Limits. Limits 228 The Masked Fox

He then continued "Fighting rules are simple. No poison or medicine is allowed. You can use any weapon, but you are not allowed to kill your opponent. In case of extreme circ.u.mstances, you may be able to avoid punishment, if you do kill someone. The occurrences like these are very rare, so make sure it stays that way. If you leave the Battle Platform before the fight ends, whenever voluntarily or by force, it is your loss. You can of course make your opponent leave the Battle Platform as well. When you are called out, it will be your turn to fight. So be prepared, when we call your name out. That is pretty much it, fight to win".

He then left us alone, while we awaited the battles. No one seemed to know the order, I decided to enquire more, about that ape like creature in our group. For that, I walked over to the talkative guy from before. He was talking with the other man and woman, when I interrupted him. "What can you tell me, about that creature over there?" I asked, and pointed at the apelike creature. He looked over, and said "You don't know what race that is?". I shook my head, and said "I never encountered it, so I don't know".

He nodded his head, and said "The race is called Atols. They usually fight with their hands, but sometimes use blunt type weapons. They are quite strong, even stronger than humans and sometimes Golems, but not as agile as us. They are quite friendly to other races. Of course besides one or two, that they are at war with". I nodded, and said "You've done this before, I a.s.sume". He replied "Yea, this is my fourth time already, but I lost once. This of course deduced my Contribution Points, and I had to pay the price as well. Although, with two wins, my losses were covered. If I win this time, my profits will be quite substantial".

I asked a bit confused "This is quite risky, why not do a different task?". He looked at me, and asked "Then why did you chose this one as well? It is a challenge to win here, and we all seem to like a challenge. Don't you agree?". I thought about it, and said "Fair point". I then heard an announcement "It's time to start out first battle of the day! Our fourth time returnee Roland, is going to fight against Anigah!". The crowd positioned above us and around the whole Arena, cheered loudly.

The guy I just spoke with, said "It's my turn". I nodded, and replied "Let's see how you fight then". The guy smiled, and went over to the Battle Platform. His opponent was a a Shade, they usually wrapped their faces in cloths, bandages, or covered them in one way or another, but the eyes were usually visible. The fight started. The Roland guy, was using a sword as his weapon. The Shade guy, was using two short swords on the other hand.

I watched the exchanges, and noticed that the Roland guy was fast, even as fast as me. Not only that, he seemed to know a few sword techniques. One even reminded me of that sword woman, who severed my arm. 'I wonder if they are related. If I could find her now, I would pay back for what she did. That b.i.t.c.h will die miserably, sooner or later' I thought to myself. The fight was quite short. When the Shade guy got injured pretty badly, he forfeited the fight.

Roland came down from the platform, and smiled. He said "It wasn't that difficult", as if showing off. 'He sustained no injuries. I guess it wasn't that hard for him to win, after all' I thought. The announcer shouted again "The next battle, will be between the newcomer Apam and Flint!". The Atol entered the platform. On the other side of the platform, a large Golem enter as his opponent. The Golem had four arms, and each arm held a sword. 'I wonder how strong, that Apam will be' I thought.

The battle was quite evened out in the beginning, but then the Atol started loosing. 'I think the Atol will lose here' I thought to myself, and watched the battle. After a while, my thoughts became the reality. The Atol struggled a lot, until finally he lost. The Atol was quite injured, and had to be taken down from the stage. The pig attendants placed him on one of the seats, and left him there. No one seemed concerned about his wellbeing.

I walked over to the Atol, and asked "Do you need help". The Atol replied surprised "You are willing to help me? If you can, I will accept, but I don't have any money to pay you". I waved my hand, and said "Doesn't matter, you can tell me about your race in exchange". He nodded his head in agreement. I gave him two bottles, of the Vital Liquid. It was the lower grade medicine, but I only wanted some information. After handing him the bottles, I said "Drink one, and smear the other one on your wounds. They should heal much faster".

He thanked me, and did as I instructed. I then heard the announcer again. "The next battle, will be between Garond and Livia". The Garond guy, was the other human from our group, while Livia was some sort of snake like creature. Her bottom half was that of a snake, while her top half, was that of a human. They both entered the stage, and the battle begun.

The Garond guy was using an axe, as his weapon. He was quite robust as well, and his muscles were showing when he wielded it. On the other hand, the half snake, half human creature, wielded two swords. She was much faster than Garond, but that guy possessed some good skills, and he seemed to have some pretty decent Formations on his clothes. Garond won in the end, by utilising a skill, I already experienced. It was a sort of charge skill, that increased his speed greatly. He charged at the half snake, half human creature, and the impact threw her out of the stage.

'These humans are quite good' I thought, but I also noticed one problem. My skills were mostly used to kill, yet I couldn't kill my opponent. I only had the Pressuring Dagger skill, which had the least chances of killing in one blow. My Art of Hidden Weapons, could not be used here. 'If I use it here, I may risk getting exposed. Humans are watching as well, and I don't want to get chased again' I thought. I was left with the bow, or simple close combat, and Pressuring Dagger skill. 'Using the freezing powers, is also something I want to avoid. The less people know about me, the better' I thought.

The battle was over. I said to Apam, that was sitting next to me "Alright, tell me bout your race then". He narrated his part of the story, which was not very long. His race, was not the so called "Main" race of the North. His race had a small population, and only 1 small city, if you could call it a city. They were friendly to most creatures, but hated Eterians and Avians. He also explained where his race is located, then mentioned to come and visit him there. "Thanks, I will visit, when I get the chance. I myself wonder about your race" I replied. He nodded, and sat there quietly tending to his wounds. 'This is a race, that is pretty much on my side. They don't like Avians.... and, well Eterians are hated everywhere. I should visit that place in the future' I thought.

Soon, the announcer shouted again. "In the next battle, two newcomers to the Arena will fight each other! Please welcome the Dark Traveller and Fox!". 'Hmmm?', I looked towards the stage, and my hunch was correct. 'So it's her. We meet sooner than you thought' I said to myself, and entered the platform.

Two people stood in front of each other. Both had masks, and both were humans. They both knew each other, yet one didn't realise that. The fight started, and my opponent took out the all familiar dagger, that I created a long time ago. She started by throwing them at me. 'I'd say, her skills are quite good. Although she isn't using much from the Art of Hidden Weapons, her daggers are tricky to evade' I thought. This wasn't a problem for me though, with my trained eyes, as well as the Natural Path skill, I could easily evade them. 'If she added the element of surprise to her attacks, in the form of hiding her weapons, her skills would be much better though' I thought.

She realized, that her attacks didn't seem work. She instead decided to fight me in close combat. I welcomed that, but didn't take out my daggers. I fought her with my bare fists. She was quite agile too, her close combat was much better than mine. She also possessed some tricky techniques, I was nearly slashed a few times thanks to my carelessness. One of her techniques, was really peculiar. 'It almost got me' I thought. She could somehow vanish from in front of me, and appear behind me. The first time she used it, I was shocked. I managed to avoid that attack, only thanks to my instincts. Otherwise, I would get backstabbed.

'Woah, she is not bad at all. Her strength is lower than mine, but she has much more experience in close combat than me. She also has more techniques than me. It seems, I'm lacking in different ways of attacking' I thought. Getting distracted like this, was not a good idea. My opponent was not some kind of rookie. She took the chance while I was distracted, and kicked my leg. The place she kicked, was the backside of my knee. This involuntarily made my knee bend a little, and I lost my balance.

Before she could finish up, I used my full strength in the other leg, and pushed myself of the Platform. "Boom!", the platform tiles didn't even crack, at my full strength. I jumped backward over 20 metres, and she stopped her attack. I was a bit confused, but then she asked "Why don't you use your weapon? Fighting barehanded, is not you speciality. Am I right?". I stood up, and smiled underneath my mask.