'Til Kingdom Comes - The Banished Prince Vol 3: The Prophecy

4 vs 1

It was already close to 3 in the afternoon and the Macleod Coliseum was already packed with spectators as benches were placed closer to the wrestling ring in the centre of the pitch.

The Macleod Coliseum had a maximum capacity of 4500 spectators and we had slightly more than 3500 residents in our community.

The 8 food wagons were lined across the perimeter of the Coliseum and the Priest and Priestess were busy manning the food wagons as they served up the food to the rest of the customers who had lined up for the refreshments before the wrestling match was underway...!

Fortunately, the Romani Gypsies was there to support the 8 food wagons as they helped around with the sale and distribution of food as well as pushing their own food carts there as well.

At least in times like events and other major happenings held in Macleod Coliseum, it would never be a shortage of refreshments.

The Greasy Spoon had pushed their makeshift stalls to sell their variety of ales and ciders to the community as well.

It was a food fiesta and the one who enjoyed the most seemed to be Marcel and his partner, Maricel.

Anastasia was around near the wrestling ring as she would be assisting the announcer to announce the wrestlers that would be entering the ring that day.

With her special abilities, even with a packed audience in the Coliseum, she would still be able to project and amplify anyone's voice over to the masses.

She had reached the peak of her special abilities at a very tender age of 7 years old and she was doing support work on and off during her free time since she is still a student and needs to attend classes just like any other children.

We took our seats at the boxed seating reserved for us and we had a clear view of the wrestlers even though we were sitting at quite a distance. There were some warm-ups and even some had used the RedCoc to perform their warm-ups as well.

Today I had only run twice in quick succession one after another in a frenzied kind of runs that astounded the rest of the participating soldiers and some Shadow unit members too.

The twins were in their usual demeanour and were bounding around the seats as we got ourselves some of the refreshment and tidbits that were being sold at the food wagons.

The twins were able to feed themselves in a neater fashion than before, at least they won't mess up their clothes as well as their faces.

It had been some time since we had been to the Coliseum to watch some games.

Earlier back at the domain, I had been given the samples for the Macleod Star as well as the Good Service medals and I heard from Heather that the medals do have spares back at the Old Jack's Blacksmith.

"That's good dear... I would let you do the honours to duplicate these by the hundreds, in the meantime we let Old Jack prepare the rest since the operations might fail.

At least we have spares to fall back on in case the medals disintegrate during the failed duplication process.

Heather heard this and was quite excited, at least she could spend time with me back in the realm and also at the same time to read more books on recipes for both baking and cooking, make reproductions of the menus and also at the same time to test on the two machines that Ceres had informed earlier to do some processing to make pamphlets et cetera.

At least, it would be a hundred times much better than the Gutenberg machine...!

The thought of this really made her excited since she would be able to perform tasks 3 times as much as in the real world.

=*=

"Hush dear... Looks like the first match is going to commence...!" Heather was bounding in her seat as she watched the first two opponents entering the wrestling ring to start their singles match. I watched as Heather pumped her fists and screamed, "KILL... KILL... KILL...!" as though the wrestlers were killing cockroaches in the ring itself...!

My God...! This girl is so intent of watching some blood and was wondering how she would be watching and screaming at the same time when it was time for me to wrestle without her knowledge.

Now I wished on how to hatch a plan to get out from there once its the main event right before the Royal rumble.

It was about an hour and a half and close to 5 in the evening when the announcers announced the main event. Heather was equally excited as this was an event where weapons were being used for the first time in the ring.

"I WANT TO SEE BLOOOODDD... LET THE HEADS ROLL...!! HHUUAARRGGHH...!!!" Heather screamed loudly and was almost trying to stand on the seats and pounded her fists in the air as she screamed and cheered to rile up the crowd.

"BLOOD... BLOOD... BLOOD..." The crowd cheered on as she riled up the spectators. Maybe she was married into the family and that's the reasons the crowd were also cheering and vouching by her. It was a comical sight and even the twins were standing on their seats as they stomped their feet in their excitement.

Like mother like children. Hahaha...!

"Dear, watch the twins alright? I've got to run clause I've got a tummy ache. Be right back...!" I reached out and kissed Heather by the cheeks and she nodded her head and made some noises as she looked at the children and found them to be bounding still on their seats.

"Take care, my little ones. Daddy be right back. Be good okay?" I called out and ribbed the heads of the twins before I exited the boxed seating area. The twins nodded their heads and waved at me as I made my way out and rushed to the exit of the Coliseum and adjusted my disguise.

After I had done so, I sauntered in and the announcers cheered at my arrival with the cloak over me, and this made the crowd wild since they had heard about the 4 versus 1 match and bookies were standing by to place and collect bets. Hahaha.

I entered the ring and waved my hands and looked at the weapons that had been placed at all corners of the ring.

As for myself, I removed my cloak and the display of the magnificent black armour shone and gleamed in the evening sun.

Fortunately, I had the helm on and my hair was tucked back neatly so no one would suspect it is me all along.

"The Black Mantis, everyone...! Let's give a warm welcome and also the 4 rivals that would be attacking him from all sides all at the same time... Wooooo...!!!"

The announcer riled the crowd further as Anastasia projected the voice throughout the stands and everyone cheered as this was the main event before the Royal rumble.

It was like the fight of the century that everyone was waiting for and it had finally arrived. Heather was oblivious (even though she knew I was gone) that I had been gone from her sides as she watched the wrestler covered in black leathery shiny armour that really looked like a Black Mantis from afar.

"Here comes the Black Mantis' opponents which made up of 4 fine weapon masters from the Shadow unit...! Even thigh the weapons are made of wood, a single hit would knock you out for sure... Wooooo...!!!"

The crowd went wild as the four Shadow unit members climbed into the ring and started to encircle me, jumping around me and trying to create an atmosphere that I was truly the heel while the 4 rivals were the face of the match...!

The four corners of the ring had a short wooden staff, a wooden sickle with a long handle, a short sword and a buckler as well as two wooden curved daggers.

It was all wooden and it was the replicate of the real thing since no one would be wielding the real thing during an exhibition match, right?

"Ceres, identify them as foes..." I called out telepathically and Ceres immediately show the information hovering above the heads of the rivals.

It showed that their health was over a hundred without any enhancements and mine was already peaked.

Nevertheless, I knew that these battle-hardened Assassins were there not just for show and I announced loudly, "Do not hold back...! This is an AoA and this is a no hold barred fight to the death."

Actually, death was non-existent since its a match to test my sparring skills. I adjusted my helm and found that it was a snug fit as I slipped around and taunted the 4 Assassins.

"This would be the most interesting. Just as I expected as they would send in the cream of the crop to spar with me."

I thought to myself and the match went underway once the ringside manager hit the metal bell and the match soon started when a short wooden staff began to travel right to my head from an angle and I deftly moved slightly to avoid getting hit.

Somehow my momentum made me arched my back and I was bending backwards that I nearly flipped about on the ring itself...

The crowd went wild when they saw how flexible my body was but it was quite unintentional as I managed to do a backward flipped and avoid being hit by the flurry of wooden daggers, and sword that came my way after the first initial attack.

I can't be dodging all the way, am I right? This would get boring after sometime...!

As I had avoided the first initial short staff attack, then the sword and dagger attack, a wooden sickle came towards me next and somehow I managed to block and parry the attack first with my forearm and then a forward kick towards the abdomen.

The moment the kick landed, I saw a decrease in the health of the wielder, which means that my attack rating was significantly increased even though the kick was rather subtle.

The attacks came in one after another after they saw that their buddy was being kicked away and had tumbled towards the corner of the ring.

As the term no holds barred, it means no matter who the opponent was, there was no holding back on their punches and kicks as the other assassins moved in for their kill.

I closed my eyes subconsciously and my world turned to grey and those assassins and their weapons became white through my visions. It was as if I was Priest Hendry in his world of grey and white.

Through this subconscious world, with my eyes closed, I was able to see their intended attacks and their movements as I weaved around the Assassins, blocking and dodging their attacks and delivered a short kick to their calves to bring them down to their knees and also a chop behind their shoulders to knock their weapons out from their hands.

I could sense my movements to be rather fluid as I weaved around them and making them almost hit one another. A short staff came my way again and was close to hitting my face when I simply blocked it with my open palm, like a palm strike.

The gloves on my right hand absorbed the impact but the next thing they happened even astounded the wielder as the short staff that was lunged towards me was almost half splintered...!

The crowd went wild when I moved in closer to the wielder and gave him a chip across his chest which somehow blocked his airway as he stumbled back and dropped his splintered short staff on the ground.

I rolled and picked the splintered short staff and used it to parry the oncoming sword attack. I leapt through the air and brought the staff down on the buckler, which somehow I managed to knock back the wielder several feet.

There was a scream of agony as the wielder managed to stumble back and fell to his knees as he looked at his arm that was holding the buckler.

Little did I realise that the impact and the shock absorbed by the left arm of the wielder had nearly broken his arm and were somewhat rendered useless.

Not only the wooden buckler was cracked into half but I think I had administered rather nasty damage to the wielder.

No holds barred... Remember. Everything goes and so I continued to attack the Assassin who had the buckler and short sword in hand as I tumbled forward, and did a sliding upper kick, even though the impact was quite minimal.

I aimed the kick at the wooden buckler and it broke free from the wielder's hand as he tried to perform a horizontal stroke with his sword. I did not block his attack entirely but simply performed a downward block towards his arm instead.

This time a resounding c***k could be heard  and I knew that the Assassin's hand had broke and Priestess Isabela would be busy mending him back to health soon. Both of the hands hung loosely at his sides as he rolled about and was helped out of the ring and rushed to the hospital.

The crowd whistled and cheered while they jeered at the defeated Assassin. When the spectators had a good look at the condition of the Assassin, they can't help but jump back in shock. Both arms were broken and were at a hideous angle...!

The staff wielder had no other weapons but had to rely on his fist and legs to spar with me. He told his other buddies to hang around as he dealt with me on a one on one basis.

This is more like it... At least I could imitate what my former self had done with the bald-headed man while being blindfolded and being attacked bare-fisted.