I’ve Never Heard Of You

"So that's your uh…". Sticks turned to Azure after Tamra's fight. "That's your girlfriend". He snorted a laugh.

"Shut up". Azure said dryly. He looked at the screen that displayed Tamra's match with some curiosity. After a few seconds, he stopped thinking about whatever was on his mind and looked behind him.

"Did I do well?" Tamra said. Azure shuddered. He thought he had gotten used to her popping up unexpectedly.

"Yeah". Azure said, then added for the sake of the mental sanity of everyone watching one of her matches. "Try not to overkill though".

Tamra glared at him. "I simply did to him what he deserved".

Azure, Tamra and Sticks chatted for some minutes before Sticks was called to fight. Looking briefly at his bronze card, he was drawn against someone named Claus.

According to Tamra, he was from the Gabriel squad. He had a very haughty personality but his strength could barely be considered mid level.

Sticks and Claus hopped on to the fighting stage and sizes each other. From the first sight of his face, Sticks already decided that he didn't like him.

Claus was towering at an height of about six foot five inches. He wore a rough leather armor with two straps holding a broadsword on his back. His figure which was vaguely visible through his thin clothes looked very muscular. At that moment Sticks began to question the validity of Tamra's information.

Facially he was nothing special, with his hair tied up to form a small man bun. Several patches or hair grew around his lips forming a disorganized collection of hair.

"Sticks, Claus, are you ready?" The referee stepped between the two parties, his voice alerting them of his existence.

Sticks and Claus nodded and the referee signified the beginning of the match with a bell chime.

"You know you newbies must be really proud of yourself to make it this far". Claus said while unsheathing the broadsword that lay on his back. "Just one month in and you're already this good". Claus's expression turned into one of pity. "Too bad you were drawn against me".

Sticks sneered. "You talk too much". He unsheathed his sword and pointed it towards Claus. "I'm going to do everyone a favor and shut you up".

Claus didn't seem to be outraged or angry by the words that Sticks said. In fact, he seemed a little amused. His lips curled upwards to form a disdainful smirk.

"And who sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. For in the image of God, he made man!"

Claus had a toothy grin on his face as he charged at Sticks. The blade of his broadsword was glowing with a blood red hue. Red vines began to wrap themselves around the blade.

Claus slashed, resulting in the barrier that covered the fighting ring to shudder. The vines that wrapped themselves around the sword stretched and lunged at Sticks.

The tip of the sword made a glowing red arc as it sliced through the air. A blood red mist began to form round the sword, some of them began to shoot towards Sticks.

In the face of all these threats, Sticks merely scoffed. His body turned into a blur as he moved away from is original position, narrowly avoiding the vines that lunged towards him.

"You can't fight me". Claus said as his sword reached the end if it's oscillation. He raised it again and slashed at Sticks once more. "I am the king of the members at the Gabriel squad. I am unmatched in combat. Even workers cower before my name, and a mere newbie like you dare to threaten me!"

The vines that lunged towards Sticks multiplied in number leaving him with almost no space to escape. Even with his unmatched speed, Sticks was still in quite a pickle.

He used his sword to cut some of the vines, creating a small escape path for him. He wasn't fast enough to escape the sword that slashed at him. He could only raise his sword in defense of the sword strike.

Sticks flew for about five feet before crashing on the floor. He stared at Claus and smiled, rapidly getting to his feet.

"You're the first person to knock me down." Sticks said while massaging the hilt of his sword with his grip. "I respect that, unfortunately…". He began running towards Claus. "I've never heard of you!"

"For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone!"

The blade of Sticks' sword turned white in color. The temperature inside the fighting stage dropped by a lot. If one looked closely enough, then they would realize that fog was coming out of the noses of the two men inside.

Sticks' white blade began glowing and few icicles protruded from the blade of the sword giving it an overall crescent shape.

Sticks ran towards Claus and slashed at him. The icicles from the sword flew towards random areas. A glowing white ray of light left the sword and moved rapidly towards Claus's body.

The previously cocky and overconfident Claus was shivering a bit. His eyes widened in fear as he saw the barrage of attacks that were headed his way. He wanted to dodge but each one of the attacks were just too fast. He could only watch as they pierced reaches him.

"Aargh!" One of the icicles pierced his upper lap area, brushing his femur. Another icicle pierced his shoulder, another one pierced his upper arm area.

The white ray of light reached him and left a big, bloody gash in his mid section, knocking him off his feet briefly and sending him crashing to the floor.

Another icicle appeared from nowhere and rushed towards his neck. The icicle was about to pierced his neck when the formation released a golden ray of light that occupies the space between Claus's neck and the icicle. The icicle immediately turned to water as it came in contact with the golden light.

"Sticks wins!" The referee announced through chattering teeth.