[Alkelios’ point of view]

A battle against hundreds of Knights, the best of the best that the Kingdom of Ten Swords had to offer, and I had to fight them barehanded while wearing no armor except for a pair of underpants. As I undressed and left my armor on the edge of the arena, the audience was making bets on how fast I was going to fall to a Knight’s sword.

From the tribunes, my companions were looking at me with worry, while Ildea, who was locked up like a bird in a cage was holding her hands at her chest and praying for me to come out alive. There were plenty of things I had to objects about this unfair fight, plenty of things I wanted to point out, but this wasn’t about how fair it was but rather if I had the courage and strength to fight on the King’s terms.

This wasn’t a test of might, a battle for honor or anything like that, no, this was an execution and everyone up in the audience knew this. The nobles who were on the Queen’s side could not accept this travesty as being something noble, but they could not speak up their mind either. They were kept at bay by the tips of the swords of the men who should be protecting them.

This twisted display of power, this arrogance that seemed to spread to the sky... I was going to crush it.

Once I was left with nothing but my underpants on, I stepped back into the ring, where the arrogant Knights surrounded me with swords drawn.

“I have seen your previous battles, Alkelios Yatagai. You are strong, I will give you that, but unfortunately for you, my Knights are stronger! Attack!” he gave the order.

Hundreds of men shouted at the same time “For Ten Swords!” then rushed at me.

It didn’t matter that they were all far below my level of strength and speed or that they couldn’t even hold a candle to my abilities, what mattered was that if I underestimated them, in a moment of bad luck, I could find myself breathing through an extra hole in my chest.

Ever since I was defeated by Draejan, I kept on reminding myself that during a battle, I should NEVER lower my guard for even a fraction of a second. Getting overconfident and reliant on my own abilities was also a bad thing. I had to use my skills and power to its maximum potential and then go over it with strategy, teamwork, and synergy.

So, when the first blade was about to reach me, I already made use of my skills for close combat martial arts:

 

[The Spartan Hamster] [Level 5]: A passive ability which grants a defensive aura to the individual. 40% of any sort of physical damage is dampened. 40% of any sort of Magic Attack is absorbed and turned into the equivalent value of Magic Energy.

[Advancement I]: Adds an active ability which temporarily raises All Defenses to 80% at the cost of 100 Magic Energy points per minute. Chant: I am the Spartan Hamster!

 

There was no need to activate the advancement ability when I had the techniques granted to me by my other skill:

 

[Grandma Fu] [Level 6 – Practitioner]: Passive ability that grants the Hero the knowledge needed to perform a special hand to hand martial art that can be used ONLY by species with a tail. This skill can be leveled up by using it in combat or by practicing.

 

While most of the techniques used with this one required me to be in my half-beast form and make use of my tail, this did not mean that they were impossible to use in my human form. The downside was that no matter how long I practiced them like this, the level was not going to increase.

These two skills coupled with my excessive natural stats boosted by the stats of my friends through the [Dragon Tamer] skill made it so that only through pure carelessness could I end up heavily injured or dead.

Against the first Knight who attacked me, I moved my body slightly just so that the tip of his sword avoided me, then I pushed his hand to the side, making his blade collide with the one closest to it. I stepped back and avoided an impale attack coming from my right side, the sword of the Knight standing behind me would have pierced me in the back if I didn’t twist my body and then rammed my fist into his face, sending him flying back into a bunch of his friends.

Thus, the dance of blades began, and I had to make use of every opportunity I had to push back and attack these Knights, least I wished for them to leave a mark on my body. Even so, I wasn’t a fool as to stick only with hand-to-hand combat. As soon as saw an opportunity, I unleashed fireballs, wind scythes, ice spike, and stone bullets upon them. Their cries of agony and terror filled the arena and soon the cheers of the audience dimmed down.

With each punch and kick, with each sword diverted and spell cast, I was closing in on my victory, and the unfortunate Knights became more and more doubtful about their ‘certain’ victory. When I defeated my 300th opponent, there was no one screaming anymore “For Ten Swords!” and instead they all stepped back in fear, giving me space and showing to the entire world that I was not someone to be trifled with.

“My punches are bloody, but my body isn’t sore. I can still go on even if there were thousands of you left!” I shouted at them.

The Knights flinched and took a step back.

How ridiculous was this scene? The brave men who vowed to protect this kingdom with their lives, while wearing full body armor and wielding sharp swords were forced to back away from a man wearing only a pair of underpants.

“You will fight until the last one of you or you will be the next one who stands in the middle of that arena!” called out the King, furious of his Knights display of cowardice.

Personally, I could not blame them for being afraid. They struggled so hard to reach me with their swords but to no avail. All those who stepped forward were now laying on the ground, unconscious or groaning from pain. I did not kill them, but I wasn’t merciful either. The swords that were aimed at my body had either injured their friends or were tossed to the side, while the hands that tried to grab me were left broken in several places.

Even so, they feared more the wrath of the King than my fists. At least, if they showed their might now, they would still get to keep their lives and maybe even jobs, however, if they dared to flee, they would end up losing everything. Thus, they had no other choice but to rush forward and hope for either a miraculous win or a quick and painless defeat.

If only they knew that they couldn’t even hold a candle to some of the Knights in Albeyater. What I was doing here could be considered no more than a child’s play. I didn’t even use half of my strength and speed to overwhelm them, while they gave it their all.

Eventually, the last Knight fell in the middle of the ring, his swords dropping on the ground after he received a straight fist to the stomach. It was no more than a simple jab for me, but he must have felt it as though a truck had hit him.

As I wiped the blood off my hands on the shirt of one of the fallen Knights, I watched as the staff of this coliseum was already having trouble storing the victims, while the healers didn’t even know where to start since so many of them requiring attention. The good news for them was that most of them were unconscious and thus unable to shout out orders or cry from the pain.

While I was fighting, however, Coshun and the others did not stay quietly. The dragon was in no way eager to just wait around and watch as Ildea was left hanging up there for the world to see like a common criminal. He made his way to her cage and knocked off all the soldiers who were guarding it, however, he stopped before opening it. Ildea must have told him something, maybe she believed that if he went too far, the King would do something unreasonable.

As for Kalderan, he joined Coshun in taking out the guards near them, just to be on the safe side. With so many soldiers lurking around and filling the coliseum, it was unlikely that they would defeat all of them, but now they at least had some breathing room.

Looking up at the King’s tribune, I could see him flaring up with anger.

“You have... won.” he said, but his voice was so quiet that only someone with enhanced hearing could pick it up.

“So it seems, your Majesty!” I told him as I spread my arms wide as if to showcase my one-man army victory.

“YOU DARE MOCK ME?!” he shouted at me.

“Mock you, your Majesty?” I raised an eyebrow.

“You three, get in the arena, NOW!” he ordered in anger.

At that moment, the ones to obey his command were Zeberan Brutus and two other men, which I had not seen before. One of them was carrying a big two-handed sword on his back, while the other appeared to be wielding a katana and reminded me of a Samurai. They did not seem impressed by my victory against the Knights, and the King would not have called them out unless they were stronger than them.

If my guess was right and they were nearly as powerful as Zeberan was, then these three were all Breakthrough-ers, or as the humans put it: Awakened.

“And here I thought I was going to face off Sibesta after she kicked your ass.” I smirked as I looked at the paladin.

He furrowed his brow at me and then scoffed “Boy, you have no idea who you are messing with, do you?”

“Enlighten me.” I shrugged.

“Before coming to this wretched world, I was a member of the Triad. You heard of them, haven’t you? Back then and even now, do you think I would have anything against killing a puny punk like you?” he smirked and tried to look intimidating before me.

“Hm?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “It seems you are misunderstanding something, mister former member of the Triad. You are neither on Earth nor in your old gang of play buddies. You are in another world, and here, all the rules and laws you knew have changed. I am surprised you haven’t adapted to this world yet and still believe that someone would be scared or impressed by the fact that you were once a gangster. If you told me that you defeated an army of Breakthrough-ers, slain some sort of mythical monsters, or fought hand to hand against a god of death, then maybe, just maybe, I would have been mildly impressed. But... the Triad? What’s next? Was your friend part of the Yakuza and the other a member of the Bratva?” I laughed out loud.

“What’s so funny?” Zeberan wasn’t amused.

“Your idiotic belief that I would be scared of you just because you mentioned the Triad. As if I don’t have blood on my hands.” I said as I looked down and clenched my fists before looking back at him “So, I am to guess that you were the one behind that kidnapping attempt?” I asked.

“Kidnapping? What are you talking about?” Zeberan furrowed his brow, but judging by his reaction, it seemed as though he wasn’t aware of anything.

“Oh, I did hear about a fight that happened last night. The assailants fled and those that were found dead were rumored to be part of the entourage of one of the contestants here. I believe it was that man who fought against that fellow, Coshun?” his samurai friend said while he tipped his straw-hat.

“Hm, I wonder about that.” at this point it didn’t really matter anymore, but it would have been nice to solve that mystery as well.

“Enough with your chatter! It seems as though my daughter’s words were nothing but lies in the end!” the King declared.

“What do you mean lies, father? I only wanted to see my mother, and I have proven my innocence through the trial you declared! Alkelios won, now please, father, let me go, I... I don’t want for this madness to go on like this. I want to see mother... Please.” Ildea begged him with tears in her eyes.

The soldiers near her cage wanted to get near to secure the winch, but Coshun just made them back away with a single glare. Who was mad enough to go against a dragon like him anyway?

“You do! You and your wretched mother who dared to go around my back and sleep with everyone in the castle and in the city and in the country! I know it! I’ve heard it! I’ve seen it!” he declared with absolute madness in his eyes.

“What? Mother would never do that, father! She loves you!” Ildea declared.

“LIES! So many lies... even my own daughter turned against me! She allied herself with the draconians and now wants to take over my Kingdom! I won’t allow it! I WON’T!” he shouted at her.

“Something is really off with this man...” I said as I looked at the way he behaved.

When I glanced over at the audience, I noticed that some of the nobles and most of the people were actually used to seeing this sort of behavior from the King, which meant that during his public appearances, he did show this madman side of his. There were those, however, who didn’t believe what they were hearing and looked distressed by his words. The three Breakthrough-ers who were sent out to face me were without a doubt aware of this problem as well, but I couldn’t understand why no one had done anything about it yet, unless...

“Are you Akutan’s... Awakened Human Heroes?” I asked the three.

It was a wild guess, but after hearing so many things about the changes that took place on this continent, especially on how Drumora and Amadeus got chased out of their own Empire, I began to suspect that this whole thing might be bigger than I had expected.

“Oh? You are not as dumb as you look!” the one to speak was the man with the two-handed sword.

“Indeed, we are part of Akutan’s forces, but we came here on a diplomatic mission that was entrusted to us by the Akutan Ambassador Askarius Leden. Thus, technically, we are currently defending not only Akutan’s interests but also those of Ten Swords.” the samurai explained.

“In other words, we’re just here to make sure the King is safe and none of them terrorist or rebel scum dare to interfere!” declared Zeberan with a smirk on face.

“So, I’m now labeled as a terrorist and a rebel, is that it?” I asked raising an eyebrow at him.

“Well, you are standing with the Princess, and she is standing against the King, so yes, you are one.” Zeberan laughed.

“Princess Ildea isn’t standing against the King, she never did!” I rebuked.

“Well, it’s your word, a nobody, against the King’s and even ours, so who do you think history will favor today?” the samurai asked.

“You know, there’s a saying back on Earth...” I said as I looked up at the King who was apparently screaming something at the guards inside.

“BRING HER TO ME, NOW!”

“Oh? What saying?” the samurai said.

“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.”

“Hmph! It sounds as if you still have more to say in the matter, but listen here, newbie! We saw your battles earlier, and we have now a rough estimate of your strength. While you might be able to handle one of us alone, all three will be more than you can chew. So, here’s my offer! Get on your knees, bow down your head, beg for forgiveness and then we’ll let you join our side!” the samurai declared.

“It’s a good deal, boy! It is worth far more than staying by that dead woman’s side, anyway!” Zeberan said with a smirk.

“Dead woman?” I asked raised an eyebrow.

“The Princess, he’s talking about the Princess, you idiot! Do you really think the King will let her off after what happened today? He’s been counting the days until he will catch her and kill her because he’s afraid she will take over the Kingdom from him.” the guy with the big sword said with a laugh.

“But she’s technically the Princess. Isn’t she supposed to be the next Queen once she marries anyway?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“As if the King cares!” he scoffed “You know? It’s that kind of situation.” he hinted at me.

In other words, there were deals to be made with his Majesty, no chance of getting things back to normal. The man had gone mad and now he was aiming to finish off his own children because he feared something absolutely nonsensical. I could not even begin to imagine what went on through his head, but as I looked up, I saw something strange.

The King went out of sight for a moment and when he returned, he was with a woman by his side. The dress she wore appeared to be old and dirty. Her blonde hair had split ends and was unwashed for what may have been days. Her arms were thin as if she had not eaten a single thing for weeks, and her expression was one contorted with pain from how the King was holding her.

Her deep green eyes still retained the energy of a noblewoman, but if not for this, I would have thought that she was nothing more than a common maid or maybe some criminal that was brought here straight from the dungeons.

For a moment, everyone looked up at him with a confused look on their faces, me included, but then...

“Mother!” Ildea shouted, and we all knew that there was only one person the Princess of the Ten Swords Kingdom would call out like this to.

“Queen Verminda Kor...” I said in a whisper as I looked back up at woman who was supposed to have all the riches in this land.