Chapter 7

A few hours later, they make it to the location, the city of Dalison. Wuhanly stays with the ship as Allanon, Lashara, and Chiaia rush into the registration area with barely 10 minutes to spare.

“Name and Sponsor?” The desk attendant asks casually after the bell to summon them from the back office is rung, hat shading their eyes so they don’t actually see who is at the desk, as last-minute registrations are fairly common as with the distances involved, some literally come from the other side of the planet to compete, most vying for the prizes on offer.

“Allanon Blank, Lashara Shitoreiyu.” Allanon says. Hearing the name of the Queen apparent, the attendant looks up, sees Lashara, and promptly loses their composure for a few minutes as normally they have merchant or lessor nobles sponsoring warriors, not top tier ruling class nobles. They calmed down enough to finish processing the registration for Allanon, and then Chiaia. “The Doukatchu tournament happens first tomorrow at 9am, then the warriors tournament once that concludes.” The attendant says just as they finish the paperwork.

They are calmly walking back to the ship, their direction taking them near several bars. They are passing by one, but a feeling has Allanon stop Lashara and Chiaia from walking further. A moment later a window explodes in glass not 10 feet in front of them, the cause being a body being thrown away with explosive force. The mangled body rolls to a stop, smoke pouring from their form, but their chest naturally rising and falling to indicate they still live.

“Coming at me with no weapons and piss poor skill is a bad idea. Be lucky that I have a tournament to win tomorrow, or I would have just taken your head instead in self-defense and dealt with the paperwork that comes after.” Kyle Carter steps into view. He sees Lashara and Chiaia, ignoring Allanon and goes to step through the window in their direction, his eyes on their bodies, only to be halted as Allanon growls at him. “Someone has some teeth. How about I pull them out while treating 2 beautiful women to a late-night drink.” Kyle grins, his faith in his skill (and the alcohol in his blood) making him think that he has nothing to worry about, his eyes failing to see Chiaia starting to tense up if he is set on starting something.

“You step through that window, and I’ll do more than send you right back through it. I’ll make sure that you can’t participate tomorrow.” Allanon growls again, both his own and Seiryu’s feelings coming to the forefront.

Kyle goes to push his luck, but a much bigger, meatier hand lands on his shoulder and stops him in his tracks. “You don’t break shit in my bar unless you intend to pay for it. Now pay your tab plus 40% and then get out.” The owner of the voice says.

By the time Klye is able to make it back outside, Allanon and company have since gotten out of sight, causing Kyle to strike the wall in frustration, the brick cracking but not even a mark on his hand in return.

The Doukatchu tournament is small, just 4 rounds and Chiaia easily takes first place, only having been hit twice across her 4 rounds, the other women participating not even having a 600 rating. The warriors tournament starts just after noon, the pairings not revealed until just that moment. Allanon grins with anticipation, for he has drawn Kyle in the first round. Other than Chiaia and Kyle, the only other notable participants are the Walls twins, Halon and Damian. Chiaia’s first opponent is of no real consequence.

Chiaia has her match against Rex Blank. Chiaia armor is of heavier leather with purples and pinks accenting it, yet still conforming to her beautiful form, dual short swords in hand. Rex gets a lecherous look in his eye as the announcer does their job, though their words cause Rex to do an about face as he is suddenly scared for his life. “Welcome all to the first match of the regular tournament season, here in our glorious city of Dalison. On the southern edge of the platform, we have Chiaia Flan, knight of and sponsored by Lashara Shitoreiyu, queen to be of the Shitoreiyu Empire. On the northern corner of the platform making his tournament debut, we have Rex Blank, sponsored by Gaule Connor, guard captain of house Larz. If both warriors are ready, we shall begin with the firing of the green flare.” Both competitors nod their readiness, though Rex has thoughts of withdrawing even if doing so would lose him the best job he has ever had.

2 seconds later, the said flare is fired into the air. Rex plants his feet, falling into a stance that has been drilled into him, sword and shield at the ready. Chiaia bounds across the 50-foot distance with ease. Rex raises his shield, but the force behind Chiaia’s opening strike rends a horizontal gash out of the shield as it hits, almost cutting the shield in two, her second sword negligently battering Rex’s sword out of position. Chiaia has to dial it down, she realizes, because as much as she wants to win this whole tournament, killing weaklings is not the way to do it. Chiaia’s other sword flashes out, the pommel instead of the blade taking him in the shoulder with enough force for him to fall back, his head touching the grass outside of the platform. “Ring out. Match over with the winner being Chiaia Flan. I don’t think I’ve seen such speed outside ever come from someone with such a low tournament attendance, with this only being her 8th tournament in 4 years.” The announcer yells out as the crowd starts to cheer at her quick victory.

Kyle’s eyes alight as he recognizes Allanon from the prior night, finally able to put a name to the face, with his grin getting even bigger now that he knows who was with him that he planned on and still plans on taking to bed to celebrate his upcoming tournament win.

“On the northern edge of the platform, we have a longtime tournament veteran and several time season champion, Kyle ‘Burns’ Carter, sponsored by himself. On the southern edge of the platform, we have Allanon Blank, personal bodyguard and sponsored by Lashara Shitoreiyu, queen to be of the Shitoreiyu Empire. Allanon made his debut at the ceremonial out of season tournament honoring the Seikijin, where he won handedly. Now, are both warriors ready?”

A nod is given from both Allanon and Kyle and the green flare is fired into the air with loud pop.

Allanon, wearing the same armor from his prior tournament and just wielding his longsword, advances at a measured pace, Kyle being the third warrior of any real skill for him to have encountered since entering Lashara’s service. Kyle also advances with wide, random angle half swings of his Warhammer, just in case Allanon has explosive speed to get within his guard, doing so as he hasn’t gotten to this point in his life by taking unknowns too lightly. They get within actual striking distance and Kyle aims for Allanon’s right shoulder coming down at an angle in case he tries to duck or roll towards him. Allanon comes to a realization just from that one swing. ‘Either he is holding back on me, or he is just slow.’ He thinks. He instead jumps, almost like how a wolf would pounce at a bigger enemy. Kyle, committed as he is to his swing, can’t pull back or even remove a hand on his weapon without losing control, thus he scowls in anger as his head rings from his helmet being struck with a heavy blow. Allanon lands behind him and turns to attack his back, but Kyle continues his swing, the increased speed and momentum forcing Allanon to lunge backwards to avoid the hit. With this exchange the crowd cheers, Lashara hollering her glee from the VIP section. As he dodges a few more times while Kyle takes shorter but much faster swings at him, Allanon starts to see a hitch in Kyle’s movements, as his left knee straightens at heavier blows and blocks but loosens when he goes for a darting blow with the spike of his hammer. He feints a blow to Kyle’s right shoulder, causing Kyle to raise his weapon in a block, but Allanon darts to his right and with a flash of steel, blood starts to dribble down Kyle’s left leg a few drops at a time. “And blood has been drawn ladies and gentlemen, but on our veteran. Is this a sign that Kyle’s days at the top are coming to an end?” The announcer says to rile up the crowd. Hearing that his blood had been drawn with what he thought to have not gotten through his armor, his temper starts to rise. He clicks a button on his Warhammer’s staff and the end extends into a 6-inch spike. Allanon grins as they begin their dance new. In the next series of exchanges, his armor is raked by the spike as Kyle tries to run him through on occasion, but when Allanon can feint towards that same knee, other openings present themselves as Kyle starts to overextend, as a dozen other scratches become evident through the armor. Of course, the fun and games are over with, now that Allanon has more than gotten Kyle’s measure. He stops holding back at all, attacking just as Kyle starts up another series of attacks. He almost flies through the air, and a savage blow rings out on Kyle’s head. His hammer falls to the ground with a crash, and as he falls to his knees, puke starts flowing from within his helmet. Yes, his helmet is padded and heavily armored, but the blows still rings his bell very hard. Kyle then feels the blade pressing to his neck and hates that he has no choice. He taps the ground in lieu of verbally saying his surrender, as more food works its way back up his throat.

“And it is over by surrender. The victor is Allanon Blank. His first round and he takes down a heavy favorite. Just how many other upsets will we see in this tournament.” The announcer is drowned out by the noise of the crowd of over 20,000 people losing their shit at such a fight being shown, especially in the first round.

Allanon calms down, Carter is very strong, but he is too reliant on his armor and weapon, even with his amount of skill with said weapon. He knows that he could have drawn it out, possibly even tricked Carter into a ring out, but such a victory would have felt hollow.

Of the remaining matches for the round, only the Walls twins are of any note. They simply remove their helmets and glare at their opponents, causing ring outs for their first-round matches. With each match only going 1 at a time, it is 6pm before the 1st round finishes. Chiaia and Allanon had been sitting with Lashara in the VIP seating since their matches ended, observing to see if any other warriors other than the Walls twins stood out. Many a person present has been trying to strike up conversation, but only a few have succeeded, as the Star and Moon make wonderful deterrents in addition to Chiaia and Allanon. Lashara is a bit giddy as while the Walls twins will eventually make their way to coming against Allanon and Chiaia, Allanon having already eliminated a clear favorite has already gone a long way to demonstrate his skill and power on the public stage, word of his success, even should he lose the tournament will still spread far and wide, raising his standing so much more.

The second-round matches will go late into night, with no one knowing who they will face as each round is random draws. The best possible but most unlikely scenario is both Walls twins having to face each other, while one of the worst would be Chiaia and Allanon having to face each other at any point except for the final round.

After a brief intermission, the second-round pairings are announced. Chiaia opponent is Mayuna Alseras, the only other female warrior in this tournament. On the other hand, Allanon is matched with Halon Walls.

Mayuna is an archer of dark skin, but her ears are rounded, meaning that she is not a dark elf like Aura. Unlike Rex, Mayuna is not shaking in her boots, her movements calm and crisp. After they are both announced, and give their ascent that they are ready, the flair is fired into the air.

Chiaia zig zags towards Mayuna, varying how much she moves to throw off her opponent’s aim, with it partially succeeding. First blood goes to Mayuna as she fires 2 arrows at once, with one scoring a scratch on Chiaia’s left arm. The young woman gains some of Chiaia’s respect, as few could hit her when she is moving so quickly. Chiaia gets close enough to strike Mayuna down several times, only to have to leap back as a dagger is drawn and thrown. Eventually, both daggers and arrows are depleted with Chiaia not giving Mayuna any time to collect them. Mayuna doesn’t realize this, however as she goes to draw another arrow, but comes up empty just as Chiaia brings both swords in a cross strike. Blood is drawn as Chiaia swords cut through the light leather armor Mayuna is wearing after sundering the bow she tried to use to deflect the attacks. “I surrender.” Mayuna calls out as Chiaia reverses her swings intent on doing more damage. Chiaia halts her blades as the words are shouted. The crowd roared with approval of the good match, though Chiaia didn’t really work up a sweat while she was dodging, as many arrows and daggers were not on target showing the lack of skill.

The crowd rapidly lowers their volume a few matches later as Allanon and Halon Walls step into the arena.

Getting a closer look at him, Allanon believes that including armor and weapon, Halon must be over 600 pounds as he is more than just big, he is huge. The scales of his armor move very little with his movement, but before the helmet is put upon his head, there seems to be multiple layers to the armor. Both the spike and blade of the halberd seem to have jagged edges.

“We have another great match for everyone. On the northern edge, Allanon Blank. We will have to see if he can take down a Wall, or will he be left broken like so many that have crashed into them before. On the southern edge, Halon Walls, known for breaking bodies even when they block.” Seeing Allanon and Halon locking eyes, he fires the flare gun to signal the start and runs off the platform.

Allanon leaps and rolls around the skillful swings as Halon meets him in the center, sees an opening and leaps forward, armored foot aiming for Halon’s head. A raise of a shoulder with feet set to receive the attack and Halon stands strong, not budging an inch even as his halberd glances off the platform from his missed attack. His shoulder moves in a flex and Allanon is repelled. On another attack, Allanon uses the flat of the halberd as a steppingstone of sorts, his longsword moving in a cleaving strike. The hit lands, but even with how much power was put behind it, only a few scales are stripped from the armor as the blade slides down and off the armor. Instead of staying in place and reacting, Halon is now overly aggressive after his armor is damaged. Allanon is light on his feet as he dodges the angry swings. A burst of speed just as Halon commits to his latest swing has Allanon getting behind him, but instead of slashing, he thrusts right at the back of the knee where the armor should be weaker. A scream rends the air from Halon as Allanon’s blade not only makes it through the armor but scrapes bone as blood rapidly pools from the serious wound. Halon’s left leg begins to buckle as his halberd falls from his hands as he struggles not to completely collapse from the huge amount of pain he is experiencing. Allanon removes his blade and taps Halon’s armored neck with it. A gruff but in pain voice sounds out. “I surrender.” Halon’s voice tinged with anger for being defeated.

Moments later, medics with a hovering cart are on the platform and getting Halon ready to be carted off for treatment. “Another veteran has been defeated folks. Just how far will Allanon go?” The announcer says as now the crowd is mixed in their reactions, as plenty are fans of Halon and his brother. Still the overall tone of the fight’s conclusion is joyous.

Later, Damian, angered with his brother’s defeat, has to be stopped from killing his opponent after they surrendered. With that the second-round ends, and the remaining rounds are to be conducted tomorrow.