Charles cuts his way through the first two people's necks as they run at him with his longsword and parries the next two opponent's swords! With their front wide open now, Charles quickly uses his longsword to stab the opponent on his left in their stomach and kicks the fighter on his right away. The fighter gets knocked back pushing three other fighters behind him! Andreas, on the other hand, grabs a shield off the ground and smashes the fighter's face crushing his face! Andreas then throws the shield at two other people knocking them to the ground. He then picks up a spear from the ground and stabs the two fighters in their necks killing them.
Charles dodges a sword coming at him and punches the fighter in the gut and disarms the opponent by chopping down hand onto the fighter's wrist. Charles then cuts the fighter's neck ending the fighter's life. Just as Charles kills the opponent,t an ax comes flying past him and smashes into the brick wall behind him and is now stuck there. One of the fighters who was knocked down before quickly comes running with another one-handed ax in hand as he tries to slice down onto Charles. Charles moves his body sideways just barely dodging the ax as he knocks the fighter's face with an elbow stunning him. Charles then uses the sword and rams it up the fighter's stomach killing him.
Charles kills the last fighter, and a loud yet calming voice rang throughout the arena. "The fight has ended!" and the audience starts clapping for the remaining five left in the arena. Charles looks around to see who had stayed alive. First, he saw Andreas's bloodied body standing tall above two dead fighters as he holds a bloody spear in his right hand. Next were the two fighters who were knocked down just now and didn't run up to attack Charles, unlike the last opponent. And lastly, the last person to live in was the fighter Charles's punched knocking the fighter out. But since he was only knocked out, it was considered that he was alive.
"And here you have it, ladies and gentlemen! The top 5 that have survived today's battle royal!" The announcer shouted. The audience started talking about who did the best in the battle royal. "I think it would be that large kid who's all bloody, his endurance is quite astonishing!" "I think that boy with the red scarf is much better! Didn't you see how he managed to survive all those young fighters trying to kill him? Even that kid you were talking about couldn't even kill him, even in a full one on one!" "I agree that kid has some potential! No wonder he managed to be the number one prospect!"
"The other three were just lucky that they didn't die! Especially that one unconscious guy, if the red scarf kid had killed him when red scarf guy knocked him out he wouldn't even be here right now!"
"Congratulations to the 5 of you for surviving the battle royal though only 4 of you are well enough to hear me it doesn't matter. The 5 of you are now the remaining members of your batch of young fighters! Depending on the Arena Master's decision you may either stay here or be sold off to someone! Now then audience did you hear that? That's right you can buy these fine young fighters in our auction tonight!! Their starting prices will depend on how the Arena Master judges their worth so if you are interested come on down to the auction tonight!" The announcer announces the news to all the audience members.
"Seems like today's auction will be quite the fierce one! Surely the red scarf and bloody kid's prices will be quite high!" "Mhm, that red scarf kid is also a number one prospect too! Maybe I should try and get him to be my guard!" "Hmph! What makes you think you have enough money to buy either of them huh? I remember you saying that you won't spend any money in today's auction after that great time you had over at Orleans!" "That was because it was great! But having a bodyguard that I could show off will be worth it!" The audience members start chatting amongst themselves about the auction.
"And with that, the young fighter's battle royal has concluded, the next up will be the fighter's battle royal!" The announcer says as two guards for each young fighter came out to escort them to their rooms. While Andreas and the other three fighters had basic low-rank guards helping them, Charles gets escorted by two high-rank guards kitted out with full leather Armor. "Young fighter Charles. You are to follow us to the Arena Master's room." One of the guards said as he looks at Charles emotionlessly. Charles nods in understanding as he walks with them towards the Arena Master's room.
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As they walked down the dimly lit corridor, they reached a highly guarded double door. The door made out of dark, thick wood that looked strong with a silver frame around it, it also had two lion heads on each door and had two guards standing by wearing lamellar chest Armor over a full set of leather Armor and both carrying two silver longswords that seem to be expensive. "We are here under orders from the Arena Master!" One of the guards beside Charles says. "Mhm, we have been expecting your arrival, please proceed." The right door guard replied as both door guards open the heavy wooden door with a silver frame.
As the door opens as Charles suddenly receives a gust of fresh air that penetrates his nose cleaning it entirely! His nose had never felt so fresh since he came to the arena! And after the fresh smell, a sweet aroma fills the air, and Charles's felt intoxicated by the scent. It was like strawberries, cherries and everything sweet filled the room. As Charles regained his senses, he notices that the flooring that the room was some smooth stone, it felt like stone, but it didn't seem to have any roughness to it and was pure white! Charles could almost see his reflection on it! Around the room was countless of bookshelves filled with different kinds of books and had many different weapons and Armor displayed on the walls.
From longswords to whips and helmets to greaves Charles felt like this room had every weapon in the world! Charles looks forward and sees that even though the room was supposed to have four walls like a square, the back wall was instead replaced with a giant window with a balcony instead! It didn't look like the typical Architecture Charles had seen in the arena but instead had three stone pillars with serpent dragon sculptures wrapping around it supporting the roof of the balcony with red color fences wrapping around to prevent anyone from falling off. In the middle of the room just in front of the gallery was a large dark wood desk, the same kind of wood that was from the door and the desk had a bunch of engravings covering it.
Dragons, lions and warriors engravings filled the sides of the desk making it look beautiful! In front of the desk was a rug made from beautiful white fur while the desk had scrolls, ink, and brushes on it. But sitting on the beautiful chair with the same kind of engravings as the desk was a middle-aged man who had short black and black eyes filled with vigor.
But as Charles was scanning around the room the man sitting on the chair said with the kind of calming voice Charles heard in the arena "Alright the two guards may go, Charles, was it? Please come in front of my desk. And do not worry you're allowed to step on the rug." As though he read Charles mind he had gotten rid of Charles's first worry. Charles immediately walks towards the table and stands right in front of it as he tries his best to stand upright to show his respect. "Mhm, looks like you at least know your status. That will bring you far in life."
"Most young fighters your age are quite straight-forward and have no respect for their seniors and superiors. Someone like Andreas, you came to blows with him many times during the battle royale." The man continued as he continues to use his brush to write something down. Charles continues to maintain his straight back doing his best not to lose it even though his whole body still aches from the fight he had just a moment ago. "You might have already guessed it, but I am the arena master of this place. You are here right now for two things, let's focus on the first one first." The Arena Master said as he puts down his brush back onto the desk.
"First, you shall pick a martial art technique from this very room. The books in the bookshelves here are all different techniques I have accumulated over the past few years. One of them is now yours to keep, though the choice of which is all up to you. You will also choose a personal weapon for yourself! A weapon is vital for any martial artist, even for those who focus on the way of the fist for a weapon is a tool to defeat your foe! An artisan cannot create without tools; civilization could not have become what it is today without tools and wars could not be waged without tools! So, pick whichever fits your fancy though I recommend choosing a technique first!" The arena master looks at Charles with curious eyes as he spoke.
Charles shocked by what the arena master said looks around to see all the choices he had. "Of course, all of this is not for free; I have something to tell you after you have chosen your technique and weapons. Please do not disappoint me with your choices." The Arena Master smiled as he laid his body back onto the chair as he looks at Charles. "Time to choose Charles!"