Chapter twenty three

The four people froze when they spotted us. They seemed to be surprised that they saw other people in the swamp of a thousand tricks. The giant fat man turned towards the woman on his shoulder and asked,"The amulets of protection are still working right?"

The woman picked up a medallion on her chest that was hanging on a necklace and checked it carefully,"It's all good. They aren't illusions."

The prince Arthas wannabe unsheathed his giant sword aggressively, "So what do you think they are? Doppelgangers? Decoys? Is this a trap?"

I stepped forward before they came to the wrong conclusion and raised my hands to show that I was unarmed, a gesture that meant peace to the Ameera, "Gentleman, we are not doppelgangers or illusions. We are simple travelers."

The woman on the large man's shoulder snickered and said, "There goes your theory Leb, doppelgangers don't talk."

The Arthas wannabe still seemed unconvinced, "I heard that there were some who learned to speak."

The giant fat man rolled his eyes in exasperation, "How old are you Leb? Aren't you a little too old to be listening to stories meant for children?"

The fat man then turned away from the prince Arthas wannabe and spoke to me instead, "Sorry about that but you never know what could get you in this swamp. We had to make sure you weren't some sort of illusion or trick. I'm sure you understand if you are here and haven't died yet."

"No need to apologize, I understand the dangers here and what you did was only reasonable plus I'm sure our appearance seems a little strange to you."

The woman on his shoulder tilted her head and looked at me, "Now that you mention it, you do seem to be a little pale. What are you? What do you want?"

"As I have already stated, I'm a traveler. I hale from a place beyond the barrier and I want to establish a friendly relationship with you and your people."

The fat man thought about my words for about a minute and then nodded, "Friendship you say? Well our friendship isn't so easy to obtain otherwise it would be worthless. To prove that you are worthy of being our friend, you have to demonstrate your strength. Defeat one of us in battle and we shall be your friends. Now choose, which one of us do you wish to fight?"

I looked at the people in front of me and I knew that I could defeat any of them so I randomly pointed at the mysterious guy in the cloak and full face helmet.

The fat man raised his eyebrow skeptically at my choice, "Are you sure? Fael is the strongest fighter in our group. Maybe you should choose Leb instead. He is the weakest and you could probably take him."

The prince Arthas wannabe shouted indignantly, "Hey! I'm not weak! Just because I can't defeat you three freaks doesn't make me weak!"

I just smiled and kept my finger pointed at the guy with the helmet.

The fat guy shrugged almost dislodging the woman on his shoulder and said, "It's your funeral. The fight starts when I finish counting to three. One...two...three."

The guy in the helmet suddenly vanished. A fraction of a second later he had appeared behind me with a knife but I knew what he was going to do so I was prepared.

The guy in the helmet was fast. He was so fast that even my newly forged body wasn't fast enough to dodge him so I had put invisible bands of my power around my wrists, ankles, elbows, knees and waist. My motion no longer depended on my body but my ability to manipulate the bands I created strategically around my body.

The guy in the helmet was blisteringly quick. He slashed at me at least 200 times before I could even blink but I knew the trajectory of each and every one of his slashes. My body was like a marionette being pulled around by strings but even though it was odd, I was able to dodge each and every one of his strikes. Finally I decided to make a strike of my own and sent a molecular blade towards him. Surprisingly a shining blue forcefield appeared and blocked it before it could cause any damage but he was still forced back a couple of meters.

I smiled at him because I was honestly impressed that he was able to block my monomolecular blade, "You are very impressive. Your armor's camouflage is incredible. Your speed is the fastest I have seen in my life almost like the flash. Your special armor is able to block one of my strongest attacks but unfortunately you are still going to lose."

The man didn't answer me, instead he vanished again. This time I didn't wait for him. I pulled back a couple of meters and created a whip which immediately snaked towards my previous position.

The man reappeared exactly where I knew he would but the tip of my whip was stuck into the ground a few centimeters in front of him.

The prince Arthas wannabe laughed loudly when he saw that, "HA! You missed!"

I just smiled enigmatically, "Did I?"

The man in the helmet was frozen where he stood. His body would quiver now and then but he remained in the same spot for five minutes.

After the five minutes were up I asked, "Do you concede?"

The man seemed to hesitate then nodded.

The fat man and the other two had their mouths open in shock. The fat man turned to me and his expression was like a person whose world had suddenly turned upside down, "What the hell happened?"

"The blue armor is almost impenetrable but it has one weakness, the soles of his feet. My whip went underground and restricted his movement which means that I win."

I had just released the guy in the helmet when he knelt before me. I didn't hurt him and the Ameera had no customs of losers kneeling to winners so I was confused.

The fat man just laughed heartily when he saw my confusion, "Congratulations pale man, you are now a friend of the Ameera and you even gained a new mate."

Mate? Wait a minute, did he mean....?

As it finally dawned on me, the helmet was removed and it fell to the ground revealing the face of....