No Mercy for the Foolish
The martial arts tournament had begun.
Thirty-two combatants gathered in a single arena: sixteen of the Elf Empire's strongest warriors, including myself, and sixteen of the Dark Elf Kingdom's strongest, including Belakir.
The tournament was a bracket-style elimination to determine the strongest.
The victor would receive ultimate honor.
And...
The Blessing of the World Tree.
It was a reward granted only to the tournament winner once every century. It practically guaranteed an immediate leap in growth upon receipt. A classic case of the strong getting stronger.
Unlike the preliminaries, the main tournament featured an additional rule: the Declaration of Defeat.
If a loser conceded defeat of their own accord, the victor could not kill them.
There was only one reason they added such a rule when both sides were itching to slaughter each other: they were both terrified of war.
Both the Elf Empire and the Dark Elf Kingdom had sent their absolute best.
If these warriors started dying here, the tournament would highly likely devolve into an all-out war. Thus, the rule was a necessary compromise.
Well, it didn't matter to me anyway.
I had no intention of losing in the first place.
Step.
Step.
Step.
The arena gates ground open, and the Dark Elves marched in.
Leading them was none other than the princess, Belakir.
Her silver hair swayed against her shoulders as her crimson eyes slowly swept over the arena.
"That Dark Elf is Princess Belakir...?"
"She doesn't look crazy."
"To think someone not even a century old has slaughtered so many warriors..."
The crowd murmured as they stared at the princess.
Yet, Belakir paid no mind to the commotion, casually walking to the center of the arena.
And then—
"In the honor of Her Majesty the Queen, we shall claim victory!" Belakir cried out.
"Victory! Victory! Victory! Victory!" the Dark Elves chanted in unison.
"..."
"..."
The elves watched the Dark Elves with eyes full of sheer contempt.
Honestly, whether they were elves or Dark Elves, they were two sides of the same coin making a fuss.
Bwaaaaaaaah!
A horn echoed through the stadium.
Then, just like during the promotion match...
Hummmmm...
The Emperor's vessel parted the sky and made its grand entrance.
Standing at the bow, the Emperor looked down at the arena before starting his speech in a majestic voice.
"Valiant warriors of the Empire and the Kingdom!"
"Yawn..."
Naturally, I didn't listen to a single word.
As I stood there picking my ear, the speech finally wrapped up.
"Let the tournament begin!"
"Waaaaaaah!"
Cheers erupted from the spectator stands.
The contenders for the very first match were...
"Ardelin of the Elf Empire!"
And none other than...
"Belakir of the Dark Elf Kingdom!"
It was Belakir.
This is a foregone conclusion.
An elven warrior wielding a massive spear stepped up to face Belakir.
"Ha!"
He scoffed, looking down at her.
"Princess Belakir."
"..."
"On behalf of His Imperial Majesty, I shall—"
Before the elven warrior could even finish his sentence—
Whoosh!
Belakir vanished.
And then—
Crack!
Appearing behind him in the blink of an eye, Belakir snapped the elven warrior's wrist.
Clang!
The spear clattered to the ground.
"Aaargh!" the elven warrior screamed.
At the same time—
Slick!
A blade stopped mere millimeters from his throat.
It had all happened in the blink of an eye.
"..."
"..."
The crowd fell into stunned silence.
"A-Ardelin was..."
"In an instant?!"
Judging by the commotion, he must have been a fairly famous guy.
"I-I yield! I surrender...!"
His reputation meant nothing now as he shrieked in desperation.
Well, obviously.
The tip of the blade was about to pierce his throat.
"..."
For a brief, fleeting moment, Belakir's eyes narrowed.
And then—
Slide.
The tip of the blade crept a fraction of an inch closer. Just a tiny, microscopic movement.
She's...
She was holding it back. Her urge to kill.
If his surrender had been even half a beat later, Belakir's sword would have pierced straight through the elven warrior's throat.
"P-Please...!"
At the elven warrior's desperate plea—
Sheathe.
Belakir withdrew her sword. She turned around without a word.
"Boo!"
"Booooo!"
Ignoring the jeers raining down from the stands, Belakir walked out of the arena.
Why did that feel like watching myself during the promotion match?
Still...
Her movements were strikingly similar to mine. The way she used a dagger as her primary weapon, the way she moved in ways others couldn't predict.
And...
...even the genuine desire to kill.
They said those born with the blessing—or curse—of the Night Goddess were driven mad by slaughter. Could it be related to the Heavenly Slaughter Star?
I watched the subsequent matches, lost in thought. Honestly, none of the fights after Belakir's caught my eye. Elves, Dark Elves—they were all the same. Just a bunch of mediocre fighters.
Just as boredom was starting to make me doze off, my name was finally called.
"For the final match of the round, Lee Taepyeong of the Elf Empire!"
"And Kalus of the Dark Elf Kingdom!"
The last match already?
I handed my cloak to Nairin and stepped into the arena.
"Please select your weapon."
The weapon rack held a wide variety of armaments. Though they were all basic, ordinary weapons.
Meaning they only want to test pure skill.
Longswords, daggers, scimitars, rapiers, hand axes, battle axes, maces, clubs, war hammers, spears, glaives, shortbows, longbows, whips...
There were plenty of options, but my choice was already made.
Slide.
A dagger.
After all, this was the most familiar, and it had the best "hand feel."
Thud.
In contrast, my opponent picked up a whip.
Whips were rarely used in the Empire, but the Dark Elves seemed to favor them. Even today, two or three of them had chosen whips.
Come to think of it, this is my first time facing a whip.
As I stared at it with interest, the Dark Elf smirked openly.
"Will a mere dagger suffice, human?"
"More than enough."
I shrugged.
"Hehehe. A greenhorn who didn't even go through the preliminaries..."
"If I had participated in the preliminaries, things would have gotten very ugly for you guys."
When I replied with a smile, the Dark Elf's eyes narrowed.
"I heard there was no 'Declaration of Defeat' rule in the preliminaries."
"..."
"Then you wouldn't have even made it here in the first place."
"What?"
"Because I would have killed you."
"You bastard..."
"Be glad there's a surrender rule here."
The guy bared his characteristically sharp Dark Elf teeth before curling his lips back up.
"You won't even be able to get close to me with that single dagger."
"Hmm."
"I'll make you scream in agony, youngest prince—"
"You talk too much."
Before this gets any more boring, let's start with a jab.
Flip.
I adjusted my grip on the dagger.
And then—
Slide.
Gliding across the floor, I went straight for the ankles.
Slash!
First cut.
"Aaargh!"
With a scream, the Dark Elf lashed his whip.
Crack!
The whip grazed past my ear, striking the ground with a sharp, vicious snap.
Now that was a nasty sound.
Whoosh!
I leaped right over the whip.
Stab!
I plunged the blade into the Dark Elf's shoulder.
Honestly, I could have gone straight for his throat, but sitting around waiting for so long had made me want to warm up a bit.
Crack!
The whip struck the ground again.
Whoosh!
Evading it effortlessly once more, I drew a long line across his wrist.
Slice!
Blood sprayed.
"Aaargh!"
That's it.
A "match" needs to be entertaining to watch. There has to be blood! Blood!
And of course, screams are a must.
Stagger!
The Dark Elf raised his other arm to swing the whip again.
Whoosh!
The whip flew toward me, tearing through the air.
Zip!
I dropped flat to the ground in an instant.
Crack!
Twisting my body quickly to dodge the whip, I sliced his other ankle.
Slash!
Wobble!
With both ankles slashed and dangling, combined with the recoil of his own whip—
Thud!
The Dark Elf collapsed.
"Hah, hah...!"
Fortunately or unfortunately, the guy staggered back onto his feet.
Oh, he's got some serious grit.
Quite different from the elves who surrendered at the first sign of trouble.
But—
Stab!
It was already too late.
This time, the dagger sank into his flank, sending another fountain of blood spurting out.
"Aaaaaaargh!"
Personally, I was grateful.
Grateful that he was screaming his head off instead of surrendering.
Whoosh!
This time, the whip aimed for my waist.
Hop!
I lightly leaped over it.
The whip snapped harmlessly through the empty air.
What is this, jump rope?
I had hoped a whip would offer a more diverse attack pattern.
But this is just the same.
No, actually, it was even more boring.
Too slow.
Sure, the destructive power was impressive.
But that only mattered if it actually hit. It meant nothing when every single strike missed.
Which meant...
...it's time to wrap this up.
His ankles were shredded, his arm stabbed, and his flank punctured. It was admirable that he kept standing just to swing that whip one more time, but unfortunately, the novelty had worn off.
Stomp!
I stepped heavily on the incoming whip.
The recoil traveled all the way back to the handle, and...
Smack!
The Dark Elf was struck by his own whip and went down.
I instinctively pinned him down, mounting his chest.
Slick.
I pressed the cold blade against his throat.
I could have stabbed him immediately, but out of basic courtesy, I decided to give him time to declare his defeat...
Spit!
Right then—
"..."
The Dark Elf spat, and it landed on my cheek.
"How dare a mere human...!"
This routine again.
Well, unlike the elves, these guys hadn't been mentally re-educated by the Emperor. So I guess it was only natural.
"Gasp..."
"T-To the youngest prince...!"
Now, the elves were more shocked than I was. Because they knew exactly what was coming next.
"The Empire is truly doomed! To bring a savage human kept as a pet into the tournament..."
Good grief.
To waste the precious time he had to surrender on this. I guess Dark Elves were still elves at the end of the day.
Anyway.
"So, you're not going to surrender?"
That meant I was allowed to kill him.
I raised the dagger high.
Squelch!
I drove the blade straight into his heart.
Spurt!
Blood gushed out.
As the hot blood washed away the filthy spit on my cheek, the horn blew to signal the end of the match.
Bwaaaaaaaah!