Matt was confident in his timing. A little slip up could cost him this fight, and maybe in future battles, his life. He wasn't backing down though.
Matt dashed to stomp Luna on the chest before she could get up, but that plan was quickly derailed. Luna flashed behind him, striking his ribs from behind. Now she was really pissed.
Matt saw what happened next, and quickly created space. Stretching her hands like she had a bow and arrow, Luna aimed at him. At once, a shit ton of arrows spawned by her sides.
"You want to make this long distance, and so soon. Buh we just started seeing each other honey." Luna taunted. Releasing the arrows, the flew even faster than the spears. The arrows started moving around, changing trajectory.
He already saw this, and had already prepared a counter. He knew exactly what part of his body the arrows were destined for, so he struck each and every one of them at the last moment.
His plan was to survive, yes, but he also wanted to close the distance between them. With each wave Luna threw, Matt was getting closer. Not without paying for it of course. He got struck quite a bit, and was loosing an awful lot of blood, but he kept going either way.
No matter how close he got, she never gave him any time to move, not even to think clearly. Matt finally stopped moving. Covered in blood all over, he was certainly unconscious, but still standing.
The quiet around the whole place was very loud. Everyone could hear their own heart race.
Matt seemed to scream, but all that came out was air
He flashed to her right side, giving her a nasty blow to her ribs. The sudden attack was unexpected, but very effective. Smashing a few ribs, Matt delivered an elbow to the chin which Luna blocked at the last moment. The attack didn't seem to stop her from skidding a few metres.
She attacked him, countered him, even tried the runaway technique once, but he knew exactly what she was going to do.
Fed up with the guy, Luna went muay thai on the fucker. Smashing his joints with her elbow, she fucked up his balance. She backed up and fired eight arrows at him. Managing to block three, the other ones struck his abdomen. Exhaling with pain, he started going horizontal, he knew what would happen, but she executed it so fast he couldn't react. On the floor on all fours, Matt was weak, but he refused to give up. Luna had other plans though. She spawned more arrows, and surrounded him with them.
She released them.
At that moment, Matt snapped. He dashed towards her, not paying attention to the arrows that penetrated his back. 'Is this guy for real' Luna thought. Spawning two pistols this time, having been fed up of the fight. She fired five shots at Matt.
Matt deflected them, as he had already seen their destination. He was about to slice Luna's neck, when five bullets struck him at once from behind.
Collapsing on the floor, it seemed the fight was over, everyone's opinion if Matt changed. He was still arrogant and sexist to them, but he was a rookie who stood his ground against a paladin.
That's when he moved, crawling his way to Luna, he still had fight left in him. He managed to get on his feet, and began walking slowly towards her. Matt was a bloodied mess, his clothes were torn up and dirty, his face was swollen, but he kept moving forward. Luna stared at him with awe. Never had she seen any rookie like him.
Matt stopped in front of her. No movement, only faint breathing. He was finally unconscious. He was still standing, and holding his blades. His eyes shut in a frown, maybe more like a struggle.
Luna hugged him, then laid him on the stretcher behind him, courtesy of Ceri itself.
He was carried off with Luna not so far behind.
The whole arena went dead silent. Although Bo's fight seemed like a monster was fighting, everyone respected Matt's fight more, because he fought like a human soldier. He knew he would loose, but he kept going anyway.
Theo's turn was next. Carrying his long sword to the centre, he was still shaken up by the shows of power so far, but he decided to continue on with it. 'The other paladins look so... old. and with age comes experience, and experience is power, so I have to pick carefully. The youngest paladin right now should be him, but can he participate. I guess so. That means my choice is...'
Pointing at the blonde announcer, Theo made his choice. Blondie stepped forward, acknowledging his choice.
***
In the infirmary, Jakob was sitting next to Bo, who was recovering on a hospital bed.
"Your friend isn't so bright, he picked based on looks alone. He's, how do you guys say it, royally fucked" Jakob said.
In the TV, on the wall, the blondie strolled to the centre of the arena, holding only a switchblade, a regular switchblade.
"That's Arthur Pendragon, the strongest paladin of us all."
********
Arthur was caught off guard by the sudden request, but he was ready either way.
He pulled a switchblade from his pocket and got in a stance. Another knight took over as referee.
Theo took a deep breath and got ready. He was nervous but slightly confident. 'my sword will cut through that knife easily'.
The match started, but none of them made a move. Arthur just stared at Theo. Eventually, Theo made the first move.
Making a vertical swing, he was hoping for Arthur to deflect it with the blade in his hands, which he did. surprisingly, the blade didn't snap, considering the force Theo put into that strike. The next attempt was a vertical strike straight for his neck, but it was blocked by his arm.
"Is this guy for real!!" Theo panicked. He kept swinging, but Arthur just avoided them like they were nothing. Grabbing the blade of Theo's sword, Arthur started his attack.
After delivering a heavy blow to Theo's face, he pulled him by the blade and struck him again with his elbows. Theo's vision went blurry. Letting go, Arthur kneed him in the gut and proceeded with the bullying.
"What a joke"
"Why even bother if you're so weak"
"Someone get him out of there!"
The crowd that shouted their thoughts were the ones that didn't know who Theo was, or haven't seen him fight yet. Meanwhile, the ones that knew who he was, were as silent as stone.
"I told you, your friend has no chance," Jakob said to Bo. Bo looked at the screen with hopeful eyes. 'I hope it remains that way.'
Theo didn't have time to retaliate. Each attack was timed to perfection. Theo's body began to break down. His consciousness was fading, like an elusive dream.
"If you were gonna waste my time and act like a punching bag." Arthur made a wide slash at Theo's chest. Blood was everywhere from the floor, to Arthur's white shirt. Theo was beaten and bruised, even more so than Matt, and in a shorter time at that. More slashing, more punches, Theo was losing it.
With all that he had, Theo dodged a slash and made another attempt at Arthur. Delivering a diagonal strike, nothing happened. Sure, Arthur's beautiful shirt was ruined, but no damage at all beyond that.
Everyone was silent now, they knew Arthur was not just powerful, but he was the real deal. He showed the difference in power so spectacularly, everyone felt it from where they stood.
"Why isn't he getting hurt?" Bo inquired. "Because of his ability. It's the reason that he isn't getting hurt. It's also the reason the blade was able to deflect the strike from his sword earlier." Jakob replied. "What's it called?" Bo asked again. "It doesn't really have a name, but we call it the super engraving." Jakob replied. "You that Mark on his chest, it means stone. His ability makes him invulnerable, and also has the ability to make anything he touches a heavenly weapon."
Theo had given up hope as soon as he saw
Arthur's uninjured skin. He used up all his energy in that one desperate attempt. losing consciousness, he knew it was the end until_
"Get up Theo", a deep eerie voice spoke to him. Looking up, he saw he was crouching at the corner of a room, everything was grey except for the person in front of him. His features were all covered in shadows. Just then, a monster, the same one he fought burst into the room with a roar.
"You have to get up Theo the fight isn't over yet." The voice said with more urgency.
"I can't, I just can't!" Theo said, with tears in his eyes. "You can Theo. Winning doesn't come easy, and you know that!". The beast behind began scattering things, flinging them about, searching for something, searching for Theo.
"You're closer than you think. Winning doesn't come easy, you have to be beat along the way. But it's your time Theo, show them what you're really made of. LET ME OUT!". Theo sank into the crouch even more. The voice getting louder and louder.
LET ME OUT!!
LET ME OUT THEO!!
LETMEOUTLETMEOUTLETMEOUT!!!!.
"AARRGGHHHHHHH!." Theo screamed. The beast finally found him. It attacked with no hesitation whatsoever.
Everything went static.
***
Arthur was about to leave the fight circle when Theo got up. His demeanor changed entirely. He held his long sword with one hand.
"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Theo laughed hysterically. "I'm finally free".
Ceri looked at the others of its kind. they all nodded, and Ceri was off. It left its post, ran up to the paladin's booth, and said, "Stop this fight immediately. Our magic isn't working anymore!". "Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do. The match has to see its end", a paladin said.
Gasping brought all their attention back to the match. As soon as the paladins saw what had transpired, each and every one of them stood up. We have to stop this match.
When Theo got up from the floor, Arthur paid him no mind. He expected Theo to attack again, which he did. He sidestepped the vertical strike, and delivered a crushing blow to Theo's face. Twisting in the direction of the punch, he created an identical cut to Arthur's chest, the same Arthur did to him.
The paladins saw this and stood up in disbelief. Luna and Jakob who were in the infirmary stood up too. Bo, who just heard about Arthur's ability, was perplexed. But the one who was most stupefied, was Arthur himself. With wide eyes, he saw as he was bleeding out.
"You're soft now aren't ya, paladin?" Theo laughed.