Chapter 373

Nua watched as the tournament proceeded onward, warrior after warrior fell, some perished, others did not, and many withdrew after seeing whom they would have to face. For three days, contestants were eliminated, with, to the disbelief of the crowd, included Razen'mah, who fell before the wartroll champion of the Baharuth Empire, who in turn fell before a nameless armored knight who refused to show his face, who in turn fell to the heterochromatic half elf.

"There are some scary people out in this world." Raymond remarked when the knight yielded to the half elf. Their clash resulted in shaking of the majority of the arena, and to his dismay, more than once, Nua prepared to dive over his body to protect him from debris if it should start flying.

"Yes, there are." Nua replied as the final match was announced. "That blue haired human was a surprise, what do they call that, a dark horse in the race?"

"Yes, that's it." Raymond replied and watched the two take to the stands. Down below, he listened to a small shouting out…

"Go mama! Get papa! Go papa! Get mama!"

"So they're a couple… I wonder if they get along?" He chuckled a little bit at that.

"They must, or she wouldn't be cheering for them both. I've taken care of many human children in bad marriages, and they almost always pick a side, if she didn't, it's because the couple is on the same side. That should make things even more interesting." Nua said with a wolfish smile on her face.

'There's a predator inside this elf, just begging to come out.' Raymond thought as he watched the expression on her face change ever so subtly. 'She's taller than the average human, and with that build, and even I rarely heard her coming, with the right training, maybe she would have been great in the Agante, if she'd been human. Or maybe she could rise within a scripture… the gods know she's harder than a coffin nail, I wonder what I could do with her if I gave her a little training with a knife.' It was a pleasant thought, tumbling with her to see what she could learn, though he forced himself to tear his thoughts back to the moment when he imagined doing so in the nude. 'Pervert.' He mocked himself, knowing she would mock his thoughts if he voiced it.

Zesshi looked across to where Brain stood facing her, "You did a lot better than I expected." She said, not really listening to the crier recollecting their victories, not far away, surviving opponents became spectators to the last remaining combatants, but she noticed none of them.

"And you did every bit as well as I expected." Brain replied to her with a respectful bow of his head. "Now here we are, the last two, one of us will win the title of, 'the strongest' and that will be that. What will you do then?" He asked, paying no more mind than she to the crier's building crescendo.

"I don't know. I barely know how to run my own life, let alone an empire, but I can give Layali a better life than I had, and that's a place to start." Zesshi said, "And you, will you go wandering again?"

"Sort of." Brain replied and drew the longsword Zesshi gave to him, the red blade presented itself to her, edge first.

"I see." She answered, "So that's it then." She drew her sword, and they heard the booming signal ring out over the arena.

She barely stopped his sword in time. She blinked, he winked, and mouthed, "You have beautiful eyes."

"Sonofa… how did-?" There wasn't enough time for her to ask, his sword came down from overhead, and she raised her blade up to guard against it…

Pain hit her knee as he forced her down to one of them, sand flew up in every direction and the rumbling began in earnest.

"How… did you… do… this…?" She grunted out the question as their blades pressed against one another, edging back and forth as strength contested against strength.

She frowned when he mouthed something to her again. 'What in the world is 'power leveling'?'

He winked and jumped backward, and for a moment they were a cacophony of voices as they pronounced their martial arts and summoned every skill they knew.

They rushed one another across the distance of the sands, clouds of the brown and bloodstained stuff sailed like waves of water behind them, rising in their rushing wake, until they reached one another, crashing like bolts of lightning in a duel.

Their blades moving with such nightmarish swiftness that those who could see the motion, saw only well enough to know they were missing sight of most of them. Afterimages and reflected light casting clangings of metal against metal and rumblings of the ground that spread to every wall of stone.

The ground beneath them began to sink as clash after clash continued to scatter the sands away, the rumbling went harder and louder, until, to Zesshi's shock, their swords cracked, broke, and the two blades sailed past each other's heads.

"Impossible…" She whispered at his knowing grin. He raised his fist in front of his chest.

Her heart raced with glee as she finally accepted the truth, it was a fight worth having. Her fists came up like his, and they cast aside the broken remnants of their blades, the crowd was on its feet, the cheers grew louder and louder as their punches and kicks flew back and forth at close range, their battlecries came into harmony, her hair flew wild and beautiful to behold in the eyes of every man and woman of war who ever loved ferocity and power in a single form.

His steely eyes and shouts of battle fury inspired envy and desire in those who loved the clash of strength and will, their hearts beat in time with one another as Layali cheered them on from the corners of their eyes, bruises began to rise on their flesh, but neither one could fall, pain was dulled by the arts they both knew…

Before Brain's fist came in just a hair too fast, she felt it strike her cheek, and Zesshi watched the ground pass beneath her as she sailed away to roll over the sands.

The roaring of the crowd began to fade, dying by the time the last fleck of bloody sand fell back down from its previous skyward assent.

'I can't believe it… I just… can't believe it… I… lost?' Zesshi asked herself with wonderment, out of the corner of her eye she saw his hand come down, offering her a hand up.

"Hail to Emperor Brain Unglaus the First!" The crier shouted, and the soldiers, warriors, and citizens screamed themselves hoarse.

Brain however, held his other hand aloft, calling for an end to the silence before those on the high dias of Kings and Queens could even rise to their feet to acknowledge him.

Zesshi took his hand in hers, and hauled herself up when he braced himself. She grunted and rubbed her cheek where his fist connected, and before she could speak, she watched Brain fall.