Eloken kept his gaze fixed on the King, his eyes tracing the anxiousness that played across the ruler’s face as he consulted with his advisors and generals. Despite his inner turmoil, the old man kept his poise, his lips twisted into a confident smile. Eloken could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins, his mind racing with a single, consuming desire: to use all of his Vis reserves and rush the Royal Loge straight away, leaping almost thirty meters high to behead the kid and his advisors before they could react to what was going on.

Luckily for him, the announcer broke the silence, cutting through his frenzy. Eloken forced himself to snap out of it, regaining his composure.

“It appears that accused nobleman Eloken has managed to defeat the Imperial Knight,” the announcer declared, unable to hide the surprise in his voice. “And has claimed the Knight’s sword. The King can send the next Imperial Knight or all of them at once to fight the accused.”

All eyes turned towards the Royal Loge, waiting for the King’s decision. Eloken walked back toward the center of the Arena, his heart pounding with anticipation. He knew that there were seven Imperial Knights left here in the arena. Two of them guarded the king, and he never left his mansion without them by his side. The remaining five were scattered around the grounds. Eloken wondered if the king would send all seven of them, leaving himself exposed, or if he would just send the five available.

The Imperial Row held around a hundred knights at all times, that much was known. Each one of them had a unique glyph imprinted on their armor, and they were all present at the yearly military parade. However, that was the only time they were all gathered in Worlin, the capital of the Kingdom. The King usually sent them across the kingdom to fight and smother rebellions, gather taxes, fight bandits and pirates, and patrol the borders to scare off the kingdom’s enemies. That’s why Eloken and his crew spread rumors about various rebellions going around in different parts of the kingdom and played the local warlords and kings to encourage bordering countries to raise their armies near the kingdom’s borders.

All of that left eight Imperial Knights in Worlin. Normally, it would take an army of at least three hundred or more men to take on the eight Imperial Knights without the help of regular soldiers, but Eloken was not an ordinary man. He was far from it.

The hardest part of the job was done, convincing the court to agree to Honorable Combat and defeating the first Knight without a weapon, and not showing his full potential in the process to not scare off the King from calling off the rest of the combat. Eloken was confident that he could take on the rest of the Imperial Knights, but he knew that the odds were stacked against him.

“That was a lucky strike,” the King finally rose from his small throne in the Royal Loge and spoke. “Trotokin, the fallen Knight, was only a novice, not even a fully pledged Imperial Knight yet. He was too eager and beat himself in this combat.”

Eloken could sense the King’s insecurity, and he couldn’t help but think to himself, Lie some more old man. Your tyranny will soon end.

“But enough of the charades,” the King continued. “I am sending the rest of the Imperial Order present to end this combat right away, so we can move on with the day and start our feast and celebration.”

The crowd cheered as all of the gates opened, letting in the five Imperial Knights that were scattered around the arena. The Knights surrounded Eloken, who still stood in the middle of the arena, the sword he claimed resting on the ground. Two Knights that were guarding the King left the loge by jumping to the terrace below and then onto the field in a synchronized motion. Eloken watched as ten soldiers from the royal guard filled their place in the Royal Lodge. The arena was now filled with the clanging of armor and the sound of weapons being unsheathed.

Eloken took a deep breath, savoring the thrill of the fight. The Imperial Knights were the most skilled and dangerous warriors in the kingdom, trained from a young age in the art of combat, and their abilities and equipment were enchanted by an unknown source. Seven against one was a daunting task, but Eloken was confident in his abilities. He had trained tirelessly past few years for this moment, honing his skills and developing new techniques that would give him an edge over his opponents.

The Knights were all wearing heavy armor that covered their entire bodies, leaving only small slits for their eyes. They moved with precision and grace, their movements coordinated and fluid. Out of the seven knights on the field, four of them wielded swords, two had axes, and one had a shield and a large mace.

Eloken stood tall in the middle of the arena, his eyes scanning his opponents carefully. He knew he couldn’t take them all on at once even with all the power he had, so he waited for them to make the first move. The Knights circled him, testing his defenses, searching for an opening.

The crowd was on the edge of their seats, their eyes glued to the arena. They knew they were witnessing a historic moment, a battle that would go down in the annals of the kingdom’s history. They could feel the tension in the air, the excitement building with every passing second.

Eloken could feel his heart pounding in his chest, his adrenaline pumping. He focused his mind, blocking out the distractions around him, and entered a state of pure concentration. He was ready for whatever came next.

“Seven to one seems like a fair fight,” Eloken said to the crowd gesturing towards slowly moving Imperial Knights, boes prevailed but he could finally hear cheers. Their fear is disappearing slowly, good, He thought, Now I am going give them a real show of power.

“The Honorable Combat will continue with seven Imperial Knights versus the accused nobleman Eloken,” The announcer said as the crowd quieted down. “The young nobleman has the chance to earn his freedom, but the odds are against him, BEGIN!” The announcer yelled and the crowd erupted once again.

Eloken checked his reserves, Vis was below half and he reached for it taking all the remaining power in, he would need it all. Exo was almost completely gone less than a quarter left, and three more sources remained to be used as the surprise in the upcoming combat.

The Knights made their move, charging towards him with their weapons raised high. Eloken devised the plan to solo out the Imperial Knight with shield and mace, he could use his shield for the remaining of the combat. He used Vis that he pulled from the reserves and enchanted his speed with a strong haste spell to far above that of Imperial Knights.

Eloken dodged the upcoming attacks with ease, moving with incredible speed and agility. He parried two blows with the claimed sword, striking back with his fists and feet to create separation, using his Vis to enhance his strength and speed.

He deftly parried a sword attack with his sword in his right hand, weaving under the falling axe from another knight. With his free hand, he pushed a third knight back, but the fourth knight managed to cut him from behind. The sharp blade sliced through his ribs, and blood started pouring out immediately, soaking his simple vest provided by the King for this fight. Eloken cursed under his breath, wishing he had been given proper armor for this battle.

In the split second it took him to gather his thoughts, a gruntled fist came from above from the knight whose sword attack he had parried and hit him straight in the nose. His vision blurred, and he felt disoriented. Blood started pouring out of his nose immediately, making it hard to breathe. He found himself on one knee, holding his sword against another sword, and almost fully surrounded by all of the knights in the middle of the arena. There was no time to waste, he had to go all in now.

Desperate to turn the tide of the battle, he reached deep into his reserves, searching for another power source. He quickly found a full reserve of unused power source, Tem, once he found it he pulled half of it into the active state and immediately used it all.

He wasn’t sure how Tem exactly worked, he wasn’t sure about how most of the power sources worked. The only instructions he had received were on that fateful night almost four years ago when he had accidentally used a combination of Vis and Vit to survive what would have been a fall to certain death. Four cloaked and hooded figures appeared out of thin air moments after he accidentally used the powers that night and explained to him briefly what had happened and set him on this path, the path to overthrow the tyrant.

One thing he knew, with Tem he could sense the upcoming moves from his attackers, as if the time itself slowed down around him allowing him to move and react to everything in real-time while the rest of the world continued in slow-motion.

As he used all the Tem he pulled from reserves, time slowed down, and he saw the gauntlet fist that hit him moments ago coming for his head once again. He easily dodged it, almost hitting his head on the axe that was coming from the other side. He moved the axe-wielding knight’s hand up, changing the trajectory of the swing so it would hit the gruntled fist of his friend. The combination of Tem and Eloken’s quick thinking allowed him to gain the upper hand.

Similar to Exo, Tam disappeared quickly, and he only had a few seconds of it. His vision was still blurry, and the cut on his ribs hurt like crazy. He quickly touched the armor of the closest knight and activated Exo, making it three active power sources running through his veins. That was the maximum he could use at once, no matter what he tried. He couldn’t activate another power source before he extinguished or used one of the three active sources.

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While touching the knight’s armor and Exo running through his body, he used the power source to harden his skin, making it almost as hard as the armor. Exo couldn’t transfer the toughness and resilience fully, but it would be enough for what he had planned.

He planted both of his feet on the dirt floor and enchanted his speed and strength with running Vis, targeting a mace-wielding Imperial Knight. He exploded in the direction of the knight, grabbing him by his armor. His Exo-hardened skin and Vis-enchanted body withstood the impact, and he carried the knight with the leap into the closest arena wall. They collided with the wall with a loud thump, the wall cracking from the impact. He was sure he heard the sound of bones breaking but didn’t care. He had to take the Imperial Knights in whichever way he could.

As the mace-wielding knight fell to the ground, Eloken quickly retrieved his sword which he had lost his grip on during their collision with the wall. With one swift motion, he plunged the blade into the knight’s neck, ending his life.

Eloken turned his attention to the Imperial Knights’ hurdle where he and the dead knight had been only seconds ago. One of the knights lay on the ground clutching his hand, while the other looked, with what Eloken thought was disbelief unable to see his expression due to the helmet, into the axe Eloken had deflected. A brief smile played on Eloken’s lips, but the battle had taken its toll. His body ached from the cuts, the blow to the head, and the impact on the wall. He almost lost his balance as he pulled his sword from the fallen knight’s neck.

With all active Exo and Tem used he reached into his reserves once again looking for another full reserve, he found Vit moved all of it into an active state, and cast a healing spell.

Almost instantly, Eloken’s vision cleared, his fatigue dissipated, and he felt refreshed as if he had just woken up from a restful night’s sleep. The wound on his ribs began to heal slowly, the skin closing in, the gushing blood slowing down and hardening on the outside. Vit could heal almost all wounds given the right amount of time. Like with most sources, he wondered how far it could go – could it heal a fatal wound? He didn’t know, but he had faith in its abilities. Over the past four years, Vit had saved him from many injuries, healing broken bones in a day or two and smaller cuts and stab wounds in mere hours. It had even worked against poison when a foreign warlord had tried to kill him by poisoning his wine.

Eloken left Vit running and he would do so for the remaining of the Honorable Combat as on top of the healing, Vit dulled the pain to an almost nonexistent level. With Exo reserves gone, he reached into Tem again and moved the remaining half from the reserves into the active state, he had a plan.

He stopped on the shield that the dying knight lost during the impact and it went flying into the air and Eloken caught it with his free hand. Standing tall his clothes stained with his own blood, gripping the sword and shield tightly Eloken felt Godly. He looked over the crowd and almost everyone was standing, shocked expressions decorating their faces. They had never seen a man move this fast, be this strong. He glanced at the Royal Lodge and the King’s composure was giving in, his face was pale, his posture slumped and most importantly a smug smile was gone from his face.

“Let’s end this,” Eloken mumbled to himself as he charged toward the six remaining Imperial Knights, his newfound shield leading the way.

He used the shield combined with his enchanted speed and power to knock the Imperial Knights away allowing him to jump into the middle of the hurdle once again. Before the Knights could react he quickly stabbed the Knight that was lying on the ground gripping his hand into the neck, killing him instantly, five knights remained, four surrounding him and one that he just pushed away. Eloken used all of the remaining Tem and time slowed down.

It was time to end this Honorable Combat in the next few seconds before he ran out of Tem and Vis. He pushed away the upcoming axe attack with his shield and cut the arm of the other knight with one swift motion. Normal swords could not cut through the Imperial Knight’s armor, but their enchanted swords did the job. He didn’t want to risk it getting stuck in the armor, so he targeted the weak spots around the joints. He stabbed another knight into his upper thigh and with one swift motion cut the arm of the axe-wielding knight whose attack he parried moments ago.

With adrenaline and Vis pumping through his veins, he went for the instant kill on the fourth knight. Swinging his sword in large motion he came down upon the knight’s neck and cut his head off clean. His Tem ran out at that moment and all four knights fell to the ground.

Eloken wondered how it looked from the stands, was it like a blur jumping into the hurdle of the knights and a second later all four of them were on the ground, dead or gravely injured? He didn’t waste time, finishing the three injured knights who fell to the ground with precise and quick stabs.

He threw his shield to the ground and picked up another sword, now wielding two large Imperial swords, and turned towards the single remaining knight. The swords were huge, without Vis he might have been able to carry one of them using both of his hands, but with Vis running they felt like daggers to him.

He wondered what was the expression of the remaining knight, was he afraid? Enraged? Confused? It made no difference it was time to end this. Eloken sprinted towards the remaining knight and jumped over him. He twisted and turned in the air slamming both of the swords into the knight’s back as he flew above him. Eloken and the knight fell to the ground at the same time, both of the swords sticking from the fallen knight’s back. He put one foot on the dead knight’s back and pulled both swords free turning toward the Royal Loge and looking directly at the King.

“Good grace of Tar,” the announcer said in disbelief. “It would appear that the accused had managed to defeat all of the Imperial Knights. And with this, he had-” Eloken looked at the announcer and he went silent, and so did the crowd.

With his Vis running low, almost completely gone, Eloken wondered what to do next. But this was a show, he needed to continue and put an end to this with style. He used almost all of the remaining Vis enchanting his agility and ran in the direction of the Royal Lodge. A few meters before colliding with the wall he leaped in the air and using the remaining Vis landed at the Royal Loge’s fence right in front of the king. Screams echoed through the Loge and Royal Guard rushed to help but Eloken already had both of the swords at the King’s throat, they stopped and moved back. He had bits of Vis running, only allowing him to hold both swords, his strength and speed wouldn’t be enchanted anymore.

“Who… what are you?” Khe stammered, his regal composure crumbling into raw fear.

“You don’t recognize me, do you?” Eloken asked. “They were afraid you might and wanted me to use disguise, but I told them you were so full of yourself that you would never notice.”

“I am sorry,” The King, visibly shaken, peered at Eloken as if truly seeing him for the first time. His eyes darted over Eloken's features, seeking, denying, yet slowly accepting the haunting truth. “I can’t be.” He murmured.

“Yes it can, Uncle!” Eloken's reply sliced through the King's denial, his smile twisted with a bitter triumph.

“How? How is it possible, I had-” The king started.

“You had me killed, alongside my parents,” Eloken declared. “Shame on you uncle!”

Eloken turned towards the crowd, leaving one of the swords at the king’s throat and weaving the other sword around with his hand pointing out. “This man right here,” he bellowed, his voice reaching every corner of the arena. “Your king, had his brother, his wife, and his nephews killed, twenty years ago, all because there was a tiniest chance my father could take the throne away from him.”

Disbelief rippled through the crowd like a wave, a sea of shock. “Yeah, that is right. When my grandfather, your former king fell ill, he called for my father to return to Worlin.” Eloken affirmed. “But see, my father never wanted to be a King, he had no interest in it. He didn’t like how my Grandfather and our predecessors ruled that’s why he went away to the Isle of Moire, to live his life with his family in peace.”

Eloken eyes teared up thinking about his parents and the brother he had lost, but he pushed those feelings away using more of the Vit to push them deeper, make himself number. “So when my grandfather called him back on his deathbed, my father answered anyway, he wanted me and my brother to see our homeland and our grandfather before he died.” EEloken continued, his voice regaining its clarity.

“But see, my uncle, your King, had other plans. He had sent the Imperial Order to intercept our carriage and kill us all, making it all look like it was done by our former neighbors and good allies, Kotors, which he would later use as a reason to slaughter them and ravage their lands.” Eloken said.

“I didn’t-” The king started and Eloken cut him slightly on the neck with the sword, and some blood appeared around the cut.

“Shut up, I was there and so were you. I remember it all like it was yesterday, I have nightmares about it every night. How you are pulling them out of the carriage me unable to do anything, and killing them with ease, kicking their dead bodies all with smiles on your faces.” Eloken said rage taking over him.

“But, how-” King started again and Eloken thrust his sword further.

“How am I alive?” Eloken shouted. “Well, see we brought my brother’s friend with us, his parents had just died while away on the expedition and my parents loved him like he was one of our own. We played a game in the carriage where I would hide under the seats and try to guess where they hid the toys. That’s when you stopped the carriage and killed them all, thinking that Hodris was me, you killed him. You didn’t even know what your own nephews looked like. And I watched it all under the seat, horrified, scared, crying not knowing what to do, whether to yell for help or run away.” Eloken said anger consuming him completely.

“So, uncle, you asked who I am?” Eloken said. “I am Kryon Thormwol, son of Mythral and Calla Thormwol and brother of Yortal Thormwol, all unjustifiably killed by a greedy pathetic man.” he proclaimed, each name a testament to a life unjustly taken. “But I go by Eloken now, that’s who I am, that’s what I had to become to come here and kill you.“

“You can’t just kill a King,” His uncle, Hrodig Thormwol said. “What do you want? You earned your freedom by killing the Imperial knights or is it the throne, you want to be a king?” He asked his voice trembling.

“No I don’t want that, I can’t be a king, I am a broken man, there are far better people for the job,” Eloken said. “And I haven’t quite earned my freedom, there is one more Imperial Knight alive here,” Eloken said his smile returning and the King’s face went pale.

“That’s right uncle, not many people know that you were an Imperial Knight before you took the throne, and once you become a member of the order you are one until your last breath,” Eloken said.

“I-” King started but Elonged swung his sword and stabbed the King thru his heart impaling the throne behind him. He then swung the other sword and cut off the king’s head.

******

Eloken sat at the top of the hill overlooking the city of Worlin, replenishing the reserves that he had wasted earlier in the day. He wanted to be alone, to think about his future.

All of a sudden his peace and quiet were interrupted by a faint buzzing and he felt a bit of anxiety wash over him, the same feeling he had four years ago when he accidentally used Vis and Vit to survive. Turning around he knew what he would see, four tall and slander figures stood in colorful robes their faces obscured by the large hoods.

“Good job Master Eloken,” One of the figures spoke. “But this is only the beginning, there is so much more to be done.”