Chapter 20: Only Three Hits!
Sam, Calista, and Lazula napped for a few hours, and then woke up to take another bath, change their bedsheets, and eat some dinner. Eventually, they were back in bed and fell asleep again.
That night, Sam had a dream that he was a dragon flying over Ravager’s Roost. He wasn’t being destructive or attacking anyone, he was just gliding under the night sky peacefully, flapping his wings, feeling the ocean breeze against his scales. The following morning, after they arrived at the Arena, he explained the dream to Koga.
"I feel like it’s tied to my limit break from yesterday," the teen speculated. "In my dream, being a dragon felt similar to that first time when I Awakened, but this time, I was calm and in control. Now I’m suddenly able to sense that Dragon Form just out of reach, just beyond my grasp. That’s the first time I’ve felt it since the initial transformation."
"You’re making progress," Koga said with a proud smile. "But I would use caution before calling upon that form. From what you told me about the first time, you didn’t really have any control over what you did while transformed. A berserker state, essentially. Even if you were able to control it in your dream, we don’t know how it would play out in real life. We wouldn’t want what happened in Luminary’s Landing to happen again here."
"Agreed," Sam said with a nod. "I need to learn to control it before unleashing it in a populated area."
"When we resume training after the tournament, we’ll go to one of the smaller, uninhabited islands nearby so you can let loose," Koga explained.
"Okay, sounds like a plan!" Sam replied.
They were walking towards the bleachers, when Sam and Marmalade passed each other. Same as the day before, they were all wearing the black martial arts combat suits, albeit clean again and free of damage.
"Hey dude!" he greeted the orange cat. "Congratulations on getting into the quarterfinals!"
"You too, man!" Marmalade replied as the two gave each other a fist bump. "You saw who my first opponent is?" he asked, then gestured with a thumb over his shoulder towards the white catgirl.
Sam looked and then grinned. "The speed rivalry lives on!"
Marmalade laughed. "Haha! It sure does!"
"Well man, good luck out there today!" Sam said.
"Yeah dude, you too!" the cat replied.
Soon they were all sitting in the bleachers, and the announcer called up the first two combatants. "And now, we shall begin the first match of the quarterfinals! Ladarsa L’Suvius versus Salamir Eventaed!"
As the two of them stepped up onto the combat ring, Sam realized that Salamir was the satyr who had called them losers in the dungeon. A cocky smirk was planted on his face as he looked at his opponent and did a slit throat motion with his thumb. Ladarsa, meanwhile, looked calm and serious.
The announcer continued. "Unlike in the dungeon, there are no weapons or external magicks allowed during the match! This is a test of pure hand-to-hand combat prowess! There will be a five minute timer! If an opponent is not knocked out or out of bounds when the timer hits zero, then the judges will decide the winner!" He pointed to a group of people in the front row of the bleachers. They each had a little writing table in front of them with a scroll, quill, and ink bottle.
"Alright... Ready! Set! FIGHT!" the announcer yelled out, then bolted out of the ring.
Salamir kept his cocky smirk, bouncing back and forth on his hooves with his fists held up in front of him. He punched the air a few times to show off while Ladarsa just stared at him calmly.
"How are you gonna win without your precious blood magic?" Salamir asked in a demeaning voice, circling around Ladarsa to taunt him. He was still bouncing back and forth between his hooves and periodically punching the air. "Do you even have any real fighting abilities? I bet you just shit yourself when the referee said no external magic! Are you gonna say anything?"
Ladarsa just stood there, not even taking on a combat stance. His arms were folded behind his lower back and he was still, but his red eyes were following Salamir’s movements closely.
"Uh oh, are you too scared to move?" the satyr said with a cackle. "Awww, poor baby! Are you gonna cry? Hahahahaaa-UGH!!!"
Right when Salamir threw his head back to laugh, Ladarsa rushed forward swiftly and punched him in the stomach so hard that the satyr slid back a few feet. He clutched his gut and hunched over forward, vomiting his breakfast onto the stone tiles of the ring. Ladarsa then charged him again, side-stepped the puke, and hit Salamir with an uppercut that sent the satyr flying across the ring.
Before Salamir could finish standing up, Ladarsa closed the distance between them and launched himself with a spinning corkscrew kick. His feet impacted hard with the satyr’s chest, sending him soaring out of the ring and into the bleachers with a loud crash.
"Salamir Eventaed is out of bounds!" The announcer cried out as he returned to the ring and grabbed Ladarsa’s hand, lifting it up into the air. "Ladarsa L’Suvius is the winner!" The crowd cheered.
Holy fuck, only three hits! He took him down in only three hits! Sam thought to himself. Healers that had been waiting on standby rushed over to check on Salamir, who appeared light-headed and confused. Meanwhile, Lucifer gave a proud smile to his son as Ladarsa returned to the bleachers.
"You did well, son," Lucifer said with a nod. "You kept your cool and eliminated the threat quickly and efficiently. Keep up the good work."
"Thank you, Father," Ladarsa replied. "I will."
"Oh he’s definitely making it to the final match," Lazula said with a chuckle. "So will you, Sam. But be careful when you face him."
Sam nodded with wide eyes. "He’ll probably be better prepared since he saw my power up yesterday in the dungeon."
"That’s why he defeated that guy so fast - to conserve energy for his fight with you," Koga added.
Sam nodded. "Yup, that makes sense."
"You’re definitely gonna beat him though," Calista said as she kissed Sam’s cheek.
"Totally!" he replied. In reality, he was a little worried. But he would do his best.