Chapter 8

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! Today we have a spectacular duel for your viewing pleasure. Our honoured Leader of the Einhajar, Hrothgar Lothbrok, has been challenged by none other than the Red Dragon Emperor himself, over the hand of the former Valkyrie Rossweisse, grandaughter to the Legendary Gondul, who is challenging her arranged marriage to Hrothgar. I am sure everyone is wondering, how are respected commander will do against the raw power of the Red dragon emperor and his infamous wielder Issei Hyodou. Let bring out the contenders!" The announcer bellowed as if he was introducing a boxing match, raising both hands to each side of the area where Issei and Hrothgar were being housed. he was a large man, stocky with a large belly likely from many years of drinking mead and ale. He had a large white beard and resembled Santa Claus n appearance.

Both men walked out of the holding rooms and entered to the sight of thousands of viewers, cheering and screaming looking close to a crow at a football match as they were also through many litres of alcohol around the arena.

Issei just before exiting the holding had activated his scale mail form and exited with Rossweisse at his side. Rossweisse just before they left told him that it was traditional for the champion to be accompanied to the field by the person they were representing.

"This is amazing! It's just like a rating game! I can't believe so many people are here to watch this."Issei gasped to Rossweisse.

"You're a big deal Issei both in and out of the demon world, people here admire your bravery when you took on Loki.

"Indeed Rossweisse brings me back to my glory days before I...Wait. oh no!" Ddriag happy roar turned to a worried shriek as he heard a very familiar sound ."

"What is it Ddraig!" The pair cried only to hear the source of Ddraigs shriek.

"There is a breast-loving Dragon living in the edge of a certain country, The Dragon goes for a walk when the weather is good, DRAGON DRAGON OPPAI DRAGON!" The crowd cried as if they were singing a football anthem, which echoed throughout the stadium, as the pair looked up they could see that not only were Rias and the rest of the peerage joining in, but even Thor and Odin were singing along much to Ddriags dismay.

"Please stop! I am the red dragon emperor feared and respected for millennia and now all that respect has been washed down the drain and now I'm better known for a song about boobs! How could my name sink so low!" Ddraig roared in grief as he started crying out of sheer embarrassment, which wasn't noticed by the crowned who drowned out the crying by singing.

On the other side, the arena Hrothgar walked confidently and with a single focus, refusing to look to the crowded or acknowledge their cheers and jeers. Hrothgar was armed with his battle-axe, a mighty weapon as tall as himself with a large single-edged blade which looked liked polished silver that complimented the dark grey Damascus body of the axe. Hrothgar to the surprise of many of the audience members was not in his usual golden armour, but instead was only armour fro the waist down, with dark grey warplate on his upper and lower legs. showing off his chiselled physique, and a small collection of runic tattoos that were on the his traps

"You think he' 'll win this thing, I know, there are rumours of him being one of Tyrs sons but even a god would have trouble against someone as powerful as the Red Dragon Emperor." An audience member asked his friend

"I think he's out of his depth, he's too inexperienced for his role and against someone as battle-hardened as Ddraig. He hasn't got a chance, whether he is a son of Tyr or not"

Both men met at the centre of the arena Hrothgar giving Issei a cold stare. Only to turn to Rosswiesse and drop to his knee as a mark of respect.

"Alright, I think it time to start the match, Rossweisse please take the allocated seat " The announcer called as he pointed to stone seat within grounds were the duel would take place.

"Good luck," Rossweisse whispered as she leaned in and lightly kissed the faceplate of Isseis armour before walking away, igniting a burning hatred within Hrothgar, which he tried to hide but was still visible in his gaze, as he stared down Issei the announcer descended to meet the pair.

"Alright, gentlemen, I am Harald Hardrada. I will be overseeing your duel. I am fully aware that you know the rules Hrothgar, but I will go over them again for your opponent. During this duel you cannot use attacks which are considered unsportsmanlike or disrespect your opponent, so no eye-gouging, groin strikes or fishhooks, we may be savage warriors but we respect honourable combat above all else. The match will go on unless a combatant is either knocked out, killed or surrenders, in which case the winner's position is given validity and takes effect. You can use any weapons that you have brought if you wish. Any questions?" Harold looked to both combatants who took in what he said while staring each other down, isseis gaze hidden behind his helmet, while Hrothgar's eyes filled with more hatred with each second.

There was no reply.

"I'll take your silence as a no then. Very well...let the duel begin!" Harald turned and headed back to his position which was in a small tower which he viewed the battle.

Issei and Hrogthar circle one another looking for an opening, Hrothgar flipping his Dane axe from hand to hand, while Issei kept his hands up.

"Let's see if you can handle this" Issei thought as he activated his thrusters and started to dart around the arena, he knew in his scale mail form that he had the speed and mobility advantage, however just like in his first encounter with Sairorg who was able to keep Issei in his line of sight.

"He's fast" Hrogthar grumbled as he looked around the arena just keeping pace with Isseis movements/

"Alright here goes nothing. Hrrraaaa!" Issei yelled as he changed course and charged headlong at Hrothgar, but to his surprise, Hrothgar decided to charge towards him raising his axe above his head. One the pair collided Issei managed to block the axe on his gauntlet by raising his arm just under the head of the axe, allowing the shaft of the axe to strike him, stopping the momentum, giving him the opportunity to land a strike with his free hand, stunning Hrogther, who had to ready himself as Issei followed up with another charge this tome, timing Hrothgar's swing to narrowly avoid the strike, using the brief gap, land a strike to Hrothgar's body.

"You're a quick bastard, but you aren't fast enough!" Hrothgar roared as he managed to take Isseis shot, and using the butt of his axe, he jutted it out, to strike Issei on the head, before following up with monstrous strike, which Issei managed to just partially block, the strike sent Issei flying backwards, his feet digging into the ground.

"That hurt, even when I blocked it, hows the armour holding up Ddraig?" Issei grumbled, as he looked at his arms, and saw the armour were the edge of the axe had made contact, had been cut, cleanly.

"The armours holding up, ill have it repaired in no time, this guy's pretty good. Let's see if he can last the pace. BOOST!" Ddraig confident statement turned to a powerful roar, as he boosted Isseis power, with the green gem glowing brightly.

"Are you done Issei, I thought you'd be more of a challenge" Hrothgar growled as he rushed towards Issei who obliged by charging back.

The pair made contact, this time Issei had hold of Hrothgar's axe, and the two wrestled for control as they did so there were cheers from the crowd who were thoroughly enjoying the match.

"Issei's doing very well, how long do you think before he overpowers Hrothgar?" Akeno asked Rias.

"Id says about a minute, maybe two, in fact, if you look at Hrothgar's legs, you can see that they are starting to buckle," Rias whispered as she leaned over to Akeno and pointed towards Hrothgar, whose legs were visibly shaking.

"Is that all...you've got." Hrothgar, grimaced as he tried to hold Issei back, but with every flash of emerald light that caught his gaze he felt Issei begin to overpower him

"Hraaaaa" Isei yelled as he managed to push Hrothgar back, digging his feet into the ground, as he did so Hrothgar tied to push back but failed. Issei after a while pushed Hrothgar into one of the arena walls, using the position to slam him repeatedly against the wall until he let go of his axe. Issei then tried to hit Hroghar with his axe while he was backed against the wall, but he managed to get out of this position.

"Shit" Hrothgar grumbled as Issei charged him, swinging the axe like a maniac, cutting the air with such force that small waves of air were realised that cut into the ground. Issei meanwhile kept on boosting his powers, and his speed increased yo such a degree that the axe swings began to blur, and became difficult to see.

"Hey, Ddraig I've got an idea," Issei told Ddraig as he used this increase in speed, to hide his next attack, as he swung the blade around in a figure-eight pattern only to realise the axe as the top of the swing, sending the axe hurtling toward Hroghtar who only caught sight of the axe at the last minute and with no time to doge, he turned taking the axe blade directly into his shoulder, sending him flying and knocking him into the ground.

"That should do it! Nice attack Issei!" Dddraig roared as Issei slowly walked over to Hrothgar, as he did so the announcer started talking.

"It seems your young commander, has met his match, felled by his own axe."

Once Issei met Hrothgar, he found him kneeling, the axe now lying at his, side, revealing a large gash, in his shoulder, blood pouring from the wound=, yet despite the severity of the wound he tried to stand.

"Stay down," Issei stated as cold as ice.

"I... will not...lose like this!" Hrothgar yelled as his knees buckled and he fell into his kneeling position.

"What should I do Ddraig? He won't surrender."

"You have to break him, a few strikes should be enough to call a halt to the proceedings.

"….okay. it seems cruel to do this, but I've got to keep Rossweisse with us." Issei took a deep breath and sighed, not wanting to go any further but he had no choice.

Issei grabbed Hroghtar by his hair and landed numerous blows to his face, lifting him higher to allow access to hard body shots, which caused blood to spit from Hrtoghsrs mouth.

"Stop the fight!" spectators cried as they took no pleasure in such a beat down.

"You hear that Hrothgar, they want this match to stop! they don't want to see you beaten into a bloody pulp. surrender." Issei yelled.

"I will not surrender!" Hrothgar screamed as Issei dropped him to the ground, not noticing that the red gems on Hrothgar bracelets were glowing red.

"You left me no choice" Issei grumbled as he released Ascalon from his gauntlet and raised in the air to strike another severe wound.

"If he won't surrender then ill have to make him unable to fight and force a stoppage." Issei thought as he brought Ascalon down.

A loud thud was heard a bright flash of red light enveloped the arena, blinding the audience and Issei

"What!" Issei and Ddraig yelled once their eyes had cleared when they saw that Hroghar had caught Ascalon in his hands, his wounds closing rapidly, with small sparks of red sealing the large gash closed, leaving nothing to show he had even been cut.

"I said I would never surrender!" Hrothgar roared as he rose to his feet and using his newfound strength he pushed Ascalon aside using his free hand to strike the surprised Issei's helmet sending him flying into the arena wall taking a large chunk out of the arena.

"Where the hell did that come from!" Issei cried as he rose to his feet to see that Hrothgar was now on all fours, his back arched, fingers and toes digging into the ground like claws and snaring like a wild animal as a red aura enveloped Hrothgar.

"I can feel his power increasing as if it's being boosted somehow. was he hiding this all along?" Ddraig stated to issei, as he saw the red aura surrounding Hrothgar grow brighter.

Without warning, Hrothgar bounded towards Issei, running on all fours like a big cat, his eyes looking like those of an apex predator. Once he got close enough Issei through a hard right hand, but Hrothgar lunged and caught Isseis fist in his hand and even though Issei was now boosting, he didn't seem to budge, him, instead Hrothgar used this moment of shock to throw issei around like a rag doll slamming him into the ground only to throw him aside.

"That son of a bitch!" Issei yelled as he got back to his feet and used his thrusters to chase after Hrothgar who was matching him blow for blow, even at the speeds Issei could reach in his scale mail form, and despite the number of blows he landed and the blood that spewed from Hrotghars mouth he didn't seem to notice.

"How is he doing this! we were kicking his ass and now he's like a wild animal!" Issei yelled as Hrothgar, lunged from the ground to attack issei in the air,

"I'm not sure, he could be using a hidden ability that gives him this power, but I can't say for certain, all we can do is weather the storm and hope we either overpower him or he gasses himself out," Ddraig explained,

"Okay got it...take this!" Issei agreed and then yelled as he summoned his rook form, after dodging a clawed strike using the increase in power to punch Hrothgar back into the ground with a resounding thud, as a shockwave realised from the landing site. Which was next to Hrothgrs axe.

"That should stun him." Issei moaned as he took a deep breath., only to see Hrothgar's silhouette rise from the ground, as the red aura surrounding him grew darker.

"What the fuck is this guy made of!" Issei yelled, dumbfounded by the fact that Hrothgar was completely unharmed

The audience gasped in shock at seeing that Hrothgsr was not only standing but didn't look fatigued

"This isn't good, Issei hasn't even put a dent in him now! Asia yelped

"I can't believe Hrothgar has taken such punishment. How is he still standing?" Xenovia stated

"What could be giving him this kind of strength, he isn't wielding his axe and he isn't wearing any armour? Kiba sighed looking for anything that could explain the power boost.

As the peerage tried to figure out how Hrothgar had gotten stronger Rossweisse had managed to crack the puzzle.

"It's his bracelets. I know it may be hard to notice, but every strike seems to cause the gems to glow slightly, the harder the blow the stronger the spark of light is, it could be redirecting isseis attack and using it to enhance Hrothgar." Rossweisse thought to herself hoping Issei and the others had come to this conclusion. She had been watching him throughout the fight and noticed something. Even though it had been a while since the last saw one another she still remembered that Hrothgar was a very skilled fighter, who didn't take unnecessary risks, but here he was fighting recklessly, wide looping swings leaving himself open to attack. Fighting closer to a berserker, rather than an elite bodyguard.

"How are you still standing Hrothgar!" Issei cried.

"I'm still standing because I have everything to lose in this fight and I have to use everything I have to make sure that doesn't happen, no matter the cost," Hrothgar growled as he raised his arms to form a cross.

"What's he doing?" a number of audience members cried with worry.

"Somethings up, he seems to be calmer now, do you see anything Ddraig"? Issei asked

"I can sense a significant magical source emanating around him. The source is...the Bracelets!" Ddraig roared, at which moment a massive flash of blood-red light, burst from Hrothgar's Bracelets as he began to chant an incantation, to low for anyone to hear. Once he stopped he was enveloped in blood-red tendrils of magic, that turned his body black, and began to mould and shift his form, as if he was changing into a different being.

"This isn't good. I've got to stop this before he completely transforms!" Issei yelled as he summoned Ascalon and charged Hrothgar. However, as soon as he got within two feet of contact, Issei was hit by some sort of magical barrier of red and black lightning that sent him flying back.

"Shit, I can't get near him, now what!" Issei growled.

"Guess we'll have to wait and see what the end result is," Ddraig grumbled.

After a minute the transformation came to end and Hrothgar was now kneeling and seemed larger than before.

"What the fuck is that!" Issei yelled, in a mix of anger and fear at what Hrothgar had become.