LEFT!
I barely manage to throw myself sideways before the giant blunt morning star strikes where I was seconds prior, causing a cloud of dust to sweep over us. With my movements hidden from him for the slightest of moments, I dash to his right while simultaneously grabbing a pebble and throwing it to his left, hoping the distraction works.
SMASH
On the edges of my vision, I see the heavy practice weapon lodged in the ground, my opponent now completely vulnerable.
"This is it" I whisper manically as I abandon my wooden practice sword, taking out my wooden dagger as I'm finally behind him.
'Huh?" Axel grunts as he futilely tries to move his massive body to face me.
Too late.
I'm on top of him in seconds, my dagger ready as I push my body weight on him, with him off balance when trying to face him I pull it off, Axel plunges headfirst into the ground. Now on top of him, I grab his scalp by the hair and shove his face on the cold ground floor.
CRUNCH
The sound of his nose breaking isn't enough to satisfy me as I shove his face in the ground once, twice, three more times for good measure, my ears pleasured with his muffled sounds of agony, while tinges of red dance on my vision. With Axel completely dazed, I pull his head ever so slightly, putting my wooden dagger to his neck.
"Yield, or have your face making out with the concrete" I growl in his ears, pulling on his hair even harder.
"YIELD! I yield, please" Axel begs weakly, resulting in me letting go of his scalp, his head hitting the ground once more as I toss my dagger and stand to the ground.
Axels' too inexperienced with the morning star to put too much of a challenge, but the fight gave me valuable information nonetheless. I need to find a more suitable opponent, that'll give me a better idea of what to expect when I face off against opponents who know how to use heavy, two-handed weapons. Speaking of opponents, I should see if I can have a go against Alexia, she uses that *Zweihander perfectly, she'll be a great matchup.
These thoughts quickly fly through my head as the referee calls out the winner of the duel.
"Commoner Judas Ceaser is the winner of the duel!" He announces, a shocked silence responding. Of course, in roughly a second or two the crowd is going to be outraged, complaining about how brutally I treated him and my "cowardly and underhanded" tactics. I mean the crowd here are all nobles and their parents, who came here to see Axel viciously beat down a commoner, and to show their place in the hierarchy.
With the expedition less than 72 hours away, more and more nobles are coming down here to vent their frustrations on commoners and slumies alike cough cough I mean "polish their skills" for the upcoming trip. I mean I don't mind, I never get enough of beating Egotastic, bitchy nobles to a pulp, seeing their scared and horrified faces as they beg for mercy gives me so much… pleasure. Of course, this sight is improbable as an actually decent rich man, with 99 percent of the nobles here beating their opponents near death, the referees bribed to just watch it happen. Of course, that bribe is double-sided, meaning I can beat them near death before they gotta intervene.
"MY BABY!"
"REF WHAT IS THIS BULLSHIT?! THIS COMMONER-NO SLUMIE FAG CLEARLY BEAT AXEL TO A FUCKING PULP? YOU CAN'T TELL ME HE CAN JUST WALK AWAY SCOT FREE?"
"Slumie scum, always resorting to such underhanded and cowardly tactics, he knew Axel would easily beat him in an honorable one-on-one."
"Agreed, thank god they are dying in those godforsaken slums, it was a really good idea to distribute all of those illegal drugs around! They're killing themselves and we don't have to lay a finger, let alone have our precious elite knights have to go in those atrocious neighborhoods!"
It takes all my willpower and more some to not throw a dagger between the eyes of those two swine once my enhanced ears picked up what they were whispering.
My breathing becomes more and more ragged as I feel my chest tighten. I narrowly managed to keep myself together long enough to be able to make it to a random, desolate alleyway.
"Shit shit shit shit shit" The word vomits from my mouth as I try to control my breathing, irrational urges of regicide threatening to take me over.
"No no, I see what you're saying. That noble bloodline has been on the decline of late, spewing that terrible nonsense about equality and unity, and that "nobles, commoners and slumies should live together". We really need to… get rid of them before their radical views snowball."
Memories I've long suppressed snarl and rumble around in my head as I hastily push them away.
"Mary please wrap me in your blanket of suffering once more, give me a pain much more divine than the one that dares to attempt to shackle me down" I plead to the mistress I devoted myself to.
ERK
Stabbing pain, burning pain, slashing pain, every type of pain ever inflicted upon my body strikes me concurrently as I fall to my knees. The sweet(stop it), familiar smell of blood fills my nostrils as I stare down at my wrist, blood freely pouring from impossibly reopen scars, scars that have been healed for ages.
YES YES YES YES YES BLOOD(NO NO NO NO PLEASE GOD PLEASE NO)
"Thank you, my love" I murmur as I tear my dirty shirt into makeshift rags, my words so deaf that I barely could hear them come out of my own mouth. I chuckle in pain as I tighten the improv bandages, the once white cloth rapidly turning red. I barely manage to bandage my other arm as I force myself on my feet, clinging to the wall for support as I head to the nearest doctor.
Heh, at least I have nothing valuable on me I think to myself as my vision gradually turns dimmer and dimmer, and in my semi-conscious state, I don't even notice the small, almost feminine figure rushing towards me.