Chapter 313

313 Tidas Vs. The Highlands(Part One)

***CONTENT WARNING: LANGUAGE AND VIOLENCE***

As the ring began to fill, Tidas could already see multiple people with their weapons drawn. Blood coursed through his veins as his anticipation built..

Skye watched him forcing the smile from his face, which would worry any normal person, but not her. She understood Tidas’ love of fighting because she felt it, too.

It felt good to let loose her years of pent-up aggression towards both herself, and the world’s injustices. Skye had seen it her entire life, and was growing ever more disgusted with the world, especially with the attempted forced marriage with Fowler.

Even then, Skye could sense Jacob’s intent, and she nearly hated her father over the situation, but that was how it went for women in Alcon. She could’ve defended herself from him easily, but then her original fear would rear it’s ugly self at her.

Since her childhood, Skye had been afraid of people finding out about her magic. The thought of getting indoctrinated, and never being allowed to marry Tidas had terrified her. She’d felt weak and powerless for the most part. Always depending on Peggy, or her father to support her, and make her feel better..

Since Tidas had come back into her life, Skye had truly learned to live. She’d fought for him, bled for him, and learned of everything he’d put himself through. For his father, for her, and for the rest of Alcon; Tidas had shouldered a great burden.. Their future.

Skye had never realized that he’d been thinking about their future in such a way. She only ever thought of the superficial side of their lives. What their wedding would look like, their home, children.. She’d never considered the world that they would live in itself.

While Skye only saw what was in front of her, Tidas had reached far and wide in an attempt to make sure that their family would live in a good world. Seeing so much of the twisted, evil side of humanity had changed him.

.....

Tidas had come to enjoy fighting as a way to cope with all of the terrible things he’d seen, and how helpless he’d felt at points throughout his life. Skye was one of the few people that could completely understand him..

************

As she watched him stretch and crack his neck, Skye felt her pulse quicken. Tidas looked over at her, and flashed a cocky smile. She blew him a kiss, then took a deep breath as Murdoc yelled; “At the call of the dragon: Begin!”

The snow crunched under her feet as Zazzy walked closer to the ring, and looked at her father. Tidas grinned and nodded to his scaly princess, then turned to face the throngs of Highlanders before him..

The imagery before them sent a creeping chill up the backs of the Highlanders. Zazzy aligned herself directly behind the Southern Prince. His face took on a devilish grin as he took his stance.

Holding both his long sword and short sword like daggers with his arms crossed, he looked like a small dragon bearing it’s teeth. Zazzy took a deep breath, then roared as loudly as she could, making many of the challengers flinch..

When they looked back to where the prince was supposed to be, he was gone...

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The crowds of Highlanders suddenly cried out as Tidas tore through them. Using his sheathed swords to send many of them flying through the air, and from the ring. It was at that moment that they had realized that their compacted numbers in the ring had not only made it difficult to swing a sword, but had also made it easier for Tidas to knock them out.

Within the blink of an eye; the Southern Prince had taken out at least a hundred of their men in one go. As soon as he cut a line through the middle at an angle, Tidas went off to the side. When he neared the edge, he’d slam into Highlanders; knocking them over the sides, then doubled back along a different path.

His moves seemed erratic, but they were actually part of a common strategy he used on the battlefield when faced with a bunch of greenhorns. Causing small, but painful strikes as he sped along as a blur. Random people crying out all around you with with a dark figure zipping around, barely seen..

As he quickly started to thin out their numbers, some of the younger ones began to panic. Swinging erratically, and not caring about who they were hitting. Not only was Tidas quickly chipping away at their numbers, but he had turned their inexperienced fighters into weapons.

It wasn’t like Tidas wasn’t taking hits himself, but the dragon armor Skye had made him was absorbing the strikes from the non-mages rather easily.. For the moment.

There was a group off in the farthest corner that Tidas had purposely been avoiding. Saving them for as close to last as possible. He would need as little distraction as possible to deal with them without killing them.

There was one group in the Highlands that gave even the RMC a tough time, and over half of them were in the ring. They used synchronized attacks and defensive strategies much like the RMC did. And about four of them had enchanted items..

As the numbers thinned down to around four hundred or so, Tidas kicked it up a notch. Both his speed and power increased, and he started to actually attack with intent. The opponents he had left were the smarter ones out of the Highlander infantry, and wouldn’t be taken down as easily as the others.

The crowds had been screaming their heads off the entire time, adding to the overall chaos. At first, it was taunts and cries for Tidas’ failure. As the Highlanders fell from the ring in massive groups, some of those taunts turned to cheers..

The Highlanders respected ingenuity and strength above most things. They upheld personal codes, and acknowledged the strength of others, even enemies. If Tidas could win, then he could find himself at least respected by the majority of the Highlanders. Not necessarily liked, but respected enough that any lingering animosity would be able to be kept in check.

As he zipped around, an obviously veteran warrior attempted to trip him up with another Highlander. Tidas jumped, hit the ground, rolled to avoid unsheathed axes, then jumped back onto his feet and took off.

The crowds screamed and cheered, confusing Skye as to how they could see through the thongs of people in the ring. Looking up, Skye saw something she never expected to see..

An enormous display screen floated in the air above them. It showed the fight on both sides, giving everyone an excellent view. As Skye looked to the sides of the rings, she realized that some of the people gathered around weren’t defeated competitors.

They held very complicated-looking black and grey boxes with oversized lenses on the front of them.. ‘Are those the monitors that feed the images to the screen?! Oh! I so badly wann go check ’em out!’

Right as the thought crossed her mind, several RMC members started to bring plates of food over to her. An oversized bowl of soup with bits of vegetables and beef in it paired amazingly with the loaf of bread. She made quick work of it by dipping the bread into the broth.

Next, Skye had a chicken pot pie meant to feed four, then finished her snack off with a literally fresh-from-the-oven mixed berry pie. The only thing she felt was missing was Peggy’s salad..

After slamming a cup of water, Skye went back to watching her husband’s fight..

Tidas was down to the last one-hundred and twenty or so fighters, and wasn’t having an easy time of it. The ones that remained were the best that the Highlanders had to offer, when it came to their non-mystic fighters.

They knew how to work as a team, and had dealt with many Alconian mages before. The only reason Tidas was still unharmed was because he used his Tank trait a little differently than most other mages. Even the ones that were Hybrids like him.

Because Tidas kept his senses heightened at all times, it was second-nature to him. It didn’t deplete his magic like it did for most other mages that had to switch it off during direct battle. It was either devote magic to your legs and muscles, or your senses.

Only those with a high capacity for magic could do both, and Zas had sensed Tidas’ potential. Fae naturally had more magic than humans, so it was how he was used to operating. No human had ever been able to maintain both throughout the entirety of a battle; except for Tidas and his ancestor.

Every rushed footstep, and every grunt before a swing; Tidas heard it all coming as he ducked and dodged. It wasn’t easy, but those minuscule moments before impact had kept him from serious injury so far. He didn’t count the self-inflicted scrapes and scratches from dodging and blocking.

Remembering a trick that Zas had taught him, he ran between two groups as evenly as he could, nudging them along into even lines. Bouncing around the ring a couple times, Tidas doubled back, and slammed into the hulking Highlander in the front of the line.

Propelling forward with momentum and might, Tidas started to push the stack of Highlanders out of the ring. Eight of them were out before they started to push back. The Highlander in front had been knocked out, and the ones directly behind him didn’t look the best..

With his momentary pause, other Highlanders started to rush his sides. The twenty or so other Highlanders he was already going up against were gaining traction, and began to try and push him back. Rather than crush a non-magic user, Tidas pulled the man to the side, making him crash into an oncoming opponent.

Tossing the lead Highlander caused him to pivot and spin into the next on-coming Highlander. He swiftly ducked and nailed the man in his gut with the hilt of his sword as another rushed him from the side..

Tidas grinned as he let himself be hit, and taken out of the line of fire from the collapsing Highlanders. Without him to push back against, they’d all fallen forward..

In one swift motion; Tidas planted one foot at an angle to stop himself and his opponent while grabbing said Highlander by the scruff of his shirt. When the momentum hit, he used it to flip over the Highlander to off-set his own weight, then sped back towards the mostly still collapsed Highlanders.

After more or less chasing them over the ring’s edge, he turned back to the final hundred. The few he’d been concerned about were finally moving around. They were talking to a few of the remaining challengers around them..

“Well that can’t be good..”

Tidas’ mutter went unheard by his opponents, but some of the mystics had heard him, and chuckled. They razzed him from the sidelines, but all that did was make Tidas smirk. He’d been conserving his magic specifically to deal with the final hundred..

Clearing his throat to speak as loudly as he could, Tidas yelled over the crowds; “I’m sorry if this breaks anyone’s bones! But if I’m gonna win, I can’t hold back anymore!”