Emperors War 18 Bring It On

After everything that happened yesterday Aker was sleeping soundly even if he was lying in a dried-up puddle of beast blood on a cold stone floor in a prison cell.

"HEY....It's time to get up, they have you listed as the first fight today."

Aker slowly started to open his eyes as he woke up to a loud shout. Upon opening his eyes, he saw Vance standing above him with a stern look on his face. It was pretty obvious he was upset about something.

"Didn't you hear what I said. You're fighting first today. You need to get up and get ready, there's no time for sleeping right now." Vance once again fired his words at the sleepy Aker with obvious irritability in his voice.

It hit Aker like a lightning bolt, he went from sleepy groggy to wide awake.

"I'll be fighting first today? Didn't I just finish just a few hours ago? What time is it?" Aker asked Vance not understanding what was happening. It didn't feel like to Aker he had been sleeping all that long. Had a whole day already gone by?

Vance flashed a glint of hatred in his eyes as he responded "Its ten minutes until the new day starts. The rules of The Pit forbid you from fighting twice in the same day however there is no rule against you fighting in the late afternoon and then immediately at the start of the new day."

Vance's voice was moved from being filled with anger to rage as he spoke. Wasn't it enough they had a small boy in The Pit fighting for dear life but now they had to torture him as well going out of their way like they have never done to make sure he dies!

"How long has it been since my fight?" Aker asked as he was standing up.

"It's been about 5 hours." Aker responded matter of fact as if though it had nothing do with him.

Listening to Vance's emotionless response Aker's first thought was to get angry himself at Vance. He was going to have to go and fight a life and death battle again after just finishing one up and Vance didn't seem to care.

Just as Aker was about to lose his cool, he saw an ever so slight hint of worry on Vance's face. With that Aker calmed his emotions and had a sudden epiphany.... if Vance didn't care would he be so angry as he spoke? He's trying to hide his concern for my sake so that I don't feel as much fear.

Realizing that even though him and Vance had just met and only just agreed to be master and disciple Vance was already thinking so much just for him Aker felt a little warmth in his heart. Earlier when Vance offered to be his master, he felt like there was someone with him in this scary and dangerous place but he didn't know Vance's real feelings.

While Vance's bout of anger/rage and worry didn't equate to a full-fledged trust and belief it was at least a pretty strong indication that Vance meant what he said earlier. Somehow some of the tiredness, anger, fear and confusion Aker was feeling moments ago disappeared as he was beginning to feel he had someone else to count on.

With that Aker stood up standing before Vance. If someone was to watch from outside the prison cell there would be no way they couldn't laugh at what they were watching. Aker who merely reached Vance's waist patted Vance's hip and said in firm tone "There's no sense in getting upset or mad about it as it wouldn't change anything. If we have to fight let's fight, there is nothing else to think about or do."

With that Aker turned and walked toward the opening of the cell leading the way.

Vance watched Akers tiny back as he walked away again flabbergasted by the strength of this little boy. After letting out a slight sigh Vance took a big breath and reaffirmed Akers thoughts as he thought to himself 'he's right, there is only one thing to do and that is fight, nothing else at the moment matters'.

'Are all Emperor Candidates like this?' Vance couldn't help but wonder to himself. It seemed as if though every time he talked with Aker there was a change in his mentality. It felt like his level of growth was beyond reason. The only explanation that Vance could come up with was that it must be a trait of Emperor Candidates. As one would expect from those outside of the box geniuses Vance kept thinking to himself.

Both Vance and Aker walked towards The Pit side by side not saying a word. It wasn't unheard of for a prisoner and guard to walk out to The Pit side by side but it was pretty rare.

In most cases the prisoners here were considered untrustworthy which was why they were here in the first place. To walk out side by side was to expose yourself to the prisoner who was basically on death row. Not many guards would do that no matter how much they liked the prisoner.

There was the story of the guard who grew up with one of the prisoners as childhood friends. The guard went out of his way to provide food and luxury to the prisoner and was working on an escape plan for him. One day as the guard was walking his childhood friend out one of the other guards got sick which caused all of the nearby guards to run over to help him. This left what appeared to be a giant opening. The prisoner thinking he could escape reached out and grabbed his friends weapon and stabbed him in the heart while covering his mouth so that he wouldn't make a sound. The prisoner ended up being caught and of course was beaten to within a breath of death and then thrown into The Pit to die, but the important lesson for all of the guards was never trust the prisoners.

Aker and Vance after entering the foray saw a tired Mavis standing at the Armory with a hint of a smile on his face as he stared Aker in the eye.

"Hahahahahaha...Aker those evil and pathetic people decided to try and drive the stake into the coffin and throw you back into The Pit hoping you hadn't recovered but we have a surprise for them."

With that Mavis reached down behind the counter and pulled out a set of small armor. The armor was made out of a metal that Aker had never seen before that had a rich deep black color that would almost cause someone to fee despair just looking at it.

The armor seemed to be custom made to fit Aker as it was too small for any adult or even dwarves.

"I promised myself that if you survived your last fight I would make you armor that could protect you as you fought out there. I had planned on starting later this afternoon but after watching your fight I felt inspired so I began right away. Thankfully I did otherwise you would have had to use the same setup as earlier. Who would have thought those bastards would pull a stunt like this!"

Again, Aker could feel the care and concern from someone he had just met. It made his heart feel a little warmer still and made him realize once again that there are people in this place that are not like the people who threw him in here.

"Go ahead and try it on and see how it fits." Mavis said with a grin on his face as he anticipated Aker wearing the armor. He had sweated and toiled over this causing his face to show clear signs of wear and exhaustion. Of course Mavis was excited to see how it fit and looked.

With that Aker reached out and grabbed the two arm guards first. The arm guards covered the forearm from the just above the wrist to just below the elbow. They were perfectly measured so as to not interfere with the joint movement of either. On top of that each arm guard had piece that extended past the wrist over the top of his hand ending at the knuckle. The piece served two purposes, it protected the hand while not being in the way and secondly served as an emergency weapon as it was pointed and could be used to stab into his enemy.

After putting on the arm guard Aker moved his arms around testing it out and couldn't help but be amazed by the quality of it.

"It's so light, it's even lighter than the wood I was wearing earlier." Aker called out in a surprised voice to Mavis.

"It's made out of a pretty rare metal that's known for its strength and mobility called Midnight Metal. While it usually doesn't make for a very good weapon or armor due to its light weight it is a perfect armor for you and your size."

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"It's amazing...thank you so much!" Aker couldn't believe how awesome these arm guards were. He had also fell in love with the deep dark black that seemed to pull the soul out of anyone who stared into it. He had taken on the name of Aker, this armor really felt like it complimented that name perfectly.

"Hahahahaha....it's nothing...it's nothing.... it's what I should do, I am the armorer here, let's not make a big fuss about it. Now go ahead and put on the leg guards as well. For now, these are the only pieces I have made but, in the future, we will get you set up with more. Unfortunately, there is no more Midnight Metal so we won't be able to add to it in the near term." Mavis replied to Aker as he wasn't even attempting to hide the pride in his voice.

"There isn't any need at this time, with the arm guards and the leg guards I should have everything I need for now. I think even if you could add more at this time it would probably work against me as I wouldn't know how to move in it and it would slow me down too much."

Vance stood at the side watching the exchange and nodded his head in agreement with Akers last statement. It's important to remember that more is not always better.

After Aker put on the leg guards he jumped around a few times testing and getting a feel for the them while swinging his arms. After a few breaths worth of testing he felt like he had a pretty good handle on his movements with the new armor.

Just as Aker was finishing up his testing of the armor Vance called out to Aker "Listen, this is going to sound counter intuitive but it's vital that you listen to my directions. When you go out there, no matter what comes out don't rush to kill it."

After hearing what Vance said Akers face clearly showed his confusion so much so that Vance seeing it his face didn't give Aker a chance to talk before, he continued on.

"Each time you fight the enemy is going to get stronger and their desire to kill you will get more intense. That means today's fight will be easier than tomorrows fight and so on. Knowing that, you have to train yourself today against this opponent otherwise tomorrow you won't be strong enough to win, do you understand?"

Hearing Vance's words Aker was enlightened. It wasn't enough to get into The Pit and win, if he continued on like he did in his last fight killing both of the Kulga as quickly as possible he wouldn't be able to hone his skills and strategies. He wouldn't learn the art of fighting and battle. Even if he could win instantly, he had to draw the fight out. He had to practice in real life and death battles allowing his enemy more opportunities to kill him in a controllable manner so that he could get stronger.

"I understand I need to train diligently every day, put my life on the line and take every opportunity to make myself stronger and better even if by just a little. My enemy is plotting and planning for my death as evidenced by the fact that I am fighting here again so quickly. There will be no mercy. There will be no forgiveness. There will be no fair. If that's the case I can't show myself mercy. I can't show my enemy forgiveness and I can't care about fair. I have to train myself in the same manner in which my enemy is trying to kill me if I want to keep up with them."

Aker's words startled both Vance and Mavis who were listening. Akers words were not loud and anyone standing more than a meter or two away would certainly never hear them. In fact, based on what he was saying and the tone he was saying it in both Mavis and Vance were convinced that Aker was saying those words to himself for his own benefit.

Both Vance and Mavis couldn't help but shake their heads. Even the underground has rules. Up until the new King of The Underground took over people from the underground empire were not allowed to indiscriminately kill women and children. There would have been no way that something like a child fighting in The Pit would have been accepted.

But none of that mattered now because this was the new underground whether they liked it or not. At least for Mavis this was his thoughts.

As they were both thinking over Akers comment the doors leading into The Pit opened revealing the chants of the crowd as they rained down into the foray. Normally while the crowd was loud it wouldn't echo through the foray and even be so loud as to slightly vibrate the surroundings.

Without having to be encouraged and led Aker turned to the opened doors and started walking toward The Pit as Vance and Mavis followed behind him. Just after he was ready to enter through the doors that led out Aker turned to face both Vance and Mavis and a smile spread across his whole face as he said to them "How about we go make these people upset?"

With that he turned and walked out towards the middle of The Pit.

Once his figure entered into the eyes of the crowd the cheering that had been shaking The Pit instantly turned into boos once again as chants of "Kill" "Kill" "Kill" rang out through the air.

The oppression of the entire crowd weighed down on the small shoulders of Aker as he stood there with a smile on his face staring back into the crowd showing no signs of intimidation or fear.

Some of the crowd who had been here when they watched the boy come out to fight his very first fight were astounded. Was this the same boy that just a couple of days ago peed himself while shaking in fear? How is it possible for him to stand tall while wearing a mocking smile on his face after only just a couple of days? Doesn't he know his situation? Doesn't he understand that this mob of people yelling "Kill" are chanting for his death? After his previous fights there is no way he couldn't know.

As the thoughts were going through the heads of some of the crowd the announcer broke through the booing, chants, and oppression to announce the beginning of the battle. As the announcer began speaking the crowd quieted down to hear the announcer's words.

"Hahahahahaha....I can't believe I get to do this again! I can't believe that just a few hours ago that same villainous boy stood before this same crowd and I got to announce his fight. For some unknown reason that evil and retched child killed those two Kulga."

With that statement the crowd again started raining boo's down onto the stadium as if though their intention was to crush Aker.

"Hahahahaha....we agree.... we agree...Everyone knows the rules here in The Pit. We are required to only put equally strengthened opponents into The Pit to fight. Since the day The Pits was founded this was the rule and it can't be changed. However, based on yesterday's fight from 5 hours ago it became obvious to us here at The Pits that just two Kulga were way to weak. After a considerable amount of thought and consideration based on the previous fight with that vile child, we in order to make sure that both opponents are of equal strength we have decided that he shouldn't face two Kulga."

With that the announcer paused as the crowd listened intently to every word, anticipation for the next words mounting. Clearly the announcer understands how to feed the crowd what they want and need to build excitement.

"We decided that he shouldn't fight 3, 4, 5, 6 or even 7 Kulga. After careful and considerable thought, it became obvious to us that anything less than 10 Kulga wouldn't be a fair and even match. Hahahahahaha....everyone here knows that more than anything The Pit takes pride in being fair to our fighters...Hahahahahahaha...everyone you have 5 minutes to place your bets before the fighting starts."

Everyone could hear the mocking of the announcer as he announced that the boy would be fighting 10 Kulga. Fair? Equal? No untrained adult could survive the onslaught of 10 Kulga fighting against them much less a little child.

While one Kulga was barely considered a beast and wouldn't pose a risk to most adults everything changes in numbers. Trying to fight ten Kulga at the same time would almost be certain death for the child. It wasn't as simple as one plus one equals two as they added Kulga to the fight. He now had to account for ten different attacks coming at ten different angles. This was an exponentially more difficult fight.

After taking in the words and just as the crowd was getting ready to discussing the fight while the stadium was still quite due to the announcer having just finished speaking the little boy broke the silence and spoke to the crowd in a manner that shocked everyone present.

With the smile on his face only three words left Aker's mouth as he stared up and out into the crowd.

"Bring it on!"

Chapter end