As the beginning of the fight was signalled, the audience watched in anticipation, curious to see which of the two vanguards would be the first to make their move. To the surprise of most, it was William Marshal who took the lead.

"Wh-What's this!?" Heimdall commented. "In the face of the Son of the Titans, Marshal simply walks forward!"

The spectators of humanity were surprised to see this, as William continued walking, until he stood face to face with Kratos. "I ask you, sir." Marshal spoke. "Do you truly wish to do battle?"

Kratos simply grinned, as in quick succession, he grabbed both of his blades, and in an even faster motion spun the blade as a loud WHAM could be heard. As both sets of spectators looked on, they saw that Marshal managed to block the Chaos Blades with his broadsword.

"Hmm, not bad mortal." Kratos said, as Marshall took a step back. "It appears you wield your weapons better than I would've thought."

"I suppose that answers my question." Marshall called back, as he took a defensive stance, his broadsword low, and his mace high. Kratos charged at his opponent, swinging his blades in sporadic movements, as Marshal simply blocked every attack that was thrown his way. In a surprise turn of events, Marshal ducked below Kratos' swinging motion, and managed to hit him in the center with his mace, knocking the God of Power back.

"I-Incredible! The first blow of Ragnarok 2.0 goes to Kratos!" Heimdall called, as Kratos coughed into his hand, and noticed a drop of blood.

"Woah! That must be some Divine Weapon if it's capable of doing that much damage to Kratos." Kane whistled from the VIP Area. "I wonder how that little Valkyrie girl pulled it off, huh Bathala?"

Bathala didn't respond, and glanced over to the top of Humanity's spectating area, where Goll, Pandora, and Hephaestus said. "I see...so that's what they did." Kane looked over at Bathala with a raised eyebrow.

Before The Match

Humanity Waiting Area

Goll was walking through the Humanity chambers, Pandora in tow. She stopped before a giant door, and pushed it open.

"So, this is his room?" Pandora asked, as they acknowledged the decorations. "I gotta say, I expected more." The room design was relatively simple, the wooden floorboards, the simple wooden walls, with a sword and mace against each other behind a shield on the wall, as in the middle of the room there was a table with two chairs, William Marshal in one of the chairs, enjoying a cup of tea.

"Oh, hello young ladies, what brings you to my room?" Marhsal greeted, as he took a sip.

"Good day to you sir," Pandora bowed. "We wanted to inform you that you would be fighting in Round One."

"You've chosen me to lead our battle against the Gods? I must say, to be in the same bracket as Lu Bu is quite an honour." Marshal said as he stood up.

"Are you sure about this Goll? He looks a lot older then I expected." Pandora whispered.

"Young lady, I still did battle at the age of seventy." Marshal said with a small smirk. "My best, is when I decide my best is." He said, as Pandora put her hand over her mouth, before smiling at Goll.

"Now, for your weapon...here!" Pandora pulled a jar out from behind her, and put in front of him.

"Oh, so how do this work?" The Knight asked.

"Honestly, we're not sure either." Goll admitted. As she said this, Marshal put his hand in the jar and pulled out an orb.

"Trust me, just crush the orb." Pandora told him. He nodded, and proceeded to do so. A bright light cast over the room, Pandora and Goll shielding themselves from it. As they turned to face the Knight, they saw the weapon that appeared.

"My...this is indeed interesting." Marshal said. "Now...point me to the battlefield." He defiantly spoke, as he left the room first, the girls following

Present Moment

"So that's what little Pandora is doing here." Kane giggled to himself. "Did you see that one coming?"

"No, I must admit this did go beyond my expectations." Bathala admitted. "However, this does not change the fact our victory should be overwhelming."

"It's working!" Goll said in glee.

"Yes, the Jar of Blessings and Curses that once caused harm to humanity...I will use Ragnarok to balance out the damage I once did." Pandora said with a smile.

Returning to the fight, Humanity broke out into cheers at the sight of this.

"Look at him go!" One of the humans said. This human had a brown beard, with brown hair that went below his ears, wearing a red and white coat.

"Gotta say, it brings you back doesn't it?" Another added with a smile. This man had more of a lighter ginger beard, with gingerish curly hair, sporting a blue coat with jewellery.

"Well, can we be surprised?" Another commented. This man also had a brown beard, with long brown hair, but in addition a long well kept mustache. He wore a green coat, and kept a scepter in one hand.

"Yeah...that's what we'd expect from the best Knight in Human History." One finished, as he looked on at the fight. The arguably youngest looking of the four, had flowing blonde hair, with a well kept blonde beard with a green coat.

Former Monarchs of England

Henry II, Richard I, John, Henry III

"It appears I must take you more seriously" Kratos stood, taking a deep breath, before closing the gap between them with a simple thrust attack. Marshal dodged this with ease, as Kratos grinned and stepped back. In this same motion, he threw one of his blades at Marshal.

ARROW BLADES

Marshal avoided this one, but as Kratos pulled the blade back, he immediately sent the blade from his right hand, which Marshal also dodged, as he widened his eyes. He looked to the side, and this lapse in focus allowed Kratos to hit him on his right hip, causing blood to flow out.

"Oh, and just like that Kratos manages to even things up! But wait!" Heimdall called out.

Marshal instinctively put his hand over his hip, to cover the blood, before looking back to discover he could not see Kratos where he was once was. He looked up in the sky, to see Kratos charging down at him, blades ready to be swung down.

HELL RAIN

SLAM! Kratos' blades hits the ground a cloud of dust appeared. As the dust settled, it showed Marshal against the arena wall on humanity's side, appearing to have taken a direct hit which he stopped from being a one hit kill, thanks to blocking it with his sword

The Gods broke out into a cheer, as Humanity looked at their champion with concern.

"A-Amazing! In just two moves Kratos has pushed Marshal to the edge!"

Marshal slowly stood up, using his sword to help him up.

"Oh god, its over!" One of the humans called out.

"I guess it was too much for the old man..." Another said in sadness.

"You've done well mortal, if you throw your weapons down now, you can die knowing you were able to last ten minutes with me." Kratos told him, standing by the tiny crater he created with his attack.

"Ha...you're strong, as expected." Marshal said, coughing up blood. "But what you said earlier was not correct at all."

Kratos raised an eyebrow at this, before widening his eyes at what Marshal did next. Marshal combined his broadsword and his mace, into one. The top having the terrifying edge of the sword, and the bottom having the devasting force that the mace would enact. "From the start, I only wielded one weapon." Marshal looked on, with a confident smile.

Author Note

So the first part of Round 1 is done! Let me know what you think of the fight choreography please, It's my first time writing something like this so I'm more than open to suggestions. Hope you like what I did with Marshal's weapon, and the backstories should be starting in the next chapter (maybe?)

That's all for now!