After his victory Royce steps back into the waiting area for fighters while his opponent Matherson is carried off on a stretcher.
"I have to say that was a pretty impressive display you put on Royce."
As soon as Royce walks in he is greeted by a sagely looking old man in a white rob holding a staff.
"Thanks for the recognition sir, I'm not done yet though."
"No need to be so humble, you did great. Your magic strategies are so simple yet effective, it's quite something. It's a different style of fighting and you do it very well."
"Thank you, I'll keep that in mind."
In the corner with her arms folded Eleonora scoffs.
"Yo Royce, you don't think it'll be easy to fool me do you? That cowardly way of fighting isn't going to work against me, you know."
Royce scoffs back and ignores her causing a vein to pop on her head.
"Hey, don't ignore me!"
Royce proceeds to shrug in walk away while Eleonora tries to draw her sword.
"Let's get this show on the road shall we!?"
Roderick's voice echoes through the room causing everyone to stop.
"Alright then, our next fight will be between Eleonora and Groel!"
"Groel huh?" Eleonora says while looking toward the sagely old man who was just talking to Royce. "This'll be fun."
A wide smile beings to form on her face as the old man Groel stands up.
"Let's go give em a good show old man."
Eleonora then proceeds to leave the waiting area along with Groel.
Back in the audience seats Laura is watching the two fighters enter with a fixed gaze. The old man has a long beard and what appears to be a walking cane or maybe a magic staff. This guy seems rather out of place for this type of event. On the other hand Eleonora is a woman in her prime, with her minimalist outfit, well toned muscles and confidence it seems like this match will be over in mere moments at a glance.
"Um Raul, who's that old guy?"
"That's old man Groel, he's been a fighter here since before Roderick took over. He's quite the veteran."
The two of them watch as Groel and Eleonora walk out into the middle of the arena.
"But he looks like he could keel over at any moment. I would imagine if someone hit him with a strong enough attack he wouldn't even last five seconds."
"Well looks can be deceiving, how do you think he got here?"
"By winning his fights obviously." Laura replies to Raul questions with a forceful tone.
Raul shrugs "Well at any rate, let's just enjoy the spectacle."
Just then Groel removes his white robe revealing a very well hidden muscular physique.
"Huh?" Laura stares at the old man with dumbfounded expression.
"See, don't judge a book by it's cover."
"Uh, yeah sure, whatever you say..."
At the same time Groel and Eleonora ready their weapons. Eleonora with her sword and Groel with his wooden staff.
"Hold on you two we haven't started the betting yet." Roderick says in a hurry seeing the two are about to start on their own.
"Way to kill the tension there Roderick."
"Yeah Roderick way to be a mood killer."
The both of them chastise Roderick for killing the mood they had causing Roderick to slump his shoulders.
"Yes yes, I suppose I should have expected that out of you two but we need to do the betting so please don't do anything till we've tallied all the bets."
"Hrmm... I'll go ahead and bet on Eleonora. She said she's confident that her fights will be easy so I'm gonna place my first ever bet on her. I expect her to win no problem."
Laura grins while placing a small wager on Eleonora.
"Good luck Laura." Raul replies to Laura. "Also try not to get too addicted to gambling."
"I won't."
After a few minutes pass the bets are tallied and they're split 50/50.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen, are you ready!?"
The crowd erupts with cheers of approval.
"Then begin!"
Groel makes the first move by charging directly towards Eleonora swinging his staff. Eleonora easily dodges the attack and comes up behind him, she aims her sword for a quick resolution but it's stopped by Groel's staff without him even looking back.
"Whoa! His defense is actually pretty good!" Laura comments while watching intently.
Groel launches a backward kick at Eleonora who just barely dodges the attack. She responds by thrusting her sword at Groel but he once again blocks it with his wooden staff. Groel then pushes Eleonora back causing her to lose balance for a split second. Groel uses the opening to strike at her head with the butt end of his staff knocking her down.
"Nngh, damn!"
Groel not letting the opening slip away goes for another strike on the prone Eleonora but just before he hits her again Eleonora stabs him in the shin with her sword causing him to lose focus for a split second. Eleonora quickly gets up and rushes Groel. After dodging another one of Groel's strikes she goes for a slash to his chest but he uses the butt end of his staff to parry her sword slash. Then Groel grabs hold of one of Eleonora's wrists and lands a knee on her stomach which causes her to groan in pain.
"Guhhh!"
Elenora grits her teeth and lands a knee right to his crotch with no hesitation causing every man in the audience to let out a groan of sympathy. Groel takes the knee to the groin rather hard and collapses onto one knee clutching his privates. Eleonora attempts to stab him with her sword but Groel in a display of agility unbecoming of his age stabs his staff into the ground and vaults on top of it with one hand like a balancing act all within the blink of an eye.
"Huh?" Eleonora gapes in confusion.
"Don't underestimate me little girl!" Groel lands on top of Eleonora's outstretched sword the very next second and kicks Eleonora square in the face. He than does a backflip off the sword as she's being sent backward by the kick. He lands on his feet and does a bow causing the audience to clap for him.
Eleonora is now bleeding from her mouth and nose. She clutches her head in agony. Groel walks slowly towards her. He then swings the staff at her head but Eleonora manages to dodge the blow by rolling to the side but Groel sweeps the staff as soon as he's level with her dodge and ends up hitting her anyway.
"Gahh!" Eleonora falls to one knee in pain clutching her head.
Groel continues to press the attack on Eleonora. She block his first strike with her sword but is hit with an uppercut from the butt end of his staff right after. Eleonora uses the momentum from that to gain some distance and get back on her feet. Groel follows up his attack by doing a front kick on her side.
"D-Damn!"
Still standing Eleonora's breathing is heavy while Groel's is calm. Eleonora tries to counterattack but Groel blocks her sword stroke with his staff and lands a kick on her abdomen. The force of the kick is enough to make Eleonora stumble backwards. She rights herself by stabbing her sword into the ground.
Groel walks up to her and places his staff on Eleonora's throat.
"You've lost child. Don't think you can fight like this anymore."
"Go to hell!" Eleonora answers angrily.
Groel swings his staff and hits Eleonora in the head once again causing her to blackout and fall to the ground.
The crowd is silent enough to hear a pin drop on the sand. The match only lasted for a minute. Even Roderick is stunned that it's over already.
"Th-the winner is Groel!" His voice exclaims loudly.
Groel stands up and bows to the crowd. He the places his white cloak back on and exits the arena while waving to the audience.
"Well it looks like Eleonora lost," Laura states while wiping sweat off her brow.
"Eleonora is way too overconfident, she didn't stand a chance against the old man. The only person to beat him was the previous number 1."
"So wait, what's the purpose of this tournament to decide the number 1 if it's basically a foregone conclusion?"
"It's not a foregone conclusion and also money."
"Yeah that makes sense."
Eleonora is carried off in a stretcher. Laura proceeds to try and leave the seating area.
"Hey where are you going Laura?"
"I'm going to the infirmary."
"Why?"
"Because Eleonora is hurt and I have to see her."
Raul stares at her dumbfounded. "Don't you want to watch the rest of the fights?"
"Not really, I was only really interested in seeing Eleonora fight but she lost so I have no more interest."
"Fair enough I guess."
Laura rushes to the infirmary and finds Eleonora conscious when she arrives. Her face is swollen and her head is bandaged. She looks up at Laura and gives her a weak smile.
"Hey Eleonora."
Eleonora looks down crestfallen.
"Sorry you had to see that pathetic performance. I talked myself up and ended up losing terribly."
"There's no shame in losing to someone like him. He's only ever lost to one other person right? So he's beatable. You'll just have to train harder to defeat him."
Eleonora nods.
"How do you feel about the match?"
"I... I don't know. All I really remember is getting multiple concussions and only landing one strike on him. It's all a blur."
"I see."
Eleonora slaps both her cheeks in order to set her mind straight.
"There's no use sulking about it, right. I just gotta kick his ass next time. There's no room for sympathy or pity. I just gotta get better, until then I'll be training hard so I can become number 1."
Laura listens to Eleonora's determination.
"Hey Eleonora, can you help me train?"
Eleonora's eyes widen, she wasn't expecting Laura to ask her for training.
"You want to beat that guy right? Well I want to get stronger too, strong enough to become number 1 as well. But I can't do it alone. I don't know how to use a sword or how to use magic, when I beat Anton I was just going with the flow of the fight. Well about as much as I could since I was drugged but that's beside the point. The point is that I want you to help me get better and in turn I'll help you. Deal?"
Eleonora can tell it's not just a child's way of trying to cheer her up, she can tell that Laura really means it.
"Do you really want to be trained by someone as arrogant as me?"
"You were the first person to not be afraid of me when you first met me and when I heard about you being a great fighter I told myself that I'd have you train me one way or another. There's no one I would rather learn from than you. How about it?"
Eleonora cracks a smile. "A deal then. Let's shoot for the top spot together. Though I'm not sure how good of a teacher I can be."
"Fine by me. Just don't come crying to me when I surpass you."
The two of them enjoy each other's company for a few more hours, accompanied by the faint sound of the colosseum audience erupting in cheers.
After his victory Royce steps back into the waiting area for fighters while his opponent Matherson is carried off on a stretcher.
"I have to say that was a pretty impressive display you put on Royce."
As soon as Royce walks in he is greeted by a sagely looking old man in a white rob holding a staff.
"Thanks for the recognition sir, I'm not done yet though."
"No need to be so humble, you did great. Your magic strategies are so simple yet effective, it's quite something. It's a different style of fighting and you do it very well."
"Thank you, I'll keep that in mind."
In the corner with her arms folded Eleonora scoffs.
"Yo Royce, you don't think it'll be easy to fool me do you? That cowardly way of fighting isn't going to work against me, you know."
Royce scoffs back and ignores her causing a vein to pop on her head.
"Hey, don't ignore me!"
Royce proceeds to shrug in walk away while Eleonora tries to draw her sword.
"Let's get this show on the road shall we!?"
Roderick's voice echoes through the room causing everyone to stop.
"Alright then, our next fight will be between Eleonora and Groel!"
"Groel huh?" Eleonora says while looking toward the sagely old man who was just talking to Royce. "This'll be fun."
A wide smile beings to form on her face as the old man Groel stands up.
"Let's go give em a good show old man."
Eleonora then proceeds to leave the waiting area along with Groel.
Back in the audience seats Laura is watching the two fighters enter with a fixed gaze. The old man has a long beard and what appears to be a walking cane or maybe a magic staff. This guy seems rather out of place for this type of event. On the other hand Eleonora is a woman in her prime, with her minimalist outfit, well toned muscles and confidence it seems like this match will be over in mere moments at a glance.
"Um Raul, who's that old guy?"
"That's old man Groel, he's been a fighter here since before Roderick took over. He's quite the veteran."
The two of them watch as Groel and Eleonora walk out into the middle of the arena.
"But he looks like he could keel over at any moment. I would imagine if someone hit him with a strong enough attack he wouldn't even last five seconds."
"Well looks can be deceiving, how do you think he got here?"
"By winning his fights obviously." Laura replies to Raul questions with a forceful tone.
Raul shrugs "Well at any rate, let's just enjoy the spectacle."
Just then Groel removes his white robe revealing a very well hidden muscular physique.
"Huh?" Laura stares at the old man with dumbfounded expression.
"See, don't judge a book by it's cover."
"Uh, yeah sure, whatever you say..."
At the same time Groel and Eleonora ready their weapons. Eleonora with her sword and Groel with his wooden staff.
"Hold on you two we haven't started the betting yet." Roderick says in a hurry seeing the two are about to start on their own.
"Way to kill the tension there Roderick."
"Yeah Roderick way to be a mood killer."
The both of them chastise Roderick for killing the mood they had causing Roderick to slump his shoulders.
"Yes yes, I suppose I should have expected that out of you two but we need to do the betting so please don't do anything till we've tallied all the bets."
"Hrmm... I'll go ahead and bet on Eleonora. She said she's confident that her fights will be easy so I'm gonna place my first ever bet on her. I expect her to win no problem."
Laura grins while placing a small wager on Eleonora.
"Good luck Laura." Raul replies to Laura. "Also try not to get too addicted to gambling."
"I won't."
After a few minutes pass the bets are tallied and they're split 50/50.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen, are you ready!?"
The crowd erupts with cheers of approval.
"Then begin!"
Groel makes the first move by charging directly towards Eleonora swinging his staff. Eleonora easily dodges the attack and comes up behind him, she aims her sword for a quick resolution but it's stopped by Groel's staff without him even looking back.
"Whoa! His defense is actually pretty good!" Laura comments while watching intently.
Groel launches a backward kick at Eleonora who just barely dodges the attack. She responds by thrusting her sword at Groel but he once again blocks it with his wooden staff. Groel then pushes Eleonora back causing her to lose balance for a split second. Groel uses the opening to strike at her head with the butt end of his staff knocking her down.
"Nngh, damn!"
Groel not letting the opening slip away goes for another strike on the prone Eleonora but just before he hits her again Eleonora stabs him in the shin with her sword causing him to lose focus for a split second. Eleonora quickly gets up and rushes Groel. After dodging another one of Groel's strikes she goes for a slash to his chest but he uses the butt end of his staff to parry her sword slash. Then Groel grabs hold of one of Eleonora's wrists and lands a knee on her stomach which causes her to groan in pain.
"Guhhh!"
Elenora grits her teeth and lands a knee right to his crotch with no hesitation causing every man in the audience to let out a groan of sympathy. Groel takes the knee to the groin rather hard and collapses onto one knee clutching his privates. Eleonora attempts to stab him with her sword but Groel in a display of agility unbecoming of his age stabs his staff into the ground and vaults on top of it with one hand like a balancing act all within the blink of an eye.
"Huh?" Eleonora gapes in confusion.
"Don't underestimate me little girl!" Groel lands on top of Eleonora's outstretched sword the very next second and kicks Eleonora square in the face. He than does a backflip off the sword as she's being sent backward by the kick. He lands on his feet and does a bow causing the audience to clap for him.
Eleonora is now bleeding from her mouth and nose. She clutches her head in agony. Groel walks slowly towards her. He then swings the staff at her head but Eleonora manages to dodge the blow by rolling to the side but Groel sweeps the staff as soon as he's level with her dodge and ends up hitting her anyway.
"Gahh!" Eleonora falls to one knee in pain clutching her head.
Groel continues to press the attack on Eleonora. She block his first strike with her sword but is hit with an uppercut from the butt end of his staff right after. Eleonora uses the momentum from that to gain some distance and get back on her feet. Groel follows up his attack by doing a front kick on her side.
"D-Damn!"
Still standing Eleonora's breathing is heavy while Groel's is calm. Eleonora tries to counterattack but Groel blocks her sword stroke with his staff and lands a kick on her abdomen. The force of the kick is enough to make Eleonora stumble backwards. She rights herself by stabbing her sword into the ground.
Groel walks up to her and places his staff on Eleonora's throat.
"You've lost child. Don't think you can fight like this anymore."
"Go to hell!" Eleonora answers angrily.
Groel swings his staff and hits Eleonora in the head once again causing her to blackout and fall to the ground.
The crowd is silent enough to hear a pin drop on the sand. The match only lasted for a minute. Even Roderick is stunned that it's over already.
"Th-the winner is Groel!" His voice exclaims loudly.
Groel stands up and bows to the crowd. He the places his white cloak back on and exits the arena while waving to the audience.
"Well it looks like Eleonora lost," Laura states while wiping sweat off her brow.
"Eleonora is way too overconfident, she didn't stand a chance against the old man. The only person to beat him was the previous number 1."
"So wait, what's the purpose of this tournament to decide the number 1 if it's basically a foregone conclusion?"
"It's not a foregone conclusion and also money."
"Yeah that makes sense."
Eleonora is carried off in a stretcher. Laura proceeds to try and leave the seating area.
"Hey where are you going Laura?"
"I'm going to the infirmary."
"Why?"
"Because Eleonora is hurt and I have to see her."
Raul stares at her dumbfounded. "Don't you want to watch the rest of the fights?"
"Not really, I was only really interested in seeing Eleonora fight but she lost so I have no more interest."
"Fair enough I guess."
Laura rushes to the infirmary and finds Eleonora conscious when she arrives. Her face is swollen and her head is bandaged. She looks up at Laura and gives her a weak smile.
"Hey Eleonora."
Eleonora looks down crestfallen.
"Sorry you had to see that pathetic performance. I talked myself up and ended up losing terribly."
"There's no shame in losing to someone like him. He's only ever lost to one other person right? So he's beatable. You'll just have to train harder to defeat him."
Eleonora nods.
"How do you feel about the match?"
"I... I don't know. All I really remember is getting multiple concussions and only landing one strike on him. It's all a blur."
"I see."
Eleonora slaps both her cheeks in order to set her mind straight.
"There's no use sulking about it, right. I just gotta kick his ass next time. There's no room for sympathy or pity. I just gotta get better, until then I'll be training hard so I can become number 1."
Laura listens to Eleonora's determination.
"Hey Eleonora, can you help me train?"
Eleonora's eyes widen, she wasn't expecting Laura to ask her for training.
"You want to beat that guy right? Well I want to get stronger too, strong enough to become number 1 as well. But I can't do it alone. I don't know how to use a sword or how to use magic, when I beat Anton I was just going with the flow of the fight. Well about as much as I could since I was drugged but that's beside the point. The point is that I want you to help me get better and in turn I'll help you. Deal?"
Eleonora can tell it's not just a child's way of trying to cheer her up, she can tell that Laura really means it.
"Do you really want to be trained by someone as arrogant as me?"
"You were the first person to not be afraid of me when you first met me and when I heard about you being a great fighter I told myself that I'd have you train me one way or another. There's no one I would rather learn from than you. How about it?"
Eleonora cracks a smile. "A deal then. Let's shoot for the top spot together. Though I'm not sure how good of a teacher I can be."
"Fine by me. Just don't come crying to me when I surpass you."
The two of them enjoy each other's company for a few more hours, accompanied by the faint sound of the colosseum audience erupting in cheers.
