Takeo's Duel

As I walked out into the arena, Kato passed by me, worn out, however, victorious. Not sure who my opponent is yet, but I hope it will be an easy victory.

I stepped out into the arena. Sun blasted into my face, it was around 1 pm now so the sun was still heating up the place. Kato probably didn't notice the heat since he uses ice. However, for everyone else, the heat can get into your head if you try to fight in it for too long.

"HAHA! Welcome our next contestant, Takeo the disowned Togoshi family member, HAHA! And uh Mary Kova Niko lay Tim of eye vich?"

"Sir it's pronounced Moryakov Nikolay Timofeyevich." Someone told the commentator

"Who the hell is named this, there has to be a better way to say it."

They whispered to each other, it is quite infuriating that they are wasting time and forcing us to stand out in the sun.

"Just go with Kolya, sir."

"Okay, that will do." The commentator finally concluded his discussion with the assistant. "HAHA! Sorry for the inconvenience. So we also have Kolya! Once an immigrant but showed total loyalty to the King and gained citizenship! HAHA!"

We went to our positions on opposite sides of the arena. From what I understood watching others and how they got watched, it seems to be a combat tactic examination rather than looking at who is stronger. So even if you lose as long as you put up an effort you should be accepted.

As much as I would love to finish this quickly and with as minimal effort as possible, I have to demonstrate as much skill as possible. Kato without a doubt has proven he's very skilled and has a lot of potential for huge near-future growth.

My reputation currently isn't the best due to my family issues, and they could potentially influence my results, so I have no choice but to put on a show.

The moment we got the sign to start, we both got into action. Since Kolya uses a bow he has the long-range advantage over me. However, since his magic speciality is fire, he's at a huge disadvantage.

Koyla quickly fired three flaming arrows straight towards me. I dodged each one and started to run around him in a circle, forming a mini-tornado. Running even quicker would begin to form a vacuum which would eventually run out of oxygen and prevent him from creating any fire.

My wind attribute works perfectly against him in situations like these, as I will be able to put out his fires quicker than he is able to form them. I wonder if he is smart enough to notice this.

As I kept circling around him, he slowly started firing less and less. Soon enough it seems that his flames were struggling to even stay lit on his arrows. However, noticing this now is too late. Since his flames aren't staying lit for long, his overall oxygen is running low. Any longer and he will probably drop from hypoxemia.

I noticed him starting to slowly lose his balance and wobble around. His overall orientation was gone by now. I decided to stop since If I was to continue I could cause more harmful damage to him, and in the worst-case scenario, kill him.

The moment my air vacuum had disappeared I dashed towards him and led a few strikes on him before he finally dropped down.

"HAHA! What a magnificent play by Takeo. He has certainly shown his combat ability and phenomenal tactics to significantly weaken the enemy. HAHA! Or kill them instead!"

The nurses began running out and grabbing Kolya off the arena. I honestly believed he was going to be a better challenge than this. Since everything was over, quicker than I intended, I headed off the arena myself.

"WELL WELL WELL! Look who we have here as the winner!"

A jarring voice yelling at me from behind sounded very familiar.

I turned around to see what I wished not to see. A large, built man, with a red nobleman coat, jumped onto the arena floor. Everyone looked over to see what was happening and the whole place fell silent as he menacingly approached me.

"So, how do you feel? Your first major victory!" He asked me in a mocking tone.

I tried walking off, however, he grabbed me by my shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going? I asked a question, and I expect an answer." He glared at me, the look in his eyes was overwhelming.

I tried to reply calmly. "It's... fine I suppose…" He released my shoulder and looked around.

"Good, be proud of it, you won't do any better now. Seems like I ruined the mood here. I better get going. Hope that I won't have to see you again."

Just like that, he walked away, jumping back into the crowds as they stared at him. There was no point standing around, so I left the arena so that they could finally resume.

"Who was that Takeo?" Kato suddenly asked.

"Oh, it's just someone I know." I don't want to bother Kato with my personal matters, it is best that he doesn't know.

Kato sighed and returned to writing something.