Chapter 31 - Semi-Finals Part 1
[A/N: MANY BIG THANKS FOR ALEX MARTZ FOR HIS DONATION ON *******, PRAY FOR HIM TO HAVE A DRAGONBORN-GRADE HAREM AND GO TO SOVENGARDE.]
[A/N: 2 bounce chapters will be posted this week]
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Ralof and Hadvar, two of the first NPCs that the player interacts with at the first scene in Helgen, the player walk to his execution as a prisoner with other war prisoners, Ralof is one of them, Hadvar, on the other hand, is one of the imperial officers overseeing the execution.
After the events that led to the failure of the execution due to Helgen being under dragon attack, the player chooses to either escape with Ralof or Hadvar.
The choice has no effect on the game whatsoever but it affects the survival of those two NPCs, if the player escaped with one the other will die.
These two are from the same village of Riverwood and that is a common knowledge for all players, and now I am being told that these guys are actually best friends and they support each others' choice.
But at the escape, they encounter each other, Hadvar calls Ralof a traitor and hopes that the dragon takes Ralof and his allies all to Sovngarde.
It's sad, but I can't do anything about it, not just yet anyway, I have still not decided what to do about the future Civil War as it one of the most important turning points of the history of Skyrim.
While thinking about that and watching the remaining matches, I could notice Maven Black-Briar in the VIP seats looking around at the seats.
Hehe! He will not be coming, old witch. I couldn't see Hemming or Asgeir Snow-Shod either, they must be out there searching for Sibbi.
About the time the matches ended, Asgeir Snow-Shod came and looked pale-faced, he looked at his father Vulwulf and whispered something, then he and his father walked to Maven and talked to her.
Maven started raising her voice and the VIP seats started to look messy, the people noticed and started to ask around, some rumors started to fly around.
'Sibbi Black-Briar was killed in a robbery', '... was found dead in an alleyway', '... killed by robbers'
I guess my 'redecoration' for the alleyway last night was good enough, now the main suspects are Solitude ruffians.
If they investigated Sibbi's enemies such as me, or came looking for trouble then that's another story, but at least they will investigate me, so I made a solid alibi with Rusning.
Speaking of Rusning, he wasn't looking well, this guy seemed like he never took a life before so I think he was nervous.
The noise in the VIP area was not coming down anytime soon and it seemed the Torygg has ordered the guards to dismiss the people.
I returned to the inn, Wulfur and Battle-Born who didn't know what happened were taken aback by the news, I didn't tell them just yet for a good reason.
Guards came to the inn and questioned all the participants lodging there including us of course. This is why I said nothing to them as they were not as shameless as me, the might start sweating from the first question.
Well after the guards left night came and I could tell them everything, they didn't mind me killing Sibbi but for me to lie about it with a smile was just too much for them, they looked at me with disdain the whole day, I also told them if there is to be a funeral then I'll be going, this was their limit, they never spoke with me the rest of the day.
'Killed the man and walked his funeral.' This is an Egyptian proverb about shameless evildoers and I am going to apply it literally.
Still, we had to make preparations for tomorrow, we are going against Lydia and her team 'Warmaidens', a team made of girls and for some reason I am worried.
Why am I worried you ask? Well, I have two manly manly Nords with me who will most likely are not good at hitting girls.
I made sure they don't underestimate team 'Warmaidens' and made some strategies with them.
At night, I went out and made an extra precaution, I hid the stuff I looted from Sibbi in the manhole I use to access Solitude sewers, I will take them out in the big day.
The next day we went to the arena at the usual time, I could hear many people still talking about the events from yesterday.
The VIP seats were full except for Maven and Vulwulf, they naturally did not attend after what happened.
Viarmo announced the events of today matches, he also announced the incident from yesterday to the people and also announced that the Black-Briars are offering handsome rewards for anyone who gives of information that leads to the arrest of the culprit.
After he said that the matches started, I with my gang were on the arena against Lydia and two other girls, there were other two girls outside.
Lydia and her team were all sword and shield users, most girls used that style.
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Jon on the left with his hammer, Wulfur on the middle but he carried a hammer like Jon this time, and Battle-Born was on the right with his sword.
The plan was simple, overwhelm the opponent.
Lydia and her team were very resilient and their winning to this point was due to three factors.
They always stood in defense, they have good teamwork and they are always underestimated and seen as lucky.
With the judge's signal, three boys made their moves as if they were unleashed wolves, Lydia shouted for her team to defend and they stood together tightly.
Wulfur crashed into the shield wall with all his weight, the girls could feel like a mammoth was crashing into them but what happened next was a bit too unlucky for them.
Jon who lessened his speed in the last second jumped on Wulfur's back then jumped over him once he crashed into the shield wall. The girls could feel a shadow flying over them, as they looked over they could see a flying Jon.
"Retreat!" Lydia commanded and made a hasty order, she could see Jon landing and ready his hammer for a big swing.
Lydia and the girl on the other side could run to different directions, the girl on the middle, however, tried to run but she couldn't, her shield was held by Wulfur.
She looked at him and he said, "That's his plan, sorry."
Yes, that was Jon's plan, Wulfur and Battle-Born won't hit girl's seriously but Jon had no problem with that, all they had to do was to pin down the girls and Jon will do the dead.
He swung the hammer at the girl and she was sent flying, she screamed from the pain of Jon's swing.
Wulfur, Battle-Born, the crowd and the VIP looked at Jon with cold eyes, this was a girl, how can he just hit like that?
Lydia and the other girl shouted the name of their teammate, Jon clearly didn't take gender into consideration.
Also, he didn't stop after one hit, he made sure that the girl stays down, then moved to another opponent.
The judge announced that the opponent was down and her team can send another substitution.
Before a substitution could enter, the three boys moved like wolves to trap the other girl.
"Ganging on one, how shameless!" Lydia rushed at them, but one of the boys blocked her, that was Battle-Born.
"Long time no see Lydia, didn't think I would see you here!" Battle-Born said.
They seemed to know each other but Lydia didn't reply and attacked with a stab.
Battle-Born was to stall her until Jon and Wulfur finish the other girls.
Two fights were going on, Battle-Born against Lydia, while Jon and Wulfur were chasing the other girls.
Lydia broke free from Battle-Born and headed directly to Jon, Jon had already taken another girl down, which means team 'Warmaidens' has no substitutions left.
"Now take them one on one, don't be so damn shy and hit them." Jon shouted at his teammates as he already achieved the first phase of his plan, he didn't want the other team to have more members than his or it will cause his team to lose stamina early.
Lydia and Jon met head-on, Jon looked at the angry Lydia and noticed her facial features. Dark hair, green eyes, saber-like brows, she was a beauty, this was due to the effect of the mod 'Bijin Warmaidens'.
This was a mod the beautified some of the female NPCs that follow the player.
Now Lydia was that pretty, and she was angry too.
Jon raised his hammer and swung at Lydia not charmed by her at all, Lydia stood strong and blocked Jon's strike with her shield, the people cheered as this blow has sent many people flying yet that strong girl was blocking it with one arm.
She countered at Jon with a stab yet he guided it away with the hammer's haft, then returned the blow with the hammer's backspike.
The backspike went directly into Lydia's safe zone and threatened her, she retreated back but the backspike sank into the wooden back of her shield, Jon took over the opportunity and pulled the hammer back taking away the shield from Lydia.
Lydia retreated a few steps away and was now understanding why Jon was considered the true black horse of this tournament.
She held her sword with two hands and struck fast, Jon blocked with his hammer and counted with the knob of the grip right on Lydia's face.
Some of the crowd started booing at Jon for his brutish behavior, yet who gives a damn, Jon attacked with a roundhouse kick to push Lydia back more.
The crowd was cheering more as it seemed that Battle-Born already sent his opponent down and went to help Wulfur.
This fight was already in the hands of team 'White Wolves', Lydia looked around and saw it's hopeless.
"Your team is simply too strong I admit it." She said while throwing the sword away and helmet, "But Just like the others, I want to try a fist fight." She smiled fearlessly.
Jon was thinking 'Why are Nords so fond of being beaten up?', he didn't realize how much they liked his style.
He also put his hammer and helmet down and moved a bit to the side with Lydia, they went into brawling pose and stood still, the crowd cheered as the last girl fell to Wulfur and Battle-Born blows. [A/N: I felt something dirty with that line.]
Lydia and Jon moved as if that was the starting signal, Wulfur and Battle-Born stood to the side to watch.
Lydia punched faster than the normal opponents could as she was much lighter, Jon dodged backward as he could feel pressure from her punches.
He found a chance and sent a fast jab at her nose, Lydia took the hit head-on and was forced backward, she put her hands on her face to check and found blood oozing from her nose.
She smiled fiercely and started punching and kicking at Jon, he used the opportunity and kicked her kick causing her stance to crumble and fall down.
Jon tried to hold her when she was down but she kicked while she was down and jumped on him and clashed body to body
Suddenly Jon could feel a sense of disaster, Lydia hugged him tightly and refused to let go, then she used her hips and carried Jon, she ran carrying him.
Jon kicked her with his knee but she was so persistent, she refused to let go and still ran.
Jon could feel she was heading out of the arena, she was aiming to throw Jon out of it and disqualify him.
Jon used his arms to hug into her and tried to twist her body but she resisted to the best of her ability.
As Lydia almost reached the end of the arena she made a jump, Jon looked at her and smiled, he thought 'So that was it!'
Lydia was trying to disqualify herself with him, a bit heroic in her Nordic brain, due to that Jon didn't offer more resistance.
As she jumped with him he fell first and she was on him.
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That was naughty! She tried to look cool using me. Well, I was the villain most of this match though.
I was lying on my back outside the arena and she was on top of me, her head was on my chest.
The crowd cheered and she moved, she looked at me with a grin and said, "I got you."
Well, I was careless but whatever, my team won anyway, still, I could also feel like I won.
"Can we stay like this for a while?" I asked.
Lydia raised her brows questioning what I meant.
She was sitting on me, it was what we call in the otherworld 'Cowgirl position'.
She noticed how she sat and was shocked, I was really enjoying her expressions.
As she got up slowly, she looked away and said "I am sorry." but I couldn't help but giggle.
The judge announced my team's win, this was my first time to get disqualified though.
This was the announcement saying that my team will get into the finales, our fans cheered and some people still booed, I guess I should have gone easy on the girls.
Next match was something I had to watch.
It was Argir vs Rusning, Golden Swords vs Aracana Wisdom.
The winner is our opponent.