Tri-District Tournament Day One: Le Roux vs Nachtnabel

He's dressed in the colors of night: navy athleticwear tight against his skin and white tennis shoes with a firm grip on the ground. Lucky did not expect to make it to Day Four of the career districts' fighting tournament, and he was running out of different colored training outfits to wear to the next fight. Upon first inspection, one might assume he's a weaker boy who plays with knives and spears as a side hustle. He's smaller than most of the remaining careers, which means he has that much more to prove.

Lucky's mother is stuck at work, but his father watches with a critical eye as he lifts his silver spear, engraved with Nachtnebel, against the dark wall. His first opponent for the day is a Le Roux from District One. Certainly, they'll have a family legacy to live up to with a victor on their family name and countless other tributes. He imagines sending a cut up Eden Le Roux's shoulder and pinning him to the ground, winning it all quicker than it took to announce the two fighters.

Eden Le Roux and Lucky Nachtnebel. District Four's got the most recent victor with Nixie, and between all of the career districts, the district with the most recent champion has the most clout to obtain. So which side will be the one to stab their way into victory: the one with a family to prove something to or the one with a District's reigning supremacy to uphold?

His arm extends for a handshake of good luck. Lucky can see his father's crystallized blue eyes blink away in disapproval. He raised his son to be obedient and have good manners, but Lucky recalls last night's screaming. {"Be nice after the fact, Lucky! Victory is a brutal thing. For now, be violent. Be vicious. Win!"}

Lucky retracts his hand and raises his spear to take the first strike. His father's orders are his father's orders after all. Protecting Lucky from a pathetic life of poverty must be repaid somehow. And it'll be repaid in victory.

lucky attacks eden with his spear

KU6SA7z9Cespear
3021 -- Block -- 0.0 damage

His spear falls down too far on his right, leaving everything exposed. Eden grabs behind its tip and shoves it backward towards Lucky. He stumbles back towards the boundary, wrapped in white tape in the shape of a hexagon. He already feels like a failure in this fight. How can he recover from taking the first shot, out of eagerness and arrogance, just to have it stray wide and be turned back upon him.

Eden Le Roux's sword spins upward, cutting just above his brow. He falls even closer to the makeshift ring's boundary, grabbing at his head right away. Lucky had been under the impression that headshots were strictly forbidden in combat training and tournaments like these. They aren't designed to end in death, after all. The cut stings upon impact, leaving his eyes heavily shut and his teeth pressing up against his gums to relieve some of the pain.

"The fuck is that? You could have slashed my brain in two, idiot!" Lucky's angry that the referees looking on to the fight are silent. Perhaps too he's jealous that despite the objective of winning at all costs, he can't muster up the courage to take the same sort of shot. Something inside him resists the urge to be cruel and try to take Eden Le Roux's life. Of course, the consequence of getting in a shit ton of trouble looms, but something else draws a lingering stain of hesitancy across his face. It pulls him back to his senses as he takes another swing well below Eden's neck.

Being a career is a violent thing; Lucky holds the life of another person in his hands. But he can't be the executioner if the punishment is taking a life. His subconscious warns him that just because his destiny was rerouted by the eager hands of thieves, it does not mean he has to act the same.

lucky attacks eden with his spear

h8Yh9fev7Xspear
3084 -- Deep Gash on Left Thigh -- 8.0 damage

Lucky's got him now with the spear as it crashes down upon Eden's thigh. He stands more confidently, waiting for him to fall to the ground and give in. But he's resilient, taking not even a second to regain his composure from the blow. Lucky is shocked at first. It's as if the boy has been trained all his life to show not even an ounce of weakness. And maybe that's precisely the case.

His strike is met with an even harder one as Le Roux's balance is regained to take the next swing. He's quick and thoughtful with his movements, sending his sword down upon Lucky's side without a second consideration. The force from his opponent is immense and the angle is just right that when the blade falls down, it clashes with the arm of his spear, denting it along with his forearm.

Anger draws over his face. His family paid quite a bit of money for the spear's personal engraving. His forearm could be fixed with a few feet of bandages and rest, but the sentimental value is a never-ending bleed in his family.

Lucky reshuffles the cool metal in his hand and he strikes again. Eden Le Roux doesn't seem to be eager to strike up playful banter or conversation, so he can't waste his time on that anymore. Now, he must focus on winning.

[13.5/25]

lucky attacks eden with his spear

Zco09kvNufspear
3136 -- Deep Gash on Back -- 8.5 damage

Lucky grows committed to the bit with each swing of spear and sword that crosses his eyes in a flash. For some reason, the blood marked across his arm and face urge him to back down, run away, and save his own skin. But he's a boy with something to prove, or at the very least a lie he needs to sell to himself as the truth.

Lucky. Lucky to be rescued by two caring adopted parents who promised to raise him rich, strong, and confident. Cowardice would be letting them down, and he's simply unwilling to do that. He's got a long way to go with his training and more experience with alcohol and beer to attain back in the New Horizons village.

He blinks again and the Le Roux boy's sword is hurling toward him again, higher up than he'd like. It catches Lucky a bit lower this time, but perhaps in a much less pleasurable location. It catches his eyelid with a thin cut, but it burns as if his eye was completely stabbed through. "Again! What the fuck?!"

Sweat draws on his face like crescents below his hairline and his eyes. Okay, perhaps not sweat. Tears. It hurts beyond belief. Lucky finds himself desperate, sending his half-bent spear down upon Eden. The time limit on the fight is almost over, and he must be declared the winner.

Commit to the bit, no matter how much pain spirals across his head. Strike down again.

[23.5/25]

lucky attacks eden with his spear

hWadKpRX2gspear
3065 -- Shallow Cut on Left Forearm -- 3.5 damage