Clean Cut

Raya: Greeting, my Lord, I am Raya Drogo and this is Adam Witherton.

The two of us bowed politely to Count Telantra.

Telantra: Witherton, you say? So another dead man has appeared before my eyes! How splendid!

I know I said it before but damn I hate him

Adam: Unfortunately, Duke Lagrimas couldn't finish the job properly.

Telantra: Ahahahaahhaa

Adam: Hahahahahahaha

Telantra: yes that is quite funny… remind me, who the fuck said you could speak?

I hate him I hate him I hate him I hate him

His belly laugh turned sour and he frowned at the two of us.

Raya: Apologies, my lord, I'll be sure to discipline my servant later.

Telantra: Oh, so he's your servant? I'm curious as to how that arrangement happened while you were running for your life.

His truly changes at the drop of a hat.

Why does he keep making the topic about unnecessary things?

The plan was to have Raya do all the talking. I fucked up earlier with that statement.

Looking over to Raya apologetically, I notice that she seems pissed off but is trying her best to hide it with a forced smile.

Raya: Apologies, but I believe we have more pressing concerns. Simply put, Adam and I seek asylum in your city.

Telantra: hmmm, you're ever so serious. Not very fun at all… I had originally made the deal with your brother, and even though he's not here I'm not so cruel as to throw away our contact just because he died. After all, I had known going into this that it was a possibility. However, this boy here was not a part of the agreement. This is not a charity, so do you really think that I would help him without any form of compensation?
Raya: Of course my Lord, there are several reasons why we believe it would be wise for you to help us. Firstly, Adam is the last remaining Witherton and thus has inherited all of the assets of his house. We are prepared to give you a sizeable portion of that wealth…

The Count nodded his head at that as if thinking about how that would work out.

Raya: Secondly, though he is only 7 years old, Adam is significantly stronger than many skilled adventurers. I personally saw him defeat an earth bison completely on his own and unarmed. I’m willing to loan his skills to you for as long as our stay lasts.

Telantra: Now that’s funny! You’re telling me that this lil’ runt can kill an earth bison by himself! Ahaha! …Okay, how about this? Let’s make a bet. If your servant lasts 3 minutes against one of my personal knights than I’ll let him work here for a while. If he loses then I’ll hand him to Duke Lagrimas. I’ll even let you pick which one of my knights you want to duel.

Huh? Is it just me or do those seem like terrible conditions. I look over to Raya to see what she’s thinking but she smiles and seems confident. I knew I could trust her. She probably has something else she can offer so that I don’t have to die today.

Raya: How about this? If Adam wins against the knight of my choice then he gets your protection and can stay here for free. If he loses, you can sell both Adam and myself to Duke Lagrimas or do whatever you want with us.

Huh? That’s even worse!

The count smiled at that and responded with glee.

Telantra: Very well! It’s a bet!

- - - - - - -

Ray: Don’t worry, you’ve got this! Just don’t hold back and it’s an easy victory!

Right…

I looked over to my opponent and back to Raya. Were we looking at the same person here? He must be at least 6 feet tall and he’s completely decked out in shiny armor.

Adam: Somehow I’m not so convinced…

Raya slapped me hard on the back and yelled over to where Count Telantra was sitting.

Raya: Surely you wouldn’t force this boy to fight unarmed, would you?

Telantra: Very well, you may pick any weapon from those racks over there.

We were in the training grounds for the knights so there were plenty of weapons in storage here. I picked up a medium sized sword and held it in my hand. It was certainly of higher quality than anything I’d held before.

After that I returned to the center of the arena and saw Raya now sitting near the Count.

Wow, so we’re really doing this…

I squared up with my sword and faced my opponent.

Telantra: Champions... Duel!

Pain nullification, on.

Bone and muscle Augmentation, on.

Limit break, on.

Auto heal, on.

The knight immediately closed the 10 feet of distance between us. He seems to be the impatient type, which I tend to do better against. I guess Raya picked well…

Looking at the fight from the sidelines, it would seem pretty obvious who should win. The giant man would crush the small child easily. Thing is, neither this knight nor Count Telantra know how I fight…

So naturally the first thing I did was throw my sword at the knight.

He blocked it fairly easily but now that he wasn’t in a position where he could instantly kill me I jumped at him and threw a punch at his face.

He twisted the blade of his sword such that it would cut my hand, but this too was part of my plan.

As the sword severed the ligaments between my knuckles, I sprayed the blood that fell out directly onto his face and into his eyes.

Adam: –Burst

The blood exploded, injuring parts of his face, I kicked off his armor and made some space between us while using a stream of blood to latch onto my sword and pull it back into my hand.

Adam: Oh my! What happened to that pretty face of yours!

That’s right, I emoted on this clown mid-fight.

The knight opened one bloodied eye and glared at me. That attack would have killed a normal person, I guess these knights really are tough. But now his vision would be worse and he would be enraged.

He charged at me but I spread out dozens of blood soaked bandages and used them to attack him as if they were tentacles.

He sliced through a few instantly– I wasn’t sure before but this confirms it now. I’m sure the magic he uses Augments his sword and armor to be ultra strong and sharp… Maybe it even makes his armor a bit shinier too because the blood isn’t really sticking to it.

He was getting closer to me as he cut through waves of bandages. I sent 16 bandages from all directions to bind his hands for a moment then–

Adam: Arrow, guide me towards salvation –Piercing Shot

I shot through the opening I created towards his face but he twisted his neck to block it using his helmet. It still should have done some damage though because he was knocked backwards a few steps.

Adam: Freely and viciously –Rivers of Blood

Not wanting to let up the attack I sliced my left arm open and sent more blood to attack him while I circled around him and tried to bind him with the bandages.

He tried to rush towards me but was occupied by the overwhelming number of attacks. But it’s not like I was doing much damage to him. If this kept up I would eventually run out of stamina and mana before him and then lose. Nevermind, it looked like I would run out of bandages before either of those things.

His armor and sword were truly troubling.

I wrapped a bandage around the hilt of my sword and spun it around as quickly as I could then used the centrifugal force to launch a sideways attack.

It hit his side and he let out a grunt. This attack created an opening and I used the rivers of blood to knock off his helmet. Alright, time for the finishing move. But before I could do that–

Knight: Pure sheen of the solemn blade –Shining Sword

His sword glowed white and he cut apart the rest of my bandages with a few well placed swings.

Oh shi-

I called the rivers of blood to defend me as he rushed towards me. He blocked the attacks fairly easily though and continued forward. I stuck my right hand out as a desperate attempt to block something as I fell over backwards. He held his sword high above his head as he stood above me in preparation for the final strike.

I knew it was over when his swing came crashing down.

Adam: Just kidding

A huge eruption of blood surged from my outstretched hand, knocking the knight far into the air where he collapsed a few feet away.

Adam: Violence and blood is my answer –Hand Cannon.

I had been building up blood inside my right arm since the beginning of the fight, all for this moment.

Though my right hand was completely missing now, I picked up my sword from the ground and walked over to the knight who was still struggling to get up.

He was on his hands and knees now. In a few minutes he would recover enough to fight again. I held my sword to his neck from behind.

Adam: Surrender

After a moment of hesitation, the knight spoke.

Knight: I yield.

Raya rushed onto the arena and caught me as I collapsed.

I looked at her face and she seemed to be close to tears.

Raya: I’m sorry, but great job Adam.

Adam: Hey… could you lend me a hand?… Ahaha

I lifted up my bloody wrist and cracked a joke. She chuckled but also seemed upset.

Adam: Seriously though, can you bring me my hand and some of my blood?

I was starting to feel really light headed from the blood loss. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to reattach my hand if I lost consciousness so I was resisting the urge to do so.

While Raya searched for my hand amongst the bloody battlefield, I looked up at the ceiling and tried to reabsorb some of the blood that had drenched my clothes.

Adam: Dammit, these were brand new clothes too…

???: Don’t worry, I’ll buy you new ones later. You really did a number of my knight though.

Count Telantra had approached me. I looked over to where the knight was and saw several other knights carry him away on a stretcher.

Telantra: Thanks for not killing him back there.

If I had aimed the Hand Canon towards his face, he probably would have died on the spot so I hit his chest instead. I’m surprised Count Telantra noticed this fact.

Adam: It would be bad if the people supposed to be guarding me in the future actually just killed me for revenge instead.

Telantra: Hah… I didn’t know you were thinking so far ahead. I’ll talk to the two of you later, once you’ve recovered.

With that he walked away and I breathed a sigh of relief.

The two of us can finally start our revenge on the world.

…

I’m so tired