บท 79: The First Match
The crowd roared as the doors opened to reveal the sand-covered floor or the coliseum. The stands were filled to the brim. I could see both Ereth and others as they clapped and shouted.
"Team Torchlight?" Joshua asked with a sour expression. "Erik, couldn't you come up with a better name?"
Vincent chuckled as Erik smirked. "Nope, not good with names. Deal with it."
"Alright, focus." I interrupted them as I looked at our opponents. There were four of them – two men and two women.
The women both carried long spears while the men had longswords. Their sturdy plate armour reflected the bright sunlight. With a deep breath, I took point and stepped forward, onto the warm sands. Erik, Vincent, and Joshua followed me.
We stopped about five meters away from Team Reapers. As I thought of their name, I couldn't help but smile. They didn't look like 'reapers' at all. Not with their bad posture and shaky hands.
"Erik," I said quietly. "You and Joshua take on the spear wielders. Vincent, you should work with Joshua."
"What about you?" Vincent asked in surprise. "Are you planning on taking on two of them at once?"
A wicked smile flashed across my face as I nodded. "I'll be done before you guys." I said as I summoned the sword Luhen had given me. I didn't need the heavy, clunky scythe right now.
"Begin!" The announcer's voice echoed across the sand covered coliseum floor.
I dashed forward as soon as the announcer's voice faded. I spotted Joshua as he circled towards the spear wielding woman on the left.
My two opponents seemed to be taken by surprise as I reached them. They tried to raise their guards, but they knew nothing of real martial arts. Without their magic, they were no threat to me. As one of them attempted a thrust, I easily sidestepped it and blocked the other one's wild, unsteady swing with my own sword.
To my left, I heard Vincent's shout. He was probably trying to distract the spear wielding woman so Joshua could find an opening. To my right, I caught a glimpse of Erik and the other woman, carefully circling each other.
The guy on my right tried to stab me again, which I once again easily evaded. I focused my attention to the man on my left – he seemed to have a little more knowledge about sword fighting. Namely, he knew that the type of swords they were using weren't made for stabbing, they were made for slashing. So, he tried to do just that – he tried to cut my head off.
I responded with ducking under his swing, kicking his friend aside and elbowing the man in the gut. I knew that I was fighting dirty, but it was two against one and I just wanted to get done with this. I immediately changed my form as the guy moaned in pain and hit him in the head with the hilt of my sword.
He collapsed on the ground while his friend regained his balance. With a deep breath, I decided to give the poor man my full and undivided attention. Of course, that meant a proper assault to break his defences. My body moved on its own as soon as our eyes met. I swung my sword towards his legs, then feinted it to a simple swing to his neck.
He completely fumbled his defence and I hit the neck guard of his helmet with a loud clang. He screamed in shock rather than pain and fell on his back. "Stop! Don't kill me!" He yelped, throwing his sword away and raising his hands. I could see his pale face through the slits of his helmet.
It took the crowd a moment to understand what happened. After a moment of silence, they started cheering. The battles to my sides paused for a second as the members of both teams checked the commotion.
Vincent whistled. "Damn, Kai. You weren't exaggerating, were you?"
"Pay attention." I replied, glancing at the two women still standing. They both stepped back, wary of me. Vincent flinched, glanced at me, at Joshua and then at the women.
"I guess we should continue." He mumbled, I shrugged and glanced at the man I'd just beaten. He flinched as our eyes met.
The battles on both sides resumed. Erik soon managed to defeat his opponent by bashing her in the face with his shield. She screamed and fell down. She touched her broken, bloody nose with shivering hands.
"Oh my god!" She shrieked. I averted my gaze; Erik didn't have to end that fight in such a crude way.
Vincent and Joshua were still locked in combat. Their opponent was much more careful than the others, she made sure to keep them as far away from her as she could. The long reach of her spear made it incredibly difficult for Joshua to approach her, though if he and Vincent cooperated a little, they'd easily defeat her in seconds.
It took nearly a minute for her to finally lose sight of Vincent as he circled around her. Busy with deflecting and blocking Vincent's attempted strikes, she seemingly completely forgot about Joshua, who approached from her back and put his knife to her throat.
"I guess this is where you give up." He said. The woman glared at the knife for a moment, then dropped her spear and raised her hands.
"Team Torchlight takes the match!" The announcer's voice sounded over the sound of applause.
"We did it!" Erik shouted with a massive grin. Joshua and Vincent high fived each other.
I heard the metal doors creak open behind us. "Let's go," I said, turning my back to the arena and heading back inside. Only when the door closed behind us, hiding us from the onlooker's eyes, did I breathe a sigh of relief.
"Good job." I said after a short moment. To be perfectly honest, they also lacked proper technique. It pained me to see them fumbling about like that. I considered trying to teach them some basic forms, but immediately changed my mind. It takes months to learn even the simplest of forms. We didn't have such time.
"That's a lot, coming form you." Vincent said. I shrugged. "No, not really." I cleared my throat. "Let's rest until our next match begins."
"Good call." Erik said as we headed back to the room given to us. "Let's prepare for the next battle."
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