Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

Arjamith rushed at Wrik, baring the spear. Even though his right knee was bloody, it did not slow him down by any bit. The almost three-metre tall spear rushed towards Wrik, who did not run away like the last time. 

Wrik blocked the spear as the two of them joined in the duel again. Their mana was still sealed, so they could not sense properly the people coming towards them in numbers holding limelight lamps or oil lamps irrespectively of the kinds. 

Lily and the maiden and so the men under Arjamith located them and brought lights into the duel. In the lights, they could only see the silhouette of the person and the lights they were holding. The mist had deepened, and so was the darkness.

Lily and the maiden's expression brightened at seeing Wrik had not lost yet, but fighting on equal footing. Lily was coming forward to do her job as the Judge of the duel, but it appeared Wrik had other plans.

Arjamith was ruthless in his attack, but his injury in the knee restricted him more than he had thought. It saved Wrik the slight advantage he needed in agility in dodging or giving a quick blow. But all of that was not enough.

Wrik could not let his opponent in the flow while he could battle with the best of his abilities. If Wrik did that, then he might very well lose the duel. He still had no counter against the unification realm of spearmanship. If Wrik could use mana, then he could counter it for enough time, but that was another story.

Noticing the lights come closer, Wrik did not engage further and ran again. His legs moved downwards of the mountain with his fastest speed. He took the advantage of the slope of the mountain and let it give him a slide. Arjamith did the same as well and even with the heavy body, he was as quick as Wrik. Though he could not capitalise on it as Wrik took the lead.

"Did you only learn to run away, Outlander?" Arjamith shouted, noticing the figure of Wrik sliding further away from him. 

Wrik heard that, but refrained himself from commenting. His entire concentration was on the path. With problems with directions, he might have got lost already, if not for the markings and rehearsal—he put through.

It was not even ten minutes in the duel and he held the advantage here the further the battle would go, the worse the injury he dealt on Arjamith's would be. Moreover, he needs to buy time to succeed in his plan. 

Wrik used the sword as a guide to the ways. Even with no practice before today, Wrik was sliding like a champion. He finally stopped coming to a segue of trees. Leaving the sword strict on the snowy hard enough so that it would stand still, Wrik looked above when two crossbows dropped to him one by one.

Wrik caught both of the crossbows loaded with three arrows each. He did not have time to thank Davin, who supposedly gave him the crossbows. Sucking in a cold breath, Wrik steadied his right arm, which was still shaking due to using the sword against a man who had almost double the muscle power and he used quite a strength to guide the direction too.

Even though the shaking was only marginal, it was more than enough to hamper his aim. Archery is a skill that needs precision. Wrik shot the crossbow from his right arm first—his dominant arm. He located the huge guy falling and shot one after one. He did not care if the arrow hit him where it needed—there was another person to do that.

Another arrow shot towards Arjamith, but it came not from where Wrik was standing, but above. It came from above from the trees. It was Davin who gave the crossbows To Wrik, but he was not the one that took the shot. The one who shot the arrow was Sitara, an expert in this job. 

Even though she had used no mana to imbue in the arrow, it pierced right into Arjamith's chest. And Sitara did not stop at one. She shot a couple more before choosing to run away from here. Her job was done, and she did more than Wrik had hoped from her. 

At first, Wrik thought about using Jacob, but later changed his mind, as Anton would need Jacob's help. Other than there was only Aeriel and Sitara who were two expert in archery, but he could not ask the maiden as the people of the Mah'shai clan were known for obeying the regulation even harder their life. And more, Arjamith was her brother. How would Wrik ask her to secretly injure Arjamith during the duel?

And with the circumstances they were in, Aeriel might have agreed with the plan, but it would be breaking one of the codes of her clan. In the end, Sitara was the only one he could choose, and she did her job properly. 

Wrik looked at the huge guy and finally stopped sliding. Arjamith slowed down at his pace when he was only a dozen yards away from Wrik. He was about to get up, and saw Wrik was smiling at him, raising the crossbow.

Arjamith cursed in his mind, and tried to roll from the path of the arrow, but it was too little of a distance for Wrik to miss. Even without much skill in archery, the short arrow pierced Aramith's back. It pierced the light armour he was wearing. Even though it was not even to cause any fatal injury, it did more than enough to make him feel the pain.

"I never play a game where I have no chance of winning," Wrik repeated quietly. He did not go after the fellow, giving him enough time to compose himself again. 

Arjamith stood up. He felt the agonising pain in the knee and the discomfort in the chest. The three arrows that pierced him on the chest hurt him more than the ones Wrik had just used. He did not see clearly how the arrows pierced him, but he could tell it was not a work of Wrik. Without being a master archer, none could deal with such heavy arrows. 

"I thought," Arjamith said, grasping his spear hard. "You would honour the duel." 

Wrik tilted his head a little towards Arjamith. "Why would I want to do that?" Wrik asked. 

"I guess, the elders were right, there was no honour left in the outlanders." 

"Oh please, I do not want to hear anything about honour from you," Wrik sneered. "What you have done so far in the trial was more heinous than the little tricks I pulled here. You have enslaved hundreds of folks unrespectable of their gender. I know, most of them were not innocent, but they don't deserve that.

I know everyone is doing that, and even the authorities were allowing it, but that does not make it fair. I know your Mah'shai clan allows slavery, but have you ever tried to stop it? Or you think it is an acceptable practice? Before talking to someone else about Honour, look into yourself or else you would be nothing but a hypocrite." 

Wrik said all that in one breath and he was not finished. He sucked in another deep breath and continued with his coldest tone. In between his speech, Wrik did not notice the white light flashing in his eyes even though his mana was sealed. 

"And Slavery is the least of the problem here. Tell me honestly, how many lives of women have you destroyed in the test?" 

Arjamith cut in between the speech. "I have not touched a single woman here in the test, outlander," he said. Coldness flashed in his eyes and his teeth were grounded.

"Then what about the other Borgemen?" Wrik said and finally noticed his emotion was heightened more than he limited himself. And he also learned he could see more clearly now. [Eye of Insights] was triggered when his emotion heightened abnormally. Wrik did not know how he could use this ability without mana, but he did not have time to ponder now. 

Arjamith could not answer Wrik's question and stand silently in the snow.

"Tell me, are the other Borgemen like you or are there a few black sheep among them? Are all the slaves like you, did not touch any women without their consent?" Wrik continued. His voice was less imposing than before, but the words he spoke were still as heavy. "Do not tell me it is not your responsibility. You are the leader of the men and if they committed any crime, then it was your responsibility and so was theirs.

"You are as condemned as them for the crimes."

Wrik spat on the ground. The fellow in front of him maybe honourable in his way of conduct, but he was still naive if he thought like that.

"Enough of talking," Wrik said. He noticed groups of silhouettes coming towards them. Lily in the forefront while others were behind her. Wrik did not know if they had heard his speech, nor did he care now. "You want a one-on-one clash between us? I will give you now, but do not ask for fairness. This duel was unfair to begin with."

The two duellist stood in the middle and Arjamith's men encircle so that Wrik could not run again. Lily came in, frowning, but she said nothing. 

The duel continued.

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End of the chapter: Honour

Next Chapter: Cheakmate.