As their second round started, Sagen was doing the exact same thing. Seth prepared to grab him and to put him into a submission hold.
POW!
Seth was sent flying as Sagen's right punch, hit him squarely on his chin, on the unprotected part of the headgear. Nash was shocked as he saw the body of his brother floating in mid-air and fell hard on the mat.
The referee rushed to where Seth was lying down and was about to call for the doctor when, Seth sat up and assured the referee that he was alright.
Groggily, Seth stood up and took on a fighting pose. Seth took his time to regain his senses and stayed as far away from Sagen until he could fully recover.
Sagen tried to put in one more hit but wasn't able to catch Seth's speedy footwork. The second round clearly went to Sagen because he scored a down.
During the interval between rounds grandmaster Cacoy and Nash asked Seth what happened. They didn't understand why he would get hit by such a telegraphed punch.
"Are you okay? Mima will kill me when she sees your face. What happened? Why did you get hit by such a simple punch?"
"I don't know. I was getting ready to grab his fist when something blinded my eyes."
“This is why I always tell you. Never underestimate your opponent. Not even for a second.”
“I understand, grandmaster Cacoy. I'm really sorry. It won't happen again.”
Grandmaster Cacoy, told Seth to take the initiative rather than wait for Sagen to perform his attack. Seth nodded and got ready to fight.
For the third and final round, Seth was on complete guard. He didn't understand what really happened but he knew that he had to protect his eyes.
Grandmaster Cacoy's eskrima had incorporated different forms of martial arts. Seth used a peek-a-boo boxing guard and moved forward. Sagen was jumping around and continued hitting Seth's guard.
But with Seth's determination he pushed on until Sagen was within his reach. When Sagen released another wide left hook, Seth performed a series of hits to Sagen's head and body.
He was dominating Sagen when he suddenly stopped and tried to protect his eyes from something. Finally, Nash discovered the reason why Seth was hit in the second round.
Someone in the crowd had been using a red laser pointer and was blinding Seth. Nash was about to go to the source of laser pointer when he noticed that there was another one coming from his left side.
There were at least two people who were blinding his brother. Sagen quickly took advantage of the dirty distraction and hit Seth with a powerful uppercut.
Somehow, Seth managed to block the blow with his left hand. He guessed that Sagen was going for his chin again. Being extremely cautious paid off.
While Seth was backing off he was hit with another laser pointer to the eye. The laser pointer was really strong and was causing him to see double images of Sagen.
Seth's eyesight were out of focused. As he was seeing after images of Sagen, he couldn't tell which one was real.
Sagen continued punching Seth while he was still adjusting his eyes. Nash tried calling for the referee's attention about the laser pointers but the referee was too focused on the match to notice Nash's yelling.
It took a while for Seth's eyes to regain their normal sight. Seth was sure that if he doesn't score a down before the round ends, Sagen will win the championship.
Desperate, Seth risked the chance and attacked Sagen. He was able to hit Sagen's chin when Sagen was using his wide punches.
The blow clearly affected Sagen as he was about to fall down to the mat. Unfortunately, Sagen managed to clinch Seth and hold his arms down.
A laser pointer managed to hit his eyes once more before he closed them. The laser pointers were very bright that it caused his eyes to be really sore and itchy.
At the same time as he was clinching, Sagen was doing pathetic body blows in order to rack in more points while Seth's eyes were still hurting.
Two minutes finally ended, marking the end of the finals match for the 14-17 Division of AUTOMATA. Nash was furious.
If the judges didn't notice the underhanded tricks that Sagen was using then he didn't need to hear the results from the judge's score card.
The judges gave the following scores, 28-27, 28-27, 28-28. Giving Sagen the majority decision, two out of the three judges gave him the win.
Nash was about to run to Sagen's corner when grandmaster Cacoy and Donny grabbed hold of him.
"Nash, this isn't the time or the place. We don't have any proof of what they just did. Look, Seth is coming. You need to be strong for him."
A somber looking Seth was coming there way. He was clearly trying to smile but it was clear that his heart was aching.
"Seth, are you alright? I'm so sorry I didn't catch what they were doing on time."
"Don't worry about it. I don't want you to go after him. I think he has at least six bodyguards with him. Let's just charge this to experience. Now, I know that I rely too much on my eyes. I'll find some way to beat him on an official match next time."
"I'm sorry, I can't do that. I don't care if he has a hundred bodyguards. I won't let him get away for what he did. You were clearly the better fighter."
"Nash, let's just go home. Placing second in my first AUTOMATA isn't so bad, besides Mima will be worried if we get into any trouble. Remember, you are the one who told us that we should only use Eskrima for self defense."
This time Donny joined in to calm his brother down.
"That's right, besides we all know that, Seth, is the true winner. I also don't want to see you get hurt by those body guards. I'm sure if Mima were here she would also want you to forget about this."
"Fine! Let's just go home for now, but I can't promise you that I'm dropping this... I'll get back at that, Sagen, one way or another."
* * * * * *
Coatl city was filled with exuberance. The streets were filled with players and NPCs from all walks of life. Merchants and vendors were selling small figurines of the four finalists for the Swordsman to Knight Tournament.
The mayor of the city had invested quite a sum of money into the promotion of the Swordsman to Knight Tournament. Many players and NPCs from other cities came to Coatl.
It was the opening event to Coatl city's month long extravaganza. There were various forms of free entertainment, like the circus outside of the beginner's square and the musical contest by the Bards, Minstrels, Instrumentalists and other Musician variation jobs.
Aside from the free entertainment. There were also other events that required a joining fee. There was the 'Muddy Boar Catching', the 'Mounted Race', and finally the 'Jousting Tournament'.
The 'Jousting Tournament' would culminate their month long festivities, this even was exclusive to people who had jobs of Knight variations.
New players were starting at Coatl city because of these special events. With all the businesses that these events have brought in, the mayor's return of investment would take less than four days.
There were speculations that the mayor, Duke Burmistrz, was actually a part of some shady organization. Smoke kept a note of this as he continued his tour of the city.
Originally, the Swordsman to Knight Tournament was held once a year. Yet, a few years ago, Duke Burmistrz, decided that it was more lucrative for the city to hold the tournament twice within one year.
Blacksmiths were selling their Swordsman and Knight equipment like hotcake. Coatl city's tourists increased by four times.
Smoke, who was currently walking around the city, wore his hooded cloak and Swordsman's attire and was going by the name of Ilad.
Laernea and Gandiva were still on their way to Coatl. They came from Mandragora forest after gaining the poison resistance attribute and delivering five hundred mantis blades to Darius. Smoke had asked him to make as many double bladed swords as he could.
If he could sell them at the auction house for the same amount as before then he would have a decent increase in his monthly income. He planned on auctioning four double bladed mantis swords at a time.
There were so many products available, Smoke wanted to buy some of them but thought that his zecs should be spent somewhere more lucrative, he told himself that he would only spend money in order to make more money.
His altruistic nature was specially reserved only for Nanahuatl, but anywhere else on Zectas he stuck to his business and investment adages.
Smoke also admired the business sense of the mayor of Coatl city. He was sure that the every transaction done here would put a smile on the mayor's face.
He wished that he owned a city of his own. Someday, he knew that he would. Smoke firmly believed that one could only truly posses something when one had the proper power to protect it.
Igniz, hidden under Smoke's hood, kept on moving around trying to get a better view of the festivities. He would move to a certain direction, which meant that he wanted to go that way.
Smoke obediently followed his dark ember symbiote because he did not have any particular place to go.
While inspecting the other wares from different shops, Smoke found a disturbing figure. One of the finalists for the Swordsman to Knight Tournament looked eerily familiar.
At once, his heart started pumping vehemently. It was the face of the stuck up rich kid named Sagen but Smoke thought that it couldn't have been him.
Zectas' age requirement was strictly for 18 years old and above. Sagen couldn't have joined in on the game because the gamepod would detect the actual age of the person inside.
He decided to ask the NPC who was selling the figurines, she was a short plump Gnome.
"Excuse me, ma'am, can you tell me who this is?"
"Oh, that's Swordsman Sagen. He is the finalist from the Northern District. Wait a minute, aren't you Swordsman Ilad? Of course, you are! It's a pleasure to meet you sir Ilad. I know you're not yet a Knight but don't worry, with your skills, I don't think I'll jinx it."
He didn't notice the Gnome's pleasantries. Smoke was filled with hot rage. He wanted to scream and break everything in sight. He clenched his fists tightly and released all of his anger underground.
He used his 'Earth Manipulation' ability to squash and squeeze all of his anger out. Smoke had caused the immediate area to quake.
The whole street was rattled but it soon ended after five seconds. Everyone looked at each other and asked what that was. The merchants were especially glad that none of their wares were broken from the sudden earthquake.
The female Gnome looked around and checked that everything was in place. After checking her items she remembered that there was a celebrity in her stall.
Smoke regained his senses as he noticed that he had caused a brief mass panic. He extended his hand to the female Gnome.
She shook Smoke's hand eagerly. While shaking hands with the Gnome, Smoke raised his eyebrow. This NPC wasn't bothered by his poor appearance. He thought that maybe he could try out his beggary ability with her.
"Yes, that's right. My name is Ilad and you are?"
"My name is Kort. Can I help you with anything today, sir Ilad?"
"Please, just call me Ilad. I was wondering if you could tell me a bit more about Swordsman Sagen and the other finalists for the tournament."
"Hmm... All I know about, Swordsman Sagen is that he is the leader of the guild called 'Feras'. He also likes to be on the offensive. He always leaps out swinging at the start of all his fights."
Kort then grabbed the other two figurines and raised them to Smoke, giving him a better view of their faces.
"This Swordswoman goes by the name of Ayu, she uses counters. In some ways she is similar to the one you fought in your finals match at the district championship, Cudny."
Kort lowered Ayu's figurine and raised the one on her right hand, it was the figurine of a Halfling.
"Swordsman Kasar maybe short but his speed is top notch. All of his matches in the eastern district ended under five minutes."
"I see, that's quite some useful information. How much do these figurines cost?”
“Well, they're 150 zecs a piece but if you buy all four figurines I'd give them to you for 400 zecs"
"Oh, that's too bad. I wanted to have all four of these well crafted figurines but I just realized that I'm short on zecs. If only there was a way for me to get them as a memorabilia of this tournament. I may not win but at least I could tell my friends that I fought against such great Swordsmen."
Smoke tried making the saddest puppy dog eyes and hoped that it would work on Kort. The female Gnome thought that it would be too cruel not help him out. In view of the fact that she was cheering for Ilad to win the grand prize.
