Can a battle crazed hero be the savior of humanity?

Resolve

Isaak

“Gin, let’s not be reckless here. Face it, you don’t have a chance. Orion will pummel you, this will be too one sided and unfair” I lamented as I followed behind Gin on his walk to the arena.

I had known him for almost a lifetime, I knew him well enough to know that he wouldn’t listen to a word I said.

“Shut the hell up, Crowley. I have a point to prove” Gin said. He only ever used my last name whenever he was extremely pissed off.

“You sure you won’t think this over? Things can go south really fast” I said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“get off me” Gin said. He shot me a deadly look, his eyes were red with hate and he grit his teeth.

I let him go.

“You better know what you’re doing” I said, before entering the arena right after him.

The seats were already packed with cheering students. It was almost as if a school event was about to take place.

They cheered at Orion, and mocked Gin. I could see the anger seeping off him.

Orion who was equally infuriated. He looked like he wanted to kill Gin in the most painful way possible.

“Sofiaso, I’ll humiliate you. This will be a monumental moment in history by the time I finish dealing with you!” Orion yelled. He looked like veins would pop out of his head.

Gin made it to the middle of the arena. I knew I couldn’t follow.

So badly did I want to protect him from getting brutally injured but I knew that something more than his body was on the line at that point.

His pride was on the line, pretty much his life as a warrior.

The students of my class, and other classes, gathered around the two boys about to rip themselves to shreds.

Since we sneaked in to the arena, we didn’t have access to the seats.

“You should grab a sword” Orion said in a condescending tone. Meanwhile Gin had gotten to that level of anger where he just went dead silent.

Gin knew sword play, he was decent with it. Years of training with Lord Sofiaso and the rest of his gave him that level of skill.

I doubted that his sword skills would be able to save him now because Orion was going to use magic. We had just gotten our magic statuses, obviously he’d be eager to test his.

Still not saying a single word, Gin walked up to the weapons shed and picked out the sword he usually sparred with whenever we did sword training.

“I suggest everyone moves back, possibly out of the arena.” Orion said, flashing a deadly smile. I could tell that it was a threat to Gin.

The crowd of students roared as Orion took his stance. Meanwhile Gin took his stance, with his sword pointed directly against Orion, gripped tightly with his two hands.

“I cannot strike an unarmed man. You should pick a weapon, Orion” Gin finally broke his silence.

“I don’t need one to deal with your insolence” Orion said, his lips curved into a mocking smirk.

The crowd of students went wild with cheering for Orion. Mindless puppets. This was the exact reason Gin didn’t like them.

Just when I thought I was prepared to behold the most disturbing sight, Gin threw down his sword suddenly.

“If you won’t pick up a weapon, I won’t wield my sword either. Besides, I think I’d have pummeling you with my fists” Gin said, smacking his knuckle against his palm.

It was clear that the person standing in front of me had lost his sanity. Still, I couldn’t interfere.

“This will be quite difficult to watch” Yin, who was standing beside me voiced.

She was a good friend of mine, a friend Gin didn’t like in the slightest.

“It sure will. I would have stopped him if I could” I responded.

“Shh, it’s starting” Yin said.

I only took my eyes off them off them for a second and they were already going at it like street brawlers.

Gin had the upper hand, it was of no surprise. His mother who was quite skilled in hand combat made sure to drill it into him from childhood. Although I was physically stronger than him, I knew well how heavy a punch Gin’s fists packed.

Orion was on the defensive, Gin gave him multiple quick jabs while maintaining his stance.

The crowd didn’t mock or cheer any of the fighters, instead they chanted “magic, magic!” In unison.

That made me realize that Orion was just playing around with Gin, mind games. First he made Gin drop his sword, and he smartly made him resort to extremely close ranged combat.

“I was dumb to think that Gin had the upper hand in this” I said.

“I knew he was in for a world of pain when I saw him step up to Orion. In case your dumb friend over there didn’t know, Orion was appraised of a strong flame affinity and no doubt, he’ll use it. This fight was one sided from the start, pay closer attention” Yin said.

Her observations were correct. Gin was starting to get exhausted because he had been on the offensive since the beginning of the fight and Orion was playing the endurance game.

In the blink of an eye, things turned around when Orion pulled in Gin enough to land a solid hook to his face, and then a hard punch to his stomach in rapid succession. I could see the look of surprise buried in Gin’s eyes as he spat blood.

The students went wild again. I could still hear them chanting “Magic! Use magic!”

Orion grinned from ear to ear, like he was soaking up the all the praises being thrown to him in the form of cheers.

He landed a sharp knee to Gin’s side and Gin staggered, refusing to fall.

“You can give up if you like. I’ll make sure you have a peaceful little life running around school as long as you don’t show yourself to me” Orion said, pulling out his wand from the side of his jacket.

“Give up?” Gin laughed mockingly, enough for his bloodied front teeth to be visible.

He took his stance again, with his fists held out.

“No way! Use magic if you want, I don't care, we’re just getting started” Gin spoke in a raspy voice.

For the first time since the first started, the crowd cheered for Gin.

“Gin, you stubborn idiot” I said under my breath.