“Well… I guess since you've calmed down. You can watch the next fight. You missed the fight between Green and Strong then another one between Nami and Leaf… Green against strong was... Very one sided. The fight against Nami and Leaf wasn't as one sided as I thought it would be… No offense.”
“Yea… No problem… Leaf did better than I thought she would… Sorry for beating up Hilda.”
He let out a little chuckle before speaking again.
“She knew what she was getting into when she joined the competition. I think she would have been more mad if you didn't take your fight with her seriously.”
Once again, another fight I wouldn't have expected until the final 4. Leon and Lance are fighting. The victor of this will most likely be the end contestant against Gobber. It is as heated as I thought it would be. Both taking the fight to the sky, jumping off the ground and slamming into each other. Kicks, punches, and grapples into throws that are landed because if they aren't, the fight would end. Gobber's and Sock's match was the best until this point. The slow drawn out fighting style of Gobber and Sock in comparison to the full on assault style of these two.
Leon just can't keep up, at least without activating his skills. He has the same look in his eyes that I did… No… His is different, instead of being afraid of his ferocity, he embraces it. Letting out a feral roar as he smiles and rushes towards Lance. The fight ends anticlimactically with Lance tripping Leon just as he lands from an aerial attack.
Lance helps him up… Leon smiling at his amazing fight. Breathing heavily as the two of them give a small hug to one another. They are the closest thing to family each of them have. Both being from the same group that ran dungeons for years. I still don't understand how Leon could control his ferocity… I mean he is part ghoul, why the fuck can't I handle myself… The crowd bursts into cheers and hoots at the fight just transpired. The fight was very entertaining the most so far. With that, the final 4 have been picked. Gobber, Green, Lance and Nami are the strongest generals when it comes to unarmed combat.
The fights are going to be very entertaining to watch. First up is Nami against Gobber. I don't know what to say but it isn't as one sided as I thought it would be. Most of these fights I could say that about. Nami managed to hold out for a long time but Gobber slowly but surely beat her. Gobber didn't hold back on any of his attacks. Neither did Nami. Without her skills to fall back on though, Gobber has just gained too much from this war. He is too strong now compared to when they trained together.
Green and Lance however… I can't express how enjoyable the fight was. Green is just so much stronger then she was only a few days ago. Just her fighting style is amazing to watch. Taking blows to get into the best position to attack with hay makers… Lance had a year of training under his belt with his new awakened class and fighting style though… The match was still very close. If Green had 2-3 more weeks worth of training inside the time tree, she might have been able to pull a victory out… Now for the final match.
Lance and Gobber stand opposite of each other… Thousands of people watch surrounding them, some having crouched down so more can see the fight. Others climb the trees to get a better vantage point… It is dead quiet at the anticipation… Even I don't know who is going to come out on top. Gobber's adaptability or Lance's spring loaded punches and kicks. They stare each other down. Finally the silence is broken with someone coughing. They use it as a cue to start the match.
Lance flying in with a fake out kick that was actually a jump to see which way Gobber would dodge. The second Gobber jumped to the left, Lance corrected his trajectory and connected with him hard with a kick to Gobber's arms now protecting his stomach. Gobber throws his hands up, forcing Lance into a back flip. Before Lance can land Gobber has already moved into a good position to attack him. Lance slaps his hands together so hard it startles Gobber and moves Lance back if only a few inches out of Gobbers reach as he swings. Lance still has to lean back heavily to avoid being struck.
Gobber steps forwards only slightly and roundhouse kicks towards Lance. Lance ducks under and puts both hands on the ground and kicks upwards at Gobber, connecting with his hand that came in to protect his chin just in time. Gobber is thrown back now and also does a back flip. Both still in the air, Lance takes advantage of his aerial training to continue the fight. He grabs Gobber's leg and it ruined Gobber's balance. Mid air Lance pulled Gobber into him so he could continue the uppercut with his fist now. Slamming into him hard, anyone else would have been knocked unconscious or at the very least been thrown off-balance enough to not be able to land it. Gobber managed to land on his feet somehow.
The crowd that has been quiet until this point are now cheering like crazy by the spectacle they are watching. Gobber only smiles and spits a little blood out of his mouth as he raises one hand in front of him and places the other behind his back. This is the stance he takes with his weapon when he is serious. He had taken it against me during the time we fought against the raid bosses.
That is how much of a threat Lance is to Gobber. He has taken his best stance. Lance also takes his stance. The one that he had built up and made his own. Both fists raised in front of him as he heavily leans forwards waiting for the perfect chance to spring forwards with his super speed punch. The crowd cheering stops as they realize neither has moved for a few seconds… Waiting for the other one to make a move so they could capitalize on any mistake they made in the process… Each has slowly started moving towards the other. Cautious step after step. Both realize that this next attack might be the last one.
The silence is finally broken as Lance jumps towards Gobber and Gobber rushes towards Lance. Even I'm amazed by their speed. Lance was fast before but now he is almost as fast as Leon using his special skill. He almost appears as a blur, i can only keep up by using his dragoon helmet as a focal point in his image. It looks like the tip of a knife being fired from one of my knife cannons. Gobber isn't moving as fast but he is still moving at the speed that no one else would be able to keep up with. Except for me.
Lance had shot himself off the ground while Gobber continued to run, that might be the difference in who wins. Gobber moves slightly to the side, as much as he can while still running as fast as he can. It is barely enough, or it would have been if Lance didn't adjust his body mid air as well. Both of Lance's feet catch Gobber as Gobber punches Lance. The collision is strong enough to break one of Lance's legs and Gobber's arm. It sends Lance spinning through the air while Gobber is knocked to the ground. Both land on the ground but Gobber did first… It is Lance's victory. The crowd cheers harder than they have up until this point by the fight.
Both are in bad shape, if this was a fight to the death, Gobber would have been in much better shape. Having only broken his arm while Lance had broken his leg. Making him far easier to beat at that point. But it wasn't a fight to the death. Gobber stands up and I can see how badly hurt he is. He entire arm sort of swings like a pendulum by the motion of him standing up. Lance goes to stand up but it takes him longer. Sort of balancing precariously on one leg, the fight is over…
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The healers for the match come rushing in as not everyone understands who won. With no judge needed up until this point, it has come down to house rules. I step forwards and declare Lance the winner. Raising his hand I hear the sounds of cheering again as some others are angry that they bet on the wrong person. None of them make too big a deal out of it as they have just watched the most entertaining fight they had ever seen in their entire lives. With that, the first competition is finally over.
The next competition will be mages next. Far less enter, especially the pirates. I will eventually teach them all new classes but until then, they are by far the weakest part of my army. This competition will be fighting, there wont be a competition for healing but they have the hardest if not most important job during large scale battles. I really respect healers in that sense but having a healing competition is sort of counter productive to how healers actually are.
If everyone else had one goal during war it would be to take lives… A healers job is solely the opposite of that. Their job is to save as many lives as possible… That is why they are so important… Perhaps training up a special group of healers would be for the best… I would like to participate in this competition to redeem myself to my new pirate allies… I don't know if I would be able to hold myself back though… So I avoid it, instead judging the competition if a close call like what happened in the last match happens.
Quickly enough it is whittled down to the final 4 mages. Leaf, Red, Green and Blue are the final 4. Trice didn't enter even though I asked her to in order to see her new awakened class. She doesn't believe in fighting for fun like this. Some other mages entered like a few kobolds but they were all eliminated. I made it a rule that Blue just can't charm the girls to win, resulting in a more fair competition. The first match is Red against Blue…
Red doesn't fuck around at all this time. She doesn't hold any punches back, which is bad because she uses something that can permanently injure someone. As Blue's and Red's magic slams against each other, steam is created making it far harder to tell what is happening. It ends with Red winning by a small margin. Blue had used a large portion of his mana and felt he wouldn't be able to win, so he forfeited. He got some boo's but I understand where he is coming from. No reason to risk permanent injury if he were to run out of mana during a spell clash.
Next up is Green against Leaf… They go to pair off and now Green is getting hoots and hollers from the pirates who had grown to like her during the first competition. She only laughs and says.
“Hey! You remember this ass was the one that kicked all your asses during the war! If I wanted a weak, piss ant husband ,I'll come and talk to you pirates! Until then don't bother me!”
A few laughs come out as some do recognize her from the battlefield. I had almost forgot that just a few days ago we were in a life and death struggle against these men. Green and Leaf both start simultaneously. What happened to Leaf!? When did Leaf become so strong? Not only is she holding her own against Green...
Leaf is pushing her back. Forming several familiars to assist in attacking Green, continuing to move around like all the other mages in the guild. All the mages in my army can move and cast effectively, making them far harder to defeat. Leaf even used different types of familiars, like a shield familiar to block attacks and a small archer familiar to fire arrows from her shoulder at the power of a regular archer. She summoned a giant warrior and then enlarged it to three times its normal size. The single strike it made against Green was enough to deal significant damage.
Both block and dodge, jumping and attacking. They take their fight to close range as well as casting. Throwing punches and kicks, Leaf's familiars are around the same skill if not more skilled at fighting as her. She had summoned a group of familiars that looks fairly similar to her dungeon group to fight against Green. Even with bending the elements around her to aid in her fighting. Green eventually runs out of mana. She attempts to continue the fight but Leaf runs away as her familiars continue to pelt Green with attacks… It might seem cowardly but Green out surpasses Leaf in fighting ability. Hit and run tactics was the only way for her to win and Leaf wasn't afraid of doing so to win. With her final breath before being knocked unconscious by a barrage of attacks, Green yells out.
“FUCK! When did little Leaf become so strong!?”
Under her breath, I doubt anyone else could here her say it.
“She's as strong as big Leaf now...”
… I had been calling her Green for so long I honestly forgot her real name was Leaf… Two Leaf's fighting against each other. The victor being my Leaf… The next fight takes place an hour later. The match is decided far more quickly then her fight with Green. Leaf wins the event, her and Green's fight was by far the most entertaining but it was a good show of how much stronger the mages in my army have gotten. Leaf bashfully accepts the reward as a crowd of pirates all cheer her on. I have no doubt she just won herself some admirers from that victory.
Red looks sad she didn't win… She made it so far though. All these good melee mages in my army. Green, Leaf and Red all made it into the top 32 in unarmed combat as well as the top 4 mages. She has no reason to be upset with that kind of skill… She quickly gets over it as she lures a few pirates away to… Remove some of her pent up aggression…
We get to the final competition… The one I am most excited for personally. The contest of art.