Chapter 5

“Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you’re having a great evening so far. Time for our next and the last match of the round of 16. For this round, we have a surprise for you.

Now, let me introduce to you our first fighter. Hailing from the outskirts of Raison, wearing the red band, Npum Thee.”

A fighter walked out of the entrance wearing a leather protective gear on his upper body and a leather cap to protect his head. A red band tied around his left arm indicating him as the seeded fighter in this bout. He stepped into the bout circle with a bit of a polite clap from the audience.

“Now time for your surprise. Hailing from parts unknown, wearing the blue band, the winner of the battle royal… Hemon!”

Suddenly the crowd erupted in a cheer upon hearing his name. They made even more noise when Hemon walked out with protective gear while wearing a blue arm band. His name could be heard chanted by a small portion of the crowd.

An official had a bit of a short talk between the competitors before leaving the circle. For the proper tournament, the diameter of the circle within which the bout was going to be held had been increased significantly from the battle royal. This was a fairly standard practice for combat tournaments to give more room for the fighters to maneuver, but the rules for elimination remained the same. If even one foot is out of bounds then the fighter gets eliminated or loses the bout.

Both fighters received their weapons rack for the fight. The weapons rack was placed just within the bounds of the circle on two opposite sides. The rack had all kinds of weapons but they were all dull to mitigate the chances of grave injuries.

“Fighters! Are you ready?” Asked the announcer to which both of them raised one of their arms to signal their readiness.

A bell was rung signaling the start of the round much to the delight of the crowd. Both the competitors started to circle each other slowly in an attempt to measure each other. They just about completed a single rotation when Npum Thee made the first move and charged first. He chose not to use any weapons.

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Hemon got in a defensive stance and waited for his opponent to close the distance between them. As soon as he came into the striking distance of Npum’s, Npum attempted a right hook anticipating Hemon would turtle up.