Many of the Thantir would have been lying if they said they weren’t interested in watching two people fight, but nonetheless, people were pretending that they didn’t really want to watch the two Retviks beat the shit out of each other. But at “night time” (when the lights were dimmed to simulate night time), a small crowd had gathered around the makeshift arena that Kuta and Litvir had built.
Well, it wasn’t an arena, it was mostly a circle drawn in the sand, but everyone knew what was going on. But curiosity peaked completely when someone somewhere along the line suggested that the two Retviks both fight without any armour. Something about proving sheer strength and superiority without weapons or armour getting in the way.
As Ret and Retvik both approached the circle, Ret was pretty sure it was Kuta who suggested that he be essentially nude, but it was probably for the best. Ret didn’t have any armour that was fireproof. Even if they weren’t fighting with powers, Ret wasn’t sure if the flames on Retvik’s arms could catch things on fire. Ret however had also asked his friends to record the fight. He was walking with some intense certainty in his strides.
Acting as the referee for this fight was Voidborn Phovos. Life Goddess Phovos was deemed too biased, but at the same time, she had never been as hands-on with the arenas as her Voidborn counterpart. At the same time, Voidborn Phovos was far more willing to stand between two tall, heavy beings, and was also willing to pull them apart if needed.
“Alright, you armoured idiots!” Phovos announced as everyone gathered round. “You two are going to fight. No weapons, no armour, no magical powers, no attacks to the genitalia, even if you lot don’t really have visible bits, and no killing each other. You wrestle each other until one of you verbally submits, taps out or passes out. We clear?”
Ret nodded. Retvik grunted, then nodded.
“Good!” Phovos hissed as he stepped back, clapping his hands together. “You may now start combat.”
“You have a chance to turn around!” Retvik growled as he stomped closer.
“So do you!” Ret smiled. “You can apologise for being an asshole to me as of late, turn around and leave. Or I can beat you to the ground. Your choice.”
Retvik snarled, angered by Ret’s words. He charged forward, arms wide open to grapple Ret, but Ret immediately sidestepped Retvik’s charge. As he did so, he swiftly kicked out the side of Retvik’s leg, which caused Retvik to stumble.
While Retvik was able to save himself from hitting the deck, he wasn’t fast enough to stop Ret from jolting behind him and grabbing Retvik by the tail. With a heavy tug, Ret countered Retvik’s attempts to rebalance himself by pulling Retvik back, and a kick to the side of Retvik’s calf kept Retvik off balance.
Ret let go of Retvik’s tail, allowing him to straighten himself out and turn around slightly, but, again, before Retvik could retaliate, Ret punched Retvik in the side, in the spot just above his groin plating, and followed that up with a punch to Retvik’s bare stomach.
“You motherfucker!” Retvik snarled. He did manage to stumble away to relative safety. But only because Ret allowed him to.
“That is not an insult you normally use!” Ret tutted. “You are normally more polite.”
Retvik snarled. “Go fuck yourself, kid.”
“I do not need to fuck myself, I am married!” Ret retorted, smiling and well aware that he was pissing Retvik off.
Retvik growled, then charged again. Ret knew he was planning to tackle him, so Ret lowered himself down and allowed himself to be tackled. However, Ret used that momentum to roll backwards. This caused Retvik to hit his head and his snout on the ground first, forcing him to loosen his grip on Ret. Ret had accounted for the fall and prepared his body to minimise damage, while Retvik had been reckless.
Although he was briefly pinned, Ret didn’t struggle. Ret grabbed Retvik’s wrists, then pressed the sharp strip on his head into Retvik’s stomach, which definitely drew blood.
Realising he had messed up, Retvik tried to roll away, but, again, Ret used Retvik’s momentum to roll on top of him, and held down Retvik down with his own weight. With his tail wrapped around Retvik’s right leg, his legs pinning down Retvik’s left arm and left leg and Ret holding down Retvik’s right arm with his hand, Ret used his remaining limb to hold Retvik by the neck and repeatedly bash the back of Retvik’s head into the ground, occasionally pausing to readjust or hurt Retvik in some other way.
Retvik tried to retaliate, to fight back in any way, but his having hit the ground head first had already thrown him off balance, and the repeated pummelling of the back of his skull quickly disorientated him. He didn’t even know how long Ret had beaten him for, and was surprised when Ret suddenly just… stopped and got up.
“You… you…” Retvik stuttered, blood forming in the back of his mouth. He tried to back away but found himself a little too disorientated.
“I have beaten you, I have nothing more to prove!” Ret tutted. “Your anger against me was unwarranted and I see no need to cause additional pain. Be thankful that I am a better person than you. And be doubly thankful that we did not use weapons or powers or anything, because I may have accidentally injured you in a far more painful way. I hope you can see the error of your ways.”
Ret glanced at Phovos, who nodded, signalling that he had clearly won. He smiled, then walked off, but not before grabbing Kuta’s hand and taking them away with him. Kayel, Nyssi and Tanos all swiftly followed, and the crowd quickly dispersed.
Retvik remained on the floor, not really sure what to do with himself. Only one person remained, and that was Litvir.
“You deserved that.”
“I guess…”
“Not “I guess”. You deserved that. Every moment of it.”
“Really?” Retvik growled.
“Yes, really.”
Retvik glanced towards Litvir, expecting a helping hand or some hint of kindness. Instead though, Litvir looked away, then wandered off.
With a sigh, Retvik laid back down and sulked to himself, thinking about his recent ill-thought actions.