Chương 30: "If You're Looking for a Weakness, It's Not My Drinking!”

Ch 30 "If You're Looking for a Weakness, It's Not My Drinking!"

"What a sportswoman!" the announcer yelled into his Dragon tube.

"Young Cabbage is allowing Bone Eater to stand up! Who would have thought that this little girl could push this 11-streak fighter so far? I sure didn't!" he bellowed over the crowd's shouts.

"Lu-cky Ti-ger! Lu-cky Ti-ger! Lu-cky Ti-ger!" chants came from around the arena as the various guards shouted out with pride.

"Stand up!" Amber yelled.

"You're not getting off that easy!"

"Haha! Don't regret it later!" Bone Eater angrily shouted. Despite the man's damage, the red Qi continued to seep out of his body as he barely made it to his feet. Amber wasn't ready to let him completely recover. She dashed towards him, feinting a couple of steps with Predator. The man in the iron mask missed a punch as the girl crashed into him with a spinning rib kick that forced him to stagger backwards. He gasped as the air left his lungs, before straining his eyes to stay open.

The girl was too dangerous to take his sights off of! But she was already gone. WHAM! The side of his vision exploded as his face was rocked, and Bone Eater tumbled before using his momentum to swing back to his feet.

"That mask is hard as fuck!" Amber cursed, waving her split knuckle as splatters of blood hit the platform floor.

"Bone Eater!" the Gold Dragon Mr. Tusk stood up and yelled with a scowl." Don't lose." Amber side eyed the pig faced judge as she rushed in, giving the masked man no extra time to recover. Bone Eater did not give up and swung wildly, but each swing merely whistled through the air as the girl moved sharply through his movements and delivered a fierce counterblow each time. One blow! Two! Three! Four! His body lit up in pain. Amber's body, meanwhile, felt brimming with power after taking Melina's restorative elixir.

Her Qi was flowing well and she felt more comfortable with Predator than before. The pain from the man's iron head butt only served to fuel her strikes!

"Will Bone Eater fall??" the announcer cried to the crowd through his dragon tube.

"Our young challenger Cabbage has found her opening and laid on the damage! Bone Eater hasn't been able to fight back ever since! Swans and Dragons, we might be seeing the end of a Legend!"

"Yaaaaaa!" Amber jumped and unleashed a spinning heel kick to Bone Eater's mask that made a deep gong off of the metal, and impacted his brain so hard he lost his vision as he fell to the floor with a deep thud.

"Ohhhhh! Is this it? Is the match over?" the announcer screamed with the crowd as two black flags flew into the air. The Gold Dragon sat there silently boiling, not reaching for his flag. The corners of his mouth betrayed his emotion. Hmmph, this still isn't enough for you? Fine then. Amber thought, glaring fiercely at the judge who refused to put his flag in the air. Bone Eater was barely beginning to stir after lying motionless for a few moments.

"I'm so sick of you hiding your face while looking down on everyone! Let's see who you really are!" Amber stomped a foot on the chest of the beaten man and held him there. He could only wiggle a bit from side to side while moaning. Amber began to slip her fingers under his mask.

"And we have a third flag!" the announcer shouted as the crowd went berserk at the upset. Bitterness crawled across the Gold Dragon's jowls as he scowled at Amber. They locked eyes, Mr. Tusk's arm holding up a reluctant black flag. Amber's fingers didn't leave the mask. What, you don't want me to take his mask off? In the end, that's what mattered more to you than our lives, huh? Amber smirked at the judge and pried off the mask anyway.

"You!" Tusk shouted, as red sparks and smoke flew from the mask. The girl pulled her hand back and dropped it immediately as it fell smoking. The man under the mask looked suprisingly young, but his face spoke of hardships.

"Take him away, now!" the rotund Mr. Tusk yelled to some staff as they jumped and ran to obey. The other two Dragons of Blue Cloud City observed silently with sideways glances.

"Bone Eater has been defeated, his 11 fight win streak is broken, and now he has been unmasked! All by our new young challenger, Caaaaaaaabbaaaaaage!" The announcer grabbed Amber's wrist and hoisted it up into the air, almost too high for the short girl.

"Since she won her pre-fight challenge, her prize money from winning has doubled! Challenger Cabbage has won 200 gold coins!" Amber couldn't help but smile as the arena cheered for her. Her heartbeat was still loud in her ears from the fight. She raised her other hand and basked in the moment. Not only had she won but she was being praised for it!

"Wait just a moment!" a voice boomed out.

"Challenge another one of our fighters!" It was the Gold Dragon, Mr. Tusk, standing up in his high wooden chair with a menacing scowl on his face.

"And double your winnings!" The crowd yelled and whistled excitedly at the prospect of another match.

"Whoa! One of our owners and judge, the venerable Gold Dragon Mr. Tusk, has issued a challenge to our victor!" the announcer shouted to the roaring crowd through the Dragon tube.

"What will our Critical hit match winner Cabbage do?" Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"I'm not interested!" Amber called back and walked towards the stairs leading off of the Octagonal stone platform. The crowd immediately began to boo as Amber remembered already being annoyed by the fickleness of the crowd. She was happy to receive their praise just a moment ago. What was their praise worth if it only came when she danced to their whims?

"I'll add in a second prize!" the rotund judge spat out.

"I'll throw in-""Why would I fight in a match with a judge who's dishonest!" Amber turned around and shot a look of disgust at the Gold Dragon, Mr. Tusk. The crowd started making a much different type of noise as a sea of cheers became a sea of murmurs.

"Girl," the old judge with a large chain of gold around his neck spoke out.

"Our esteemed Gold Dragon may be a bit too devoted as a fan of interesting fights, but you should know that insulting our Sword & Wine Bar is too much." The Axe Dragon Mr. Bloodwind's voice grew heavier and threatening towards the end.

"Let the girl be," the Azure Dragon Melina said.

"Not only did she fight intensely, she just watched her friend from her village get beat up. Of course she's upset. Girl! Go on and apologize, and you may leave." Mr. Tusk soured his face and bit his cigar.

"I misspoke while recovering from my fight." Amber clasped her fist then turned around. She decided it wasn't the time to mention that Wood wasn't her friend either. Mr. Tusk began to angrily whisper to a servant girl near him as Amber walked down the stone steps.

"Swans and Dragons, are you ready for our next fight?" the announcer yelled into his dragon tube as the crowd roared back to life. Amber walked back up to her seat, getting slapped on her back all along the way by Lucky Tiger Caravan members, and even complete strangers.

"You're the shit! You won me a ton of gold!"

"I lost my bet but you fought a damn good fight!"

"Let me buy you a drink!" She refused many such offers along the way, but returned the smiles as voices came in from all around. There were a few boos, but she didn't mind. It was all boos at her home village of Green Wood after all. At least nobody was spitting, as far as she could see.

"So, the whole fan thing," Wing's loud words to his drinking companion Ember grew audible as Amber approached their table.

"Is it 'cuz of the fire Qi? Are you really hot all the time or what?"

"I'm back," Amber announced her presence.

"Cabbage! Holy Buddha, you're amazing!" Wing wrapped his arms around the girl as she made it back to her table.

"Get off of me!" Amber strongly pushed him off of her, relieved at the scent of alcohol leaving her face. Nobody had hugged her in her entire life except for her parents, her only friend Lulu, and dear Old Daisy who had saved her life! It was something that made her deeply uncomfortable to have just anyone do.

"Whoa! C'mon, Cabbage, don't be like that to your brother in arms!" Wing wailed out.

"Little Guard, you should know better than to throw yourself at a lady after drinking!" Ember laughed from behind her fan. Amber suspected that the pair's unspoken drinking contest hadn't ended, yet Ember seemed to be nowhere near as impaired as the boy. Though, her demeanor and smile did seem less… composed, than usual.

"I fought, I got beaten up, I won in the end, and I pissed off a judge who's called a Dragon, who is now whispering to people while glaring at me. Miss Ember, may this guard escort you home?" the golden eyed girl asked her companion in red robes as she raised a fist to her chest sarcastically and clasped it. Her voice had a tiredness to it.

"But I haven't bet enough yet! I made so much off your fight that I-" Wing was suddenly cut off by Amber." You can stay! She's a passenger of this caravan, and I'm responsible for her. We're leaving now," Amber said. Her words hung dry with detachment, her emotions drained from the various events of the night.

"Hmm, you let me enjoy a good fight, and I had good wine! I'm satisfied for this evening, we can go." Ember smiled in a way that only wine could make someone as she clicked her fan shut and moved to stand up.

"Ahhhhhhahaha, you got me! You know I can't let two women walk alone!" Wing laughed as he followed the girls, his joyful saunter a bit off-balance. They squared up their tabs with their tokens at the front desk. Amber paid their expenses as promised and they all cashed out their winnings. Wing's jaw dropped at the sight of Amber's two bulging pouches of gold. They were even delivered neatly in a soft purple fabric of exquisite quality.

Even Ember, in her usual indifference, gave a subtle look of intrigue towards the bags. Amber couldn't believe it either, she had never even held the coins from her guard's pay! Even the assassin's assets that she had sold were worth a few total gold coins, and she had earned those by putting her life at risk. Now here she was with 250 of them! It was more than enough to live comfortably for the rest of her life in her home village of Green Wood.

Her emotions were quickly reined in as the thought arose in her mind that it was better to leave earlier and avoid any trouble. The coldness and indifference of the judge Mr. Tusk made her feel uneasy, especially knowing that she angered him by ripping Bone Eater's mask off. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. If only that fat bastard hadn't been such an asshole! the girl thought to herself.

"And the nut kick was savage!" Wing yelled out into the dark and misty streets of Blue Cloud City as they walked towards the Lucky Tiger Caravan's encampment.

"Our Little Cabbage seems to be a bit more vicious than she pretends to be, doesn't she?" Ember laughed a bit above her fan.

"And the liquor seems to have gotten to you more than you pretend, isn't that right?" Amber asked, rolling her eyes.

"If you're looking for a weakness, it's not my drinking!" Ember laughed out again, a bit louder than usual.

"By the way, Cabbage." Wing leaned an arm over the girl only to get it immediately removed.

"What happened to your bones?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Amber asked, a bit annoyed after her long night and getting leaned on. Why did she need her bones questioned?

"Your bones! You ordered several orders of chicken legs, and they all disappeared. Bones and all! So, what happened to the bones?"

"Yes, I must admit I wondered that as well?" Ember asked, smiling and leaning forward slightly as she looked over at the golden eyed girl.

"Hmm, you got me. I ate the bones," Amber said casually, not wanting to reveal the little tiger that had caused so many lives to be lost already.

"Waste not, want not! How wise is our Little Cabbage?" the older girl in red laughed along with Wing. Amber breathed a sigh of relief that despite Ember's fickleness, she didn't pursue the issue further. Amber tried to keep the pace of the group up, but her two companions were quite relaxed. Even the little tiger was snoozing peacefully as far as she could tell having entered a long slumber after the deluge of roast chicken legs.

There was only a fleeting feeling like sleepy purrs after a good meal that disappeared from her mind like a stone sinking in a lake. The mist seemed to grow even thicker as the three walked and talked. As they neared the edge of the stone city, Amber's foot came down into something wet. She looked down and saw a faint red puddle, only visible by the moon's reflection. The girl froze and threw a hand out that silenced her friends and stopped them in their tracks.

Through the parting mist, the trio saw bodies strewn across the street, either chopped or quartered, each with a long blood splatter trail.