8 Life but I have a Budget Excalibur?

In combat, knowledge, information, and time is everything. The smallest bit of information can turn the tides of the battle. Right now, none of us have information on each other. Only basic knowledge and that one time the wolf saw my technique.

Actually, I'm not too sure. He implied that he's seen me before. Plus, I think he kinda fought my dad in the past, and he looks like a veteran. And right then and there, I was just a young rookie, barely a month in the wild.

This was my first time fighting a wolf. After all years training against humans, no, only one human, I'm sure that this wolf is harder to conquer, not to mention probably merciless. Needless to say, I'm not a soft kid. But I'm still a kid. I have magic, but I don't know how to use it.

Sounds of steel as they clashed with each other were heard. I was impressed that this wolf has silver fangs. Like, stuff like this probably only happens in anime, but here, we actually have a silver-fanged wolf.

Hey, chat, if he doesn't annoy me to death, can I adopt him as a pet?

He fought hard. I fought hard. We were in this tight circle, mano-y-mano, roll up the sleeves, let's go kind of scenario. He wanted to eat me (probably), I wanted to go home, each of us needed to go our way.

The battle wasn't as hard as I expected it to be. Watch for claw here, dodge bite here, footwork, scan for attacks, repeat. Simple, right? But this dude was no ordinary wolf. He seemed to feed off every attack I landed. Every time I hit him, his attack speed seemed to increase.

Elves and wolves trickled in from the forest. In the span of a few minutes, we had ourselves a makeshift arena watching us go at it.

As the battle continued, it seemed like everybody was enjoying this. Were they just thrilled with the battle or did they want me to lose? Come one, why does no one here make any sense in the slightest?

But I think I missed this. The electricity in the crowd just before magic strikes. The anticipation, the narrowed breaths, the jostling of each other to get a closer look.

And I wanted to put on a show. Just one more time.

The problem was, he began fighting like a demon. Every slash I sent, he launched two back. His attacks became faster, more feral, rabid, scary, even.

And I began to get tired.

The fight garnered a few "oohs" and "aahs from the crowd. I threw my arms up, trying to at least get someone to cheer for the underdog.

Well, none came. Can't say I didn't try, though.

Then I caught Garyn, staring at me, with more killer intent in his eyes than the big bad brother from earlier.

I signaled for a break, holding up my sword with two hands. The wolf, being proud as he was, headed into the far corner to drink up some Powerade or whatever they have in this world. I made my way to the other side to catch my breath.

But then I heard someone calling out.

"Kid, what were you thinking?" Garyn walked over to me and grabbed me by the ear.

"He insulted my Mom. Man's gotta do what he gotta do!" I shook him off. "Oh, by the way, got water on you?"

He threw me a flask, which I immediately guzzled down. He put his hands on my arm.

"To think you would pick a fight with a demon wolf…" He muttered. "HEAL!" he yelled.

My body felt lighter. I swung my arms, kicked myself up, and experimentally stretched. Good as new.

"It's a miracle you haven't been hurt yet."

"Maybe I'm the miracle itself?" I joke.

"It's not too late to back out of this," he said, hurriedly.

"Man, we had this-this big moment, and everything, like, I don't know about you, but like, I wanna finish it, you hear?" I said, with approximately zero oxygen in my brain. At this point, while my body was A-Okay, my mind was running on fumes.

Looking back, that was a big mistake, but who cares. I was running on sheer adrenaline at this point.

Garyn gave me a strange look. He cocked his head back, sighed, and patted my shoulders.

"You really do take after your parents." He chuckled. Which was pretty unexpected. Remind me to ask him later. "Go make them proud."

Mom would beat his ass up one day, sometime later in the future, for allowing me to make that choice. But hey, he understood. Gotta give props to that.

"Roger."

I stepped back inside the circle of bodies that the crowd made. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see coins swinging around, booze flowing, and a drumset being strung up.

Not gonna lie, I have pretty mixed feelings about them making entertainment out of this. On one hand, I was happy to see some hands coming in to bet on me. On the other hand, most of the bets were swinging towards the wolf.

A loud orchestra of howls erupted from the other side. I craned my head, to take a look at the fellow from the other side.

He came out, looking bigger, badder, meaner, damn... hungrier, even. Wolf was straight up ready to beast and feast on whatever he found in his sights.

And he was hungry for a 6-year old halfling with some potatoes and gravy on the side.

However, the long-fought battle gave me a slight idea of the wolf's weakness. His abdomen. I recalled that one time I hit him with Flash steps. So I tried but he was aware of my moves so he's careful at being hit there again.

Dang it, I've been demoted to one-trick pony status.

"Remove the sheath of your sword kid. Are you afraid that your measly weapon can harm me?" Proudly, he asked of me like an act of chivalry against an opponent.

"Well, if you insist."

I drew my sword. The drumroll started going, and the electricity in the crowd went pure static. I could feel a thousand eyes watching us, waiting to find an outcome.

I revealed my sword to everyone. It wasn't your ordinary metal scrap. It was a magic sword and I found it while I was wandering deep inside the woods in the human kingdom. My body was telling me to leave it as it is but I took it anyway. Well, isn't there but now, a more perfect time to try it out?

I mean, it was driven into a rock. It's like that with swords. Arthur had Excalibur, this was my moment. You just have to do that whenever you find a sword driven into a rock.

It just called me. Man's gotta do what he got to do, you know?

The sword was named Bloodreaper. I know, because I found the name carved into the hilt. I only got to practice on a rat, which sounds inhumane, but it was one of those Monster rats. Like, the kind that goes poof when you stick metal into it. Chill, you guys. Anyways, as the name implies, it was made with the intent of draining blood from different creatures and it gave me a unique skill. I call it Bloodlust. Whenever my opponent or anyone who sees the sword gets scared, it collects all those fears, condenses it, converts it into mana, to give its wielder and/or power itself even further.

The moment the sword was unsheathed, the crowd went dead silent. It was almost as if they've seen the sword before. And they probably didn't like it.

Fear was carved into their faces. The sword's effect on everybody was pretty crazy. It even shocked me, because even the wolves' legs were shaken because of fear. It gave me a remarkable amount of power that it gathered from everyone. It's like the sword was getting stronger endlessly. And that sheer boost of energy probably fried my brain, or so I was told. The moment I experimentally swung at the wolf, I suddenly felt dizzy and my mind went blank.

*

I just woke up seeing a pretty elven girl, maybe my age, beside me. Wait. Wasn't I fighting a demon wolf? My head still feels heavy. And where's my sword anyway?

I tried turning my head. I was in some sort of fancy bedroom. My body's been wrapped in bandages. Probably from head to toe.

"Ughh… My head." I said while trying to squeeze my head to reduce the pain.

"Oh, you're awake. Father said you need to go talk to him about something first before you do anything." She said cooly. I took a good look at her.

"Uhmm... Sure?" Weird. I felt that something bad happened and I was sure of it. Adding to that, I don't have any memories of my fight against the wolf, after the whole sword incident. I went downstairs and I saw some people. They were clothed nicely. Ooh, plus, they were wearing a uniform badge issued by the higher-ups, more specifically the chief, given to those he highly trusts.

I know. I do my homework.

Ironically, since the elders were old, these dudes had hair coming in all sorts of colors. Like, these dudes got wild locks, not gonna lie.

"Oh, you're awake. Come, we need to talk a bit." Garyn sounded serious like I made a grave mistake.

As if on the death plank, I edged forward, hands bound, wary of the sharks in front of me. I looked behind me, hoping for some form of support. But the girl from earlier was nowhere to be found.

"Where did you get that sword?"

"I-it was behind a tree in a human forest." I said.

"Liar. That sword is the key to the underworld. It feeds on your malice and fear around you while corrupting your mind!" An elder shouted at me. "Not to mention that it was sealed with a seventh-tier magic which a normal human nor elf couldn't break."

He stared at me blankly. "Of course. We forgot to plan for halflings…"

"Be honest. How did you get it?" Said one elder; a bit more sensible than the previous one.

"One time, I tried wandering the woods then a voice came to me. It said, "Come." I instinctively followed the voice and I saw this sword driven into a rock. I took a good look at it and it seems cool. So, I claimed it, owned it, and took it as my primary weapon."

Garyn went full facepalm. The elders exchanged uneasy looks amongst themselves.

Even though I have this magic sword dad gave me as a present, it wasn't nearly as powerful as the bloodreaper. Man, I don't want to use that old yee-yee. No disrespect to my Dad, but for real, if you get that OP blade, you'll equip it, right? You feel me?

"How did this sword get pulled out by this kid?" One asked.

"What do we do with him?" Another went.

"Enough. I don't want to hear any more from you." This tall, old geezer from the back said. "Next time, please refrain from using that sword. It almost killed our demon wolf." He said to me.

"Yes, Sir," I said. Wasn't in the mood to argue. Especially with these people.

"Come with me." Garyn said. I remained rooted to my spot. "Now." He said, tugging at me.

"Shall the senate decide my fate?" I shot back at him, spreading my arms. I walked on, out of the room, when I felt the awkward silence.

"Nobody gets the reference?" I looked back. They gave me fearful looks.

I sauntered out of the door, humming the bars to Wonderwall.

The moment I walked out, I ducked behind the door, listening to their conversation. Sadly, it was hushed.

The old lady probably said something about me, and they all agreed half-heartedly with her. Maybe she's the boss of this old mafia gang or something.

"C'mon, kid." Garyn picked me up from my wrist and carried me like a baby. "Let's just go."

I think I'll try to ask about the details of the fight later when everyone's in a better mood.