10 Fight

God damn it, this always happens, I'm always dragged into some sort of bullshit.

I'm carried by Hamza into a tent. "You can put me down now" I say. He puts me down. Joseph follows us into the tent. "Great, you did an amazing job, everybody will be watching your fight. That was the perfect way to rile up the soldiers" Joseph says. "Great way my ass, how the in the heavenly fuck am I supposed to beat him?" I snap at Joseph. "Can he do magic? That man?" I ask Hamza. "Probably, he's one of our more talented soldiers" He replies.

"Hold on, you said you were strong and that you could beat him" Joseph says. "Yeah, I did until I was standing in front him, until I felt that his mana was stronger than mine." I say. "There is no point in getting cold feet now" Joseph replies. "What's done is already done now you have to deal with it" Joseph continues.

Shit what am I going to do? "How am I going to deal with this? Shit!" I say. I was able to beat the butcher because I had the element of surprise. If he knew that I knew magic it would have been over for me, but with that one lucky fire ball I was able kill him. So, what now. What's my next move, how do I beat an opponent that I know nothing about and that is taller, stronger and more magically adept than me? Wait, hold on, because his mana is strong doesn't mean that he can produce better magic than me; it just means that he has better mana. "Hamza, does he come from a noble family or is he commoner" I ask. "I doubt that he's a noble, most nobles get officer roles in the military even with no experience, but he's a infantry man as veteran" He replies. "So he's probably a commoner" I say.

"Yes" Hamza replies. So the chance of him having stronger magic than the basic military forms is low. Although no person is born with that kind of mana. He must have trained for it, why would you train for high levels of mana if you weren't going to use them. It wouldn't make sense. Ok, now I have my first course of action, I'm going to need to spy on him and get as much information as possible. But, I can't do that. I'm now popular in the camp, so the chance of me sneaking around the camp without being noticed is low. "Hamza, how many soldiers are there in the camp" I ask. "Around 7000 men" He replies. Ok, so the only about 100 to 200 men have actually seen my face meaning that If I get a hood and hide my face I can spy on him.

"Wait; hold on 7000 men, then what's the point?" I ask. "What?" Hamza replies. "Joseph, what's the point? Only about 200 men have actually seen my dispute with Fortinbras, and at most 1000 men will come see the fight between me and Fortinbras. So then what's the point? Even If I win somehow, only 1/7 of the soldiers will see it, plus we don't even know If that'll motivate them. There's no reason for it." I say. "Don't worry, it'll work, you just have to believe in me, your fight is the first step towards our victory in this battle" he replies through a smile.

"Oh yeah? How about you believe in these balls." I yell at him. "Go fuck yourself, this is fucking stupid." I continue. I storm out of the tent.

I walk through the camp trying to find where he is. I have to get something to cover my face; I pull out of my pocket a long cloth and wrap it around my face like a bandana. For now, this is the best cover I can get. Instead of going through the main roads of the camp I walk between the tents. It's about lunch time so most of the men are at random campfires around the camp.

As I sneak my way through the camp I spot him. He's sitting around a camp fire eating with the rest of the soldiers. He's not talking to anybody, he finishes his meal first and puts his bowl on the ground and leaves. He walks through the camp. I follow him, I duck behind the tents. He walks into a tent, and then a couple of second later he comes out with a bowl like object made out of wood, a sword, and a bunch of cloth. He walks down to the river. He stands at the base of the river, he takes of his boots and his socks and puts them on the dry ground. He puts the cloth down on the ground and his sword next to it.

He rolls up his pants and walks into the river, with his bowl he takes a scoop of water and drinks it. He then takes another scoop of the water and returns back to the land. He sits on the dry ground and puts the bowl like object filled with water next to him. He puts the cloth in the water and grabs one of his boot, he starts cleaning his boots. One boot then the other, after he wipes his boots, he grabs his sword, unsheathes it and starts cleaning it. Fuck, I'm not going to get information like this. What is he a stoic? I need to do something, something that'll prove to me that he can use magic. What If I fired some small magic at him, like a small fire ball?

I levitate my left hand over my right. Between my hands a small ball of fire forms, the size of a baseball. I keep turning my left hand as I try fixing its edges to make the perfect fireball. While, I'm doing this I keep my eyes on him as he cleans his sword. Should I fire? If I end up killing him before the fight that'll ruin Joseph's plan and put me in deep shit. They'll deem me a traitor and try to kill. Ok, then I'll aim at his back. Where I can test whether he has magic and where he'll survive if it hits him. Plus, he's close to the river so he can jump in it If the fire spreads through his body.

I stand there contemplating what I should do. Fuck it; it's time to go all in. I shoot the ball of fire. The high speed fireball darts at him. He stands up with haste, turns around and uses some sort of magic on his sword. It emits a blue light and then with the blunt part of the sword he punts the fire ball into the river like a baseball player. He turns towards my general direction and slams his foot on the ground. On my left and right side two walls of dirt and mud spring out and block me in between two tents. I activate agility magic, and jump onto the side of the wall, I parkour over the wall onto the other side. I sprint deep into the camp and while running I take off my cloth bandana and stuff it into my pocket.

Shit, he can use magic and on top of he is at a higher level than me, plus he knew that I had been following him the entire time. I'm fucked. Unless I come up with a plan it'll be a one sided ass whopping. I still have a couple of hours till night fall, so I'll use this time to come up with some sort of plan. Now, I have to gather information on the battlefield, where I'll be fighting, to see If there is anything that I can use in the fight. I run up to the little valley north where the fight will be held.

I can already see where I'll be fighting; it's on a flat terrain, a large dark grey ring that was burned surrounded by grass. The ring is covered in ash, it seems that either somebody burned this while fighting or just burned it for the sake of burning it. But, I can use this to my advantage, I can knock up the ash with my foot into Fortinbras's face thus blinding him for a couple of seconds, giving me a chance to attack him.

There are some rocks also in the ring; they are quite big, just like with the ash I can kick these rocks into his body or face. This is great; I think I have an advantage over him now. Now, the only thing left is to get myself into fighting shape. I returned back to my tent and started training and meditating.

Yet again the time for me to fight is here. I walk out of the tent, the sky is pitch black, not a single star praying for me. Well, I have to do what I have to do. As my mind races I walk towards the little north valley, I haven't had a real fight since the butcher. I mean I did fight Sophia but that was a one sided beat down. Plus, Fortinbras is a veteran of war, so I'm not only outmatched in skill but also in experience. So, I'm double fucked. Well, I'll do what I do best I'll wing it.

I reach the north valley, soldiers are already lined up waiting for the fight, and Fortinbras isn't here yet. I see Joseph and Hamza. They're talking to each other; they see me and decide to approach me. "You ready Leo?" Hamza asks. "As much as I can be" I reply. "I didn't expect you would come after that outburst" Joseph says. "I though you said it was a stupid plan" he continues. "It is, but If we don't try it we don't know whether it'll work or not" I say. "So, do you think you'll win" Hamza asks. "I hope so - no, I know I'll win" I reply. "That's the attitude" Joseph says and taps me on the shoulder.

"Are weapons allowed?" I say. "No, you'll be fighting hand to hand with magic of course" Hamza says. "Alright" I say. "Good" I add. "So, is he going to come or has he pussied out " Joseph asks. "I doubt it, he'll come" I say. My stomach is twisting in circles, I feel like I need to take a shit. I can't lie, I'm scared, and I'm terrified. God, please don't come. Please Fortinbras don't come. For the love of God don't come.

I hear the sound of footsteps echoing behind me, then "I'm here, let's get started" A man with a deep voice says. I turn around to see Fortinbras standing a couple of meters behind me. A bunch of soldiers approach him and start talking to him. "You ready" Joseph asks. "Yeah" I reply. A large man, bald man stands between me and Fortinbras. "You'll be fighting in the that ashy ring over there" He says points at the burned ring. "Ok" Fortinbras says and walks past me. He walks into the ring. "Alright" I say. "Go get 'em champ" Joseph massages my shoulders and then slaps my back. Fuck me. I walk into the ring onto the opposite side of Fortinbras.

The bald man again positions himself between me and Fortinbras in the middle of the ring. At this point the ring is surrounded by soldiers who are drinking, laughing, heckling and betting. Fortinbras and me stand across from each, we lock eyes, and stare down each other. "Alright, let's have good fight, no weapons, everything else is fair game" The bald man says. "Now turn around and walk ten paces back" He continues.

I turn around and walk ten paces. "Good, now stay there and don't turn around until I tell you to" He says. "I will count down from 5 and when I say start you can start the fight" He continues. "5"

"4"

What's my opening move? Should I rush him?

"3"

Shit, I was too busy being nervous that I didn't think of an opening move

"2"

Fuck it I'll hit him with water.

"1"

Concentrate mana into a jet of water.

"Start"

I turn around and like a cowboy shoot him with the jet of water. It hits him in the stomach and pushes him a couple of meter back but he activated defense magic before it could do any real harm. He activates agility and strengthening military magic. I activate all three types of military magic. He rushes me. Fuck he's fast, he attacks me with a quick left jab. I weave and dodge the jab, he hits me two quick left jabs but I block them with my arms. I jump back to open some space between us. He moves forward a little bit. In my left hand I concentrate lighting magic and then I rush at him trying to electrocute his wet body.

I get in arms reach of him, I'm about touch him and electrocute him but then boom he punches me with his right hand straight into my cheek. In fear I jump back twice leaving a lot of space between us. His hands are in some kind of boxing stance, do they have martial arts in this world? Of course they have martial arts, most of the fighting is close combat in this world. Fuck what now. The crowd of soldier is cheering. Let's go again.

I rush at him, he attacks with another quick left jab but I dodge it, I'm yet again in arms reach, and then boom again he hits me with his right hands a little above the check. He scratches my left eye, it doesn't hurt but it's enough to blind for a couple of seconds. Dazed and confused I try to defend myself but I'm hit with 3 quick left jab into the mouth and nose area. I put my guard up to block my face, then with the full force of his right hand he hits my stomach, knocking the air out of my lungs. In a moment of fear I shoot fire magic at him, since we're at close range he gets hit, but he jumps back and uses water magic on himself and extinguishes the fire. I move away from him, to catch my breath. I'm bleeding from my lip and my nose, and I think a black eye is starting to form.

Shit what now, he sprints at me, fuck I need to get out of here. I turn around and start running around the ring, trying to escape him, like a coward. The soldiers burst into laughter. Fuck, I need to come with a plan. To use the ash I need to be able to come near him without him beating the shit out of me. Fuck! I hear the sound of foot slamming onto the ground then before me a wall of mud and dirt erupts before I can react I run straight into it. I bounce off and fall onto the ground. The soldiers start laughing even harder than before. I pick myself up and get into a sitting position before I can stand up a boot from the back kicks me in the face. He kicks my face into the ground.

I'm dazed I can't see right, everything is spinning. I try to stand up but I'm kicked in the ribs before I can. As I fall to the ground again I grab a bunch ash and dirt, and I turn my head and launch it into his face. He stammers back and grabs his face trying to remove the dirt and ash, I move up to the kneeling position. I look at his groin area. Without a second of hesitation I upper cut his balls. He yelps in pain and grabs his groin with both hands, he lowers his head and in a split second I pick myself up and throw a hook into his jaw. I don't let go, he fall to his knees and I keep punching him, left hook, right hook, jab, jab, jab, upper cut. I don't even let a single second of this opportunity I created let go to waste.

I grab with both my hand his face and electrocute him. He falls a little bit but he grabs onto my arm. I try to make him let go by punching him in the face but it isn't working. He then yells and with all the anger in his body he picks up my small 13 year old body and slams me into the ground. When, I hit the ground every single molecule of air left my body. Then, he picks me up again. I watch from his shoulders the faces of Joseph, Hamza and the other soldiers. Hamza looks concerned. Joseph looks serious, the soldiers are having a blast, then again I'm slammed onto the ground. I can't even see straight anymore, everything has become melted shapes and colors.

As he picks me up again, I wish that this would end, I'm tired. I want to go home. I want to see my mom. As I'm slammed into the ground everything goes black.

The sounds of the birds singing their native songs wakes me up. It's the morning; sunlight overcomes my tent, which only has a bed and a chest in it.

I lost.

God, I'm fucking pathetic. I didn't even get to use the rocks.