“How about this, everyone to play the game with their left side.”

“Shameless Cheza, aren’t you a lefty!” The children at the field continued their match while making changes here and there to make things more interesting. They were having so much fun that they weren’t aware of their surroundings anymore.

“Why aren’t you brats at school yet?” A heavy shout came from down the road away from the field. It was loud enough to cause the air to vibrate before the person was even visible.

“Get off the field, are we cleeeeear!”

“Oh no.” Cheza said with a sigh, setting his foot on the ball. Trouble was coming and everyone knew who it was. A boy about 11 or 12 years old arrived at the field walking in large straight steps as if a puppet on strings. Although he was a boy, he did not seem like it. He was exceedingly tall for his age being over 6 foot tall. He dwarfed all the children in the playing field by almost half a meter. His skin was as dark as obsidian and his muscles were thick and chiseled making him look like a temple idol. This was naturally Jua Uchoyo who Mwana and his friends had bumped into earlier. The man nicknamed ‘Mr. Cleaaaaar’ and Kiboko’s older brother.

Uchoyo only wore thick black hide around his waist but his upper body was fully exposed. His chest and arms were covered with blue tribal markings that seemed to glow in the sun. The markings presented a hammer and a forge as well as various weapons. These were the village blacksmith tattoos that children in the village got after their big ceremony and undergoing apprenticeship.

“He looks different from earlier, did he change his clothes?” Cheza asked while looking at Nyaga.

“Yeah, he was wearing a black robe in the morning. But…” Nyaga was about to continue but after getting a clear view of Uchoyo as the latter arrived, he was tongue tied.

The silence was deafening. For a moment, no one talked, no one made the slightest sound. They could not compute what they were seeing or maybe they did not dare believe it. However, without knowing who did it first, someone let out a repressed laugh. Although they tried to cover it up with a cough, it was too late! The floodgates were open. Everyone burst out into laughter. Even Kiboko, Jua Uchoyo’s younger brother, was laughing.

At this time Uchoyo was standing in front of the other children with puffy cheeks and swollen lips that made him look like a pregnant toad. If not for his already dark skin, his cheeks would have already been red as an overripe tomato. He stood amidst the laughter but did not say anything else as he looked dangerously at Mwana. ‘It is this bastard’s fault’. He remembered how he had fallen for Mwana’s trick like a fool. Earlier, as he snatched the fruits of the ‘chewing gum tree’ from Mwana, the latter had charged the seeds of gum tree with a delayed thunder charge. When Uchoyo was enjoying his spoils later, the charge went off in his mouth like a thunder explosion electrocuting him as soon as he chewed the gum.

“Kneel down and apologize.” That was the only statement he could master in the middle of his anger. He definitely had to make Mwana grovel before giving him the beating of his life.

In the background Maji 1 was sneaking around and snickering. He was enjoying the show and looking forward to Mwana’s misfortune. He had met the grumbling Uchoyo as he ran away and ‘humbly’ led the latter to where the other kids were.

Immediately after Cheza saw Maji 1, he knew that this fellow was involved. He wanted to spoil everyone’s fun by bringing this bane to them after he got chased out. “Every person is a raw material, but you Maji 1, you are just waste!” With Cheza as the lead, Nyaga, Tembo and even the usually silent Duma in addition to their other playmates, joined in to berate and trash talk him. While Maji 1 was angry at this, he just sneered instead while exaggeratedly rolling his eyes. He knew he couldn’t win a battle of words against Cheza and almost half his entire class. Either way, Uchoyo would physically take care of Mwana and even Cheza if the latter jumped in. ‘Yep. That will be more satisfying, just smash their mouths.’

“Hahahahahaha,” After a moment of silence, Mwana suddenly burst into laughter, “Kneel to literal garbage like you.”

Hearing this, Uchoyo kept silent while fuming internally as his eyes turned red. He was resolved to teach Mwana a lesson he would never forget. ”I’ll teach you to respect your elders today!”

Seeing literal war about to break out, Cheza suggested that they gang up on Uchoyo and beat him up if he dared to try anything. However, Mwana stopped him while walking towards Uchoyo. “Sometimes like a rose growing through hardened soil, the survivors overcome their ordeal at the hands of their cowardly attackers.” His meaning was clear, he was fed up with Uchoyo’s bullying and this was his fight.

“Mwana what are you doing?” Nyaga asked as he tried to stop Mwana. ‘Did this fellow also go crazy from anger? He wants to fight Uchoyo himself!’

Uchoyo got even angrier at Mwana’s words, “What did you say, did you just call me a coward!”

“You are a coward and a bully! A weakling.” Mwana responded. Everyone was shocked, ‘Uchoyo is actually strong, you know.’ Uchoyo was already 2 years out of the academy. In those 2 years, he had already participated in 9 hunting missions despite only being at early Bone Forging. He had actually fought a Black-water Buffalo barehanded in a one on one fight. He had also shown great strength when he ripped a Great Purple-shine Crocodile in half yet the aquatic beast was over 10 meters long!

The fight began in an instant and ended in an instant. As Mwana arrived before him, Uchoyo performed a two-handed overhead strike aiming to put Mwana on his knees. The force of this strike was unimaginable and Mwana could feel the air pressure on his face before Uchoyo’s arms even reached his shoulders. ‘I have to stop it with equal strength!’

“Get down!” Uchoyo’s strike was accompanied by a shout to which Mwana answered, “Gladly.” He had wisely decided not to match the latter’s strength as Uchoyo was a Bone Forging realm expert while Mwana was just at the Skin Hardening level.

Uchoyo also had the advantage in height being over 6 foot tall at just 11 or 12 years old while Mwana was maybe 5 foot tall, heck maybe barely 5 feet. This meant that Uchoyo’s reach was much greater and his strikes much heavier as they covered more distance while accumulating momentum and force. Mwana grabbed Uchoyo’s hands and used his opponent’s momentum to go into a backward roll. When they landed on the ground, Uchoyo cried, “You bastard!” as he quickly performed a low sweeping kick.

At any other time, Mwana would have found such an attack impossible to react to but everything was clear during this fight, as if he had a third eye. His senses were greatly enhanced, maybe due to his bloodline awakening. Mwana lied almost flat on the ground as Uchoyo’s kick passed above him only grazing his clothes. At the same time, he released his own low kick in a semi-circular arc. The kick was so low that it scraped the ground before hitting his opponent’s chest. Almost instantly, he expertly used the momentum from hitting Uchoyo to launch off the ground before delivering a round house kick to the latter's face.

The entire scene took only an instant before any of the other children had time to react. They had just been laughing and trash-talking less than a second ago but now Uchoyo had a footprint decorating his already pitiful face.

Although Mwana had the upper hand in the first exchange, Cheza and the other children knew this wasn’t an accurate representation of the fighters’ strengths. Uchoyo was inarguably stronger than Mwana. Even if Mwana wanted to fight Uchoyo alone, Cheza and the others still had to step in as his friends.