Terync knew that Wiedermon was good, but he hadn’t been aware that he was that good. The fact that he could not accurately measure his opponent’s ability was certainly a clear indication of his own inexperience.
“It must have been luck then. Maybe a blind rage from the pain shocked me out of my stupor enough to gain some momentum.”
The hard slap to the back of the head came swiftly and was impeccably aimed. “You shut that trap boy,” Meartin snarled. “Luck ain’t a factor here and you know it. Deep down, you know it. Think about each move you made boy. Each technique you displayed but never learned.”
The elder knight was right, even if Terync didn’t know how he could be. In the moment that he had regained his feet after he had been struck, the fear had melted away and had seemingly been replaced with resolve, determination, and a keen insight to advanced fighting techniques that he had yet to learn.
Now that he thought about it, the next bout had played out almost in an exact like manner. The weapons for the final bout had been throwing axes, and each combatant had been given a brace of eight heavy, blunted axes. If hit by a thrown axe, the judges would determine how serious the hit had been and, if not deemed fatal, would remove up to four axes from the injured party.
Rarely was this kind of bout won by a thrown weapon. More typically, the first few axes were used to soften an opponent, maybe even to injure them slightly. With luck, a thrown weapon would score high enough that an opponent lost all of their remaining weapons, resulting in a severe disadvantage when it came to a melee.
That was pretty much exactly how the first ten seconds of the bout played out. Terync tried to fling two axes right at the whistle starting the match, hoping that the shock of the surprise attack would win him a double that at the least, but Lewis seemed to anticipate such a basic strategy and had deftly sidestepped both, letting the thrown weapons fly harmlessly past. Down to six axes against a full brace of eight, Terync thought it best to play more defensively. The two circled and feigned throws, but only Terync seemed to flinch and react to the fake attacks… another clear indication of his inexperience. Half a minute in, Lewis rushed at Terync, catching the whelp more off-guard than he liked to be. The blitz forced Terync to use another axe in what appeared to be a successful attempt to force Lewis to back off the melee, but then Terync saw the attack for what it was. A simple feint