บท 21: Ch. 18
I had enter onto the center of the stage. The area was jammed packed. It was hard to distinguish faces. All I could see was a wave of similar colors. Faces meshed, without the obvious red royalty decorated chair, I couldn't figure out where to position myself. I was paid to put on a show so I shot out an dramatic pose. Waving my sword above me, I truly felt like a dumb ass.
"Oh would you look at that! The spirit of the tournament has finally entered him! In all his match, he was able to defeat his opponents with extreme speed!"
I had stopped waving my long sword and walked to one of the edges. Placing my free hand on my hips, I waited for my opponent.
"Let's see If he has what it takes to defeat this meat crushing monster just as quick as his other opponent! Here comes the pyuuunk! Good Morning Star One Two Two Three!"
Good morning what? What a idiotic name. This should be easy. From the same entrance I had came from, an armored person came out from the curtains. All parts were covered by armor except his hands. His hands were a sturdy leather. In his left hand, was a kite shield with engravings. In his right hand was a mace with a morning star attached to it. The armor had scratches on it and it wasn't too flashy, the only flashy parts were the star shapes on his pauldrons, elbows, and tasset. The armor was dark grey and some sections of it illuminated white light including the flashy stars. It was hard to see the illumination as the sun was shining. Cloth was hanging in the tasset area, blocking the view of chainmail dangling in that area.
Judging from the equipment this guy had, I could tell… Good Morning Star One Two Two Three was not joking. He spun his mace in his hand, and firmly grabbed it after giving it a good three spins. This brought the audience to cheer.
"Break his skull!"
"Tear his limbs!"
The amount of request was ridiculous.
Good Morning Star One Two Two Three had walked to his respective corner.
"Alright let's get this going! Ladies and gentlemen behold the final event of today. On the count of three. Oooooone, twoooooo, two, heh heh get it? three! RING THE GONG!"
The bell rung. We both maintained our distance. Walking to his right, I tried to see how fast this person could turn and at what angle would be awkward for this person. Going from his right to his left. Impressive… The defense of this person transitioning was quite well. When fighting in battlefields, I had encounter many kite shield users. Most of them had a hard time shifting them to where they needed to be.
He had started going on the offensive, slowly approaching me then gradually speeding up. I had moved to his left and the pursuit did not let off. Closing my room to escape from him. I had closed the remaining distance from us wielding my sword sloppily over my head ready to swing overhead.
He lifted his shield to block it. Just what I wanted. Instead of following through with the overhead swing, I had poured my weight into kicking him down with his shield. He had fallen on his ass. Using this chance, I stepped in and executed my overhead swing. He swung his morning star, swiping my blade away. Even from an awkward position, It carried a ridiculous amount of power. My body followed with my blade, my center of gravity was all screwed up. All my weight was on my right leg.
Immediately my right shin felt pain. Even though armor was protecting it, I could hear a loud smashing sound as he shot out his left foot to disrupt my remaining balance. I fell forward next to him. He had quickly ditched his shield, trying to grapple me. If he successfully manage to grapple me with my back facing towards the sky. It would be over. I couldn't let that happen. I rolled away and as I did I limped back up. My shin was on fire.
"Ou that was one powerful kick, just imagine if that was straight to the groin. That's why you don't assault people haha" some of the crowd laughed at his crude joke while others ignored it.
As he got back up, he bent down to grab his shield. I had rushed into his space, stepping on his shield. His shield slammed back onto the ground. A very well shielded foe was a hassle to work around. Giving up on his shield, a shoulder bash connected to my body before I could swing my weapon horizontally.
Stammering back, he took this chance to charge his morning star, fully bringing it back behind him. The morning star came vertically at a terrifying speed when it was released. It would come faster than I could lift my sword to block it. Taking a step to the side, it had caught a part of my shoulder armor.
The morning star forcefully ripped my left shoulder armor, tearing it and bringing it down with it. Regaining my composure, he had left himself exposed. I had lifted my sword above my head with my left hand and hit his head with my pommel. A dent was all I could achieve in that pommel strike.
He had prepared his mace again to retaliate, a horizontal swing. With this I had got into his personal space, hooking my left arm over his right arm stopping it before he could gather momentum.
With neither of us able to use our weapons, it was now set to be a slug fest shortly between fist. I tried to push his helmet off while he push my hands away. This asshole just wouldn't let up. Bashing his head with my fist, he had started to bash mine as well. I could feel this guy slowly denting my helmet. At this rate, I am going to get my ass handed.
"Would ya look at that, a brawl between armored people! It's not everyday you see armored fist fight! Hilarious. Are they even feeling pain?!"
The crowd was laughing, to throw punches on armor was a silly thought unless you were a monk. They didn't know that my helmet was being done in. This person's strength was quite frightening. I had to change it up.
It was hard looking down as I was getting punched. I had to confirm what his center of gravity was before doing something. Making a wrong move would cost me a lot. After confirming his right leg was it. I had tangled my leg with his and pulled it. He had fell on his ass. My idiotic self, hadn't let go of his arm yet because I was too occupied with his legs fell with him.
He struggled to get me off, creating distance between us by trying to extend his left hand. It wasn't working on me but even though it didn't, there wasn't much I could do in this position. I had fucked it up. This was going to be a drawn out fight. I hated these. It was physically and mentally exhausting. This was why I preferred to end fights extremely quick. I was already getting tired. Trying to catch a breath, this guy wouldn't let me. As he pushed me, he kept pushing my head. It was annoying. If I had my long sword in my right hand, I could pierce it into his weak spot but transitioning would free up his morning star. One hit of that morning star on a body part was a lethal hit. Tearing metal like nothing, going against that was horrifying.
Something strange had happened, a quick flash of light appeared. I couldn't see anything after that and my strength felt like it was sucked away from me. I could feel a forceful push to my chest. I tried to retaliate but my muscle had relaxed and became numb. I had rolled away because of that powerful push. Still blind, my legs buckled in as I tried to reposition myself. I managed to get up from the ground and as I did my vision came back slowly.
"Oh! What just happened? Good Morning Star has managed to get out of that grapple! It's finally getting interesting!"
I couldn't see the details but I could see a figure running to me. I don't know how I did it but I was able to retain my long sword. The swing was coming down, I had lifted my blade to block it and supported it with my other hand. The morning star had shattered the blade and placed itself into my left chest. The spikes pierced my armor and broke through. I could feel the blood slowly trickling down. Come on sensory organs! My system was failing on me. I was lucky that my long sword had slowed down the impact but my life was in danger.
"The Merc's weapon has been broken. His future leaks bleak! Buuut he has been known to steal people's weapons so watch out Good Morning! He'll rob you before you know it, just like he did with his audience's wealth!" the victims to Kaiser's winning streaks were grumbling.
The morning star had been retrieved, as it left my body so did some of my blood. As I regained my five sense back, the morning star had landed on the other side of my chest. The excruciating pain was unbearable. The loud crackling noise of my bones breaking and the huge gash left behind by the spikes, I didn't want to look down at the sight.
Throughout the devastating blows, I had wanted to scream out in pain but all that came out of my mouth was minor grunts. It was difficult to move my arm with the broken long sword. All that was left was four inches on the broken blade. He didn't have his shield, If I was in a better shape I could've properly employed his shield.
Another blow came from the morning star, crushing my inner left thigh. I had dropped to a kneeling position as soon as he brought back his weapon. Throughout the mix voices of complaints I could distinctly hear one voice.
"Kaiser…" a soft voice sounding as if it was weeping.
The man had stood there confident in his victory. I hated the smug face of a person perceiving themselves as victor. Through that helmet that bastard must be smiling, mocking me. Fuck him. He had placed his left hand into the slit of my visor to hold my head in place.
"This has been what we were all waiting for! The One Two Two Three special!"
It was a good thing I couldn't see the faces of the crowd. I had come to hate them. Most of them were just people who would never participate in battle. Escaping the reality that people die in war zones all the time. What was so exciting seeing people die? This would be the closest they ever come to it. To break their spirits would make me happy. With the four inches of what use to be a long sword, I had shoved it into his hand, piercing straight through. Although it pierced through, his grip didn't let up. Blood had spilled into my visor. Hurting him felt great.
"This is the first time Good Morning has received a wound!"
I started to feel immense pain as I was being hammered away by the morning star. I started to black out and my senses went dull. My body was shutting down. What was awaiting for me was death. It was over.
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