Arthur and I relocated to the battle arena; the grand structure was enclosed by tall stone walls and had seats all around the coliseum. There was a pit lining the concrete floor; when a fighter was pushed into the ditch, he would automatically be disqualified. This building was a new idea proposed by the chieftain, as he did not believe that young orcs had a good method to deal with their differences.
The crowd followed suit in entering the arena and sat themselves in the rows of seats. There were 4 passageways leading out of the fighting area to somewhere underneath the stands; these were where fighters prepared themselves and also where the equipment was stored. My opponent and I were in one of these rooms.
"Wear these and take one of the weapons," an elderly orc said.
"These will measure the strength of your punches and gauge where the strikes landed your opponent. We collect data on young talents."
"Yeah yeah I don't care so shut up and do your job," Arthur said.
"Why are you being rude to him? He's only helping us," I replied.
"You shouldn't act like a jerk in front of our elders."
The old orc only smiled and did not add another word but I still had a question.
"What if I fight using my fists?" I asked.
"There are gloves in the weapons rack, don't worry," he replied.
I donned the vest which was provided and tightened it around my torso; it fitted like a glove. Arthur on the hand was, well, let us say that he was struggling quite a bit.
"Do you want me to call your brother? Maybe he can help you out a bit," I sarcastically said.
"You bastard!"
I ambled to the weapons rack and looked for the gloves. As time went on, my face gradually dropped as I failed to see them.
'Where the hell are these things.'
"Let me help you," the elderly orc said.
"Thank you sir."
The beast reached behind the poleaxe and gripped a pair of silver gloves. He dropped them in my hands and smiled at me before turning around and leaving.
This orc was mysterious. I could sense that he was powerful because the way of the wind seemed to be useless against him. I couldn't predict any of his movements! His strength must be superior to Hunter.
However, my suspicions were raised as Arthur did not address him with any semblance of respect. I slid the gloves which were cut at the second knuckles onto my hands and I was ready.
After the brat was ready, we walked through the dark passageway; sunglight pierced through the end of the tunnel and shone brightly into our eyes, blinding us. As soon as we escaped the darkness, the arena shook to the ground as the crowd erupted in cheers. In the short time that we were away, everyone in the school was notified of the fight and came to spectate.
'Isn't that human going to be humiliated?'
'How strong can he be? Certainly not strong enough to stand up to Arthur.'
'He'll regret this after the first exchange.'
That was the general consensus amongst the spectators, after all, most of them did not see me humiliate Arthur the other day. In the very front of the crowd, I saw a familiar face waving at me and cheering me on; it was Lucas.
My opponent and I stood face-to-face a couple of meters away from each other. He chose to wield a pair of daggers, but I did not need any fancy weapon to beat the crap out of him. The old orc stood close to the middle and after looking at the both of us, moved out of the way and yelled.
"Fight!"
Arthur lunged towards me at an impressive speed, for regular folks. His face wore the resentment that he had for me. I leaped forwards as my opponent launched a downwards slash, aiming for my head. I moved the target out of the way and threw an uppercut. My attack was so fast that most of the crowd probably missed it. The punch connected with his chin and snapped his head back.
If he thought he was getting off that easy, my intentions were misconstrued. He surprisingly landed back on his feet and slumped forwards, blood oozing from his mouth, dirtying the concrete. I pounced forwards, not giving him room to breathe, and threw a barrage of punches. I had spent the entire morning training that attack, so it was still fresh in my mind.
The only thing the spectators saw was Arthur getting his ass kicked. His head was being snapped in all directions as blood dripped from his face onto my fists and the ground. The silver gloves were stained red. The vest was as useless as Arthur, I did not even aim for his torso.
The faces of the orcs watching us changed; they went from a joyous expression to straight fear. They were witnessing a murder.
My lips wore the sickest smile as I pummelled his head like a pumpkin. After what must have seemed like hours to Arthur, I was finally bored of hitting him, so I ceased my strikes and let my opponent fall face first onto the ground.
The arena was in complete silence as everyone's jaw was on the floor. A group of orcs specialising in medicine rushed to take a look at the injured fighter while I triumphantly raised my arms in the air and walked towards Lucas.
The crowd began cheering after coming back to their senses. I noticed the old orc out of the corner of my eye and went over to him.
"Well done, this was an entertaining fight. We'll be seeing each other in the future," he said before disappearing.
The seats gradually emptied and everyone including me returned to class; however, my treatment had changed. I was now viewed as a strong individual and everyone seemed to respect me!