BOOM
Every blow from even just the normal sword sent shockwaves to my core as I attempted to block them with both swords. He swung at my vital areas with precision and ferocity. His blows felt like being struck by a freight train as he pushed me back.
My mind raced, desperately searching for an opening, but his relentless barrage left me with no time to think, no space to breathe. I tightened my grip, forcing myself to swing faster, hoping to overwhelm him, but it was no use. His movements were fluid, precise—almost effortless. He kicked the blade from my hand with an effortless kick and pressed the cold steel against my neck, marking the end of the duel.
“Round 1 goes to me,” he said, sheathing his sword and setting the other sword in the ground.
I inhaled and exhaled heavily as I struggled to breathe from being forced to move and react faster than I ever needed to before.
“You’re not bad, kid. However, you’re nowhere near where you need to be,” he tossed me a bottle of water and drank his own.
Although he was rude to me at the beginning, it seems like he’s just a tough person.
“Where’d you learn this stuff? You’re too skilled for a brat your age,” he asked, staring at me.
“I told Aura I learned from my parents but mostly it was self taught. I incorporated my own movements and techniques that allowed me to optimize every moment in a battle that I had. It took lots of practice so I used to get in fights at school a lot, just to try and practice. That’s why I didn’t have many friends in middle school. I would’ve love to train another way but I didn’t have much of an option,” I explained.
“No, I don’t,” he said, “there’s local gyms and training facilities everywhere.”
“I lived in the middle of nowhere, it was just me and my family.”
I felt bad lying to him but I don’t need anyone to pity me about my past.
“I see,” he sipped his water. He grabbed his normal trusty silver sword and twirled it.
“I loved fighting with swords growing up. The feeling of becoming one with your sword as you practiced day in and day out was amazing. It was like drugs. I, eventually, became addicted to that feeling. That feeling of ecstasy. It was different. I felt like I was floating above the realm that we’re currently residing in. I could see everything, my purpose, my future, everything,” he looked up into the sky,
“Then, my family got killed by bandits with swords while I was away. The bandits looted everything and killed them before leaving. No witnesses,” he sighed, “I joined the Magic Defense Force to find them. The first thing that the Magic Defense Force taught us? Don’t use your power for revenge. I spent the next few years working my way up the ranks until I reached the squire position for the Rock Pillar. He was a strong yet kind man. He taught me that strength is more than enough. You don’t need magic if your body is as strong as steel. So that’s what happened. I trained with him and trained until my body became harder than a sword. That’s when he passed this onto me,”
He patted the sheathed sword on his side.
“I guess I showed the most potential with my strength than the other squires did. They were way better with magic than I was. I knew your basic spells, ‘Fireball’, ‘Snowball’, ‘Levitate’, the usual. They bullied the fuck outta me, kid. That just made me tougher. I will admit that during my squire days, I was hesitant to pick up a sword again after my family passed away. He reassured me that it wasn’t my fault that happened. That I should have a sword capable of protecting my own family in the future, which is exactly what I did. You see, Aura’s parents, I had them with my ex-wife. I was so strong that no one even attempted to harm us. I just wish I didn’t get this strength so late,” he looked at his hands.
“If anything, I want to be strong enough to protect her and Rose. I want to be strong enough to protect everyone I love,” I replied.
“Aura and Rose? I remember Rose. I thought she would’ve brought her over you but maybe this is what we both needed,” he grabbed the silver sword again. This time he didn’t even reach for his magic sword.
“I’ve realized that this is above your skill level so we’ll stick to the basics for now,” he explained.
“Got it,” I said, acknowledging my own shortcomings.
He walked towards me, sword in his right hand.
He took a step forward and appeared in front of me. He swung the sword down with frightening intensity. I blocked his strike with both of my swords by lifting them above my head, causing the swords to collide head on. The ground began to crack underneath the pressure of his overwhelming intensity. Sparks flew as his sword scraped off mine. He landed a heavy kick square to my stomach, causing me to fly backwards.
“HUFF!” I tightened my stomach and gritted my teeth as I dug my heels into the ground. I skidded to a stop.
I had only one goal. To win.
I ran towards his feet and sliced at them. He jumped over my attack. He swiftly landed before slicing at my ribs. I tried my best to move to the side but he managed to graze my side. It stung as an open wound was where he struck me.
I get it. This isn’t just training, if I don’t take this seriously I’ll die.
VWOOM
The world distorted around me once more, turning pitch black before a light appeared before me.
“Do you need my power? ” The light asked.
“Your power?” I asked, confusedly.
I dug through my mind to try and remember but I couldn’t.
“I don’t need a shortcut. I will get stronger on my own and win. I’ll beat you one day too,” I gripped my swords and sliced through the darkness.
I was met by an old man darting at me with such ferocity that it sent shivers down my spine. I bent backwards as he etched the space where I was standing. I brought my foot up and kicked him in the chin. He was stunned and backed away.
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He smiled.
He threw his sword to the ground and put his fists up. I did the same. I swung at his face with a heavy right hook. He dodged to the side and sent an uppercut into my jaw. His power was more raw and stronger than Dugal’s, hell anyone I’ve ever faced up until this point. I knew I wasn’t going to win but at this point this is about my pride.
He assaulted me with a flurry of punches and kicks as I tried my best to dodge most of them which proved to be an impossible task as my body was screaming. I gritted my teeth and put my hands up until there was an opening. It took a lot of shots but everytime he goes for a left jab, his ribs open up. I waited and waited until he swung left again. He swung left, I slipped underneath it and landed a hit to his ribs with everything I could. He smiled and laughed before socking me right in the face. My body went limp and my vision blacked out.
That light appeared again.
“Why didn’t you use your spell?” The familiar voice asked.
“It wouldn’t have made a difference, he kicked my ass without it.”
“Someone defeated it, didn’t they?” The voice inquired.
“You knew that would happen?” I asked.
“Your colosseum is all dependent on your capabilities. If you’re not strong enough then stronger spells will break through.”
“Then how am I supposed to make it stronger?”
“I can’t give you all the answers. Until next time.”
I opened my eyes. Groggily, I looked around. The sun was pouring in from the windows, lighting up the entire room. I got up from the bed and walked over to the window. The emerald green grass shone from the sunlight beating down on it.
The backyard looks much better now than it does when it’s dark out.
“About time, sleeping beauty,” her grandpa walked in and set down a cup of tea on the bedside table.
“Did you have to take it so seriously?” I said, grabbing my side which was bandaged up.
“Nothing like a little fear for your life to show you how weak you are,” He said, sipping his own tea, “it isn’t fighting that’s your weakness. It’s that Colosseum thing of yours.”
“What do you mean?”
“You have no magic so there’s no natural way for you to make it stronger. You can learn new techniques for it, like the camouflage that you did but you can’t reinforce it with Enchantments or things of the sort because well, no mana whatsoever.”
“So what can I do?”’
“I know of a good artisan who could probably give you a rune or something of the sort that can help bolster its capabilities. But you will need to work on your fighting. Well, not work on it but learn something new and get stronger while you’re at it. I’m going to be teaching you a technique that the previous Rock Pillar passed onto me.”
He set his tea down.
“Get ready, it’s not going to be easy,” he heartily laughed before walking out the room.
I walked out of the room, dreading the rest of the week.
He was waiting at the bottom of the stairs.
“You ready?” He had his arms crossed, smiling an evil smile at me?
“No but let’s go,” I walked down and fell into stride with him.
We walked to the backyard once more which was more massive than it seemed. I guess the darkness was shrouding it in the morning.
He stopped and turned around.
“Use it.”
I nodded.
“COLOSSEUM OF THE DAMNED!”
The walls lifted out of the ground, converging upwards until they rose to the peak. The roof was wide and circular. The arched entrances and windows began to fill out the structure. The gates stood tall and mighty as the defense against intruders in this sacred architecture. The grass on the ground became covered in dirt. The sloping terraces surrounded us as they formed a bowl which we stood in.
“Woah,” he was awestruck as he turned.
“Try your magic,” I told him.
He lifted his hand up.
“Nothing. This has gotta be the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“RIGHT!” Aura yelled from the entrance, “DOMINICK, LET ME IN!”
I opened the gates and she ran in, meeting us in the middle. She looked around with her grandpa.
“Is it just me or has it gotten bigger?”
“It’s just you,” I answered.
“Aura, go up there and have a seat. I’m going to be training with Dominick,” he pointed up to the seats.
“I’d be careful. If I get knocked out, that thing’s coming down,” I warned her.
“You know what? I'm going back to training. I can’t let him show me up again,” she said to her grandpa, pointing to me.
She ran out of the gates.
“Before I teach you, I want you to try and visualize something for me,” he said to me, grabbing my shoulders and facing me towards the seat.
“Try to visualize an audience.”
“What? Why?”
“If it works then we know that you can actually implement things into here.”
“Okay…”
I looked and closed my eyes. I imagined the echoes of people roaring in anticipation for the battles that happened on this very floor. The clashing of steel. A place where legends are born, where glory and defeat are separated by the narrowest of margins.
The seats were about a quarter of the way filled with people cheering in anticipation for the battle. They clapped and shouted as they pumped their fists in the air.
“Looks like you did it,” he said.
“Only a quarter though,” I sighed.
“Better than nothing.”
He grabbed his swords as I grabbed mine.
“You know. You don’t have mana so you wouldn’t know but the atmosphere in here feels different. To me, it feels eerie. Creepy even.”
“Hm, that’s weird.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t bother me,” he had his swords by his sides and dashed towards me.
I jumped in the air and swung my body to the left, blades in hands. My body did a 180 turn with my blades out front, aiming for him. He put a single blade up, stopping me in my tracks.
He sighed.
He punched me in the face. I hopped backwards. I spit out the blood and sneered at him.
He stood there.
Not doing anything.
I sprinted at him.
He still stood there.
I brought my arm back and charged up a strike. My arm propelled the blade forward aiming for his neck. He caught it in between two of his fingers. I tried to pull the blade away but his strength was too much.
“You were really going for the kill, huh?” He grinned at me,
“THAT’S WHAT I LIKE TO SEE, BOY!”
He kicked me backwards, sending me hurling through the air. He dashed towards me and jumped forward. He kicked me square in the chest, sending me crashing into the wall. He bent his knees and hopped at least 40 yards. He dropped kicked me through the wall.
I looked at the broken wall, confused. My thoughts were interrupted by his assault.
He was wailing on me. Left, right, left, right. He wasn’t stopping.
He was going to kill me. He was like a different animal when his life was threatened.
“GIVE ME YOUR POWER, PLEASE!” I shouted; I lifted my hand up to the sky.
Nothing.
“No one’s giving you power, son,” he had his hand balled next to his head, preparing for a strike but stopped midway.
He got up and held his hand out. I grabbed it and he lifted me up with ease.
“Sorry, I just lose control sometimes. I have PTSD from being on the Magic Defense Force. I’ve had a lot of bad situations there, my life being threatened, almost taken from me multiple times. More than I can count.”
I looked at him and nodded.
“Well, for today, you’ll rest. Tomorrow, we’ll work on your durability. Day after, it’ll be techniques.”
I looked at the colosseum for a moment before releasing it.
I went upstairs. I went to my bed and laid down as my body ached.
Screw Gramps.