Flint snarled and yanked his sword free from the ground.

“Play time’s over,” he said.

That was when I finally drew my knives and triggered the Affinity Weapon power on both of them, shrouding the blades in sizzling glowing electricity. There was no strategic reason I chose to use the combination of Air and Light affinities apart from that I thought the electric sparks looked cool and I liked the crackling sound they made. Plus, when I moved them quickly, with the addition of the Light they seemed to leave a continuous shimmering trail of blue-white, like a twisting, swirling, floating neon glow trailing through the air in their wake. It looked wicked cool, and also let the audience follow what was happening easier. Otherwise, I’d be moving too quickly for them to see it well. And where’s the fun in that?

Whatever the stakes were, this wasn’t a real fight. This was a show fight, and I wanted to give the people a good show. I glanced up at the crowd I’d been mostly ignoring and resisted the urge to call up to them, “Are you entertained?”

Flint and I cautiously closed ranks on each other. This was the most dangerous moment for me. His blood was boiling after my repeated taunts and he wanted payback, and he was using his best skill. His Master level in Sword was nothing to sneeze at. Even with all the buffs and debuffs active, I was still no match for him in a straight up melee fight. But this was never going to be a straight up fight. I’d learned my lesson the hard way.

I triggered superspeed again. It used up a lot of mana but I wasn’t using it at full strength so the energy drain wasn’t too bad, and against someone with an overwhelming skill advantage like this I couldn’t afford to be too frugal with my energy.

When we finally clashed I focused purely on defense, parrying his sword slashes with my knives. There was a satisfying ting of metal against metal whenever they made contact, enhanced by the sizzling electric light show. This was the first time I’d seen him actually use his sword so I wanted to feel him out. He certainly was good with it, maybe almost as good as Akari.

Several times he got past my defenses and I felt the impact of his sword as it hit my personal shield. I took a bit of damage each time, but not much. I wasn't concerned, I had a fun way to get my health back I was going to use soon.

A great sword is really only good for slashing attacks, it’s too long and awkward to thrust with effectively. It’s meant to be a one-hit weapon dealing massive damage in a single strike. Usually, the size and weight of the weapon meant there would be an opening to counterattack at the end of a swing, but Flint’s strength and skill left no such opening. The sword was constantly moving, using the momentum of each swing to carry it on to the next.

That just meant I had to create my own openings.

I triggered another power when Flint was in mid-swing. That’s Heavy, Man was a power I’d synthesized using Galahad’s gravity control. It was a great power for something like this because it was impossible for an observer to detect it, so nobody would know I’d used it. Even Flint would wonder what was happening. My goal was to slow him down, just for a moment, just long enough to get a hit in, in the most annoying way possible. That’s why I didn’t use it on him, I used it on his sword. It worked.

In the split second when his sword became exponentially heavier and threw off his movements and balance, I snuck in to nick him with both knives. My ludicrously sharp blades sliced right through the armor and into the sweaty flesh underneath. They weren’t deep cuts, nothing serious at all. Nothing that would make him want to avoid the damage. But it was enough to let me activate the other powers I’d put onto my new knives.

Daniel’s Guardian Blade of the Forest Elves

Unique and sacred to the forest elves, this long knife requires the special skill Elven Dual Knife Fighting to wield to full effect. They always come in pairs.

Powers:

Affinity Weapon - Enhance with elemental effects; Affinity with Life required

I Vant To Zuck Your Blud - Siphon health and mana from the target; Affinity with Death required

I’ll Cut You - Enhanced strength and sharpness to deal more damage

That’s Gonna Leave A Scar - Add poison or disease damage; Affinity with Death required

We Were Made For This - Enhanced combat effectiveness when a paired set of Guardian Blades are used; Requires Elven Dual Knife Fighting

Both hits siphoned some of his mana and health and gave it back to me. They also applied ongoing poison damage along with a bit of electric shock. I’d practiced this so many times with Akari until I was able to hold my own against her, mostly, and if I could keep up with her, mostly, then fighting this bozo was a walk in the park.

We continued to fight like this, and every so often I’d make his sword heavier and sneak in a couple more poisoned cuts. He also clashed against my shield a few times, but every time I nicked him I stole back the health I’d lost. After the fourth time I cut him he disengaged, backing away.

He was clearly confused about the whole thing, not understanding why his sword became unwieldy and why my little nicks were taking such a toll on him. The cumulative effect of taking ongoing poison damage multiple times meant he was now hemorrhaging health, and it was too late to use his power to ignore it; he would’ve had to do that at the time of the attacks. And his power would’ve worked had he used it at the right time because I hadn’t nullified it yet. I was saving that for later, no sense wasting the mana.

He made no effort to hide the frustration he was feeling, venting it in a low growl as he prowled back and forth.

“You’re free to tap out any time,” I said, also stepping away to put more distance between us in preparation for using a power combination Annabelle had suggested.

“Never,” he said.

“I was hoping you’d say that. It’ll make it all the more humiliating for you when you do give up.”

He growled again and charged. I used Able To Leap Tall Buildings, my custom version of Arthur’s air walk power, to step up and over him, then used Affinity Control to dump a torrent of water when I was directly above him. I landed behind him and we both spun around to face each other again. He was soaked to the skin and practically frothing at the mouth.

I used Affinity Control again, this time using Ice to freeze him. It was Annabelle who’d taught me that freezing something that was already wet worked a lot better than just using Ice alone, which seemed so obvious I was embarrassed I hadn't figured that out on my own. The air walk, water, ice combination had been her idea. I glanced over at where she stood to the side watching us and saw her struggling to contain a grin.

The sheath of ice wouldn't hold long, but it wasn't supposed to. The move was meant to create a quick opening for a followup attack, but I chose to wait instead. I let him use brute force to break out of the ice. He looked furious. Gripping his sword in both hands he started another charge toward me, but he barely made it two steps before he slipped on the ice that had formed on the water pooled on the floor all around him. I may have helped a bit by using telekinesis to pull his boots toward me. He fell backwards, his feet flying up and his boots flying off his feet; perhaps I'd overdone the telekinesis. He seemed to float horizontally in the air for a moment before falling and landing hard, flat on his back.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Finally.

I turned on the gravity control again, this time using it on Flint himself. It’s one thing to stay standing when being pulled down by a force of gravity many times stronger than normal, but no matter how strong you are it’s incredibly hard to get up from a prone position under such pressure, especially when the ground beneath you is sheer, slippery ice and your body is encased in a steel can of heavy armor.

To seal the deal and make sure he wasn’t going to move, I wrapped him in ropes of pure electrical energy -- I had figured out the effectiveness of using electrical attacks on something wet on my own. This was no time to take chances, and Akari had warned me time and again to never underestimate your opponent. He ended up flopping there on his back like a fish on a sushi chef’s cutting board, still struggling in a futile effort to rise.

I sheathed my knives and casually strolled over to him. I had a sudden image of myself slipping on the ice, so I used a combination of Fire and Air to warm the soles of my boots and melt the ice a bit wherever I stepped. Take no unnecessary chances.

I stood next to him. Then I used telekinesis to lift his sword and move it until it hovered about ten feet directly over him, tip pointing down. I stretched out my hand with my fingers splayed and moved it so that it appeared like I needed to do that to control the sword. I didn’t have to, but sometimes you have to exaggerate things on stage so the audience can follow what’s going on. I looked down at him and waited until he stopped struggling.

“Any final words?” I said.

“Screw you,” he said.

“Suit yourself.”

I switched the increased gravity from him to the sword and let it fall, but not before I nullified his ability to ignore an attack. The giant blade pierced his lower body and stuck its tip into the ground again, pinning him down like a butterfly in a collection. He cried out in pain and surprise when his nullified power failed to negate the damage. His health, which had been somewhere in the mid range of yellow after all my poisonous nicks, dropped immediately into the red zone.

I winced as I watched the blood pool around the wound. “Ouch. That’s gotta smart.”

He groaned and looked up at me with pure hatred.

“Ready to give up yet?” I said as I telekinetically raised the sword over him again. The metal of his armor shrieked as the slowly rising blade ground against it. When the sword’s tip hovered only about a foot over him, and I casually pushed it with one finger until its tip was directly over Flint’s head, let it stay there for a bit to make him sweat, then telekinetically raised it up higher again. It lifted slowly while I spoke.

“This would be your last chance to give up. I suggest you take it.”

He snarled at me, but I could see the fear in his eyes.

I started a countdown. Each time I counted a number I sent an electric shock through his armor that made him convulse each time. “Five.” Bzzzt. “Four.” Bzzzt. “Three.” Bzzzt. “Two.” Bzzzt.

“Stop!” he hissed through gritted teeth.

I cupped my hand to my ear. “What was that? Not sure I heard you.”

“I yield!” he screamed. “Don’t kill me!”

“What’s the magic word?”

“P-p-please don’t kill me.”

“There now. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” I said.

Then I let the sword fall.

Don’t worry, I didn’t kill him. I reached out and grabbed its blade between two fingers to stop it inches before it pierced him between the eyes.

“You know, I think I’m gonna hang onto this,” I said, tossing the sword up then catching it on one finger and balancing it there. “As a memento of our time together.” That balancing bit was ad-libbed and I had to use telekinesis to hold it there, but who’d know?

The sword vanished as I stowed it in my inventory, then I released the electric ropes before I accidentally tased him to death. After that, I took a few bows to the crowd in the stands. First to Sigrid and the crew. Then to Achmed and Tiff’s mixed gang. Then to Petal and the elves. Finally one long, deep bow to Akari, although with the women of the Gentlemen's Club hooting and dancing a few rows up from her it could have looked like I was bowing to them; either way, let’s see what people make of that. On a whim, and solely because I knew she’d find it funny, I had that stupid cape appear around my shoulders before making that last bow to my mentor. It fluttered slightly in Annabelle's added breeze.

I had largely ignored the audience throughout the fight but it was impossible to do so now. They were going absolutely bananas. That made me happy. I was glad I managed to put on a good show. In the end, I revealed a bit more of my abilities than I’d originally intended, but that was okay. A lot of what I’d done wouldn’t have even been noticed, such as the gravity control, power nullification, and poisoned blades, so I hadn’t given away anything really important.

Everyone would know now that I could use superspeed, and air walk, and telekinesis, and had affinities in both Water and Ice. And that I had Air too, if they knew the electric effects came from that affinity. And that I was pretty decent with a couple of knives. Oh, and I guess I gave away my abnormally high strength too. Some might suspect I had some kind of force shield, and possibly that my normal-looking clothes provided abnormal defense, and maybe they might’ve seen that I used short-distance teleport. My ability to make things disappear as I put them into my inventory with a thought might also have made people wonder, but I didn’t think I’d done anything too spectacular. So yeah, I revealed a bit, but in the grand scheme of things it wasn't that much.

The one thing I was sure everyone now knew was that I could be a real a-hole when I got pissed off. I'd blown past confidence and landed hard on cockiness, but I'd try to rein that in going forward. A nice person doesn’t do what I just did, only a total jerk shows off and humiliates someone like that. But you had to admit, he did have it coming.

Annabelle stepped back to center stage.

“How about that, huh?” she boomed at the audience. “I don’t think anybody expected this turn of events.”

She was totally lying, of course. Apart from me, there were two people who’d expected exactly this: she and her sister.

Annabelle’s smile was saccharine sweet. “Can I ask the other members of the Silver Sword to please come down to the arena floor? We have some business to take care of,” she cooed.

All eyes turned to where Flint’s comrades were seated together in the stands. They were in the area where Team Invictus and the others were and looked mortified as they stood up and made their way to the stairs under the mocking gaze of all those eyes. While we waited for them to come down Annabelle continued to work the crowd. I crouched beside Flint where he still lay clutching the wound in his abdomen as though his intestines would spill out if he didn’t.

I pulled out a potion and tried to pour it into his mouth, but he kept twisting his head away like I was trying to feed him cold pureed peas.

“Don’t be a baby. You’re gonna die if you don’t drink this.” It was true. The poison was still in effect and his health was steadily ticking away.

He must’ve realized this too, because he removed one hand from his wound and snatched the potion from me. “Gimme that,” he spat, then chugged it down. It wasn’t an ordinary healing potion, it was one I’d brewed that also had an antitoxin effect to counteract the poison. You’re welcome, Flart.

I stood up and started walking over to Annabelle when I heard a thump behind me, then laughter from the crowd. I turned to look and saw Flint now lying face down on the icy floor. He’d slipped again when trying to get up and face planted without any help from me. He’d managed to stand up by the time his comrades entered the arena, but seemed a bit wobbly standing there on the ice in his socks. I resisted the urge to give his feet another telkinetic tug, but only barely.

“The last order of business here is to complete the stakes of the match,” Annabelle said.

I’d already taken back one of the stolen knives, but they still owed me. The Silver Swordsmen who had my other knife and elven cloak came over and gave them back. I almost felt bad for him, but he was the one who'd hitched his wagon to the bully train. Actions have consequences.

“Terrific!” Annabelle said. “The stolen items have been returned, so all that’s left is for the Silver Sword to say bye bye to us all now. Forever.”

A loud cheer erupted from the crowd.

“Bye bye!” Annabelle said, waving at the defeated mercenaries.

“Bye bye!” the audience screamed, and kept screaming it as the Silver Sword collected Flint’s lost boots and quickly made their way out of the arena.

To their credit, the humiliated mercs didn’t try to welch on the agreement. Once they left the arena, they went directly through the Western gate and along the road they’d traveled so often to the sea, where they got on the first ship sailing out. I know this because I had some elves secretly follow them to make sure.

Take no chances.