Dragon Gaze

5. Struggles and beautiful women

I felt excited, scared and determined all at the same time. This was my chance to beat the person who just fun of us, but what if he was a as talented as his father? I scanned the area looking for the blackhaired boy. I found him standing on the very right of the row of competitors. He didn't seem to care about his match up. Basil probably thought his victory was already ensured. Lord Bull continued listing the match ups, but I dozed of.

The duels were held in the arena we entered earlier. There were 32 fighters and only 16 would make it to the next challenge, which meant winning this fight was my only chance. Lord Bull and Lord Wolf sat down on their thrones, one on each side of the arena. Lord Wolf snapped his fingers. "Match one will commence. Competitors! Step into the ring." Jackson sighted. 'This is it man! I will show them what I've got!' The boy carrying a giant magical rock walked up the stairs and was ready to fight. Marcus had also entered the ring. The small boy was apparently a knife style fighter. Two daggers were spinning in his hands. Both competitors were now ready to fight. "All right rookies! Let the struggle begin!"

The unexpected happened. Marcus, the boy that did not seem to stand out that much was in fact extremely fast. He dashed with an insane speed to Jackson and jumped to strike him from above. I was kind of worried for Jackson, but he looked very calm. He pushed his Okinashi upwards and tried to bash the boy away. Marcus was able to read his movements and slided down the stone with his feet. He swung with his knives, but Jackson was able to push Marcus of the rock with a great swing. I was really impressed by both fighters. Marcus' speed was amazing and Jackson's stamina was unbelievable. He did not pant, even after such intense movements with his giant weapon.

The fight continued. Once again, it was Marcus who took the initiative. This time he tried to break Jackson's defense by attacking head on. Jackson was obviously slower because of the size of his weapons. He tried desperately to keep up with the incoming slashes, or that was what I thought. Jackson was just waiting for an opening. The attacks kept coming and Marcus leaped in the air once again. Jackson wasn't planning on missing his strike in the air again. He wanted to make it to the next challenge as much as I did! Suddenly I realized why Jackson was only on the defense. All the time he had been mumbling something I could not understand. I grinned, "sorry Marcus. It's over."

A giant red ring of light appeared around the Okinashi and also the kanji signs on the stone itself began to glow. Jackson prepared to use the same technique, that was what Marcus thought. Instead of pushing the rock upwards, Jackson put the weight on his shoulder. "All right, time for my special move! Red Cannon Bash!" The stone launched itself from Jackson's shoulder and hit the boy in his stomach. Like a rocket, Marcus was being launched out of the ring and landed in a haystack. Jackson won.

'Woah!!!!' The other competitors were definitely impressed. Jackson walked to the haystack to get his Okinashi. Marcus had already stood up and now was kind of scared of the rocket launching boy. 'Thanks for the duel, you were insanely fast!' He reached out to the boy with his hand. Marcus shook it and left. I also had to admit that I was quite impressed, I had never imagined that someone could have a fighting style like this. "Seth! I did it!" From afar, Jackson was yelling at me and put his thumb up. I also gave him a thumbs up. But it wasn't quite as convincing as his, I had my own fight on my mind.

"Let the second match commence!" Lord Wolf wanted to start this match as soon as possible, because this time, his own son would stand in the ring. I and Basil entered the battle area. I pulled my sword out of it's sheath and stood in an awkward position, I didn't know all these kinds of special techniques like the other competitors did. I was just a clumsy fighter with some physical power, that was all. Basil unsheathed a rapier from it's scabbard. 'I hope you know who you are up against peasant boy.' Basil was full of confidence and probably could see my hesitation. ''We'll see.'' I couldn't get any more words than that out of my mouth. Lord Wolf stood up again. ''Competitors! Begin!''

The match started and Basil made one big leap towards me. My body refused to move and Basil struck. ''shrrrrrrh!'' In the split-second between Basil's strike and my attempt to dodge, I was able to put my sword between me and his rapier. The swords scorched against each other. I escaped the dangerous situation and was able to get behind Basil. I did not hesitate for a moment and tried to surprise Basil with a horizontal strike. The boy ducked and stabbed his rapier in my direction once again. I twisted my face in a very uncomfortable direction, but was able to dodge his second strike. 

It wasn't going to take long before he would give me a good beating, that for sure. However, I did'nt want him to use me as his punching bag. I took some distance and breathed heavily. 'You tired already?' Basil made a gentle swirling motion with the golden rapier and held it in front of his face. ''Of course not! Bring it on!'' Basil charged down to me and upped the tempo. Several swings were incoming and I tried to block every single one of them. He was so fast, isn't there any sort of opening, some sort of counterattack like Jackson was able to pull off. I didn't know any kind of magic or secret technique. I  glimpsed behind me. My foot was nearly touching the ropes that made the ring. Just one touch and it would be over. I was stressed, but suddenly I got an idea.

It would be my only chance. Trying to let Basil trip and give a last push to let him fall off the stage. I won back some of my confidence and searched for an opening between the incoming strikes. I noticed that Basil had some sort of pattern in his swings. Left, right, up, down. After his downward slash, it took some time for him to prepare for his next salvo. That was the moment! I waited and parried and waited and parried. Up and then DOWN!! I jumped aside and knocked my elbow against his back. Basil lost some of his balance and made an uncoordinated swing behind his back. I looked behind me and the sword struck my right eye.

''Aaaaargh!' I had been blinded on my right side. Suddenly, I felt all dizzy and everything around me became blurry. Was this the end of my career as a Dragon Knight? It hadn't even been begun yet. I tried to keep my stance, but the loss of blood, sight and balance was to overwhelming. My pendant began to glow again and I blacked out.

I woke up in in an all black environment. Despite all the darkness, I was somehow able to see my body very easily. Realizing I could actually see and feel my body, I immediately checked my right eye, but there was nothing there. Where the hell was I, was this heaven, or was it actually hell? Before I could panic anything further or ask myself any more questions, a green light shone from my left. I turned towards the light. A giant glowing green throne made out of jade was standing in the middle of the endless darkness. A beautiful blue-haired woman from around my age was sitting on it with her legs crossed. She looked at me with an arrogant look and rested her face on her hand. 'Would you like to strike a deal?'

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Will Seth return to the normal world, and who is the stunning lady with attitude? What is she up to? Find out in the 6th chapter of Dragon Gaze!

Writer's note

I hope you are enjoying Dragon Gaze so far and I feel honored if you actually read up to this chapter. If you have any feedback, ideas, comments, theories whatever. Send it to me! I would love to know your thoughts! See ya!