Lin Feng peered over the Fighter application form with pen in his hand. It asked a myriad of questions. He had no idea what most of them meant.
"Just fill your name and age," said old man Ming seeing his confusion.
He had just filled these fields when the receptionist came to him. He handed her the form and looked sheepishly. The receptionist read his name and said, "Mr Lin Feng you will have a fight now. Our training manager Thomas would judge your performance. Please, display your capabilities as best you can."
He nodded. She led them towards the entrance where he had seen the girl going to. It was a long corridor which curved in the front. Immediately on entering he saw a shut door with Arena 1 written above. They passed by it and went to the next door signed Arena 2.
"Please go in and wait for Mr Thomas," saying this the receptionist left.
The old man took the backpack and took out his wood-chopping axe from it. "Here. Just do what you know. I will be in the stands," he said handing him the axe.
Lin Feng was feeling greatly nervous but getting his axe in his hands eased it. He took a deep breath, tightened his grip on the axe and nodded. He entered behind the old man and took a look around. The brightly lit arena was shaped like a circular auditorium. There were 5 rows of seats around the perimeter which sloped down as it went closer to the centre. The ring was circular and built as a wide platform with a rope perimeter.
But it was not empty. On the second row to the front, the two men following behind the girl were sitting, while the girl herself was walking towards the edge of the ring, about to get out. There was another boy in the ring, panting badly. He was wearing protective leather armour on his torso while a sword lay fallen at his feet. As Lin Feng got in while doing a few practice swings the girl Olivia looked towards him.
Old man Ming sat down on the nearest seat.
"Get ready quickly!" Olivia said to Lin Feng walking back to the centre of the ring. The other boy took his sword and almost ran to him, the relief of getting out showing on his face. He took off his leather armour and helped Lin Feng put it on. Lin Feng walked to the border of the ring and said, "Shouldn't we wait for Mr Thomas."
"No need," said Olivia with her sword held in her right hand. "Your weapon doesn't look suitable for fighting."
Lin Feng got in and said, " It is what I like."
She shrugged. "Let's begin."
They stood face to face with each other. Olivia held the sword in her right hand facing up. He held his axe diagonally in front of his body, his right hand gripping the axe near the middle of the handle, providing greater speed and control in lieu of more power.
When Lin Feng went to work in the forest, he had had encounters with many different animals. The animals he faced were much more powerful than him in brute strength. They attacked with their paws, mouth and used the weight of their bodies. This was the first time he was facing a human opponent who held a weapon like him. Lin Ming had taught him how to wield the axe but he never fought with him. In the wilderness, he also did not have friends or other people with whom he could fight. So facing a human enemy was a very new experience for Lin Feng. But the biggest thing that was worrying him was how would he fight her without injuring her. In all his previous fights, he had the intent to kill or seriously injure the opponent. But now it was different. This caused his whole body to tense. He was gripping the axe so hard that his knuckles had turned white.
He looked at his opponent. She held a sword about as long as her arm. The sword was long and thin with a metallic grey lustre. She looked completely relaxed while holding it. He was contemplating her possible modes of attack when she began attacking.
She brought her sword downwards at an angle towards his neck. Lin Feng put his axe in front to get a sense of her strength. The strength that he felt was surprisingly less. But he was indignant to find that her sword had nicked the axe handle where it struck. He moved back and sidestepped to dodge her next two attacks aimed at his midsection. He decided he would not take a direct hit unless it was necessary.
Olivia kept attacking. She noticed that he was trying to protect his weapon. So, she kept hitting his sore spot. She attacked with her sword in diagonal and horizontal cuts that forced him to defend or dodge. But her opponent was managing to keep up with her. He managed to dodge a large number of her attacks with a small margin which she believed he was doing deliberately causing her to lose a large amount of energy.
Seeing that despite wielding a heavier weapon, Lin Feng showed no signs of tiredness and instead she was the one being tired, she decided to change her attack and end the match. She threw in one of her most practised combos - two diagonal slashes followed by a lunging thrust.
Lin Feng twisted his body to move it out of the path of the slashes. Then he felt a sense of predicament. Instead of following with another slash she lunged at him with her sword held in straight in her arm aimed at his eyes. Instinctively he moved his head back and brought his axe in a blind diagonal slash. But before his axe could hit her he saw her sword curving and instead, hitting his chest guard and coming to a stop.