III:
Staring at the weaponry in the armory before him, Altan went straight for his dual sabers. He strapped the two of them to his back and walked outside of the armory into the arena it was placed in. It was quite an average arena. The ground was muddy, the walls with bleachers were all wooden, and the sky was almost about to rain.
On the other side of the dueling arena sat a man almost two and a half meters tall. He was built like a god and in front of him on the muddy ground was a zweihander that was just a little over his height. The possible demi-god sat crisscrossed in the mud, meditating it looked like. Altan looked up to the bleachers and saw Beckett sitting on a wooden throne. The two nodded to each other and Beckett stood up from his throne.
"Attention! Dear people of Kod, before you in this arena lie two men. A Nomad from the lands of Diviria and a disgraced savage from northern Fjorde seeking redemption through battle, destiny has brought these two together and here these two shall end the destiny of one or the other. If the Nomad shall win then he gains freedom and if the Savage emerges triumphant then his honor shall be restored to him. God be with you gentlemen".
A bell rang and the fight began. Altan drew one of his sabers and charged towards the Savage, but the hulking man still sat down. Smirking, Altan believed the dumb giant had just fallen asleep while trying to look cool during meditation and he swung down on the Savage's head, he was disappointed he couldn't give the audience of the duel a better show since it could earn him favor with the civilians in the kingdom but it was what it was.
In the blink of an eye, the Savage clasped the blade in between his hands when it was mere inches from his head. His eyes flung open and his head jerked up to meet Altan's eyes. Altan stared at him with a surprised and impressed look while the Savage looked back at him with a mixture of contempt and smugness.
The Savage laughed a deep laugh while Altan tried pulling the saber out of his grasp. It would not budge, however. Thinking quickly, Altan went to draw his other sword to strike the Savage. The Savage relinquished his grasp on the saber and knocked Altan off his feet with a swift blow. Altan jumped back up to his feet and looked up to see the zweihander swinging down on him.
Altan parried the blow by blocking the blade with both his sabers by crossing them in an X shape. Backing away, Altan quickly examined his blades and saw that they had a deep chip in them. At the sight of this, an idea began to form in his head.
Taking advantage of Altan's short distraction the Savage swung hard and fast down onto Altan once again but instead of parrying the blow, Altan spun around to the Savage's side and lodged one of his sabers as far as he could into his ribs.
The Savage responded to this attack by slugging Altan in his temple, sending him flying. When Altan regained his bearings he realized one of his sabers was gone and when he looked to the Savage he saw that the saber was still lodged in the Savage's side.
As the Savage pulled the saber out of his side he and Altan stared at each other. They both looked into each other's eyes, into their minds, into their souls, trying to predict what move the other would make next. Seeing an opportunity, Altan slid forward on his knees, priming his other saber for a swing. He grabbed the bloodied saber off the ground with his free hand and as he expected the Savage swung his sword at him. Altans saber met the Savage's zweihander hard and the large sword was lodged deep into the saber.
Altan quickly pulled the zweihander down to the mud, using the saber as a hook. The Savage who was flabbergasted at this move lost focus and went down with his zweihander to his knees. With his free saber, Altan swung down onto the back of the Savage's neck, cutting it clean off. Altan dropped his sabers in the mud and picked up the Savage's decapitated head by the hair. He showed it off to the cheering crowd.
King Beckett leaned forward in his chair, smiling and nodding. He had a feeling he picked the right man for this job.
