CHAPTER 6 - HIS HIGHNESS' DUEL

King Ehiptia is willing to face anyone, from his fellow humans, monsters and vampires even the Gods, he loves to listen more than to speak, he usually remains silent until his opinion and input are needed in the conversation. Everyone loves his attitude, especially on sensitive topics and regarding the welfare of his people. However, the king’s interaction with anyone is not most of the time pleasing or civil, usually, he keeps on having a calm demeanor and low voice on demanding or unruly ones and makes sure to end all conversations in a lighter tone.  

 Unfortunately, this is the time the king’s patience is once again challenged by an immovable force.  

 Today, the king just signed one of the laws that shielded children from bullying from their peers and teachers, the council and senate are happy to finally pass a new law in the name of the younger generation of the kingdom, and the king is much happier that the law can help children grow and learn without fearing about their personal safety. As the council and the senators is about to leave the huge wooden door of the throne hall flung open startling most of them, the guards are running and pointing their guns at the trespasser commanding him to freeze and don’t move a muscle.  

 The strong sunlight from the outside gives the trespasser a black silhouette that the unimpressed king cannot fully see, he calmly commanded the guards to close the door to muster who is this person who just barged into his domain, as the door is finally closed, the trespasser steps forward with the clacking of his black leather boots, raising his hands around an off white ruffled chamise with claw-like nails, the king’s eyebrows furrowed as he remembers who is this man; the man slowly walks as his maroon cape with standing collars flies through the air, his blood red coat underneath is visible and a red gem emblem on near his neck resembles him to be someone higher up. 

 The council and senators realized that this man is not human, but a vampire, due to his pointed ears and red eyes with slitted pupils, and a menacing smile exposing his two sets of sharp fangs, the king, however, is not rattled, not a sense of fear in his face, just plain annoyance.  

 “You don’t seem happy to see me, King Ehiptia?” The man loudly spoke with his deep voice. “I’m just annoyed you kept on barging into a scheduled meeting…” The king coldly replied crossing his arms. The Council and Senators are shocked with how the king treated this man, usually, the king is patient and compassionate with demanding ones but not this man.  

 “What do you want from us this time…? LORD OSAIRIS?” The king asked with yet a louder and deeper voice. The man flicked one of his blonde bangs covering his right eye and chuckled; “Well, I need your alliance…” he replied. “How many times did I tell you that I have to think about it? The more you nag me the more I will
not approve it!” The king explains as he pinched the bridges of his nose. Council and Senators are shocked at how the king lost his cool to Lord Osairis, however, this is not new to them anymore, the Lord of the Demonic Class Vampires has been nagging the king about alliance ever since the king sat on the throne, King Ehiptia always gives him a patient explanation of how he will think about the offer, even advising the Lord to revise his alliance proposals, however, it’s been five years and the king is starting to get agitated with his continuous demands and nagging that probably today is the king’s boiling point.
 

 “I will not stop until you agreed with an alliance.” The persuasive Lord is pressing; “It’s been five years! How long have you been thinking about it?” he added; the king’s kind look is starting to morph into anger, tightly clutching his fists and gritting his teeth, then he closed his eyes and sighed; “Listen, Lord Osairis, how about let’s play a game instead.” The king said with a calm smile. 

 “Oh, what kind?” The Lord asked with enthusiasm. “Let’s spar! If you win, I will sign the alliance right here and right now, however, if you lost, you have to wait patiently till I decided to sign it or not…” the king says the terms. “You want a hand-to-hand combat I see…” the lord menacingly replied, “and no magic.” The king added. The lord smiled and agreed with the challenge, the Council and Senate are much more shocked at what transpired, they are afraid not for the king’s behalf but for the lord who accepted the challenge.  

 Many have witnessed that the king has been carrying boulders without breaking a sweat, he made a hundred-kilogram of weights look like Styrofoam, and ten-wheeler trucks like king-sized pillows. Most but not all people saw the king’s body without his coat and chamise, a very muscular body easy to pass off as a body builder and many claimed that he is the strongest human in Cyra, yet the humble king is reluctant to claim and test it out.  

 The King’s magical prowess can’t be questioned as well, where he has a mastery of using two elemental magic such as the primary element: Earth, and secondary element: Ice, no one knows how many spells related to the said elements are under the king’s sleeves, yet this time, the king won’t use such magical powers in this duel against the Vampire Lord.  

 As the king walks to the castle’s courtyard, Prince Memphis is chasing his brother; “Brother! Are you fucking serious?! Are you gonna duel Lord Osairis?!
Have you skipped your breakfast?!” the prince screams. “Yes, I’m serious, I’m about to duel Lord Osairis, and No, I didn’t skip breakfast because Miss Cleo’s bread is phenomenal.” The king is surprisingly calm as he replied to his frantic younger brother and proceeded to walk to the center of the concrete courtyard.  

 The Council and Senate along with the king’s staff and guards gawked around the courtyard to watch and murmur what is about to happen, the smug lord walks
confidently facing the calm king. Lord Osairis was followed by another female vampire, who have a purple dress and brown hair tied over her left
shoulder, people assume she was the Lord’s servant. The king waited for the crowd to be silent, and when it does, he opened his lips and said; “Lord Osairis, for this fight to be fair and no weapons concealed, I require the both of us to remove at least our top clothing so we can fight with full freedom as well.” “I agree with it...” the lord answered confidently. Both of them start to take off their capes, coats, vests, and chamise, Lord Osairis handed his clothes to his companion while Prince Memphis decided to take his brother’s clothes away for the fight.  

 All the spectators are amazed by the build of the body of both duelists, yet it is obvious that King Ehiptia’s body is much bigger and bulkier than Lord
Osairis’ plus the king is taller than the lord by at least two inches, yet the Lord is unfazed by the king’s body appearance, yet it inspired him to get his goal for an alliance, it’s a great thing if he wins, the king would be humiliated to his people and he gets the advantage in the alliance since he has written the agreement to be mostly in his and his land’s favor.  

 “Memphis, I need you to referee this fight.” The king calmly asked. The prince gulped and nodded, proceeds to pass the king’s clothes to the staff behind him and proceeded to walk in between the two, raised his right hand to the sky, and spoke. “The Duel for the alliance between Lord Osairis and King Ehiptia… BEGIN!” As the prince swiped his hand down, the two immediately clashed, so fast it was like a bolt of lightning.  

 The spectators are in awe when they see the power between the punches of the two powerful rulers, the two dodge each punch, hook, and counter the opponent gives, the Lord seems to enjoy this fight as he laughs between each attack, while the king remained silent as he focuses on dodging his opponent’s hooks and punches, what’s dangerous about this is, Lord Osairis have claw-like nails he can use to injure the king, a built-in weapon for his favor, though the king sees the desperation through the lord’s movement and facial expression, significantly when he blocked one of the punches with his forearm, within a split second he held the lord’s waist turns him around midair and proceeds to slam
him down like a wrestler, the impact of the slam caused the concrete ground to crack underneath shocking many, however, the lord grabbed the king in an attempt to do the same, yet the king is into a fight that he decided to lift the lord again, held his leg mid-air, and slammed the lord back facing down to the same concrete ground Lord osairis first landed, the king is at his breaking point pissed at the nagging lord that he decided to slam him repeatedly to the ground until the Lord is spitting blood.  

 When it’s all over, the lord isn’t able to stand up, laying down on a crushed and pulverized concrete ground, and the spectators are amazed and terrified at how
powerful and strong their king is that even the lord of the pureblooded vampire class had no chance against a mare human like him. The king let out an exhausted sigh and smiled sweetly; “Guess, I’m not going to sign the alliance after all, Lord Osairis.” He spoke as he takes back his clothes. The Lord though he is conscious, was left speechless, and his servant proceeded to help him stand up from the ground. “Give him medical care.” The king ordered as he walks away like a walk in a park.  

 This event cemented to the spectators’ minds that the king is a terrifying enemy to face, yet they still know that this is the king’s last leg of patience so he was left with no choice but to deal with it using violence, but their trust and views to the king didn’t change for the worst, but they see him as someone who can protect a kingdom as large as the Frozen Sand.