Chapter 136: I’m ready
The room was bright, brighter than he expected. When he stepped in, only the Primarch was seated on a large chair at the end of the room.
It was as a large room, big enough to be a hall, infact, Jacob thought it was a great hall that was just converted to a throne room of some sort.
The walls were lined with portraits of different men, Jacob made them out as previous Wutherhorn Primarch’s, that was the only thing that made sense.
"Welcome Jacob." The Primarch welcomed him with outstretched arms, his voice bouncing off the walls, but he did not get up from his seat.
Heimdall stood in a corner, he had his hands and head bandaged as he stretched his body in very obscene ways, ways that Jacob did not think was possible for a man to do.
For his obvious old age, the man was very flexible, he bent his legs every which way, leaving Jacob amazed.
"Please dive your coat to Marilyn, you will not require it in this battle." The Primarch said as he gestured to the maiden that showed up behind Jacob, who hesitantly took of the large dark coat and gave it to the woman.
She bowed routinely and folded it on her arm, within ten seconds, she was out of the room.
"How are you feeling, boy?" The Primarch asked, neither Jacob nor Heimdall had said any words, or even acknowledged each other’s presence.
Jacob decided it best to leave the man to his training. He still have four hours to the battle, he contemplated on what he should do before then.
He subtly began to regret rushing over to the hall where the Primarch and Heimdall were, but there was no changing his mind, or returning to his room now.
"I’m feeling okay, sir. I already did my exercise this morning, ready for the challenge." Jacob responded.
"That’s what I like to hear! And please, call me Primarch. Calling me ’sir’ makes me feel like I’m a regular soldier in the ranks." The man said what seemed like a joke with a straight face, an indication that he wasn’t being sarcastic.
"Yes, Primarch."
"Great. Let’s get the preparations started."
_ _ _
After three hours and forty-five minutes, the men were finally ready to begin, Light’s family members began to troop into the room one after the other.
Jacob was pleased to see that both Yannick and Jonathan were okay and healthy, and bore no hatred towards Light at all.
They understood the fact that it was a tournament, and they understood the dangers of pushing someone to their limits. That didn’t mean they would let such humiliation go unanswered, they both knew the day would come when they would face their younger brother again.
During his discussion with the Primarch the previous week, Jacob has personally requested that his battle with Heimdall not be broadcasted in front of the entire estate as he didn’t want knowledge of his powers to be more widespread than it already was.
Therefore, only the immediate family of the Primarch was allowed into the hall to watch the fight. They numbered about twenty, including Xenia, who had already woken up from her nap, rejuvenated and ready to be a spectator.
"Cecilia, place a barrier around the battle arena, I don’t want these paintings to be destroyed." The Primarch instructed his wife with the wave of his hand.
Barrier spells were amongst the easiest to do in this world, even with little knowledge of magic, creating a barrier was a novice level spell. The more powerful your magic became, the larger the barrier. Hence why Jaran, with the help of Elena, was able to create barriers that spanned entire square meters, enough to engulf the entire Ironfell stronghold.
The woman nodded her head and walked over to the two men, who were now standing in the middle of the bright room. She raised her hand and the space where they both stood was instantly covered with a barely visible yellow dome.
It spanned about six meters away from each of the men, highlighting how grand the ball was. As a result of this, there was enough space for the men to have as much fun as they wished, without the fear of them destroying anything of value in the room.
There were about five minutes left. Heimdall and Jacob stood across from each other, Jacob took a deep breath and steadied himself, his face expressionless, his aura undeniable.
Heimdall was the same way, but there was a subtle feeling of nervousness welling deep beneath him.
"Are you ready Jacob?" Heimdall asked with a knowing smile on his face. He stood in his signature battle stance, it reminded Jacob of Kung fu, legs spread, knees bucked, one hand behind him, and his other hand stretched out towards Jacob. Heimdall saw no need for formalities as they were both now opponents, destined to face each other until one of them emerged as the victor.
The formalities will be dropped and left outside the barrier until the battle was won, or lost.
Heimdall had no doubt in himself, apart from the Primarch himself, he had never lost to anyone within or outside this estate, he hadn’t been in many fights either, but whoever faced him either never lived to tell the story, or came out completely scarred.
A fate he was willing to inflict on Jacob today.
He bore no ill will towards the boy, but it would serve as a boost in his resume if he defeated the only child of the Patriarch of Ironfell.
"I’m ready, Heimdall. The real question though, is are you ready?" Jacob said, rotating his arms, and pulling out his sword from his storage space.
"All my life, no one has ever asked me such a blind question." Heimdall said without flinching, he only maintained his stance with his eyes closed.
Jacob noticed something that made him rethink using a weapon, he noticed that Heimdall did not have any weapons; he instantly became tempted to make the fight a fair one.
’Oh! He doesn’t use weapons, surely there’s no need for me to use one then.’ Jacob mused as he quickly returned Excalibur to its dwelling place.