24 Raven's Claw

"Ready! Fight!"

Raven's Claw and I took off heading towards the middle of the arena. As we dashed towards the center of the arena I analyzed his movements. There was very little energy wasted and his movements were clean and crisp. It was easy to tell he was a typical assassin type.

As we neared the center of the arena Raven's Claw suddenly disappeared behind a pillar. I took a wide angle so I could approach him from the side he would emerge from. When I got around the pillar I looked and couldn't see any sign of Raven's Claw.

For a moment I was stunned. Where had he gone? Then I heard a subtle sound coming from above me. I immediately used shifting sands to shift to my left, moving me closer to the pillar. In the place I had left Raven's Claw landed both daggers in hand. When he disappeared behind the pillar he must have somehow climbed to the top launching a sneak attack from above.

After landing Raven's Claw dashed towards me shouting, "DIE!!!"

I had my back up against the pillar wall. For most, this would seem to be a disadvantageous position, but I knew how to take advantage of it. As Ravens Claw got close he began a diagonal slash with his right arm aiming for my chest. With my dexterity, it was easy to follow and block his attacks. I used my dagger to deflect the strike up.

At the same time, he began a horizontal strike with his left arm aimed at my waist which I deflected down. I then moved my right leg past him and used the back of my heel to strike the back of his right knee while shifting to my left. This coupled with his forward momentum caused him to fall forward and since his arms were to the side after I deflected his strikes his face slammed right into the pillar.

Raven's Claw was dazed and I was behind him. At this point, he was completely defenseless. I couldn't help but say, " I told you to be more worried about keeping your head."

I swung both daggers in front of me and sent his head flying.

Essence Gained +457

For a moment there was a stunned silence that lingered over the crowd, then they erupted into cheers. I could hear people shouting, "Fierce! So dominating! It ended so quick!"

The officiator's voice boomed, "The winner is Young Lion."

I looked over the crowd, at the other end of the arena on a platform that rose above the crowd was a pavilion which sat two people. One was a large burly man, he had a shiny bald head and wore dark-colored armor. The other was a refined young man, he wore a Black Robe trimmed with a golden pattern. His hair was long and blonde and he had a certain royal air to him. These two were Sauer and Alexander Morrow. I could never forget their appearance.

For my plan to work I couldn't reveal any of the true feelings I had for them. I must convince them that I am not a threat. I locked eyes with Alexander Morrow and took a bow. After the cheering ended I looked up towards them and said, "I hope my performance has been satisfactory."

Alexander Morrow looked down at me, "Indeed for a newcomer to defeat Raven's Claw is a surprise. I wish you continued success in today's tournament."

Continuing my act I said, "Thank you for your kind words, Lord."

I bowed one more time and exited the arena. After getting back to the practice arena a young attendant came up to me holding a sack.

"Your winnings sir," the young man said to me.

I grabbed the sack and opened it up. There were five gold coins in the sack. This may not seem like a lot, but these were just the winnings for the first match. The more you won the more gold you could get. This is why the arena can help with my money problem. At the very least it will help get things started. I will still have to find other sources of income, I couldn't fight in the arena all day every day.

The tournament Morrow mentioned isn't anything special and is just how the arena functioned. Every day the arena would announce a finalist. Sometimes It would be people from the Black Wolf Mercenary Group and sometimes it would be people who gained fame in the arena. The contenders would then be arranged to have single elimination matches until one finally fought the finalist, determining the champion. Today's finalist is Sauer.

After I received my winnings I went back to the area I was in before and practiced some of the techniques form Quicksilver Blade. After practicing the techniques for an hour sweat was starting to pour from my forehead. I didn't want to tire myself out so I decided to go find Valerian, I should still have another 30 minutes before my next match.

I exited the contender section and made my way around the arena. I concealed myself with a cloak and entered the section for natives. There was a heavy security here but they were for making sure the natives didn't get out of control. They didn't care to check whether or not someone was human. I quickly located Valerian in the seated area and sat next to him. There weren't many natives here, most couldn't afford the luxury, so he was easy to find.

"How were the winnings," I asked him.

"Huh?"

He looked over at me, "Oh! Brother! Nice fight!"

"Keep your voice down, you idiot!"

He is just so dense. There is a reason I don't want to be recognized here.

He chuckled, "My bad. We made out pretty good your odds were 5 to 1."

I had instructed Valerian to use 3 gold to bet on my fight. I would have placed all the gold we had on the fight but that would have drawn too much attention to Valerian. We still made a nice profit of 12 gold though so we were doing fine.

"Good, on the next fight the odds will be lower so you can bet 5 gold. Remember to keep a low profile please."

Yeah, yeah I know," He responded. I still couldn't help but worry.

"I'm gonna head back now."

I rose out of my seat and headed towards the exit of the native section. I made my way over to the contender section and went back to practicing a few of the poses for Quicksilver Blade in the practice arena.

After a short period, I heard the officiator's voice, "For our next fight we have two up and comers, Old Man Shui and Young Lion enter the Arena."

I looked over and the old man who was practicing the arm movements before began to move to the corridor.