The sparring contest
On leaving the Palace, the King took Walter to a peculiar location. A place everyone in Jotunheim came to watch soldiers spar. But this was more than just a sport for Jotunheim. No, they didn't watch for entertainment, they watched warriors battle themselves for improvement. This act was a ritual that everyone in Jotunheim had to participate in at least once.
They took the motto, 'Life is a fight!', very literally in Jotunheim.
Walter and King Will sat on the distinguished chairs that were secluded from the rest, they got the best view of the violence first-hand.
For most of the participants, it was their first time seeing King Will so they put their best into their fights, displaying the most eloquent of skills as they fought, making it even more intriguing to watch.
The air was filled with anticipation, the crowd surrounding the fighters screamed and cheered with all their strength, further adding to the anxiety in the air as people placed bets on who would win between the boys in red and green.
The two men stood at attention at the center of a wide, sandy circle. Their muscles rippled beneath their skin as they both held onto the sturdy sticks they we're both given. Real weapons weren't allowed in the training, however, they were permitted to use their gifts.
As the supervisor blew his whistle, the two men charged at each other. They swung their sticks at each other, clashing together time and time again. Each parry and each strike painted a perfectly choreographed scene as if they danced to the melody of battle.
After about seven minutes of no victor, the boy in green decided to try something new. As he charged at red, he threw his stick into the air, while he went low, an attempt to land an upper cut on red's chin. Red read his movements and ignored the stick he had thrown into the air as a decoy and went straight for green's left leg.
He struck his leg with a lot of force, causing green to lose balance and land on his back, as green swiftly tried to get back up, he was struck on his back, sending ripple waves throughout his body, suctioning all his strength, forcing a surrender from green.
The crowd roared on seeing such a wonderful performance while giving the two warriors a standing ovation. They were both given honors, but red needed medical attention, and therefore was carried out of the arena. As he was being carried out, the crowd still cheered him with thunderous applause.
It was time for the next warriors to come to stage, and therefore, they were being brought into the arena. Right before they stepped into the center, they were halted.
What happened? Everyone wondered when their eyes all moved to the King. His right hand was up. The crowd remained completely silent as he stood up from his highly decorated and guarded seat.
What is this man doing, Walter wondered.
The King turned to Walter who was still seated, and asked,
"Let's dance, shall we?"
On uttering those words, the whole crowd roared, yet again, but this time, with so much life that wasn't kindled in all the previous fights.
Walter immediately shook his head, an attempt to reject his Father's request. As he did, they began chanting his name,
"Walter!
Walter!
The Prince!
Our Prince!"
On seeing how much they believed in him, he couldn't turn down the fight. He stood up, and he and the King began walking down towards the center of the arena.
On reaching close to the sandy soil, they were handed their sticks, and they advanced to the center.
As they reached the center, the King said, "I'll need you to show me that gift of yours. So do your very best."
"It feels weird fighting you Dad. I don't want to fight you."
"Awww, are you scared of an old man?" Will jested.
"What? Hell no! And you're not even an old man, you look like you're in your twenties…or so."
"Oh really? Let's make a deal then…if you're able to hurt me at all or even lay a finger on me, I'll give you anything in the Kingdom."
"I like the sound of that."Walter said, smirking. "Just a minute, allow me to tie my shoe lace."He said, bending over to tie them.
As he stood back up, he was surrounded by smoke on every side.
"Hey, No fair! That's cheating!"
"You're naive, child. There's no rules in this training."
As Walter stood in the middle of the smoke that encircled him, parts of the smoke began to twist and form human-like figures, each with a solid rod, also made from the smoke. The figures weren't clear at first, but with each passing second, they became more visible, and the smoke figures began multiplying and walking towards Walter.
Walter confidently held his stick, paying full attention to the figures that approached.
They can't be real, smoke shouldn't be able to touch me, right? I'm sure the old man is somewhere and trying to ambush me, he thought to himself when one of the figures jumped at him and threw a punch that landed on his stomach, sending him to the ground.
"Shit! They can touch."
He quickly got up and swung his stick at it, on impact, it dissipated. Walter then went on a rampage, using his stick to dissipate as many as he could. Walter had learnt many skills from Adeola and her gang, this was the perfect place to showcase all his fighting skills to his fans that rooted for him in the arena.
Walter moved swiftly and made so many unnecessary backflips in ninja fashion. He dissipated so much.
The crowd cheered aggressively as he moved with precision, landing the right kicks and swings to display his skill.
"I see you're strong. Maybe it's high time I got serious." A voice beyond the shadows said to him.
As he spoke, the figures began charging at him with great speed, and now, in different shapes. Some as men, some as giants, some as dogs, some as bats.
The battle was quickly turned. Those who cheered for Walter slowly became silent as their powerful ninja was being severely beaten. It turned from a competition to a total beat down in less than 5 minutes, and the figures just kept going.
The crowd only watched as Walter was now being disciplined and could barely stay on his feet for a few seconds to fight back. Everyone wondered when the King would stop the figures that just kept bruising his son in the most humiliating ways possible. The crowd went silent, with only the sound of the figured kicking, slapping and spanking Walter left, and being echoed all through the arena.
"Awwn, the ninja had given up already? Son, remember, we had a deal. You haven't even touched me yet."
As the beating continued, the crowd began booing Walter. Walter, still on his knees and with no other option left, turned to the birthmark on his palm.
"Screw this!" he said, tightly squeezing his hand and closing his eyes.
As he did, a massive whirlwind pushed the King, the smoke and everyone in the arena out. The wind was so massive that it completely destroyed the whole arena, tearing through it like a knife cuts through butter, and sending everyone in the arena high and far away, like a tornado carrying pieces of paper to wherever it sees fit. This time, the whirlwind came with thunderstorms that erupted from the sky and struck at random, destroying multiple houses and buildings. The real thing hadn't even begun. The Kingdom of Jotunheim began experiencing an earthquake that shook all the buildings in the Kingdom from the ground up, sending most standing structures crumbling to the ground. Even the King's massive Palace shook, and a large chunk of it collapsed like a deck of cards.
Adeola watched through the window as the explosion ravaged a significant portion of their Kingdom.
"Oh Walter," she said, clenching her curtains as the Palace struggled to remain standing.
Right when everyone thought it was over, the explosion began, and like a nuke, the most destructive shock wave was sent all through the Kingdom, shattering every type of glass, before a very powerful fire ball was resonated all through Jotunheim, burning every material it touched. Not even rocks and metals in its range were spared.