As Shi approached the castle he saw a man leaning against the castle's walls casually. Shi motioned his men to stay back as he approached the man. "I can't believe all of this sh*t was caused by a little pipsqueak like you." the man said, shaking his head as he chuckled.
"You would be Kaunto then?" Shi asked. "Yep, and let me guess, you want me to surrender to you and let you take my castle," Kaunto said, stretching. "Nah," Shi said. "You'd just betray me afterward, and besides, I need the reputation of killing someone important who's supposedly better than me."
"Fair enough," Kaunto said, taking off his cloak to reveal the armor underneath. His armor was mostly leather with a steel breastplate covering his chest. The lack of embellishments worried Shi since most rich people would use armor and weapons to show off wealth. The main exception to which being the people who actually knew what they were doing. Kaunto had a spear that had a jagged crescent at the base of the tip.
Shi waited for Kaunto to get ready and then shot 5 arrows at him. Kaunto moved in a blur and caught all of the arrows, smirking at Shi as he broke the arrows over his knee. Shi shook his head and chuckled at Kaunto's antics as he dropped his bow to the ground and drew his karambit.
Kaunto twirled his spear as he went over his shoulder, behind his back, and under his other shoulder. He then did it in reverse, his eyes never leaving Shi's. Shi brought his knife up and activated war cry before charging in.
Kaunto thrust his spear at Shi as he came in closer but Shi used wind magic to push himself over Kaunto, as Kaunto turned, Shi tried to stab him but Kaunto turned so the blade skidded off his breastplate and swiped his spear at Shi forcing him to back off.
Shi came in again, but Kaunto kept him at bay with his spear. Shi tried to do the wind dodge again but Kaunto thrust at him in the air and it was all Shi could do to twist out of the way before he was skewered. Shi landed and rolled immediately as Kaunto's spear came down right were Shi had been. Shi tried closing the distance without any tricks but Kaunto was faster and had the advantage in reach by a decent bit.
Shi tried raising a small slab to trip Kaunto up but he saw it in time to step over it without being thrown off balance enough for Shi to make a move. Shi feinted one way and then tried to dash in another way but Kaunto reacted and stabbed at Shi grazing his shoulder and drawing blood. Shi summoned fire between him and Kaunto, forcing Kaunto to step back from the heat as Shi gathered himself.
Shi took the second he had to check on his mana reserves, realizing that he only had about a quarter of his mana left. If he wanted to win this fight he would have to do it soon. Shi charged in and increased the gravity for Kaunto, surprising him and giving Shi the opportunity to slash his shoulder where the leather was thinner.
Kaunto raised a mountain under Shi, launching him into the air. Shi started falling down towards Kaunto but as Kaunto tried to stab up at Shi, Shi used wind magic to launch himself to the side as he landed hard on the ground a few feet away from Kaunto.
Kaunto had panicked with the mountain and had made it giant, draining his mana reserves considerably. He also had a cut on his shoulder, restricting his mobility slightly. Shi was all beat up, with a few cracked ribs from his fall and a cut on his arm. He also had only a little bit of mana left.
Shi charged in, disregarding the pain in his ribs as he made his way towards Kaunto. Kaunto tried to keep him at bay but Shi sacrificed cuts on his arms and torso to get in close to Kaunto. When he got in, he feinted a cut for Kaunto's throat and then put him under zero gravity and front kicked him in the chest as hard as he could. The action was too much for Shi's broken ribs and he collapsed to the ground. Kaunto was sent flying towards the castle and he used the rest of his mana to slow himself down with wind magic.
Shi struggled back to his feet and faced Kaunto. Kaunto pushed off from the castle wall towards Shi. Shi saw Kaunto flying in towards him at speed with Kaunto's spear leading. Shi waited till Kaunto was about to hit him and then changed the gravity around him to the max. Kaunto was able to skim Shi on the way down but he hit the ground heavily, with an audible crack as his ribs broke.
Shi gritted his teeth against the pain and half ran, half fell towards Kaunto as he plunged his karambit into Kaunto's throat. Kaunto stabbed at Shi, piercing his lower back. Shi roared and tore his karambit to the side, leaving a gaping hole where Kaunto's throat used to be.
Shi tried to move but the pain nearly made him blackout. Daisan came up to him with Seizon in tow. "Daisan," Shi barely managed to whisper. "I need you to pull this spear out of me and bandage the wound directly afterward." "Alright." Daisan said, as tore Shi's shirt off and tore it into strips. He gave the strips to Seizon and then firmly grasped the handle of the spear.
"Alright, I'm going to do this on 3, 1." Shi screamed as Daisan pulled the spear out of him without warning. Daisan quickly grabbed the cloth strips and bandaged Shi up as Shi passed out from a mixture of pain and blood loss.
Shi awoke in a fancy bedroom inside the castle, starving. Shi tried to get out of bed but his back and side flared up in agony, forcing him back onto the bed. Shi's scream attracted the man outside his door who came in. "Young master Shi," Seizon exclaimed happily, "I'm glad you're up." Seizon helped Shi get up and supported him as they made their way to the dining room.
Before they entered, Shi asked Seizon to let him walk on his own to keep up appearances. They then entered the dining room and Shi sat at the head of the table, with Seizon on his left and Daisan on his right with the men filling up the rest of the table.
"Before we start eating I would like to say a few things," Shi declared, "this is only the beginning, we will only move up from here and you all have helped us get to where we are and so when we inevitably go further you will all be rewarded for your bravery and skill. Once we fully recover and become stronger than ever before we will expand out towards the main island. With that said, now is the time for recovery and rejoicement, so have a drink with me." Shi raised his cup and drank with his men, excited for the endless possibilities ahead of him.