Alicia looked angry more than sad at her loss.

Jerome looked disappointed, he even looked around for signs of others disappointment in him.

Malum had already got both of their personalities and so he said some words to get them back on track. Being a Leader came with some responsibilities, Malum just hoped the words came out right.

“Alicia, look at me. Bear was strong and you stood no realistic chance. You did all you could, stay angry and focus it on training. You got it?”

She looked at Malum, she looked deep into his eyes. Once she saw they were sincere she said, “Fine, but I’m beating him up next time.”

Good it had worked, Malum thought.

In response he said, “Of course you will.”

Next up was Jerome, “Jerome.”

He looked down, expecting harsh words. Looking at the shaking fist of the boy, Malum patted his shoulder.

“I’m proud of you, your opponent was strong and you did your best. Hold your head up high, Trent is no easy opponent and you basically removed him from the tournament with how much you have worn him down.

Now look at me and say I did well.”

Jerome looked astonished, he looked happy, he shouted with confidence he didn’t know he had

“I did well!”

Malum laughed, “Good, but maybe not so loud next time.” Jerome realised he shouted and crawled back into his shell. Soon Malum would get rid of his shell, Jerome was a good man he just needed to show it more.

“Right” With his team sorted out he moved onto, “now onto our next opponents.”

In order of strength Malum began to describe them,

“First is Bear, strong as his name his weapon is essentially decoration as he uses his family made techniques to wrestle his opponents to the floor. With wooden weapons we have the disadvantage but a good whack to the head would knock him out so give it your best.

Second is Trent, again a strong opponent but his strengths have been subdued massively by Jerome efforts. He is now tired and so use that, chip away at his naturally passive style of fighting and winning should be easy.

Third is Gloria, she is one mean woman and none of you better look down on her strength. This month has seen her train diligently and her beating Eric is proof of that, he was a top contender and yet she won. She uses dagger and is quick to boot, she fights like Jake so use that as reference.

Fourth is a man named Davidson, he is a hunter I recognise as a faction leader from our travel days. Factions haven’t really cemented themselves as they had no real reason to so instead they formed close friendships, Davidson has breezed through this tourney through his friendships so expect an easier fight but go easy on him for your social sake.

Finally, we have Bob who has secured himself a free win every round so far. His luck part skill and honestly we are all mere mortals in comparison. I have heard nothing about him but be careful a man with such heavenly luck may be some legendary secluded master’s disciple, so I expected top vigilance from all of you.”

Ending on a high note Malum let the group do a hands in middle, “Go Team!” shtick and after separating Malum went rest as much he could for the next round.

He wanted Bear or Gloria; Trent was the reluctant third choice as the other two were moreso joke options. He respected Bob, as luck was a skill in some way, but it was Davidson whome he found to be slimy. It was people like that he hated, but he no doubt had things to learn from then. If it made him survive he could become a slug if need were, he would do anything so he would learn as much as he could.

Closing his eyes even though the sky was pale blue, Malum found his brain continuing its endless analysis of who his opponents where and how to beat them. Fighting styles weakness’ and their strengths, at some point he just wanted himself to shut up for once.

Malum prided himself in his intelligence but sometimes he wished he could clear them completely for a few minutes, to just breath.

Anxiety and stress, his fear of death, all were corroding his young mind. He pushed that fear, that stress, that anxiety, all into his training and now he was seeing the result of all of that.

He was stronger, faster, and his sword techniques had developed immensely. If the old Malum could see where he was now, Malum was sure he would not believe it.

Yet here he was, with his newfound strength, his newfound friends, in this new environment. It almost felt surreal looking back, like some fever dream. The relaxation allowed Malum to reflect for once, and that allowed him a better perspective of how much he had grown.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

A certain sense of pride began to introduce itself to Malum’s body, but before he could stop to smile he heard his name be called for the next match.

Fuck fate, he smiled anyway. The fight was going to be fun, after all he heard his next opponent was Gloria.

Stepping into the outlined training square, Malum scanned his eyes over his already present opponent. She was heavily built, wore light leather armour, and held a dagger in each arm.

With his sword and shield Malum already held the advantage in open combat, he just needed to turn that advantage into a victory.

Without thinking too much, Malum entered his initial stance and let the instructor start the countdown.

“3, 2, 1, Fight!”

She immediately dashed towards Malum to close the distance, whilst Malum prepared himself for a large swing of his sword.

That forced the woman to not close in too much, but she remained just in front of Malum, her eyes focused heavily on the drawn back weapon.

Malum began taking steps closer to the woman to gain himself the distance he lost and because the woman couldn’t get to close to him, less she force herself to block a fully powered attack, Malum was able to gain the ground he had lost.

Bring his sword out of its drawn back position, Malum instead chose to put it into a defensive stance, he wanted to gain some information on the way in which his opponent attacked.

She did not deny his opportunity and she closed the distance in seconds, pouncing on Malum and rapidly attacking the open spaces in his defence hoping to hit some painful areas.

Apart from a few jabs to his chest, Malum was fine as he had protected his head as main priority. One of the odd factors of the duel was the wooden weapons, as long as you didn’t tap out of get knocked out then you would remain in duel so an attack with a steel weapon that would have carved Malum’s insides now just gave a slight bruise.

Now having an idea of how she attacked, Malum went back in the offensive and used the closed distance to whack her with some full powered both sword and shield attacks. That allowed for some painful joint attacks, but it left the woman with a weapon down and a seriously battered leg. It helped that Malum had Jake as frame of reference, so he attacked her as he usually trained Jake.

Gloria had already known that the fight would be hard, after her opponents basic stats were so much higher than her own. What she didn’t know was how weak her weapons were in this wooden mode. With nothing to gain but more bruises she called her defeat, much to the sadness of her opponent.

“Eyes, crotch, and some places of the stomach. Look for where to attack, right now you just hope its somewhere of importance, but you should really just learn where that place is.”

Gloria’s eyes seemed full of hatred after her loss, although they eased after Malums lack of boastful nature and kindness from his advice. She wanted to prove her father wrong, that she could become the strongest fighter and although she didn’t win today, someday she vowed to make her dream of a reality.

Malum turned away from the strange mix of emotions that was his previous opponent and went to see what the other fights had in store.

Bob had sadly gotten paired up with Bear which led to a depressing smack down. Gerald fought a worn-out Trent and won fairly easily and that left Jake with an easy match against the politician Davidson.

Malum was now watching that last fight although annoyingly it had started to rain. It was around Spring so Summer was soon and that meant the war would be fought with good weather, although perhaps it would be too good. Malum would have to see although he was confident in his endurance.

The fight was pretty boring, Jake was just slowly whittling down Davidson. He used his shield to get close to his victim and used his speed to launch small attacks on his opponents.

Malum had to say it was extremely annoying to face. Davidson was promising several boons for Jake’s surrender but the nothing could beat the points towards going home.

The rain only made the match longer, and it ended when Davidson finally gave into an all-out attack. Jake had practiced for exactly that moment and so when it came he took the opportunity and with it he claimed his victory.

Malum was extremely happy with the results, knowing that his squad had started strong being at least 3 of the top 4 in individual martial strength and if that was any indicator then the group stage would be a breeze.

They gathered up on last time for a few words before the final fights,

“Remember squad, we are comrades, but we are also competition. I don’t want to see you doing some arm wrestle, you better put in your all! We will not only survive, but we will also thrive!”

`that sounded better in my head`

His comrades saved his speech with their enthusiastic “Survive and thrive” chant. With smiles on their faces they walked towards the final arena’s where Bear was already waiting.

Without the instructor Bear decided talking smack was a good use of his time,

“3 to go ey? I just hope you put up a better fight then that lucky dude.”

Gerald was weak to taunts, “Better fight? Mate those demons ain’t gunna need to worry about you once you met Fistio and Fistia over here.”

Malum had forgot he named his fists, no actually he had purged it from his memory out of shame. He said it with such gusto as well, how were they friends?

Well it turned out bear was just as bad, and their taunts continued untill Malum finally ended their playground antics.

“Both of you shut up, and before you go `yu first` the instructors are coming down now so why don’t you speak with actions rather than words.”

The brutish men answered with a grunt as they continued to have a stare off.

Malum was expecting the instructors to begin the rounds as always but found them slightly on edge as they starred at Malum and only his group.

`What is that in their eyes, it almost looks like pity but it’s different somehow.`

The instructors soon stopped looking over the new potential northern recruits and instead focused back onto their task of moderating the martial tournament.

“Rules are the same, the fixings shall be...

Jake vs Malum

Bear vs Gerald.”

Malum looked over to Gerald to see his goofy grin widening a bit too far. Seems the action part of their talking would come sooner than Malum expected.

Jake looked depressed, Malum was equally so. He knew he would win; he always did. It just took forever and relied on his broken stamina to just win.

This was perhaps the one fight he wasn’t looking forward to.

Well, he had to do it anyway. Malum shrugged off his displeasure and walked over to his square. The rain had settled somewhat, and the previous shower had now seeped deep enough to create a muddy terrain.

That would benefit him, after all Jake’s tactic focused around speed and so he would be affected by mud moreso than Malum's adaptation approach.

Malum took a good look at his opponent. Jake was 4 years older than Malum, but that wasn’t visible to the eye. Malum was both taller and bigger than him which would only grow in the future. Jake was like a fairly large stick, still a stick but the training had put on some muscle on his figure.

He was lazy, although he wasn’t dumb, so he trained like hell. Death was one hell of a motivator.

With that in mind, Malum shrugged of the pondering and entered his battle mode. He entered his stance and waited for the whistle.

The instructor held two fingers to his mouth, and blew.