My foot hooked my opponent’s leg and yanked it out from under him. He blocked my sword, but my fist came up under his chin and he went down. I slammed my foot down on his wrist, pinning his weapon to the ground and held my sword to his neck.
“I surrender,” the knight said, and I stepped off of him.
That had been my sixth opponent of the day. The adjudicator had sent them at me with less and less time between each match, if he thought he could wear me out he was mistaken. The stands that had been mostly empty during my first duel were now packed with people placing bets. I didn’t leave the arena this time as my opponent walked out of the room.
“Is there anyone else?” I called up to the duel adjudicator.
He scowled down at me flipping through some papers. “No,” he said finally. “Everyone else is already scheduled with duels for the day.”
“Then I’ll see you all tomorrow,” I said saluting the crowd with my sword.
I exited the arena to go back to my tent. Aisha met me walking by my side, she looked at me with a sense of awe and wariness.
“Who taught you to fight like that?” she asked.
“You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” I said avoiding answering the question. “So how many more fights like this should I expect?”
“These were all minor nobles,” Aisha said. “They came here to prove their skill and raise their family’s name. They pay the adjudicators a lot of money to get favorable matches, after today you can expect him to start throwing much better fighters at you.”
“Thank goodness,” I said. “A few days of this and I’d probably off myself out of boredom.”
“You’re really going to try and win?” Aisha asked. “To win the hand of Dutchess Guinevere?”
“Of course. I don’t play rigged games, well, I don’t let them stay rigged,” I amended my statement.
“Why?” Aisha asked.
“If you’d ever been in love you wouldn’t have to ask that question,” I said. “Do you need me to do anything else today?”
“Well, you should try to attract a sponsor,” Aisha asked.
“Why?” I asked.
“To get you enchanted equipment and master forged gear,” Aisha said. “You’ll need that to…” she stopped as my laughter cut her off.
“I’m sorry,” I said once I stopped laughing. “But that’s not something I need; I don’t think there is a man in this city who could make armor better than what I’m wearing.”
“It doesn’t look that impressive,” Aisha said looking it over.
“That’s part of its charm,” I said. “So other people have to rely on sponsors? Who sponsors them anyway?”
“Nobles houses or the guilds,” Aisha said. “They could also get you into meetings with visiting dignitaries and the other nobles.”
“Again, that’s not something I’m looking for,” I said. “How do people normally attract a sponsor anyway?”
“They go to the training yards to do practice bouts,” Aisha said. “Similar to duels but with less regulation and usually more violent. They’re more popular for betting, if you impress people with your skill, you could also get a master to train you in their fighting style and help you acquire more titles.”
“Now that actually sounds interesting,” I said. “Alright you’ve convinced me to at least have a look at this place, lead the way.”
Aisha led me through the crowds to grassy field set with tents around its edges as well as wooden stands built in squares around the fields where knights fought by themselves, in pairs or in groups. I watched it with some interest. I felt a presence behind me and turned catching a hand reaching for my shoulder an angry young man stood there.
“I have come to challenge you to a proper duel,” the young man spat. “Your treatment of me in the arena was unbecoming of a knight, resulting to fists instead of a proper blade or weapon is no way to duel.”
I looked up at his description over his head.
Lord Tarence of House Darsell, Gifted- humanoid/human, Veteran, Rank: 346
“Which one was he?” I asked Aisha.
“Lord Tarence was your first match yesterday,” Aisha said to me.
“Oh you,” I said. “Don’t be a sore loser, you lost and would have lost even if I just used a sword.”
“I demand satisfaction,” he insisted. “Unless you are a coward you will duel me three days from now to first blood use of abilities will be…”
“No,” I interrupted him.
“Ha!” he laughed with triumph. “So you are a coward….”
“To the death,” I interrupted him again.
“What?” he asked in shock. “Don’t be absurd that’s barbaric.”
“You’re the one who wants to duel me, not the other way around,” I said shrugging. “Either put your life on the line or fuck off, I don’t waste my time on pointless distractions.”
“A duel to the death would have to be sanctioned by…” he protested.
“Then get it sanctioned or run off,” I said. “I’m not compromising with you if you want to commit suicide that up to you, I’ve beaten you once and I’ll do it again.”
He took a step back and turned on his heel leaving me behind.
I turned back to the crowd which had parted around us, and everyone was looking at me.
“What?” I asked. “You people never seen someone challenge someone to a duel to the death before?”
“No,” a man in full plate said uncomfortably. “Those kind of duels are frowned upon you have to get special dispensation to get one approved. You speak like you’ve done one before.”
“Just two real duels but I’ve had plenty of one-on-one fights to the death,” I said. “So, I hear this is where you test yourself, where do I sign up?”
“Is it true you punched him in your duel?” another man asked me.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Yeah, so?” I asked.
“That considered dishonorable what house trained you?” he asked.
“How many of you have actually been in real battles, not just against monsters but people?” I asked.
Only three hands went up everyone else looking nervous or ashamed.
It’s like being a wolf among sheep, I thought. Unfortunately for the sheep they think they’re one of the wolves.
“When you’ve been in a real fight, you’ll understand that the only honor there is, is being the one still standing at the end,” I said.
“You talk a big talk,” one man said he didn’t wear armor like all the other nights and was to old to be a contestant and his rank to high. “But I wonder just how good at fighting you are, tell me can you fight with your fists or just a punch here and there?”
“I’ve got some training in unarmed combat,” I said.
“I’d like to see that,” the man said. “Let’s see what your made of under all that armor.”
I tapped my chest and stepped out of my armor to the shock of everyone around me. The armor closed up behind me remaining standing without me inside it. People gaped but I wasn’t worried about people trying to steal it the enchantments on it made it as immovable as a mountain when I wasn’t inside it.
I stood in black and grey clothes that were very different in style to those around me. I found the style of Earth a lot more comfortable than the clothing people wore around me. I stepped into the ring and looked over my opponent.
Helgeth the Barbarian, Gifted- humanoid/human, Hero, Rank: 652
I’d fought people a lot higher rank than him, but this wasn’t a fight to the death and was instead a show of skill. He cracked his knuckles and his hands were as big as dinner plates. We circled each other for a moment than I rushed in, I ducked under his fist which came in as fast as lightning. I punched for his kidneys, but he brought his leg blocking the strike and grabbed my arm and tried to put me in a lock.
I twisted and rolled yanking my arm free and landing a kick on his knee. He grunted but didn’t go down sweeping my legs out from under me with his foot he brought down his fist towards my head. I barely rolled out of the way in time as his fist cratered the sand where my head had been.
Our fight went back and forth as I mostly lost ground. I wasn’t using any abilities and there wasn’t the same desperate pumping of adrenaline that fueled most of my fights. This wasn’t a duel to the death, so I didn’t feel the same sense of urgency I usually did.
Despite the lack of real stakes or maybe because of them I was enjoying the fight. I blocked out the crowd focusing only on my opponent and was reminded of all the days training with Guinevere. I blocked a two-handed strike with my arms sliding back in the sand before counter attacking with my knee. I was doing all right, but I wasn’t winning and that excited me more than anything; Guinevere had made me a master with the sword, but I still wasn’t as good as Arthur. I needed to master more forms of combat and get more titles to surpass him.
---
Vone walked through the tourney grounds. She’d found a lot of the fights exciting; Camelot had been very different than the other places she’d seen since coming to this world. It reminded her a lot of New York or Los Angeles and made her a bit home sick. She felt the strength in her legs and remembered why she had decided to come here, the chance to walk again after the car accident that had paralyzed her.
He heard shouting a more intense than she had heard before. She pushed through a group of people to get a view of the fight. Two massive men bare chested were pummeling eachother across the sand. The fight was more violent than anything she had seen before today. The younger man was bruised and bloody and she saw he was a much lower rank than his opponent.
Sir Ismael the Storm Knight, Gifted- humanoid/human, Veteran, Rank: 376
She thought about stepping in but decided against it and kept watching. The man was scarred in a way she hadn’t seen on anyone else and despite his many wounds he gave no sign he even noticed them. Every move he made was powerful and primal like a tiger that slipped into the skin of man. She wouldn’t call him beautiful, but he had a rugged handsome appearance that combined with his scars gave him a savage masculine vibe very different than the proper knights surrounding him.
She watched as the man finally got him in a pin and began choking him out. He slapped the ground, and the older man released him.
Vone analyzed the man more thoroughly now. He pulled a healing potion out of somewhere and drank it his bruises disappearing the two men exchanged some words and shook hands.
He exited the ring, his eyes always sliding from side to side though his head never moved. It gave him a warry on-edge look, not that he was nervous but that he was constantly expecting an attack from somewhere. His eyes passed over the crowd landing on her and freezing. Vone felt a shiver run up her spine noticing his odd eyes for the first time with their multiple iris and pupils. His gaze slid off of her, but one set of pupils remained trained on her.
He pulled a shirt on and then moved through the crowd and stepped inside a suit of armor like he was iron man. A pretty young woman stood next to him a clipboard and stack of papers clutched to her chest. He spoke with her and they started to move through the crowd. Curious Vone pushed through the crowd and stepped in front of the man.
“That was quite a fight,” she said.
---
Oh fuck, I thought. I’d hoped to avoid contact with other champions and people I’d met before as much as possible, still there was no better time than now to test my disguise. “Thank you,” I said and looked above her head to read her description.
“It reminded me a lot of karate back from my world,” she said extending her hand.
“What’s karate?” I asked playing to what a local from this world would know. All my time spent with Guinevere was paying off as I remembered all the ways she’d reacted to things I’d said.
“A form of martial arts,” Vone said. “Although yours is a lot more aggressive than stuff I’ve seen before.”
“Well pleased to meet you,” I said hoping to get out of this conversation as quickly as possible.
Yeah, not going to work, Voidra told me. She is very interested in you.
That’s sort of the problem, I said. I really don’t want to get her to know me.
Not the kind of interest I was talking about, Voidra said.
“What are you doing this evening?” Vone asked me.
She’s about to ask me on a date now, isn’t she? I said to my spirit collective. “I’ve got some training I need to do,” I said.
“Really?” Vone asked seeming more interested instead of less. “I’ve been looking for a good sparring partner maybe I could join you and teach you some things while you teach me some things.”
I think she might have a different kind of sparring in mind, Karnen sniggered in my head.
Not helping, I snapped at him. “I already have a sparring partner,” I lied.
“You do?” Aisha asked not in on the conversation.
I shot her a glare and her mouth opened realizing her error and she blushed in embarrassment.
“He does,” a deep baritone voice agreed.
I turned as a man in dark black robes with luminous green eyes clapped his hand on my shoulder.
Exar the Dragon-warrior, Gifted- humanoid/human*, Exarch, Rank: 1031
He shot me a wink and even though I’d never seen him before I instantly recognized him.
Is that Exar’kun? Ares asked.
Yep, I responded mentally.
“You found an Exarch rank sparring partner?” Vone asked, shocked. “Isn’t that…dangerous.”
“You only get stronger by fighting those stronger than you,” I said.
Vone held her hound out and shook Exar’kun’s. “Its not often you get the chance to meet someone of your rank, I hope I’m not imposing but I’d like to join your sparring sessions as well.”
“Not at all,” Exar said a malicious gleam in his eyes. “I would be delighted if you would join us.”
He might still be holding a grudge over her killing him in the Event, I thought. Oh well, hopefully with him there I can deflect any suspicion off of me.
---
Guinevere walked through the crowd to the Office of the Adjudicators the gave of every man around her followed her even with the veil covering her face. She once again wondered if she had made the right decision to choose Aphrodite’s Beauty as her divine ability. Sometimes if felt like she were a lamb being eyed by a pack of wolves.
The guards on duty snapped to attention as she entered the Office of the Adjudicator. The attendant at the front desk looked up at their jaw opening in shock as she entered.
“Lady Guinevere what brings you here?” they asked, shuffling through the papers on their best hurriedly as if searching for some explanation.
“I want to see your combatants,” Guinevere said. “I’m looking for a list of your best fighters, the ones most likely to reach the final rankings.”
“Of course, my lady,” the attendant said. “We have a list like that right here.” He seemed relived to be able to do something, giving him a feeling of being back in control. “So, you’ve come to watch the Tourney?”
“Something like that,” Guinevere said taking the list from him. She recognized many of the names on the list by reputation although she hadn’t met them personally. “I’ll also need a schedule of their next duels,” she said.
“Not a problem, I will arrange a guide as well to escort you to the matches,” the attendant said.
Guinevere nodded. She had to find someone capable of beating Arthur and who would also be a good father for her child, she did not have high hopes that such a person existed.