The handsome man introduced himself as Kai. Summoning a bow, the space cleared, letting the spectators watch from afar.
"Don't waste time with idle chatter, just go!"
A voice shouted out from the crowd, and as a good host, Sunny obeyed. Ironically, he shot out like an arrow at Kai, his sword rapidly approaching his neck. Arrows shot out rapidly to the point where Sunny couldn't dodge them. Like a cog in a wheel, he turned his body, slicing the arrows before they could reach him. Those couple of seconds spent cutting them allowed Kai to shoot more out. This time though, Sunny didn't cut them but rather allowed them to hit his blade. Narrowly swishing his hand down, he grabbed the still intact arrows and threw them at the archer with the force of a weak bow.
This allowed him to close distance—or at least, he thought he did—before Kai shot up like a rocket into the air, dodging the arrows.
"Handsome, and you have an aspect like that? Good for you!"
A smile landed on Kai's face, dimples forming as he did.
"Why thank you."
After that exchange, Kai shot down at Sunny, his bow shooting out from above. Sunny craned his arm out, catching three arrows before catching the fourth one in his mouth, chomping down on it with his strong teeth before spitting out an arrowhead, a feral grin on his face.
The archer was getting closer to the ground as he stopped shooting arrows out, instead trying to find Sunny's blind spot. Sadly for him, Sunny didn't have any, which led to Sunny's fist slamming into his face by the time he was close enough. Before Kai could get back on his feet, a fist landed in his gut. Every time one blow ended, another one came, leaving no time for Kai to fight back.
The final blow was another gut punch, causing Kai to fall back on the ground. Turning around, Sunny called out to the crowd.
"Now... who's nex—"
"I'm... not down yet..."
A voice came out from behind him. Turning around, Sunny saw Kai—his head down, his body bloody, and his eyes filled with something.
"I sat around and let horrors happen in that castle... complacent with everything, yet I did nothing!"
His eyes burned into Sunny as he stood up straight, summoning his bow once more.
"I'm weak... I'm oh so weak to the point where if I were to hold grains of sand, they would be far too heavy for me to carry... yet even so... even so!"
Lifting his arms up and aiming the bow at Sunny, an arrow already loaded in it.
"Even if it crushes me under its weight, I'll carry the weight of everyone who has suffered in this dark kingdom!"
Sunny smiled. It was like the smile of a teacher telling a student he was the only one who got a hundred on the test.
"Fool, you utter fool!"
Kai flinched back, but despite his trembling arms, he never let go of his bow.
"Carry the weight by yourself?! Even if it crushes you?! Yeah, that's a step in the right direction, but if it crushes you, it will crush everyone under it as well! You can't hold it forever!"
Kai's eyes opened wide. His arms had stopped trembling and tensed in place.
"So let me carry it with you!"
Despite everything—even if he was only convincing himself that he was—
"And if you fall, I'll let an arm down and pick you right back up so we can carry it together!"
Sunny would be a hero.
An arrow shot out, slicing his cheek, blood flowing from the small cut. But his smile only grew as he saw the archer's smile form.
"I'll hold you on that..."
A thud rang out as the archer fell, passed out.
Stretching his muscles out, Sunny faced the crowd once more.
"While I'm sure we won't have any more Kais, even if by the small chance we do, I'd rather not waste time with a little exchange again."
Putting one hand behind his back as if vowing not to use it, a rabid smile stretched across his face.
"So all of you! All at once! Come at me!"