The Martial Arts Tournament

In the Kingdom of Henid, I, the blinded blade, the guardian, also the ruler and the king of Henid Kingdom. I've seen many bodies before me wasted. Therefore, I held martial arts tournaments in my kingdom once every three years, in order to find the best warrior and to reward the strongest. I had seen many talents before me, however, none of them was the one I was looking for.

Until… There was a promising participant among them. The man goes by the name Izz Yukan. Perhaps a warrior from the West. As I look up his name in name lists, I chuckled.

"I'm looking forward to seeing your performance."

Today is the day of the tournament. I have been waiting to see the result of this year. Through mana channelled to me, I can perceive the whole arena from above from the comfort of my throne. From the senses alone, I can tell, which one of them is the guy known as Izz Yukan.

***

Today is a big day in this kingdom, crowds are filling the street. I see a bunch of interesting fellows, from various races. One with a horn on its head and there are some with crawls too, but the majority are just humans. The arena was filled to the brim with excited spectators. Like seriously, how could I never heard of a tournament as big as this in one of the biggest kingdoms?

That's not important, for now, I just need to not screw this up. I'm not nervous or anything, the only way I can see myself losing this is by being disqualified. I was warping my arms as I waited for the announcement when Dahlia approached me.

She looked at me with anxiety clear on her face. Her small frame got even smaller with her arms crossed together. She was quiet for an instant before grabbing my hand, her grip was different from before. It was as if she was trying to not let me go. I can see Dahlia being hesitant to let go, but she did. However, before she does that, with her voice also crying she pleads.

"Don't get hurt."

I hate myself for doing this too much to her, but once again I hit her with my assurance, accompanied by the smile that comforted her.

"Don't worry, I won't lose."

I could tell that it was heavy for her, but nonetheless, she still complied shaking her head up and down hesitantly.

The rules were then announced.

"Attention! Attention!" The umpire's voice was enchanted by a magic that made it louder. It reaches everyone in the arena. 

"Every participant must fight fair, and fair, therefore, everyone must follow the rules without any exception."

The loud noises from the crowd were stopped in an instant. It seems like everyone was attentive to the umpire's words.

"The first rule is, that the participant can only fight with the provided weapon. This means that any weapon that the participant brought is not allowed."

I see, so it's only fair for everyone. It would give an advantage to the person with more money who has access to better weaponry if the rule was not created.

Which means I couldn't use my sword then. Just to be safe, I shall leave my cape too.

"Second, the participant can only fight with martial arts. This means that no magic was allowed, not in defence nor offence."

It's a martial arts tournament, of course, such a rule was in place. It would be a battle between mages if they were allowed.

"Third, every participant was only allowed to fight with pure strength. This means the participant was not allowed to enchant their strength or speed with mana."

It would remove the advantage of someone who is good at manipulating mana. This will be interesting.

"Any violation of the rules will result in immediate disqualification."

It's about to start now, I readied myself by taking off my sword from my belt and wrapping around it with my cape. However, I looked around but couldn't find any convenient place to put my stuff safely. The organizer does not provide such a service or what?

"May I hold it for you?"

The very voice that worried about me entering this tournament asked to hold my stuff. The voice that would be in their best interest to delay my entrance. It asked me in a soft and gentle way too. I often relate this voice with calm and relaxation because of its soothing touch.

It was Dahlia.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

Maybe she had some confidence in me. I'm glad… "Thank you."

Dahlia held them tight in her embrace, like a toddler sleeping with their stuffed animal. She won't let it slip out of her grasp.

"Alright, be careful."

Once again, my urge to pat her get the best of me. Although this time was different, she wasn't complaining. I smiled knowing she approved of this. Before I entered the fighting area Dahlia whispered, almost like crying.

"Please come back."

"I promised."

***

The second I stepped into the battle area, I saw all the other competitors entering the ring as well. The format of this tournament is free for all, meaning that the last one standing will be the winner. Of course, I would prefer not to kill anyone.

Still, some people here reek of bloodlust, probably some are ready to play dirty. Either way, if they are trying to do something funny I would not hesitate to neutralise them. The weaponry was provided by the organizer. It's just a bunch of basic weapons like bows and swords. I was thinking about taking a shield with me, but I supposed it would just weigh me down. I settled with a medium-length sword as my style is to play fast rather than fight defensively.

I was waiting in my corner of the ring when I saw a familiar face amongst the competitors. A man In a suit of armour covering from top to bottom. He's wearing armour provided by the organizer.

With a malicious grin on his face, he approaches me. This guy is from yesterday. When he picks a fight with me in a ramen shop.

As he stared me down, he had his hand on the grip of his sword. In a cocky but confident tone, he declared.

"I'll kill you bastard."

An empty threat? It's not much coming from nobody like him. His build was bigger than mine, he also had one continuous scar on his forehead. It looks like he had been slashed there. With that said, it would still be annoying to have someone actively targeting me in a free-for-all.

"Do it if you can,"

Everyone stood in their position as they waited for the bell to ring. It's quite a time to wait as the umpire adjusts the arena. There are participants who already had their weapons drawn, some are just relaxing. From the look of it, only a couple of them are seasoned warriors. Not in a calibre, I need to worry about at least.

From the corner of my eyes, I could see that guy, he still staring me down. We waited in silence for a few minutes, before suddenly the bell rang officially starting the tournament.

I already knew that that guy would immediately launch himself toward me. I'm surprised he didn't draw his sword, maybe he wanted to enjoy the beating with his hand. At a glimpse, I notice flaws in his technique. He threw his fist too aggressively, with a smooth motion of my left hand, I redirected the guy's fist straight back to his face, using his momentum against him.

The guy was talking like he could bag me in, but I didn't expect him to be out by a single blow, let alone his own attack.

Oh well, It would be great for me without anyone constantly annoying me, I would not have a problem facing other fighters.

Murmurs from the spectators were loud, I felt like most of them were focusing on me.

"Look at him! The guy in white, isn't he too strong?"

"You're right, who is that?"

"I don't know, but he built like a yukania."

"I remember seeing a name from the lists… One name was 'Izz Yukan', maybe that is him?"

"If he continues like this he will completely dominate the arena."

I stopped for a moment, looking at the spectators that turned from discussing to cheering for me. In them, I see Dahlia. She had concern on her face, scared for my safety I guess. As the battle progressed, worries were more evident to her.

Without me realising, hours had passed after the battle started. Despair on the fighters' faces more visible as it grew more and more, and most have been eliminated from exhaustion or being badly injured. Some are still desperate to win and for some, it's whether to give up or die.

I took notice that every fighter had formed a group to team up against me. They realised I had dominated them from the beginning.

"Hey everyone! Let's team up against that guy!"

I couldn't help but chuckle, a smirk forming on my face as they said that. They really thought cowardly forming a group would be enough to stop me. I had faced dirtier fighters than this, it's nothing new to me.

Well then, come at me all at once. Show me what you got.

Continuous blows coming from the left to the right and the right to the left. Though they tried their best, I had little to no trouble countering their attacks.

In the middle of that, I stopped for a moment to face the man who declared faction against me. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you win this." A punch to his stomach incapacitated him.

I grabbed onto my sword and moved flawlessly through them with a single blow, bodies behind me dropped to the ground.

The 10 seconds of silence from the crowd, shocked to witness such a move changed to applause from spectators thinking I had already won the battle before silence then struck once again.

A man standing, manacingly. I sensed him behind me. It's hard to see through the dust of sand even after I turn to look at him.

The same guy I noticed from the beginning. I may had the spotlight from the very beginning. However, the man before me is different from any other fighters here. Though it might not be noticeable, he also significantly dominates this arena.

"You're the other guy that dominating this battle, aren't you? You're really good at hiding." I praised him.

He just stood there in silence, I took the hint that he didn't want to talk, so I drew my sword. We bend our knees low and get in the stand ready to strike.

Before that, I asked, "Before we fight may I ask you, what's your name..?" he stood silent. I understand, I then asked the question to the heart. "I see, then what's your heart desire the most..?"

I did not expect a reaction from him. The guy looked surprised at first but then swiped it off of his face. Without a moment of waiting, the guy swung his sword at me at full speed. From the spectators to the other participants, everyone was shocked to see such speed.

This strike actively trying to catch me off my guard. Inches before the sword strikes, I smirk showing the gaps between us. A compliment from me flies. "You're really fast." I shift my stand sideways to dodge the attack.

Disbelief in his eyes was discerned, he pulled his sword high above his head ready to strike again. His torso was completely exposed, I took the change and punched him just below his ribcage, right to his liver.

He makes a distance between us by jumping back. I can tell that blow took a toll on him as he dropped to his knee in agony.

Despite that, I was actually impressed, not many people can take direct blows from me like that. He was already this strong with restriction.

"You're really strong, I wonder how strong you really are. Without physical enchantment of your strength and speed. You can already take that kind of damage."

That distance looks from him, he stares at me, before finally opening up.

"I don't have that… I was born without mana manipulation."

That caught me off guard as I didn't expect any answer, let alone a confession. Being born without mana manipulation in this world is equivalent to being born with disabilities. It surely reminds me of someone.

Albeit that, still have some room to improve.

"Eh, you still haven't hit your full potential," I said.

He adverb his gaze down, it didn't seem like he was mad or offended, rather, he looked frustrated.

"This is as strong I can be… I've reached my damn limit." he cries.

I see now, he hated the fact that he was born with the ability to manipulate mana, he hated that his potential was limited, hated the fact that he couldn't grow any stronger than he already was.

"You're limit?" I'm about to show this guy something.

I match my strength and speed with him.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Our strength is now matched, I'll show you your full potential."

I threw away my sword, I'm going to fight him bare fist. He also threw his sword to the side.

He gets up and spreads his legs into a stand— he controls his breathing as I rush at him swinging a jab. Although he blocks the jab, I quickly swing a left hook to the body. He took the hit but managed to stay standing as it was not as strong as before. In response, he throws a wide right hook to me. It's pretty easy to evade by tilting my body slightly missing the blow entirely.

I countered with the same attack and landed it on his left cheek making him retreat back. It may be a little disrespectful, but this is a lesson important for his growth.

"You have so much to learn young man, you aren't ready to give up yet," I said.

He starts to get annoyed, as his demeanour changes, he gets up quickly and rushes himself at me. Aggressive assault like this won't work on me as I continue to have the upper hand over him.

He started acting strangely, it's almost like he felt something as if it were a pain in his chest.

"What is this feeling, this isn't hatred," he murmured. He looked confused with his own emotion. "What are you waiting for..?"

I feel pity looking at him like this, he fought so hard to win, but in the end, he almost looks pathetic.

"Aren't you done?" I asked.

The injuries were visible on his body, he wouldn't last a minute. With that kind of injury, he will collapse soon.

Regardless of that, he smirked. "I've never seen someone like you…" His eyes slowly lose strength as they close. "Really annoying…"

The arena was shaken with spectators cheering, and applause trembling the atmosphere after I was declared as the official winner of the martial arts tournament.

 Emotions were overflowing Dahlia as she ran up to me as if she was claiming me back to her.

The overjoyed tears on her face. "You really are amazing!"

I walked closer to her and snatched her closer to him. I buried her face in my chest. I sniff her scent. "You smell really good, Dahlia." Holding her tighter as she tries to break free.

***