Friendly Tournaments (Ch.5)

~All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved~

- Sun Tzu

I sat rigidly on my bed, staring with distaste at the notice Daerev had passed to me. The notice that informed the kingdom that I was to be officially engaged to second prince Jalan in a fourth night, three days after the arrival of the emissaries from the other six kingdoms, and two days after the first official peace talk, the envoys arrived yesterday.

Within the seven kingdoms, an engagement was taken as seriously as a wedding, this was because social norms and moral standards here weren't necessarily strict, once a couple was engaged, it wasn't abnormal to begin engaging in sexual intimacy from that point, rather it was considered normal, an engagement was practically a wedding, just without all the crowd and large ceremony yet, but the agreement between both families would already be finalized.

A wedding was just the ceremony itself, while every necessary procedure must have been done at the engagement. However since it was an engagement with royalty, it still had to be done in a big way.

I pushed aside all thoughts concerning the engagement, our performance would begin from today, a welcoming ceremony/ friendly tournament was being held today as all the envoys had arrived, as the future second princess of Dalagh, daughter of the Great General and General of the azure elite, my presence was required.

I stood up, throwing on my black form fitting inner clothes, the shirt, a soft satin material that clung tightly to me and my favorite combat leather pants in black. I put on my gold embroidered boots and picked up my sleeveless gold embroidered coat and a gold veil, I walked out whilst pulling my waist length black hair into a tight pony tail, not bothering to check my reflection, I knew exactly what I would see...an unearthly beauty, one I could not yet decide if it was a blessing or a curse, I pulled on the veil before leaving the mansion.

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Everyone was already at the tournaments, it had begun a short while ago, I had stayed back a bit to ensure I was ready for what would happen today, this had already happened before and last time it ended with the crown prince seriously injured and a complete destruction of his power source by another warrior, one whom I was supposed to face but had refused due to my anger at Jalan for his actions at our last meeting, the warrior was not as skilled as the crown prince but had challenged him to a fight, having prepared to use underhanded means, at the end of the fight, he had succeeded in poisoning Jaran hence weakening him and defeating him.

This had brought the peace talks to an abrupt end before it even began, unluckily for me, I had also met Kan today, when royal uncle ordered to have all envoys detained due to what had happened with Jaran, at the end of it all, I had left with him after his release from confinement when it was proven his kingdom had no hand in what occured.

I had the opportunity to fight that warrior but had turned down royal uncles request to be one of the warriors representing Dalagh in the tournaments, hence I missed the opportunity to take him out before he could harm Jaran...not this time.

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I dismounted from Reo and walked into the arena, all eyes turning to face me but I ignored them, walking confidently up to the raised dais and taking my seat besides my father, Reo lowering himself down and laying at my feet, Dad turned to me and gave me an approving smile, patting Reo's head slightly before returning his attention back to the conversation going on between royal uncle and his confidants.

I looked around, taking in my surroundings, apart from our's, there were six other elevated dais, each occupied by one of the six kingdoms, Gantrick, Kahlo, Oryn, Findara, Ravar and Zari.

The kingdom of Gantrick was represented by the prime minister, Lord Gregor along with his three sons, all warriors and princess Freya, the third princess of Gantrick alongside other skilled warriors.

The Kingdom of Kahlo was represented by none other than Kan, crown prince Ikkan, the first prince of Kahlo as well as Great General Marron of Kahlo along with some of their most skilled warriors.

The kingdom of Oryn was represented by General Roth and General Gorn along with the youngest prince of Oryn the fifth prince, Franc, a renowned war strategist at age 19, alongside other skilled warriors.

The kingdom of Findara was represented by first princess Raina, along with Lord Ragar and his twin brother General Ranar, alongside other skilled warriors.

The kingdom of Ravar, represented by the royal beast tamer of Ravar, Lord Farrell and the crown prince and princess of Ravar, first prince Torrance and his wife princess Janell alongside other skilled warriors.

And finally the kingdom of Zari, represented by the crown prince Cronin and the third prince Harrell alongside the famed twin blades, two renowned warriors across the seven kingdoms, twins, one male and the other female General Devon and General Deszeld and some other skilled warriors.

My eyes flickered back to Kan, only to meet his gaze already staring in my direction, my eyes narrowed as an intense need to shed his blood again coursed through me, my killing intent permeated the air and I could see royal uncle, father, Dae and everyone close by looking apprehensively at me, Kan raised a brow as my killing intent intensified, concentrated on him, I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned to meet father's questioning eyes, I sighed shaking my head, as I forcefully calmed myself, pulling back my aura that would have done Kan some serious damage had I not retrieved it, I was grateful for the mask on my face even as I gave him one last deadly look before turning my focus back to the performances going on in the arena which was already coming to an end, this meant the tournament would soon begin.

I felt eyes on me, and turned to meet the gaze of the third princess of Gantrick, I groaned beneath my breath in annoyance, just now recalling her insane obsession with Jalan from my previous life, I was in for some serious trouble. Schooling my features, I gave her a smug grin which she probably couldn't see due to my veil, but my gaze did not match the smile and the warning in my narrowed eyes was clear, I did not have the energy to put up with some love sick princess, I had too much going on, so if she dared cross me, she should not blame me for being ruthless, I turned my gaze away from her at the sound of the gong that signified the beginning of the tournament.

Royal uncle stood up and the entire arena quietened down even as his booming voice resounded, expressing his gratitude to the representatives of the six kingdoms for their presence and declaring the commencement of the tournament, the rules were simple, each of the kingdom got to send out three warriors to represent them, the warriors would then pick who they wished to represent them first and royal uncle would commission one of his warriors to take on the battle, if any kingdom felt like their warrior was disadvantaged, they could send in another warrior for backup, there would be no use of weapons, just your skills and internal energy.

The first son of the prime minister of Gantrick stepped forward and royal uncle gave a slight nod to General Arauth who immediately bowed to royal uncle, before lunging himself into the arena.

The fight would not last long, Arauth clearly had the upper hand, the prime minister also seemed to notice this and his second son stepped into the arena, joining his brother against Arauth and leveling the playing field, Arauth grinned, his muscles twitching in excitement as he circled the two men slowly.

They both lunged at the same time, probably hoping to overwhelm Arauth, they were sorely disappointed when he spun out of the way, immediately landing a hard kick to the second brother, sending him flying back a good distance, leaving Arauth with just a few seconds alone with the first... knowing Arauth and his powerful inner force, a few seconds was enough, as he was not one to waste much time on defense, immediately going into offence, landing continuous powerful punches and kicks on the surprised warrior, each attack well thought out and infused with his inner force, leaving the warrior with no opportunity to retaliate and with enough force that once he landed a final kick, the warrior crashed heavily to the ground, unable to get up just as his brother attacked Arauth, succeeding in getting in a kick.

Arauth didn't waste time in retaliating but was a bit disoriented when the third brother jumped into the fight, he was forced to take the defensive as they both threw continuous energy infused attacks at him, their power markings glowed through their clothings, as they drew energy from it.

The co- ordination between this two brothers was remarkable, they moved with such unison that it was obvious they had fought a lot of battles together, more so than with the first brother, they seemed to be more united.

After some minutes, the brothers finally eased up their attacks unconsciously, probably considering another way of getting past Arauth's defenses, that short moment was all Arauth needed to turn the tables, immediately gathering his energy flow and executing one of his most famous moves, the lightning feet strike, his movements were blurred from his remarkable speed, the only trace of him a faint crackling of lightning, discernable to only the most perceptive eyes, both brothers were given a hard lightning infused kick that sent them both flying in different directions, unable to rise...Arauth had emerged the winner but the tournaments were far from over.

Having remained undefeated, Arauth would remain in the arena till royal uncle deemed it necessary to give him aid, the warrior didn't seem to mind this, eager for a worthy fight.

The kingdom of Kahlo came next and Kan stepped out along with another warrior, our eyes met again and my features took on an uninterested tinge, even as my heart recognized the handsome warrior, he smiled slightly before bowing in respect to royal uncle.

The fight began and the fact that Kan surpassed Arauth could not be ignored, adding to the fact that Arauth had already expended some energy at the previous fight and he was taking on both Kan who clearly surpassed him and another remarkable warrior who was equally matched to Arauth, taking this into consideration, royal uncle passed a subtle glance to Daerev, who immediately stood up and bowed in acceptance of the order before joining Arauth in the arena, Kan surpassed Dae as well, but what he didn't have was the co-ordination between Daerev and Arauth who had been trained together by my father, individually they were outstanding warriors but together they were an unbelievably powerful force.

I watched the fight with interest, each side finding it hard to overcome the other, after a while of constant attacks, Dae was able to knock out the other warrior, leaving Kan alone to face them both, the end of this match had already been decided, Kan was an outstanding warrior, and could easily take on Dae or Arauth, but he couldn't take them both at once, even I would have a hard time.

The match ended as I predicted, in a draw, it didn't seem like any side would go down anytime soon, in order to break the tie, a new warrior had to be introduced, and the moment Great General Marron, flew off his seat, directly at Dae and Arauth, I knew they would both be seriously hurt if they weren't assisted, General Marron wasn't of our generation, he was my father's rival from the kingdom of Kahlo, Arauth and Daerev together would do him some serious harm, but they wouldn't be able to defeat him.

General Marron gathered his inner force, shooting an attack on both warriors who were unable to react in time, and they both went skidding back, only to come to a halt when father jumped into the arena, steadying both warriors with a hand on the shoulder, they both bowed respectfully to him and he jerked his head towards Kan, signifying that they left the fight with General Marron to him.

I picked up my cup, sipping it beneath my veil, smirking as father threw an annoyed Marron his signature smug look, father had the upper hand here and he knew it.

The fight lasted a while, father holding back to have some fun before ending the battle swiftly, flinging Marron against the edges of the arena, a glare from father was all it took for Arauth and Dae to double their efforts, finally defeating Kan, father left the arena, it would be unfair if he remained, no other warrior here was his match, Dae and Arauth would remain.

The fight against Generals Gorn and Roth of Oryn alongside another warrior, against Arauth and Dae, ended in Arauth being defeated after taking out General Roth, leaving Dae to fight Gorn and the other warrior, Dae emerged victorious, although sustaining considerable internal injuries, royal uncle withdrew him from the arena and another warrior went in, a General I wasn't too familiar with, he did well, succeeding in defeating the two warriors from Findara that had stepped out first but was unsurprisingly defeated by General Ranar.

Another warrior I didn't know that well went in, again ending in our defeat to a now smug Ranar, I scoffed, chuckling beneath my breath as royal uncle got tired of playing around and sent in Caius, he didn't waste anytime in bringing us the victory, defeating Ranar in just five moves.

The crown prince of Ravar and his personal guard came forward, Caius was able to defeat them both but was defeated by Lord Farrell, the royal beast tamer of Ravar, his inner force was extremely powerful and his power markings were unique, this made up for his less outstanding fighting skills.

Royal uncle turned to Jalan, who was already itching to aid his lover, receiving the permission, he entered the arena, brutally defeating Lord Farrell and leaving him with serious internal injuries, if you weren't attentive enough,you wouldn't notice the blush on Caius's face, knowing Jalan's brutality was out of his anger at Lord Farrell for hurting Caius, I rolled my eyes, annoyed at myself for taking note of that, I could be too perceptive sometimes.

The kingdom of Zari sent out four warriors, their argument being that the twin blades fought as one, and neither could fight without the other, pathetic in my opinion but I had to admit that together they were a remarkable force, hence Crown prince Cronin, third prince Harrell and the twin blades stepped out, it was obvious Jalan would need aid as they were all famed warriors and even as royal uncle turned to me, my mind drifted down memory lane.

It was at this point that due to my anger at Jalan for his words from before, I would refuse royal uncle's orders, the next choice was Jaran, and this decision of mine ended up ruining Jaran's life, once his power source was destroyed, his power markings lost their glow, this was a fate worse than death to warriors of the seven kingdoms, loosing your power markings could only happen when one died or in Jaran's case sustained incurable internal injuries, this had caused him to abdicate his position as crown prince to Jalan, resulting in Jalan becoming the next King, the man with the hidden poisoned weapon was third prince Harrell, the pathetic bastard... things wouldn't go his way this time.

I stood up, patting Reo's head to get him to stay, before walking confidently up to royal uncle and lowering myself into a bow, my right fist over my heart, showing my acceptance of his order. I spun around, launching myself into the air and landing perfectly beside Jalan in the arena, without looking at him, I spoke.

"The crown prince is yours, leave the rest to me." I said in a monotone, he nodded once in acceptance, it was a fair agreement, the crown prince was the strongest contender here, being on the same level as Jalan, the other three were a level lower, meaning they were much lower than me, however their numbers evened that out, besides, I had been itching for a fight with the twin blades and I needed to face Harrell personally.

The entire arena was quiet, everyone eager for the fight to begin, it wasn't every day they got to see the ice wrath in combat mode...who was I to disappoint them?

Not waiting for their moves, I channelled my inner force to my fists and my feet, giving me the speed I was used to as I turned my attention on the twins, deciding to have my fun first, even as they stared at me suprised, probably wondering why there was no sign of my glowing power markings, it would have helped them measure my ability, unluckily for them, I wasn't born with the usual power markings, if they understood how my markings worked, they would never be brazen enough to challenge me. Everyone knew my markings were unusual, no one apart from father had actually seen them.

I threw powerful punches and kicks at them, whilst skillfully dodging their attacks, time seemed to slow down and it looked to me like they were moving in slow motion...way too slow to get me.

After some minutes of concentrated effort to push me back, they both gathered their inner force, shooting a joint energy strike at me, I spun out of the way, letting it fly past to cause an explosion behind me, I grinned slightly, they had succeeded in gaining distance and reprieve from my onslaught of attacks, that wasn't an easy task to achieve, finding an opening with me, they were truly as remarkable as I had heard, confirming that, I decided not to dally anymore, this wasn't the time for me to have fun.

Harrell who had been idle, came at me and I frowned, throwing a powerful kick at his air borne form, infusing enough energy so he flew a far distance away as I launched myself at the now prepared twins.

They met me attack for attack, strategically positioning themselves so they now stood at both sides of me, surrounding me, they began gathering their inner force and I immediately recognized their intention, grinning even as the crowd gasped in horror, if it wasn't their legendary twin strike, although just intending to use the first level from the hand motions I could see, it was only because this was a tournament and the attack was too powerful and any other level would be life threatening, unluckily for them, I wasn't just any warrior.

I silently gathered my internal energy, feeling the powerful and comfortingly cold surge within me from my ice core, preparing my self for what I personally called a bounce back, it was a form of force field I could create with my internal ice energy, causing any attack thrown at it to bounce back on the attacker at double the intensity, I honestly wanted to feel bad for the twins, they would suffer some very serious internal injuries, but they'd live.

They both launched their inner forces at me and I let my field out, glowing blue casing surrounding me immediately, the crowd gasped in awe even as it was the twins turn to gasp in horror, realizing too late what my shield meant, as soon as the energy balls hit the shield, they were hurled back at alarming speed, brightening and enlarging as they went, I shut my eyes at the moment of impact, wincing slightly at the sound of the force slamming into them and their pained scream.

I lowered my shield, absorbing the energy back into myself, not even having to look to know they were both unconscious, Jalan had also defeated Cronin, watching me execute that final move, he tilted his head down slightly in a gesture of respect and I shrugged before turning to a struggling Harrell.

"Next time you want to cheat at a tournament, make sure you're not up against General Andronika." I said coldly before hurling a ball of ice energy at him, he crashed against the racks again, this time the tiny pin fell out and Jalan's eyes caught it before he could hide it, he moved forward, stepping on Harrell's hand which was attempting to grab the pin, even as he leaned down to pick it up.

"I don't think you want to do that, it's poisoned, why do you think our dearest Harrell is the only warrior that happened to wear gloves today?" I said to Jalan, his eyes narrowed as he glared hatefully at the pathetic man, before pulling out his handkerchief and picking the needle up.

Arauth and Caius were already by his side, understanding dawned at my words and they grabbed the struggling man, dragging him away even as Jalan followed, just as the crowd erupted in cheers, I smiled softly, the crisis has been averted and Dalagh emerged victorious in the tournaments.

I lifted a victorious fist in the air as the crowd screamed and clapped, turning to face royal uncle and father, I bowed, right fist over my heart before I left the arena, heading in the direction Jalan and the rest had taken, Reo now at my side.