Knee'd

We both faced each other calmly as we stood on opposite ends of the same ring. He had a cheerful expression, a light layer of glistening sweat, and a smile that could kill. Despite the way he is expressing himself, I can clearly see it's a forced act.

Should I let him win, or should I just take the gold for myself? I don't really need it, so I have no reason to win, but on the other hand, I would be lying to everyone if I let myself lose. Oh well, a thousand gold coins could be useful in the future. I might as well just take the win.

Right as I had decided, the bell dinged throughout the plaza, announcing the beginning of the fight. Neither of us moved, instead taking the time to analyze each other. Darius had a perfect stance, leaving no weakness to be seen at all. My stance was obviously terrible, as I didn't train in any sort of martial arts.

He was clearly surprised as he noticed that I could be attacked from literally every direction, but he didn't move an inch.

"Y'know, I've won this contest nine times in a row, right? What makes you think you can beat me?"

"Well, I did get to the finals, so I figure I might be able to take the win."

"We'll see about that. I plan to add to my streak and make it an impressive ten wins."

As the last word left his mouth, he zoomed randomly around the arena, trying to confuse me while he moved in for an attack. My eyes followed his every movement, however, right up to the moment before he was about to throw his punch.

His eyes watched mine the entire time, and I had clearly surprised him by following his movements. In fact, I scared off his attack by being able to follow his movements. Instead of throwing his punch, he jumped back to the opposite end of the ring, slightly gasping for breath.

"Wow, you're good. I might have to get serious with you."

"Thank you, I guess..."

When he made his next move, I moved with him, copying his movements exactly, right up until the moment we met, which had surprised him, but this time he didn't back down. He threw a fist straight for my jaw, but it was a feint, I just knew it. Instead, he was going to use his other fist to land a hit on my stomach.

Instead of going to protect my jaw, like he thought I would, I went and protected my stomach. He realized halfway through his attack that it wasn't going to work, but it was too late by then. I had him in the trap I had just made up this very moment.

Instead of just blocking his attack, I grabbed him by his elbow and pushed it in, completely stopping his ability to use that arm. He tried to throw me off with his other arm, but I quickly caught it by the wrist with my other hand. As soon as I had both of his arms stopped, all of my preparations were ready.

Since he couldn't move his arms, he wouldn't be able to block the attack I was about to use. Perfect.

I knee'd him straight in the stomach, causing him to throw up on the spot.

He instantly fell to the ground from the amount of force I used on that single attack. Of course, he didn't go unconscious, so I just picked him up with both hands, and from there, just tossed him out of the ring and onto the stone plaza surrounding us.

The audience was shocked with what had just happened. They were expecting a long and impressive fight, but instead, the fight was over in only two minutes. Instead of cheering like crazy, they were just silent after having watched me defeat the nine time champion in such little time, and with a single attack as well.

"Uhh... It seems like the finals are over, and the winner is Estelle."

Even the spokesman was kind of confused by how quickly the fight had ended. He spoke loudly like he was supposed to, but he didn't speak with any excitement or anything, just kind of confused.

Uh, did they not like the fight because of how fast it was over? I mean, I'm sorry you didn't get to enjoy a nice long fight.

There was still silence for a few moments, and I was beginning to feel really awkward, but then, finally, something happened.

The crowd began to roar. It was deafeningly loud. They weren't booing either, they were cheering with all of their might. It didn't make me nervous hearing this amount of cheering, considering I hear it all the time when I'm doing my job as a hero, but this one was louder.

"I can't believe someone has finally beaten that Darius jerk!"

"He would brag over and over about how good he was at fighting!"

"Estelle must be the best fighter in the world!"

Okay, now you're just exaggerating. Wait, maybe not. Hmm.

"Everyone give it up for Estelle, the winner of our annual fighting competition!"

The cheers nearly doubled in volume as the spokesperson hyped the crowd even more. The cheering lasted for an entire ten minutes, not giving up in the slightest. Only when they began to calm down a little did the spokesperson finally approach to give me my reward.

"Here, I believe this is yours."

In his had, he carried a large fat pouch filled to the brim with golden coins. I have no idea how much this is, considering I've never really had to use the currency in this world myself, but I do know that this is an insane amount.

When I grabbed the pouch from him, the cheering erupted once more, consuming the crowd.

Okay, this is kind of getting annoying...