Chapter 33. Striped Sword and Horned Spear

The opponent in the second round was a teenager with a sword. The sword was good, but a bit big and overly lavishly decorated.

- The rules are the same. Begin.

- You will have the honour of falling from our family relic, - the teenager proudly raised his weapon, - "A sword that chops mountains on a barbecue".

- You'd better throw that big thingy away. - He shook his head disappointedly. For the first time in his life he felt like a master swordsman in front of a peasant's lout with a cart axle at his side. Because the boy had no idea how to use a sword. Even held it like a stick.

To fight with a weapon your opponent knows better than you do is pure suicide.

- You dare to call our family relic a big thingy?! - The teenager sprang into action and lunged forward, trying to cut the desecrator in two.

Yee Rhys waited until the sword began to drop, then stepped forward and slightly to the side, closing in on his opponent. Turning his body around, he was already standing shoulder to shoulder with his attacker. Taking advantage of the teenager's moment of confusion, the young man drew his sword.

Backing away from the dazed boy, Yee Rhys made a couple of swings with the trophy. There's no balance to it, either. We don't need a weapon like that even for nothing.

- Give me the relic! - The adolescent boy snarled angrily, realizing that not only did his opponent get away with it, but that he'd stolen the weapon as well.

- Try and take it back! - The young man defiantly put the sword behind his back, smiling at the boy with all his thirty-two teeth. Why? There were a number of favorite tricks in the Cunning Sword sect. And taking away the sword was one of the most popular. How he pissed off his opponents! This is like taking candy from a child.

The teenager jumped at the bully with fists. Yee Rhys teased him for a while, waving his sword defiantly and dodging straightforward blows, and then the game became boring. Bringing his opponent to the edge of the arena, the young man dodged another blow and sent his aggressor over the edge with a kick to the butt.

Realising what had happened, the boy cried. A child indeed.

- All right, take your relic. - Yee Rhys threw the sword at the feet of its original owner. - It's got a lousy balance anyway.

Finishing the fight, the young man looked around. Usa Lada had dropped out back in the first round and was now standing against the wall in the common area. Re Coot had already won his fight. Po Lay had managed to lose to a rookie with one wisp. Which of them was more surprised by this was hard to say. Both of their faces were equally puzzled.

Since there were only ten arenas, and there were more fights in the second round, the battles were fought in two turns: first the first ten, then the second. There was a third and a fourth, if necessary, and as many turns as necessary. All the winners of the first round fought in the first ten, followed by battles between the holders of the two wisps. The same scheme was operating further, simply from the fifth round there were more winners than newcomers, and the priority was changed in the direction of the latter.

***

The third round proved to be difficult. Firstly, the opponent was really good at something. Secondly, it had to be shown that he had reached his limit. A total of three of the newcomers with one wisp made it to the third round, apart from Yee Rhys and the lucky winner of Po Lay, there was another boy who had previously stood out for nothing.

The third opponent turned out to be a boy of about fifteen with a spear. And he knew how to use his weapon, unlike his predecessors. The stick proved problematic, preventing him from getting close to his opponent's body. The teenager kept his distance confidently and occasionally used Qi attacks. From a couple of the more dangerous ones the youngster had to get away with a Dash.

After circling for a while, Yee Rhys decided that he had shown enough weakness, and during another spear attack he pretended to stumble, dodging it. He grabbed hold of the spear's shaft, trying to keep his balance, but it was not enough. Inertia forced the poor fellow to keep spinning, unwittingly dragging the spear with him. With an accidental swing of his hand, Yee Rhys hit his opponent in the head, knocking him out.

- That was dangerous. - The young man admitted, sitting in the arena next to his defeated opponent.

Of the rookies of one wisp, he was the only one to win in the third round.

In the fourth round, Yee Rhys gave up before the fight started.

***

In the amphitheatre, the Inner Sect elders sat in seats of honour, who had arrived to personally witness the talents of the new set of disciples.

After the second round, the elder of the Striped Sword faction scratched his chin thoughtfully.

- Not a bad boy. - He muttered.

- Which one? - His Horned Spear faction mate asked. The two factions, specializing in their respective weapons, were eternal rivals.

- The overgrown man who took the sword from his opponent.

- And what good was that about him? - The lancer snickered skeptically. He was merely making conversation, since there was nothing to see in the arena. - He had not landed a single blow.

- To the enemy, yes, he didn't. But he swung it a couple of times in the air. The boy felt the sword. And what a confident, one might say, habitual movement he took the weapon away! But the owner of the sword really swung it like a big thing. - The swordsman shook his head disapprovingly. - And look carefully, in two duels the boy had never once used his Qi. Yet he's held his own against the practitioners. I'd say the boy is experienced.

- Experience? - Neighbour replayed the fight in his mind. - Perhaps. You can't beat an opponent stronger than you without experience.

- We'll have to keep an eye on him. - The elder of the Striped Sword faction made a note to himself.

***

- An interesting boy indeed. - Swordsman stroked his chin after the third round.

- His opponent with the spear wasn't bad, too bad he lost. - Added the lanceman.

- Do you think he lost by accident? - The elder of the Striped Sword faction smiled.

- At least technically he was winning. - The elder of the Horned Spear faction didn't go into open conflict.

- He was. - The neighbour nodded. - But his opponent wasn't even out of breath. On top of that, the boy was finally using a Qi technique. So the previous opponents were so weak that he didn't even need to waste Qi on them. I'm sure this isn't the limit for him.

***

- Your boy has surrendered. - The lancer smiled after the start of the fourth round. - Didn't even try.

- He seems to want to hide his strength. - The swordsman thought to himself. - Unusual. On the other hand, he's already proven himself quite well.

- I think you overestimate him. - The elder of the Horned Spear faction frowned,

- Perhaps. - The elder of the Striped Sword faction agreed. - But I think he's smart. And all the performances went according to his plan. He gave in on purpose in the third round to make the surrender in the fourth look natural.

- Even so, why would he hide his strength? - The interlocutor wondered.

- I don't know. - The swordsman shook his head. - But I want to see his true power. The full extent of his power.

***

For the rest of the Beginner's Ranking Tournament, Yee Rhys stood among the eliminated contestants.

- Thanks for the tip. - Re Coot, also eliminated in the fourth round after a short fight, approached the youngster. Re Coot won the third round almost by accident. First he was running for a long time, convincing his opponent that he didn't know the techniques and could barely manage to save his own skin. Then, when his opponent got tired, he struck a single blow with a Qi technique. In the fourth round, such a trick didn't work.

- You're welcome. - Yee Rhys shrugged. - Either way, you won by yourself.