Lennox and Hallwin stood several paces apart in the middle of the village road, dirt still stuck to Hallwin’s beard from the first impact, while the children crowded around the edges and started treating the fight like some ridiculous village tournament, trading sticks, pebbles, pieces of bark, and even handfuls of dried berries as wagers while three dozen recruits watched with HIGH degrees of disbelief.
Hallwin dashed ahead first, his giant muscular body driving across the road with enough speed to make his armor rattle, his right fist swinging toward Lennox’s head, yet Lennox dipped beneath it and slammed one palm against Hallwin’s chest, using the contact to jumped over his shoulder as the larger man’s fist tore through empty air.
Lennox twisted above him, tucked his knees close to his chest, then descended behind Hallwin and drove an elbow between his shoulder blades, making Hallwin stagger several paces ahead before whipping around with a sweeping kick aimed at Lennox’s ribs, which Lennox caught on his forearm while sliding his rear foot across the dirt, absorbing the impact before rotating his torso and striking Hallwin’s knee with his heel.
“AGH!”
Hallwin’s leg buckled for an instant, giving Lennox the opening to spring up high, twist sideways, and hammer a fist into his jaw, then another beneath his cheekbone, then a rising knee into his stomach that lifted Hallwin’s torso enough for Lennox to seize the front of his armor and swing himself around the larger man’s side, dragging Hallwin’s balance with him before planting both feet against his back and kicking him several yards across the road.
‘I’m losing….u come from a long line of family members who were Paladins of War. My noble house does nothing but try to make us monsters on the battlefield. I don’t know anything else but fighting. So why am I losing to a brat?’ Hallwin thought.
He dug his hands into the dirt and stopped himself, but Lennox was already there, sliding beneath a sweeping arm, striking his ribs, ducking another punch, stepping onto Hallwin’s thigh, jumping over his shoulder, and twisting around in the air to drive both heels into the back of his neck, sending him stumbling toward a wooden fence.
‘He’s quick!’
Hallwin caught the fence with one hand and spun around, only for Lennox to intercept the incoming fist with his palm, guide it past his face, and drive three punches into Hallwin’s torso so quickly that each impact sounded like a hammer striking a shield.
THOOM!
THOOM!
THOOM!
Blood appeared at the corner of Hallwin’s mouth as Lennox grabbed his wrist, stepped across his body, and used the larger man’s own momentum to sling him over his hip and onto the ground, where Hallwin hit hard enough to send dirt scattering across the nearby stones.
BOOM!
Lennox pursued without any kind of hesitation at all, springing over Hallwin’s legs when the bigger man tried to sweep him, landing beside his shoulder, driving a fist toward his face, stopping short when Hallwin raised his forearm, then twisting his wrist around the guard and hammering an elbow into Hallwin’s cheek before Hallwin could recover, forcing the massive Paladin candidate onto one knee while Lennox kicked his chest and sent him sliding backward.
Several recruits stared in stunned silence as Lennox continued advancing, watching Hallwin wipe blood from his mouth and stared at the nineteen year old who had been treating him like a training dummy.
One recruit with a shaved head slowly pointed at Lennox. “Wasn’t Hallwin supposed to be one of the strongest people here? I heard about him back in the capital city.”
Another recruit replied nervously. “He is. Supposedly.”
“Then why is Lennox beating the hell out of him?”
A third recruit stared at the cratered hole in the dirt. “I’m starting to think Sugrid kicking that guy’s hand was a terrible idea.”
Off to the side, a girl with long, wavy dark green hair sat with tranquility beneath the shade of a wooden awning, her bright blue eyes glowing beneath her bangs, freckles scattered across her cheeks, and a simple white dress resting around her legs as she calmly watched a small beetle crawl across the dirt beside her sandal.
The way she looked and sat, It looked as if this fight was beneath her attention, because she barely looked toward the battlefield before returning her attention to the beetle.
Meanwhile, the children had created an entire betting system.
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“One stick says Hallwin wins!”
“Three rocks says the boy with the girly blonde hair wins!”
“I’ll bet two berries!”
“I’ll give five sticks for Hallwin!”
Esme crouched beside Tovin with a handful of stones. “I’m betting all of these on Lennox!”
Tovin stared at her pile. “That’s twenty-seven rocks.”
“Yeah. So?”
“You really think he’s gonna win in the end?”
“Uhhh have you not been watching?! Lennox is clearly gonna win!
“I’ll match it.”
“You’re gonna lose.”
“You sound confident.”
“I am.”
Esme thought, ‘For Lennox to randomly attack the Paladin of Vengeance back at the Sanctuary, that gave me the idea that he’s either insane or extremely confident. Or hiding something.’
Hallwin slowly rose from the dirt, blood running from his nose and mouth, his breathing heavy as he stared at Lennox. “I won’t lose to you, okay?”
Lennox wiped a smear of blood from his cheek and grinned. “Then come on.”
Hallwin suddenly dropped his shoulders and charged with an entirely different approach, abandoning the clean punches and kicks he had used earlier in favor of brutal grappling.
He crashed into Lennox with his shoulder, wrapped both arms around his torso, lifted him from the ground, and slammed him against the dirt hard enough to shake the nearby fence, then seized Lennox by the arm before he could rise and dragged him across the road, swinging him into a wooden post before hauling him back and smashing him onto the ground again.
Lennox’s body bounced against the packed ground, yet when Hallwin pulled him up again, Lennox’s eyes remained calm as though the larger man’s attempt to turn him into a village rug had become more annoying than painful.
Hallwin grabbed Lennox around the waist, spun him around his body, and threw him across the road, only for Lennox to stamp one hand against the ground, swing his legs around, and land on his feet before Hallwin could reach him.
Hallwin grabbed his arm again, pulled him close, punched him across the cheek, kicked his stomach, dragged him back, and struck him across the jaw while refusing to release his arm, each blow rocking Lennox’s head from one side to the other as blood sprayed from his mouth and dotted the dirt.
Tovin pointed at Esme, “Haha! I told you! Be ready to pay up!”
“Shaddup ya little shit! Lennox is still winning!”
Lennox stumbled along behind Hallwin’s hand, shoes sliding against the road, yet his knees remained steady enough to keep him standing.
Esme cupped her hands around her mouth, exclaiming, “Lennox! You better not lose, idiot! It’ll be embarrassing!”
Tovin looked at Esme. “He’s your friend, are you gonna help if he loses?”
“Ha! I don’t do friends, I just met him. And if I fight that big musclebound dickhead, I might accidentally kill him, so I wanna avoid that. That’s why I need Lennox to win.”
Tovin and the other children stared at her and pointed at her, saying:
“She said a curse word!”
“She said two!”
Esme shrugged. “Yeah? And?! I’m grown, dammit!”
Hallwin dragged Lennox toward him again, intending to drive another punch into his face, yet Lennox suddenly dropped his body beneath the incoming strike, letting the fist pass above his hair as he stepped into Hallwin’s reach and drove his fist straight into the center of his stomach.
The impact produced a deep THUD that seemed to shake the surrounding road, a gust of wind racing between them as Hallwin’s eyes widened and a pool of blood spilled from his mouth.
Lennox seized Hallwin’s arm before he could recover, yanked him toward himself, and drove his other fist directly into Hallwin’s face with enough power to send the larger man crashing into the ground.
His body struck with a very loud crack, dirt jumped from the road, and a fresh crater formed beneath his shoulder as wind rushed through the surrounding grass.
And of course because of that, the children went insane.
“LENNOX WON!”
“PAY UP!”
“GIVE ME MY ROCKS!”
“I BET ON HIM!”
Esme immediately gathered her winnings. “Hand over the sticks, Tovin!”
Tovin reluctantly dumped the sticks into her hands. “Dang it.”
Esme counted her rocks with a satisfied grin. “Pleasure doing business.”
The green-haired girl finally stood from beneath the awning and walked toward them with tranquil steps, tranquil due to her personality and movements; her white dress brushing against her ankles as she regarded the crater in the ground, the scattered weapons, and Hallwin lying several feet away.
“Are you two done?” She said with a little smile.
Lennox looked toward her, “I am if he is.”
‘When the hell did she pop up? She’s quiet….’
Hallwin suddenly stood fast, almost as fast as a flying arrow, and honestly, it was shocking.
Lennox screamed like a girl and immediately hid behind the green haired girl. “AH!”
Several recruits burst into laughter, and Lennox slowly peeked around the girl’s shoulder.
“Why the hell did you stand up like that?!” Lennox added.
Hallwin didn't reply at all, he just walked over, blood still running from his nose. He lowered himself onto one knee before Lennox.
“You have earned my respect. I can see conviction even behind your recklessness, Lennox. I do not know what awaits us in these trials, and perhaps none of us truly understand what Alpam intends to test, but I wanted to see whether you were tough enough to continue after what happened with Sugrid. Your hand should have been ruined when he stopped your punch with his foot. I did not want you leaving this trial before we even had the chance to discover what it meant.”
“Babysitting. I hate babysitting. That’s it. I almost left, I probably would’ve came back eventually. But…”
Hallwin was satisfied with the small answer, and so he extended his hand. “Friends.”
Lennox stared at it like it was poison, saying, “I don’t do friends…I’m not good with them… allies I guess.”
They shook hands, and Hallwin immediately pulled Lennox into a massive bear hug.
CRACK!
“AGH!” Lennox’s back popped. “GHHK!”
The children and recruits doubled over laughing as Lennox squirmed helplessly inside Hallwin’s arms.
Then, Esme pointed at Lennox with a wicked smile, “Haha! You like men!”
“I don’t! I like women! This bastard hugged me!” Lennox replied.
The green-haired girl covered her mouth and chuckled, and that was enough to have Esme look toward her.
“So. Who are you? A random Parley wanting to be a Paladin? This is new.”