Invincibility

Elion entered the arena of Eriel's fields. If he won this fight he would pass to the final. In front of him was his opponent, Lisa Finit. The girl age 14 and had been in 6th place in the ranking for the category last year. Now she was in the group 2 finals which ensured at least the 4th position. She had black skin, her hair was black and her eyes were brown. The girl carried a small flail with a heavy, spiked iron ball at the end of the chain. She was staring at Elion.

The blond boy had watched her battles throughout the competition. Thanks to the Faun Lineage she was agile, strong and had great instincts. Her strokes were difficult to predict and her weapon was not easy to block. She would not be an enemy he could win without giving his maximum.

Malakin shouted the start of the fight. Elion stood waiting for Lisa to make her first move, but to his surprise the girl also stood still. They stood facing each other in a few seconds, not moving an inch from their starting spots.

Everyone from the stands felt the tense atmosphere coming from the arena. Every second that passed seemed almost like the calm before a short but intense storm. Once begun, all felt that it would not last long.

Suddenly Lisa moved and began to spin her flail over her head as she approached Elion in slow steps. The boy stood waiting for Lisa's attack. If he could dodge the blow he would have a perfect chance to counter attack and finish the fight.

Lisa attacked with the iron ball of her flail in a diagonal movement from the right to the left. Elion accompanied the entire movement with his eyes and in the last moment he threw his body back making the thorns pass inches from his face.

The boy then approached Lisa before she could start a new attack. The flail gave her a big advantage in the intermediate distance, but when the opponent approaches it loses its effectiveness.

Elion took advantage of the benefit that close range gave him and began a series of attacks on Lisa's body. The girl managed to dodge most of them, but the few that reached her made her lose the ability to control both arms.

Seeing that his opponent could no longer defend his attacks, Elion approached her and dealt a new series of strikes. Although Lisa tried to dodge, not being able to use her arms would prove fatal. Elion then hit a blow in the girl's head which made her faint.

The battle was quickly over. Elion had once again demonstrated the mastery with which he carried himself in battle. While Elion climbed the stands, Cain was heading in the opposite direction towards the arena. As they passed each other, the two boys exchanged smiles.

When Cain arrived at the arena, he stood still for a few moments until his opponent also arrived. Jorg Plutz then entered the arena. He was 14 years old and belonged to a clan that had little influence in the kingdom. The boy had bronze skin and his hair was black. His eyes were blue and his face had soft features. The boy's body was muscular. Jorg held his scimitar in his right hand and carried it putting the blind part of the blade over his shoulder.

Jorg looked at Cain and bowed in a cordial way. Cain, not knowing how to act, also bowed. Jorg had strange attitudes that did not change during fights. Thanks to his unique Lineage, the boy seemed not to care to receive attacks.

In previous fights the boy had been hit by several opponents attacks and not one of them seemed to have been effective. Cain could not imagine a way to overcome his opponent who seemed to have an invulnerable body. 'Every Lineage has its weak points Cain' those words of Heirloc resounded in the boy's mind. He could not see a chance of victory, but what always motivated the boy was the challenge.

The childhood that the boy had spent in the College had shown him the treatment people who were in the top received and how everyone else looked at them with respect. Growing up in this environment where the power struggle was constant caused Cain to realize that just being good at something was not enough. It was important to be the best.

'The harder the better' thought the boy. He was feeling excited about the first challenge he would have throughout the competition.

Malakin then gave the cry for the start of the battle. Cain ran to his opponent and attacked him with his spear with a thrust targeting the heart. Jorg kept his guard low and let the blow hit. When his spear struck the body of his opponent Cain felt as if he had hit against a stone. Jorg looked at Cain smiling and counter attacked with his scimitar.

Jorg's strike was directed at Cain's neck in a horizontal movement. Cain bent to dodge the blow and fell back so he could change his position.

'He is not that fast, so I will not have to worry too much about the attacks as long as I keep concentrated' thought the boy. 'But this Lineage will be problematic' he thought as he tried to come up with a strategy. Cain then advanced to attack Jorg again.

Cain attacked Jorg again, this time aiming at the head of his opponent. Jorg waited for Cain's attack to hit before he could counter attack. Cain had expected the counter attack and retreated before Jorg could start the movement with his arms.

'Damn, I do not know how I'll manage to defeat someone who is invulnerable. Think Cain, he has to have a weakness. His Lineage must have a time limit during which he can use it or something like that' not allowing himself to give up the fight the boy resumed his attacks.

Cain tried to hit Jorg with a sequence of blows targeting the limbs. Jorg allowed Cain to hit him and when Cain stopped attacking he tried to counter. Jorg attacked with his scimitar diagonally from left to right and from top to bottom. Cain had to block with the handle of his spear. Again, Cain retreated. Jorg still had the same smile on his face.

'I'm starting to hate that smile' thought Cain. 'Nothing is working. Apparently I'll have to keep trying until something works or one of us give up from being too tired' Cain didn't like the idea of fighting until the point of exhaustion, not one bit.

Cain attacked Jorg again. This time he aimed at Jorg's body. All his attacks hit, but for the first time two of Cain's blows had not reached the desired location. Before Cain received a blow, he fell to recover energy. He was dancing in the palm of Jorg's hand. While Cain ran through the arena and spent his energies trying to attack, his opponent had stood still attacking only a few times.

'He has not moved since the fight began and still has that damned smile' Cain was getting angry. 'Calm down, try to analyze everything, there must be something I failed to perceive' Cain tried to remember all that had occurred since the beginning of the fight. 'There was only one thing in this fight which seems strange. I'll have to confirm first but this may be my only chance' Cain seemed to have thought up a plan and once again he started walking toward Jorg.

Cain began to attack Jorg's body again. This time some of his blows hit the left arm of his opponent. Cain for the first time throughout the fight smiled. Cain stopped attacking. Jorg quickly started his counter attack with his scimitar in a horizontal movement from left to right. It was exactly what Cain was waiting for. The boy dodged the blow and attacked between Jorg's second and third rib with the blade of his spear. When struck Jorg instantly fell to the ground unconscious.

Cain had noticed that Jorg only defended a specific location in his body while letting all the other attacks hit. Then Cain thought of the possibility of that location being the weakness of Jorg's Lineage and that if he hit that place he would win. And by the result of the battle the boy was proven right.

Only then Cain heard the crowd. Since the beginning of the battle people were screaming, but the boy was so focused on the battle he had blocked everything but his opponent from his mind. This time as well the people in the stands began to shout Cain's name in unison.

The boy was exhausted. The fight had tired him more than he expected. Cain left the arena and went up the bleachers toward the place where Elion was. Upon reaching the place his friend greeted him with a handshake.

"It seems that finally we will have our first fight" Elion said smiling.

"It seems so. Unexpectedly you fulfilled your promise. I think this must be the first time" said Cain teasing Elion.

"Apparently you are not tired, even if this has been the longest fight of the tournament. You still have energy to make jokes" said Elion while laughing.

Malakin took a break for Cain to recover his energy before the final battle and then called the two boys to the arena. Cain was face to face with Elion. For the first time the two were to fight and now Cain could see that the aura of confidence that Elion had was really intimidating.

"It is better that you use everything you have. I will not accept any excuse such as you saying you lost because you did not give your best" said Cain.

"Try to stay in control of your body during the battle. I do not want to hear you saying that you only lost because you had no control of what your body did" said Elion.

Malakin gave the cry for the start of the battle and the two boys started running. They met in the center of the arena. Elion took the initiative and attacked with the sword in his right hand diagonally from top to bottom. Cain defended using the handle of his spear and swung his fist to strike back with the blade.

Elion stepped back causing the blade to pass inches from his face. The two boys stepped back and smiled at each other. Elion began to attack using his two swords in a thrust. Cain answered sticking his spear in the ground and jumping over Elion's body. It was the same move that he had used to win the fight in the group one best of sixteen. Before Cain could pull his spear, Elion kicked it causing the black-haired boy who was in the air to lose balance and fall to the ground.

Elion took advantage of the position Cain was in and attacked him with his swords. Cain rolled his body to escape. Cain then got up and retreated. The blond boy had defended his best move masterfully and almost had defeated him. Cain had barely escaped defeat, but now the fight would be much more difficult.

At Cain's side his left arm was dead. He had been hit.