Simon barely had time to react as a metallic fist swung towards his face. Although he wasn’t beefy, Simon was at least quick on his feet, and he was able to sidestep away from the swing. Unfortunately, the fist got a little too close for comfort, and Simon began reeling backwards, stumbling over his own feet.

Maxwell took the opportunity to get a punch in on Simon’s gut. His left, luckily human, fist pushed Simon up and away, sending him flying. The crowd cheered as Simon hit the ground, sending sand up into the air and knocking the wind out of him.

Simon coughed as he struggled to get up. Maxwell was strong. Really strong. But he was also easily distracted. He was currently posing for his audience.

“Ahahahahaha! This is how you fight! Man to man! No cheap tricks, no attacks from behind. It’s absolutely PERFECT!!!”

“Does he really have to yell everything he says?”

“Aha! I see you can stand! That is good! I was just getting started!”

Maxwell charged at Simon yet again, his right arm pulled back and prepared to strike. Simon backed up as Maxwell came closer, until he bumped into the side of the pit. Just as Maxwell’s fist was about to make contact with his head, Simon ducked and rolled forwards. He got up and looked back to see the wall crack.

“I thought you said both fists hit the same!”

“THEY DO!”

Maxwell swung his left arm into the wall, leaving behind a similar set of cracks. He turned and smiled at Simon, who in turn felt like he was going to pass out. He rubbed his gut. At least he hadn’t suffered any serious injuries from that earlier attack, but if Maxwell has time to focus and wind up…

Simon gulped audibly. That wall probably wasn’t the only thing that was going to crack today. If he got out of this, he was actually going to work on his fighting skills instead of just thinking about it.

Maxwell began to charge again. It seemed like that was his only strategy, charge and intimidate until victory. Simon thought back to his battle against the Troll. It also had a strategy of constantly charging, and returning with a charge of his own didn’t help at all. He had two options, defend or dodge. Since defending probably wouldn’t work, he decided to focus on dodging.

Maxwell reached where Simon was standing, and swung at him again. Simon ducked underneath the fist, and then backed away as the second one came at him. Maxwell threw punch after punch at Simon, but the smaller man was ducking and sliding to avoid each of the attacks.

Simon circled Maxwell slowly, still dodging, and the larger man was obviously annoyed by this. He brow furrowed, and he grit his teeth. His attacks suddenly got faster, and Simon began having trouble dodging them. By the time he moved out of the way of one, the next punch was already on a collision course with his face.

Maxwell wasn’t the only one annoyed by what was going on. The crowd was sending out a steady stream of boos and insults directed at Simon.

“Throw a punch you ninny!”

“Stop dodging and take it like a man!”

“I came here to see violence!”

“Just finish it Maxwell!”

Simon tried to tune out the noise, but it was really distracting. It was distracting enough to throw off his reaction time by just enough to keep him from dodging one of Maxwell’s punches. Time seemed to slow down as the metallic fist moved towards his face.

“Oh shi…”

The fist plowed into him. An audible cracking noise could be heard on impact. Simon flew into the ground, and bounced up and away, landing on his back. The crowd burst into cheers.

Simon felt his face. His nose was broken, and he quickly snapped it back into place before he could register the pain. He felt blood dripping down his face, from places other than his nose. He could feel a small collection of cuts on his forehead that were probably from Maxwell’s sharp knuckles.

“Ahahahahaha! This is good! This is a fight! Now get up and maybe you can hit me!”

Simon slowly rose to his feet and spit out some blood. He hoped nothing besides his nose broke. He thought that the cuts were an obvious example of how that arm was against the rules, but he wasn’t going to bring it up now. He was pissed, and as much as he didn’t want to fight, he did want to get a hit in on this man.

Simon glared at the mountain of a man, and Maxwell smiled back. Simon began walking slowly towards him, still glaring, and looking him in the eye. Maxwell stopped smiling. Why was this small man walking towards him so casually? He put up his fists and prepared himself. Maybe Simon had a trick up his sleeve.

Simon had cleared about half the distance between him and Maxwell, and he began to charge. He brought his fist up, and lined it up with Maxwell’s chest. The man smiled and laughed.

“You are too obvious in your attacks! This will be over soon.”

Maxwell brought back his mechanical arm, and just as Simon got in range, launched it forwards. In response, Simon ducked down, and punched in a direction that Maxwell didn’t expect. Upwards.

Simon’s fist connected with Maxwell’s jaw, and he stumbled backwards. Simon threw another punch, hitting the man in the stomach. He wound up to throw another strike, but Maxwell quickly recovered and struck Simon in the side of the face.

Simon moved away from Maxwell, head reeling, and they both breathed heavily, their huffing breath the only sound over a silent audience. Maxwell wiped a small trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth.

“Now things are going to get interesting.”

* * *

The Eldest sat and watched the fight that was going on below him. He scratched his chin and mumbled to himself. His attendant leaned over and nudged his shoulder.

“Hm? What d’you want?”

“You seem troubled. What are you thinking about.”

“Bah! It is no concern of yours. However, that man said his name was Simon correct?”

“I believe so, yes. Why?”

“No reason. Something about him just seems familiar to me. I feel like I’ve heard something about a Simon in this area before… Bah. It’s probably nothing. Besides, this man is a wimp! Those punches were nothing! They merely surprised Maxwell. That boy need to be more aggressive.”

“But Eldest, he does seem to be the smaller, weaker individual. Wouldn’t it make sense for him to be on the defensive?”

“Humph. I don’t care. I want to see some action! Kids these days wouldn’t know what conflict was it if it burst through that wall!”

As he said that, as though some omnipotent being with a sense of irony was in control of this world, something burst through the wall.