“Are you certain you wish to do this?” The small black goblin asked, stretching her body out a bit while standing on one side of the large underground arena. Jack smirked, cracking his knuckles and taking a more battle ready stance. “Is that even a question? I’ve been starving for some action for a while now.”

  He sharpened his eyes on the black goblin, who simply exhaled and then chuckled to herself, also cracking her knuckles. “Very well – we’ll see what you, the one who controls his Grace, can really do.” She also took a more battle ready stance, placing her right leg back, before placing her left hand onto the ground - a wide grin across her face.

  Greth and Frawn were off to the side with Araneida and Regalia, the knight who apparently was the Black Kings right hand knight, watching the confrontation between them both. Greth exhaled.

  “Someone remind me again, how did we get here…?”

  “It’s quite simple.” Frawn replied almost immediately, looking at the two individuals in the arena, before crossing his arms. “After the Black King pledged loyalty to his Majesty from her own free will, his Majesty began to undergo the rank evolution process. Because of the rank evolution, he has been put out of commission for a bit, until the evolution finishes. While we’re waiting for the evolution to finish, Jack, who rules over his Majesty and by extension, over us, challenged the Black King to a fight, saying that he wanted to see how strong she was.” Greth stared at him with a shocked expression, lost for words at how he had remembered all of that in such a short period of time.

  “You really live up to your name…” Frawn laughed lightly. “It’s the basics darling.”

  Frawn then turned a bit more serious as he looked back at Jack and the Black King, who both were exerting a bit of an aura around them. “I am also curious to see how strong this human is. His majesty says that he is stronger than him, but somehow I am a bit doubtful of that fact.”

  After a bit of silence, Jack squeezed his hands into fists and lifted them up, a smirk spreading across his face. “Alright – let’s go!” He said, before dashing at the Black King at incredible speed - having used ‘Animal Body’ to quickly morph his legs into ostriches in a split second.

  The Black King quickly leapt up into the air, dodging the initial impact, before coming down crashing onto Jack from the air. The tamer quickly reacted, turning around and grabbing a hold of the goblins' right upper arm, before flipping her around and tossing her away.

  The goblin recovered fast and easily, however wasn’t given room to think of a way to strike back, as Jack dashed at her again – throwing a punch towards her. The Black King quickly grabbed hold of the fist, the impact of the two hands colliding sending a powerful shockwave from Jack's fist, which cracked the ground and wall behind the Black King.

  “What power…! And that’s just the shockwave of the punch? I wonder how much force the punch itself would exert…” She thought, grinning widely before lifting Jack in the air and quickly flipping him around.

  [ NOTICE ]

  A familiar situation has been detected.

  ‘Combat Experience’ has been activated.

  +10% to Agility and Defence.

  [ NOTICE ]

  Jack smirked, quickly regaining his balance as the Black King flipped him over – which surprised the Black King, while Jack's eyes simply shone orange for a second, before he pulled his fist out of her grasp and quickly grabbed her hand, tightening his grip onto it.

  “Wha-!” She wasn’t given even a moment to react, as Jack threw her up into the air, before leaping after her — The Black King was left in a moment of utter confusion, before quickly regaining her composure and blocking the incoming strike from the man. “He’s good! If nothing else, he has the skill to back up his confidence."

  She thought before using Jack's chest as a base, leaping off of him and back towards the ground, before stomping her left leg onto the ground. The ground split apart, with large chunks of it flying up into the air. Then, in a split second, she smashed them into smaller chunks before beginning to pummel them towards Jack – one by one.

  Jack watched the incoming projectiles, grinning widely, before reaching down and taking hold of his two sheathed shortswords, narrowing his eyes. “Perhaps this will be entertaining.”

  As the projectiles rapidly approached, Jack's eyes shined orange as he unsheathed the two shortswords and…

  Swoosh.

  With one, unperceivable move, he sliced through all the incoming rubble. Greth, Frawn and Regalia watched in shock, while Araneida was hopping all over the place – like a cheerleader – just squealing and seemingly rooting for Jack.

  The Black King was shocked for a moment, but then smirked again. “He really is good!”

  Jack landed back down onto the ground, standing up and spinning his shortswords, before resting the one in his right hand onto his shoulder. “I’ll up the antea for this next part if you don’t mind.” The Black King shrugged.

  “Not at all. Regalia.” She called out to the knight, who shook her head lightly, regaining her composure before quickly squabbling around searching for something before picking up what appeared to be a spear, before chucking it towards the Black King.

  The small goblin easily caught the spear, spinning it around and then pointing it towards Jack, her round, pitch black eyes shining lightly. “Let me see what you can do with those blades of yours.”

  “With pleasure.” Jack replied, spinning his shortswords again, before dashing towards the Black King, who also – after a moment – dashed towards him.

  Clang.

  The two collided with their weapons — Jack using his shortswords to block the Black Kings spear. The two grinned widely towards one another, before leaping back and then dashing at one another again — exchanging blows with one another.

  The air force being sent through the arena was extremely strong - so strong that the four spectators were struggling to resist being blown away by it, with only really Araneida managing to hold on fully, by webbing her legs down.

  “What a fierce fight…! It’s like watching two absolute monsters go toe to toe with one another..!” Greth thought, shedding a sweat, while Frawn just stared in disbelief, before sliding his goggles onto his eyes and zooming in towards Jack.

  After a bit of analysis, he shed a cold sweat.

  “He’s… Holding back? Not only that, but the equipment he has – one shortsword weakens his enemy while the other strengthens him…. This fight isn’t an equal duel.”

  He exhaled. “If he wants to, Jack can end it at any point…”

  Clang.

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  Woosh.

  Cling - clang.

  Jack and the Black King continued their exchange of blows, with the Black King progressively growing more and more nervous. “This man is insane… His strength is unreal and his skill is also unlike I’ve seen before.” She thought, looking at Jack, who was grinning widely, with shining orange eyes, which sent shivers down her spine, as she leapt back and then dashed in again to try and pierce through his defence, only for Jack to parry the strike with one of his shortswords, before flipping around and using the other shortsword to try and strike her from below, forcing the Black King to leap back to avoid the strike.

  After creating distance between herself and Jack, she looked at him with a less confident and more nervous expression. “Now I see why his Grace bows down towards him… This human is unlike any I’ve seen in my life.”

  Jack straightened out. “What’s the matter? Can’t keep up?” He asked, pointing one of his shortswords towards the Black Goblin, who simply exhaled and then laughed to herself lightly. “I will admit, you’re far more skilled than any other individuals I have fought during my rule – however don’t think I’m through just yet!”

  She then spun her spear, before jamming it into the ground in front of her, closing her eyes. Magical Energy began to flow from around the arena and gather around her, creating a more intimidating aura around her. Jack took a battle ready position, smirking. “Monarch Transformation already? Interesting…”

  The Magical Energy around the Black King gathered for a bit, before she opened her eyes — the eyes shining fully white, before a large, black tornado engulfed her completely, reaching all the way up to the ceiling above them.

  Great force was sent through the arena, which Jack shrugged off with ease, not even flinching at its presence. Greth shed a sweat. “Why is she using her Monarch form so early? That doesn’t make sense…”

  Frawn quickly ran an analysis on the tornado engulfing her, before shedding a cold sweat. “That isn’t her monarch form…”

  “Eh? What do you mean—?”

  “That’s something else… Her magical energy is increasing – it’s as if she has removed a limiter that she had on herself.” He explained a bit before lifting up his goggles, looking at Jack with a more nervous expression. “Will he be able to keep up..?”

  As the tornado began to weaken, a dark figure came slightly into view, before slashing through the tornado with the spear in its hand. The tornado completely dissipated, revealing what now stood in the middle of it. The small, black goblin was now gone — replaced by a tall, tall black goblin, with a fit build and armour, which was made of this black, crystal material. The black goblin had short white hair and one of her eyes was white, while the other pitch black. She had a much more mature aura and presence to her - compared to the childlike appearance of the Black King.

  She grinned, spinning the spear in her hands and pointing it towards Jack. “Let’s see how far you can go.”

  Jack stared at her for a bit, before grinning and spinning his shortswords. “I see… So that childlike appearance of yours isn’t your true form, is it?”

  “It’s more of my sealed form if you can call it that. It helps me control my own power better.” She replied, before moving her body lower a bit. “But that’s enough chit chat.”

  “I agree.” Jack replied, moving his body also a bit lower – his eyes shining brightly for a moment. Then – after a brief moment of silence, the two launched at each other. Only this time, Jack was actually pushed back and parried by the Black Goblin, who had a content expression for the most part, only interrupted by her wide, wide grin that stretched across her face.

  Jack was left in a brief moment of surprise, before he grinned again. “Interesting…” He commented to himself, before quickly flipping around and kicking her back a bit and then dashing after her again, a much more powerful aura encasing him. “Perhaps I could let loose a little more myself.”

  The Black Goblin kept a wide grin across her face, as Jack closed the distance in an instant, before bringing her weapon down and…

  Clang.

  The two of them once again began to rapidly exchange blows — neither able to break through the others defence, however both threw out attacks that sent out very, very powerful strikes that sent out even more powerful waves of air through the arena – which was enough to even push Araneida back, which forced her to quickly web her legs to the ground with even more webbing before doing the same to the other spectators.

  “Th-Thanks white spider.” Frawn stated, with Araneida looking at him with a cold gaze, before squealing loudly – as if to say ‘you’re welcome’.

  Frawn looked back at the fight, shedding a sweat. “The Black King has lifted the limiter that was placed upon her by her father, which caused her to take on her true form once more – that has made her far more powerful now, however… The Tamer is also holding back less and putting more of his strength into this fight now, which in return means that they once more are at a stand still.”

  The Red Goblin exhaled then.

  “But even with that in mind, he still holds back his full power… It’s as if he doesn’t want this to end too fast so he matches her in power.”

  The exchange of blows between the two continued for a bit, with Jack and the Black King slowly beginning to breach each other's defences. However, while Jack was only suffering some minor bruises, the Black King was beginning to gain scratches and cuts across her body – as Jack began to slowly push her back as well.

  “Despite unleashing my power from the shackles my father placed on it, I am still unable to push this man back… He’s most certainly got the power to back up his confidence and rulership over his Grace.” She commented to herself in her mind, before dodging a slash from Jack by just a hair. Then, she quickly spun around, spinning her spear, before trying to jam it through his back, however Jack suddenly disappeared, which left her in a moment of shock.

  Then, he leaned in towards her ear from behind. “Not bad – but not good enough.” He whispered, before the Black King quickly flipped around — about to strike him, however Jack quickly dearmed her with an uppercut that sent her spear out of her hands and up into the air, before it landed down into the ground behind her.

  Then, before she could retaliate, Jack quickly kicked her legs – causing her to fall down, before quickly getting on top of her and pinning her down, with his two short swords placed right next to her neck.

  The Black King looked up at him with surprise and shock, while Jack kept a small grin across his face. After a moment of silence, she smiled and exhaled. “I yield.”

  Araneida immediately let out a loud, loud squeal that echoed through the arena, celebrating her masters victory, before quickly and easily freeing herself from her webbing and rushing over to Jack, who stood back up, sheathing up his shortswords before helping the Black King to stand up.

  “Not bad – you’ve got some serious skill with that spear.”

  “Thank you for your kind words — my Father taught me everything I know, since according to him, it was unbefitting of a King to not know how to fight well.” As Araneida ran up to Jack, like a happy dog, he laughed and patted her lightly on the head.

  The other three goblins, having freed themselves from Araneidas' webbing, also walked over. “Impressive battle. That felt like watching two monsters going at each other."

  “Indeed… It was impressive as always, your Excellence.” Regalia bowed towards the Black King, who rubbed the back of her neck, before shrugging. “It’s nothing. I still lost despite unleashing my power from its limiter.”

  “The fact that you kept up with me is impressive enough.” Jack said, turning around and beginning to walk away, while the Black King laughed. “I wasn’t able to keep up with you… after all, you were holding back during the whole fight.”

  Jack froze for a second.

  Then, after letting loose a small laugh, he looked back at her. “No idea what you mean.” He stated. The Black King exhaled, crossing her arms, before her body became engulfed in dark matter and shrunk down, returning to her sealed, small childlike form.

  Greth stared at her for a second, before exhaling and looking away. “...I was such a fool to believe I would have been able to win against them…”

  As the group stood around in the arena, suddenly a black goblin dressed in a white coat rushed in. “Y-Your Excellence..!” He shouted, out of breath. Everyone looked at the goblin, as he rushed over to them, clearly out of breath. “Woah there, calm down Alec. Just take a deep breath…”

  The Goblin panted lightly for a second, before doing as instructed and taking in a deep breath before letting out a heavy breath as well. Then, he straightened back out. “There we go, now tell me – what’s the matter?”

  “I-It’s the Great Goblin king, he…” The goblin stumbled his words a bit, before shaking his head. “He’s awoken!”