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Chapter 11: Challenge

The day started at a rise, with a bird chirping outside, but as it chirped it was flying away. There I was, now in the street, with my blades on my hands. "Alright Peter, you're gonna have to lead me to the sparring area.'' He was a bit confused, and said that we were going to the towers. "All Kirgan challenges are taken on the eighth floor of the first tower. They pulled out the roof of that floor and put bleachers in them so they could watch the battle." I was a little scared, but understood. "Oh, and there's a crowd who watches.'' That made me queasy. I'm a usually introvertive guy, and with the thought of a crowd forming around a battle I might lose, it makes me nervous. "Don't worry, I'll be on your side the entire time." "Thanks, Peter." I was a bit better after that, and we made our way towards the tower.

The doors were guarded, and when the officers saw me, they immediately let me pass, saying, "please take the first door to your left, and enter the stage at floor eight." I nodded my head, and walked by into the stairwell. It was empty, except for Takken, who stood chewing a bit of what looked like plastic. When he spotted me, he stopped leaning on the wall, and went towards the door, but before he did, he said, "Good luck, you'll need it." then walked out to a bunch of cheering. I followed suit, only a minute between. The crowd cheered for me as well, looking down at me with screams of what I guessed were either joy in seeing me, or joy in seeing me be destroyed. The room wasn't very big, and everything we did was pretty narrow, but I knew when we started to fight, it would only take a second for me to fall. But I was wrong, for as I heard everyone countdown, I felt something take me over. My hair raised, and my eyes seemed to be filled with a shade of color. It was a mix, for when I closed my right eye, I saw hazel, though when I closed my left eye, there was a deep red. It seems whatever I had yesterday, I had control of now. "Two... One... Fight!!!" yelled the crowd, and Takken was right in front of me, though he looked frightened. I was in front of him, and then I attacked. My blade went against his cheek, and he fell back. The crowd went quiet, and he started to get up. Not a scratch on him, though he did look angrier. He came back at me, and every time he did, he hit, pushing me further back with every hit. When he finally sent me flying, I had a cut cheek, I was bleeding from my nose, and I was bruised in every joint. The crowd never stopped cheering when I fell, and Takken was gloating, but when my blades fell to the ground and my fists were seen for the first time, everything was quiet. Takken looked at me with sadness, supposedly for when he would have to make me fall again, but I never gave him that chance. It took me two and a fifth of a second to get up, and another second to push my fist into his cheek. Though this time I didn't let him fall. I punched him in the gut, and put him in a rhythm. It was as simple as I thought I could make it. Stomach, chest, shoulder. I rotated between shoulders, starting with the left, then the right. And went with this rhythm all the way to the wall, where I punched him as hard as I could in both shoulders, then in the chest. He lurched over, and fell to his knees, unable, it seemed, to get up onto his feet. I didn't attack, but instead, went back and got my weapons. The crowd was in shock, all holding their breath, for what would happen next. Takken was still on the ground, so I decided to start a timer, counting on my fingers the seconds from five to one. Five, four, three, two... one... I stuck my swords back in the ground, then cupped my hands around my mouth. With my lungs at their fullest, I yelled out, "THE SHOW'S OVER, GO HOME!" then picked up my stuff and left. As I left, I heard a few from the crowd start to clap slowly, though not many did. It was when I left the stadium and went back to the mansion did I hear what happened.  Ducky stayed at the mansion and just slept. But when I was back in one piece he was confused.Ghost was the first to show up, and she was baffled. She didn't say anything, but I could tell she was a bit impressed. Rumbler was so loud, I heard him coming a couple yards away, and when he got through the door, I was expecting to see a bull run through the door. He was followed almost just as quickly by Engraver and Peter. They all looked as though I was a savior, and for that, I was confused. "You're a madman, Mason! I don't think anybody would have been able to knock him down." said Grrga. Peter was getting closer to me, and as he did, his arms came out. I backed up slowly, but he came running. He squeezed me, and it felt amazing for about a quarter of a second, then my receptors finally hit my brain, and I was put in a bear hug. "Gah! I didn't expect that." He laughed, then Engraver showed up at the door. He was smiling, as usual, but when he came closer, I could tell he was trying to hide something. I was still a bit battered from my fight, though it didn't show up very much. We decided to have a feast, seeing as how my win was something special. It was far past night time when we left to go back home, and when we saw those who were still awake, many of them stayed in place, stunned with their mouths open.