A Worse Nightmare

The whole arena was silent. As we all watched Dustan perform CPR on his opponent, one could only wonder what is going through his head.

No one in the crowd understood Dustan's decision to save his opponent. Even the referee looked confused with what to do.

"What are you doing?!" It was Jaeger. He appeared agitated.

"I—"

"Why did you save your opponent, boy?!" The guild master demanded the lad.

"His death was unnecessary." Was Dustan's simple explanation. What he meant by that, I could not quite understand.

"Of course it is! It is why this is called a death match! Do you understand what you did?! You tarnished this arena. You tarnished the expectations of the crowd. You tarnished the rules!" Jaeger admonished. He loomed over the teen.

"I shall have your blood boy." He growled. I couldn't help but sigh. There's no way Dustan is going to avoid his death now.

"Hey! What are you doing, spacing out? Get your ass there and defend your disciple!" Alva exclaimed then kicked me. I turned to glare at him.

"Why should I defend him? Clearly he did not follow the rules, he—" I paused. "Wait. He... broke no rules..." I muttered to myself. And the contract!

Realizing this, I figured there was still a way out of this predicament.

My eyes trained over Dustan's figure. His frame was undaunted by the boos of the crowd, nor Jaeger's anger. Instead, his eyes remained serene—like he had already saw this coming.

I guess he lives another day.

I got down from the stands to the arena.

"The lad did not break any rules." My voice boomed over the complaints of the crowd and Jaeger's rant.

"What do you mean—have you gone mad, Kari?!" Jaeger accused me. I shook my head.

"The rules stated that the fighter who takes off his shackles shall be eliminated. But, Dustan did not take off his shackles." I pointed to Dustan's ankle.

"That—!" Jaeger seemed flustered. "That may be so! But he still tarnished the honor of this arena by sparing his opponent. People here want to see blood. And he failed to abide by that one rule." He hissed.

"No, he did not, Jaeger. There is no written clause in our contract that blood should be drawn. The rules of the match were also merely verbal agreement. And, as I believe there is a clause in our agreement in case of a draw, this overwrites any verbal agreement that has no real binding." I showed him my copy of the contract.

"What?!" He exclaimed, snatching the paper from my hands. As he read through the contract, I turned to the crowd.

"Everyone! As both fighters have come out of the tank with their lives, we declare this match as a draw!" I announced.

Gasps of surprise echoed from the spectators.

"Kari!" Jaeger hissed at me. But, he was too late. Not like he can do anything now. It is his fault for not reading the contract properly before signing it.

I patted his shoulder.

"Just take the draw, Jaeger. At the very least, you can still keep your reputation intact with this." I convinced him. As he remained silent, I took that as agreement.

"We shall talk in detail about the matters of the wager tomorrow." I informed the man. As the referee officiated the end of the match, I went to Dustan.

"Master, I—"

"You." I glared at the boy. "We are going to have a talk."

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"Why did you go back to save that man's life?!"

"I was only doing what is right." Dustan replied in a low voice.

I scoffed. "'What is right'? Morals have no place in a death match, boy. You know that. Why would you let your opponent live? Or is it that you simply do not have it in you to kill?"

"Master, I..." Dustan trailed off, looking wronged. Hah! The nerve of this boy.

His eyes looked sad, incredibly so. For what reason, I could not understand. I am the one who should be feeling wronged.

"After all that bravado about bringing honour to my name. What have you done, boy? You have only tarnished my name by sparing the life of a lowly man." I spat.

I bit my lip, watching as Dustan hung his head low. He didn't say anything.

"Well? Are you not going to say something?" I prodded him.

"... No, Master." He said, casting his head down and refusing to meet my eyes. I felt my rage boil inside the pit of my stomach.

With and angry yell, I threw one of my sabers to the wall. The blade embedded itself on the cement on impact. I let out a sigh. Along with it, I felt my anger dissipate a little.

"Just go rest for now." I rubbed my temples.

"Yes, Master."

Quietly, he got out of my room and closed the door behind him. As soon as he was gone, I plopped down on my bed. Only then did I felt the full burnt of my mixed emotions about the whole thing.

A part of me felt ecstatic when Dustan almost won that death match. And, that's why I felt immense disappointment when he went back just to save his opponent.

Jaeger was right. Dustan deserved to die.

"So why did I stop his execution...?" I asked out loud. My actions were against my purpose to get rid of the two.

I could have gotten rid of Dustan right then and there. Alva? I can deal with his uncultured sass. And he is strong. At least he is worth something.

But Dustan?

"That weakling." I hissed. For some reason, I couldn't let go of his actions. The way he was willing to go against the rules to save his enemy...

I pinched my nose, agitated. Dustan's expression earlier kept flashing in my mind. I had this odd feeling of having seen that expression before, a sense of déjà vu.

However, I didn't know why.

I tried shake it off. But, no matter what I do, I couldn't get it out of my system. Instead, adrenaline seemed to have been pumped into my veins.

I couldn't sleep.

Even as I went overboard with my workout, not an inch of melatonin graced me with sleep. Dustan's match kept replaying in my head.

This is worse than a nightmare.