6. Sword duel, Kem's fate at stake!

The powerful clashing sound between the two sabers establishes the start of the duel, Furio managed to stop Broker's attack with difficulty, taking on count that he can only focus the energy on his saber. Broker immediately took advantage of that, and with great speed tries to cut his torso, but Furio dodges it, despite that, Broker manages to cut him a bit.

"It is useless, for years I have managed to dominate my mastery with the saber, soon you will not be able to measure my movements and you will end up crossed, stop risking your life and serve me, I promise you, the treatment will not be so hostile boy, do not waste the respect that you have molded so far" Broker said with a smug attitude.

"I must accept that your ability is impressive, but you must kill me if you plan to end this fight, I will not stop fighting without giving all i got, after all, I grew up alone, and there are people who deserve to live even more than me, People who even today became very important beings, will never see me give up" Furio replied, while he covers his wound with his left hand.

But Furio had in mind the serious injury he had caused to his ribs earlier. "The ribs, that limits his mobility, it can give me chance to beat him, he will move without allowing his rib to get hurt during his attack, it will be an opening that I must take advantage of, but he is fast, I must attack surprisingly" As Furio thought, he kept dodging and covering Broker's attacks with his saber.

"He's an idiot, he doesn't know he's playing Broker's game,, if he keeps dodging, he'll get tired and will be an easy target, STOP WASTING YOUR TIME YOU IMBECILE, IF YOU STILL IN HIS GAME YOU DON'T DESERVE THAT SWORD, YOU CLOWN" Naomi said.

On time, the sensei got worried, and began to doubt making Furio fight with someone so dangerous, but despite that, he continued to trust his hunch.

Furio keeps dodging, as he felt that his saber was a bit heavy. "The saber is heavy, I can't find a way to control it. unless….." surprisingly, he manages to see that Broker exposed his rib, Furio, without much thought, opposite to what many would do, he lets himself be carried away by the force of his saber, using his own strength only to give him direction, and with the handle, he manages to hit the broker's rib.

"Damn, I exposed my wound without realizing it, i underestimated this boy" thought broker sore from the blow. But he noticed how quickly Furio was about to cut him, Broker dodged with great difficulty, causing him to fall, but he suffered a cut on one of his arms. "Damn," Broker said with difficulty.

"Seems like it worked....I told you broker, don't underestimate me, if you let me live longer, I'll master my saber in no time and finish you off." said Furio

"DON'T BE AN IDIOT, DON'T YOU DARE CHALLENGE HIM LIKE THAT" Uriel yelled.

"Well, you're right, not to be expected from one of my brother's kidnappers. In that case, I should finish you off faster" Broker said.

Suddenly, Broker gets up, and without hesitation goes to attack Furio, who tries to cover himself with his saber, predicting his move. But broker had deceived him, he immediately ducks and kicks his left knee, causing Furio to lose his balance, leaving him unprotected, he points at his head, intending to decapitate him.

"Damn, it's my end" thought Furio, suddenly everyone heard a cut, and blood began to drip, Broker's face continued furious. Everyone looked stunned at what happened.

"Too close, if I didn't do something, I would lose my head for sure, I had no choice but to let myself be carried away by gravity, it had me on the ropes for a moment." Furio thought, "I don't know how you did it, but as you fell you managed to divert the direction of my saber, using your other arm, but that cost you a deep cut, I can't believe you want to risk your own body to save these useless" Broker Said.

"I told you, they have a lot to live for, they have families to take care of, I'm not going to leave them like this, I'll fight until I lose my life." Furio said.

A worried Lilith Says: "When you think you're going to stop risking so much, it's too much for you, Quit!!." "The clown has guts. but he's an idiot, I think if you're his friend, you know he won't, don't you see? He almost lost his arm," Naomi said.

Uriel Replies, while looking at Furio getting up slowly: "Naomi is right, I have seen how on countless times, during his childhood, he tried to defend others, even if he was not so strong as his rival, they can leave him seriously injured, but he will not give up unless someone fall."

Furio was wounded, he was losing blood with the time, he looked very fatigued, with some difficulty, he was holding the saber with both hands, he knew that it was not time to give up, he was not going to give up, despite his serious injuries. "Kem village, I'm not going to leave you at the mercy of this madman, for my own life, I'm not going to leave any child without a family, sensei kato trusts me, I'm not going to disappoint him" Furio said.

Meanwhile, from afar it was observed how the villagers witnessed the fight. "That young man is fighting for us. he is younger than me and is capable of facing the colonel itself. I'm not going to stay with my arms crossed. If he fights I will too, patriarch, we must stand up and fight." Said one of the captured villagers. "Our village has always been known to be against all kinds of fighting, we cannot quit our tradition"

"Give up!? Right now we are giving up our peace, letting these guys take advantage of us, doesn't it seem cowardly of us not to defend our ideals?, as any creature is willing to defend its home or everything it considers loved so to prevent its destruction, we must defend ourselves to keep our peace. I don't know about you, but I will defend them." The villager replied, and then, other villagers agree and join him.

"How long I had to wait... but it finally happened" Said the patriarch.

Meanwhile in the duel, everyone was worried about the course of the fight, Furio was almost at the mercy of Broker, While Broker looked at Furio, he laughed and said:

"So this is the result of your perseverance? hahahahaha, you lack modesty, you knew you couldn't beat me, that your experience didn't compare to mine, but you still fought, and look at the result! You are a stubborn Izuke, but, I must admit that you fought with honor. so I'll finish you off, and keep you from watching me take your friends, I'll give you a quick and honorable end. ¡Die Warrior!"

But suddenly, a wound opened on Broker's right rib just as he moved his arm. "But what….impossible….how did this happen? when did you hurt me?" Broker said in surprise.

"It was hard, but I had to think and move fast. As I fell, you focused on cutting my head off, not only did I manage to deflect the direction of your saber with my arm, but I almost completely clouded your view of me. I instantly remembered that my saber is made of my own energy, so I manipulated it, decreasing the edge to the size of a small dagger, while i'm distract you by covering your saber, I pierced your right rib with that dagger quickly before i fall to the ground, with both sides of your body injured, I have managed to limit your mobility even more, making it easier to predict your movements, and the best thing is that, thanks to you, I have managed to learn to manipulate the energy of my saber in a better way, I told you, As bigger is the danger, the faster I show my potential." Furio said with a smile on his face.

"In a way, my body knew Furio could handle this fight, my mind hesitated, but my heart was sure of his potential. In each of the trainings he had, he managed to show his potential time by time in the most difficult moments, he just had to find a way to exploit it even more" The sensei thought "That sly clown…he used a bit of a dirty trick, but I must admit was skillful. He's kind of crazy like me in a way," Naomi said with some confidence.

"Don't let it go to your head Izuke, I'm still more skilled than you, you don't have the dexterity to beat me" Broker said as he pounced furiously "You may have more dexterity, but you only wield one saber with the same weight, for my part can make the weight of my saber lighter, which allows me to move faster than you" Said Furio, who immediately reduces the size of the saber and quickly dodges, and immediately in the air extends the saber for a moment to attack to Broker, letting himself be carried away by the weight of it. Broker manages to stop him, but Furio hits one of his legs, suddenly, Furio notices something and walks away.

"The barrier, it came into contact with the power of my saber and took damage. If I can Focus a little more power in the saber, maybe I can break it" thought Furio and immediately he saw Broker and said: "You have fought with skill, you really deserve respect and I don't want to hurt you, let's leave this here and we'll help you find your brother if necessary, believe me, we didn't kidnap him, whoever told you that is lying to you and I can prove it." Furio said.

Broker looked at Furio, and began to feel confused, inside he was beginning to believe that they hadn't kidnapped him... but he didn't give in. "You….you are lying. Leave me and my brother alone, keep us out of your business!" Broker yelled

Meanwhile, the villagers in that prison began to break free and attack the soldiers, so they were not seriously injured "we can fight, but for the patriarch we will not shed blood" one of the soldiers was about to kill one of the villagers, but suddenly the patriarch parried the shot with his staff and knocked the soldier out quickly. "patriarch" Said the villager "Many years passed, but what I expected finally happened. They have broken their shell and managed to realize that sometimes it is necessary to defend our ideals, it only took someone to come to their senses to wake up the rest of the village, many years of peace passed, and the people were used to it, without thinking that someone one day would try to break it, that's why they never thought of fighting, turning that into a habit, but at this moment they managed to understand that sometimes it is necessary defend our people and maintain our peace. That boy has opened our eyes. I owe him a lot." Said the patriarch. The villagers put up resistance until they reached the place where Furio and Broker were fighting.

"Broker stop! You must not fight anymore, clearly they are not evil people." Said the Patriarch Broker looks at the patriarch and says: "Patriarch, you and your people have rebelled against me?, how many times have we protected them, and this is how you pay me?, this is for a common good"

"We are doing the same as you Broker, we are defending something we want, but your mind is distorted, to the point of enslaving our village, clearly they are not the kidnappers, their intentions are not bad, do you see that these young people are risking their life for people they don't even know, they have opened our eyes and made us see that we are being lazy, and we must fight sometimes for our peace. Besides, if they were the kidnappers, they would have destroyed everything in their path no matter they die, because if they do, no one will know the location of your brother, instead, they protected the entire village and at the same time they are protecting their lives. Listen to them at once."

Said the patriarch. Furio continues saying: "Believe me I don't know your brother, but I understand what it is to be alone, and for nothing in the world would I allow you to suffer something like that"

The sensei goes on to say, "Years ago, our parents died in the first Armageddon war, and after the evacuation to this planet, Furio's parents disappeared. leaving him alone, I have been taking care of him and his friends and I are the only loved ones he has."

"I'm not a friend" Naomi says "Shut up, nobody named you" Uriel said with some anger.

"You…..You're fooling me, stop making fun of me, I'll finish this at once, even if I can't move" After saying this, Broker throws his sword towards Furio.

But Furio managed to focus enough energy, and launched an energy projectile with his saber, which managed to knock down the barrier, and quickly, he used a blast of air, to deflect Broker's saber, and with another blast hit Broker, leaving him on his knees.

Furio approaches Broker, and he, defeated, tells him "Kill me, and end this duel." Furio puts his sword away and gives him his hand "I don't want to give bad news to your brother…..I'll help you look for him, but you must believe me, and tell me everything you know about him, and leave this village in peace. What do you say?" said Furio

"Your Honor is impeccable, it is impossible that they have done something against my brother, I have been deceived, I beg your pardon, I will help you with the information, if you help me with my brother." Broker said. "Done, you have my word, I understand the pain you feel, that's why you shouldn't apologize." Furio said.

"Troop, leave this village alone and restore all that has been destroyed. also attend to all the wounded. That's an order!" Broker yelled at his army.

The duel was finally over, and peace had been restored to Kem, thankfully, without any loss, but Furio noticed that Someone was getting in his way, hearing those rumors about him and his friends, he wondered, who was it? And what intentions did he have with them? He would know that the path that awaits him will not be so calm, but he has made a promise, that no one will suffer what he suffered, and his first objective during the trip is to find Broker's brother. and prevent him from dying at the hands of whoever has deceived him.

Broker and his army took Furio and his friends to their base to tend to their wounds. Because the Journey to Archa must continue without option, with the hope that this suffering will stop once and for all, there is less time left, so they must hasten their step.