A Lone Man's Path: Powerful Enough to Fall

Chapter-4: Enigmatic

'Now you have done it.', Eriot laughed like a maniac, 'The Gods will come and kill you.'

Even Leika was expecting something like that, this was Gods that he had threatened. She was expecting one of the seven to come down and strike the guy dead. But nothing as such happened instead the next moment the head of the Commander was rolling down. It happened in a split second, how he did it, Leika couldn't even perceive what had happened.

'Couldn't care less.', the smile he had shown was nowhere to be seen, instead it was a horrifying sight. If anyone understood anything, it was that this guy was terrifying and not to be messed with.

'Who's next in line? Please answer my question.', he shouted.

'I am.', someone immediately asked.

A small kid no more than 19, Leika's age came forward. He looked like everything that has taken place did not bother him. His dark hair was totally opposite to that of the one standing in front of him. He had a blank expression on him, one that was impossible to read.

He came forward and said, 'My name is Draftel Urie. I am the second in line, you will not get away with this.'

'Quite the interesting people I am meeting today. So, answer me or you'll be next.'

'I want what my king wants, Humans have not returned the debt, their territory is ours, you are not to interfere. I will face you in battle if you do so.'

'You know, you are no match for me. Will you still fight after knowing so?', he asked.

'It doesn't matter, I will not die and I will defeat anybody standing in my way.', he said facing him.

'Ha, ha, Leika please come forward.', he called, still fazed by the conversation, her legs moved without her command.

She waded through the soldiers, who had already dropped their weapons in fear. Few still were standing. As for the citizens, they too feared the unknown entity sitting in the middle of the capital city. A man strong enough to challenge the Gods. But that kid looked straight through him, he too was ready to die.

'Wrong!', he shouted as if reading her thoughts, 'He is not ready to die, he is ready to fight. A warrior such as him is rare.'

'How-...?', the very thing that he read her thoughts moment scared her beyond belief.

'You were thinking that, right? I didn't read your thoughts, that what you should be thinking, that's all.', he smiled.

That was not reassuring, moreover how could you smile at the moment?! Don't you understand the situation you have created?! She stood beside the boy and waited.

'What do you want?', he asked looking me in the eye.

'I wish to restore my kingdom, I want the Geroc's to grant us some more time to clear the debt.', she said.

'No more time can be allotted. True, that we rushed into battle and the commander was greedy, but this was inevitable.', Urie said.

'Are you sure you won't compromise?', the man asked.

'After you killed our commander, we won't compromise anymore.', he announced.

'Fine, I guess none of you want your people to die, so what do you say?', he threw that out of nowhere.

'And by that you mean- ', Leika asked doubtfully.

'Fight each other here and now, represent each other's race and country and fight, the one who wins get to fulfil their wish.'

So that was what he meant when he said that he will give me a chance, Leika thought. But the situation was bad for her, her opponent was a Geroc, he had more magic affinity than her. On top of that Gerocs are not just fighters who use magic, they are called as Sorcerers, they also create new magic so the guy might have something she didn't know about. And in dessert, he was second-in-line of an entire Geroc army, kids don't get appointed as Second in command for no reason, he must be either very strong or very clever. The later was a better choice as he was smaller than others, but that creates another problem. It's easier to defeat someone who has strength than someone who is clever.

With all these problems, Leika's head started to calculate her chances. She didn't even have a weapon at hand and this Urie guy was thirsty for revenge. He didn't show it but his bloodlust was leaking.

'I guess both of you agree.'

'Yes.', said Urie, 'But you will promise that you won't intervene or do anything tricky and moreover you will face the consequences of what you did later, if I win.'

'Fine by me. You, tiny princess.', he turned towards her with a smile.

Seriously, how can someone laugh in this situation. If she was going to lose, which was more likely, even he was going to face punishment, but his face didn't show a care in the world about that.

'Fine by me too... and you don't call me tiny and princess.', she shouted.

'Sorry, my bad, won't happen again.', he chuckled, 'Rules, there are none, first to defeat the other in any way, either by pinning down, making the other give up, destroying the others weapon or even killing is allowed, any kind of weapon is permitted, all kinds of armors are permitted. If anyone of you would like to add anything please do so.'

'Leika!', she turned and saw her father running towards her. What was he doing here? He was supposed to go away, she was secretly counting on that.

'Father, why are you here? You should have run away.', she said hugging her father, she never she would get to do that again. Tears started to bubble up.