From the outside, just looking at the two, there was a clear size difference and most likely an apparent age gap as well. With the age gap, it meant one would more likely have more experience. And judging from the man's few practice swings, he was a skilled Knight—him declaring it just confirmed that fact.

  Some felt sorry for the poor boy, who perhaps just wanted to come in to earn a few coins to have a good meal for the night. At the same time, others were upset at Monk. For wasting their time watching what could have been considered a good fight.

  Still, the taunts from the crowd were expressed loudly, and Monk could hear it all, but he chose to ignore it. Blocking it out and only concentrating on one thing. This concentration was what made him become the best in the Black Sash night, Avrion had ever seen, when it came down to just pure training skills.

  "Begin!" A man shouted, and the fight had started.

  The former knight continued to show off by swinging his sword around in circles and then switching it from one hand to another. The crowd gasped in response while a few of the more experienced ones chuckled, thinking it was a bit cheesy.

  "What a show-off."The sword user said who had found Monk.

  "Don't worry. We know what happens to showmen off the field. They do well for a few days, and then they end up taking on too much and end up dying in the process." The spear user said. "And look at the kids eyes. He's not concerned or worried one bit about this man."

  Walking forward with the wooden sword, Monk took a single swing, before reaching him. "Weight, speed, balance." He mumbled to himself. That was all he needed to gauge how heavy the sword was, how fast his trike would be, if he was to block, move or attack.

  Inching his way closer, the man stopped showing off and started to focus himself. He continued to swing the sword about but now was in a defensive style. Moving it about in an S shape in front of himself. It was a style that focused on parrying the first attack and then counter-attacking straight after.

  "Ah, I know that style, it's from the cobra snap school!" someone from the crowd shouted. "I hear knights at a certain level get taught it, he must have been quite a high ranking official in his past then."

  "Now you're making me feel sorry for the kid, why is he bothering to go all out against someone like this." Another said.

  Seeing the strange movements didn't bother Monk one bit and instead when he was in striking distance, he threw an attack down from the side towards the man's ribs.

  The man quickly moved his sword in place, ready to whip and parry the strike away, before snapping with his own attack, but as his sword was about to connect with Monk's, suddenly it looked as if the attack phased through the very sword itself.

  'Damn, did I mess up, I guess I am a little out of practice.' The man thought. 'I'll just have to take the hit and still attack back.'

  A strike from someone of Monk's size shouldn't have hurt at all, but Monk wasn't just throwing a normal attack, he was throwing one infused with Ki, reinforcing the wooden sword so it wouldn't snap and making his strike more powerful.

  As it hit the man's ribs, a cracking noise was heard, and his feet were slightly lifted off the floor. The impact had made a loud, banging noise like a whip.

  The man felt the blow was so powerful, his eyes would pop out from his head, and before he could even react, the next strike had come from above hitting him on the head.

  Although, Monk did allow himself to hold back with his last strie, causing the man to fall to the floor.

  A few seconds of silence had passed, but in the next moment, they were full of cheers. They didn't care about his age or size; they just wanted to see an intense fight, and they had witnessed it there and then.

  After the fight was over, the sword and spear users took him off to their side and told him to continue watching the rest of the fights. He was to stay here until night time when they would kick out all of the participants. They offered him a few drinks but he refused as he wanted to focus on what was going around them.

  The three of them were now standing near the back as the other two were drinking and observing. A strange middle-aged man had come and approached them from the side and decided to stay near Monk.

  "You're not drinking? It's on the house." The man said.

  "I don't drink, it makes the reaction speed slow down, and you never know when there might be a beast attack happening." Monk replied.

  "True, but that doesn't matter if one was to use Ki to dispel the poison, I'm sure you could easily do that." The man said, with a smile looking at Monk.

  'He noticed, he must be quite strong this man,' Monk thought.

  "But what's the fun in that?" The man replied back taking a sip from his drink.

  The fight continued and it was the last fight of the evening, the two men who were with Monk were genuinely enjoying every last bit of it, while Monk, now he was more interested in the mysterious man who stood by his side.

  He had black hair that was tied back and on his face a moustache with a goatee. It reminded Monk of the many nobles he used to see in the past.

  The fight had eventually come to an end and it was time to kick out everyone who either hadn't passed the tryouts or wasn't a part of the Dark Guild from the inn. That's when Monk noticed how many people were actually here just to watch the fight. As the crowd dispersed, the remainders started to clean up the place.

  "Now everyone's gone, how about a match of our own." The mysterious man said. "I can see you're interested in me, it's hard to hide with those piercing eyes of yours young boy……"

  Now with everything a lot quieter, the two stood by the bar could hear the other voice and turned to look at who it was. When they saw, they immediately bent down on their knees. "We're sorry, sir, we didn't notice your arrival." They said.

  While one of them tugged on Monk's sleeve trying to get him to do the same. But Monk would never bow down to a stranger, only one he owed something to.

  "You idiot, don't you know who that is? That's the Dark Guild's leader, Morfran."

  Hearing this name, caused terrible memories of the tournament to surface in his mind, his blood boiling as he remembered how so many people had died that day.

  "Come on, let's do it!" Monk said.

  ****

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