I stared down the goblin who was supposed to be my foe. As the duel was witnessed by both goblins and orcs alike, it was perfect. I could show my superiority and my divine providence. Similar to the Mongol warlord, Genghis Khan in a way. That reminds me, I should probably try and find a way to try and recreate that system.

Despite my upbringing as a gangster, I did pay attention to certain historical and interesting pieces that I would read. I liked to think of myself similar to the titular Alex DeLarge of a Clockwork Orange, Oda Nobunaga of Japan and Genghis Khan from the mongolian steppes all rolled into one.

Of course, my train of thought was immediately dashed as one of the goblin elites, who’s name I didn’t know, stepped forward to begin the duel. As his hand swung down in the middle, the fight began in earnest. The goblin chieftain immediately darted forward, swinging both swords in a wild manner.

One blade was held in a reverse grip, otherwise an ice pick grip. The other, held in the traditional fashion. Slashing away with one gladius, stabbing away at the other. The movements, which might have intimidated someone, did not intimidate me. It was just the same as those idiots on the street in my old life who swung their blade around like a bunch of idiots. There was 0 real technique towards them and were easy to deal with.

I backed up quickly, holding the gladius in front of me as a deterrent, preventing him from getting too close. As the blade clashed down on the gladius, I simply brought it upward, slamming it into the edge of the short sword, causing the blade to bind towards it.

As the other sword was thrusted forward, I stepped to the side quickly. The blade whistled by me as I slid the blade away from his. In a moment of anger, I swung my gladius downward towards the nape of the goblin. To his credit, he managed to use his forward momentum to roll out of the way, causing him to avoid the blade easily.

As he spun around to face me once more, he didn’t rush forward so quickly. He had most likely underestimated me and assumed I would be weak since I was the shortest and the youngest of the Orcs. He wasn’t going to make the same mistake again. But, to his credit however, he had managed to move out of the way of the blade. He wasn’t just any idiot that would fall to a reckless and rash blade. In retrospect, I should’ve pulled back and thrusted the blade, instead of hacking downward in anger. I would not make the mistake again.

I removed my lion skin cloak and hood, tossing it to the ground. It let up a cloud of dust in the air, which gave me an interesting idea. I removed one of the daggers across my leather dagger sheath band. I had 4 more daggers left, all of them made out of stone. But it could easily pierce the goblins' boiled leather cuirass.

As we continued circling each other, each one wary of the other. We didn’t want to engage, we didn’t want to rush forward. As the gap began to close, I suddenly kicked my leg up. A cloud of dust and dirt sprayed into the air, blinding the goblin. An audible yell could be heard as he fell backward, instinctively lifting his blades across his head and torso to intercept any blade that might come his way.

Of course, I wasn’t that stupid. In a sudden explosion of movement, I rushed forward, zipping across the ground like lightning. No goblin could stop me now. I thrusted my sword outward like one of those fencers I saw while watching the olympics. The blade sailed forward like a clap of thunder, but however, to my astonishment, the goblin jumped!

The goblin leapt up and somersaulted over and landed behind me. Of course, he was still blinded and disoriented from the dust, but the fact that his hearing, reflexes and timing was good enough to land a near perfect somersault was amazing.

I spun around to meet him, holding my gladius out like I was in a fencing pose. Of course, my skill with fencing was practically non-existent. But instead of hacking and chopping away like most other orcs, I used my martial arts in ways that were much more energy efficient. In a twinge of annoyance, I regretted using a sword instead of axes. Unlike the goblin, I was significantly less skilled when it came to wielding a sword properly.

I remember reading or watching somewhere that it took significantly less time to learn the axe compared to the sword. Some Chinese general or manual said in some random text I read that the “Dao took a week to master, the spear a month and the sword a couple months.” Something like that. Damn it!

I quickly sheathed my blade as the goblin recovered, removing the shield from my back. As I removed my shield, I gripped one of the goblins spears embedded into the ground near me. Of course, not giving me any time to lose, he flys forward, thrusting and slashing with the blade.

However, the shield I used stood fast, quickly tanking the blows as he darted left from right. My reflexes might not have been sharp as the goblin attacking me, but I could definitely hold my own. It was obvious where his trajectories would be, he knew I was wearing a breastplate of bronze, meaning he had only a few other areas to attack. The arms, legs and head.

As long as I kept my wits about me, I could intercept where he could. As I kept my arms and legs firmly tucked behind the shield, it was significantly easier to block. He had to expend more energy and range to hit the vulnerable areas of my body, while I didn’t. Only having to move a half inch of the shield to intercept the blows, while he had to swing the blade a couple of inches.

This defensive game didn’t let up for another minute. The duel had been going on for too long now, a solid 2 minutes of time had run past. I should be skilled enough to finish this battle in a sword stroke, but alas, I was not there yet. I was not the Orcish Miyamoto Musashi of this world, at least, not yet.

As sword clashed on shield, the shift of battle was slowly beginning to shift my way. Parrying and blocking with the shield, I waited patiently for an opening as the goblin continued hammering at it. But of course, the goblin was smarter than I gave him credit for, realising a minute had been wasted. He immediately retreated, falling back out of range for a cloud of dust to nail him.

A breathing space had been reached, as a pause in the battle emerged. Both opponents are trying to figure out the path of victory.

______

P’avev’s perspective

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Damn this fucking Orc! I thought he’d be a weak bitch that I could easily roll over, but I guess not! He’s managed to hold up against me for more than 2 minutes! No other Orc has ever done that before! He somehow managed to be smart and choose the defensive option as well! What the actual fuck? Who is this Orc?

All Orcs would charge in recklessly, not being able to meet me in the skill of dexterity. I would out maneuver them as they waste energy or simply exploit a gap in their defense. But no, this orc was different. He actually made an intelligent decision. An actual smart decision! No, this isn’t some regular orc. Who is this guy? Who is he? There has never been an orc to have ever done this before.

There’s something different about him. Was he born a genius? By orc standards that is. The orcs being smart for once, instead of attacking, he’s just circling me, as if by some reason he doesn’t want to attack. Don’t orcs all have an innate bloodlust that has to be unleashed? What’s going on here?

He somehow knows attacking me will just create more weaknesses and opening in his defense and let me stab him. He’s not doing anything, he’s just standing there. Speaking of which, why did the other orcs let him go and fight me? He’s a coward by orc standards. Assuming he’s the leader, he staged an ambush and decided to fight defensively. Why are they following him and why haven’t they killed him yet! This, this just doesn’t make sense!

Argh, fuck it! I’m going to have to attack, the orcs have more endurance than me for sure and if we bring it down to a battle of endurance, I’m going to end up losing. Staying in this stance is going to wear down my muscles. I don’t have a choice!

I rush forward, suddenly darting upward and leaping over the shield in a burst of energy. My time was running out, I was going to tire soon. I had to finish this quickly. As I leapt over the shield, I swung my leg back in a thrusting kick. Of course, this nailed the orc right in the side of his head, sending him staggering to the side in a daze.

I capitalized upon this moment immediately, landing on the floor and throwing one of my swords at him, with no time to lose. However, the orc, despite his stupor, was aided by the large oval shield he had in his left arm, the steel sword jamming into the leather exterior of the shield. The orc had gotten lucky.

I had no choice but to sprint forward in a last ditch assault, my energy was waning. I had very little time left, as I swung my blade down on his exposed neck. The blade connected but I was repelled backwards. The only thing I recall is my head smashing into the dirt and my vision going black.

_____

Takeshi/Simba’s perspective

As the blade came down on my neck, a sudden flash came upon me. As if some higher power stepped in and saved me. Of course, that was Pandar. It seems my “cowardly” behaviour had not incurred his wrath after all. For a brief second, I could feel all the muscles in my body tensing up, harder than it was. It was almost like my internal organs were slowly being crushed by the muscles.

The blade sank into flesh, but the flesh bent and tightened around the blade, causing it to be embedded in my neck, but the blade to snap off. The reflective force of my tense muscles was sent up the goblin, sending him smashing into the ground, effectively knocking him out.

A voice emanated in my mind as the goblin crashed into the ground. The voice of Pandar as I recall, the deep baritone voice echoing through my mind. As if it was a growling lion that somehow gained the ability to speak.

ANOTHER BOON UPON YOU BY THE GRACE OF I, PANDAR. FIGHT WELL IN MY NAME.

It seems the Orcish honor code about not ambushing people doesn’t mean much after all. This whole shit about cowardice or being dishonorable had nothing to do with it. My hunch was right. If Pandar was truly the god of survival of the fittest and the strength of the open plains. Logically speaking, he would not reprimand the orcs that do, right? And of course, his patron animal, the Lion, is also an ambush predator. My hunch paid off and yet again, I have risen to a new peak of strength.

I grunted slightly, feeling my muscles slowly relax as the broken blade slid out of the indentation in my neck and hit the ground with a clatter. I exhaled loudly, looking over at the remaining goblin elites stunned in silence. I glanced back at my war squad, who were staring at me with slacked jaws.

I sighed, glancing back towards the goblin elites. I seemingly knelt down, as if to tie shoelaces. I gripped the broken blade and swung it in the direction of the goblin elites face. The blade pierced through their throat instantly. My supposed loyal servant Chaganath sprung into action, darting forward and ramming his blade through the throat of another. A quick slash of the blade, being swung to the right, the skull of another goblin was decapitated in an instant.

The last goblin, now finally being shaken from their stupor, began to run. However, a single spear sailed over head and jammed right into the midsection of the goblin. As I turned over to see who had thrown it, it was As’Kal. Perhaps he wasn’t so useless after all. I gave no praises to those who took action, that was expected of them. I sighed, looking around me as I began to set things in order.

All that remained was the goblin leader, who was still out cold on the floor. First of all, I had plans for him. I sighed, gesturing to my war squad who currently stood idle.

“Someone grab some shit, tie him up and wake him up. I need to question him. When you’re done with that, get to looting the corpses. Some of us don’t have armour and we better equip them with it. Collect their bronze weapons, we’re going to need it.”

As everyone immediately erupted into work, both learning to respect and fear my power. I simply sat down on the dirt, looking up at the heavens as I began to nibble away at some of my rations. Dried antelope jerky sure tastes good after a hard fought battle. Sweat dripped off of my brow as I looked over to the unconscious goblin.

I muttered to him quietly as the rest of the orcs got to work, “You’re going to be in a world of hurt buddy.”

______

P’avev’s perspective

As I woke up, I slowly came too, surrounded by orcs and tied up by what seemed to be makeshift rudimentary tall grass ropes. Of course, I could break out of them if I put in some effort, but I had multiple blades held to my throat. I was not inclined to get myself killed.

The shortest orc, the one who defeated me and appeared to be the strongest, knelt down to my level, since I was lying on the ground. At least he had the decency to block out the sun with his large head. The only words he uttered out of his mouth were simple,

“Lead me to where your tribe is, or I shall torture you until you relent, then I shall kill you.”

I wasn’t stupid. Sure, I might be able to live for a day or two if I told him where the tribe is but he would kill me in the end. I might be the son of the chief, but I refuse to die for those idiots. Their life purpose is to serve me, not the other way around. So long as I live, I’ll be fine.

I quickly blurt out, “Swear on your god Pandar, that you shall not kill me and in turn I shall tell you where my camp is!”

The orc rolled his eyes and said with a loud sigh in his voice, “On Pandar I swear I shall not kill this orc. If he renges on his promise of where his camp is, the promise is broken. There, happy?”

I nod quickly, “Now can you please untie me? I need to be able to walk, don't I?”

The orc again rolls his eyes, gesturing to the largest orc of the group, Chaganath. “Pick up the goblin, if he struggles, feel free to beat him, just don’t kill him.”

He looks to me as the orc called Chaganath picks me up, “Now, show us where to go, renge on your promise and I’ll kill you.”

I nod quickly. I would rather sell the whole world than die. Those peoples lives and riches mean nothing to me, so long I can find a chance to escape and run off. I complied immediately. So long as I could survive, I would do absolutely anything.

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