Shortly after Adonai's and Hedderick's fight, the other participants started their spars as well.
Cael didn't know why they had to fight first, but it sort of made sense to him in a way. After all, the higher-ups just wanted to gauge who was more talented and creative.
Drifting away in thought, Cael was suddenly pulled back to reality when he heard his name called.
"CAEL WINDSBLOOM AND JACKAL FLYINGASCENSION, PLEASE STEP UP!" The man shouted. Cael was slightly annoyed because of how loud it was, but it was going to be fine. He had worse things to worry about anyway.
Entering the center of the plains, he turned; he couldn't see his opponent. The match was about to start, and yet they were nowhere to be seen.
Just then, he heard a commotion. He glanced back, and after straining his ears for a second, he heard what was being said.
"Excuse me, please. I need to get to the middle". Cael could barely hear it because of all the grunts that were happening because of the man pushed his way through the crowd.
Eventually, they were face-to-face, and Cael could see him clearly. He was a tall man, with tattered clothes and, strangely, a new set of shoes with a sell tag still on them. The man had a strangely pale face with dark black hair.
As Cael studied him, he thought that Jackal seemed like a poor person from the way he dressed, but surely that isn't true, right? How could you be named and not at least have some sense of wealth?
Either way, he was in no position to complain. If Jackal really was a poor person, then that meant that he had absolutely no training at all.
Cael did not really know how to fight in melee combat; he barely knew the basics because of the rules of his country.
After a while, the two were given weapons of their choosing. Their options were a number of swords, daggers and spears. After a while of studying the weapons and testing them, Cael had chosen his weapon.
It was a long sword, with a dark black hilt, and an engraving saying the national motto, "Protect and defend". Cael was pleased with this sword; he felt as if it matched him in some way.
As he turned around, he looked at his opponent and noticed that he did not pick up a sword. To his surprise, he blurted out, "Where's your weapon?" Jackal, who had been watching for a while, smiled.
"I already brought one with me." Cael was confused; he couldn't see a sword or spear. Perhaps he had a dagger?
Just then, Jackal lifted his arms to show gauntlets with sharp black claws instead of fingers.
Cael was slightly scared at this sight. I mean, he didn't even know how to defend himself from such a weapon. He had a hunch this fight probably wouldn't be in his favour, considering Jackal's name.
Getting into position, he prepared himself, as best he could at least; he hadn't noticed it before, but the sword was quite heavy.
He tried his best. However, the best he could do was a fool's guard stance. It wasn't exactly a bad stance, but he thought other ones were better for him.
Complaining in his head about the weight of the sword, he looked towards the examiner, who, after asking if they were ready, raised his hand.
The air was tense; Cael had to be quick. He didn't know why, but he felt like he could be in real danger if he wasn't.
And then the arm came down signalling the start of the match.
Cael put a slight wind barrier around himself, boosting his agility and giving him a slight defense against thrown objects, and then he began to run.
Jackal had also done the same, focusing everything on his legs. This meant only one thing: Jackal was going to focus on beating Cael with speed rather than strength.
And then suddenly, SWISH, CLANG, FWOOSH.
The first strikes had been blown, and they now both knew their strengths. Cael was totally outmatched in speed and strength.
Dodging an upward swipe to his face, he gathered his wind barrier and put it around his legs, not for speed, but so he could jump; he needed as much distance as he could against this person.
After jumping what seemed to be 5 meters, he then realised that he had put himself at a disadvantage by jumping. As he looked down, he saw that Jackal was watching him and waiting for inertia to take hold.
After a moment, he felt himself starting to drop. His stomach reached for his heart as he readied his sword. He was glad that the sword held him down from jumping further; otherwise, it would've been quite a nasty fall and possibly ended the match that instant.
Right before Cael reached the floor, he felt a sharp pain hit his back as he started flying. Hitting the floor and rolling a short distance, he touched his back to see what the pain was.
Looking at his hand, he was horrified to see his hand covered with blood, his own blood. Feeling the pain in his back slowly start healing, he rose to his feet. He couldn't survive this slaughter for long.
Gripping his sword tightly, he was waiting for a charge, and then it happened. Jackal was upon him in seconds, swiping his claws at Cael, but in that moment, he made a mistake.
Jackal had tried to tackle Cael to the ground by leaping on him; this, along with the fact that Cael was ready for it, meant only one thing.
Cael could counterattack, and so, he did. Side-stepping the attack as best he could, he mustered as much strength as he could and swung his sword.
He hoped to at least incapacitate his opponent, but he knew in a battle that hope does not truly exist. It's either do or don't—and so, he did. Cael swung his sword towards the man's torso.