Surprise Retaliation

They were four fights in and there were still over fifty left to go before it was their turn. It was an absolute mess... Kies leaned back against his chair and stared blankly at the sky. There was no point in watching these fights since they were anything but entertaining. After the first brawl which turned into a one versus one in the very end between that soldier and Rui, there was nothing else worth watching. It was just a bunch of sweaty men dogpiling on top of each other in this blazing temperature. You quite literally have a higher chance of fainting due to heatstroke than actually getting domed in the head by a sword

But since he agreed to watch over the suspicious person until Nell arrived with the guards, there was nothing he could do but to wait for them to arrive. He couldn't leave or move from this spot and had to keep an eye on the cloaked person at all times.

"Ugh... I really hope our fight is during the night," Sirks mumbled. He was sweating from head to toe and wanted to take off his mask but couldn't because of the risk of being recognized. Iris and Wompa were also sweating and were hiding underneath the chairs in front of them to get out of the sun. But even that wasn't enough.

The sun was starting to move high up into the sky and the temperature was getting increasingly hotter. Kies felt pity for those who will have to fight in the afternoon when the sun is at its highest. If the organizers were kind, then they would give a break period for the sun to set a little before continuing with the fights, but Kies knew that something like that is unlikely to happen since they had a hundred or so number of fights to go through.

"Say, how are you fine in all of that?" SIrks asked Kies once again, not understanding how he wasn't dying when he was dressed like that.

"It's the cloak. I'm telling you! That thing has to have some sort of magical cooling property," Iris said.

"No, it doesn't," Kies told them for the third time now. His cloak did not have a function that cooled him down. "Anyway, I'm not the only one. That person over there is also fine," Kies gestured at the suspicious person seated far away from them.

"I'm pretty sure they're a corpse by now. There's no way that they can endure this heat... I mean, they haven't even moved at all. They're definitely dead or at the very least unconscious. Why don't you get those guards here and arrest them now?"

"Actually, they should be here very soon." It shouldn't take the guards that long to get to the colosseum. The distance between the base and here was a bit far, but they had horses.

At that very moment, Kies heard a loud noise and a bunch of armed soldiers stormed into the colosseum, scaring some of the contestants and also the staff.

"What are you doing here!?"

Nell and the rest of the guards ignored the frightened staff and looked around until she saw Kies. They locked eyes for a second and Kies turned his head to the side to show her where the thief was. Nell followed Kies' gaze and spotted the person dressed in a brown cloak sitting far away from everybody else.

"There!" Nell pointed at the thief. Immediately, the guards all drew their weapons and ran towards the thief.

"Is there something wrong?" the person asked the guards as they surrounded him.

"You know full well what you're in trouble for," the guards told him.

"And if I don't?"

"Don't play dumb. Spit it out! What are you up to?"

The person sighed. "Did 'he' put you up to this? He's deceiving you all!"

"Shut your mouth villain! Men, get him!"

The guards closed in on the suspicious person and got ready to retrain them. They had their weapons pointed at them in case they tried something.

"Well then, forgive me for this." The thief jumped up into the air and did a flip out of the ring of guards surrounding him. They then grabbed a guard by his arm and slammed him into the ground and took his sword.

"Forget capture! Kill them!" Nell yelled at the guards. It was too dangerous for them to try to capture the thief now that they had a weapon.

The three guards closest to the thief all charged at the thief at the same time. "Too slow." The thief skillfully disarmed all three of them in one strike. With one swing of their blade, they managed to knock all of the swords out of the guards' hands.

"Fall back!"

The guards without weapons were ordered to retreat while several more took their place. "You're full of openings." The thief once again disarmed the guards in a matter of seconds, only needing two swings to deal with the five guards. Before the guards can retreat and have the ones behind them move up, the thief dashed into the mix, swinging his sword wildly.

The sound of metal colliding ringed throughout the air and swords flew everywhere. The thief jumped from guard to guard, disarming them all to the last man in just a couple of seconds. The thief then advanced to Nell and attacked her. Nell drew her weapon and parried the blow. The two of them locked blades.

"Let me tell you this. You're all being lied to. Do not trust him."

"What are you talking about?"

"You'll know soon enough."

The thief pushed Nell back, causing her to tumble into a chair. "I have no time to waste playing with you all." The thief threw the sword down and bolted out of the arena. A couple of the contestants at the entrance tried to stop the thief but they were too slow. The thief sprinted right through them and into the city.

"D*mn..." Sirks muttered while staring at the door where the thief ran off. "That's impressive..."

"You're not supposed to be complimenting a criminal!" Iris yelled at him.

"Criminal or not, did you see that guy's skills? It's out of this world. Not even the total guards can match that guy." It wasn't an exaggeration. When they saw Rui fight, they were most certainly amazed by her skills, but this thief was beyond that. Their skills were extraordinary.

Not once did the thief look worried at all, even when they were surrounded by guards on all sides. In fact, they were so cocky that they even ran back into the circle to disarm them all. This thief was an experienced warrior.

Nell and the rest of the guards got up and retrieved their weapons. There was no point in chasing the thief into the city as they were already long gone. Surprisingly, there wasn't a single casualty, and in fact, none of the guards were even injured. There are almost a hundred of them and yet they were unable to catch a single person...

Nell kicked a chair in a fit of anger for failing in catching the criminal before turning back to the guards and checking if they were all okay. After confirming that they were all unharmed, Nell raised an eyebrow at this discovery and looked at Kies. She made a gesture with her head for him to come outside so they can talk about what just happened. She and the guards then left the colosseum. After a brief recovery, the fights continued.

Kies got up from his seat and so did Iris. Sirks didn't say anything and watched the two of them leave the colosseum again. They found Nell waiting outside for them with a couple of the other guards. The rest had been sent back, leaving only her and the guards that are under her direct command.

"Well, I guess I have both good news and bad news."

"What's the bad news?"

"Huh, most people ask for the good news first. But anyway, the bad news is that thieves know we're onto them. They're going to be more careful now that they know that we know what they're to you."

"And the good news?" Iris asked.

"The good news? That person you thought was a thief wasn't actually a thief. If they were one then a bunch of people would have died. Thankfully, that didn't happen. It looked like you made a mistake with your judgment, but I don't blame you. The clothes that person was wearing were extremely fishy."

"Oh..." Kies had the feeling that he got it wrong when he saw the person running around disarming the guards instead of killing them. "Then who are they?"

"No clue. But based on how nimble they are and their swordsmanship, I think it might be an elf in disguise. But... that's probably not it. They said something to me before they left. From the way they talked, it sounded like they knew about something that was happening in Otane. This leads me to think that they might be human..."

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