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CHAPTER 27

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After warning me about Kakla, Master Kami returned to stand by Lord Pyrrat's side. I quickly stretched my muscles, doubting that I would get the chance to warm up as thoroughly as my opponent had. The whole time I was warming up, Kakla stared at me with intent. His determination to defeat me oozed from him like a thick mist. I did my best to ignore him and finished warming up before grabbing a spear from the selection of weapons that had been laid out for me; it was a high-quality spear, the shaft made from steel rather than wood. As a result, it had a significant weight, but would not break easily if I used it to block.

As I moved to the centre of the room, I watched Kakla pick up a sword. It was sheathed in a black, lacquered scabbard. He didn't wear the weapon at his hip, or across his back, instead he held the scabbard in his right paw. We stood across from one another and I drew on my nen. I wasn't going to hold back against him. I readied myself and he did as well; his left paw resting on the hilt of the sword he held in his right paw.

"BEGIN!" Pyrrat commanded.

I stood firm, taking a defensive stance. If I was the underdog in this fight then it would be better for me to wait and see what I was dealing with. Only he didn't move either. He didn't so much as draw his sword. I noticed that he was focused on his breathing. Good breath control was essential to any warrior, but this was different. I had heard rumours of his signature attack, an overpowering sword strike that had been dubbed as 'Thunder Clash'.

If he was preparing to use that then waiting was not my best option. However, he might be waiting for me to make the first move, attempting to lure me in with his inaction. I reached out to the flow, to get a feel for the situation at paw. The flow was steady, not swaying one way or the other. We were at a stalemate. With no signs of trickery in the flow I decided to make the first move.

I charged forwards. The moment I took my first step the flow shifted suddenly against me. I had never felt such a powerful shift in the flow before! He reacted the moment I took my first step! He sprinted forwards with incredible speed. It was all I could do to spin my body to the left and bring the shaft of my spear up to block the swing of his sword. A swing I didn't see, but I had instead sensed with the flow! I hadn't seen him draw the blade, but I certainly felt it connect. The impact sent a shudder up my arms and I felt myself being pushed back as the blade of his sword pressed against the shaft of my spear, and a thunderous sound rang out from the impact, resonating around the chamber almost deafeningly.

The force of his blow forced me to take a step to the side, as his momentum carried him past me. He quickly managed to bring himself to a stop and unleashed a flurry of attacks I was barely able to block using the shaft of my spear. Each blow was incredibly powerful; but was nothing compared to the first which I was certain was his signature move; the thunder clash! If I had been a split second slower, I'd have lost an arm from that strike of his!

After parrying five of his blows following his first, I was completely overwhelmed. That first blow had not only caught me off guard, but it had pushed me back. And ever since then I had been retreating under the pressure of his offence. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been pressured like this! Even with my nen enhanced speed and strength, I was being overpowered! He suddenly leapt up, sword overhead. It was all I could do to bring my spear up to block.

The force of the impact forced me down to one knee. Not only that but his blade cut clean through the shaft of the steel spear. I was momentarily stunned as I tried to process what had just happened. Before I could react he followed up with a reverse round-house kick, striking me in the muzzle. Stars flashed in my vision from the impact. My head snapped skywards as I fell. Mid-fall I managed to recover my wits; a little too late to prevent a clumsy landing. I quickly shook off the blow and scrambled to stand up.

Kakla hadn't moved to attack and allowed me to stand. He was standing, sword readied; waiting. I looked down at the now ruined spear. How had he cut through steel?! I stared at the cut and suddenly realised that there was no nicks or scratches on the shaft, except for around the cut. Each and every blow, from the first to the last, had struck the spear with near perfect accuracy on the same exact spot. But even that shouldn't have been enough to cut through an inch of solid steel! I glanced at the blade of his sword. Even after impacting solid steel with such force there was no signs of damage. That was no ordinary blade.

I tossed the now ruined spear aside and readied to fight bare pawed. To my surprise however, Kakla sheathed the blade of his sword and then tossed it aside. He was going to fight unarmed as well. I don't know if he was just trying to mess with me, or if he was just that confident in his abilities. I had no doubt that he was going to be pawful, but hopefully my nen would allow me to gain an advantage over him in a fist fight!

We assumed our stances. We were just two short strides away from one another, but neither of us moved to engage. Instead I watched his every move, and he watched mine. I would see him raise his right elbow slight, and lengthen his stance by an inch, and in response I modify my stance minutely in order to counter his. He would then adjust to my adjustment, and vice versa. This went on for what seemed like an age, but in truth was less than a minute.

To the casual observer we were simply standing off against one another, but in truth our fight was well underway. Normally I never had to focus on such fine details. The only ones I'd ever truly needed to do this against was Master Kami and Master Jun'lao.

All the while I had been reading the flow, but it was suddenly erratic. Unreadable. I had only sensed this once before. Back during my Hakar, I had fought a large drake by the name of Gruag, of the Kruakku tribe. He had been chosen to be my opponent specifically due to fact that he made the flow unreadable. But that didn't make sense here. I had been able to read the flow clearly before. If I hadn't, I'd have been seriously injured by Kakla's first attack. Unless... he could freely disrupt the flow at will?! Could he do that?!

I took a tentative half step forward, closing the distance between us. I wasn't willing to risk charging in aggressively in case he intended on countering as he had in the beginning. We were now a mere half step outside of striking distance of one another. I took that last step and led with a fast, left jab. He shifted minutely, barely enough for my attack to miss and then struck with his own attack; a straight punch aimed for my throat. I managed to twist my body out of the way to avoid it, but the angle of the attack had made it extremely awkward since I was still mid jab when he attacked. As a result of this once again I was on the retreat as he unleashed a torrent of fast jabs at me.

I blocked most of them, but a few made it through, striking me in the muzzle, chest and shoulders; the rest striking my arms as I attempted to parry and block. He finished off his barrage with a straight kick to my chest, which I blocked using my arms; I staggered backwards a few steps and caught my balance. He didn't advance on me. He remained where he was, exhaled and then inhaled deeply as he resumed a new ready stance.

How was he over whelming me like this? Using my nen I could keep up with his speed. His attacks were powerful, but not overwhelmingly so. His technique was flawless. It was simply a perfectly executed series of attacks, with exceptional timing. That first punch of his forced me dodge awkwardly, putting me off balance and giving him the advantage. Thinking on that now, I don't think that it had been a lucky punch. It had been timed perfectly, that was why he had waited for me to make the first move. Both times we had engaged now I had been the first to move, and both times he opened with a counter strike.

I doubt that I could attack in any way that could prevent him from attempting a counter strike. Then I had two options. Allow him to attack first. Or take the initiative and try and prevent him from throwing me off balance. He was waiting for me. He was in no rush. But his eyes told me that he had every intention of destroying me. At this point it was likely I wouldn't be able to beat him in a contest of martial arts, even when using my nen. Using my bending skills would change the landscape of this fight. But I wanted to land at least one decisive hit before I resorted to that. For my own pride if nothing else. I had an idea, it was a dumb idea, but he might not expect it, and if it worked it would create the opening I needed. It was risky, and it would only work one time, if it worked at all!

I charged in, throwing a right punch at the side of his head, using the momentum of my swing to twist my body, so that my arm hid my throat, which had been his target last time, with my arm, making it a difficult target. He weaved round my attack, just as I predicted and immediately opened with a counter, an amazingly swift move where he ducked down, and came at me from low down, with a powerful right hook. Normally that attack would leave most opponents sprawled out across the floor. But I had managed to focus my nen in order to dampen the effectiveness of that attack. My head was snapped to the right from the impressive force of the blow; perfectly timed to used my own momentum against me.

It was only a split second, but as I stared at him through my left eye, his fist still pressed into my muzzle, I watched as the subtle smile of his, from executing that perfect attack, vanish. I had predicted his move, and managed to brace myself so that his attack had little effect. Our gazes met and there was a wave of mild surprise in his eyes. It was that split-second moment of surprise I had been hoping on, and I made my move.

I grabbed his forearm to prevent him from pulling away, threw my right arm over his right shoulder, grabbed his neck and pulled him forwards while also kicking his right leg from under him. He fell to one knee and I quickly locked in the Grimlock Arm Lock; a move taught to all Rukan'dokra. His arm was now pinned against my chest and right shoulder, my right paw pressing down on the back of his neck, my left paw grasping my right arm, locking his arm against me.

His arm was now locked in an extended state, and he was unable to use the arm to garner any leverage to help him break free. This standing arm lock difficult to escape from, usually requiring the victim to slip free before it was fully locked in, or to overpower the one executing the hold. But Kakla did not have that kind of size and strength on his side. He was strong, but not so strong that I think he could come close to over powering my regular strength with the leverage I had on him now, never mind my nen enhanced strength.

There was not much he could do right now that wouldn't result in him breaking his arm. I expected him to struggle, and try and fight free. He may even succeed. But he will waste far more energy doing so than I would maintaining the hold. Even if he did eventually manage to squirm free, he would waste much of his stamina attempting to do so.

There was a sharp tug followed by a loud pop, that echoed round the chamber. I felt the tension in his right arm slacken, and was aware of him beginning to move. Before I could work out what had happened, he had grabbed my arm and leapt up, wrapped his legs around my head and neck. Suddenly, with his full bodyweight dragging me forwards, I was sent flying onto the flat of my back.

The impact stunned me for a moment, forcing me to relinquish the grip I'd had on his arm, and forced some air out of my lungs as I hadn't been able to prepare for the landing. I could do nothing for a few moments but cough violently and try and catch my breath. I rolled over and tried to stand up. As I moved, I glanced over at Kakla, who was also tenderly picking himself up. His right arm hanging limply. He had deliberately dislocated his shoulder! He hadn't hesitated to do it! He hadn't struggled in order to find another way out, instead he had immediately dislocated his arm in order to escape. Just what the hell motivated him to go to such lengths!?

As I managed to get back up, I heard another pop. Kakla had an expression of agony, as he had just popped his shoulder back into place. He was tenderly moving his right arm, it had some limited movement, but if he pushed it too far his muzzle would curl up in pain. He saw that I was once again standing, and took a fighting stance. His stance obviously an attempt to defend his right side. He was hurt, he had to have known that dislocating his shoulder would cause some serious lasting pain for the course of this fight. An injury like that would be a weak spot for me to target, but that simply made him that much more dangerous; like a wounded animal.

"You're tough. I'll give you that much!" He smiled. It was obvious that he was enjoying this. But his determination to win was still evident in his gaze. "I won't fall for the same trick twice!"

He took the offensive, for the first time this fight he wasn't looking for a counter strike. He opened his assault with a jumping, spin kick. I blocked the kick, stepped backwards to avoid the following sweeping kick. After avoiding the sweep, I stepped forwards and threw a right hook, he moved at the last possible moment to avoid my blow, shoulder barging me away and then striking me in the torso three times with fast jabs before I could catch my balance.

The jabs held no real force in them, so I was easily able to regain my balance and attack in return. Our exchange was fast and chaotic. He moved so perfectly I couldn't land a single blow. He would strike me with weak fast jabs, and the occasional kick. His jabs were strange, they held little to no force, but they were insistent, repetitive and relentless, but they did little more than annoy me.

He had me outclassed, that much was clear. He was landing dozens of these light blows, but I could barely graze him. Each time I tried to hit him he would move with perfect timing and precision, with the smallest amount of movement to avoid my blow, that on a couple of occasions I wasn't sure how I'd managed to miss him. Was he just trying to mess with me, while proving just how much better he was than me? Eventually he stopped lightly hitting me, and then caught one of my punches in the flat of his palm, and before I knew it he had me down on my knees, my arm twisted uncomfortably behind me.

It was not as secure a hold as the Grimlock arm lock that I had him in earlier, but he would undoubtedly make this as difficult as possible for me if I tried to force my way out. It was painfully obvious that when it came to martial arts, even with my nen as an advantage, he was the superior fighter. If I was to have any chance then I would have to use every advantage I had!

I gathered a dense pocket of air in my palm, using the moment to ready my attack. He didn't seem to notice, likely since he couldn't sense my nen, until I pointed my palm at him. His eyes went wide with realisation, but was too late. My air burst struck him in the chest and he was blown backwards. I stood up and turned to face him. He stood up with a scowl.

"I'm done playing your games!" I declared and drew on the full extent of my nen.

As my nen flared I was suddenly immobilised by pain. The pain emanated from my arm and chest. My nen wasn't flowing properly through my body, gathering in large quantities in those locations. I hadn't noticed the slow build-up of nen in those areas, but drawing on the full extent of my nen had caused the effect to be immediate. What the hell was happening to me!?

"About damn time!" Kakla huffed. "You have a hell of a tolerance!"

He had done this!? When?! How!? Of course, all those light jabs. He hadn't been trying to injure me, or irritate me. He had been targeting specific points on my body to restrict the flow of nen, to cause this exact effect. He wasn't hurrying to try and stop me, and I had all but stopped drawing on my nen now just to keep the pain at a tolerable level; but it was still painful as my nen slowly flowed through the points he struck me.

"How!?"

"A little trick I picked up." He smirked. "I may not be blessed with the power of the gods like you k'tan or tai'lar, but I know how to turn your power against you! Now give up! Without your powers you don't stand a chance against me!"

I snarled in frustration and forced myself to stand; my body still racked with pain. He was right, I knew in a regular fight I didn't stand a chance against him. But if I used my nen the pain would make it impossible for me to fight at all! If only I could somehow clear the blockages causing my nen to back up! I had one chance. I suppressed my nen while drawing upon it at full strength at the same time; a technique taught to me by Master Jun'lao, known as Ren. This causes a surge of power to flood through you the moment you stop suppressing your kii, granting you a few moments of increased power. Normally I never had need of this technique, thanks to my unnaturally strong reserves of nen. But I hoped that the surge would clear the blockages he'd caused and allow me to resume fighting. If not, then I'd probably be incapacitated by the agony that was to ensue.

"What are you up to!?" He snarled.

"ARRGGH!!" I screamed as I unleashed the flood of nen through my body.

I was immediately struck by immense pain, my legs buckled and I collapsed. If the pain had been bad before this was far worse. It felt like I had red, hot pokers under my scales where my nen was being restricted. I tried to ignore the pain and continued to flood my system with nen in order to reverse the effects of his attacks. But to no avail. Eventually the reserve I'd created was depleted. Now overwhelmed by the searing pain in my arms and torso, I fell down to one knee.

"Did you really think you could simply force your way out your predicament?" He laughed. "This fight is over!" He turned and began to walk back to the others.

I didn't want it to end like this! I should have fought him using my bending from the start! I had gotten over confident when I'd managed to get one over on him earlier. Despite the warnings from Jun'bak and Master Kami, I'd thought I stood a chance beating him at his own game! I couldn't embarrass them like this! I couldn't let myself be beaten! I needed to be stronger than this!

'Then allow me!'

I heard a voice echo through my head. I closed my eyes and entered my mindscape. Waiting for me was the spirit. He was smiling gleefully, his crimson eyes glowing fiercely.

"You want to beat him? Then use my power!" He declared gleefully.

"And what do you want in return?!" I snapped back at him.

"Everything!" He cackled. "But right now, nothing. I simply wish you to sate your desire to win!"

I knew what he meant. He wanted me to use his power in order for me to win. Hoping that I would become reliant on his power. But I would have the last laugh!

"I'll take your power! For one day it will be mine!"

"Then prove it to me!"

And with that he faded from sight. I opened my eyes and saw the retreating back of Kakla. He thought this fight was over. I grit my teeth and drew on the spirits power, using the ren technique to boost its power and hope that the spirits power would be enough to break the effect. I unleashed the full power of the spirit through my system. The pain lasted for only a moment, immediately vanishing as the blockages he had created vanished.

I stood up, only the echo of my earlier pain remained, but the spirits power made that quickly vanish as well. I sent out a ripple of wind throughout the hall. Kakla stopped and turned after it washed over him. He stared at me with a look of surprised frustration. I glanced past him to Callen and the others. Lord Pyrrat seemed to intrigued. He had wanted a show? Then I'd give him a damn show!

"This fight is not over yet!" I declared.

I reached out to the wall mounted torches and drew on the flames, igniting my nen and created a fiery inferno around me. I fed as much of the spirits power into the flames as I could, causing them to grow at an immense rate, the flames turning blue as they burned hotter and hotter.

Kakla seemed to realise the situation he was in. He was slowly backing up, but I wouldn't allow him to escape! I shot the flames forwards, striking the ground to his right and then trailed them around, creating a wall behind him so that the only clear route was the one towards me. I certainly didn't want to kill him, but I wanted him to realise the difference between us. He may have been determined to defeat me to prove his superiority in spite of the fact that I could use nen and he couldn't. But this was my power, and just because I was born with it didn't mean I should be ashamed to use it!

I gathered the spirits power into a dozen wind spirits. As expected, the wind spirits power was magnified several times over. I fired them at him, unleashing a barrage of attacks that were invisible to the naked eye. The first one struck him, sending him tumbling to the ground. He tried to stand but was struck by another and another, striking him with great force each and every time. He was curled up on the ground, bearing the assault. He was completely over whelmed!

I let out a primal howl of pleasure. Unfolded my wind and allowed a nen bubble to form, and controlled the wind currents to lift me up into the air, where I hovered on the spot. I had been practising this move for a while now, but with the spirits power it was so easy! I formed a large wind blades in the palm of each paw, channelling the last of the spirits power into them.

Kakla was just now pushing himself up, looking rather beaten after that last barrage. He may not be able to sense my nen, but I could tell from his expression that he knew full well that he was in trouble! As I raised my paws to strike, he crossed his arms in front of him, I unleashed a wave of powerful wind at him, the blades striking him a moment later. His arms exploded in a shower of blood as they cut into his flesh. I heard him cry out in shock and pain.

I flew forwards at speed, tackling him up into the air and then threw him into a stone pillar. He struck the pillar with a fleshy thud and then fell ten feet to the ground below; a pool of blood forming below him as he lay there. I slowly lowered myself to the ground, staring at him the whole time. As I landed, he seemed to rouse and began to push himself up.

I allowed him to stand, and he turned to face me with a scowl. He was beaten, bleeding and clearly overpowered, but he still looked toon keep fighting. He raised his fists, blood pouring freely from the large gashes on his arms and shoulders; splattering audibly on the ground below him. His body was coated in blood now. I didn't understand how he thought he could win in that state! But I would not disrespect his resolve! I readied myself to fight.

"That will do!" Pyrrat's voice rang out.

We both turned to see the deity of fire saunter over with a smile on his muzzle. Kakla and I glanced back at one another. It was clear he wanted to continue the fight, but he reluctantly gave in to the orders of the deity he was in service to and lowered his fists. I did the same.

"An excellent fight!" He praised. "You both showed incredible skill and power!"

With the tension of the fight quickly leaving us I felt exhausted. Kakla looked ready to collapse but remained standing out of what I guessed to be stubborn pride.

"Thank you, my Lord." Kakla bowed.

"Go and have your injuries seen to." Pyrrat said softly with a gentle caress to the side of his muzzle, as if he was speaking to lover. Kakla nodded, bowed to him and then to me. I returned the bow and he turned and headed towards the Priests. "That power of yours..." Pyrrat made a noise of excitement. "Truly something to behold. With your affinity for flames, perhaps you will become my Champion someday. Unless of course my dear brother has already seduced you, so that you have eyes for no other!"

"Lord Pyrrat, I may one day become a Champion, but I have made no decisions as to what deity I will serve. If I even have a choice in the matter." I said respectfully.

"Glad to hear it!" He grinned, stepping uncomfortably close and trailed his talon gently down my chest. "I look forward to becoming better acquainted with you someday." His intentions were quite clear. He wanted me in his bed. I was flattered that he wanted me, but I wasn't interested.

"Perhaps one day we will." I said taking a step back away from him. "But today is not that day."

"Shame." He pouted. "But I shall look forward to it! Nonetheless you have proven your potential. As such I shall have to grant my subordinates request." I looked at him quizzically. "You shall be trained in the ways of the flame by one of my Champions! You fought well young drake! I shall look forward to hearing about your future exploits!"

As I stood there processing his words he turned and went over to Kakla and the Priests. Callen, Master Kami, Jun'bak and the others all approached me. Goku and the others kept a respectful distance behind Callen and Master Kami, despite the excitement I could see in their expressions; they didn't to show the proper respect to them.

"You did well." Callen smiled. "The spirit?"

"Silent." I confirmed. I had also used up the vast majority of the spirits power it had granted to me during the fight. What remained would dissipate in no time.

"Good." He glanced over his shoulder. "I will leave you in Kami's capable paws for the rest of the afternoon. I shall see you tonight." His tone with that last sentence told me he had every intention of taking me tonight. Likely he was a little jealous of his brothers flirting, and suggestive comments towards me.

I smiled as he turned and left. I turned my attention to Master Kami and Jun'bak.

"You got sloppy!" Master Kami said bluntly. "I warned you not to under-estimate him!"

"I'm sorry Master." I bowed my head.

"But you still won. I'm impressed you managed to use the spirits power so capably."

"Are you going to teach me again Master?" I asked with a smile I couldn't hold back.

"Unfortunately not. Another has been chosen for that task." I felt my heart drop at those words. I had hoped that they would once again become part of my life. "But I assure you that your new Master is far more powerful than I am. I have taught you the fundamentals. They shall teach you to master the flames!"

"I will look forwards to that Master." I smiled and bowed my head.

"Meet me at the Western training ground in an hours' time." He commanded. "Until then rest up." He smiled before whispering to me. "You have some good friends over there." He gestured behind him. "They wish to speak to you."

"I'll see you later Malakye!" Jun'bak said as he turned to follow Master Kami.

Once they were gone the others swarmed me.

"That was amazing!" Kero exclaimed. "I never knew you were so strong!!"

"I can't believe that Lord Pyrrat, and Lord Callen are both interested in you!" Jasmine swooned.

Goku just smiled at me, giving me a nod approval. They continued to congratulate me, asking me various questions about my fight as we left the chamber. I did my best to answer their questions in a way that they could understand, as only Goku was familiar with fighting.