Chương 120: [Leo Vs Klaus]

Leo glanced around as he walked out onto the arena floor. He found Parmo and the others not far from his tunnel, Rika jumping up and down drawing the attention of everyone around her. Parmo looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. Leo laughed and waved. He moved to his spot opposite Klaus. His opponent still looked like something was eating at him. He stood there grinding his teeth, his eyebrows pinched in a permanent scowl, not bothering to stretch at all.

Leo hoped it wouldn't affect his head when the match started. He'd rather fight and win against the last person from Stonehall in a fair contest, something the crowd could celebrate. Not whatever this might lead to. Klaus got the louder reception from the crowd. Leo wasn't unpopular at this stage; his showing in the earlier rounds had won him a lot of support. Being the last fighter from the village still standing was always going to tip it Klaus's way though.

Leo took his mark and stretched his arms and back, working out the stiffness that had been building since the early hours. Leo lifted his weapon as Grimgar raised his hand. He nodded towards Klaus, the same as he had with everyone else today. What he got in return confused him. Klaus looked back at him and glared, the anger he'd seen earlier now focused solely on him. What the fuck? Why's he looking at me like I just shot his dog or something? Before he could refocus, Grimgar's hand dropped and the fight began.

Klaus came flying at him, glaive already swinging for his head, the sheer speed of it catching him off guard before he'd even finished the thought. He knew what aggression looked like in combat. Phil's main fighting style was entirely that. There was always control behind it though. What came at him now was nothing like that. He got the Sarren up, barely. The first strike clattered off it and the second was already coming before he'd fully recovered, Klaus not pausing between them, not looking for openings at all.

He looks like someone's cast a berserk spell on him or something. Leo gave ground, deflecting what he could, dodging what he couldn't. The glaive came at him from angles he couldn't fully cover because there was no rhythm to read, no pattern to figure out. Jesus. It's like trying to fend off a wild animal. There's no strategy. He doesn't even look like he's trying to defend himself. Seriously, what is this guy's problem?

He tried to create some space, pushing the glaive away instead of just deflecting, but it wasn't enough. The weapon's blade finally found a space and slipped past, punching him square in the chest. One-nil to Klaus. Leo pressed a hand to his chest. That was way harder than any hit he'd taken today. It was clear that Klaus meant to hurt him. Leo stepped back to his mark. He looked across at Klaus. The man was breathing hard already, barely a minute into the fight.

Despite that, he still somehow managed to look pissed. Seriously dude, you just fucking smacked me in the chest, why am I the one getting the mucky look? Leo walked back to the centre of the arena and reset, Klaus doing the same opposite him. He thought it was going to be more of the same, until Klaus opened his mouth.

"I don't know what you did to hoodwink her," he said.

"But she would never settle for someone like you. Not willingly." Leo looked at him.

"What the fuck is your problem? Is there a reason you look like someone pissed in your cereal?"

"Shai." Klaus's voice was tight.

"She wouldn't choose someone like you unless something was wrong. You show up out of nowhere, just over a month ago, and suddenly she's watching tournaments with you and..." He stopped. Started again.

"I'm the best trainee fighter in this village. I've trained for years. It should be me she wants to spend time with. Me she's watching from up there. Not some nobody who hasn't earned any of it." Leo just stared, his eyes going wide. Seriously? A fucking simp? His problem all day has been Shai? Holy fuck. He'd wondered about the glare. Wondered what he'd done to earn it from someone he'd barely spoken to.

Now he had the full picture, Klaus watching from wherever he'd been standing when Leo and Shai had been on the viewing step together, carrying it through the whole tournament, letting it build until it came out like this.

"So let me get this straight," Leo said.

"You've got eyes for Shai, you saw her with me, and now you're throwing a tantrum about it." He shook his head.

"Next you're going to tell me your favourite pastime is sitting in bushes with a pair of binoculars round your neck. That's kinda weird, man." Klaus stared at him.

"I don't know what half of those words mean."

"I know," Leo said.

"You're acting a little creepy. Does she even know about any of this?" Before Klaus could answer, Grimgar's hand went up and then dropped, restarting the match. Klaus came forward the same way he had in the first exchange, but this time Leo was already moving to meet him. He'd been caught unaware the first time. He knew what was coming now. As Klaus reached him, Leo met his wild swings with equal force.

He slashed and stabbed out with the Sarren while he cut across Klaus's path, pushing forward into the man's space and redirecting rather than absorbing. Klaus was throwing too hard to pull the glaive back quickly and every redirect left him stumbling to reset his feet before the next one came. The aggression that had worked a minute ago was being used against him now, his own momentum carrying him sideways every time Leo turned a strike away.

"Where's the years of training you bragged about? Best trainee in the village? You're swinging that thing like it's the first time you've held it in your life." Klaus responded with a wide, desperate horizontal sweep. He put everything he had into the swing, but his anger made it wild. Leo didn't back away; he stepped forward and ducked, letting the heavy blade whistle harmlessly over his head. As he moved, Leo placed a hand on Klaus's extended arm, giving it a firm nudge to help the momentum along.

Stolen story; please report. Klaus's feet scrambled as the weight of the missed swing pulled him around. Panicked and blinded by rage, Klaus didn't stop to reset. He tried to wrench the glaive back the other way, swinging it blindly toward where he thought Leo was standing. Leo simply dropped low again. He watched as the glaive sailed over him a second time, the force of the uncontrolled reverse-swing finally breaking Klaus's balance. Klaus's boots lost their grip on the dirt.

He tumbled forward, the weight of his own weapon dragging him down until he hit the ground. Before he could even look up, Leo was standing over him, the edge of his Sarren resting against Klaus's throat. He looked at Grimgar, who nodded once and raised his hand. Leo stepped back. He could have struck and Klaus knew it. One-one. Klaus climbed back to his feet and moved back to the centre. The fury was still there but it had shifted into a mix of irritation and disbelief.

"How?" he said.

"Why would she turn down everyone she grew up with, everyone who knows her, and then pick the first person who doesn't even know anything about who she is?"

"Well," Leo said.

"That's more or less it." Klaus stared at him.

"I didn't know she was the youngest person to make guard captain. Didn't know about her parents or who raised her. She was just Shai." Leo held his gaze.

"So I treated her like that. Just Shai. Not someone to worship, not someone to try and claim because having her around makes you look good." He let that sit for a second.

"The way you're talking about her right now... I've trained for this, I've earned this, it should be me... that's not how you talk about a person. That's pitiful. And trust me, it comes across."

"I've known her for years." Klaus's voice had dropped but there was still heat in it.

"I grew up training so I could stand beside her. So I'd be worth something to her." Leo shook his head.

"You still don't get it. That's the whole problem right there." The murmur from the crowd had been building. Klaus hadn't exactly been quiet and people had noticed. The fighting was interesting but apparently, unexpected drama was universally enjoyed. Grimgar's hand came up then fell. Klaus pushed forward but the fight had started to go out of him; there was none of the same rabid energy. The glaive was moving but compared to before it felt listless. Leo parried the strikes away without much effort.

He noticed the murmuring in the crowd again. He could tell what they were thinking.

"Come on," Leo said, deflecting a lazy horizontal.

"Fight me. There are people up there who want you to win. Don't you want to give them a show they'll enjoy? Or are you happy moping as you lose and their last fighter goes out?" Klaus clenched his jaw. One more flash of irritation crossed his face at being told what to do by Leo of all people, and his next combination had a bit of the old weight back in it. It still wasn't enough. When he dashed in Leo waited. Klaus swung hard off his back foot and Leo dropped again before he swept his leg on the way past.

Klaus went down again. Leo put the Sarren to his throat and looked at Grimgar, who raised his hand. Leo stepped back. Two-one. Leo walked back over to the mark and looked at Klaus.

"Look," he said.

"I get it. I do. But you're better than this." He nodded up toward the stands.

"They came to watch you fight. Give them that at least." Klaus said nothing.

"Shai's up there," Leo said.

"She knows you. You're friends." He shrugged.

"I don't think she'd be happy knowing this is because of her. Come on, man. Let's finish the rest of this fight in style." The tension went out of his shoulders. He looked at Leo and nodded once, his hands shifting on the glaive into something that looked like an actual stance for the first time since the fight started. He looked up at the stands for a moment. Then back at Leo. Grimgar's hand came up. What came out of Klaus after the drop was the fighter Leo had watched from the viewing step in the first round.

Yeah. There it is. That's more like it. The glaive work tightened immediately. Klaus came at Leo with longer combinations from shifting angles, utilizing the weapon's reach to keep Leo at a distance instead of just swinging wildly to connect. Leo gave ground as he adapted, the entire battle suddenly balanced on a knife's edge. This was much harder.

Klaus was mixing short, quick bursts with longer, calculated combinations; his strikes required actual thought to turn away, and he was actively reading Leo's responses to adjust his next move. This is what I expected from the start. Fighting like this is so much better than beating on someone who isn't thinking straight. Should be enough to avoid him losing more than just the fight at the end of this. He started circling to disrupt the rhythm.

Klaus tracked him without overcommitting, his glaive probing constantly. As Leo circled to his right, he brought the Sarren up over his left shoulder, staying right on the edge of the glaive's range while he waited for his moment. When Klaus finally lunged, Leo sidestepped the blow to the right and brought the Sarren down in a single, fluid motion. The downward strike came incredibly close to catching Klaus's lead arm, but the man managed to pull his weapon out of range at the last second. The circling continued.

Leo could see why people had tipped Klaus as one of their best chances today. The man was smart, reacted quickly, and jumped on any opening even faster. He kept moving, watching closely. Klaus loaded a high strike, his shoulder rising with the motion, but it was a feint. Leo was already moving sideways by the time the glaive dropped into a sudden low stab. His feet carried him clear, and he brought the Sarren around just as the glaive shifted angles into a follow-up slash.

Blade met blade with a heavy clack, the wood catching and grinding together for a split second until Klaus pulled back to reset, his eyes narrowing. He came again. This time, Klaus slid one hand to the very base of the haft and swung wide with everything he had behind it. Leo dropped under the arc, grabbing the haft of the glaive with his free hand as it reached the apex of his swing.

He held on just long enough to bait the reaction, waiting until the exact moment Klaus tried to yank the weapon back to pull him off balance. Then, Leo let go. Klaus yanked back against nothing. His own trapped strength carried him backward, his feet scrambling as he fought to stay upright. Leo was already moving. He leapt, bringing the Sarren down in a heavy, two-handed slash. Klaus managed to get the glaive up in time, haft sideways, hands wide, the block technically perfect.

But the sheer weight of the leap drove the weapon back into his chest anyway, pinning it there. Leo delivered a front kick that sent him into the dirt, then placed the Sarren straight to his throat. Grimgar raised his hand. Three-one. The crowd surged to its feet, a massive wave of sound washing over the arena floor. The disappointment from Klaus's supporters was there, but it was completely drowned out by the collective excitement of a village that loved a good duel.

It had been a clean, breathtaking finish, and everyone knew it. Leo took a deep breath then straightened and held out his arm. Klaus looked at it for a moment. Then he took it and let Leo pull him up. Neither of them said anything straight away. Klaus looked down at the dirt on his clothes, then out at the crowd.

"I've been a complete fool," he said quietly.

"I've known her for years but I've spent the last few building myself into something I thought she'd want." He shook his head.

"Never once just tried talking to her. Not properly anyway. Every time I thought about it I'd think, not yet, not until I'm better, not until I'm worth it." He stopped.

"There was a dance last year. I was going to ask her. Stood there for about ten minutes working up to it and then didn't." Leo said nothing.

"I can see it now," Klaus said.

"The way I've been acting. That's exactly what she doesn't want, isn't it?" It wasn't really a question.

"People who went about it the way I have, I get why she never accepted any of their invitations." Leo looked at him.

"Pretty much," he said.

"I know it sucks but you'll get past it in time. You don't want to hear that from me but it's true for everyone." He shrugged.

"Just be a decent person who doesn't judge people on what they have or represent. Give people a chance before you've decided what they are. You'll find someone. I've heard you're pretty popular round here." He looked at the crowd then back at Klaus and grinned.

"Can't be too hard to find someone else who catches your eye." Klaus held his gaze for a moment. Then he nodded once. He picked up the glaive and walked back toward his tunnel. The crowd shouted his name as he passed by them, warm and genuine. Klaus acknowledged it without breaking stride, one hand raised briefly, head up. Leo watched him go. Then he turned back toward the tunnel.