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After cleaning off my plate and going for seconds and polishing that off too, I decided to get something soothing and went with that Imperial Garden White Tea the bartender recommended.

As I was sipping my tea, the last of the first-round elimination winners were making their way into the waiting room, I looked up to the tournament board that was constantly being updated.

Out of the more than a hundred and twenty contestants, was now cut down to more than sixty. Now I just needed to get through six more fights today, and as the number of people got illuminated, the time between my bouts would get shorter.

Soon enough, the usher came to collect the first eight winners to make their way to the Pit for the next round.

My next few fights were rather anti-climatic and boring if I might say so, all my opponents so far did not use anything other than some variation of a sword, be it long or short, single or double-edged, so I had a clear advantage in reach and used it to their detriment.

It was only when I was called up for the quarter-finals, did I find a peer in the reach department for weapons.

Starting from the quarter-finals, we did not fight in batches to save time, and the mages combined the four stages into one big stage.

When I was ready behind the portcullis waiting to enter the Pit, the announcer did his job to hype up the crowd, “Ladies and Gentlemen, from the western corner, the young man who has been keeping us all on the edge of our seats with his unknown spear techniques and slithering spear, Luke Ironcrest!”

Did he really describe my spear as slithering? That does not sound appealing, but then again, from their point of view, my spear bending out of the way of obstacles and striking their target may look like a snake bending.

The portcullis opened and I made my way to the stage and once again bowed to the royals and the audience.

“And from the eastern corner, another fine young man who has been displaying exemplary skill and strength in polearm technique, Toman of Drifen!” the crowd once again goes wild, “As the only two remaining practitioners of hafted weapons left in the Year 5 batch, let us now see who comes out on top!”

The portcullis opposite me opens to reveal another acquaintance of my Advanced Combat & Tactics, and I have seen his sword practice before but never the polearm he was holding now.

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It was the standard polearm with the head having an axeblade on one side, a spiked hammerhead on the other side, and a sharp spike sticking out the top, It truly was an effective weapon to have on the battlefield that could deliver the three main damage types, slashing, crushing, and piercing.

After Toman came on stage and was done with his bowing, he faced me and took his stance, and so did I.

The referee looked at both of us and asked if we were ready, and after he got both our conformations, he raised his flagged pole from between us and shouted “Fight!”

This time, I was hesitant to charge straight in at an opponent who had equal or greater range on me, and if I am seeing this right, the polearm does have a few inches on my spear in terms of reach.

The both of us started walking toward each other, and when we got close enough to touch tips, once again no homo, we started circling each other while changing our stances. When I went high, he went low, when I aimed at his feet, he aimed at my head.

So after circling each other twice, I had my spear in a high guard when I struck first. When our blades touched while probing each other’s defenses, I used the opportunity to quickly twirl Toman’s polearm out of the way and brought my spear in a vertical strike toward his head.

But before I could hit Toman, he backstepped and released one hand from the polearm to avoid his arm being hit, so the only thing my spear got was dirt.

But I was not done yet, I levered up my spear and aimed at his chest with a second lunge, but Toman managed to regain a two-handed grip on his polearm and knocked my lunge to the side before countering with a swing of his polearm, and I was not prepared.

I can readily admit that I was greedy with the second lunge, and that opened me up to the incoming strike while I was in a compromised position.

As the swing came at me, I threw myself backward, but apparently not fast enough as I saw the tip of the polearm spike rake across my chest, making the mana shield coating me display a red line across my chest. For some reason, this made the crowd cheer louder than before.

Now on my back, I did not have time to get back on my feet as I saw the polearm spike once again coming toward me. To avoid getting “impaled” I was forced to cross my arms with my spear tucked close to my body and roll to the side as Toman chases me with more stabs.

After rolling a few times, I had to take a risk to recover. On Toman’s next stab at me, I brought my foot up and kicked at the polearm and luckily kicked at where I intended, the hammerhead of the polearm.

This pushed Toman back enough to give me some time to scramble to my feet and get back into a ready stance, and the crowd went apeshit at my recovery.

“That was close, you’re good.” I told Toman as he leveled his polearm at me once again.

“Thanks, I was expecting you to use a sword in this tournament, did not know you could use a spear, I am glad you did though, the last few opponents could not even touch me.” Toman replied.

“Good. honestly, I have not used a spear in quite a while, so it is nice to fight someone who knows how to use a long weapon. So ready yourself, I am taking this up a notch.” I said as I started twirling the head of my spear in a small circle in front of me.

It is time for him to see how my spear “slithers”.