Some time had passed since after me and Gwens date.
Right now i was standing with everyone but the non combatants in front of a gigantic dome that remined me of a Rumanage colosseum of my old world. A receptionist Sloth telling me about the rules and regulations of the Grand tournament. Why did i have to sign up officially when this was state run by bandits and i announced it when we reached the manor you ask? don't ask me.
After the boring looking guy had his fill of making me listen he said "sign here , here and here"
I didn't actually have a signature so i wrote my name all squiggly like.
"All set , and ill see you in a few hours" The receptionist told me
The tournament was literally only a few hours away , and i could still sign up. That's further proof everyone thought of it as a sham.
"Ok so he signed up for the stupid thing, what do we do now?" Gwen asked Remiel
"we wait"
"you really expect us to wait" Gwen said rather impatiently
"what else can we do"
"he's right Gwen" Myrtle added
"Farron if we have a few hours to kill lets do some light sparing "
somehow i knew it would come to this 4 days was her limit until the withdrawal symptoms huh. This time though it was good idea . I hadn't had much time to test the full capabilities of this suit, except for a few small scraps here and there in the ship. It certainly helped but we couldn't go anywhere near what we wanted too in that ship for fear of damaging it.
"sure thing"
"lets go find somewhere private " i said
"why? there's no one here anyway"
She was right people but people don't just start fighting in the middle of the street, normal people that is. Then again since when have we ever been normal.
"ok why not"
checking the environment to make sure no one was in a decent approximation to us. Nope ,complete empty except for the receptionist who is paid to be here .This could make his day more interesting or he would run at the first sign of violence.
"don't you know you should always pay attention!" Gwen rushed at me
analyzing target Threat level medium-low. Right fist coming in .653 seconds , following with a left kick in 1.4 seconds. Do you want the most effective option or the least lethal option
Least lethal
Grab and hold you have a greater strength in every capacity. In every capacity? that sounded plenty arrogant, i don't know if i was ready to believe Gwen who was whooping my behind continuously until this point. Though i did remember she was lowkey helpless to stop my advances earlier, not that i'm proud of that but still was that evidence ? Nothing terrible would happen if i lost so why not trust it, it did have the right advice against buck.
Dodging left and right , i simply body slammed her pinning Gwen to the ground. Wiggle like a child unable to move she started pouted "HEY no fair. i hate that damn suit of yours, you always have some a new way to cheat"
she was like a baby i could barely feel her struggle. After a few minutes of flopping like a fish she finally gave up.
Clap clap clap clap
turning around i saw a all white white tiger a few stripes .This tiger in question was wearing all red and black armor spiked ,adorned to look like he was the general of a old Chinese dynasty. To his side were two antelope women ,scantily clad was the most flattering way to put it .In a weird way they reminded me of buck.
"so your the one who took down Henetta"
So this was one of the 4 remaining bandit lords, he looked properly adorned and intimidating. That didn't have much affect on me though this presented me with a opportunity. He looked like a warmonger but never judge a book by its cover maybe he wasn't as he seemed.
"Hello my names is Farron"
"Farron huh, i am Ryouga of the Ryouga army . I will be the one to kill you"
That wasn't a very friendly greeting but i dind't expect much .Lets just continue with the plan.
"Hello Ryouga i have a proposal for you. Perhaps we don't need to fight and harm each other , you can just surrender and no one will get hurt. The bloodshed is pointless"
The two of us were fully armored and thus the situation was drawing a crowd. They made sure to watch at a safe distance in case one of us decided to lose our temper.
"Surrender?"
As if on que Ryouga and his sidekicks began laughing in unison
"HAHAHAHA why would i surrender. Its 4 against 1 measly outsider. and from what i can tell you aren't even much of a fighter. Why don't you do me, no yourself a favor stop begging for you life and die like a man"
I suppose from his point of view i was cowering in the face of "unbeatable" odds
"Wouldn't you want to avoid the violence though? I'm sure the people of this town would appreciate it"
"Ugh enough!" He was beginning to lose his patients, very quickly too might i add
"We haven't been talking for 5 minutes and you already want to tuck tail and hide. Seeing you fight that man over there i thought you were a mighty warrior, perhaps i misjudged you. Do you not understand i live for pointless violence .If you wanted peace so badly your mistake was coming to this planet , the minute you stepped foot on this plane you choose to fight"
Gwen didn't like to be called a man but she chose not to interrupt me and him
...
So Gwendolyn was right in the end i thought. These people wouldn't stop until someone killed them or they died of old age. On the battlefield there was no room for remorse , i tried my best but was shot down .If he wants to fight so badly why not just kill him here tournament be damned.
Lifting my rifle i was prepared to make this as quick as painless as possible. Though he might have been the real deal, as soon as he noticed a change in my attitude he got ready for a battle. Sending his escorts to the sidelines he said "Oh maybe I was wrong again! If you are in a hurry to die in front of all these onlookers then be my guest, all will know the might of the Ryouga Army"
Analyzing threat , Threat level medium
Claws can tear through armor, you have Higher agility, lower physical ability do not engage close range unless prompted Best option engage from afar.
He draw the massive blade on his back leaving one claw open for ripping me i assumed.
Setting my gun to assaults I'm sure he could dodge a beam but how would he fair against a hailstorm of bullets.
pew pew pew pew pew pew
I aimed in a way that was lethal to him but not in the direct path of the civilians .That small bit of restraint made it so that he easily dodged every bullet.
"HA"
tch was the sound of him closing the distance in almost a instant. Dodging the first swing of his sword, He made sure to leave no room to regroup, swinging his powerful claws right afterwards. That was a mistake on his part, The position he was in for a millisecond left a opening, and one small opening was all I needed. I jumped in such a way twisting my body so that i was upside down in mid air. If this was my usual battle i would normally use my legs to knock my opponent to the ground, but this wasn't a mock battle but a life or death state of affairs .Using my hands to grab the scruff his neck I left the momentum of my jump carry me
SNAP
snapping his neck in the process
an audible gasp was sounded off from his two ladies, reminding me they existed in the action .I pointed my gun at them and began the activity to delete them. Seeing my intent The two of them made very different decision. The first older looking girl made a run for it , the second younger dropped to her knees
"Don't do it please"
Analyzing threat level none
Looking at her shaking body kowtowing on the ground, i knew that the best option would be to kill her, then do the same to her sister. It may seem but who knew what they were truly capable of at best they were harmless at worst a liability , and i didn't have any mercy left in my heart. Sayonara i thought
when someone slapped me on the back of my head hard enough to take my attention away from the antelope girl.
"didn't you hear her? she's begging for her life"
Of course she was begging for her life who wouldn't beg in a situation like this .Not being moved in the slightest by Gwen's words i prepared to end her .Ryouga and Gwen from earlier were correct in my view as of now, i choose to fight. Why would begging make this any different , if Ryouga would've gutted me they wouldn't have cared at all.
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
Seeing that i still was going to kill her Gwen put her physical body in front of the cannon preventing me from blasting off.
"If you are going to shoot go ahead"
Why was she defending this person so much, it seems contradictory from what she was saying before, did she not see them laughing a few minutes before this .I was at the level of strength where Gwen literally couldn't stop be but i wasn't that bad to become a tyrant.
"Why, why does she deserve to live"
Seeing the opportunity to ask for her life the antelope began to speak
"I'll do anything so please spare me and my sister. I know we showed you contempt while with Ryouga but we were forced to do whatever he said. We didn't mean anything bad please"
nice sob story I didn't believe her in one bit. The universe had a strange way to playing things out, Funny how the roles have reversed now i was the ruthless one and Gwen was more caring.
"just look at how desperate she is, it wouldn't be like you"
That was a poor excuse, but i loved and respected Gwen far more then my desire to kill the antelope women.
"she lives then"
seeing that i wasn't planning to execute the women even the audience who for some reason was still watching let out a breath they didn't know they were holding. Her sister came running back and tried to pull her to safety, when our eyes met she's kowtowed like her sister. She knew i wasn't going to hurt her right? I guess with my overall demeanor that wasn't helping .I walked away to seem like less of a threat
"Farron , please take us with you!" The older sister said
She was the more devious one of the group. She was sensing the winds of changes and was hopping boats. Shameless too me at least but i had bigger fish to fry .The rest of the 3 Bandits had to be dealt with .Since we were throwing away any hints of humanitarianism, well accept for the two antelope girls. No way i'm taking them with me either they could go live and do whatever they do just not come with me.
The younger sister said "Before we were Ryouga found us we were on the brink of death. We had no means of supporting ourselves so please .We will not harm you ever , we don't even posses the means to .We just need somewhere safe to stay. "
"no"
They seemed to think i would say yes for some reason as they looked at me stupefied ,i had no love towards these women .Looking at the internal clock in suit not much time had passed. We still had hours to go until the tournament started. Sitting away from Ryouga's dead body i had nothing much to say but I was glad that this world didn't have any idea of law enforcement.
"its ok when he says no he really means yes"
"does he really?" asked the younger sister
"yea he does trust me he's weak to beautiful women"
"Farron we promise you wont regret this!" Said the younger women
Hearing Gwen say that was minorly annoying were did she keep getting these ideas from but aye she could say whatever she wanted. That didn't automatically make it true, right now i needed to focus on conserving my energy .I had no idea if Ryouga was a stronger or was like Henetta . He was actually able to dodge my bullets which is possible but that made me realize projectiles might not be the best in the future. If someone where to shoot at me i most likely would be able to dodge , why did this line of thinking not enter my calculations.
"Hey Gwen"
I decided to break up her conversation with her two new friends on what i was going to do , to ask her " Can i borrow a short blade "
reaching into her pants pocket she whipped out a 13 inch blade , then threw it at me.
"Thanks" I said going back to my sitting position, while letting the time pass.
Tap tap tap
I must've dozed off when i woke up myrtle was telling me it was time to go. The two antelope girls were still talking to Gwen when i woke up, Ryouga's bodies was gone .Standing and stretching i took a look around. This time there were a ton of people all around, They were standing in lines and it seemed that the whole town had come to view the event.
"Follow me " myrtle said leading me to a door on the side "This is were the participants , me and the rest of us will be in the spectators stall . You'll see us above the normal watchers since im part of the royal family , special privilege's and all"
Where she brought me was a simple room with a door at the end of it
"This wont take long there aren't many contestants anyway it'll just be you and vs them. The door will open when its your turn so be ready"
"alright" i had to get ready , i could literally lose my life in a few minutes
"good luck i know you can do it."
With that being said the door closed behind me
The room was almost pitch black accept for a lone candle lighting up the room. Bad design i thought but i guess in this climate even a single candle would be looked at as a luxury. After about 5 minutes of waiting the door opened leaving that as the overwhelming sense of light. Walking through the the door i heard massive cheering in front of 3 people .I assumed these were the famed leaders i heard so much about. In the middle featured a Lizard resembling a Texas horned lizard just with its features more pronounced not that i knew what Texas was, he had cybernetic armor similar to mine and two big guns to match. The Beastkin on the left on the left was a Vulture plain and simple no armor no weapon just massive talons on his feet. The last person wasn't even a beastkin but a ice golem, she was massive and much bigger then the rest of them .In her hand was a mallet that was mirrored only by her giganticness.
Looking at the trio i can see why they were allowed to reign so long without any challenge .No offense to Myrtle and her family but they didn't stand a chance against what looked like true predators. Even standing as far away from them as i was i could feel the blood lust I'm actually glad i killed ryouga alone. If he was with them it might've been a much too lopsided battle.
"EVERYONE HERE ME. I am king Gregory. I'm sure you're all well aware of why we're all here. There's no need for a real explanation since this is going to be the beginning of a new era"
What type of introduction was that. He must've gotten rusty or something but that's was the least of my problems. The three were sizing me up each having a different expression .I saw Gwen, Remiel, myrtle and her parents all on a elevated porch.
"BEGIN!"
Gregory gave us the option to start fighting. I could tell they didn't respect him at all as they didn't seem to care . Who looked to be the leader and the strongest walked up to me slowly.
"You... your a chosen are you"
That shocked me, how did he know?
"how did you know" i asked
"Chosen can sense each other"
Can we really sense each other? That wasn't good , what if what i was feeling earlier wasn't blood lust be the auras of 3 people chosen by a god.
"what if i am?"
"we could tell the very second i set foot in front of us. "
I needed to take this seriously I should just attack right now
"Join us"
"what" i said a little skeptical
"join us. We are numerically and factually better then everyone here. They belong beneath us, and since you killed Henetta and Ryouga you've proved yourself worthy. Though they were the weaker one's"
blehhhh gross i thought Ryouga was arrogant naming his army after him but his supposed friend was defaming him even after his death, did this guy expect me to abandons my friends and loves?
... Wait this is exactly what i asked Ryouga to do earlier , only now could i understand his reasoning. Maybe Ryouga was actually the most decent of the bunch who knows, not that any of this mattered. Right... none of this mattered i wasn't going to join him, i didn't want to be his friend or anything.
"No"
"Haha we would've just thought of you as weak good choice"
Taking a deep breath time slowed to a halt, it was a mistake to get so close to me without any real peperation. Cockiness lead to lost heads and
Im going to kill him right here