Anti-Magic

It was unexpected, but it seemed that Kies was up first. He turned his head up to the audience and looked around. He didn't see Sirks and the other three anywhere. There were too many people, but he knew roughly where they were by sensing the fragment's location. They were someone on his right, close to the action.

"So you're that cheater that everyone was talking about, huh?"

Kies turned and looked back at his opponent. He was a giant compared to him. "So what if I am?" he asked his opponent, looking him directly in the eye to show that he wasn't afraid of him. He may be big, but size only meant something if the enemy was at least five times bigger than him. If the enemy was that big then attacks would be nothing more than scratches to them. Anything smaller, or rather, less big than that, was just intimidation.

All skilled fighters knew that, and intimidation through size only worked on those that were inexperienced or animals. Any experienced soldier or fighter could easily deal with a bigger enemy. As the saying goes, the bigger the enemy, the bigger the target, and the easier it is to hit.

His opponent was also not well-armed. Wielding only his sword, he wore nothing on his upper-half of his body, and shorts on his lower-half. Since he had no armor, he was at high risk of injuries, and Kies didn't understand the reasoning behind his choice. Maybe it was pride, maybe it was for combat purposes, or maybe it was something else, but he knew one thing for sure, and it was that his opponent was confident.

He stood straight with his head held up high and had his sword. He was looking down on Kies with smiling eyes like he knew that he already won the battle without it having even started. Kies knew exactly how to deal with these kinds of enemies. They tend to let their guard down and underestimate their opponent, so all he needed to do was to surprise him at the start of the fight by going all out and it was over.

The bulky man stared down at Kies and replied with a simple answer to his question, "I'll make you regret ever showing your face in this tournament."

Technically, he wasn't showing his face at all, but he had made his point. He wanted to make Kies regret taking part in the tournament. "Let's see if you have the skills to say that," Kies responded, completely unfazed by this threat.

"Oh, I will," the man boldly said.

The two stared at each other for a moment, neither backing down. The crowd around them cheered loudly, but not for Kies. They were all rooting for the man to squash Kies still.

"Hey, referee, when are you going to start the match!? I'm itching to teach this brat a lesson!" the man asked the referee in an irritated tone. It really looked like he might just ignore the referee and start fighting.

"We're done. The countdown is starting soon." The referee asked Kies and the other contestant to wait just a bit longer. "Thank you for your patience." They ordered

"Please give us a minute. We need to do some final checks on the arena and other things. Sorry for the inconvenience," the referee next to them answered the man. Inside the arena, there were men running around and checking the walls for damages and other things. A couple of minutes passed and Kies saw that the man was starting to get impatient. He tapped his foot against the sand and had his arms crossed. He glared at the workers running around, waiting for them to finish already.

And he wasn't the only one. The crowd was starting to get restless as well. They started to shout for the referee to start the fight already. Only Kies remained calm. He just stood there, unmoving, waiting patiently for the referee to start the fight.

They had everyone leave the arena other than for the two contestants and the referee before they started the countdown. "Get ready, the countdown starts now!" the referee shouted after a long wait.

"Finally..." Both fighters drew their swords and got ready to fight.

The referee counted down from five and when he reached zero, he waved his wave and yelled, "Go!" Immediately upon saying that, the referee ran away as fast he could from the two fighters as they collided with each other.

"What-" Before Kies could get the jump on his opponent, the large man closed the gap between them with unreal speed and raised his sword. Kies was caught off-guard by this and couldn't move out of the way in time.

Kies raised his sword to block the man's heavy blow, his feet sinking slightly into the sand from the weight. "What's wrong? Is this all you got?" the man smirked. He slammed his foot into Kies' chest and kicked him back across the sand. Kies used his sword to slide to a stop and got back up. The audience cheered for his opponent.

Kies charged at the man and attacked him with a fury of strikes. The man blocked all of them effortlessly which surprised Kies since he coated his sword in a layer of wind to make the swings faster. After parrying the final strike, the man pushed Kies back with his sword and two once again separated from each other.

Kies looked at his opponent in disbelief. He was a lot faster than he looked and Kies' plan of catching him off-guard at the beginning and ending the fight there was now in the gutters. His opponent was a lot better than he initially thought.

"Why don't you give up? I know I would."

"..." It was unbelievable how cocky the man was. Kies tightened his grip on his sword and called upon the winds to aid him. There was no point in playing around anymore. He has to admit, his opponent was not as weak as he thought. "You talk too much." A fresh breeze entered the arena, picking up grains of sand and scattering them elsewhere.

The man opened his mouth to say something but before a word could come out, Kies charged at him and swung his blade. The man's eyes widened and he barely moved his sword up in time to block the attack. The impact sent a blast of wind at the man, causing him to stumble back. This surprised not only the man but also Kies. The average fighter would've been sent flying through the air by that attack, but the man somehow stood his ground and only took a few steps back. That was very unexpected.

However, the attack did silence the entire crowd. Well, only for a short moment. They immediately started booing him, calling him a cheater and other insults. The man steadied himself and got right back up, standing straight and tall like nothing happened at all.

"So, you're not bothering to hide it anymore..."

"Hide? What do I have to hide?" Kies asked, taunting the fighter. Although he was using magic, it technically wasn't magic at the same time. It wasn't using any of his magic power to control the winds, and overall, it was more like an extension of his body more than anything.

Kies swung his sword and created a wall of sand, blocking his opponent's vision for just a moment. Rushing through the sand, Kies aimed his sword at the man's chest and thrust it forward. "D*mn you!" The man blocked Kies' sword at the last moment but the impact still caused him to get knocked back across the sand.

Kies continued the pressure and didn't give the man a second to catch his breath. He continued chasing after the man, pushing him back with his attacks until he slammed into the arena wall. "Argh!"

Kies raised his sword and prepared for the finishing blow to end the fight, but just as swung it, he felt a wave of electricity go through his body. The winds around his body and sword began to twist and turn violently, breaking out of Kies' control and dispersing in all directions. The man caught Kies' blade as it was about to hit him with his bare hands.

"Ha, I thought so..." The man kicked Kies away, taking his sword away from him and disarming him. He spun the sword around and grabbed the hilt. "Not a bad weapon. I think I'll take it." He took Kies' sword and held it in his other hand. He wielded two swords now, his own and Kies'.

Kies looked around for where the electric field came from and saw that it was emitting from his opponent. "Not so tough without your magic, huh?" The man pointed at his pants which had something red wrapped around it.

---

Grammar errors, story errors, other errors, and advice, email flightless05@gmail.com

Thanks!