"
When Sneed asked that question it was like a clap of thunder rang through the stadium. As 100,000 people and 200,000 eyeballs were sitting here not everyone could hear the question, however after Sneed had asked the question the next person and the next person asked out.
"What's your name?"
"Tell us your name?"
"Why are you here, who are you?"
Eventually the entire arena had been filled with the question. Who was this child?
Hearing the question Aker stopped only a few meters away from exiting the arena and heading through the doors that led back into the foray.
He turned his head toward the right side of the exit and looked up and out into Arena as this is where he had first heard the question. He couldn't exactly make out who asked the question so he wasn't looking at any one in specific.
Without hesitation and fear he naturally answered as if though he had done it his whole life "My name is Aker."
When the first person heard the name Aker their face became solemn. Whispers worked their way through the crowd until the solemn feeling had enveloped everyone and everything.
"I don't know why I am here; I don't even know where here is..." Aker continued on talking to that spot but to no one in specific.
"but...now that I am here, I will conquer this place!" and with that Aker turned and continued to walk out of The Pit, but not before declaring that he was a conqueror.
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