The first fight started rather soon. The warrior chosen by the Grandour didn’t seem to have anything special about him. He seemed quite average, as far as Eisen could tell, and the crowd didn’t go as crazy about him as the old man expected. The Grandour probably planned to have the strongest and most popular fighters go last, for a perfect finale.
After inspecting the Giant Warrior, Eisen chose someone from his side that was going to be a good fit against him. He would have the Dragon Knights go last, since they were the strongest fighters that Eisen had by his side right now. That meant he still had to account for four other fights.
It was clear to Eisen that Sal, Caria, and Melissa wanted to fight as well, but none of them were particularly strong in one versus one combat. They were great against large masses, though.
And so, Eisen was left with only few choices for the first four battles. Right as he was about to make his choice, however, the Grandour looked at Eisen, "You know what? How about we only choose warriors for nine fights for now, and in the tenth, we go for something... more special?"
"What do you suggest we do for that? Team-based combat?" Eisen asked curiously, wondering about the thoughts of the Grandour. But the giant chieftain did nothing but smirk in response, "No, no... I heard that you yourself are also a quite adept fighter. If you are truly a part of the Grandour lineage, not to mention the great Eisen, you should be able to put up quite a fight against me."
"Hoh?" Eisen let out, with a light smile on his face, "What a coincidence. I was hoping for something similar. I thought that it would be better to do so in private rather than in front of your people, but if you insist, then there is no reason for us not to have a duel ourselves."
"Hah, you’ll regret that decision, imposter." The Grandour replied, "Let’s hope you can give me that proof by the end of that fight."
Eisen smiled calmly. He was glad that things were working out so surprisingly well. In the end, that would really help Eisen out a bit. If the grandour didn’t believe him by then, then Eisen should be able to figure out a way to prove it to him in that duel himself.
And so, Eisen proceeded to make his first choice. He only had to account for three other battles beside the Dragon Knights now. One of them would definitely be Askr. And the other two were simple choices as well. Bree and Sky.
Eisen announced the order to not only the Grandour, but also to the ones that were actually going to be fighting. The first one to go was none other than Eisen’s first companion in this world. Bree. It was a lot of pressure to go first, but Eisen had multiple reasons for that choice.
One, Bree simply didn’t care about that pressure. She was simply happy that she was able to help Eisen out, and that she was able to show off how much work she did to get stronger than she ever was before! Eisen had created some sets of equipment that were specifically meant for situations like these, weapons and armor that would grow alongside those that wore them, as they grew to the level of a giant.
"Are you sure you’re going to be alright? I can choose someone else if you would rather not partake in this fight." Eisen reassured Bree, but the girl just looked up at the old man and shook her head, "I want to fight them! And I’ll beat whoever is going up against me, I promise!"
Eisen smiled back at Bree, and placed his hand onto the top of her hand for a moment, "Thank you. It means a lot to have you help me."
"Hehe, I know~!" Bree grinned broadly, and Eisen once more increased his size to the maximum that he could to properly sit alongside the Grandour, while Bree was quickly brought down into the inner part of the arena, where she swiftly changed into her armor and weapon made just for this fight.
After she was done, Bree rushed onto the dry, stomped-flat dirt in the center of the arena, and could already see her opponent in front of her. It was a young gladiator, but it was more than obvious that they went through quite a few battles already. Their skin was covered in battle-scars, and they were carrying themselves confidently.
Bree could see their huge, penetrating eyes in the distance through the slits in their helmet. She somewhat nervously looked over toward Eisen for a moment, who nodded at her with a smile to encourage her, saying that he believed in her.
The girl pulled out the surprisingly small vial with the potion inside. She unwrapped the metal bit around the cork, that was placed there to make extra sure the cork wasn’t accidentally undone somehow, and then pulled the cork out with her teeth, since her other hand was holding her already-huge warhammer.
She spit the cork to the side, and drank the content of the vial. For a few moments, nothing happened, but then the effect spread throughout Bree’s body. She could feel herself grow not only in size, but also in strength. Her body felt heavier than it ever did, but also far, far stronger. She simply felt amazing.
Bree smiled as she stood there in front of the giant, although she was still far shorter than the giant. Of course, if the giant had shrunk down to the size of a regular person, Bree would also be shorter. That was simply how it worked, since she wasn’t that much taller than a young child.
Seeing Bree in front of him now, the gladiator turned toward the Grandour a bit confused. Because even to him, Bree seemed like a child, just from all of her proportions, now that he got a proper look at her.
"What is the meaning of this? Why would you send a child out to battle one of my men? Are you not taking this seriously at all?!" The grandour asked, as if he was being insulted with the worst curses that came to mind, but Eiro slowly shook his head.
"She’s not a child. She just looks like one. Bree is a half-fae. The fae half is a pixie, to be exact." Eiro pointed out, and the grandour practically glared back at him, "A pixie? Hah, now it is obvious that you aren’t taking this seriously! Fine, then let’s just watch that little girl lose against my fighter, shall we?"
"I don’t think that’s going to happen, but sure. Let’s continue." Eisen chuckled. The Grandour raised his hand to signal the gladiator to continue. Of course, not wanting to go against the word of the chieftain, the gladiator readied himself. He had a shortsword, compared to his body-size at least, as well as a small circular shield that he was using. Rather straightforward, as far as Eisen was concerned.
Some of the giants blew a horn to announce the start of the fight to everyone, and the gladiator and Bree both slowly proceeded forward. Bree still had to get used to the size of her body, so her movements were a bit awkward for now anyway. That, combined with the fact that she wasn’t used to this equipment, made her a lot more careful.
Once they reached a relative distance to each other that seemed realistic for a fight, the gladiator hit his sword against his shield, creating incredibly loud crashes of sound that rang out through Bree’s ears.
She stared back at her opponent, and took a deep breath to collect herself again.
"Let’s do this!" She exclaimed, as she pushed her foot into the dirt below her feet. Despite the fact she still wasn’t fully used to this equipment, she did her best. Bree twisted her body around and swung the hammer toward the warrior.
Of course, he was able to block rather quickly, due to the relatively slow attack. But Bree’s forté never was speed in the first place. It was raw power.
The moment that her hammer hit the shield of her opponent, a sound so loud it was impossible to compare it to the one the gladiator caused himself just a few moments earlier rang out. The gladiator’s shield was pushed back and his whole body twisted around, opening his stance.
Being a born fighter, the gladiator pushed his fight against Bree, however. But most likely due to the difference in height that the gladiator wasn’t used to, only fighting grown, adult giants here in the arena for probably years or even decades by now, the sword’s movement was far too high and Bree was able to slip through it easily. She swung the hammer around her body and with a quick twist hit it against the side of the gladiator’s body.
With a loud crack, the sound of breaking bones could be heard, as the gladiator was pushed to the other side of the arena.
The audience was silent, not having expected things to turn out like this just a few moments after the fight had actually started... This girl, this child completely overwhelmed a professional gladiator, this man born a giant, in terms of strength.
The Grandour turned toward Eisen with a confused, startled expression, "H-How did that girl...?"
"Hm? What, you think that the companions of the first man that peaked in this world were too weak to win these fights? Don’t worry. We’ll win with an overwhelming 10 to 0 today." Eisen said with a broad grin on his face, excited to see this show continue.