"Nigga, I hereby challenge you to a duel."
"Where are your manners? Shouldn't you introduce yourself before challenging someone to a duel?" I asked.
I usually don't drag other's family into stuff, but like… did his mom and dad not teach him the etiquette of a duel? Because it's a very serious thing for barbarians.
"Hmm... My apologies. I forgot everything around me after getting to meet the infamous Nigga himself, face to face. My blood is boiling… I can't wait to fight you. I am Kamik, son of Namic! I'm one of the 7 in line to join the Leading Guardian's squad. My father Namic was a great warrior who was next in line to become the Leading Guardian. Nigga, do you accept my challenge?"
So his name is Kamik and he's the son of the elite barbarian who died fighting a primordial raptor on the day of the carriage accident, huh? Aside from his Endi value and his high rank, I don't know anything about his father Namic. But I better avoid this guy at all cost. He is exhibiting sociopathic tendencies and his physique is something else. His muscles look very lean -just as lean as mine- but they are more dense and well shaped.
All barbarians have a perfectly balanced physique since birth, as if they've been doing calisthenics since the moment they popped out of their mother- they didn't have to grind much. It was a genetic thing. Whereas I had to do my best to match their physique through working out. My grind will make even Batman go bat-shit-insane –I was never interested in his gym bro physique anyway, I wouldn't even be able to scratch my own back with a bulky physique like that, so I stuck to a lean yet muscular physique. But my physique was far from what I had planned as I am barely 10 years old right now.
10 years old in this world may be more physical and mental maturity compared to my previous world. But Kamik is still a red flag no matter how you look at it.
"I accept your challenge Kamik-"
Swoosh!
Kamik rushed forward to grab my head the very second I finished my line. I leaned backwards just in time so his hand only caught air. I immediately caught onto his hand wrapped myself around his arm before he retracted it, I also put my legs around his neck and torso –putting him in an arm lock.
"What are you doing? This is a fight." He snorted.
When you perform an arm lock on someone, the weight of your body causes your target's upper body to bend down due to latching onto their arm with your whole body like a gecko. But Kamik was strong enough to keep his arm stretched out while I arm locked him. He violently swung his hand upwards, trying to launch me into the air. But I didn't let go of his arm so he swung his arm down at the ground.
"Gha!" The impact was too much for my human body to handle– it might have broken a bone or two. My grip gave out, freeing his arm.
Kamik was quick to act. As soon as my arm lock came undone, he grabbed my wrist and flung me straight up with his barbaric strength.
Khuh! He's tougher than I thought. Where has a guy like this been all this time? Besides, this monster is already as strong as a 11 year old.
The crowd grew and so did the chattering. The spectators were in awe of Kamik's strength.
"Such talent- which family is he from?"
"We had a guy as strong as this in our village?"
"To think he would give Nigga a run for his money"
"Ooh. The Leading Guardian will take this guy into his squad for sure."
"This guy might not become any guardian, but the Leading Guardian some day."
"I wonder what his Endi value is?"
After being launched high up into the air, I started falling. Kamik wasn't going to jump at me when I'm mid-air, but instead he stood right where I was about to land, waiting with a grin. He already had a plan in his mind and couldn't predict what he was about to do.
The fall itself will cause a lot of damage and then there was Kamik. I can't change the direction of my fall mid-air, all I could do was brace for impact to deal with whatever attack Kamik had planned. But Kamik had something else in his mind.
When the distance between us was about to close, he dashed backwards, causing me to take the full impact of the fall as I didn't have the time to fix my posture. But that wasn't even what Kamik was aiming for.
If I don't get up now- I might take a critical hit!
Kamik was running towards me. It was already too late to dodge and blocking would break a few bones for sure. I had to do something else.
I threw a handful of sand at his eyes. It did cause him to stagger but he still whipped out a soccer kick at me. Instead of trying to dodge or block, I decided to embrace it- literally. I latched onto the very leg with which he tried to kick me and it weirdly worked. It mitigated some of the impact of the kick.
"What are you doing, you fool! Stop hugging my leg!" He yelled.
While both his legs were on the ground, I locked his other leg with my legs while still hugging the leg he used to kick me, transitioning to a banana split.
(NOTE: A banana split is a submission technique in Brazilian Ju-jitsu where someone's leg is pulled apart to the point of submission)
"Huh? Aaaaaaah! What are you doing!? Let go of meee!" He cried as he lost his footing.
The crowd grew noisy. Ignoring Kamik's cries.
"Woah… What is that?"
"How did he do that!? I wanna try it!"
"Nigga is doing sorcery again."
"Yup, he might lack strength and might not have won every single fight, but he's still a tricky fella."
"What kind of technique is that!?"
I started pulling his legs apart with maximum force from the get-go, as increasing the force gradually might give this monster a chance to resist even a banana split with sheer strength.
"Aaaaa! It huuurts! What are you doing, you coward!?"
Bet you've never seen that before~
Kamik tapped out. He lost in a very shameful manner. An egoistic guy like him won't let that slide. Just as both of us got up from the ground, he turned around to punch me as his back was facing me. I push-kicked his butt before he fully turned around, causing him to crash into the crowd.
"--Gah! Wait! This isn't ov-"
"Man, you're pretty strong. Wanna fight me?" Someone from the crowd pulled him by his shoulder, interrupting him.
"Fight with me first. I'm stronger than him."
"No fair. Let me fight too"
"Are you guys going to form a tournament or something?"
"Tournament? Yo guys, there's gonna be a fighting tournament? Everyone, who wants to join a fighting tournament?"
The entire crowd gathered around him. Making it impossible for him to pursue me.
He has a long day ahead of him. Bye bye, enjoy your day.
Now. I had other stuff to do. The entire crowd rushed to Kamik, leaving behind the injured Baldy.
"Baldy, there you are." I waved my hands at him with a mischievous smile.
He was in no condition to keep up with the crowd. He looked puzzled when the crowd left him behind. But when Baldy saw me, his emotion went from confusion to despair-- he knew I was up to no good.
"C'mhere boi!"
"No. Nooo! Please leave me alone!"
The poor guy couldn't even run away from me- he was crawling away from me. I was tempted to sit on his back because he looked funny when he was on all fours, but I had other stuff to do with him.
"Oh. So you're gonna run away from me Baldy? Did you forget what will happen to people who don't pay favors back with something equal to its value? Are you going to break our tradition, Baldy?" I teased him.
"I know! I'll pay you back." He cried, "Just- just not now man. Can we please do this after I get better."
"Come on Baldy. You know that's not gonna happen, or should I ask your father instead?"
"No! Anything but that." He replied, "I'll do whatever you ask me to do. Just… don't expect me to do anything beyond my power, I'm in no good condition."
"Wise decision, Baldy" I said, "There's something I want you to do, but I'll have to write down what exactly you have to do, just so you can keep up the complicated process. So you're coming with me."
"To your house? B-but I can't even walk! You're not gonna carry me or anything right? That would be too embarrassing."
"No. No. No. Don't be silly, I won't carry you."
Baldy let out a sigh of relief.
I continued, "I'll be dragging you there."
Baldy froze. I can't blame him. He went through an emotional roller-coaster of confusion to despair, despair to relief and relief to doubting if his family will shelter him after what he's going to do.
"Let's go, Baldy!" I said, excitedly.
"Nooooo! Not my left hand!"