The Immortal Kobold

The general fell forward, the crowd held their breaths fearing the man would fall upon the blades of his own men when those very men broke ranks, opening a path to allow the general to fall safely between the blades. Xing Lei smirked as the crowd roared its disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e, sure they didn't want the general to die, but this was the arena, to so blatantly cheat meant an ill ripple swept out from the booing crowd.

The general stood and dusted himself off, passing between his men to close the break in the battle once more, "Beast did you honestly think I'd fall on my own troops weapons? The only fatal outcome is for you criminal." The man jeered and laughed at the kobold who didn't appear to mind, in fact Xing Lei had fully expected the soldiers to cheat, to either not block the general or to strike at his back if he started winning, this move just exposed the rigged duel to the masses.

Xing Lei leaned on the sword stabbed into the sands, he gave a casual yawn of boredom, "Are you planning to talk me to death, such a ploy might work since your mundane treachery is hardly unexpected or impossible to deal with."

Picking up his blade the kobold assumed a strange poise, his blade stood ready, unflinching, those inhuman eyes followed the general as silence reigned, it did not seem he even drew breath as he focused his intent on his blade, feeling it like an extension of his arm. It stood ready, willing to reach the distance to create red blossoms in the generals flesh. The general himself frowned, his sixth sense screaming that to advance was to die, the prior flaws in the kobolds swordsmanship had vanished, rather it seemed like the reptile had marched with the sword, a n.a.k.e.d threat that anyone within his range would meet his edge.

The two stood and stared, a game of patience between swordsmen. Xing Lei stood straight like a ready blade, unflinching and deadly. The general was like the executioners axe, all he wanted was an exposed vital point and the kobold would die this day, yet the damnable little rat was like a statue. Time dragged on, both silent armed and ready to strike, the crowd hissed and boo'ed venting their disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e to the air. Rocks and garbage fell from the sky pelting both sides of the conflict, yet neither gave their foe an opening.

The sun drew high beating down on the two, the thirty soldiers were in agony, their lifted arms burned as their swords started to waiver but then with a bitten lip or a refocused mind the lifted blades became still once more. The people frowned, unlike his prior battles Kobolicus stood frozen, a primed sword ready to move, yet the otherside refrained. Soon both stepped back, the swords on their hands falling from numb fingers as the pair growled and launched forward, the earlier whirlwind of sword attacks was repeated but this time their weapons were fists, the general using his superior reach to strike at whatever he could while the kobolds punches rocked his muscled frame as easy as any other.

General and kobold fought in the center of the formers men, fists flying, kicks darting in. Xing Lei had pulled the general off his horse too many times, the mans pride was hurt worse than his body. So he relentlessly chased after the scaled monster while Xing Lei met him evenly, countering the generals blood l.u.s.t with a serene, calming style that flowed from each vicious strike into the next. The more strikes countered and defeated the more the general lost all sort of reason. It was then, tired and aching, the general glaring at the kobold who fought not to win, but rather to stalemate, got a shock.

Xing Lei stepped back and inhaled deeply then exhaled a gout of flame that rolled over not only the general but also the soldiers behind him, the man screamed as he hurled himself away from the plume of fire, crashing through his men to roll on the sand doing his best to extinguish the flames that danced on his armor and clothes. The soldiers behind screamed in agony as chaos was unleashed, the formation breaking as the men rushed to rescue their burning brethren. Xing Lei took this time to strike, like a dancer he wove amongst the soldiers, claiming a weapon from the first and plunging it into the back of the second, stealing the third to slash the next in line. The disruption of the formation truly heralded the end of the soldiers.

Yet Xing Lei did not strike all fatal blows, nor did they all receive crippling strikes, most were simply doing a duty, the few he did cut down without mercy were the ones steeped in dark auras, the ones who most likely aided the general with less reputable jobs. These villains gained no quarter. When at last the assault finished, groaning soldiers appeared around the duo who continued to strike at each other with increased fervor. The general was on his last legs while Xing Lei continued his assault, with each miss of the humans blade, the kobolds fist connected with the formers body. After a few more minutes of punishment, the general coughed out some blood and slumped to the sands along side his troops. Xing Lei paid these figures no mind raising his gaze to the viewing box, "Gladiators and soldiers, animals and monsters. My record grows. Yet still I hunger for victory over a monarch, a sound slapping of a matriarch, the aggrieved cries of a crown prince, or the weeped tears of a princess. Alas I am denied."

Turning he stabbed the blade into the sands, not even bothering to launch it at the box, Xing Lei walked back to his cell under the watchful gazes of citizen, noble, gladiator and handler. Kobolicus took no p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e in victory it was said since only royalty would be his match, king of the country vs king of the bloodied sands. The crowd howled, the arena shook and Xing Lei meditated in his lone cell. He let time pass, the days dragged on, a season changed and still the games continued. Yet no summons came for Xing Lei. It was the turn of his second year of enslavement that change rocked the nation. Elves had invaded, pushing forward deep into Ironhand lands, King Ironhands prized general was still laid up out of action so their army had zero guidance, rumors of a war going badly trickled into the capital, now Xing Lei was summoned every three days, usually to fight monstrous beasts or prisoners scooped up from the slums.

Half a year ago the crowd would gave been thrilled to see these fights but now with the elven army pushing deep the citizens would no longer give be swayed by blood sports. Now no matter whatXing Lei slew the crowd watched with fearful attention, how long before even the sight of a kobold manhandling a great forest bear would not tempt them? Standing over his latest kill he shouted, "Hear your people king, the war you gave was different from what your allies promised. War knocks upon your door and what hope have you who would hide from one such as I." Turning Xing Lei left the silent arena, his cell quiet, the once full surroundings had been picked clean by the over reliance on the games to distract anyone who worried about the kingdoms path. Comrades in battle, all long gone leaving just a lone kobold in the dark. It was time to go. Reaching out he pushed on the barred door and felt the iron bend under his strength, warping the bars till he could slip out into the prison proper and headed into the darkness.

It was time to hunt.

When Xing Lei stepped from his cage, darkness was just falling, shadows choked the prison of the arena, the only ones making noise were a few drunken guards lamenting having to watch over a sole being who had never once tried to escape, the little runt just sat there in silence, never talking, never raging. Why guard something that seemed quite inclined to never leave? Little did they suspect that unmotivated prisoner was even now creeping past them using their own drunken complaining to mask his movements.

The inside of the arena backend was very much a maze, several checkpoints existed, but with less prisoners and a war raging these were devoid of guards, even the barracks was only lightly occupied, the handlers having been long conscripted to fight true enemies. As Xing Lei slipped through a window and out into the city proper, the stillness hung over the capital like a shroud. The citizens of the once lively town now huddled behind closed doors and windows, barring themselves away from an enemy that camped on their doorstep.

Xing Lei's foot steps carried him back to the Night Parade, the slavers den still shining with eerie mystical fire. Not bothering with a disguise, he walked into the front door surprising the robed entry guard while he was taking payment from a gaunt looking young man. The pair blinked in surprise as the kobold rushed forward, shoving the noble to one side, deftly plucking the dagger from the mans belt and sheathing it in the throat of the robed entry man, the masked covering slipping from his face revealing a heavily make up wearing drow man, the pink coloring around his eyes a bandits mask against the rest of his onyx skin.

The noble seeing the dark elf gave a girlish scream, until Xing Lei kicked him in the face, dropping the fop to the ground with no more pomp than he would swat a fly. Searching the drow, he confiscated the dark elf's dagger figuring its enchantment would be better than the nobles mundane weapon. Next was to descend again, this time Xing Lei crouched low and crept down the stairs, he ignored the first three levels and moved directly towards the lowest level, not surprising he heard raised voices, notably the kings, though he could hear the female drow flippantly answering him back.

The lowest level was obviously the connecting room from the public face to the drow base, here where should have been a resplendent viewing room for the best quality slaves was instead a grand hall, King Ironhand and a large group of his royal guards squared off with the drow woman and a handful of amused looking male drow, the allies in this little endeavour were facing off with weapons drawn, it would seem King Ironhand expected that the drow incursion would not have generated so much hostility. While the drow themselves were indifferent, they knew the risks and it was the folly of the humans that got them exposed. Somehow Ironhand was expecting the drow to help fight the incursion of the elves, but they were not staying, once the city defenses were breached they'd retreat to the world below, the elves would not follow.

Xing Lei shook his head listening to the mortal king, he could understand the grab for power but to not accept the risks that came with just showed how short sighted the man was, blaming the drow for not over extending themselves for his failing position was simple desperation. From the Kings demands it could be seen that Silvertrees had likely already invaded and was nearing the capital walls if the man was grasping at straws in terms of allies. In the next moment, blades clashed, death screams were sounded, Xing Lei couldn't be sure, but likely the humans had attacked in frustration but the drow were hardly fish on a chopping block. The kobold observer watched the two sides fighting back and forth, hostilities barely contained finally exploded this powder keg and from the looks of it this would put an end to the alliance, who would remain alive really didn't concern Xing Lei, he was poised to reap the benefits, he only hoped the King's men would last and handle some of the dark elves.