the Main Event

Russel Comet strode nearer, wearing contrasting dull red painted armour from his bright blonde hair and light skinned face, and white teeth he showed Tracey's way.

"Do you even remember me?"

Tracey had gone stiff, slightly sweaty, but not from her recent combat or her throbbing leg - it was merely his presence that had caused her to lose composure, being the last person on the planet she wanted to see.

Why is he here...? Am I hallucinating from the pain... or something else...?!

Tracey nearly wavered on her feet, but another sharp spike set her focus again.

The crowd hushed as the new arrival slowly closed in, with his sword still hanging from his hip he spoke to her again.

"You do remember me don't you... well I've been promoted to the Emperor's personal Champion."

While everyone held still, except the defeated who could limp away.

"Nothing to say still? How about a little display then?"

He neared enough to reveal a darker parchment than he used to have, with different numbers to match too; Russel Comet - V; 67, D; 6, KC; 38.

That all too familiar cold and sick feeling came to Tracey, but didn't overwhelm her now, as her anger superseded it.

He's showing me freely now... just to upset me isn't he...

"I've blossomed, thanks partly to your help... and I'm much more dangerous now too!"

He boasted, slowly pulling forth him weapon, an even sized sword, which he held firmly with both hands.

Tracey didn't want to say a word, but knew he would be a more difficult opponent, just the way he walked, his stance, her past memories of how quick a learner he was, and how his arrival made her feel - it all made him appear a much bigger problem.

"We're going to have a long awaited match now - one that can only be settled with blood."

He'd reached the remaining others, who had time to settle and looked to draw from his confidence.

"The true challenge will begin!"

He suddenly shouted to the stands, swinging about to gaze at them briefly, then lowered his head to stare his riled up eyes her way intently.

One of the others jumped forward from behind her, swinging a curved blade on a pole, but Tracey's weapon intercepted it, then with a little flick she knocked it up a fraction, before driving a stronger upward sweep, shattering the long wooden grip between his hands.

I'm in no mood to hold back anymore...!

The man let his broken weapon fall before him with surprise, while Tracey realised Russel was quickly moving in for his own attack.

Their blades ran out, clashing lightly without any real bounce back.

He has been practising... and knows my usual style too...

He stayed far enough away to remain safe, while being light with his blade, as he moved to take advantage of her obvious unwillingness to move.

He sidestepped, forcing her to change position, and giving her more pain, which she did her best to hide.

"What's wrong, you're not so light on your toes..."

A few more metallic glances sounded, and two other swordsmen crept closer on either-side.

It might have been him that organised that ambush on the platform... it's certainly an underhanded move...

She held back a wince as she fended off another light attempt, that had her attention and moved her back, but as the other flanking aggressors closed in, she needed more space, so backed up again.

But she bumped into the previous attacker, who hadn't moved.

He let fly a decent punch to her side, before she retaliated, giving her own hit that sent him falling, before hastily whipping her sword forward to slash the next nearest man, forcing him to drop his sword with a shallow cut.

Russel made his own advance with a cold smile, but Tracey saw him coming, letting herself fall backward and then roll a little over the hard stones, pushing herself along, but also giving herself a little more grief.

Time to change things...

She gave another quick couple of rolls and quickly reached the distant opponent, firstly sweeping his unprepared legs out from underneath him with her own, then stealing his released round shield, which she sent spinning fast toward the man on Russel's right.

He went to evade the spinning disk, but Tracey had predicted the move, so the hurtled object clashed right against his head and sent him crumbling to the ground too. Russel then hesitated, as four of his allies fell away from the fight, but it only lasted a moment, as Tracey stumbled to get up, now on some softer terrain.

Russel's last standing assist then went to flee.

"You coward!"

But it wasn't Tracey that dealt with him, as a slash from Russel's sword caught the back of his legs, dropping him with cries of anguish.

That was a mistake...

With no support at all left, Tracey felt like she had the upper-hand, until she stood and her foot slipped in the soft sand she was now in, making her whole leg tremble.

He stepped closer, seeing her discomfort and closed off any attempt to get back to the hard stones.

"So you are able to feel pain..."

He said softly, getting a boarder smile, as he stood over her on the solid footing, while the crowd went almost silent as they watched on closely.

"That also means you can fail too...!"

Did he always run his mouth so much...?

He delivered a couple of lighter blows, downward at her, forcing her to block, but the moment she tried to strike back, her feet sank into the fine sand and her own attempt lost some power, and were negated by his own ready sword.

All the while she was feeling her body scream at her to get off her crippling leg ,that constantly distracted her now and made her feel like lashing out, not that she could get anything vital, as his reach and sword were longer.

If this situation doesn't change... I'll slip up... and then I'm done for...

Thinking quick, while batting sword swings away, she felt her good foot slip too, but then she had her solution too, as she saw a puff of dust move about in the air, near her moved boot.

Deflecting one more forcing downward blow, she deliberately buckled her sore leg, while digging her opposite boot into as much sand as she could.

She kicked the dust high into the air, letting it billow up and form a cloud around them both, then added to it with two further quick hand-fulls of the screening matter.

The world went quiet and still as their sight was clouded.

I can still just make out his silhouette, with the light behind him like that...

He stood there for a moment, and then brought his blade close, expecting a follow-up blow to come, but Tracey was still down, but she softly and tenderly climbed up onto her feet again.

He suddenly whipped his arm away then, presuming she'd come at him from a different angle, but his action only brought the dust to billow in the air, and scatter a little.

Tracey brought her sword up, level with her face, and made just a small step his way, as his head darted about to find her again, before he turned her way - but his own lunge to bring his weapon about brought his chin to her hard hilt - and his head clashed into it.

A crack of bone sounded with the heavy impact, and his cheek also split, as he immediately slumped down - knocking himself out on her steadied weapon, slumping to the soil below.

It's done...

The dust settled some more, as she stood still with extra relief, and soon the spectators saw that one person was clearly victorious - then the whole collective erupted into a huge roar.

Tracy lowered her swords tip, gently prodding it into the dirt, to help keep her up and looked about, still at a ready, but measuring that the loud reaction and joyous cheering was for her.

A chant soon sounded - her own name, which was slightly surprising, since they actually knew it, not just as 'Hero' or 'Bloodless' as she'd believed they would.

Then eventually the noise lowered, to a slight mummer, as the Emperor, high above in his robe sided, private area stood and approached the overlooking side once more.

I guess now I find out how good his word is...