The Ruler of Gilead 10 Coming Of Age Ceremony pt 4

'Let's see if your body is stronger than my fist!' Hittan started with a telegraphed left to the warrior's left oblique to which he simply dropped his elbow while delivering a high right knee to Hittan's head. Suddenly, Hittan stepped in a little further slamming his fist against the incoming thigh! BANG! Pivoting from his left foot and continuing the clockwise rotation whipped out his right elbow and slamming it on the warrior temple, BANG! As the warrior stumbled back two steps Hittan continued his spin and rotated his hip to snap a left roundhouse kick landing on the chest of the Diamond warrior, BANG! With the combo attack landing firmly the warrior was sent to the ground!

BOOM!

Soon followed Hittan as he himself could not yet fly being at the Topaz Rank. Both warriors taking action at the same time to rush each other. But the Diamond warrior's attack was a fraction of a second slower and was hit with a right fist to the chest. Bang! Which caused him to wobble but not stop his own attack, another knee to the midsection of Hittan, but due to the hit, he was forced to convert it to full kick with less power, BANG. Taking the hit unphased Hittan executed a left leg sweep tripping the warrior then immediately converting the momentum from a crouching position to a backflip! Slamming his knees into the downed warrior's chest, BANG!

After a short spasm, the Diamond warrior finally summoned his sword. Slashing with his right hand at the back of Hittan but hitting nothing. Hittan was already standing with his own sword in his hand 10 feet away.

'Now that it's come to this the fight will most likely last less than 5 moves. Let's end this.'

The Diamond warrior rushed Hittan with a diagonal slash hoping to sever hittan from his right shoulder to his left hip. Raising his sword to block from the upper left he forced the strike back while turning on his left pivot and slashing the warrior across his chest. Still, the warrior did not fall but borrowed the momentum of the strike to make a quick counterclockwise spin and returned a horizontal strike from the right! BANG! Even with the last minute defence of Structure Change, he still felt the impact on his right arm. Not wanting to take a hit quietly he pushed the flicker step to the limit! Thus far they had been fighting at very high speed and was not much slower than his Flicker steps technique!

'Either I reveal more powerful techniques or I gamble on pushing the limits on what I've already exposed. I need to take a gamble!' Having made up his mind he acted immediately and vanished! The Diamond warrior seeing the speed of the approaching challenger quickly acted to meet him head on! Vanishing himself he employed a two-hand hold and slashed diagonally for Hittan's left shoulder. Hittan did not change his actions of wanting to split the warrior from temple downwards. But as soon as their sword would meet Hittan's blade was sliced clean through and proceeded to his shoulder! It was then that a BANG was heard and the Diamond warrior flew back 10 meters! Hittan's form finally reappeared with no marks or scratches on him.

"Challenger Hittan, you have completed 6 Rounds do you wish to continue?"

"...Mmmh, not at this time senior Elder."

WHOOSH!

As Hittan's form appeared on the stage all the juniors could not help but applaud the skill and talent before their eyes. He had successfully proven that he, as a mixed bloodline, was strong regardless of what he was.

...

The other juniors went on stage and one by one found out how hard it was to challenge the Corundum warrior. Never mind the Diamond warrior! At the very end, the senior Elder reported the final results.

"Junior Challengers, you have done well and all have passed the basic requirement of going to the Sky Element Academy and safety requirement of leaving the Village at your age. These are your results:

1st Place: Hittan of the Beast Pavilion, Rank Topaz, GSP above 60,000 units, Round 6 Winner.

2nd Place: Edan of the Beast Pavilion, Rank Topaz, GSP 25,890 units, Round 4 Defeated.

3rd Place: Falkner of the Phoenix Clan, Rank Topaz, GSP 21,545 units, Round 4 Defeated.

4th Place: Sahar of Phoenix Clan, Rank Topaz, GSP 20,553 units, Round 3 Winner.

5th Place: Samir of the Dragon Clan, Rank Topaz, GSP 20,533 units, Round 3 Winner.

6th Place: Ona of the Phoenix Clan, Rank Topaz, GSP 19,586 units, Round 3 Defeated.

7th Place: Valencia of the Dragon Clan, Rank Topaz, GSP 19,485 units, Round 3 Defeated."

As soon as the results were read the Elders all applauded the juniors for their courageous efforts. Many had to re-evaluate their old assumptions regarding mix bloodlines. It can be said that Hittan and Edan made the first step towards accomplishing their shared goal for the village. It was time for the village Chief to address the juniors and close the ceremony.

"The senior evaluating Elder refers to you all as 'Challengers' I too shall follow suit. You are in life a challenger, at times victorious and at times the defeated! But whatever your end, be sure to live upright, be sure to live with the pride of the ancestors and never forget to be your brother's keeper.

You are about to depart from the village for the next few years. During this time you will not have the protection of your families and the person you see next to you will be the most dependable. Make them your family for these next few years and be each others keeper. As is customary for the departing group you will be formed into a single team. This team will be led by Hittan as the strongest and Edan is second in command. However, you are free to challenge for leadership should you be strong enough. I leave the naming of the group to you, the Challengers. Your departure will be tomorrow and you will meet at the Great Hall no later than High Sun, you are dismissed."

The group had not left at their dismissal but they all looked to Hittan subconsciously for him to give a name. Hittan himself could only say it was a reaction of those who admired the strong.

"... Team 'New Hope', are we all in agreement?"

Chapter end