Duels were a good way for kingdoms to resolve issues without going to war. They were sacred arguments between kingdoms and even the Empire complied with them and whatever the result of them would be. This was one of the reasons why the Darkguild members were keeping on Ray.

He had interfered with the last duel, and even the own Redwing army who saw him do such a thing thought it was a little scummy. It was considered such a dishonorable act that if Ray was to do the same thing again, then there was a chance many in the army would choose to no longer follow him.

This time, he didn't get involved in Kyle's fight like he did before. Katy made him aware of all these things. Thankfully, Ray seemed to not care too much. However the thought did cross his mind of why he should care what everyone thought of him, if he wanted to save a friend then he would do so. It was stupid to stick to such things.

Kyle stood in the middle on top of the thick tree root, while Tower was also there with his two handed axe. He gripped tightly around it as if he was ready to pounce at any moment. If one was to take a quick glance at the two of them, they would have thought Kyle had no chance of winning.

At each side of the root, stood opposite each other were the two armies.

"Ready?

" Tower asked in a heavy low voice.

"Come on.

" Kyle replied.

Wanting to start off strong and show confidence to those that were supporting him, Kyle stood there still focusing his Ki into his blade. Tower had lifted his large axe over his head and slammed it down as hard as he could.

It would have been anyone's natural instinct to dive out of the way and avoid the attack, however Kye wanted to prove a point. He dug in his two feet into the ground and was ready to take the blow.

'With my improved Ki from the basting process this should be a piece of cake!' Kyle thought. When the axe collided with his sword he was in for an unpleasant surprise.

He was immediately knocked off from his feet and overpowered, falling to the ground. Using every bit of strength he had, he stopped the axe from slicing through his neck, eventually creating a striking force with his Ki. Kyle pushed the axe to one side and was back on his feet.

When he landed though he noticed his left foot was in great pain.

'Seriously?'

It didn't go unnoticed by the others either. Kyle had hurt his foot taking the first initial blow. Against a large man who was more powerful than himself, there was one only thing he could have used which was his speed. The black sash knight footwork relied on it.

Tower was charging towards Kyle again and he knew he couldn't take another hit like the first one. He had been an idiot having underestimated the Darkguild member. Of course they would have sent someone out strong for such an important matter.

For some reason, he just felt like he wanted to prove to everyone, including Harry, that his duel against Gary wasn't a fluke. Knowing full well he couldn't move as he would have been able to do, he needed to wait until the last moment. When the axe fell, Kyle moved his head and body, swaying to the side, only moving his foot a little.

Then with Tower's body wide open, he flung his blade out. Due to the sheer size of Tower, the only place he could hit him was his chest, which was the largest target. The sword bounced off, flinging backwards and the large man didn't even flinch.

'Damn it! I can't put my full strength behind my attacks!' Kyle complained.

But that wasn't the only reason. Kyle's weapons were only at the advanced level. To not even cause a scratch even with Ki meant that the armour Tower had been wearing, must have been one of good quality.

Turning around with his fist, Tower had hit Kyle on the head and knocked him on the ground, Kyle quickly got up readying himself, still trying to bare through the pain located in his ankle. He was unsure if it was broken or not, but he was supplying a certain amount of Ki to the area trying to fix it.

If he could delay the fight and heal his ankle in time, then maybe he had a chance. A flurry of attacks came from the axe and Tower was swinging it about at a speed that should have been cable only for a man half his size.

It took everything for Kyle to continually diffract the attacks away, each time hurting his foot more. Eventually a larger hit had knocked Kyle onto his back again, and the axe looked like it was about to swing down on his head.

"Do you concede?

" Tower asked.

"I do not wish to kill a man if I do not have to, and I can see you are injured.

"

Kyle had lost. After bragging so much to everyone, after thinking he could be relied upon, everyone had seen him lose and he could see the smile on Harry's face. That was the worst part of it all. He wondered if he should continue the fight even though he knew he would lose, but then there was a chance he could die.

Gritting his teeth, he was no fool, he would live to fight another day.

"I am the loser of this fight, the Redwings have lost.

" Kyle replied.

The loss meant that the Redwings would have to remain behind for three days, to allow Monk and his team to go ahead with their investigation.

*****

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