Fight Against Fate: Chapter 6

As he walked he felt the armor on his body, a leather breastplate for, greaves, sandals, and vambraces. At his hip was his sword, a simple flat edge weapon that Felix had made for him specifically and on the other a small circular shield about as big as his chest. He raised his arms and then grunted staring at the weights still strapped around his limbs.

“Hey Felix get these off me finally,” Alec said glancing back at his coach.

“Actually,” Alec glared at him and Felix laughed. “Hear me out.”

“I’m barely listening.”

“If you wear the weights during your match it’ll be practical training. It’ll help for when you’re in the real tournament. And especially against Dio.”

Alec stared at him and Felix knew that he had him with that. Looking away he looked across the stadium at his opponent. Wearing similar leather armor as him but standing much taller was a burly bald man. He had a one handed axe in hand and a shield on the other.

“Fine,” Alec said glancing back at him. “But I’m taking them off the moment it goes bad.”

“I’ll shout at you if I think it’ll be bad. Just trust my judgement,” he said quickly.

A man in a white tunic and face covered by hair stepped into the arena and looked at the pair of fighters and then raised his hand to the sky and everyone cheered. “Welcome back to another round of our tournament! Pitting fighters determined to show their mettle to not just you but everyone above!”

“Aren’t you a little young for this type of thing?” the man asked.

“Aren’t you a little old?” Alec asked back.

The man stared at him for a short moment before throwing his head back and laughing heartily. Alec looked at the man and smirked, drawing his sword slowly. The man looked back, cracking a wide smile and nodded his head. They raised their shields and clanked them together before retreating back a few steps.

“May the Gods smile upon you boy.”

“And you, old man.”

“You and your coach know the rules,” the referee said backing up slowly. “Let’s have a good clean fight worthy of the Gods! Begin!”

Alec charged forward shield first. The man blocked the first contact and swung his arm blowing Alec backwards. Digging his feet into the ground to not slide far back, Alec brought his sword forward. Stepping around the thrust the man swung with his axe aimed at Alec’s head. He jerked backwards and dodged the blow but stumbled backwards barely keeping his footing.

The man watched him tilting his head back and forth keeping the axe forward. Clanging the axe against his shield he charged forward. Eyes going wide he darted aside but he wasn’t fast enough and the axe hit him in the side. Grunting he was lifted off the ground and slid to the side. His armor took the brunt of it thankfully but he had a hard time getting back to his feet.

The man came charging forward and Alec had to lower his shield to avoid the brunt of a kick to the stomach that sent him rolling even further across the arena getting the crowd jeering at him.

“Remember the obstacle course Alec!” Felix shouted toward him.

Alec glanced back at him and nodded quickly, “Right. Right!”

Spinning around he raised his shield blocking the axe and grunted his arm throbbing. Rolling around he crouched low and swung the sword at his legs. The man jolted backwards, Alec’s sword scraping across the ground.

He stumbled backwards and Alec darted forward, staying low against the ground. The man turned and grabbed the axe with both hands. Alec hopped forward shield first and swung his shield into the axe gritting his teeth but held it back. Reaching his sword arm forward he brought it down on the man’s shoulder hard.

He let out a cry of pain wincing and Alec came down shakily. Scraping the sword against the edge of the shield slowly Alec smirked feeling himself. Darting forward he pumped his arms, closing the distance between them. The man didn’t wait behind and charged right back at him.

He got into range first and swung the axe down and Alec stepped around it. The shield came down again like another blade but Alec kept stepping, working backwards and slipping into a rhythm. Turning on his heel he spun around as the axe whiffed where he was supposed to be.

Hopping forward Alec went shield first, crashing it into his face. Putting one arm in front of the other he clanged the pommel of his sword behind the shield hitting him again and driving him to the ground.  Alec stood on top of him pointing his sword at his head and grinned. Panting the man looked at him and then gave a slow nod.

Alec stepped off him, sheathed his sword and then held out his hand. The man took it and with some effort Alec heaved him back to his feet while the crowd cheered around them. The referee came over and looked at the pair of them before turning back to the crowd.

“And we have ourselves a winner!” the referee shouted. “Another exciting match concludes but stay seated because we’re going to have more coming up soon.”

Felix ran onto the stage and wrapped his arm around his shoulder tightly. He led him off the stage glancing at the armor but tapped his shoulder, “Good work out there.”

“I had a good call from my coach.”

He laughed and smiled glancing at his opponent but he didn’t see him anymore. All he saw was the next step in his fight. He saw Dio. He was coming for him. And he was going to win.