Chapter 15 Battle Tournament [2]
After parting ways with Anya I went toward the entrance gate meant for the people who were going to watch this tournament, the audience.
There was a huge crowd of people, all of them filled with excitement and pushing each other in order to get inside first.
Few guards were there, trying to control the people and making them enter in a line but mere four or five guards weren't enough to stop a crowd this big.
I was not an exception so I also was also supposed to wait here, which was what I had done if I was not in a hurry.
So since I was in a hurry right now I pushed my way among the people by using a bit of force, I could have used magic but I don't want to take the risk of being caught.
Making my way through them was not difficult, the muscles I gained by swinging a sword for all these years came in handy. After passing through the crowds I went through a narrow hallway that led to seats.
The coliseum itself was built in the same classic way with staircase-style seats that went all the way down to the arena. People were taking their seats but their numbers were a lot low compared to the crowd outside.
But I came here early precisely because I want to take a specific seat. I looked around and gazed at the vast number of seats, my eyes stopped when they caught the sight of a certain platform.
It was a block-shaped platform built on the eastern side of the Coliseum, its height was making it out of reach from the people sitting in the audience. On top of it was placed a red carpet along with a throne, a girl was sitting on it with knights keeping guard around her.
This was what I was looking for; hence I walked toward that platform while I kept looking at the girl sitting on the throne.
She had long black colored hair that covered her back like a cape, her skin was white as snow and she had deep brown eyes. Dressed in delicate formal clothing; it was a mixture of a gown and a skirt. Overall, she was looking like a princess.
…and which she was, a princess. She was the princess of this kingdom who had come to watch this battle tournament. But along with being a princess, she was also going to play an important role as one of my pawns.
I took a seat just beside the platform and waited for the tournament to start. Normally I would have caught the attention of guards for being this close but today was an exception as there were many other people also who were sitting in the same row as me.
Also, the height of this platform was quite a bit so even if someone tried to jump and reach the princess it would be impossible for them to reach there in one go.
A while later the number of people present in the audience increased and it kept increasing as time flowed forward. Soon enough the coliseum was stacked with people, not a single seat was empty.
Then a man came out standing on one of the other platforms present there and he held something in his hand that looked like a mic. But it is best to assume that it was not the mic I was used to as its size was a lot bigger compared to a normal mic.
He announced the start of the tournament while welcoming the audience and saying some flashy things.
"So without any further ado, let's start our first match," he said and the crowd erupted into cheers.
The gate that led to the arena opened and eight participants came out of it; narrowing my eyes I looked at them closely and saw Anya was one of them.
Judging from the number of participants it looked like this was going to be a four vs four, team battle. If they had to narrow down the number of contestants then probably the four who will win this battle will fight a two vs two battle among themselves.
After that that the survivors of that battle will go in a one-on-one leaving us with one winner.
They will probably hold several matches like this and then the winners of each of these matches will fight against each other and so on.
All those eight people stood in the middle of the arena, ready to fight any moment now.
Anya was the single female among them; all of the rest were men.
"Now that the contestants are here, let us announce how the matchmaking will go," said the announcer, "We have 8 contestants here, they are going to fight four two-on-two battles among themselves and that will leave us with four winners. After that, those four winners will fight among themselves and only one of them will be the winner of this quarter."
"Let us start the match now!"
This was almost like I expected, the crowd again started cheering and shouting. After that, two people were paired with each other randomly and the pair stood at a distance from the other.
The one Anya was paired with was a big bald guy with a beard. He wore a heavy metal chest plate and leggings. The sword he had was not long and slim but a thick and big one.
From the looks, he looked like the one who believed in the bigger the better but that wasn't going to work against Anya. With her fighting style focused mainly on speed, people like him were an easy kill as due to the heavy equipment their movements were slow.
But then again, it could be possible that he was an exception, and from the looks of his giant size body, there was a possibility that he could move pretty easily.
Well, no point whining about it. I could make all the predictions I wanted, but nobody knew how this would turn out. And while I pondered that, the first match was already about to begin…
***
All the two vs two matches were taking place at a distance from each other, the same went for Anya's match. The one she was about to fight was a man named Bovix and he was ready to take her on any time now.
They both stood in their places staring at each other. "Be careful, this isn't a place for girls like you," said Bovix, pulling out his sword. The length and breadth of its blade were a lot compared to a normal sword and that gave it a scary vibe.
"You better care about yourself, since I'm not going to hold back," said Anya as she swiped out her sword from its sheath.
"Hoho, you have guts it looks like, it will be a fun battle," Bovix said, he wore a big grin that time.
Without warning, their battle began.
Anya dashed toward Bovix with great speed; it looked as though she was floating in the air. Reaching close to Bovix she jumped and threw a slash aimed at his right shoulder.
She rolled and landed on the ground behind him but quickly turned around to attack again. The attack she did just now had no effect, Bovix blocked it by using his sword as a shield.
Seeing this she advanced toward him again, this time moving in a zigzag pattern she jumped and delivered multiple attacks at him, he blocked some of them but not completely.
For the moment Anya stopped, Bovix planted his feet down and swung his sword quickly, applying a lot of raw force behind it.
Anya noticed this and just before the sword could reach her she took a backstep and ducked the attack, leaving the tip of Bovix's sword whistling through thin air.
Using a sword this heavy had made Bovix unable to move, even if that was for a matter of seconds. Anya didn't miss this chance and unleashed a dancing slash, striking Bovix multiple times.
Some hits were absorbed by his chest plate but not all of them. Regaining control over his body, Bovix started swinging his sword again, after each swing he paused for a second before doing the same thing all over again.
His attacks carried force but they were not accurate, making it easy for Anya to dodge them. Bovix was frustrated over the fact that he was not able to hit Anya.
He screamed and started moving his sword irrationally and randomly. That made it easier for Anya to dodge them as those attacks were a result of his rage and not a practiced technique.
Between these attacks, Anya saw an opening that she didn't miss and quickly charged toward him. She held her sword straight and launched herself at a speed that made her invisible to the normal human eye.
The next thing everyone saw was that Anya was standing on the opposite side while Bovix, who had stopped moving now, had a cut on his abdomen. Soon after, he dropped his sword and fell unconscious.
Leaving Anya as the winner of this match.