Timothy smiles and charges at Agnius again, blade first this time. Agnius defends the sword to the side, and Timothy punches with the shield. Agnius dodges backwards to kick the boy away. Not giving him a chance to balance himself, Agnius charges forth and unleashes a barrage of heavy sword strikes blocked by Timothy's shield.

"Lady Wania, forgive me, I am unfamiliar with the incoming knights; who is that boy to make you laugh?" Helga asked while handing Wania her drink

"That is the youngest son of the Weiss-Leo family", Wania answered

"I know that much; I'm asking about his reputation as a knight."

"He was said to be an upcoming genius; he handily defeated a group of bandits that were said to have members who defected from our armies."

"That's commendable, but it could have been regular soldiers."

"It was Commander Collins who was the only person they recognised."

Helga gasped, "Commander Collins, during the war to form the empire, Commander Collins was known for defeating two of the entity Knights; he was later injured and ran away from the battlefield before discharge, making him a traitor."

"Exactly, and that little kid, 17 years of age, took him down before he was 17, mind you" She downed the glass in her hand and handed it to Helga.

"I'm just interested to see what Agnius can really do" Her hand stretched out for another drink. But she wasn't looking at the arena but at the seats belonging to the Weiss-Leo family.

The count and countess were paying keen attention to the fight

"Think he'd win?" Countess Mary asked her husband

"He should. His opponent lacks proper training. All the man has is speed and a little strength," Count Weiss-Leo answered.

"But he seems competent in basic swordsmanship, and you always emphasise the importance of the basics." She sits back and opens her books via the page maker. Fights such as these don't interest her.

"True, but Timothy has a better grasp of them; that man's footwork is unfit for swordplay."

"But he should have won by now," Count Weiss-Leo thought.

The two had a square for exchanging blows with each other. Agnius was at a disadvantage, since he was striking a diamond-rimmed shield; each blow cracked and chipped his sword. Timothy was using his advantage well; he would swing at Agnius, then quickly cover any gaps with his shield. At times, he would taunt Agnius by throwing faints with the shield or leaving small openings for Agnius, but he didn’t take the bait. Ad time went on, Agnius' blows weakened the speed and frequency of his attacks and considerably lessened.

"The man's getting tired; a mercenary obviously can't keep up with a knight’s stamina." Said count Weiss-Leo

"Indeed, it seemed foolish for us to doubt, and the shield is proving to be worth every coin", said Countess Mary "Our plan was to overwhelm the other knights in today's contest, using that as grounds to put Timothy in a influential position in the imperial army, but when we win here we cover ask for an even higher position"

"Yes, indeed, we'll be able to seize control from Wania much faster. The emperor had already named her replacement, but there is no way we can let some commoner from nowhere command our armies"

The Weiss-Leos were practically celebrating in their seats, laughing and chatting, but the match was yet to be over.

Noticing Agnius' sluggish movement, Timothy saw a chance to end things. He went in for a clash and wrestled Agnius down. He was open, and Timothy went for the final blow and was sent flying back. Agnius had slammed the bottom of his palm into Timothy's liver; his chain mail saved him from the full blow, but enough damage was done to knock the air out of him.

The crowd roared. The match that seemed to have almost ended had new life breathed into it. "My lady, what happened?"

"He baited him in"

"What?"

"Agnius poposefully started movement sluggishly, so Timothy would try to end things"

"Only you would notice such a thing on your husband's body, Lady Wania."

Timothy pushed back against Agnius's strikes to parry them and make him lose his balance, but as Timothy's first attempt, Agnius kept slowly increasing the strength behind his strikes; they became too heavy for Timothy to parry so he braced himself and waited for an opportunity, once Agnius slowed down Timothy thrust his sword straight for Agnius throat, he ducked out of the way but came face to face with Timothy's diamond rimmed shield fast approaching, Timothy was expecting a loud thud but a clap reached his ears, Agnius had stopped the shield with his palm.

The two break away before going right back at it, and the crowd gets excited.

"Your son is struggling," said the emperor

Tushar raised his shoulders. "He'll still win; the boy is just giving him some trouble, " replied the emperor. "But I must admit, this one has the skill out of everyone else."

"Yes, in truth, all the other knights are just beginners; entities help them; they do not even have basic training complete yet since we're now in a peaceful time", said the emperor.

The match was getting more interesting by the second; Timothy lasted the longest of Agnius's opponents, and the game wasn't so one-sided. People were enjoying this fight more than the rest whenever someone took advantage, but it never lasted long; Timothy was starting to show exhaustion; the constant clashes with Agnius were getting to him, his arms were shaking from blocking all of Agnius' strikes, it was clear to him in terms of strength Agnius surpassed him.

To break away from their conflict, Timothy was exhausted from defending and trying to keep up with Agnius. He could hardly find an opportunity to take advantage, and even when he did, he would struggle to overpower Agnius; Timothy's blade had made contact with Agnius multiple times, but he couldn't cut through the leather armour he wore. Agnius didn't even react to how the blade had passed his defences. Agnius, on the other hand, looked at his sword. I had chips and cracks all over it, and one of the blades was completely dull, while the other was almost the same. None of the cracks had reached the sword's spine, but the next set of blows might do it in. Both sides had found it unfit to continue a prolonged fight; therefore, the next thing to do was to end it all.

"You're definitely better than most I've fought, but it's time I ended this," Timothy said. Then he swapped his blade and shield; now his blade was on his left, and his shield was on his right. He changed his stance, holding the sword to his hip on the right side like he was about to draw his blade. The edge of his shield was pressed against it. His front was wide open, inviting Agnius in.

"Come, I will end this."

Silence followed people at the edge of their seats; no one knew what was coming. Wania raised an eyebrow and then looked towards the Weiss-Leos, who were relaxed in their seats. Even the eagerly watching father seemed to smile as if the match had concluded in his son's victory.

Agnius walked towards Timothy with his sword to the ground. Everyone watched closely, but they asked themselves, "What is he doing? He completely opened." Step after step, the boots echoed in the colosseum, and he bathed his breath, watching mouths and unblinking eyes. Agnius was within the reach of Timothy's sword, and in a flash, Agnius busted into flames and a loud and distinct sound of metal breaking followed; the upper half of Timothy's blade was broken and had come bounding on the ground. Agnius raised his sword and placed it on Timothy's neck before the flames finally died. The announcer was too stunned to speak, but then Wania stood and loudly declared

"Victory to Agnius Sapphire"

Hearing these words, the crowds started to cheer. What did they just witness? I couldn't see anything. Where did those flames come from? And how did Agnius survive that? He didn't even flinch. How is he still standing?

The crowd was in shock but was equally entertained; they saw a man enter the arena and go up against knights one by one, calming a one-sided victory, a man that was as ruthless as the stories of the war that formed their empire, a man when finally challenged still won by going up in flames and pressed his blade against the enemies neck. What's not to love, but while the people were still chattering about and the nobles were swelling red with the outcome of things, the Weiss-Leo family were wide-eyed by the son's defeat.

"How did he lose Joseph?" Mary asked her husband; she turned to see him stunned-faced, leaning out of his chair

"I watched it, and I still can't tell you", Count Weiss-Leo said. "The boy's attack connected; he was on fire, but he kept going like it wasn't even there."

"The man blocked Timothy's sword with his arm, breaking it in the process."

The husband and wife turned back to their eldest daughter, who was sitting behind them. Their words resulted from analysing the fight, like a report, which only states facts.

"He walked into Timothy's range and also placed Timothy in his range; he swung his sword first while simultaneously raising his left hand to block Timothy's sword, which broke in their clash", Kalina said

"It was careless of Timothy to assume the fire would affect the man; if he had continued with their earlier exchange, the man's sword would have broken, and Timothy would have claimed victory," she continued with her analysis.

His parents, however, were in doubt of her words. "He was set on fire; surviving like that isn't normal", they shared the thought, but a sudden commotion from the crowd snapped back their attention.

"Oh my," said Countess Mary, blocking her expression with her fan. Count Weiss-Leo jumped from his seat. Even the emperor and the Empresses were shocked at what was unfolding. Wania jumped from her viewing box onto the stage just to walk over to Agnius and kiss him deeply in front of everyone.