Mike watched the woman that had just won her fight leave the ring that had been drawn on the wooden deck of the ship until Julie pinched him that is, then he gave a smile and took off his shit and walked over to the woman from yesterday along with Julie
"Hello"
"Hey there, I see you brought your girlfriend. Is she here to watch?"
Julie gave a smile which seemed entirely unlike a smile before she spoke
"No I am here to participate too"
The woman returned Julie's smile before she spoke again
"Okay fine then it's 2.000 for the two of you"
Mike handed over a pouch with 2.000 in it before he asked
"How many have joined the tournament?"
"With the two of you? 40, so we are going to have to do four rounds, is that okay?"
"It's fine, as long as you actually pay us what's due if we win"
The woman gave a smile and a nod
"Sure, IF one of you happen to win you take it all"
Mike didn't feel like listening to her anymore so he turned around and walked over and sat down with Julie that was complaining to him
"Well she's a total bitch"
"Agreed, but it's an easy 40.000"
"Yeah…"
Julie leaned in and whispered to Mike
"We can use it to start our army when we reach Thera"
Mike gave a wide smile and a nod
"My thoughts exactly"
While the two of them talked another round started in the ring, Mike found it relatively boring and didn't really pay attention to it, with all the killing he had done he found this type of practice beneath him as he spotted multiple opening he could exploit in a real fight to land killing blows or at least wounds he could exploit with [Drink]
"This is boring... "
Mike leaned back and looked up at the sky with the clouds drifting by
'Man, I want to be like a cloud… Free from all worldly things, just drifting by…'
Mike closed his eyes and thought about being a cloud for what felt like a couple of minutes until Julie shock him slightly
"Mike it's your turn"
"Got it…"
Mike got up and walked into the ring before he sized up his opponent, it was a young man in his early 20's and going by the way he waved at the audience he was pretty confident, Mike gave a smirk and walked into the ring
"What kind of weapon do you use?"
Mike drew the dagger and showed it to the one that was asking before he sheathed it again and received a wooden dagger and spinning it around a few times he concluded
'It's a little unbalanced… Oh well'
Mike slipped into a stance and stood ready, his opponent also stood ready with a one handed wooden sword wearing a flashy grin
'Oh I so want to knock out all your teeth… Well let's just make this quick'
After the match started Mike inched closer before he suddenly sprang into action and within three moves he had created an opening and stabbed at the young man's neck stopping only inches from his target
"And that's that"
The young man froze as if his earlier confidence had been all a lie and when Mike turned his back to him a cold light flashed in his eyes before he slashed out after Mike with his wooden sword aiming for Mike's neck but unsurprisingly Mike dogged by ducking before he spun around on his heel and stabbed out with the wooden dagger hitting him right in his solar plexus with enough force to make the young man bend over and vomit his breakfast, then he hit him in the back of the head with the hilt and made him collapse down face first in his own vomit. Then Mike turned around once more and walked back and sat down beside Julie, meanwhile the friends of the young man, a teenage woman and another young man helped him onto his feet and walked him out of the ring while they glared at Mike that already had closed his eyes while laying down on the deck…
The next time Mike opened his eyes was when it was Julie's turn in the first round, although he didn't really care to see some guy/gal get beat up by Julie (as that was 100% what was going to happen) he still showed his support to her with a simple kiss on the cheek and a
"Do your best, just don't kill 'em"
Julie looked happy and walked into the ring before she received a one handed wooden sword, her opponent was a man in his 30's that wielded a two handed wooden sword, he gave a smirk when he saw Julie was his opponent and spoke in a disdainful manner while his eyes were all over her curves
"Hey beauty, why don't you dump your boy toy and come have fun with me tonight?"
Mike gave a frown but instead of anger he felt a great swell of pity f0or the poor fool that just had talked like that to Julie, as Mike expected Julie's eyes when cold and as soon as the start of the match was announced she disappeared from view, at that moment her opponent knew he had fucked up but before he had a change to beg for mercy he received a upwards slash from Julie's wooden sword right in the groin that made every man present grimace, he didn't even scream he just frothed at the mouth and collapsed face first as his family jewels had been shattered along with his hope of ever fathering children, Julie gave a cold snort and walked back to Mike, at that moment the woman that had organized the event flared up
"Hey, hey is she level 4!?"
Mike gave a smirk and asked back
"Was there a rule that said level 4's could not join in on the fun?"
The woman's face contracted like she had just swallowed a bitter bug before she sat down again, meanwhile a man in his 50's that sat next to her clapped her on the shoulder and spoke in a low voice only they could hear
"Don't worry that's why I am here, Remember we split it fifty-fifty"
The woman calmed down significantly and gave a nod as a cold light flashed through her eyes before she spoke
"When you get matched up against that woman be sure to cripple her"
"...Fine as long as I get to play with her afterwards"
The woman gave a nasty smile
"Sure"
While Julie was unaware of this conversation and Mike too for that matter, Mike still felt the faint killing intent from the man and the woman and whispered something to Julie that gave a nod, then he looked over towards the two scammers as a red light flashed in his eyes.
The next fight was with Mike and it was relatively uneventful, Mike used his superior control over his weapon to his advantage and after a short bout he won the fight easily, this time his opponent, a woman in her 20's didn't do anything and acknowledged her loss rather meekly and quickly walked back to her seat.
Julie's next fight was even more uneventful as her opponent surrendered as soon as he saw it was Julie he had to fight, she barely even stood up before he surrendered so she just sat down again with a slight pout, Mike poked her cheek which earned him a glare then he wrapped his arm around her waist and asked her
"What's wrong?"
Julie still pouted a little bit more before she spoke
"I wanted to fight… So I don't get even more fat…"
"You're not fat at all Julie so don't worry about that"
Julie gave a rather meek nod but Mike could see she still weren't convinced about what he said
'Looks like I need to pour it on thick for Julie to get it…'
Mike pulled Julie slightly closer to him and gave her a kiss on the cheek, when that didn't work he gave her another kiss on the same spot and then again and again until finely Julie turned her head his way and asked
"What?"
Mike gave a ever so gentle smile and spoke
"I just wanted to kiss my perfect woman"
Julie's face lit up like a christmas tree before she turned her head away and mumbled
"Oh is that so..?"
Mike however weren't finished yet as he had decided to 'lay it on extra thick' thus he hugged her close and gave her another kiss on the cheek and another and then another one for good measure
"Enough! I get it alright!"
"Hmm… Is that so? What exactly is that you get?"
Julie was now red up to her ears and seemed to have overheated as she mumbled
"That I am not fat…"
"Very good, full marks"