As the bell rung for five minutes remaining, Steve made sure that all the straps to his iron set were tied tight, and ensured his iron sword was sharpened. There would be no shield for this fight. One side of the spectator stands held villagers and warriors. The other held zombies, skeletons, etc. of course over a thatched roof. Then there was only 1 minute left, and Steve was escorted to the half-field line by his friend, Jerome.
"You got this, Steve. Remember, your speed is what you can use to defeat it."
As the wither skeleton met him at the line, Steve saw that it was at least 3 or 4 heads taller than he was.
"Assistants, you may leave the field."
Jerome left his side, returning back to watch from the stands.
"Competitors, prepare."
Steve assumed the fighting position, clearing his mind of all distractions. All he saw was the wither skeleton, whatever beyond was darkness and was not important. Everyone rushed to their seats, and the stadium was deathly quiet, even for the congregation of at least 1,000 bodies.
"Ready... match commence!" the host announced.
Instantly the wither lunged forward in a fast overhead strike, and Steve dodged out of the way as the heavy stone sword smashed into the dry earth, sinking half a foot or so. Taking the opportunity, he lunged forward with blinding speed and struck the wither on the head. Pulling the sword free, it backed up, shaking away the momentary dizziness. The villagers gave a cheer as Steve lithely bounced on the balls of his feet, completely relaxed. Now the skeleton played more defensively. It moved in on Steve, waiting for him to make a move. With considerable speed Steve threw and uppercut strike, but the skeleton was anticipating it, and stuck out his stone sword. As metal hit stone, a numbing sensation ran up Steve's arm. Before he knew what had happened, the wither stepped forward and smashed him in the chest with its elbow, forcing him back.
The monsters clapped as best as they could for such a nice move. Time seemed to slow for both Steve and the wither as they launched into a fury of flashing swords. To the average person it was fast, very fast, and both were anticipating the other's move. The crowd held their breath as metal kept ringing on stone. They exchanged blows: left, right, over, diagonally. Then the wither made the first mistake. As Steve's uppercut came from under, the wither was ready for its previous block, and hopefully follow up with knocking off the human's helmet, but at the last moment, Steve's sword came away, and now the wither found its sword alarmingly impaled deep in the dirt. Before it could pull it out Steve slammed his sword into the wither's abdomen. What should've been a fatal stab only injured the wither, but it still stood. The warrior forced back his larger foe, away from the sword. The villager side hooted with delight, and even though Steve wasn't supposed to notice it, he saw money exchange hands. The monster side remained quiet. As the battle resumed, Steve now moved in closer to his target, forcing the monster into a corner. Ambition took the better of him. Launching a series of too fast attacks, Steve missed the fact that his opponent was larger than him. Swinging a massive arm, the smaller warrior simply held out his sword. The wither's arm smashed through Steve's sword, sending the saber spinning away, and connected with his head.
Steve was thrown a good 2 meters before landing in the dust. His helmet was cracked and splintered. No way that was going on again. His only choice was the wither's stone sword, lying only a few feet away from him. It was very heavy, heavier than his iron sword. Looking up, he found the wither had made the same discovery: the iron sword was a sharpened pencil compared to a knife. Steve was surprised to find and iron sword whizzing towards him. It buried itself into the dirt, mere inches away. With all his might Steve hauled the stone sword to the other side of the field, and grabbed his iron sword. He jumped to the side just in time to dodge the wither as it barreled by. Instead of stopping, it kept on running until it reached its sword, then turned to face him. Classic move. Both sides were cheering now, yelling for their hero. The battle went on for another 10 minutes. Then it came to an end. As the skeleton prepared to crush Steve with its sheer weight, Steve grabbed both swords, and rammed them into the skeleton's body and head. From underneath, he pushed the dead body aside, and stood. For a moment, there was silence, then, all hell broke loose. The battle had lasted into the night, and now, someone from the villager side took the initiative.
"FOR STEVE!" he yelled.
Somehow he was clad in armor, with a sword. He rushed towards the monster's stands. Suddenly, everyone had armor and weapons and there was a gigantic fight as monster and man met on the field of death.
