Chapter 4: Unforseen Outcome
Few minutes after Venkix and Tharn left…
Vireladon looked towards the centre of the cavern, there were currently 6 tribesmen fighting each other with their fists. The First round was already in session, a lot of elders and hatchlings watched the competition with bathed attention. A few of the hatchlings even tried to join the competition, and the elders karate chopped their heads and proceeded to scold them.
Looking across from his spot, he noticed that Raathos was staring directly at him. Once she noticed him looking at her, she sent a teasing look that infuriated Vireladon a little, he knew his chance of winning against her was slim. He focused on a prolonged style of fighting that focuses on damaging the opponent as much as possible, while on the other hand, Raathos focused more on ending the fight as quickly as possible. She would probably try to reserve her strength and energy while letting her opponent tire out before dealing the final blow. As much as Venkix loved them, he had tried to show no favouritism but both of their abilities and talents were pure gems that he couldn’t help discreetly make a friendly rivalry between the two.
Although it did create a gap between their followers, as a cautious move, Venkix equally separated those that were loyal to him and sent them on both sides as an early warning system, checking possible signs of infighting. The idea was solid and had already shown its usefulness when Venkix stopped 3 attempted infighting. Going back to the topic at hand, Vireladon growled softly, his competitive spirit beginning to show before he moved his gaze to the rocky arena below. His followers behind him were talking and boasting to one another on how they were gonna take a spot. But He personally knew that at most, only 8 will be able to get positions if he played his strategy right and certainly knew that his younger sister was also thinking the same thing.
Meanwhile, Dredlinor glowered in a random corner. Watching the battles with an analytical eye. Judging the losers as things that lost their honours and subsequently treated them as nothing but rolling pebbles. ‘This tribe has differed from the ways of the ancestors.’ He naively thought, believing in the old ways of battle to the deaths. Believing the fact that with the price of one's life can cause one to grow past their limits even if it strains them.
A dangerous flower has grown in Micheal’s garden, one that if left to its devices, has the ability to unmake everything he has accomplished.
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Somewhere…
In a large clearing, trees strewn and broken everywhere. The trunks cracked and somehow appeared torn while others were bent and splintered. Something large had passed through here, causing wet ground making trails of trenches. With faded talon tracks before being covered by something big dragging itself on the floor. A loud bellowing groan echoed throughout the forest, the towering trees creaking and groaning or even falling down with a loud cry. Followed by the rumble of the ground and the wet sound of mud with a large long form being dragged forward.
Its body is covered in smooth but thick skin, no fur or scale or feather in sight but singular strands of hair that flows with the wind. The unknown beast had a large maw, built like a boulder, covered by multiple layers of rock that stuck to it and on the top of its head was filled with solid jagged horns. The beast turns around and focuses on something before it lets out another bellow and unlike its physical capabilities, it jumps high as possible before curling into a ball the size of a large boulder and begins to roll towards its destination.
Wherever it rolled, was left with a large trench left with fallen or bent trees. In the far distance, a black jagged mountain peeked bathed in light and a little snow at the top of its peaks.
—
Back to the tribe…
Vireladon stood up, his chatting followers behind him turned silent, even the fights below were slowly stopping as every combat-related tribesmen was looking at him. Vireladon turned to his left and proceeded to walk to nearby rocks before he walked down on them with grace and power as each step down, he released his entire presence. Flexing his muscles and hands while his tail rose up as straight as possible and began to swing from side to side.
He was flexing every part of his body so he can use it as a weapon in his fights without his spears. Once he reached the rocky arena, the fighters stopped theirs and moved to hug the walls. Even if they are fighters, they know that no one amongst them can beat him in what he is best at. [Finally!] Everyone looked towards the direction of the voice. Dredlinor moved away from his corner and with no hesitation jumped down on the arena, his landing managed to create a small indentation on it before using one of his feet to brush aside the rocks in front of him. His presence was dwarfed with Vireladon’s presence but his was filled with the essence of a Beast. The complete opposite of Vireladon’s Deadly Elegance. Dredlinor moved closer to Vireladon, who in turn faced him. Both of them were the elites of the warrior’s, Their clash definitely was one to watch.
Vireladon narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brows, he had seen his opponent openly oppose his Father earlier. Even then, he has noticed some previous attempt to subvert some of Father’s plans to hurt his influence, this one definitely deserved a beating to submission. Vireladon didn’t pay attention to him in the past since his Father was always two steps ahead of anyone, always had plans if any failed. Cracking his knuckles, Vireladon stayed deathly silent; ignoring Dredlinor’s taunts and condescending words. He slightly tilted himself before using the split second loss of gravity as a boost, one second his body tilted and the next he crossed the distance between them.
Dredlinor’s face shifted to a look of shock, his body instinctively tensing and moving rigid to block an attack, when Vireladon was in reach he sent a jabbed to his rib. As a response, Dredlinor moved slightly to block but Vireladon intentionally missed, swerving his body to the side. And without missing a beat, Vireladon’s whip-like tail proceeded to hit him in the face, leaving a large gash and a sound of something cracking. Roaring from the sudden pain, Dredlinor swung wildly in front of him, targeting the vulnerable spots like ribs or armpits. Using his slightly shorter stature and lithe physique, he narrowly avoided the strikes even so his opponent managed to get a good hit at his lower ribs making him hop back a few steps and tenderly touch the area.
Vireladon’s stats were only half of Venkix, while Dredlinor’s were mostly focused solely on strength rivalling Venkix’s stats. Both of them stared at each other for a while, each holding or touching their bruises and injury yet maintained eye contact. [Truly, the son of the Chief also inherited his strength.] Dredlinor wiped away the slightly dark red blood dripping off his cheek before he proceeded to lick it off the rist of his upper left arm. [But you're not as strong or as fast]
The corner of Vireladon’s mouth twitched, his anger towards Dredlinor rising ever slowly. [I know what you are doing.] He replied, tilting his body slightly and adjusted his stance to focus on his speed. [Your tricks won’t work on me easily.] Without another vibration, Vireladon sprinted towards him like an arrow. As a response, he squared up his entire body before he squatted down. Planning to endure Viredalon’s attack, by crossing his upper arms on his face while his lower ones flexed and guarded his sides. He then felt a powerful hit on his right lower arm causing him to grunt before the sound of something whistling by before Dredlinor was pushed a few steps back. Following that was pain from his upper forearms, causing him to hiss.
Dredlinor peeked from between his upper arms and watched Vireladon’s tail whip back to him. The short distance between them was once again removed when Vireladon agilely circled around him, watching him warily, following his movements while his upper arms began to sting and bruise. Choosing to attack first this time, Dredlinor used his only possible advantage against Vireladon, his instincts. He felt his sense trickle to the right side of his head before he moved his head backwards and narrowingly dodged the tip of another tail attack, using his momentum, Dredlinor swiftly turned his body and sent his thick tail to Vireladon’s abdomen.
Vireladon tried to twist his body and hop over the attack but his previous attack made it impossible to do so. Tensing his muscles to absorb the impact to come, he hastily used his lower arms to cover his abdomen. Once the tail met his lower arms, Vire felt his bones ache in pain and bend. The ache was also covered with a direct hit to his stomach before he was thrown off to the side, the area underneath Venkix’s platform. Coughing up, Vire spat out a small amount of blood to the ground and heaved heavily. Growling softly, Vire proceeded to charge towards Dredlinor on all six, his doubaling his agility and neared the speed of a bullet.
Appearing to Dredlino’s left side, he hopped in the air before twisting his body and whipped his tail towards Dredlinor’s ribs. Roaring In pain with a long gash spurting out blood, he attempted to hit him but Vireladon dodged by hitting the ground with his tail and hopped over it. [Strength is not everything.] Vireladon looked at the scarred Xinzu before sending both his upper arms down to Dredlinor’s head, letting out a huge thwack before he dropped down to the ground. Landing properly, Vireladon felt exhausted, body screaming in pain while his lower arms were minorly fractured from Dredlinor’s last hit and the scales on his stomach cracked with a few blood leaking from the cracks.
The silence in the cavern was loud, every member of the tribe frozen in place, filled with awe and surprise. Then the silence was replaced with a singular sound of clapping causing everyone to snap out of their thoughts and look towards the source. Vireladon grimaced and let out an exhale of air, going down the steps to the fighting area, Raathos eagerly clapped while with each step echoed throughout the cavern. Her presence unseen and unfeeling yet carried a heavy pressure that ached everyone's minds. [Well done, Elder Brother, I thought Iwould make a move to take him out first.] She complimented with a soft grin to her mouth and slightly crescent eyes.
‘Round 2 then.’ Venkix thought to himself while he spectated on top of his platform, behind him was Tharn. Both of them only managed to see the final blow to Dredlinor. Tharn grinned to herself with hidden meaning in her eyes while Venkix narrowed his. ‘Show me the next chieftain.’
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A/N: Sorry for the late chapter, got sick last week and after I got better to finish this chapter I got bombarded with stuff to do. As much as I love college, I hate the fucking piles of work they give us >:(
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