Here you go! I said chapter 5 would be coming soon!

This one also was longer than i expected. I just can't seem to stop writing!

Anyways I'm still fairly new to writing action sequences and hope you stick with me!

Thanks Fellas!

-Chapter 5-

“Hey! Get your hands off my girl!” Charles’ voice boomed, interrupting Mano and Saria’s conversation.

Currently Saria and Mano were sitting next to each other. Saria was leaning her weight on Mano and, although there were no romantic feelings, to the outside looking in. It definitely looked like a rose colored situation between two people flirting.

Charles was furious. Even though Saria was quite pretty boys mainly avoided her. This was because if they even tried anything Charles could make your life a living hell. This made Saria befriend Mano quickly, the first boy to interact with her normally. Charles was working desperately to make sure he was the only one to be able to court Saria. But now here she was, leaning up against another boy.

The girls in the stands took a look down hatefully at the fool who was causing their prince to lose his temper. But in exchange they saw a handsome, raven haired boy sitting calmly next to Saria. Many of the girls sighed longingly.

“Hey who is that?”

“Isn’t he a bit better than Charles?”

“Eh! No way! How can anyone... well, now that i get a closer look...”

“You girls are crazy! Charles is the only one for me!”

The girls that were once Charles’ fangirls were now facing a schism. Splitting between the girls loyal to Charles, and the once admiring this new stranger.

Charles could barely hear the girls in the crowd but he got the gist of their words. Charles’ face flushed red in anger. “Hey kid! Come down here right now!” Charles stomped on the ground with his boots as the said this. He wanted to personally let this kid know exactly who’s girl he was messing with.

“Looks like he wants to talk to me Saria. Should I go down?” Mano questions to Saria.

A mischievous smile appears on Saria’s face, “Why not? Maybe he wants to be friends?”

Saria greatly disliked Charles. He was cunning and always was hiding his true nature. Saria had denied his approaches many times and really wanted someone to put him in his place. She could just do it herself, but that stupid Charles would just mistake it for Saria paying attention to him. Now she finally met someone who could deal with him. Saria knows Mano could clearly see Charles’ movements in the fight between him and the dwarf. Mano was sure to have been training hard to be able to see strikes and movements like those. At least enough to be on equal footing as Charles.

“Hm, okay then! I’ll go see what he wants to talk about!” With a smile Mano trotted off toward the the first row. Standing in front of the 3m net placed in front of the first row to prevent arrows and the like from hitting the crowd, Mano looks down and addresses Charles.

“Hi! Nice to meet you, I’m Mano Stonewall from the vanguard wing.” Mano bowed respectfully towards Charles, ticking him off.

[[This arrogant worm!]] Charles thought before shouting, “I don’t care who you are! You were laying your hands on my girl! Get down here so we can settle this like men!” The only thing Charles could think about was crushing this boy in the stands.

“Huh?” Turning to face Saria, “This guy is your boyfriend?” Mano was worried, he didn’t want to get in between two people’s love.

“GODS NO!- *ahem* I mean of course he isn’t” Saria was ready to lecture Mano about his misunderstanding but decided against it. He’s been training by himself in a different wing for three whole years, how could he know their relationship.

“Oh okay then, he must think you’re a different person. I’ll go down there and tell him.” Mano replied with a relieved expression.

This guy, he’s surprisingly dense? Well he is still only eight. Not every boy starts chasing skirts that early like that scum Charles. Saria laughed to herself and began to give direction to Mano on how to get to the ground level, “You only need to head down those stairs to- hey! What are you doing!”

Mano was taking a few steps back from the 3m net and took a leap, clearing the net by at least another meter landing a few steps in front of Charles on the ground below with a slight bend to his knees. Leaving two small craters where his feet hit the ground.

The rest of the students including Charles couldn’t help but take a step back in surprise. The arena’s ground level was at least 4.5m from the stands not including the net. So Mano just made a 8.5m drop to the ground level seem like it was nothing.

Hou? Able to take leaps like that so young? If I remember correctly thats Brom’s boy. What kind of training is that monster Krieg putting him through to have him take leaps like that so soon? Master Aaron whistled to himself, impressed.

Master rank combatants like the instructors at Myst were able to jump and drop great distances tens if not hundreds of times much farther and higher than Mano did just now, depending on the profession, but to be able to show a feat of strength like that at the mere age of eight? This kid was a monster.

“Hey? I think you have the wrong person friend. Saria says she’s not your woman.” Mano states to the surprised Charles in front of him.

This statement knocked Charles out of his shocked state. Anger returning to his face, “What do you mean by that?! Are you trying to say that she’s yours?! You dare challenge me, Charles Roland! Member of the family this city is named for?” Charles was fuming.

Mano was confused, putting his hands up in the air. “I was just letting you know of your mistake. No need to get so mad.”

This only added to the fire burning in Charles’ heart. Looking down at his feet, shoulders shaking with fury Charles let words out in cold fury, “Challenge.”

“Huh?” Mano couldn’t hear him.

“I, CHARLES ROLAND, CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL!!” Charles shouted into Mano’s face.

“Huh? B-but. What?” Mano couldn’t keep up with the events unfolding before him.

“The winner has rights over Saria!” Charles spat, cutting Mano off.

Before Mano could deny the challenge Master Aaron was between them.

*Clap*

“Fantastic! This will be a good opportunity for the class to learn how to face different opponents! Mano my boy follow me to the ring. Charles you know what side you need to go to.” Master Aaron was happy for the chance to get a glimpse at what Krieg was teaching the boy, little did he know that Mano hasn’t actually taken any formal vanguard training.

“Yes Master!” Charles responded quickly and glared towards Mano, “Prepare yourself.” And then made his way to one end of the ring, followed by his group on henchmen. All looking at Mano with disdain.

"Are you against the duel kid?" Master Aaron asks the boy?

Mano thought about it, this was a rare opportunity to face a stong opponent and earn some combat experience. "No sir, please let me go."

“Alright kid, Mano was it? Follow me we will get you prepared with whatever equipment you need.” Patting Mano on the back Master Aaron led him to the other end of the ring opposite of Charles. The ring was a white stone block, commonly found lying around the Ruby Desert sands, that was a little rough to the touch, to allow boots to grip the floor easily. Mano was lead to a small area outside of the ring with a barrel filled with all manner of weapon, from great-hammers to axes and small daggers. Swordsmanship not only trained in blades but also blunt weapons as well. Some people were partial to blunt weapons of course.

Mano wore a complicated expression when confronted by all these weapons. He honestly wasn’t sure what to choose. Then, he remembered something about Master Krieg not wanting him to catch the bad habits of other vanguard students. “She probably wouldn’t like it if I just chose a weapon without her consent either.” He whispered to himself. Making his decision.

“I will not be using a weapon sir.”

Master Aaron raised an eyebrow at this, “You should not take Charles lightly boy, he’s my best student this year.”

“I am not sir, It’s just I have no formal training in weapons so they would only hold me back as I am now.” Mano answered honestly.

“No training? What has Master Krieg been teaching you then?” Aaron answered curiously.

“Well, Master deemed my body wasn’t ready so all I’ve been doing these past three years has been physical training and primarily focusing on academics.”

I may have signed this kid up for a beating. Master Aaron sighed to himself.

“Fine then, I will respect that you do not want to pick a weapon without your masters consent. Step into the ring.”

“Yes sir!” Mano replies enthusiastically.

Mano would be lying if he said he wasn’t apprehensive. More accurately he was nervous. This was the first time he ever fought anything. But for some reason, as he made his way to his place in the ring, his mind became more clear. He felt like his skin was on fire and all his senses were heightened, seeing the world much more clearly than normal. He was getting excited.

“Alright, since this dual is between two of differing professions, we will be using rules taken from the Swordsmanship Melee. If one cannot continue to fight, steps out of the ring, or yields he or she loses. Avoid the eyes and other sensitive areas. This is a duel, not a fight to the death.” Master Aaron explains the rules to the two combatants in full because it was Mano’s first duel.

Taking a few steps back and hopping off the ring Master Aaron was getting ready to start the duel.

“Get ready for pain worm” Charles spat at Mano.

Mano could didn’t even respond to him. He was just standing there, knees slightly bent and shoulders width apart and arms out as if to evade any attack.

“Che- You’ll regret ever setting your eyes on Saria.”

When Saria saw Mano walk into the ring without any weapon she became extremely nervous. Had she been wrong? Mano actually didn’t learn any combat? Saria moved to the front row of the stands, clutching the skirt she was wearing tightly her amber colored eyes filled with worry. She felt terrible that she led Mano into this situation, and vowed to make it up to him later.

The match was going to begin.

“3...

2...

1...

“Begin!” Master Aaron boomed.

The first one to move this time was Charles, he was equipped with a rapier in his right hand and a small buckler on his left forearm. He quickly leaned forward and pushed off the ground with the balls of his feet again. He was confident no one would be able to match him in speed.

Closing the gap between them in only a few seconds Charles was in front of Mano, in his guard.

“Die!” Charles shouted as the viciously stabbed towards Mano’s stomach three times. Mano was able to see through this type of attack, having seen the last duel Charles had. For some reason, Charles’s movements weren’t nearly as fast as when he saw them from the stands. Was it because of his heightened senses?

During Training Master Krieg would often put massive weights on Mano’s feet, preventing him from moving, and throw high speed stones at him. Commanding him to use his flexibility and reaction to dodge them. This led to many lumps and bruises over the years, but now he could dodge almost any stone Master Krieg through at him.

This kind of training allowed Mano to dodge the three strikes quickly while making distance between the two. Charles was surprised, no one had been able to challenge his strikes up till now. This made Charles recognize his opponent as strong and he took a defensive stance. Sizing up his opponent.

Mano was the next one to strike, with swift movement he was in front of Charles, throwing a palm out towards his chest.

Charles managed to block the strike but didn’t expect such a huge impact, tumbling 5m just from the power of Mano’s palm. Taking advantage of this moment Mano quickly made it next to Charles and through his foot down, ready to stomp towards one of Charles’ arms.

Charles manages to recover in time to roll away from Mano’s stomp and stood up, out of Mano’s range. He shuddered when he saw the small crater left under Mano’s feet.

I can’t underestimate this guy, if that had landed, It would have crushed my arm. Charles thought to himself as he stared at the spot in the ring with awe.

“You see that? That new guy is totally pushing Charles back!”

“He said he was from the vanguard. Were they always this strong?”

“Gosh he’s even more perfect now!”

---------****MASSIVE EDITS BELOW****---------

[ 17 March, 2015 -LAVA- Hey after getting some feedback ( Specifically from users Soulkia and EcoJakk ) I realized I messed a lot of things below this "EDIT" line. Making a lot of characters personalities strange. Specifically Master Krieg. It's safe to say the way this chapter ends now is much more natural and less forced. I like this ending a lot more and hope you do to!

P.S I will not always change the way the story is just because of a few comments, this is my story after all. But, when valid points such as the ones stated by the people above are brought up, I will do all I can to fix it.

---------****MASSIVE EDITS BELOW****---------

The audience was surprised at how even this match was. The crowd gathered was quite a bit larger that when they started, you could even see the shadow of Master Krieg watching from the top of the stands. Master Krieg was seething. Her pressure causing everyone around her to be nervous.

“Fool! I give him one free day and he gets dragged into a fight because of some girl. I’ll have to discipline him thoroughly for this.” Master Krieg was furious. “I’m impressed at his natural instincts though. It was right for him to choose vanguard. That’s the kind of instincts you need living on the front lines.” Master Krieg admitted.

Master Krieg heard about how the fight started from one of the people present and thought to herself. This kid is trouble, getting dragged into a fight between two people.

Mano was excited. A the cells in his body felt like they were alive and he’d never felt so sure of himself in his life. Like a shroud was lifted from his sight. Mano didn’t notice but his battle sense was strong and under his hid tunic his birthmark was glowing a soft dim blue color. Mano held this state of consciousness for a couple minutes while Charles was sizing him up. Then as quickly as his excitement came, fatigue washed over him, causing his stance to falter.

Seeing Mano falter, Charles dashed up even faster than the first time he struck and swiftly stabbed Mano four times in the chest. The tip was blunt so it didn’t pierce his clothes or skin, but the impact knocked the wind out of Mano’s lungs.

Mano saw Charles charge him but couldn’t move thanks to the sudden fatigue that struck him, watching as the rapier struck his chest as if in slow motion. Mano, now out of breath attempted to retreat jumping away from Charles.

Charles knew a chance when he saw one.

Retreating in the middle of battle had many disadvantages for the front-line, in this case Mano. It left your back open to attacks and had Mano had any combat training, he would have first thrown a feint to throw Charles off and then retreat to safety.

Charles followed right next to the retreating Mano and kicked him in his ribs. A noticeable *crack* could be heard, the sound of bones fracturing.

Mano gasped in as pain blossomed from his left hand ribs, rolling on the ground from the impact. He clutched his ribs and Charles began to repeatedly beat Mano while he was on the ground.

Saria was crying now. It was obvious that Mano had no training and was now taking a trashing from Charles. It was all her fault that Mano was lying on the ground getting beaten as he clutched his broken ribs.

Sigh, poor kid. To be defeated so thoroughly on his first bout. Master Aaron thought to himself as he was about to stop the fight. Then, he witnessed something amazing.

Mano’s consciousness was drifting away. The pain of being beaten bloody was making his vision go blurry. In the darkness of his mind he could feel something, an ocean, vast and powerful churning deep in his mind. He could see his naked body drifting downwards towards it’s waters, battered and bruised Mano remembered how nice it was to be in the bath, or just water in general. It gave him strength. He felt like he could hear a soft voice calling out to him, calming him. He watched as his body slowly approached the waters. Not noticing the damage his body was receiving from the countless stabs and kicks Charles was delivering. When finally, after what seemed ages. One of his toes dips in the water.

Mano’s eyes opened suddenly and in his eyes seemingly as deep as the oceans a will to fight arose. With more strength that he has ever felt before Mano caught Charles’ leg as he came in for another kick. He turned his head and glared at the enemy delivering this pain, releasing a powerful killing intent.

“W-what?!?” Charles was excited at his victory and was taking his anger out on Mano’s body. That is until Mano grabbed one of his legs and glared at him, blue eyes swirling with fury. A shiver went down his spine and he remembered that he was the one on top.

“Still fighting eh? Commendable, I almost thought that-“

*SNAP*

“Aaaaaahhhh!!!” Charles was now screaming in pain as he had his leg broken from Mano’s sheer grip strength.

Mano coughed up a small amount of blood and slowly pushed him self up, still clutching his newly broken ribs. Mano’s mind was clear. This man was an enemy, and enemies needed to be stopped. Limping towards Charles, who was now cowering in fear of the monster before him.

“I yield! I yield!” Charles yelped as he tried to back away. A pool of liquid forming underneath him.

The stands were deathly quiet. The scene of Charles brutally beating up his opponent had foster disgust from his now former fans. How could their prince be so brutal. He was far from the gentle mask he wore in front of the girls.

Mano didn’t stop moving however and was standing above Charles now. Lifting his leg, ready to stop on Charles sword arm.

“NO PLEA-“ Charles screamed when Mano’s leg suddenly stopped.

At the moment Mano was about to unleash hell on Charles a shadow appeared behind him almost out of nowhere chopping Mano at the base of his neck, knocking him out. Catching her student Master Krieg picks Mano up princess style after he crumples to the ground. Looking down at Charles with disgust and then turning to face Master Aaron she says, “I apologize on behalf of my student here, I let him out for one day and he gets into a fight.” Krieg sighs. “However" Master Krieg unleashed a terrible killing intent directed toward Master Aaron, causing a drop of sweat to form on his brow, "I must ask, Mano here must have definitely told you he had no training. Why would you have him duel your best student?"

Master Aaron replies easily, “Haha! I’m jealous of what a wonderful and pure student you have! My student here challenged your boy to a duel, I gave Mano the option to decline but he denied it. My deepest apologies I'll reflect on this later.”

Master Krieg knew that Master Aaron's personality was that of a battle-maniac. But at the same time she knew he would have stepped in before things became life threatening. So she decided to let this one slide.

Turning to face Charles Master Aaron’s face darkens. “You are too arrogant child. Hopefully this defeat will let you know that you have a lot to learn. This child managed to get lucky and defeat you now, but what about when he actually learns techniques? Reflect on this and humble yourself. You are leagues ahead of this child in terms of skill but your willpower is weak. I believe in you and expect you to crush him honestly in the Melee.”

“Y-yes sir!” Charles responded quickly, still in shock over what transpired in the duel. The shame he went through because of this duel made his heart even more dark. He would definitely focus solely on the sword until the Melee so he could crush Mano.

Master Krieg glared down at Charles in disdain, "You are rotten kid. Be prepared, next time Mano faces you here, i will not stop him from destroying you."

A shiver ran down Charles' spine, and cold fury still boiling up within.

Making her way off the ring Master Krieg addressed on final person, “You there, girl!” Saria realized that Master Krieg was addressing her and hastily stands up in attention. “You are the reason Mano is like this! I do not care about the squabbles between two students, but when it draws MY student in, then we have a problem. Never associate yourself with Mano again."

Saying the last of what she needed to, and leaving a young girl in tears, this would be the final time Mano set foot here until the Melee. Master Krieg, carrying Mano in her arms, exits the arena.

Charles was still sitting there, allowing the healers to treat his wounds. His face was different than any he's held before. It was twisted in anger and filled with hatred for his new enemy. That fucker! Made me look like a fool! Charles was clinching his fist so tight his nails started to dig into his palm. Next time I face him I'll make him wish he was never born! I'll break every bone in his body beyond repair!

It was clear next time Mano faced Charles, he would be fighting for his life.

----

Making her way down the trail to their cabin Master Krieg looks down at the now sleeping Mano with a mix of worry and pride, “You’re so rowdy, I let you free for one day and look at the chaos you started. As expected of my student. Oh and by the way, you passed your final.” Kreig laughed to herself, seemingly more her age.

Night was falling on Myst Training Hall, tomorrow a young vanguard would begin training harder than ever before.

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