A King's Legacy Ch. 02

Oust continued his slashing attacks, moving faster than the human could hope to match as he growled in concentration of his fearsome work. Aster frantically matched strikes, desperately struggling to keep the rugged beast's claws from finding purchase on his flesh. Unfortunately for him, the cat brought down his left gauntlet and snatched ahold of his staff mid barrage, ripping it from the warrior's hands. The metal rod rang out in protest as it was discarded behind the imposing tiger. Oust donned a menacing snarl in delight of his accomplishment. The tiger lunged forward just a bit and abruptly stopped, faking out Aster, making the now disarmed boy flinch and take a step back, attempting to distance himself from the impending beast

Suddenly, Aster found himself struggling to recover his footing, as he nearly slipped off the ring while trying to back step. The tiger had distracted him with his constant assault and slowly worked the boy into the position he was now in. This was where experience had shined through in the tiger's favor. Aster had fallen for the trap, He had been cornered. His attention snapped forward in horrible realization as the large cat pounced, arms spread wide to prevent a dodge on either side, there was no stopping the impending collision, and no way for aster to counter without his staff. At this rate, he was going to lose. He knew in his mind, the tiger had bested him. The boy was left with no other choice. He had to use that. Even if it meant undoubtedly exposing his true identity to his spectating father.

Stahl was watching the match closely. He had even been intrigued enough to lean forward, resting his chin on the backs his intertwined hands, studiously observing the progress of the battle before him. His weird little buddy was giving a damn good fight, but the sheer force of the large cat was chipping him away slash by slash.

Stahl closed his eyes for a second, sighing in realization before looking back to the arena. This match was over, Mortum hadn't noticed Oust was backing him into a corner to counter the small guy's quick and constant dodging. It was truly an expert execution on the tiger's part.

'A shame though, I was really rooting for this underdog.' He thought to himself just after the creature was disarmed, moments before the cat lunged to secure his ring out. It was at that time, many in the stadium, Stahl included, drew gasps in shock at what they were witnessing. The weird beast had kneeled down, braced himself and threw up both of his arms, crossing them at the forearms in front of himself, seemingly in attempt to bear the strike. (An impossible feat in that scenario normally.) However, it appeared there was more still to the boy's hidden ace.

Faster than the blink of an eye, as if it was always there, appeared a golden shield mere inches before the boy. It was translucent in appearance, with curvy white vine like markings on the facing that stretched to encompass the center where a golden hued gem that glimmered as brilliantly as the sun itself was inlaid into the facing. The moment the shield appeared, the entire arena felt a great warmth emanating forth from the gemstone, bathing all present in the most peaceful feeling of protection imaginable.

Oust soon collided with the golden shield, but the smaller beast was already bending backwards, the shield mimicking his movement, tilting itself, and the cat's projection as the small human braced and pushed with all his strength. Oust desperately grasped for some purchase, fighting with all his will to find someway to halt his now impending ring out as he was cast over the boy. His claws barely managed to snag a hold of the creature's strange helm, but to the cat's horror, the sound of tearing fabric released the skull-like mask from its bearers head. Shredded ribbons of the wrapping flooded the tiger's vision, as he and the helm he was still clutching onto was launched outside of the ring. The tiger felt his breath knocked away with a thud as his heavy body impacted against the soft dirt. The crowd erupted into cheers as the shield disappeared as quickly as it came, although, their applause only lasted for a moment.

"RIIIINNNG-OOOUUUTTT! VICTORY, MORT-" The judge stopped suddenly in his declaration, his mind trying to process what was before him as a truly jolting wave of silence befell the Selection Grounds. There was not a single soul present that day that ever could have imagined what was hiding behind that mask.

Stahl's eyes widened in shock and his mouth fell agape as he leaned forward to inspect the reveal. He didn't know what exactly was on the stage at that time, and it kind of looked like a small, pale orc in a way, but more than anything, he found himself oddly encaptivated by the sight of the strange creature. As the stadium around the exposed human quickly erupted into chaos, there was a single onlooker bearing a fanged smile that day.

Hope you've enjoyed so far. Sorry about the slow start, but it's a whole ass novel soooo. We've got one more chapter or two of setting some things in motion before the plot gets rolling and the romance really blossoms. Hope you stick with me. I know the premise is nothing new really, but I'm enjoying it. Feedback and such always helpful. Not sure if I'm doing the tags right but I'm trying lmao.

(I'll be dropping a character reference sheet at some point too to try and make sure the characters are more clear, but only after I get the story passed a certain point of spoilers.)