The Sicilian Syndicate

The Sicilian Syndicate was one of the top 4 fighters last year. They were from the Sun Kingdom which is a block of land that is in the northern desert. You never see any type of shade or shelter there unless you build it yourself. Yurlink, from the Syndicate was quite impressive. He was shorter than me, standing at about 5 foot, 8 inches. He wielded a short sword and a buckler to protect him. It was weird because he didn't wear a full suite of armor saying it caused him to slow down his defense.

"Darien, we win this, we're in the finals." she moves her mouth closer to your ear "Do you know how much riches we will get?" she continues.

Now, you didn't really care about the riches, sure it would be nice to have the extra gold to spend it on whatever you wanted, but honestly, you just wanted to get to Claire. You still haven't brought anything up with Karisi just incase you said the wrong thing and ruined everything. Worse case, you could ask her about Claire on your **** bed and hopefully she knows the answers, if not, you deeply swallow..."Claire"...you moan.

Lady Karisi must have heard you mumble that name because she tilts her head to you "Claire?" she questions

You decide to ignore her question. Grabbing your short sword & dagger on the table next to you as you head out into the Arena for your fight against the Sicilian Syndicate's warrior.

"Well well well..." The Sicilian Syndicate fighter starts "I hope you don't think you will win." he taunts.

You stand there silently, which actually seems to piss this warrior off more.

"Yurlink..." he says "When you die, remember my name!" He quickly lunges forward toward you with his short sword. "Ahhhhhh!" he roars as the clash of metal pierces into the sky as you barely block his attack in time. He slashes left, right, left, right in succession, each attack you block with ease. Left, Right, Left, Right. Again, nothing but blocks. Left, Right, Left, LEFT! he swings his buckler up to your face as you raise your other side trying to block the right attack that isn't coming now.

The buckler of Yurlink smashes against your cheekbone, causing you to fall to the ground in pain.

Yurlink steps to your side, taunting you "End of the line for you!" he jokes. You roll the other direction, giving you space between him. He's slashing at the ground as you keep rolling, eventually you're able to make it to your feet and block his slash.

You crouch down, readying your stance. Waiting for the cocky Sicilian warrior to attack. He's holding strong as well, catching his breath. You decide to get in his head, try to piss him off. "What's the matter? Scared you're about to lose?" you tease

He bears his teeth and growls as you "Fuck off scum!!!" he charges at you just as you planned. "Ahhhh!!!" he roars again as he swings his sword left, you block, he swings his sword left again, you parry this time, slashing his sword with him so he overextends, you quickly drop to your knee and use the dagger in your right hand, jamming it into the left ankle of Yurlink.

"Fuuuuuuuuuckkkk!" he screams as he falls to the ground, using his buckler to support him up. "Piece of shit..." he screams, still unable to move. The dagger still stuck in his ankle. "Ughhhhh" he moans in pain.

You roll off to the side, spinning up to your feet, your dagger still pierced into his ankle, you ready your short sword. Yurlink isn't moving, still kneeling down where you stabbed him. You walk up to him, bringing your short sword to his neck, you look down on him. He doesn't even look at you, his eyes are glued to the ground. "Lucky son of a bitch..." he mutters to himself.

"KILL KILL KILL!" the crowd shouts.

"Going to spare me like the others?" Yurlink questions "Piece of shit. Don't even have the guts to kill me." he says as he throws his sword to the ground. "COME ON!" he screams. You look over his body, still unmoving, looking into the ground. You bring your short sword under his chin, forcing him to look up at you. "Knowing you lost and having to live with that the rest of your life is a better reward for me then killing you." you mutter to him. This upsets Yurlink as he tries to jump up, only to collapse into your body as his right ankle is still destroyed. "Fuuuckkk..." he grunts. You push him off, onto the ground and turn toward Karisi, making your way out of the arena. This time, more cheers than boos. It seems the crowd is starting to enjoy your battles.

"Now we wait." she begins "Since we won, we are in the final 4, but we have no clue who the others are. Let's go get you cleaned up because the other battles will be over soon." Karisi motions to two of her guards. They immediately walk over to you, taking your weapons and helping you get out of your armor. "They will announce the final four in about an hour. Then, we have about 3 weeks to prepare before the Grand Tournament of Nillix."

Karisi nudges up close to you, bringing her mouth close to his ear "You've held up your end of the deal..." she hums into your ear.