Posted by Once coming to the conclusion that his best course of action was to try and set up a one on one with one of the Kulgas he could better formulate a plan based on this idea.
Aker peeked over his left shoulder and took a glance at the position of the remaining five Kulga. The remaining five seemed to be moving individually however they were maintaining their distance with one another.
In other words the five Kulga were independent but close enough to each other that they could attack together. It wasn’t anything like the previous trio who were creating a small wall as they bared down on Aker earlier.
Seeing the formation of the Kulga Aker quickly put together a plan to incapacitate the five that were moving at him. After giving it a seconds thought his best course of action was to leave the Kulga chowing down on the other Kulga for last.
Looking at the five of them Aker was once again left with a quandary. Due to his size his only option is to attack the Kulga low unless he uses the wall in order to get up above. The problem with using the wall for leverage as a fulcrum is that it will work great for one of them but based on the spacing with the other four he would be trapped with no where to go.
He needed to spread out the five of them so that he could attack them in a smaller group. He could probably get away with going low again by going for an ankle or knee joint but could he do it five more times? Probably not…even if the beast are not super intelligent they can’t possibly be stupid to the point that they cant figure that attack out after seeing it a couple of times right?
With that Aker darted off to his right making a turn so tight that it caused dirt and rock to kick up into the air. Due to the spacing of the five Kulga they did not have the problem the trio had earlier where they bumped into each other and all turned without any issue.
Rather than being side by side now though they were closer to being in a line. As some of the Kulga were faster than others they began to fan out. One of the Kulga broke off to the right and headed out to the edge as if though he wanted to flank Aker.
Aker was hoping that at least one of them would break out to the right flank. After taking down the trio of Kulga earlier he had immediately darted off in a straight line which allowed for the remaining five Kulga to close the gap with him as he was not running away from them which allowed them to take an angle towards him. This left all of the five Kulga closer to the gate they entered in from and on the far side of the trio of Kulga.
From there he had taken a right and the Kulga were able to just change their angle and keep their distance from one another and pursue Aker without any issue. As they were slightly faster than Aker they were starting to gain ground on him. Especially the faster of the Kulga group.
Again taking a right caused caused him to be running perpendicular with the Trio’s location which was were he was now. With one of the Kulga breaking off and headed toward the far right flank this put it on the far side of the trio. This was critical to Akers plan.
Originally he thought he might have to make a couple of trips around The Pit before he found himself on the opposite side of the Kulga with the trio in the middle. However luck was on his side this time.
Aker ran until he was exactly straight across from the trio where still laying on the ground. Due to the Kulga’s small arms as well as the fact they were injured and on top of each other the trio were still on their sides. Even though the one in the middle didn’t have any injuries because of the other two it couldn’t get up.
Aker ran until he was just past the trio and he was in a straight line from the Kulga who was trying to flank him. With that he again turned hard right and was running right at the trio laying on the ground.
See it’s prey change direction and come right for it the Kulga’s eyes widened and a bit of drool hit the dirt as it turned and started sprinting after Aker.
Unknown to the Kulga, Aker was not running at a perfect perpendicular line to the trio of Kulga but was running with an angle that would allow it to get closer to the trio. The reason was simple. The Kulga was faster than him. He figured based on the distance he would have been from the trio and the distance of the Kulga that was trying to flank him the Kulga would have beat him to the spot. If that happened then his plan would never work.
Running straight at the downed trio one of them noticed as its meal was running right to its mouth. At the end of the day a beast is still a beast. Seeing its meal running right at it tried to raise its head and started snapping in the air furiously.
Aker saw as the Kulga on the ground was nipping in the air and realized there was no way he was going to get through without getting hurt at least some however his plan was already in motion and this was still his best opportunity.
Despite the fact that he was going to injured his plan was still his best option.
As Aker approached the trio the other four Kulga were closing in on him as well. Based on the angle he would just beat the four of them to the spot.
Jumping past the left flank Kulga of the trio on the ground as it snapped at him it caught his leg as its teeth smashed against the shin guards Mavis had made. With a ding the mouth of the Kulga bounced back but not without first gnashing into his calf on the back end where there was no protection.
Without even slowing down Aker landed on the side of the middle Kulga landing with one knee. As he landed he took both knifes and slammed them into the side of the Kulga. As the knifes penetrated its side it forcefully tried to bounce up due to the pain. Using the momentum of the Kulga trying to stand up Aker jumped with it at the Kulga who was bearing down on him.
The Kulga not expecting his dinner to attack from above was unprepared and before it could react had a knife pressed through its left eye.
The other other knife had aimed for its ear but instead hit its hard skull and did little damage. Thankfully hitting its eye the Kulga fell over never to get up again.
Due to the trio on the ground the other four Kulga couldn’t directly get to Aker and had to run around the trio. As they were fairly fanned out and moving at their fastest speed three of them had to run around trio on the ground while one of them was able to cut inside and take a shortcut to Akers location.
As Aker had just stabbed the Kulga and was still on his way to the ground he didn’t have time to run yet. The Kulga that was able to take the shortcut was the winner for dinner and opened its mouth flashing its sharp teeth in Akers face.
As Aker realized he wouldn’t be able to dodge he had only one option. He tried to pull the knife out of the Kulga’s eye but it was stuck so he let go of it and put used his left arm to try and block the attack of the Kulga.
As Aker was looking at the Kulga he could almost make out the mockery of the Kulga as its teeth started to clamp close. Once this Kulga had its prey there was no use in fighting back.
As Aker saw this he realized his best option wasn’t to watch and defend but to attack. With that taking his left arm he jumped forward and at the Kulga with his forearm leading the way. Before the Kulga could snap down Aker had shoved his arm guard into the the back of the Kulga’s jaws preventing him from closing its mouth.
Just like Akers calf there was no protection on the underside of the arm guard and its teeth were tearing at his forearm. However because it couldn’t close its mouth it couldn’t apply the pressure it needed to cause significant damage.
With his his right hand Aker aimed for the Kulga’s ear. This time not missing the Kulga went limp hitting the ground immediately.
As the Kulga hit the ground and as Aker was getting ready to move something far outside of hisplanning happened. The other three Kulga that were running around the trio on the ground stopped their pursuit of Aker and stood on the opposite side of Kulga on the ground as if though they were using it for defense.
Seeing this Aker stood up and slowly started walking over to recover his knife. With every step he took the apprehension in the remaining Kulga obviously grew more intense.
Walking while keeping an eye on the beast Aker couldn’t help but wonder what was going on. Why did they stop attacking? Why are they keeping their distance? As he slowly moved step by step he suddenly realized that the could hear the patter of his feet as they moved across the ground.
For the first time in any of his battles Aker had an opportunity to look out into the crowd during his fight. As his eyes scanned across the crowd he couldn’t figure out if he was more amazed by what he was seeing or if they were.
There was no cursing. There was no clamor. There was no screaming. There was nothingness. In life there is a point where shock moves beyond the boundary of logic and common sense. Being shocked happens when an event takes place beyond what would be considered outside of our expectations. No, the crowd was not in a state of shock.
Sure, that boy was out there fighting a mob of Kulga. The fact that he could fight ten Kulga at the same is shocking but so what. There are plenty of examples throughout the universe of children fighting beyond reason. The fact that there is one in The Pits is indeed shocking but it couldn’t be described as anything more than that.
However, in the memory of every single person sitting in the stands staring down into the arena they had never heard of what they were seeing.
Three perfectly healthy beast of prey were scared of a boy who was injured and bleeding to the point that they were backing away in fear. Who cares that they are the weakest beast of prey in the universe…..they are still beast of prey. The hunt and devour. They risk life and limb otherwise they starve.
The crowd would have no problem believing something like this if a grown warrior steps into the arena. At the end of the day a beast still understands strong and weak. Their instincts tell them that if I attack I will die. All predators are born with this sense. Whats unbelievable is that instinct is telling them that if they attack this boy they will face certain death. A predator will still attack if it even thinks it has the smallest margin for victory.
The crowd watched as Aker grabbed his knife and stood in the middle of the arena staring at the three Kulga. As the Kulga looked into the abyss that was AKers eyes they slowly lowered there heads before eventually laying on the ground completely submitting to Aker.
Seeing the three lay down in submission Aker removed his gaze from them and put his eyes on the lone Kulga still feasting away as if though everything that was happening had nothing to do with it.
While it didn’t go exactly as planned the end result was still the same, Aker would stand tall in front of this beast and fight it head on.
He picked up his feet and slowly started walking toward the lone Kulga. With each step he took the crowds anticipation grew larger and larger. Throughout the crowd mixed in with the excitement and anticipation was confusion.
How could a fight between a child and Kulga garner so much excitement some of them kept wondering. Would anyone really want to watch two small children fight on the street? No….so a fight between this boy and a Kulga was just barely a step above that. In reality they were here to see the child get punished.
Sure no one knew what he did wrong but would his Majesty arbitrarily make up something about some young boy and throw him in The Pit? The answer was obvious, even though they didn’t know what sin the child committed it didn’t change the fact that he did.
For any semi trained warrior a Kulga was barely more than a pest.
One side was a boy and on the other side a predator that was barely more than pest. So why?
Why did the crowd feel the excitement in the air grow with each passing step the boy took?
Why did the crowd have this feeling of anticipation?
After a few breaths time Aker stood on the other side of the carcass of the Kulga before the lone Kulga and announced loud enough for the crowd to hear “Your not going to cower down too are you?”
With that the cheers of the crowd erupted.