The Dueling Ring

“Where are you, Gatton? Why is there dust settling? Let’s get more excited in here!”

Ren found himself scowling. If all this noise wasn’t enough, a big bulky man was screaming his heart out in front of some sort of stage, along with a crowd of people roaring. The stage wasn’t anything too impressive, just some elevated dirt with a few wood planks on top of it. There was someone on top of the stage, but Ren didn’t care enough to check out who they were. He just wanted to get by.

After he had asked for some directions from Johle, Ren had been making his way towards the northeastern side of the town to find some sort of information trade. He said it was rather underground, and sundown might have to pass before anyone showed up, but Ren wanted to get there early to survey the surroundings.

That is, he would be if he wasn’t blocked by this dense crowd. Some sort of event if he had to guess, but all he really knew was that they were as loud as a pack of 4-horned rhinos. It was strange. Everyone’s attention was so glued to the stage, he could take all of his clothes off and no one would notice him.

“Oh! And there goes down our next challenger! Come one, come all! To see the power of magic!”

Ren stopped in his tracks.

“After the long years since discovering it, witness the development of magic within our very own bodies! Presented here are the students of the world-renowned magitechnician, Jederico! See for yourself, this new era of magic, and take it upon yourself to challenge these products of the new world!”

His surroundings suddenly became quiet around him and something started to burn in his stomach. He should’ve ignored it, he needed to ignore it. He promised Nila that he wouldn’t grab any unnecessary attention.Yet somehow he found himself standing in front of the large man. Beside them, the previous challenger was being helped off the stage.

“Seems as though we have ourselves a new challenger! Help yourself up lad, but don’t go crying to us if anything breaks!” The man laughed, and the crowd cheered. But Ren could hear nothing but the sound of his own footsteps going up.

Tilting his head up, he could finally take a good look at the person on stage. A fairly young girl, fitted with a tight tunic and shorts overlapped with leather pads around her arms and legs that were clearly worn out. She wore her wavy brown hair in a ponytail but had a lot of loose hair that ended up sticking out around her face. She looked tired, but relaxed, as if taking on challengers all day was just a slight jog.

Behind her stood a few others in identical tunics, pants, and defensive pads, presumably the other students.

“Not going to show your face?” the girl asked, readying herself into a fighting stance.

Ren gave her no response.

She launched herself toward him, a hand forward in a claw.

She’s fast, Ren thought as he swiftly pivoted out of the way. She followed up with a few more strikes which Ren reciprocated by using his arms to block. He took care to avoid her hands. She drew her eyebrows together and stepped back for a moment to adjust herself.

She raised herself onto one leg and fully extended an elbow away from Ren, somewhat resembling an archer pulling back their bow. Slightly squinting his eyes, he could make out a blue swirl of air surrounding her arm. Wind magic, he surmised. She exploded towards him and they engaged in another exchange of blows.

“Are you enjoying it?” Ren asked loud enough to not be overpowered by the roaring in the air. “Magic?”

“You won’t show your face but you're willing to ask a question during a fight?” the girl stepped hard and drove a sidekick towards Ren, which he blocked with both arms. “It’s fun. I mean, look at all these people here. Everyone is starting to realize what magic could mean for themselves, and even the world. How could it not be thrilling?”

As if responding to her words, the roars of the crowd grew more excited. They probably haven’t seen anyone put up a decent fight with this girl. She was smart with her magic and skilled enough to integrate it into her fighting style.

Ren narrowed his eyes. He gathered himself and glanced toward the crowd. It was filled with townsfolk, merchants, people wrapped in robes, and people wrapped with hoods. There were raised fists, excited expressions, and silently crossed arms. He was lingering on for too long and already grabbed too much attention.

Driving himself toward the girl, she yelped in surprise, frantically pushing his strikes away from herself. Ren kept persisting with his attacks, pushing her further back as she tried to gain some ground. He interrupted her each time she went to gather magic, pushing her back. As she found a timing to counter, she dropped her body to swing a hook kick towards his head.

It was a strong attack, he could feel the air brush past his face as he leaned back to dodge. He probably would’ve been caught with her next attack, but as she landed, her heel slammed into a piece of wood that had broken upward. She ended up flat on her back with a grunt. The roaring of the crowd grew wilder.

“Well.” Ren stood up straight instead of continuing the fight, looking down at his fallen opponent. Their eyes locked. “Look at where that magic got you.”

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“I didn’t think I’d see you get beat today Inila.”

One of the students walked up to her and reached out a hand to Inila, who was still on her back. He glanced up to look at the challenger but found that he had already left the stage.

“Oh shut up, he just got lucky,” she said, taking the hand and hoisting herself up.

“What’d he say before he left?”

She shrugged, “I couldn’t hear him.” She narrowed her eyes and poked the boy’s forehead with two fingers. “You got that look in your eyes again Kitan.”

He laughed. “Do I? Well, could you blame me? Every time something interesting happens, people can’t help but stare. I just follow the trend.”