In path from the medical tent to the fighting stages, David and Chaz were making their way back to the competition when the duo ran into one of David's most favorite people blocking the path with some goons in tow.

"Hello, Gabriel. Do you think we will be lucky enough to meet each other in this tournament?," David said trying to sound threatening.

"Probably not, Trash. They just released the second round brackets now. You will be fighting with my friend, Jace, right here....and you will most likely lose," Gabriel said pointing over at the smallest man in the group of four.

The guy just waved his hand at David, but didn't say anything.

Gabriel continued, "But you really shouldn't try too hard though. I get the feeling that Karine would really like me to win our little agreement anyway."

"What agreement?," David asked with a uneasiness to his voice.

"Oh.....she didn't tell you. No difference....I will let you know in her place," Gabriel spoke, "Since you and I are both listed as suitors for Lady Karine, she is having a very difficult time making decisions lately. I decided that it would be beneficial to show her that you are much less of a man than I am. When I was trying to determine just how to accomplish this task, the family announced the tournament. What better way to show that I am stronger than you than to beat you in a fight?"

David just stood there glowering as Gabriel told his story.

"Conveniently, Karine had asked if I could do her a favor. It seems that with her dad and uncle moving out of the mansion that she was worried about her sister. Since her sister had trained with Mr. Lester when she was young, Karine suggested that he move into the Carmine Estate to watch over Sonia," Gabriel said.

David knew that Mr. Lester had moved over to the Carmine Estate, but he didn't know that it was at Karine's request. He just stood there like an idiot and listened to the rest of Gabriel's tale. This guy was an arrogant twat.

"My father was not too happy about having a strange man move into the house. He was going to deny the request. However, I understood how important it was to Karine, so I made a proposition. If she agreed to limit her suitors to one man, then I would put in a few words to my father. Of course, she agreed for the safety of her sister. My father had no issue either as long as the decision was made in a fair manner...hence, whichever of us finishes the lowest in this tournament...Karine will reject as a suitor."

'This guy is an absolute slime ball,' David thought to himself as the information soaked in. After a few seconds, he responded to Gabriel.

"So, you blackmailed Karine because your couldn't get her to pick you over me?...ha ha ha.....pathetic," David said. He was pissed that this douche was trying to force Karine's hand. But then he had actually remember Karine's words the last time they had spoken on the phone, "Do not cause trouble."

"Chaz, let's go. I need to warm up," David said as he tried to move forward but Gabriel and his henchmen were still blocking the way.

"Let them go," Gabriel said to his lackeys.

As David and Chaz walked pass, Gabriel tapped Chaz's arm as he squeezed though foursome and said, "You better watch what kind of trash you hang around. You seem to be a pretty strong guy.....Why not come work for me?"

Startled by the tap at his shoulder, Chaz responded, "No thanks man. David is my friend."

"What ever you say. I think you are scheduled to fight Raze in this round...good luck," Gabriel said with a laugh.

The biggest man by his side actually winked at Chaz. That must be Raze.

After the brief confrontation, David and Chaz walked off briskly toward the stage.

"Hey man, you don't think they are going to cause me trouble, do you?," Chaz asked with a bit of concern in his voice.

"No, they shouldn't. It is just some contest over a woman's heart. Why would they take it so far?," David said. In his life, the most he had ever seen men get into it over a woman dispute was cursing and fist fighting. It wasn't like this city was some uncivilized place.

After the walk, David and Chaz arrived at the fighters booth to review the new brackets. Sure enough, David was fighting Jace and Chaz was fighting Raze.

David bust out laughing, "You two both have a Z in your names....that's weird."

"Quit fucking around," Chaz said, "I fight the first match of the round and you fight the third match. Let's hope that we both make it one more round forward."

__________________________________

David and Chaz went over to the 8 seats for the fighters of the second round. Unlike the previous day, each seat was much more private. Of course, Gabriel's seat was empty down near the tournament stage. He was up in the viewing suite watching the fights while sitting behind Karine. He kept reaching down to tap her shoulder to talk with her every other minute. David could tell that Karine would tense up every time Gabriel touched her and that she only gave him simple responses.

'Why would she make some stupid ass agreement with Gabriel?,' David kept thinking as he watched the interaction between the two.

Suddenly, the loud speaker sounded and interrupted David's thoughts.

"I would like to welcome all of you to Round 2 of the Carmine Guard Assessment Tournament. This bracket will feature four matches between the eight remaining fighters. The winner of these four matches will battle it out for the top two positions. The rules for this afternoon's matches are the same as earlier. Only practice type weapons. No armor. No killing. Everything else would be allowed. The match is over when one contestant admits defeat, is incapacitated, or is knocked out of the ring," a voice sounded over the loudspeaker.

Almost immediately the first fight got underway. The battle was between Chad and Gabriel's goon, Raze.

"For Match 1 of the Second Round, Chaz Brown versus Raze White. Please enter the stage gentlemen," the announcer instructed.

"Shit.....they both have a Z in their name and they have colors for last names," David said looking over to the people around him and killing himself laughing. This weirdness absolutely tickled him inside.

Both Chaz and Raze looked over toward the man with expressions of disgust.

"Quit laughing and behave yourself," came a few shouts from the crowd.

David quieted down and started to watch the fight. Both men had made their way onto the stage. Raze was a good head taller than Chaz and was carrying what looked like a club.

"Ready...Fight...Start," the announcer shouted and the two immediately launched themselves at one another.

David had fought Chaz many times over the last couple weeks, but this was actually his first time watching Chaz fight. He had missed Chaz's fight in the first round because he was off to the side warming up for his match.

Chaz seemed to be holding his own for most of the fight, but started to take several hits from Raze. Both men seemed to focus on body related skills, but Raze had the additional skills with the club.

After about five minutes of trading blows, David could tell that Chaz was starting to weaken. David was starting to get worried for his friend's safety. Maybe Gabriel's goon would try to hurt Chaz in order to upset David.

All of a sudden, Chaz took a big hit with the club and stumbled around the fighting platform to regain balance. The hit had caught Chaz right above the eye and split his skin open. He was bleeding pretty good.

But then the oddest thing happened.....As Chaz was about turn around to resume fighting, Raze actually threw his club at him. In an effort to dodge the club, Chaz moved to the right and managed to slip on the edge of the ring and fall off the platform. David could even see the look of surprise on Raze's face when Chaz made the error. The referee called the match with Raze was the victor.

After getting off the ground, Chaz walked over to David with blood dripping from his face.

"I tried to fucking dodge but I couldn't see well because of all this damn blood in my eye," Chaz said with a little embarrassment in his voice, "I fell right off the damn platform. Bet that looked funny as hell."

"Yep, pretty much," David said with a chuckle, "I hope someone got it on video."

"Ya.....I'm going to the medical tent to get this shit taken care of. Good luck if I don't see you before your fight," Chaz said to David.

"Thanks pal. Take care," David said as he turned around to watch the next fight. After this one was over, David's fight would be next.

____________________________

The second fight of the second round ended in a victory for one of Gabriel's other goons. So far, Gabriel's group held victories in both matches. Next was David's turn.

"For Match 3 of the Second Round, Jace Rivera versus David Knox. Please enter the stage gentlemen," the announcer instructed.

As David walked up to the stage, he glanced at the booth holding the dignitaries. Karine was still sitting there not paying much attention to what was happening on the fighting platform. Gabriel was sitting at the edge of his seat behind Karine and was looking right at David. As he noticed David's gaze, Gabriel grinned which gave David an odd feeling of uncertainty.

'He seems to be pretty confident that I will not win this round,' David thought as he finished walking up the stairs and stepped onto the platform.

David reached into his waistband and pulled out both of the wooden sparing daggers out while flipping them in his hands. He then looked across the platform to see Jace standing on the platform with a wooden sword in his hand.

"Ready....Fight.....Start," the loudspeaker sounded with the announcers voice.

Jace immediately started running toward David with a low sword guard, but stopped when David moved back along the edge of the platform to keep an appropriate distance. The two paced around each other continuously as they soon found the center of the stage. The fight started off slow. Every now and then, Jace would move in to strike David's leg with his sword.

Based on David's training with the swordsmen in the gym, he had realized a flaw to fighting head on against a sword with a knife. Obviously, a knife's reach is much less than a swords. One tricky swordsman had kept his distance from David with a low guard and repeatedly attacked David's legs and hands with the wooden sword. He always maintained a rather large distance between the two, so David was never able to even land a blow on the man.

It seemed like Jace had done his homework and figured that David wouldn't be able to handle this attacking style. He didn't know that Mr. Lester had given David advice on how to deal with the situation.

As Jace was trying to hit David in the knee, David moved his leg and stomped down hard on the wooden blade in Jace's hand. The blade cracked and splintered leaving half of it laying on the ground and the other half in Jace's grip. This counterattack had worked just as Mr. Lester said it would and Jace's long reaching weapon was now shortened by half.

As the sword broke, David took the chance to counter the attack and smacked Jace in the throat with one of his knifes. The man stumbled back holding his throat. David could hear him gasping for air. Seeing that his hit had landed successfully, David moved in to take advantage of Jace's attempt to recover his breath.

All of a sudden David heard a loud shout from the stands as Gabriel yelled, "Stop messing around Jace. This is getting boring."

David suddenly got a bad feeling.