The Invincible Hero 48 The Real Battle Begins!

Tower, Malkus, and Paneneko continued to stay in their tent until it was time for them to fight. Malkus was the first to fight, followed by Tower, and then Paneneko. Malkus drew near the fighting arena to face his opponent Kryin Volg.

Volg was already waiting in the battle arena. He was a tall and lanky young man. His hair was blond and tied up at the top with a tiny ponytail. He wore a male battle skirt and loose white pants with purple and yellow boots. He didn't wear anything on his upper torso.

Malkus walked up to the battle arena and waited in his designated corner. Volg was confident, that was for sure, but what about Malkus? Malkus could feel his blood boiling. It had been so long since he was in an actual battle and he couldn't wait to let loose. This Volg seemed like the perfect person for him to go all out on.

Each fighter examined his opponent. The command to fight was given, but instead of charging at each other the two men continued to look at each other studying the person for openings. Malkus began to smile at his opponent.

"I'll go first, " he said.

Malkus rushed forward and attacked Volg throwing a punch, an elbow, and a sidekick. Barely dodging this barrage, Volg attacked with a couple of jabs and a right hook. Fighting bare handed was much different than fighting with a weapon. Malkus felt that if he had a weapon this fight would already be over, even if he wasn't serious. Of course, that's what made this fight so interesting. You had to get close to your opponent and use humanity's earliest weapons, their fists, and feet.

Malkus was having fun with this battle. Most people would try to end the battle as soon as possible. For Malkus it had been so long since he fought he was enjoying the feeling of his body finding that battle rhythm. Malkus continued to trade blows with Volg who felt something was off.

Volg had left a few obvious openings and Malkus never went after them, not even using a probing attack. Did he know he was being set up? It didn't feel like that is what is going on. Instead, it felt more like his opponent was taking a stroll in the park and enjoying the flowers. This implied Malkus wasn't feeling any pressure from his opponent.

Volg, on the other hand, was greatly pressured by Malkus. He was just barely hanging on. He was looking for an opening to take advantage of. With the intensity of the battle, Volg could feel his stamina depleting. The battle was only five minutes in and Volg could feel he was reaching his physical limits. He didn't mind being knocked out or losing to a superior fighter, but losing by being toyed with?

Volg was getting more and more upset about how Malkus was treating this battle. It was now or never for Volg, he could only attack and hope to surprise the arrogant Malkus. Launching a flying front kick, Volg went all in with this attack.

It finally dawned on Malkus that his opponent wasn't as formidable as he was at the beginning of the bout. He sensed desperation. It was too bad, he was really enjoying the fight. Deciding to end the battle, Malkus saw the incoming flying front kick and simply caught Volg's foot and followed the flow of energy adding his own strength to the kick throwing Volg out of the ring. It was Malkus' win.

Malkus descended the battle arena and found his brother and Tower.

"It took you long enough," said Paneneko.

"You certainly seemed to enjoy playing around in there," said Tower.

"Ok, ok, sorry guys, it's just been so long since I've fought. I didn't want things to end too early.

The three men were continuing to chat without noticing that his opponent Volg was laying on the ground with his face smashed into the ground near them. Listening to the three friends talking about his loss in such light terms, Volg couldn't help but feel mournful. How long had he prepared for this match? To lose is one thing, but to lose by being played with and then discarded. "Can't you at least show some respect? At least give me a chance to pull my face out of the ground!" Volg cried to himself.

"Alright, it's my turn," Tower said.

Tower headed to his battle platform. Arriving at the platform his opponent Marlo Higgins was just arriving as well. The two ascended the platform simultaneously. As they stepped up and found their corners they were aware of the other. Marlo wasn't as tall as Tower but he was solidly built. He looked to be around two meters in height. His broad shoulders, thick muscular arms, and pillar-like legs gave a feeling of heroic power.

Marlo wore a simple white and black fighting uniform. Waiting for the referee to begin the match, Marlo gave Tower a friendly nod.

"I'll be friends with you after I've won," Tower said bluntly. Marlo shrugged his shoulders and smiled anyway. Maybe he was one of those people who just liked to smile. Tower wasn't trying to be mean, it's just he had been through too many life and death battles to think of fights as friendly endeavors.

The referee finally began the battle. Marlo attacked swiftly while Tower was dodging and swaying in place. Tower caught a fist and used his powerful arm strength to redirect the fist so it hit Marlo in the face!

"You don't have to hit yourself in the face, just surrender," Tower said. He wasn't one to torment others, however, when he was fighting he was full of aggression. Sometimes that aggression was expressed verbally.

Tower, without using the slightest technique, grabbed the man's shoulder and punched him in the stomach over and over again. Finally, he kneed him in the face and then kicked him out of the battle arena. With that, Tower walked down the steps to his two friends.

"It's better to do it quickly, it makes your opponent feel like you took him seriously. Even though it's an overwhelming beating, at least the enemy has no reason to doubt his loss. It will help him grow into a better fighter." Tower said as the two considered his words.

Everyone around Tower who heard this conversation and the previous one with Malkus had one word to describe these men, 'arrogant,' and they were arrogant. At the same time, they were capable of backing up that arrogance with fists of steel.

"I guess it's my turn," Paneneko said.

Finding his battle arena, Paneneko ascended the steps but noticed that his opponent wasn't there yet. After waiting a couple of minutes a young lady took the stand. Byrdene Swallow was a woman, Paneneko realized.

The pretty girl wearing what looked like a dress for the ball, looked at Paneneko and smiled warmly. She turned on her charms as she said:

"I hope you'll go easy on me."

"No," Paneneko said.

"No?" asked the girl.

"Going easy on me isn't something a real warrior would say. Be serious and ready to have your pretty face smashed in or go home," said Paneneko.

The girl was stunned, what a brutal man! The truth is that Paneneko was hoping to spare the girl both the embarra.s.sment of losing and the pain that came with a martial battle. In his mind, he was saying this for her good. The girl continued to stand there contemplating Paneneko.

"Thank you for your advice..." she began to say.

"Start fight," the referee interrupted her before she could finish her comment.

Paneneko didn't think twice, he offered her some sincere advice but she didn't take it. He would still try to be gentle, but he wasn't here to play around. appearing in front of the young girl, Paneneko simply slapped her off the stage.

What he didn't realize was that the young girl had decided to take his advice and retire from the fight, but she never got the chance to say so. She probably would have felt bitter about the outcome if she were conscious.

Between Bwiri's training and their experience on the battlefield, the three men were ingrained with the belief that you do not play around on the battlefield. When you fight, you kill. The most compa.s.sionate thing they could do for their opponents was to end the fights as quickly as possible and remove the enemy from the field of battle.

Paneneko joined his friends and Tower gave him an appreciative look. Between the two brothers, Tower was certain that Paneneko would be the one to go easy on the girl. It turned out he was more ruthless as a warrior than he previously believed!

In the VIP viewing area, Aerun stood next to his master Jek Alto watching the three men's fights.

"They do not play around," Aerun said to his master.

"That's right, they don't play around, so if you plan on playing around when you go with them you shouldn't even bother leaving. These have bled and nearly died on many different battlefields. Their temperament is much different from yours." Jek said.

"I understand, I'm just surprised by brother Paneneko, from my experiences with him so far I thought he was the merciful and kind one of the group," Aerun said.

"He is the most merciful and kindest of the three," Bwiri interrupted his conversation with his master. All the immortals listened to Bwiri's words and made sure their students and descendants were listening. The wisdom of the Amazons was well known and went far beyond the warrior realm.

"He is also a man who understands the purpose of learning the martial way. Those pampered individuals who learn martial arts for bragging rights or to attain immortality are not real warriors. Eventually, their lack of seriousness will lead to their deaths and often worse.

The young woman, just now, would be better off finding a career or starting a family. Having some talent in cultivation isn't the same as being fit for the martial path. Even among my Amazon sisters, not every Amazon is a warrior even though every Amazon is powerful. In fact, a greater majority of Amazons are not warriors. Even still, we are a sect just below the strength of a Supreme sect. How did we accomplish this without forcing everyone down the martial path?

We always encourage each person to follow their individual path in life and use their gifts as warriors or something else, doctors, blacksmiths, or even artists to support our sect. The sect supports the students on their path but the students support their sect on its path. Every member of the sect contributes to the strength of the sect. If one person doesn't bring their strength in their way to support the sect then that creates a weakness in the sect.

Support your sect members and they will always support the sect. However, if you force them to support the sect in a way not suited for them it can only bring disaster to the sect!" Bwiri concluded.