The Beast General Kiera looked out at the field to her soldiers. They had been paired up with each other and were in the middle of sparring, adjusting whenever their Captains explained their faults and how to fix them.
She nodded her head at the rows of her eager warriors. It came as no surprise to her that they were itching to get a little practice, as Kiera had always made them go out to missions and even after they completed their missions they would be expected to train.
Sometimes she would step in to personally correct them, taking their blade in her hands and briefly demonstrating. Other times she would just let her Captains handle the corrections while she stood under the heat of the sun, analyzing her warriors' current capabilities.
Since dawn of that morning, Kiera's soldiers had been at the training grounds, and since there were no Knights in sight, they decided to use up all the area. She was surprised when her ears picked up the sounds of approaching Knights. She turned her head as they came into view.
Kiera quickly adjusted her Beast soldiers to made room for the Knights, but even then, she could not mistake the tension that was thick in the air.
"What did you say?" Kiera heard the rising voice and turned around, finding Cody facing off with one of the Solomon Palace Knights. Eyes wide with fury, his nostrils flared as the Knight looked down at him with a smug expression on his face.
"Didn't you hear me, mutt?" The Knight laughed in Cody's face. A move he would soon come to regret as Cody promptly sent the Knight to the floor. When the Knight looked back at Cody, blood streamed down his nose. The Knight quickly got up from the ground, tackling Cody, and the two of them began exchanging blows.
"Bryan." Kiera let Cody punch the Knight a few times more before she sent Bryan to stop the wholly one-sided fight.
"What is going on!?" Seeing as his Solomon Knight was currently being beaten to a pulp by the young Beast warrior, the Head Knight scowled and shouted out. Bryan did his best pulling Cody off of the defeated Knight, but Cody was not done yet. He shouted curse words down at the Knight, eyes red with contempt as he was pulled away.
"General!" The Head Knight's rage went her way as he stalked towards her with his lips pulled into a snarl.
"Is this how you control your soldiers?" He disrespected her by pointing his finger into her chest. His offending finger almost coming in contact with her. Kiera held her ground, peering calmly back with her blue eyes.
"Your Knight offended my Captain. I have no right to interrupt a duel." She nodded with her head, gesturing in the direction of her other Captain holding onto the still enraged Cody. "I can interrupt only when the fight is officially over or there's a clear winner."
"Winner?" The Head Knight looked at her in disgust. "That was no fight. There was no honor in what that Beast did."
"If your Knight was truly looking for an honorable fight, as you have claimed, he would have not insulted my Captain."
The Head Knight gave her a look of incredulity as if he could not believe the Beast General's impudence. Kiera could tell the Head Knight was cursing at her inside his own mind as the way he looked down at her could not be mistaken. His despise was evident when he next spoke.
"You Beasts are nothing but animals." Instead of getting angry, she looked at him with amusement. This angered the Head Knight even further, as he spit his saliva onto the ground by her feet.
"This is why women don't belong within our armies. They can't properly lead. This one especially can't even control her own men. Instead, she has the others do the work for her." He motions over to Bryan as if giving an example of her incompetence.
"Are you asking for a duel?" She regarded the older man with a calm air of indifference. Both of their forces were actively watching the confrontation, stopping their activities to look on as their leaders faced each other.
"I don't fight women."
"You seem to be fighting well enough right now." Kiera pointed it out, a wry smile spreading across her lips. "Are you going to hide behind your principles, or are you going to show me this so-called honorable fight?"
Around them, both the Beasts and the Knights looked on. Each side secretly rooting for a fight to occur between their leaders. Then the argument of who's stronger would be finally put to rest. Kiera could practically feel her soldier's bloodthirst. She could feel her own Beast pacing restlessly inside herself, eager to be let out.
The Head Knight looked around at both of the gathered Knights and Beasts before making his decision.
"Very well. I challenge you to a man's fight." The Knight pulls on his white glove, slipping it off of his hand. Then he recklessly threw it down at her feet. She initially thought he was throwing a tantrum, looking over to her three Captains.
Jade was just as confused as Kiera, shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head. Cody still wore a peeved expression on his face as he was being held back by Bryan.
"He's officially requesting a Human Duel." Bryan said casually as he held Cody back, his bulky arms hooked underneath Cody's armpits.
"Ah." Finally understanding, her eyes cut back to the Head Knight as he is handed a sword by one of his Knights. He unsheathes the sword and the light bounces off of its metal sheen, glittering back towards Kiera.
"I will fight you as though I am fighting a man."
She could feel the stares of her people, eyes narrowing on the figure of the Head Knight. Kiera shakes her head, but walks forward to stand a few paces away from the readied Knight.
She unsheathes her own sword, getting into stance just like the Knight in front of her did. This was a Human Challenge, and therefore she needed to follow their customs even if she thought them bizarre. Why did they have to wait for each other to be ready in order for the fight to start? A real battle between enemies would never begin the same way.
Kiera waited as one of the Knights officially began the fight. As soon as the Knight's white gloved hand went down, she felt the Head Knight lunge at her first.
She was caught off guard but still met her sword with his, the way the Head Knight slashed at her with his sword was strange to her. It was a technique she had never seen before and she wanted to study it for as long as she could fend off his attacks. Regardless, she successfully continued blocking his constant strikes.
After a while of fighting she realized the man before her was no mere foot soldier. He fought with intensity befitting of his rank as Head Knight. Given his age she thought the man must have years of battle experience as he rarely left himself open to her attacks of opportunity.
Their swords meet again, and with a clink, they bounce off of each other. Kiera watches the man quickly change the positioning of his hand, turning right around to attack once more.
She stepped back as the sword came close to slicing her neck. She used the same series of movements as he and turned her body around, attacking straight away just how the Head Knight attacked her. He seemed to have not expected her to use the same method. His eyes widened when he was knocked off his feet when the flat side of Kiera's sword swiped at his legs.
He tumbled to the ground and Kiera followed through with her attack. She wasted no time at all, and spun, flicking her sword down and driving the tip of her sword on top of the Head Knight.