"So what’s special about this trio that somehow manages to hold such importance in their hands? I mean, I can’t imagine these merchants would be keen to lose money, so obviously these three warriors are going to be special, but how special are they?"
"About as special as hand picked, well bred warriors can be when given an inexhaustible amount of money, which means all of the best weapons, armor, enchantments, potions, salves, trainers and more that money can buy. So... think about how we’ve been able to have a stress free life of just training with the occasional battle that tests us. That’s exactly what they’ve been doing, just for longer and with worse teachers."
Cyra entered the room again, her tray bereft of any wealth thanks to our decision, and she paused for a moment before nodding in agreement with Anput’s assessment, saying "Begum, you would be correct; the trio was raised from birth to do nothing besides battle at the whims of the merchants inside of the arena before taking their place as guards for high profile members of the families and guests. The guards outside of this suite are some of those very guards."
"And I guess they would easily put that earlier guard that we watched down? People like merchants tend to value efficiency and talent above all else, so... I can only imagine just how excellent these guards must be."
"That would be correct, Lady Jahi, but only because they have been trained to fight in tandem with one another. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that most of them are ’joined at the hip’, so to say. Some people wonder if it’s inhumane to train these guards from birth, but they are given ample opportunity to do whatever they want, whenever they want. They are paid handsomely for their expertise, and everyone needs a break every now and then."
Sharing a smile with one another, we all remained quiet about needing a break as we turned back towards the arena, where Batu was kneeling on one side, his head hung slightly as he looked over his lance, which was resting across his knees; everyone was being given time before this next match, and we spent it snacking on the feast that Anput’s relative had prepared for us.
I was happy that she hadn’t shown up just yet to try and suck up to her more influential and ’important’ niece, but I wasn’t going to hold my breath about her showing up eventually to do just that; it was an opportunity for her to try and get any sort of promise from Anput, who might be able to put in a good word or two to her Mom and or Mother, which could do quite a bit for any merchant.
Minutes passed by in relaxed silence as we ate and drank during this break, until eventually three lithe, masked Caninekin stalked into the arena, their feet barely brushing over the sand as they made their way over to the kneeling Batu, each of them unsheathing their blades and staring down at the man as they waited for him to rise.
The announcers hyped up the crowed as best they could within a short amount of time, riling up the addicts as they teased them with promises of wealth should Batu win whilst also causing those few sane members of the audience to doubt whether or not they should have taken the risk and potentially walked away with nothing should Batu lose this match.
Listening to the announcers, Batu remained unperturbed as he continued whatever it was that he was doing, forcing the guards to wait as he ran his hand over the smooth lance, something that might have unnerved or irked other fighters with how indifferent he was to what was an almost certain loss, but the three masked guards remained stock still as they observed him from afar.They were uniform in every way besides weaponry; loose pale red robes hung over their lithe frames, with fitted and studded leather armor clinging to their bodies, the designs of their armor kept sleek and slim for their benefit, allowing them to remain agile while being protected.
Two of the guards had scimitars, making use of the traditional weapon of the Sultanate whilst the third had a shamshir, the extremely curved blade almost creating an elongated ’s’ that was perfect for cutting deep into flesh and severing limbs, meaning all three were adept at close quarters and relied on slashing styles to fight.
Once more Batu was at an immense disadvantage, but considering the ease with which he took down the first gladiator and the way he was able to handle the second without struggling too much, it was entirely possible that he could handle these three guards, especially since we had not seen everything he was capable of from said match.
Only one boot had been used so far, and he had used it both offensively and defensively, so I was curious what other enchanted gear this Wekalian man had waiting to be used, and I had a bit of a hunch that he had some tricks up his sleeves that people weren’t anticipating, but those hunches could be wrong since I had only seen him in action for a couple of minutes and that was it.
Either way, the announcers eventually fell silent as they ran out of things to shout, draping the stadium with a shroud of awkwardness as Batu remained kneeling, but as the silence became deafening inside of the arena, Batu slowly rose to his feet and hefted the heavy lance, returning it to its place on his shoulder as he took a second to look at all three of the guards. Clenching his fist, he raised his off hand and pointed at the guard in the middle, making sure everyone knew who he was focusing on before he shrouded that arm in Earth Mana, the glimmering brown haze solidifying as a disc of stone appeared on his arm.
Now wielding a lance and a shield, Batu shifted his feet and angled himself with his shield arm facing front whilst his lance came down as he used it to point at that guard, placing himself into a ready stance and waiting for the match to start.
Three on one, agility versus power... it was certainly an intriguing matchup, and I had to admit that I was looking forwards to seeing it play out, even though I myself had been in similar matchups before, albeit against monsters instead of people; similarly, if the report that Cyra gave us was to be believed, Batu had been in those matchups as well, and both mortals and monsters had their own frightening factors to take in.
With a shout the match began, and like before the Wekalian man’s opponents shot forwards instantly, not giving him a moment to consider any other actions that he might be able to take and instead applying pressure as soon as they could, leaving little up to chance in this battle.
Batu however was thinking the same thing, but instead of moving to a new position he just stomped down and erected a wave of stones around himself, each one stabbing outwards in an attempt to pierce any overenthusiastic attackers.
None of the guards fell for that though, the two scimitar wielding guards leaping into the air and landing on the spikes themselves, using the rocks that Batu had summoned as springboards as they launched themselves forwards once again, whilst the shamshir guard slid to a stop and crouched, slamming their fist into the sand and letting out a wave of their own Earth Magic as they countered Batu’s spell.
The stones cracked and crumbled beneath the pressure of that guard’s magical prowess, but by that point the other two were already flying through the air aiming their blades at Batu, mimicking the gladiator’s attacks somewhat as they sent waves of fire at the man, trying to
Burn him into a crisp.
They were in the air though, and Batu stomped his foot one more time before swinging his lance even before the pillars of rock were fully created, turning them both into shrapnel that buffeted the guards whilst his shield protected him from the worst of the flames, his armor doing the rest with a little enchanted goodness.
As they fell to the ground and rolled away from Batu, he lowered his shoulder and began to charge forwards, his lance aimed straight at the shamshir guard’s chest as he moved in for a
Knockout blow.
Sending another wave of mana rippling through the sand, the guard trying to buy the other two guards a second to get back up and come give their aid, but as soon as the guard realized that wasn’t going to happen, they stood up and rushed to meet Batu, their shamshir glittering in arcs as they began their attack, not giving Batu the time to anticipate where the attack might be coming from.
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