Chapter 4

A week passed. 

About a week ago I woke up in a novel I used to read, ever since then I had to go by the name Mallebria. The girl destined to bring the end of the world, that's who I am. In "The valiant heart of the lion knight" Mallebria has the heart of darkness skill, which upon her death will let true darkness into the world. 

After going through the five stages of grief and having a few panic attacks I managed to get my shit together. Or at least, as much together you can whilst knowing you're a walking antimatter bomb.

There is a way to prevent that, stated by the author, by being absorbed by true darkness that will cancel out the effects of heart of darkness. 

In the novel there was only one place that featured true darkness before Mallebrias death, the throne room of the Ocean Queen.

"Out! Laurence of the first year wins the round!" 

Right, the tournament. I will just forfeit on my turn, I wasn't a fighter in my past live and I can live with shitty dorm placement. 

"Next! Kaan of the first year and Liam of the first year, down to the ring!"

Kaan is a cheeky bastard who I would have to deal with if I won two rounds, but I won't. Liam... probably some side character who was never mentioned. Doubt that he will last long. 

Two guys jumped into the pit arena, one a tall wolf-kin and the other some guy neither smaller than the other. 

"Get ready!" 

Kaan has always been an interesting character to me. As one of the many children of the wolf chief he's both gifted with being a beastkin and being born with genetics, making him a unit. The most interesting part was how he made use of his gift as a beastkin. 

There is a whole branch of life magic called "Beastial arts", they're an oddity among all the branches and combinations of magic. No one is actually sure what the Beastial arts are, they don't share the familiarity of other kinds of magic and they can not be taught. Only beastkin can use Beastial arts and their purity of blood playing a big role. 

Even though Kaan had a Beastial art that made him basically a Juggernaut, he still chose to avoid head to head situations. Don't mistake him for some thoughtless barbarian, being underestimated is the greatest advantage.

Kaan started to stretch and do some warm up exercises whilst Liam pulled out two wooden mallets from his backpack. Axes aren't allowed, since they have blades, so anyone who would have used axes uses mallets instead.                        

Alright, this just got interesting. Is he gonna be like a berserker or something? What's his skill anyways?

"The rules are simple, no blades, no metal and you have to either incapacitate your opponent or get them to surrender."

Both of the two pit fighters were in a stand off, waiting for the gong to start the fight. After a few moments that felt like eternity the awaited metallic sound came.

As expected Kaan rushed forward, but so did Liam. 

It's usually unwise to get that close to a beastkin, but maybe his skill can do something about that.

As the two met in the middle of the pit arena Liam predicted Kaans right lower hand and dodged to the left. In the same swift action Kaan got a good taste of wood as liam hit him with a left hook and he was preparing a second serving. 

Kaan weaved under Liams right hook and landed a brutal gutshot on his opponent. Kaans reward was not one, not two, but three tastes of fire hardened wood as Liam started to put Kaan under heavy pressure with a chain of attacks. 

Kaan got no time to breathe as after each attack the next one was already in his face. It was a relentless barrage with the clear intention of keeping him stuck in defense. This situation could end in two ways, Liam wearing down Kaans defenses or Kaan breaking Liams chain of attacks. 

Kaan chose the third option, running away. Creating some space between him and that madman will give him valuable breathing room. 

But Liam would not let that happen, he followed after Kaan for each move he made. Kaan took a step back, he stepped forward. Kaan stepped forward, he still stepped forward. 

What the fuck am I seeing here? Is Kaan actually being pushed in a corner by some side character? Why didn't the author add this to the novel? 

I let out a breath I didn't notice I was holding, the battle down there is by far the most intense until now. Liam is currently in the lead but Kaan still has some tricks up his sleeve. 

This is still any ones game, in the novel Kaan won. But maybe that was due to chance?