The first round of the qualifiers had finally come to an end, and the Knights were resting and recovering for their second matches. The crowd of Dragon Knights had decreased in size as defeated warriors left the arena to attend their duties and recover from their loss. The fighters who remained would now fight for the honour of a place in the tournament and a chance to show their strength in front of the rest of Burmecia.
The King of Burmecia announced the start of the first second-round qualifier and the fights began. Everyone had their attention focused on this match, which was of a higher quality than most of the previous matches. Eventually a victor was decided and the battle was drawn to a close. The King announced the winner before calling out the participants of the third match.
"Will Sir Doyle and Lady Freya please go and prepare themselves for their match."
Freya remained calm as she strolled into the back of the arena. She heard Fratley wish her good luck as she walked past him. She was soon followed by Doyle, who had been in the Burmecian army for around one year.
The second match was just as good as the first, showing that the quality of the matches had improved now that most of the amateurs and unskilled fighters had been eliminated. It was time for the third match to begin.
Freya and Doyle entered the arena together, both looking very calm and collected and clearly in the right state of mind. They both moved so there were stood in the centre of the arena out of the range of any physical attacks. Freya put her right leg behind her and moved her lance by her left side, in an offensive battle stance. Doyle put himself in a similar position, only with his left leg and his lance on his right side, as he was right-handed.
Both of the pair heard the King's voice as it rang throughout the arena.
"You may begin."
The two brought their lances forward and clashed on one side of the pair, as neither had the room to attack properly. The two then brought their lances back to break the deadlock. Freya moved out of her original stance to sway towards Doyle's left side, evading another strike from Doyle and leaving a good opening. She swung her lance with tremendous force only for her lance to clash against his armour.
Freya quickly moved her lance back in time to block another offence from Doyle, who had also moved out of his battle stance. Doyle brought his lance back and took a defensive position as he conjured up another strategy which might be effective.
Freya would not allow Doyle to get any ideas and instead performed a short leap over Doyle, just out of range of any attacks. She landed straight behind her opponent and spun round swinging her spear. Doyle hopped away from Freya just in time to evade the powerful slash.
The two glared at each other, trying to induce fear on their opponent as they figured out what they should try next. The pair were almost daring each other to attack, the tension built up in the small audience, which was soon broken as Freya made the first move.
Freya aimed for Doyle's shoulder as she brought her lance down with power. Doyle swayed to the right to dodge the strike and swung at Freya's legs, which lifted into the air to evade the counter.
Doyle looked up to see Freya sailing backwards through a magnificent leap, but he quickly guessed where she would land and sprinted towards the location in a flash. Freya noted Doyle's tactic and moved her lance so it was pointing towards the ground. Doyle reached where he wanted to be and pointed his lance in the air, poised to attack Freya. Freya landed, and the two lances clashed together as Freya had swung the second before landing. Freya's lance pushed Doyle's to the ground and the two were in a deadlock, although it had given Freya the advantage.
Doyle tried desperately to lift his lance from the ground, but Freya was overpowering him, as their lances remained in the same position. A thought then clicked in Freya's mind and she took a small step backwards before lifting her lance in a sudden burst of movement. Doyle winced as Freya had lifted the lance up towards him and pierced his shoulder. Blood was seeping slowly through the thin cut, and Doyle backed off and dropped his lance to tend his wound.
The King saw this clearly and quickly announced throughout the arena.
"Lady Freya is the victor. She now qualifies to participate in the tournament."
Doyle quickly shook Freya's hand as a gesture of respect before heading quickly back out of the arena. Freya soon followed him.
When Freya rejoined the audience Fratley was the first to offer his congratulations. Frato didn't even look in Freya's direction, as he was more concerned about watching the next match.
The tournament line-up was looking more and more prosperous as each match was proving to be very entertaining and had very worthy winners. After Sir Leo had won the fifth match (a match that Frato had been especially interested in), the Burmecian King called out the contenders for the seventh match, so they could prepare.
"Will Sir Lion-heart and Sir James please go and prepare themselves for their match."
The two warriors left the crowd to prepare, with Lion-heart looking extremely confident as a smile carved itself on his lips.
The sixth match came and passed, and another Knight qualified for the tournament. After a few moments, the two fighters walked down to the arena. Lion-heart had his lance in hand, a clear mind, and a smile across his face. He was clearly ready for battle. James was in a completely different state, his hands were shaking slightly from nervousness and his eyes were wide with anxiety.
The two took their positions in the arena, both had their lances pointing at their opponent and both were poised to attack.
"You may begin."
James was the first to attack and unleashed a furious combination, but Lion-heart was focused on his opponent and blocked all of the strikes with ease. James tried to slash Lion-heart one final time but Lion-heart did a small hop backwards, evading the attack completely.
Utilising the vital opening, Lion-heart charged forward and slashed at the young fighter's chest, causing sparks to fly off his armour. James yelped in response before jumping backwards for some breathing space.
James then decided to charge again, and Lion-heart prepared to dodge, right before James came within striking distance of Lion-heart he leapt six feet into the air and swung his lance vertically, aiming for Lion-heart's shoulder. However, his lance only hit the arena floor as his opponent had scouted the move and had rolled to the right.
James quickly lifted his lance from the arena and had to duck as Lion-heart swung for his shoulder. He turned to slash Lion-heart in what he thought to be an opening, but Lion-heart blocked the strike again, as he had perfect control of his weapon.
A deadlock began to ensue, and Lion-heart was pushing James' lance back at an alarming rate, and the difference of strength between the two was clearly evident. After pushing his opponent's lance as far as physically possible, Lion-heart then began to force his opponent backwards through the arena.
James decided to break the deadlock and leapt backwards to get some more breathing space. James then thought of something, and his lance began to glow red as he chanted a Dragon Knight ability.
Lion-heart had a similar idea, for as soon as James leapt back he too began to charge up his lance with magical energy, only his lance turned white instead of red.
James had nearly charged up the ability and was about to point his lance at Lion-heart, when he heard his opponent shout "Lancer!" from a short distance in front of him. Lion-heart was tearing across the arena towards him.
James couldn't even react, he only shrieked as Lion-heart's lance pierced his armour and a very small way into the right side of his chest. The mystical power of the attack had enabled Lion-heart to break the armour of his opponent, but Lion-heart had held back from making a lethal attack. The lance had barely pierced half and inch of flesh.
Lion-heart removed his lance and blood gushed slowly through the armour. James dropped his lance and clutched the wounded area. The King was quick to announce the winner.
"Sir Lion-heart is the victor. He now qualifies to participate in the tournament."
The knights gave a polite round of applause for the match-up, but they knew Lion-heart was capable of better. Lion-heart helped James out of the arena so that he could recover and the next match could take place.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX or anything in it. Frato is a concept of my own imagination, and I own him...well, his human side anyway.
Author's Rant: I'm starting to get tired of writing these fight scenes! And I still have a whole tournament to write out! Sorry for the late update, but tons of homework, school time and a sister who won't remove herself from the computer delayed me a bit. I still haven't raised the rating yet, probably because no-one answered me when I asked if I should raise it!
Lollypop Stick: Give me that cookie! I love cookies! I am flattered by your comment. Keep reading!
Breeze of Summoners: Thanks for the analysis, I think I spared the detail of Lion-heart's first fight because writing a third fight scene for that chapter would have drove me insane. Variety is good, but unfortunately these recent chapters are of the same variety, which is boring me.... Anyway, I'll probably see if I can fit some dialogue into the next chapter, and I'll want to finish this tournament as fast as I can. I'll probably write some of the later chapters of this story just to give me something fresh to do....