2 Chapter 2

Now, that 6 candidates were left, including Anne, Worrick and Christa, the betting stalls were crowded with people placing their bets on their favorite fighter.

In the arena, Christa was facing a bald guy. He put out a nice stiff left punch, which he planned to follow with a right cross kick. She slipped to the left, which threw him off enough so that she could step inside the right cross kick and get a handful of his beard. She pulled his head forward and broke his nose with her head. Still holding his beard in one hand, she got her other hand into his crotch and put her shoulder into him and lifted him off the ground and slammed him down on the concrete floor. He grunted, and went limp.

Christa won. She was fighting continuously with this guy for a long time, and finally she defeated him. Her breathing had grown labored.

Now, 5 were left. Three guys and two girls.

Currently Anne was at 3rd position on the betting list, and the top position was held by Worrick. Christa had somehow slipped to fourth.

Borgeez was analyzing the current condition of all the remaining fighters. Still, the result of his analysis didn't differ from his initial prediction. Although Anne was good at tactics and techniques, what was she going to do when facing Christa? Christa Wolfhen was specifically trained for this fight; on the other hand much less was known about Anne.

Borgeez repeated analysis to his friends. His friends nodded in unison. They turned their gazes towards the arena.

In the arena, Anne was exploring her options. She was closely observing the movements of other fighters and was trying to maintain a distance from them. This strategy worked for her. She saw Christa defeating a guy. Anne's mind went blank after observing Christa. What was that fighting technique? She wondered as she began to lose confidence. Christa was walking with big strides towards her.

Will she fail in her mission? They have entrusted her for this mission. So much is at stake!

On the other side, a guy named Henry was facing off with Vick; Worrick was observing this fight from sidelines.

"Okay, come on." Vick said with an ugly grin. That grin was broken by a flying fist which rattled his brain.

"What are you fuckin with? Come on?" Henry spoke with his teeth clenched. "Come at me baby, daddy will teach you how to punch."

Henry removed his shirt. "Alright let's do this." He launched an elbow toward Vick. Vick dodged the elbow and launched a straight punch at Henry's face. Henry spat the broken tooth. He was observing the movements of Vick attentively. Vick launched an elbow from the sidelines but this time Henry dodged it and punched Vick in the abdomen.

"I'm a brawler; I've defeated many guys before you. You are nothing." Vick said with heavy breathing and punched straight at Henry's face. Henry dodged it and jumped on Vick. Both of them fell to the ground. Henry quickly went to his knees and grabbed Vick with one hand while punching him in the liver with the other. He propelled five consecutive blows to Vick's liver before he was kicked back.

Vick felt terrible pain emerging from his side. Pain was just an illusory sensation that his mind would shut down if it needed to, he told himself. Put it aside. He stood up again. Ready to brawl!

He punched an uppercut towards Henry, which was easily dodged by him. His movements were slower now. Henry dodged the punch and launched a kick in his liver, which made Vick scream in pain. "Fuck you!"

But this cursing was meaningless now; Henry again kicked him at the same spot, continuously six times. Vick squatted on the floor, tears coming from his eyes. Vick was defeated!

Henry took a deep breath and turned back. Worrick was standing in front of him.

Dimly aware of the hush that befell the crowd, Anne faced her opponent and waited. She would let Christa make the first move.

Don't lose don't lose don't lose!

The midget spoke, "The fight is in its last stage. Who'll win?"

"Who'll taste defeat?"

"Let's see!"

Christa moved.

Anne jerked back, aside. The blow meant for her jaw whizzed by in a blur. From the corner of her eye, she saw her opponent's other arm begin an upward trajectory. She ducked this time, and felt her hair ruffle with the force of it.

Drop to the floor. Roll clear, stand. Don't let her connect. Draw it out.

Christa charged with a roar. Anne sidestepped, and whirled to face her. Her opponent lunged. She avoided one flying fist, only to collide with another.

The blow glanced off her ribcage, a sharp sting that was fading fast. In front of her, Christa grinned and jabbed again at her midsection.

Block. Shove away. Back off.

Evasion was simple, but it couldn't last forever. The crowd wanted action. They came for blood. Minutes passed with no contact, and Anne felt pressure emanating from all sides, a nearly audible chant: punch-kick-strike-hurt.

Anne went on the offensive. She lashed out, aiming for her opponent's gut. Christa proved equally effective at defense, and Anne's fist met a meaty forearm. She tried again with both hands—one-two, and this time connected.

It felt like punching flesh-covered steel.

Christa stepped four steps back. That move was good!

Anne moved damned fast. So fast that Christa nearly missed seeing her. Christa's body seemed to react on its own, without conscious thought. She slid to her right, opposite the direction she had been circling as Anne rushed at her. Christa's vision blurred as the battle resumed.

Anne threw a punch with her left hand, tried to hook Christa's left leg with her own, trying to throw her to the ground. Christa turned forward and to her right, slapping her left hand against the middle of her opponent's back as she slid past. The blow caught her opponent between her shoulder blades. Christa felt her move was connected well. Anne grunted in pain.

She turned towards Christa, and confronted her straight face to face. She put her fists in front of her face. Christa did the same. This must be final exchange between them. The people were silent.

They began to punch. Sounds of thumping and colliding of fists were heard. It appeared as if the fists were talking with each other.

"I am evil."

Christa's fist replied, "I am good."

"I am pain."

"I am comfort."

"I am fear."

"I am hope."

"I am hatred."

"I am love."

The blows fell hard from both sides. The sound of one fist melded with the sound of the other. They shared a voice. The two beautiful girls were now bloody faced.

"I am deceit."

"I am truth."

"I am death."

The people around them fell silent. The match was over. The cruelest duel of this match was finally finished.

Christa stood straight and looked towards Anne, who was gasping for breath on the concrete floor.

Christa won!

Anne was defeated!

Worrick was standing against Henry. Since Christa was not able to fight anymore due to injuries, this would be the last duel of this brawl.

"You ready?" Worrick asked Henry, smiling.

"Ever since the moment I was born," Henry replied and began to focus.

Worrick was standing still with fists in front, ready to counter any surprise attacks. The smell of sweat from their bodies had increased the level of manliness in the arena to a new level.

Worrick removed his shirt, revealing his shredded body. The scene was like two steel bodies facing each other.

Worrick moved with fast strides and grabbed Henry's neck, Henry didn't even have the time to dodge the grab. Worrick grabbed his neck with one hand and with the other he began to thrust his elbow into Henry's face. Henry punched Worrick in the abdomen and freed himself from the grab. He shook his head and spat the mouthful of blood that had accumulated from the strikes. His breathing calmed.

He grabbed the retreating Worrick and inserted his nails into his chest.

Massive pain emerged from the wound, and Worrick roared, "AAAH!"

Henry twisted his nails inside the wound, increasing the amount of pain. Worrick looked straight into Henry's eyes and spat mouthful of saliva. Henry was blinded for a second due to the saliva entering his eyes. Worrick seized the opening and propelled a heavy punch onto his nose. Blood gushed out like a fountain from Henry's nose. He released the grab and held his nose with both hands. He looked at Worrick with killing intent. Henry moved his fists to the front of his face. He swung his right fist at Worrick.

Worrick blocked his sideways swing to his left side and pushed his fist away. They began circling each other.

Worrick watched Henry's every move. He was tough, and light-footed. His wrists were powerful, and he was unbelievably agile. He would attack with flicks of his wrist and defend with slight deflections and quick dodges, a fighting style that involved minimal physical contact and maximum strike damage.

He attacked again, stepping forward and flicking his wrist out. Worrick blocked the blur that was his elbow, but he was too quick. Without giving Worrick time to recover, he swirled around and slashed at his right flank, fist pointed up. Worrick almost failed to block his strike, barely deflecting it away from his neck. Henry just pulled his fist back and punched downwards at his shins. He smacked them with the knuckle, knocking Worrick off his feet. As he fell, he saw Henry turn around and jump towards him for a fatal strike.

As the kick descended, the world started running in bullet time. Worrick saw the tip of his leg speeding towards his gut. Almost automatically, Worrick's legs lifted up and his back bent double. He somersaulted backwards and found his feet again. Henry's kick rushed right past his nose, followed by the rest of his body, as he stumbled forward in surprise. Worrick smiled and swung a hard elbow at his exposed back, fully expecting a win.

Of course, it wasn't that easy. As Worrick swung downwards, Henry stopped his fall with his free hand and used it to twist around, so he was flat on his back. He lifted his elbow just in time to meet Worrick's. He ducked under their conjoined elbows and pulled his elbow back. With nothing to oppose the force Worrick had put into the strike, he was pushed off-balance and stumbled forward. Worrick converted the fall into a forward roll, narrowly avoiding Henry's downward kick. That was Worrick's one fatal strike against Henry's two.

They paused and began circling again.

Worrick took a good look at Henry. He stepped forward, engaging with Henry's fists head on, but instead of a short clash, He kept the pressure on his fists, pushing against Henry. The suddenness of the attack made Henry retreat, but Worrick wasn't done. As Henry stepped back, Worrick stepped on one of his toes. As Henry lost balance and fell backwards, Worrick grabbed him around the waist and raised him on his shoulders smashing him against the hard concrete.

Bang!

The duel ended!

Worrick came first as predicted by Borgeez.

Borgeez and team collected their reward from the stall, they placed their bet on Christa, who was selected.

"How did you predict Worrick would win?" Sam asked Borgeez while holding the money bag.

"You see, his aggressiveness coupled with the basic techniques he was using; he can challenge even you to a good fight." Borgeez and his group was busy discussing the outcome of the brawl, a loud thud caught their attention.

Suddenly, the opened gate opened and several officers from the DSC entered the hall. Officer Kaine entered the hall and said into the microphone, "We suspect that there are some spies in the fighters."

The people were stunned. "Their motives are still unknown, for now we know only two of them. They are Vick Gregor and Anne Chrude." Kaine spoke as the officers handcuffed Vick who was half-conscious. Anne was not in the hall. She was long gone before any of the other participants had noticed her absence.

Vick was captured by the DSC and Anne escaped. Well, of course there was a search going on for her, but the chances of finding her were really low.

Worrick and Christa were selected as potential talents for king's guards. Henry's selection needed some consideration for now.

Borgeez went back to the castle with Sam. There would be a meeting in the courtroom of the castle today in which different things would be talked about; Borgeez would also be there to look at the proceedings, but all the decisions would be made by elders.

Only his signature was needed. This was also good because he was only sixteen now and could not argue with these elders who had seen more of the world than he did.

In the courtroom:-

As soon as Borgeez entered the room all the ministers stood up to pay their respects. Of course this respect was not for Borgeez but for the kingdom. He sat on the throne.

"All the officials, you can start the discussion."

With his single order the courtroom began to go lively.

"Looks like the eighth kingdom has changed their mode from defensive to offensive. The incident today and the incident which happened to our cargo ship are the proof of this," A long bearded uncle with fat belly stood up and said. With every word, some spit also came out from his mouth, and the officials sitting around him slightly shifted away from him.

Borgeez turned his gaze towards Army Chief Aroch

"Well, it is true that Eighth kingdom is using a direct approach, but we cannot be muddleheaded. We should not forget that our army and our weapons are lesser in quantity than them," He stopped. After confirming that he got everyone's attention in the room he continued, "Instead of going against bigger fish, we should catch the small fish first."

"Please speak plainly, Army chief," Borgeez said with raised eyebrows.

"What I meant to say is that we should go for the tenth and eleventh kingdom first," Aroch finished his talk and occupied his seat, which was immediately to the left of Borgeez.

"Someone brief me about the tenth kingdom," Borgeez said to some officials wearing white robes, a sign for intelligence unit of kingdom.

"Tenth kingdom, they have an army of two hundred thousand people. Their army commander is quite a good one. There are four generals in their army but we should only worry about three, the fourth one is quite old and about to retire. Their economy is based on the mines of iron, copper and calcium that they have. The fifth kingdom recently approached them to propose an alliance," a man wearing white robe with a hunched back said to prince.

"Then what was the result of their talk? Did they form an alliance?" Aroch asked curiously.

"The Tenth kingdom asked for some time to think," the man with hunched back replied.

"What's your opinion on this Uncle Victor?" Borgeez asked hunched man.

"I think they are planning something, but I can't decipher what it is currently," the hunched man bowed.

"You can sit down Uncle Victor," Borgeez then turned towards the others and said in a voice loud enough to echo throughout the whole courtroom. "Commander Aroch, we are going to have a meeting with the king of the tenth kingdom. Prepare your best men".

The officials in the courtroom were swept by surprise, and the hunched back man even stood up and said, "Your highness should think about this matter carefully before doing anything."

"I know that," said Borgeez. Sighing, he sat back and allowed his mind to wander while the officials began to argue.

It took a while, but the prince was immensely relieved once the meeting had died down. Without even waiting for Uncle Victor to adjourn the meeting, he jumped out and left the room.

Borgeez's butt was numb after sitting for two straight hours in the courtroom, so he decided to take a walk. Sam also followed him.

As the prince strolled through the garden while rubbing his sore rump, he turned to Aroch, "Choose ten men and ten women from your army, and take them with us."

A smile appeared on Aroch's face, and he nodded.