Chapter Thirty-Six

 

The first three fights blew by in a dream. Kuma found himself on the platform next to Noctus Prime all too soon. The nervousness reminded him of his duel with Pandora, prompting him to check the ceiling for the truncated stalactites that he'd run through to surprise her and force a yield. He wished the battlefield had more obstacles, giving him a better chance. The straight-up fight, dire mace versus angerblade and chain shield, was not in his favor.

The judge called them to the center, where he gave a brief rundown of the rules, which hadn't changed, so Kuma was barely listening. He took position across from the enormous Brodarian. Kuma had never fought someone so large.

Noctus wore padded leather armor with strips of metal sewn into the sections. It was protective without being overly heavy. Kuma had hoped he would be wearing the heavier armor common to the Brodarian battlefield, but without guns in play, his opponent had chosen mobility over protection.

"May your blade stay sharp and your shield never shatter," said Noctus, inclining his head.

Kuma almost said, "May the shadows keep you safe." Until he remembered who he was. He switched at the last moment, repeating Noctus.

"Begin!"

Noctus' grin split his face, exposing his snaggletooth as he hefted the angerblade and chain shield. The latter's shifting metal made it sound like a miniature waterfall. Kuma circled slowly, keeping his distance from the big warrior, knowing that he could close the distance in an eyeblink.

"If you're not going to fight, you should yield," said Noctus.

"You haven't attacked yet either," smirked Kuma.

Noctus lunged forward. The angerblade was like an industrial scythe cutting a field of wheat in one swing. Kuma leapt over the weapon, swinging his dire mace at his opponent's hand. The brutal spikes clanked against the handle, barely missing flesh. A kick forced Kuma to retreat, but Noctus kept coming, wielding the enormous blade like a dining utensil. Kuma ran out of room as he neared the edge of the platform. Getting knocked off would be an easy way out of the fight, but he had no intention of giving up.

Switching to Lightness, he leapt thirty feet to a safe spot away from the Brodarian. The space gave him room to cycle Heavy before Noctus found him again.

"A nice trick, but it won't save you."

Noctus attacked again, but Kuma didn't engage. He ceded territory and leapt away when nearing the edge. This repeated a few more times before the restless crowd started jeering.

"You'd make a poor gladiator," said Noctus.

"It's a good thing I'm not one."

Noctus surged forward, but instead of bringing his angerblade around, he kept his weapon and shield in a ready stance. Kuma resisted the urge to counterattack, knowing it would only get his dire mace tangled in the shield. The lack of engagement left their encounter to consist of the pair of them shuffling around the platform in a one-way dance. Seeing that Noctus was prepared to match his strategy, he flicked his mace towards the angerblade side in an attempt to catch the Brodarian's hand, but he blocked with a shift of the weapon and counterattacked with the chain shield.

The heavy links caught Kuma across the shoulder. It felt like getting whipped by a chain link fence and had enough weight to knock him off his feet. Kuma rolled with the fall, coming up on his feet, but Noctus was right there, bringing his angerblade in a slashing arc. Knowing that he couldn't block cleanly, or risk his weapon getting sheared in half, Kuma deflected it. But the Brodarian kept coming, swinging his weapon in a crossing X and keeping close enough that Kuma couldn't leap away, showing the reason why the angerblade had gotten its name. Thin holes on the back of the thick blade let air pass through them, creating a wailing sound.

Kuma had to back away in a circle or get trapped against the edge. Sensing an opening in an otherwise flawless assault, he struck the angerblade as it went past, giving it more momentum than Noctus expected and using that overcorrection to escape again.

As Kuma caught his breath, he saw that Noctus was barely winded. The Brodarian was not only supernaturally strong, but had stamina as well. The battlefield was a keen teacher. This left Kuma with fewer options than he'd hoped when stepping onto the platform. He'd hoped to wear out Noctus, but that seemed unlikely.

"Do you yield, friend Aman?"

"No."

"Then the battle continues," said Noctus, jogging forward with his weapons in a high ready position.

Kuma shifted to his right, putting himself on the chain shield side, which would make the angerblade attacks have to travel further. The big man made nimble adjustments, matching the slide. When Noctus brought the angerblade around, Kuma planted his right foot and threw himself the other way, ducking under the attack and striking at his opponent's thighs with the dire mace. The metal strip in the heavy padding on Noctus' legs deflected the worst of the hit, but it managed to rip a gash in the leather. Kuma retreated to the opposite side of the platform while Noctus investigated the cut, holding up his fingers covered in dark wetness.

"First blood." Noctus held up his angerblade above his head in a battlefield salute. "Well done, my friend."

From anyone else, the comment would have been arrogant, but Kuma knew how much better Noctus was in the fight. It'd felt like sparring with Hylakane.

Kuma laughed. "Another three hours of this and I think I can take you down."

Noctus grinned in response, loping forward with weapons up. When Kuma started to shift, Noctus slowed his advance and rotated with his movement. The grin plastered across Noctus' face showed how pleased he was with his tactic. At the edge of the circle, Kuma was expending much more energy to keep away, while Noctus only had to move slightly. If the battle did go on a long time, stamina would matter. Kuma halted, letting his arms rest at his side.

Edging closer at a measured pace and shifting each time in mirrored directions trapped Kuma at the corner of the platform. Then Noctus closed the distance and attacked with a fervor that had Kuma defending for his life. The angerblade sung with battle song, whistling through the air, or ringing loudly against the dire mace. No one that big should be able to move that fast, or swing for that long. Kuma kept up his blocks, hoping Noctus would tire soon. He looked for gaps to counterattack the Brodarian's hands, but it took all his skill to keep from losing a limb. Kuma managed an artful block that opened an escape route to the opposite side while the crowd cheered.

"You'll wear out eventually," said Kuma as Noctus approached.

"Will I?"

Noctus halted at the center of the platform and with the dexterity of a juggler switched which hands held his angerblade and chain shield. The display had the crowd raising their arms and cheering loudly.

"Nice trick."

"A tired warrior is a dead warrior. On the plains of Vedun, the battle was three days of constant fighting. It was a war of exhaustion."

"I wish you would have told me that tale at the Club."

Noctus came at him like a singing whirlwind. The angerblade was blurred steel. When Kuma tried to block it, his dire mace almost came out of his hand. He circled hard, keeping Noctus sidestepping, eventually trapping him against the edge of the platform and forcing him into purposeful blocks that left the dire mace vibrating from each hit. Kuma feigned a counterattack, inviting a mid-body strike. As the angerblade swung around, Kuma kicked out at Noctus' forward knee as he attacked the weapon with his mace. Using the combined strikes, Kuma shoved the overbalanced warrior over the edge of the platform. Noctus pinwheeled as he fell flat on his back on the sands.

The crowd erupted as Kuma raised his arms in victory.

"No win! No win!"

The judge ran to the edge, swiping his hands apart.

"Leaving the platform has to be voluntary. The match continues."

Kuma tried not to feel disappointment. He'd hoped the entangled attack might look voluntary, but clearly they were looking for an obvious absconding. Noctus hauled himself back onto the fighting floor, knocking the loose sand off his body. The Brodarian's jovial mien had disappeared, replaced with an intensity that worried Kuma. The judge ushered them to the center and then gave them the go-ahead to resume their fight.

Noctus attacked immediately, forcing Kuma into an all-out defense that stretched his abilities. Only Hylakane's training and the foresight of the amber stone kept him from getting split in two by the angerblade. The swinging had to be tiring, but Noctus looked neither winded nor concerned. An attempted counterattack was easily blocked, but not by the chain shield, which had almost become forgotten in his hand.

An idea formed for Kuma, who saw a chance, not to win, but to even the odds slightly. Pulling it off would be tricky as purposely getting his mace entangled in the chain shield would leave him open to evisceration. Kuma baited Noctus into overextending, and rather than counterattack, which was expected, he ducked underneath, circling around and forcing his opponent to turn quickly to maintain his defense. In the ensuing turns, Kuma struck out at the chain shield, catching it with his dire mace and flinging it out of Noctus' hand. The defensive shield slid across the platform and dropped into the sand.

The shock of losing his shield registered not as anger, but as laughter. Noctus backed away, his belly laugh filling the cavern with its echoing mirth.

"You continue to surprise, friend Aman. I couldn't have asked for a better fight."

Kuma used the break to catch his breath and shake out his tired limbs. The fight was nearing its tenth minute. The longest of the round. Burrowing his amber into his opponent looking for clues, he found that Noctus' muscles, especially the forearms, were quivering from the long effort. Sensing an opportunity, he closed the distance and invited attack as not to let Noctus find respite.

The next exchange taxed Kuma's limbs as he withstood constant battering, but he had to stay close enough so that Noctus would continue his assault. His idea would only work if his opponent's arms were tired. Otherwise, he'd probably end up split in two.

When he didn't think he could withstand it anymore, Kuma retreated, creating space between them. The sudden change surprised Noctus. His opponent looked ready to enjoy the chance to recharge his tired limbs, when Kuma leapt forward into a sprint. One, two, three steps—and then he leapt high into the air, cycling Light to reach an apex twenty feet above the Brodarian.

As he arced downward, Kuma switched to Heavy, making himself weigh as much as a boulder. Noctus brought his angerblade up, but a rising attack was less powerful, especially in the arms of a tired opponent. Kuma slammed his dire mace down with both hands, putting everything he had into the strike.

The impact exploded the shaft of the dire mace. The head careened off his shoulder, tearing flesh before spinning away. Kuma avoided the rising angerblade, but hit the platform like a meteor descending from the heavens, cracking it and sending him tumbling like a rag doll. Pain wracked his body. He tried to get up but all his bones and joints felt like they'd been shaken for an hour.

Then Noctus was standing over him. He rested the angerblade against his chest.

"Do you yield?"

Kuma closed his eyes and nodded.

"I yield."

The crowd erupted, but their voluminous praise was no salve to his mood. He'd lost. Noctus helped him to his feet. Everything hurt. The Brodarian placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Had the shaft not broken, you might have won," said Noctus. "That was a fight for the ages, my friend."

The Brodarian left Kuma at the center of the platform to bask in the adoring cheers of the crowd. He felt numb from head to toe and wished he could magically teleport back to his suite. Rather than return to the competitor area, he headed through the crowd towards the exit, while people reached out and patted him on his back.