Warrior of Darkness, Warrior of Light

Chapter 2

"Spar!" Tyrael called to all the surviving participants. I was among them. Lifting the wooden sword that was assigned to me, I attacked my partner. He blocked it with his silver sword, something that I was anticipating. With a grin, I spun around and hit his head, causing the sword to be ripped from his grip and tossed carelessly aside. He collapsed as soon as the wood blade his his temple, passed out from the blow. The fight wasn't even a minute long. I needed a challenge. I noticed that Tyrael was watching closely, he was the one that assigned me a wooden sword, and everyone else silver. He walked up to me in four long strides, gazing down upon me with a little smirk, "what am I going to do with you? Do you believe that you could fight without a weapon?"

I ginned under my black and white mask, "yessir!"

"Good. Your next partner is me," he replied, his smirk growing. My eyes widened, I've never fought someone of authority before! Hesitantly casting my sword aside, I backed up. He pulled out his two swords, the handles made from polished gold, the blade reflecting colors because of it's glossy finish. One side of the blade was iron, the other was silver. The tip, forged in a kite shape, was made of bronze. Now I understood why he was so powerful.

He was an angel.

Good lord, I'm fighting an armed angel with only my hands and feet. What have I gotten myself into...

I took a deep breath. Tyrael was grinning now, his multi-metal swords gleaming from the light. It was as if they were monsters flashing their teeth, intimidating their prey. Another advantage on his part, people feared him. Fear has the tendency to cloud your mind, which causes you to falter when you fight. So first thing first, he's a little puppy with flashy teeth. Remove the teeth, kill the puppy. I let out the breath that I was holding. No point going into a fight light headed, right? Tyrael nodded, "ready?"

"No, but I might as well get it over with," I sighed, squaring my shoulders. He laughed and took a step back. I took this as a sign to begin. I got into a fighting position. One foot out, the other behind me. It was both offense and defense. I was always better at defense though. Tyrael crossed his two swords in front of him, and I saw what he was doing. If the opponent were to charge forward, you could catch them between your swords and behead them. I was smarter than that though. We began circling each other, and I noticed that everyone stopped to watch us. Understandable, for this never happens. Although it was him who challenged me, so I could no be viewed as the 'bad' guy. Then I remembered his swords. They were of the Angel's creations, meant to be challenged, not to challenge. I smirked under my mask, and was thankful that it covered it. The enemy couldn't read my emotions, so he couldn't know what I was feeling.

Tyrael leaped forward, slashing his right sword, hoping to knock me off my feet. I jumped, the sword missing the bend of my knees. When I landed, I spun around, lifting my foot in a round house kick to his head. He moved, but I was too fast. His head turned sharply from the impact, but I didn't stop there. Not even before my foot hit the ground, I was already going for a punch. It was a weak blow, considering the fact that I was much shorter than him, but I managed to hit him square under the jaw. With that, I jumped back twice the distance of his swords. I was thankful for my speed too, because seconds after the blow he was already lifting his sword to attack. I ducked back as his second blade flew above me, where my head had been seconds ago. I had to admit, this was a challenge.

I didn't know exactly how to fight him. I understood that it would probably take him three hits to knock me out, but I had speed on my side. It would take a hundred hits for me to damage him, as I did not have much strength. So in this case, I had to outsmart him. Take the flashy teeth. Disarming was the best way to go, but loosing the extra weight could speed him up. I'm sure that by the time that I've managed to disarm him, I would have used a fair amount of energy.

We were circling each other now, thinking of how to take down one another. I could always use pressure points, but to me that seemed like cheating. Pressure points come last in this fight. Disarming him was another option, but I would have to find a way to do that without wasting energy. Tripping him was out of the picture, I could tell that his balance was excellent. Flexibility? I considered it for a moment, surely there were places that he could not reach. I would have to keep low, and that means becoming more heavy on my feet.

With a heavy mental sigh, I decided that disarming him was the best option. After that, pressure points. I wasn't taking any unnecessary chances.

Tyrael made the next move, lunging forward with his sword ready to pierce my stomach at the seam of my armor. I spun to the side, my hand reaching out to guide the blade away from me. That's when an idea sprouted from my mind. Everyone always has trouble controlling the tip of their blades! I could use that to my advantage! With a new plan set in mind, I allowed it to take a physical form.

In seconds I pushed the tip of the blade towards the ground, stepping on it with my foot. I stepped closer, putting all my weight on the blade itself. I continued to run up the long blade, and eventually, just as I had hoped, Tyrael dropped his sword. I faintly heard gasps in the background, but I paid them no attention. I quickly jumped up to slam my foot into his face, but he had different plans for me. Tyrael managed to grab my ankle and twist it in the most painful of ways. How I ignored it, I have no clue. Pushing the pain back, I lifted my arm to punch him in the face. It was a more awkward punch, since I had my leg high up in the air, but I managed to crack his nose. His hand, out of instinct, flew to his nose to protect it. I jumped back, freeing my foot from his grip, and did a back hand spring, but savored my injured foot at the landing. I stayed low to the ground, leaning more on my good foot. It meant being heavy on my feet, but it insured my balance. I didn't give anyone a chance to register what had happened, I was already darting forward to kick Tyrael's sword away from reach.

Now I needed to rid of his second sword. He could put all his focus on one sword, rather than two, which aids his fighting ability. Not only that, but that's weight that I removed. So he will unconsciously increase his speed. Tyrael took two large steps forward, lifting his sword to slash in a downward diagonal motion. I jumped to the side, but didn't see his fist coming before it was too late. He punched me spot on in the chest, sending me flying backwards. I skidded on the ground before slowing to a stop. Lesson learned, don't just focus on the weapon, I thought to myself. After a few seconds, I rolled on my stomach and pushed myself up.

"I'm surprised you're still standing," Tyrael chuckled, sheathing his sword.

"One more hit," I winced at the pain evident in my voice, "and I probably would have stayed down." I stood up, leaning on my good foot while my hand applied a slight amount of pressure to the injury.

"You did well," he said, gesturing to his sword on the other side of the room, "you are the first to have managed to disarm me."

"Disarming is removing of all the weapons, sir. You still had your other sword," I replied, nodding to the sword that rested in his sheath.

"That is still an accomplishment. You are very calculating for a young boy."

"Thank you?" I hesitantly replied. With that he nodded his head, which I replied with a bow, and went to retrieve his sword. Understanding it as a sign of dismissal, I turned to collect my swords towards the back of the room. Making sure they were properly sheathed, I turned around to look at the people around me. They were split into two describable groups; one was staring at me, the others were staring that Tyrael. I ignored them and continued back to my sparring partner from before, although this time a nervous look was worn on his face like a mask. I grinned under my wooden mask, fear always made you act different and think improperly.

Just a few more hours, and the day will be over. After that, the final trial. I was excited, all I really wanted to do was sleep in a warm bed for the night. Then my excitement carried over to the final trial.