Tariel's Fight

Tariel Saeltria

He already made me hate him, and evoke disgust on a level even higher than Celeborn did. As I watched him make his way to the opposite side of the arena, I was gripping my bow so tightly that my knuckles turned white.

I shot a glance at Ardiel, who also had a frown on his face. I only pray that he didn't hear anything, but I doubt he wouldn't have noticed my distress.

No way could I lose this. Experienced bowman or not, I won't let him go off so easily after everything he said. And there was no way I would be losing against this trash when Ardiel is watching. I will make sure to give him a scar to remember me by. 

I will make sure that every morning he will wake up, look at it, and loathe this day for the rest of his short worthless life.

"Hey, girl."

I was tapped on the shoulder, and saw Helga standing next to me.

"That boy is very skilled, be careful."

"Yes, thank you." But before I could turn away, she handed me something.

It was one of the rings she was wearing. A silver ring with no additional ornamentation, just faint, barely visible runic patterns etched into it.

"From the looks of it, that boy won't let you go unscathed. Although I praise him for his talent, it seems his attitude is no better than a lowlife bandit." She paused, looked in his direction, frowned, and then continued. "Wear this, it's an ancient old runic ring that enhances your body augmentation. Consider it as additional armor of sorts."

I was flustered at this seemingly expensive item, and pushed her hand away. "I can't possibly take something like that, I'm…"

"Take it." She urged. "Look at him, he's overflowing with an urge to rip you apart."

I glanced over at the boy, and put on the ring.

"Who even is he?"

"Damien Farsoth. Currently a 'C' rank adventurer, and came for a re-evaluation. Honestly I thought pairing you against him would be a good idea, until I saw his behavior, which now makes me reconsider. If you don't want this, you still have a chance to back out."

I gritted my teeth. "I think it is too late to back out now." I said coldly. "He provoked me well enough to not allow me even a thought of forfeiting."

"Well then, good luck girl." Helga patted me on the back, and left for the bleachers. I faced my opponent.

He was grinning a malicious, confident smile, as if taunting me to make the first strike. But what Loueras taught me is that once you lose your cool in battle, you already lost. I let my emotions run wild a few moments ago, but I must not allow that to happen now.

Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. Deep, long breaths, and I cooled my mind, and released the tension in my body. My mind was clear.

I calmly reached for an arrow, and laid it softly against the bowstring. Damien did the same, but he was rushed and wild. I calmly analyzed him, he was being torn apart with the desire to defeat me. He couldn't wait, his emotions were overflowing. He did not have a cool head, meaning, he already lost.

"Ready!?" The examiner yelled through some kind of sound enhancement artifact.

The both of us tugged on our bowstrings, and aimed the arrows towards each other. The examiner looked first at me, then Damien, and when he confirmed that both of us were ready, he announced.

"Begin!"

My arrow flew first, his, a fraction of a second later. He dodged to the left, I didn't need to, his arrow missed.

Without a need to get back into position from dodging, I loaded in another arrow before he even had a chance to pull one out of his quiver, and fired it in his direction.

It pierced right into the shoulder of the arm with which he was reaching for the arrow.

"OW! SHIT!" He yelled out as his right arm came flying down and his left arm nearly letting go of the bow.

He was cursing something unintelligible at me, but I didn't even listen to it. Instead, I readied another arrow, and this time, aimed for his other arm. Unfortunately however, he dodged.

Damien was breathing like a rageful wounded animal, while I kept a nonchalant expression. Not even a twitch of the eye at the sight of blood flowing out of his arm, or his screams of pain. Like I said, like Loueras taught me, whoever lost control over their temper and emotions, already lost.

"DAMNED KNIFE-EARED BITCH!" He screamed out, spit flying out of his mouth.

He pulled the arrow out of his arm, and after rustling in his pockets, applied an ointment to his wound, which sealed it up fairly quickly. Some kind of healing potion I presume.

I let him do it. I just watched. No expression showed on my face at the sight of this defenseless, sad excuse of a man. Talent? Skill? I saw nothing like that when I looked at him. All I saw was a cornered animal. Truly, for the first time instead of hatred for this man, I felt pity.

Only when he finished applying the potion, did I begin to load another arrow.

"Huh? You let me apply my healing? YOU THINK OF ME AS A JOKE YOU BITCH? I AM AN UNRIVALED ARCHER! DON'T YOU DARE TAKE ME LIGHTLY!"

"Unrivaled?" I asked calmly, but loudly enough so he could hear, then smiled. "Sorry, but I don't see it."

"You…bitch." He glared at me with murder in his eyes and gritted teeth.

Then he forcefully ripped another arrow out of his quiver, loaded it, and fired it at me. It was quite precise this time, aimed for my throat. How lowly of him to attempt a shot to kill. Was he that desperate? Was he overflowing with rage and hatred so much that he would resort to murder?

But of course, I dodged this time again.

His eyes were ferocious, filled with bloodlust, and his breaths were heavy and fast. As if he wanted to leap forward and rip me apart like a predator tears apart its prey. I felt mana emanating from him as he loaded in another arrow, and shot it at me.

It was harder for me to dodge it, but I still managed. It was much faster than previously. He augmented mana into his arms, there was no doubt about it. But I didn't need any of it. This whole fight, if I can even call it that, I didn't augment mana into my arms or bow even a single time.

I smiled, and slid the runic ring off my finger, and put it into my pocket.

"I won't be needing this, Ms Helga." I quietly said to myself.

Then, I loaded in another arrow. What followed was an exchange of arrows from both of us, a continuous barrage before our quivers emptied, and we made a temporary pause to restock. After that, we continued again. His arrows were fast, and thanks to the mana he augmented were also somewhat precise. 

But he was reckless. He desperately shot off one after the other, barely even taking the time to properly aim, as if hoping that at least one would land.

Maybe when he is level headed he does display skill worthy of praise, but now wasn't one of those times. His eyes were darting around frantically from me, to his bow, and back to me. I, on the other hand, had my gaze strictly focused on my target. No matter if I was shooting or reloading, my eyes were fixated on Damien.

And that is why all my flew straight at him. Some of them he was able to dodge, surprisingly, but some managed to hit. I shot at his legs, his arms, his torso. A couple minutes later his whole body was covered in blood and wounds that were stitching themselves back up from his healing potion.

Sensing my impending victory, I decided to end this. I began slowly approaching him, while simultaneously firing off arrows.

"STAY BACK! SCREW YOU!" He shouted as he unleashed a barrage against me, but it was even more frantic than before, and all of his desperate attempts to land even a single shot against me ended up missing.

I continued moving forward, immovable, and unshakable like a mountain. My expression nonchalant, my gaze cold, and without a single word. I kept getting closer, a reality as inevitable as death, and perhaps, to him in that very moment, I was like death itself. 

No matter how many arrows he shot, or how frantic or desperate he became, I moved closer. No matter how many curses he spat at me, I moved closer. His eyes grew wider and wider, his face continued to pale, and his body began to shake not with rage, but with fear, right up until I found myself standing over him.

I looked at him from above, not even bothering to lower my head, just with my gaze. To me, I acknowledged his presence as merely that of a bug. Non threatening, insignificant, small.

He himself was small, and shrunk under my gaze. He, who was once taunting me, insulting me, and threatening me, now cowered below me at my mercy. It was an exhilarating feeling, the feeling of complete and undeniable domination. The feeling of unparalleled strength. I felt like death itself descended upon this man to deliver judgment.

As I looked into his eyes full of fear, my own eyes lit up with satisfaction. This is what I needed him to remember after all. I will make him dread ever picking up a bow ever again.

But then, all of a sudden, a knife appeared in his hand, and he sprung up, aiming straight for my throat. Even rats, when cornered, become unpredictable. How foolish.

Like I was taught my Loueras and Ardiel in hand to hand combat, I trapped his arm, immobilized it, and bent it backwards to make it seem as if I am about to snap his joint. The pain immediately made him yell out and drop his knife, and I drove my knee straight into his face, followed by a grotesque crunch of his nose, and by yet another pained scream.

He looked at me from the ground, pierced with arrows, bleeding, and holding his broken nose. His face was pale, was it due to fear or blood loss, I didn't know, and neither did I care. But his eyes no longer displayed even a hint of anger or hatred. They were entirely filled with fear.

I let my bow drop on the ground, and grabbed at his hair, pulling his head towards me. Damien groaned in pain once again. Then, I slowly leaned into his left ear, in a manner in which he did before our match started.

"Remember when you told me that you would teach me my place?"

I let a short pause, savoring the moment of his complete defenselessness and cowardice before me.

"Well, you did."

And then I smashed his face into my knee again, and stood up looking over his shivering body.

"Just not in the way you wanted to." I picked up my bow off the ground, and flung it over my shoulder.

I noticed Ardiel making his way towards me. He looked at Damien, and then back at me.

"I just witnessed a whole new side to you, Tariel. Remind me to never anger you, ok?"

I let out a giggle. "Well, it is true that he did anger me, it is mostly me seeing the kind of person he is that caused me to do this. Rotten, narcissistic, and preying on the weak. I just made sure that he won't show his face around here anymore. But, I think I did lose my temper a little bit."

"'A little bit' is quite the understatement," he regarded Damien with concern, "Is he even alive?"

I looked over at Damien, who was now being taken away by medics.

"From the looks of it, yes." I shrugged casually.

I glanced over at Ardiel, who was warily looking at me.

"Hey, if I get you mad, will you also beat me to a pulp?"

I grinned, and lightly punched him in the shoulder.

"Instead of that, tell me how I did. I'm waiting for the compliments!"

He looked at me surprised, and then chuckled nervously. "Oh, where do I even begin?" Ardiel sheepishly said while rubbing the back of his head. And then, I received my rightfully deserved complements as we made our way to the bleachers, excitedly telling each other about how our exams went.