<h4>Chapter 82: The Darkswords</h4>


    As soon as the announcer''s voice sounded, the warriors d in dark metal armour lunged towards us. They had moved before I had the chance to.


    With identical movements, they raised their swords and leapt into the air.


    "Stay on the defensive!" I shouted as I rolled out of the way of my opponent. Hended on the ground, lifting some of the sand to the air and turned to face me. Without a second of hesitation, he swung his sword, aiming for my neck.


    I rolled my eyes as I avoided his attack with a backstep. His assault didn''t stop with that, however. His next strike aimed for my legs. I blocked it trying to figure out his goal. His movements were fluid – he had at least some training, that much was clear.


    A muffled groan caught my attention and I nced to the side. It was Erik, he was just barely holding back the assault of his opponent. Covering behind his shield, he groaned with each hit he blocked.


    A sword, almost touching my cheek reminded me of my own battle. I quickly turned my attention to my opponent. I blocked his next strike, and the one after that. As the sound of metal hitting metal filled the air, I prepared myself with a deep breath.


    I waited for an opening – something that''d let me break through my opponent''s defences. I waited and endured his flurry of attacks. Only when he stepped back and leapt into the air did I notice – something wasn''t right. I sidestepped his overhead strike, then lifted my sword to the level of my neck. As his de hit mine, a grin appeared on my lips.


    Without a moment of hesitation, I jumped over his next attack and rammed him with my shoulder. I heard a muffled scream as he fell onto the sand. I kicked his sword away and ced my sword against his neck. "Give up." I said, looking down on him.


    "Kai!" Vincent''s scream alerted me. I didn''t turn around to look at him. Instead, I threw myself to the side and thus narrowly avoided getting my neck sliced.


    "The hell?" I shouted, ncing behind me to see another ck d warrior leaping towards me. I rolled to the side as the de thrust into the ground inches away from me. I quickly leapt back up on my feet and blocked another strike.


    "So, it''s a two on one?" I asked, ring at my first opponent. He''d taken his sword back and was ready to fight. He shrugged. "If we want to win, yeah." As soon as those words left his mouth, the other guy lunged towards me.


    I had no time to check on the others – I could only hope they were fine.


    My two opponents confused me – their movements were almost identical. They were by no means untrained, but I couldn''t help but feel like this set of moves were the only one they knew. To test them, I kicked some sand in their faces.


    "You-" One of them shouted as they blocked their eyes. Taking advantage of their momentary blindness, I stepped up and struck one of them in the shoulder. As my sword bounced off the dark te armour, I kicked the other one''s knee. He shouted in pain and tried to regain his bnce, but I didn''t give him any time. Instead, I used the force of the rebound from my other opponent''s armour to hit this guy''s helmet with the hilt of my sword.


    Unconscious, he copsed on the ground.


    "What the hell did you do?" My remaining opponent shouted, stepping back a little. I didn''t intent to give him any time to rpose himself. Instead, I once again dashed forward and swung my sword, aiming for the slit between his helmet and the neck guard of his armour.


    He stumbled back, letting out a fearful scream. I barely missed the slit and struck his neck guard instead. Without giving him any time to regain hisposure, I struck his chest. While my de couldn''t cut through the te armour, it still caused him some pain.


    He stumbled back and finally regained his bnce. As soon as he did, I once again leapt towards him.


    "No!" Someone shouted as I kicked him in the head. He fell to the ground, motionless. I turned around to see another one of his allies running towards me. He leapt towards me, or attempted to, but Joshua was much faster than him. He didn''t hesitate to fight dirty as he first tackled the guy, then once he was on the ground, sat on his back.


    "You look like a turtle in all that armour." He said with a grin.


    I chuckled – I could see the resemnce as the guy tried to get up and failed hriously. Only when I heard an unusually loud ng did I turn to look at Erik and his opponent.


    "Oh,e on." Vincent shouted. "Again?"


    Erik nced at his opponent – who was holding his nose as hey on the ground. "Stop bashing people with your shield!" Vincent shouted. "Seriously, you''ve got a sword for a reason!"


    The young pdin hesitated, then shrugged. "It works, doesn''t it?"


    "And Team Torchlight wins again." The announcer''s hesitant voice echoed in the silent coliseum.


    I shook my head. "Let''s just go." I turned my back to the silent crowd and passed through the metal gates. The others rushed after me, though they didn''t seem as happy as they didst time.


    "Kai?" Vincent called my name, ruching after me. "Hey, why aren''t you happy?"


    I sighed and slowed my steps. "This is supposed to be a tournament." I said. "You don''t bash people in the face with shields and you don''t sit on their backs and you don''t mock them in tournaments!" I tried to keep my voice calm, though I think I failed.


    "But-"


    "Don''t tell me it''s fine." I said harshly. "Did you hear any cheering just now?"


    "Well," He mumbled, but his voice faded. "What were we supposed to do, though?" He asked after a short moment of hesitation. "We can barely keep ourselves alive without our spells, we''re not like you."


    I shook my head. "I know that. Believe me I know but..." I sighed and gave up. "It''s fine, never mind me. It''s just old memories speaking."


    Despite my words, I couldn''t help but feel like we hadn''t won that match. Mother would have – no. I wasn''t back home. I had to stop thinking of things like that.


    "Let''s just go back to the inn. We''ve got another match tomorrow."