Chapter 17: Clash
Balon smashed the ground with his left leg, launching himself forward and leaving a large area of ruined earth just beneath his feet.
Simultaneously, Zan had raised his right leg off the ground before puncturing a small, but deep footprint-shaped hole in the stone floor.
Two blurs sped from opposite sides of the dim firelit cavern. A golden and black blur radiated an impressively large force, covering a majority of the underground colosseum, while the red blur radiated a smaller, but concentrated might.
The forces clashed into each other in the air like two lightning bolts. The struggle for dominance lasted not even a tenth of a second before a sound like crashing thunder boomed throughout the underground.
BOOM!!!
The golden black and red blur were separated from their collision at terrible speeds, crashing and returning to their opposite sides of the arena once more.
Cutting winds swept through the faces of the audience as the air filled their open and gaping mouths. What is this? Why and how are two youths fighting like their top warriors from their nations and tribes? The scene astounded the slave population as they reeled in shock from the turn of events.
“Cole…what was that?”
Yela stood completely dazed.
“I — I don’t know…”
The two figures picked themselves up from their buried holes before speeding into each other once again. This time, keeping themselves on the ground.
BOOM! BOOM!
Their fists hit each other’s faces as they recoiled from the impact. Unwilling to yield to one another, they forcefully endured the battering of each other’s blows to land one hit after the other.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Like titans of incredible force they hammered into each other without rest, each blow echoing throughout the arena. A slugfest of iron clashing with steel, of molten lava blood and unwavering spirit.
Then suddenly, the red haired figure seemed to shift unnaturally. A hurling fist aimed towards him touched nothing but air, and instead a devastating right kick landed onto the side of Balon’s body.
It lifted him off the ground once again but this time the black iron wall spun in the air, shifting his momentum into a cataclysmic kick towards Zan’s left face.
The red haired youth stepped back subtly, dodging the kick by not even a centimeter. His eyes remained with clear resolve and unnatural calm.
As the kick passed its peak of power, Zan grabbed the fleeting thing. With two hands clenched tightly onto the leg, he spun himself, and then Balon, over his shoulder in a 360° motion, before slamming the iron giant right into the ground.
BAM!!!
The stone cracked and deflated under the terrible impact.
Zan then leaped into the skies, and descended onto Balon with his right fist cocked, rapidly approaching the black haired youth.
In response, a large muscular leg rose towards him.
THUD!!!
Zan crossed his arms in a block, but he still felt the kick push into his arms, and then into his very bones.
The blow pushed the red haired youth a good distance, enough so that Balon could rise from the stone bed.
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The audience saw as the slim figure curled his knees to his chest and kicked towards the air. Simultaneously pushing himself off the ground with his hands, the forward momentum carried his body off the ground in one smooth, graceful, and gymnastic motion.
Zan saw another thing however. Seeing the metal fridge-like man able to move like an expert acrobatic was dangerously funny to him.
Getting up from the previous bout, Balon then narrowed his eyes, as he raised his two fists near his face in a boxing stance.
The red haired boy observed this and smiled. He brought his two fists into the same stance, before lowering them to his hips, leaving his body and face open to all sorts of blows. Balon kicked off the ground once again, speeding towards his unguarded opponent.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
A flurry of punches came out from the metal fridge, each punch breaking and shaking the surrounding air. Punches solely focused on speed came out like a bursting hurricane.
Jabs and straights assaulted the red haired figure…and yet he dodged them all.
A series of jabs came towards him, and he shifted his body and face in the tiniest of movements to dodge all of them.
The punches mixed speeds to throw Zan off, changing from jabs and straights to left and right hooks and uppercuts. Wide and telegraphed, to sudden and odd. All kinds of conventional and unconventional techniques were used to gain an advantage, but none of them worked.
A wild right hook rapidly approached the red haired figure’s cheek, but at the last second he ducked below it and prepared a right fist. Driving the strength from his legs, Zan pushed the earth away from him as he rose up with a devastating uppercut. It rocked Balon’s chin as his head flew upwards. And before he could recover, a flurry of left and right hooks assaulted his face in a dempsey roll.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Balon flung his head even more backwards as his lower body followed upwards off the ground. Zan’s right hook missed Balon’s head, and from the black haired youth’s midair position he delivered a kick.
BANG!
The impact shook Zan’s body like an earthquake.
Balon spun in midair, lightly touching the ground with his left foot only to jump up into the air once again. Another kick using his right leg approached Zan, and as it got close, his intuition flared.
‘A feint!’
The right leg approached him but did not extend, as it passed by like a speeding bullet train, one more graceful spin from the metal fridge delivered an overwhelming left kick to Zan’s guard.
BANG!
It broke through his opponent’s stance like an elephant to a wooden gate. Balon delivered a final spinning kick as he pivoted off the ground with his landing foot. To his surprise however, a powerful kick from the opposite direction met his.
THWACK!
Wind burst from the force once again as both assailants pulled their legs back.
Balon continued with his taekwondo assault, delivering a low kick and mid kick in quick succession. Zan simply raised his left leg to meet each kick with his shin, defusing the power with his strengthened muscle and bone.
As Balon delivered a high kick, Zan dodged by spinning to the right, delivering a spinning wheel kick. A crushing heel met right towards Balon’s chin, shaking his steady exterior and his brains.
Zan used this opportunity to rush in, twisting and revolving once again as he jumped into the air.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The red blur responded with a tornado of kicks towards his opponent’s leg, ribs and face. Landing on the ground he spun gracefully one more time, driving his leg right into his opponent's chest. Zan could feel his foot plunge into the steel wall of muscle, before feeling hard bone.
BOOM!
The iron wall flew back at terrible speeds before crashing into the ground.
The sisters looked on in amazement while the crowd turned silent, they simply could not speak.
Renna, Aela and Kaerys could not fathom what they were seeing. Their older brother who was trained since birth and had the blood of the dragon, was losing to a random youth in a backwater nation that could only be treated as their playground.
Renna and Aela simply had no thoughts in the moment — they were much too dazed. Kaerys on the other hand, could not stop her wild chaotic thoughts.
‘How!? How did he get so strong!?’
‘He went from a novice to a mid stage adept in a single month!’
Zan turned his back on the large iron wall that sunk deep into the stone floor, walking away from the sight of royalty.
“Wait.”
Surprised he was still conscious, Zan turned back.
The large fridge rose from the ground, dirt, pebbles and dust falling off of him like a titan rising from the underworld. Looking at the red haired figure, he was harshly reminded once again of his uncle.
He steadied his breathing as the veins snaking throughout his iron colossal muscles seemed to glow golden.
The sisters stared in utter shock.
“No way…”
“It can’t be…”
Balon took a deep breath in and a deep breath out. Taking a long look at the one before him, he took out a golden medallion. On one side was a palace of flame, while the other side held a divine dragon triumphing against a thousand races. The imagery seemed to be alive as the flames danced and the dragon roared at all beneath it.
“Master! You canno —”
“Silence!”
Balon’s servants could only shut their mouths.
Renna shared her thoughts to Kaerys once again.
“An official challenge. Both parties should be royalty and high nobility for such a thing. Balon’s never challenged anyone but our other kin.”
“He deems him worthy.”
“...Just like I do.”
“...You what?!”
The gallant black haired youth shouted to the heavens with his steel lungs.
“I am Prince Balon, of the millennium empire of Agni! Seventh son of the Brightfire King and the Luminous Queen. I am of the lineage of eternal fire. I am of the wild blood of the tyrant dragon king. I am the blackfire dragon son! The growing black flame! I am the Black Dragon!”
“As with right of royal birth! I challenge the one before me under the eyes of the endless blue heaven, and all that wriggle and writhe underneath it! I deem him worthy, of strength shown and spirit to be tested, I decree a royal duel under the divine dragon gods above and the unholy ones below! Do you accept?!”
Zan stayed silent for a long moment.
“I am Zan, of the ruined villages of Noitilov, Egarouc, Noissapmoc and Bala. Son of a drunk and a farmer. I am the Undefeated. I am the pork, rum and bread thief. I am the King of the Fight, I am the one. I am him.”
“I…accept.”