I'll Challenge You

In shock, Oybar watched as his spearhead snapped off mid-thrust. He blinked... It was unbelievable! And even stranger, Oybar recognized the weapon that had cut off his spearhead.

Beside Oybar's spearhead, another broken spearhead, crafted by Oybar's tribe, was laying on the ground.

"Who dares?!" Oybar roared. Veins bulged out of his neck and across his forehead as blood rushed through Oybar's face.

"That'll be me."

LaRoe, LaRee, and Oybar turned to see where that voice had come from. One man looked out with blissful eyes, as the first to notice the nearby stranger. Another stared with a baffled, dropped jaw, struggling to believe his eyes despite having made a promise with the stranger. And the final man felt his eyes and mouth twitching in unbridled frustration, unable to fathom what was going on.

Standing almost two dozen meters away, a young, shirtless man covered in grime, dirt, and blood was squatted over a dead cannibal. He was in the middle of breaking off two more spearheads for makeshift knives. All while the young man glanced over his shoulder, staring back at the cannibal chief.

Oybar had no idea what to say or think.

There had been the report of a stranger falling from the sky in a boat. But Oybar had no reason to anticipate that the sky fiend would ally with the tribe after almost killing Chief LaRoe, not even in his wildest dreams!

On top of that, Oybar finally got a good look at the battles taking place around him. Or better said, the battles that used to be taking place around them.

Not even half of the cannibal forces remained. And the comparison of casualties was drastically one-sided.

But, with all of that to consider, Oybar's eyes couldn't separate from the young man's exposed back. And the same was true for LaRoe.

"What are you?!" Oybar roared in anger. "What god is that on your back!?"

"What god?" Ayse got a good laugh out of that.

Standing up, Ayse kept his back on display, smiling from over his shoulder. "I recognize no god. This mark is mine and mine alone!"

LaRee was also enraptured by Ayse's dauntless demeanor.

And LaRee's eyes were completely drawn in by the tattoo spanning most of Ayse's back, despite having seen it while delivering Ayse to the village as a captive. Sure, it was noticeable before.

At that moment, however, the tattoo seemed different. It wasn't just a notable decoration. It felt like the tattoo casually radiated domineering malice, now under a new light. It was visible from the light of nearby torches and bonfires in the distance, with bright light from the moon and stars bearing down on it.

Etched into Ayse's back with great detail, a skull stared back at the stunned men, with a third eye socket burrowed into its forehead. All three eye holes were formed by brutal burn scars, easily distinguishable even from a distance. And atop that three-eyed skull rested an inornate, silver crown.

Splashes of blood spray were flecked over the tattoo, adding to the serious ambiance surrounding Ayse.

Then, Ayse laughed some more, turning his chest toward the confused cannibal chief. "The name's Ayse, Silver Crown Ayse! Outlaw for fun and adventure!"

"O-Outlaw?" Oybar blinked. He forced himself to confidently stand against the new threat. "What does that mean? You don't like the village?"

"Nahhh. You wouldn't understand. You're too small-minded to get it," Ayse scoffed.

Oybar used his anger as a mental battering ram to break through his confusion. Swinging his spear, Oybar shouted, "This is no business of yours! This is between tribes–"

Ayse interjected, keeping his steps steady and casual, "It is my business. I promised to protect this tribe while their chief is injured. Don't blame me for stepping in while you're out here trying to go on a rampage and drink their blood. You didn't even attack until sundown. What are you, a cowardly vampire?"

Oybar didn't understand that last word. But he understood the word "coward" very well, though it was usually from Oybar declaring others as such. Never the other way around.

Retaliating against Ayse's cool confidence, Oybar swung his last spear at LaRoe's chest. "Then stop me if you can–"

Crack…

"Is that all you've got?" Ayse asked, now with only one spearhead left. "Sure, a spear swing is slightly harder to hit than a thrust. But it's still easy in the end."

In disbelief, Oybar stared at his broken spear. He blinked again.

"LaRee, back off. I'll take it from here, as promised," Ayse remarked with a smile and nod.

"... Y-yes!" LaRee replied with a head bow, overwhelmed with relief.

As LaRee rushed around Oybar to help get his father away, the cannibal chief wanted to retaliate once more.

"Reach for them, and this goes between your eyes."

Oybar's hands hesitated out of impulse. Livid, Oybar's eyes were burning with rage as he stared back at the stranger from the sky. "You dare interrupt my challenge against a chief? What honor do you have?!"

"None," Ayse blunted answered, unperturbed by the question.

"None?! No honor? You are no warrior!" Oybar bellowed.

"You're right, I'm no warrior," Ayse agreed with a nod. "I'm an outlaw. I do what I want, whether that's protecting people or killing people. And right now, I want to kill you."

Thump…

Before Chief Oybar could shout next, Ayse tossed his makeshift dagger away. Ayse popped his knuckles and nodded at the father-son duo, who were now a dozen meters away.

"If you like challenges, then I'll challenge you," Ayse declared to the cannibal chief. "I'll even let you grab some more spears, axes, or whatever weapons you would prefer to be buried with."

Oybar didn't hesitate to take that opportunity. With the young man's boundless confidence, Oybar was certain that it was no joke. And that was proven as Oybar rushed to the grey pack leader's corpse, pulling more spears off the sides of the carcass.

Putting his spare short spears in one hand, Oybar hurled his last three spears at the cocky youngster.

And Ayse didn't bat an eye. With the duel officially started, Ayse ran toward the cannibal chief.

He weaved past the first spear with no trouble at all. Against the second and third spears, Ayse dipped and kicked into a butterfly twist. One spear flew over and the other fell underneath. But Ayse used his spinning momentum to grab the spears mid-air, ripping them out of their expected flight path.

Crack. Crack.

Once Ayse was back on his feet, he slammed both spears on the ground to shatter them.

Sighing, Ayse commented, "Those were slower than LaRee's arrows… I guess I can't blame you, since they're spears, but still too slow to be effective."