A Battle For Ego And Survival

When he turned to face Billy, his eyes were blazing with rage,

"How dare you attack me outside a duel? Don't you know the rules?!!"

"What rules?" Billy retorted goofily,

"Didn't you read the rules, the one pasted in our rooms?"

For a moment, Billy crumpled his brows like he was trying to remember something then he burst into laughter, "Ohhh! I remember now, think I used it to take a shit"

The crowd groaned as they made disgusted sounds because of Billy's statement.

"Man, you're stupid, I don't even know why I'm wasting my time with a low life like you"

"You're going nowhere till I knock that pretty boy look off your face" Billy balled his hands into fists and narrowed his eyes into slits

"Prince, challenge him to a duel and show him who's boss" The red head guy in Alberto's team who had suddenly appeared behind him said softly.

"Fuu" Alberto breathed softly and walked up to Billy "What's your name?"

"Billy Brown, don't forget, the name of the guy that kicked your…"

"I, Prince Vittorio Ranieri Maria Alberto challenge you, Billy Brown to a duel"

As Alberto said those words, there was a flash of light in the air between the two of them and the words appeared.

Prince Vittorio Ranieri Maria Alberto has challenged Billy Brown to a duel.  

T/N: Duel will end when one challenger is unconscious or surrenders.

An invisible force suddenly pushed the crowd away from the two of them and an invisible circular wall separated the crowd from the fighters inside. The duel circle had a diameter of about 100 feet.

Even Alberto was surprised, complicated magic like this was not common among swordsmen. 

But his surprise was short lived, Billy was already preparing to spring on him….

Billy Brown, a 24 year old street thug from the streets of Whitehawk city, the most lawless and anarchical city in Whitemore continent. 

Billy was born into a broken family with eight boys before him, his father, Kenny Brown was a habitual drunkard and a chronic gambler so he never had any money for the upkeep of the family, while his mother, Kira Brown worked as a janitor at one of the hospitals in the city, and from her little earnings, she managed to feed her boys at least once in a day. 

One would wonder how Billy's mother was able to stay that long in poverty with a useless husband and nine children but the truth was that she came from a poor family too and when she came of age to get married, she was sold off to the Brown family. 

Kenny was too useless and penurious to get a wife so his older brother, Karl Brown, one of the biggest mafia lords in Whitehawk city bought Kira to be Kenny's wife and her poor family signed a contract that she wouldn't leave till her death.

After their fourth child, Kira told Kenny that they should stop giving birth because of the family condition but Kenny refused outrightly saying that she was his property and he would do with her whatever he wished and so that led to the birth of the nine Brown brothers.

Of all the nine children, Billy loved his mother the most, he would always ask her what was wrong with her whenever she came back from work as she made the family's meal with her aching limbs and weak movements but she would always tell him that she was fine.

At some point, she began emaciating greatly and this worried Billy because he begun to cry to her every night to quit the job and rest but she would always reply 

"If I quit this job, where am i gonna get the money to feed my wonderful Billy?"

Billy was only eight years old then so it was quite easy for her to convince him and make him forget about it.

Things continued like that till one day, she went to work and never came back. 

That evening, Kenny gathered them in their living room and broke the news to them that their mother had slumped and died while she was working, Billy could remember the emotionless and numb tone which his father used to say it that day,

"Boys, your mother has expired. The coroner said she had cancer, stage 4, you won't be seeing her again"

This news came as a shock to Billy because he had never for once thought that he would lose his mother so early in life but what was more shocking to him was the negligent and unconcerned attitude displayed by his siblings and his father towards his mother's death so as a result of that, after the funeral, he developed thick hatred for his family.

As a result of that hatred, when he was sixteen years old, he accidentally killed one of his older brothers. He became scared of someone discovering it so he buried the body in the yard and ran away to his uncle, Karl's mansion. 

Karl understood Billy's plight and took him under his wing as one of his mafiosi.  

Billy rose quickly in the ranks because of his exceptional fighting prowess, he was basically unbeatable in all the fights he engaged in.

His fighting style was unique, he was a brawler, it wasn't any form of martial arts but a result of experience and instinct, one moment he would be the one on the receiving end of the blows and kicks but once he understood your fighting style, he would instinctively counter it and defeat you.

Karl recognized his fighting talent and provided him with everything he needed to become a better fighter, a magic swordsman teacher who taught Billy how to cultivate Mana and use it in battles and weapons of all kinds at his disposal.

Of all the weapons that he was given, Billy fell in love with dual wielding swords rather than the modern guns and artillery, he always said that dual swords made his movements more fluid than gun users.

It was during his adventures of conquering mafia gangs for his master that he formed a team of Mana weapon users with similar ideas. In order to stand out and be unique, they became Goths.

Now almost invincible, Billy brought all the mafia gangs in Whitemore continent to bow before Karl, a feat that was impossible for most twenty year olds. As a result of the influence and power Billy got from his skills, he became egotistic and wanted to be above everybody on Earth apart from his master, Karl whom he was forever loyal to.

So at twenty four, when he heard about the contest for swordsmen, he quickly applied with an aim to crush every swordsman and be at the top.

So finally here he was, a supernatural level four Mana swordsman standing in a magically conjured magic circle, boiling with pride to fight once more….for his ego and his survival.

Prince Vittorio Ranieri Maria Alberto, 23 year old heir to the throne of the Blagroe continent, a continent that still practiced monarchy.

Born as the only child to a family that had a talented bloodline of powerful Mana swordsmen including his father, King Immanuele Ranieri Maria Victor, a prominent member of the council. Since his child was born, all he wanted to do was to train his child to surpass the Heracles family and bring the Fiend Slayer to the Maria family.

Alberto's mother hated the sort of treatment her only son was receiving from his father but she couldn't express it because her husband saw affection as weakness and therefore trained Alberto away from his mother's reach, they only saw each other once a year so Alberto grew older with a cold heart while his mother grew older with a broken heart.

King Victor hired the best magic sword martial artists in the world to train Alberto resulting in him becoming a master of over 180 magic sword martial art techniques just as he clocked nineteen years.  

At that age, none of his mates in the kingdom and it's surroundings could rival him in sword fighting and martial arts, he was a prodigy.

When King Victor heard about the contest, he gathered a team for him comprised of some Mana swordsmen including his betrothed, Caroline and sent them to the contest.

So finally, here he was , a supernatural level four Mana swordsman ready to crush a street rat who knew nothing about swordsmanship.

…..Steve's eyes glistened in excitement as he watched the two swordsmen inside the magic circle, this would be his first time watching the fighting styles of the other contestants, he planned to learn a lot from this fight.

Billy ran towards Alberto with full speed but Alberto just stood and took a stance, his plan was to exploit Billy's attacks to create an opening and finish him off without using his sword.

But Billy did something unexpected...