Chapter 86. Champion Match
Rhys stepped onto the platform. Across from him, the cloaked figure stepped forward as well. The two of them faced one another from across the stone expanse. A wind blew, blowing a gust of dust across the platform, and Rhys could almost hear the mariachi riff and the rattlesnake’s rattle. He reached toward his hips, as though he was about to draw a six-shooter. “Draw, pardner.”
He couldn’t make out the cloaked figure’s eyes from beneath their hood, but he was pretty sure they were squinting at him.
“Take your stances,” the referee intoned, ignoring Rhys’s ridiculousness.
The cloaked figure spread their legs and reached toward their right hip.
Rhys stood there casually, putting one hand in his robes. It looked like he was just chilling, not taking the fight seriously at all, but his hand curled around the broken sword’s hilt in his robes.
“Do you not see me as a threat?” the cloaked figure asked, finally revealing its gender as a feminine voice issued from the hood.
“No, I do,” Rhys assured her. He didn’t change his stance, though. Acting like a total trash just felt so good. Actually, it felt so good that he had to wonder if there wasn’t a trash skill somewhere down this path, something that would let him debuff his opponents just from acting like a piece of shit toward them.
She lowered her head. Once more, he couldn’t see her eyes, but he knew they narrowed. “We’ll see how long that attitude lasts.”
Rhys squinted back. Did she not hear me, or…?
The referee dropped her hand. “Fight!”
Instantly, the cloaked figure closed the distance. Rhys didn’t have time to draw his sword from his robes. A dagger glittered in black-gloved hands as she drove it toward his heart.
He grinned. From his off-hand, he flicked a small shard of metal toward his center mass.