Ajax was lookie out at the sand in the arena. All of the other years had already started their tournaments and now it would be time for him to start his as well. His breathing was quick, his hands grasped his sword and axe tightly as he prepared himself for the first round.

Ajax wasn’t at all nervous, he had no doubts that he could beat every single person that was taking part in the tournament. Ajax was angry at what he had found out this morning but there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

Already entering the sands in a furious charge was his opponent. An eight and a half foot tall mountain of a person who despite his height managed to still look short in proportion to the width of his muscled body. Two horns on his head as well as the cloven legs were the biggest features the beastkin took from his animal side, replacing his human face with that of a bull would be all that it took and he would pass for a minotaur.

The reason Ajax was angry was that he found out that he would be the beastkins first opponent. Ajax knew that the nobles would be given a strategic placement in the tournament brackets to keep the matches interesting, on that account he was happy to have been placed away from any of the top three spots, meeting them only in finals or semi-finals.

What angered Ajax was that the commoners who fought to win a chance to fight in this tournament were supposed to be given a random opponent. As one of the people who had scoured the commoner tournaments looking for any people that he might want to recruit he knew that this match wasn’t a random coincidence.

The bull beastkin was by far the best commoner this year. Being twenty-seven years of age this was the only tournament he could enter but the man was already at level thirty-six, even higher than Ajax’s own level. More than that his beastkin body gave him a strong strength advantage, one that while not enough to beat out some of the stronger people in the 6th year it was more than enough to at least give any of them a good match.

This first round of the tournament was meant as a show of strength. To exemplify the difference between nobles and commoners. That isn’t to say that there hadn’t been one or two matches already this year that had been close, or that some commoners hadn’t gone on to win a round in the past. Three times, twice in the first year tournament and once in the second year a commoner had won the whole thing.

Any commoner who won their first round match had always had at least one offer of marriage into a Baron’s house. What annoyed Ajax most however was that they sought to rig the brackets so that he would face the beastkin. This bull-man was the first beastkin since the treaty had been signed and their acceptance had been pushed into law that had a chance at a good showing and they rigged the match so that he wouldn't.

As he stepped out onto the sands Ajax could see his opponents eyes tracking him. The man wasn’t handsome by any means, while his face was human his bull lineage could be seen in the smaller and spread apart eyes as well as his large flared nose.

Ajax was a large man himself, his muscles were large and corded across his body from years upon years of training but looking at the beastkin across from him Ajax knew that if they had an equal strength stat he would avoid taking any direct blows from the massive axe he held.

“BEGIN” The referee shouted the moment Ajax got into position.

The beastking charged forward at full speed. Despite the obvious power-focused strategy Ajax had watched the man enough in the past month to know he wasn’t a dumb brute that many thought he was because of his looks.

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Sadly for the beastkin however Ajax wasn’t going to be holding back. One thing that all of the competitors of the tournament took seriously was that nobody was to hold back. The only exception to this was lethal blows as well as any aces they were hiding for whatever reason in their regular spars.

Ajax flared his [Syphon Mana] at full power. This brought his physical stats from the low thirties range to the mid fifties. Ajax copied his opponent by going into a direct charge. Much to Ajax’s surprise and to his slight regret his opponent had managed to react to his movement.

The beastkin had noticed not only the difference in their speed but also the difference in their power from the way the sand had shifted as Ajax started his charge. He even managed to get his axe into a good position but none of that mattered.

Ajax’s lightning infused blade knocked the axe aside, the lightning making its way through the handle and jolting the beastkin’s body left him defenseless as Ajax planted the sole of his food in the center of his opponents chest knocking him on his back and placing own smaller one-handed axe at his throat.

“FINISHED” The referee was quick to call the match, Ajax even noticing the barrier that had appeared between the blade of his axe and the beastkin’s throat, even if he hadn’t pulled stopped the swing the barrier was angled up to that the swing off course. “WINNER : AJAX!”

As customary the winner had stayed for a few minutes in the arena waving at the crowd. All of them cheered despite the quick fish as this was exactly what they were here for, they all knew today was the day that a long match would be an odd find and despite the quick ending Ajax’s match was entertaining.

The moment he left the arena however Ajax had made his way to look for his opponent. It didn’t take long to find him as he had just finished getting dressed in his regular clothes after finishing a shower following his defeat.

“You’re good” Ajax said, drawing the beastkin’s attention to him.

The man’s face changed from defeat to anger, acceptance and then humility. “Clearly not good enough, you brought me down in an instant.” A little quieter, something that Ajax thought the man hadn’t meant for him to hear “A man at least five years my junior.”

“I’m what you might call… a special case.” Ajax said not knowing how to answer that without making it seem like he was looking down on him. “Had it been anyone else you would’ve pushed them, probably could beat about half of them.”

“Thank you for your kind words, milord.” Ajax was ready to believe the accepting tone if it wasn’t for his social skills telling him he didn’t really mean it.

“My name’s Ajax.” he said as he offered the beastkin his. “And I’m willing to prove it to you.”

A skeptical look entered the man’s eyes as he looked down at Ajax. “How will you do that.” A little more of the aggression making it into his tone.

“As a participant I can make sure you have a seat in for all my future matches. I’ll show you that all of them will fall to me in a similar manner that you did.” Ajax said with a smirk as an idea took hold in his mind. “But let's make this a wager.”

“What sort of wager?” then beastkin frowned at the extended hand.

“If in any of the upcoming matches anyone so much as puts up a fight against me I’ll split half the winnings from any place I get with you.” Ajax said.

“What if you win?” the man asked.

“If I win, you join my House as a retainer.” Ajax said.

“Hmph.” the beastkin flared his nostrils as a cocky grin crept slowly on his face. “That’s a deal I can take.”

“I look forward to having you sign up, Theron.” Ajax said as they shook and he took his leave. The beastkin looked shocked that Ajax knew his name considering the names for the commoner challengers weren’t announced.

“It’s not what you think.” Professor Silvertongue surprised Ajax as he rounded the corner out of the changing rooms.

“What’s not what I think?” Ajax asked.

“It wasn’t nobles who rigged the match-up.” the professor said.

“Really now?” Ajax said.

“They couldn’t.” the professor continued “the rules are made in such a way that they can’t.”

“If they didn't, who did?” Ajax questioned.

“The bookies.” the professor said with a shake of the head. “They’ve been bleeding money this year. There have been close to no upsets, do you know what happens when the favorite wins almost all the time?”

“So they rigged what was supposed to be the blind match?” Ajax asked, surprised.

“They did, the odds that Theron would not only lose but get stomped were one hundred and fifty to one.” Silvertongue continued. “You made a few people a lot of money and got most of the bookies out of the red with that single win.”