"Gherda! Why did you stop me? They are from the people I came with here!"
They were walking towards the inn. The boy's face was a perfect example of dissatisfaction. The woman on his right was clearly ignoring him.
"Gherda!"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm listening."
"Damn! I could've already returned to where the captain is."
Gherda yawned. – "Hmmm, ok, and if Encore noticed that you are one of them, tomorrow you will have to fight. And I'm sure that our powerful and mighty nameless boy will be able to easily beat a veteran ice-born warrior, personally empowered by the Ice God."
Nameless frowned and shut up.
"That guy, your captain I mean, what is the name of his ship?"
Nameless still thinking about what she just said answered. – "Sorrow of the Black Sea."
"Oh, that's some big name…You're lucky to be able to travel with the crew of one of the Ocean Lords."
Nameless was taken aback. – "Ocean Lords?"
"Oh, didn't you know? Ocean Lords are something are like the kings of the Broken Ocean. On this island we have our Frozen King, while you, outsiders have the Ocean Lords."
'I didn't know that he was such a big shot but, it only strengthens my idea about why they need more than a hundred essentially useless people like me…'
Meanwhile Gherda continued. – "So, tomorrow we will be only two simple spectators."
Other warriors from their group were calmly waiting inside the inn for Gherda's return. – "We will depart tomorrow after the fight against the outsiders."
With that everyone returned to the respective rooms.
In the room Nameless thought for a moment. – "Gherda, can you lend me a spear tomorrow?"
"Sure." – She nodded. – "Inside the wardrobe there is one." – She took her book and started to read.
Nameless immediately found the spear she was talking about. A standard ice weapon everyone in the tribe was using. 'A bit too light…'
He made thrusts, swings and some other movements until he completely accustomed to the spear's characteristics. Then Nameless placed it near his bed.
"What is this book, you're always reading, about?"
"Nothing special. It's about the energy conductivity of the energy based conjured substances…"
Nameless could only nod without understanding a single thing.
[…]
The next morning the boy woke up early and had to wait for an hour before Gherda opened her eyes and stood up. The weather was as cloudy as ever but, in the air Nameless could perceive some very oppressive feeling.
"The Frozen King is growing in power with every second." – Commented Gherda.
The royal palace wasn't very far from the inn, so their group quickly arrived there. A lot of seats were already prepared for the audience and more and more people were arriving towards the square.
They took their seats and waited. 'Majestic palace…'
It was building made from stone and ice. Very tall and without many decorations.
In the next moment the huge front door slowly opened, and the Frozen Kings appeared. Apart from the crown he was wearing a set of gorgeous ice armor.
Victor arrived in front of the square and sat on the throne made from ice which appeared right under him.
"The competition can start."
As he said that five people emerged from the main street.
They were the two from the day before, captain Blake, and other two who Nameless didn't know.
"Yes, the competition can start."
"Ocean Lord, are you also participating?" – Victor smiled. – "Well, in this case, I think that I can also have some fun."
He raised his hand in the air and suddenly four ice blocks appeared around him.
*Crack*
And the ice shattered revealing four humanoid beings clad in armor like the one worn by Victor. Immediately one of them stepped forward and pointed towards Doctor. – "I, God Guard Rammel, challenge you!"
Rammel was bulkier that the other three and had a huge rectangular shield on his back.
Doctor silently appeared in the middle of the square. Rammel did the same. The spectacular thing was his speed because even though he couldn't use shadows like Doctor still he also directly appeared in the middle of the improvised arena.
Captain frowned.
Rimmel prepared his shield. – "We can…" – Suddenly he turned around and pushed his shield forward. A clear sound of metal collision could be heard. – "…start." – A black silhouette tried to pierce his neck from behind.
*BOOM*
From the center of the shield appeared a massive ice spike and directly pierced through the attacker. 'Only a shadow…'
Doctor reappeared some meters away from his opponent. 'This Rimmel…is quick…and strong…'
"You can't stop the power of God, shadow."
Rimmel made a step forward and appeared right before Doctor. The shield came crashing towards his face but once it touched his body doctor dissipated into specks of black energy.
"[Two Shadows]"
From left and right appeared two figures and thrusted their daggers towards the God Guard. He couldn't possibly protect himself on the both sides.
'Yes! That will go through.' – Rejoiced Nameless.
Two daggers pierced Rimmel's body, but something felt wrong. He didn't even move. – "Oh, that tickled me slightly."
He raised hi shield and smashed in on the ground and multiple ice spikes impaled two shadows, destroying them.
"I always hated the ways of the assassins." – Said Rimmel. – "So sneaky, always hiding in the shadows and so frail."
"You can't beat beet me. You can't even injure me."
Suddenly his eyes became extremely cold. – "And…I CAN SEE YOU!" – His energy burst out with an unstoppable momentum. On his shield suddenly grew five spikes and hi dashed forward.
*BOOOOOOOOM*
The whole city trembled from the impact and a huge cloud of dust and broken ice shards covered the whole square.
Victor moved his hand and a gentle breeze pushed the dust away.
Rimmel was inside a huge crater. The spikes pierced a figure clad in black clothes pinning it on the ground. A little pool of blood was already taking shape under it.
Nameless froze on his seat. 'No! Doctor!'
Rimmel grinned. – "The first victory…" – The next moment his pupils constricted.
Suddenly the corpse under his shield dissolved in some sort of a black liquid. – "What? It's impossible!"
'I pumped his body with my full power…He can't possibly survive from that hit…'
A sense of extreme danger engulfed Rimmel's mind and he wanted to jump away from the crater.
"Where're you going?"
He found out that his legs were firmly held on the ground by the black liquid. Meanwhile it slowly expanded until it covered the whole surface of the pit.
"You know what, God Guard Rimmel? Who told you that I'm an assassin? You've seen me using shadows and immediately made your conclusions…Stupid slave."
A red line appeared on the black surface and slowly a big, one-meter long eye opened. It was staring emotionlessly on the struggling Rimmel.
He suddenly felt extremely small and weak. It was an unconscious feeling. Rimmel was like a kid fearing the monster in the closet. In that moment he had a revelation. – "No! Creatures like can't exist! Primordial is no more! He was destroy...AAAAHHHH."
His left leg suddenly slightly sank inside the blackness. He felt like if a million small teeth in the same moment pierced his flesh and started chewing.
"No need to talk about such an obsolete legend."
The liquid surged and completely submerged the God Guard. The dark maw from immemorial ages closed cut his useless life. Not even a cry could be heard.
The black pool condensed back into the figure of Doctor. Nameless subconsciously opened his mouth. Only the saltiness of the cold sweat woke him up.
'So, this is Doctor's power…'
Meanwhile Doctor nodded towards Captain and returned to his right. John seemed slightly displeased.
"Your Majesty! I think that the first victory goes to us."
Victor was surprisingly calm and composed. – "Yes, I was extremely surprised to see such…a particular creature in your crew. I was sure that He slayed them all."
Doctor ignored the provocation and stood still.
The king sighed with a slight disappointment. – "Whatever, the first victory goes to you, Ocean Lord."
Another one from his fighters stepped forward. He didn't have any weapons and without any fleshy moves only walked towards the arena.
"I don't care about the opponent I will have to fight. Anyone of you, outsiders can step forward."
The sentence by itself sounded like an arrogant challenge but coupled with his melodious voice it became a gentle invitation.
John observed him for a moment then looked towards Benjamin. He was about to go but suddenly a slender hand stopped him. – "Let me bury this guy, Cap."
"Why?"
"He has a familiar aura." – The one who stopped Benjamin was a skinny man with a bandage covering both of his eyes. – "And I taste a scent of a fellow weapon master."
The last sentence was spoken loudly so the God Guard could hear him. He trembled slightly and a nearly corporeal battle intent surged from his eyes.
"I suddenly changed my mind, Outsiders. I God Guard Lyrò challenge that man."
The bandaged man evilly grinned and went inside the arena.
"Weapon Master Loranna gladly accepts your challenge."