Blue armor and silver armor shone with fierce light, and the spectators shouted higher and higher, wave after wave.
Gendry watched the comparison between the two carefully. Brienne was most likely the one who would laugh last. The girl from Tarth was taller, stronger, and not lacking in toughness.
Robar did not relax just because Brienne was a girl. Anyone facing a tin can of armor nearly two meters tall would take the opponent seriously. Brienne had few feminine features, and instead looked broad and powerful.
Robar Royce used all his strength, but every time his long axe chopped down, it was blocked by the Blue Knight Brienne's shield, the one decorated with the arms of House Tarth.
Robar swung the long-handled axe, and the shield of the maid of Tarth flew apart like wood shavings. Brienne dropped the shield, and the crowd's excitement reached its peak. Like a pack of beasts in heat, they roared at the top of their lungs.
"Knight of the Vale!"
"Knight of the Vale!"
"Bad." The Knight of Flowers sensed something was wrong. He had fought Brienne before. This woman possessed brute strength, and Robar was now in danger.
Robar Royce charged forward, his blunted axe crashing hard against the scarred deep-blue breastplate.
The girl from Tarth drew strength from somewhere, vast and sudden. The Blue Knight seized Robar's shield and instead slipped past the savage strike of the long-handled axe.
Then came Brienne's powerful swing. The flail smashed into Robar's helmet.
Robar staggered backward. He had not underestimated the woman before him, but she truly was a freak.
Robar could not endure the force of the blow. His helmet was dented, and he hurriedly waved in surrender, dropping his long-handled battleaxe.
After that, Robar's elder brother took the field against Guyard Morrigen, the famous knight of the Stormlands.
Andar Royce, wearing silver-plated armor, won this bout and recovered some face for the Vale.
The lords and knights of the Vale cheered, while the Stormlanders laughed aloud. After all, they still had two of the most dangerous warriors: "Storm" Gendry and the "Maid of Tarth" Brienne.
"Ser Lothor of House Brune, Deputy Commander of the King's Landing City Watch."
"Ser Rolland Storm of Nightsong."
Neither man was particularly striking in appearance. Rolland had a face scarred by pox, but his courage was anything but ordinary. Gendry felt Rolland was more dangerous than Guyard.
Lothor Brune swung his longsword, and Rolland stepped forward as well.
Both men were strong and burly. Their heavy, powerful chops rang out again and again. Both walked the same hard, fierce path, and neither could break the other's guard.
In the end, Rolland proved a little more skilled. When the two were trading blows, he used a dagger to lift Lothor's visor.
The spectators roared their approval, their voices swelling into a wave of cheers.
"The Red Viper, Prince Oberyn Martell of Dorne."
"Ser Mychel Redfort, a knight of Redfort, husband of Princess Mya Baratheon."
The Red Viper's entrance was just as stunning, worthy of his title as Dorne's finest.
The Red Viper stirred his Longspear, and it truly moved like the tongue of a venomous snake, waiting for the moment to strike, swift as a serpent.
To avoid the disadvantage of using a longsword, Ser Mychel also chose a Longspear. As one of the finest young men of the Vale, Mychel's spearwork was also formidable.
The Red Viper's Longspear came and went like a ghost, and he moved as swiftly and nimbly as a leopard, leaving Mychel hard-pressed.
Mychel thrust forward, but was often half a step too slow. In the end, the Red Viper struck Mychel's red breastplate, and the young Vale knight was defeated.
"Young man, you're still not quite there," the Red Viper said with a smile.
Lord Leyton, however, looked pleased. After all, this was the Red Viper of Dorne, one of the most dangerous warriors alive.
After that, more warriors were eliminated.
Ser Barristan did not take part in the foot combat. Most of the competitors were young or middle-aged men.
There were warriors from House Fossoway and House Rowan of The Reach, House Grafton and House Redfort of the Vale, House Cafferen of the Stormlands, House Massey, and others.
The most thrilling semifinals were Garlan Tyrell against Brienne of Tarth, and Gendry facing the Red Viper once again.
"The semifinal of the foot combat: the Soul of Knights, His Grace King Gendry the Breaker I, against Prince Oberyn Martell of Dorne."
A line of hornblowers immediately sounded their horns, and the crowd fell silent.
Everyone held their breath. In terms of strength, both men were terrifying. They were tall, dangerous, agile, and fierce.
The two first planted their Longspears upright in the ground and paid homage to the ladies. Gendry to Queen Daenerys, and the Red Viper to his lover.
The Red Viper saluted the King. Foot combat showed fighting strength and stamina more clearly, while Longspear jousting carried too many elements of chance.
The Red Viper entered the field in armor, though Dornishmen were not used to heavy armor.
Gendry's armor was somewhat heavier than the Red Viper's, a neat suit of black scale plate covered by a glittering golden robe. Gendry's shield was a huge oaken shield edged with yellow iron.
The Red Viper was lightly equipped and quick. Aside from his gorget, greaves, vambraces, armor shirt, and war skirt, he wore only soft leather and smooth silk beneath. Over his mail was a layer of gleaming copper scales.
The Red Viper's round shield was dazzling, bearing the spear piercing the sun, cast from red gold, gold, white gold, and brass.
But both men's helmets were simple. Apart from the faceguard, there was only a noseguard, to avoid blocking their vision.
"Our match today will surely be spoken of for thousands and tens of thousands of years," the Red Viper said.
Gendry laughed. "Whoever wins today takes the other's weapon."
"Good," the Red Viper said with soaring spirit.
Both men were very large. Though they were not as huge as The Mountain, both stood at least six feet three.
Gendry was six feet seven, and the Red Viper was only somewhat shorter.
The Red Viper thrust forward, his spear striking out like a venomous snake.
Gendry likewise tested the waters with a spear thrust. The spear struck the shield, and both men swept backward at the same time.
Spears whirled, ringing with hard, powerful sounds as they struck shields and left long, bright scratches.
The Red Viper's spear flicked forward and back like a serpent's forked tongue, and the two spears struck together again and again.
"Feints, agility." Gendry caught the rhythm of the Red Viper's attacks. His offense was full of feints, seeming to thrust high before suddenly striking low.
Against spear attacks, one had to guard the groin, the shield, and the chest.
Gendry's offense was just as fierce. Almost all of the Red Viper's attacks landed on his shield, and the stag and dragon painted there slowly began to lose their colors.
"Crack."
Gendry's Longspear stabbed out at an unbelievable angle. The Red Viper quickly turned and retreated, but the spear still broke through to his breastplate.
The Red Viper felt sweetness rise in his throat. It was the taste of blood.
"I traded armor for speed. How is this possible?" the Red Viper thought in disbelief. He had considered the possibility of losing this match, but the fight was simply too difficult.
"Oh!"
The people were equally entranced. The match between the two men was a dance of spears.
Their speed was astonishing, fast enough to blur into phantoms. Spears struck armor and shields, ringing with the sound of steel clashing.
Gendry and Oberyn both launched ferocious attacks, and Oberyn felt a dull ache in his chest and belly.
The Red Viper's attacks had yet to strike any of Gendry's vital points, but the Storm's Longspear fell like a rain of stars. The Red Viper defended with all his might and was still struck again and again.
"A dangerous game." Garlan widened his eyes. The Red Viper had pushed agility to its limit.
But the more dangerous one was Gendry. The Storm was taller and stronger than the Red Viper, yet even his speed surpassed the Red Viper's. It was unbelievable. By all reason, someone so large should lack some speed and endurance.
The two fought like leopards in the jungle, spears dancing wildly. Leaping, aiming, thrusting, advancing.
"Well fought!"
"Well fought!"
The knights cheered loudly. This was a duel between the fiercest warriors of the Seven Kingdoms, enough to leave anyone spellbound.
"Fire!"
Gendry shouted, spinning into a thrust. The spear gave a sharp, violent whistle, and the Red Viper hurriedly blocked with spear and shield.
Even so, Oberyn's arms and thighs were struck several times, and his shield had been battered with many gaps.
"Damn." Oberyn sighed. His muscles were beginning to ache, and his stamina was slowly falling under the heat of the battle. He had met many opponents, but Gendry was the most terrifying monster he had ever faced.
"Bang."
Gendry thrust his spear toward the Red Viper's face. The Red Viper retreated and used his shield to block the strike.
The Red Viper's spear flashed sideways, scraping across Gendry's breastplate with an ear-piercing screech.
But Gendry's Longspear suddenly gathered force. His body leapt up, bringing down a savage blow, his speed like lightning.
The "Storm" turned sideways and thrust, piercing straight through the Red Viper's shield. The edge of the Red Viper's shield split apart.
"Crack."
The spear struck out in a blur of light and shadow, and the crowd screamed.
Metal collided with metal as if sparks had burst from the impact. People's ears rang, and some even began stepping back.
The Red Viper's eight-foot spear was one step too slow. Gendry's thrust through the sun shield did not lose its force.
"No!"
The Dornishmen screamed, because the Red Viper's armor was indeed on the lighter side.
Gendry's fierce, brutal spear thrust pierced through the shield and stopped before the Red Viper's copper scales, already reaching Oberyn's heart and lungs.
"I've lost." The Red Viper wiped the sweat from his forehead. The muscles throughout his body ached, and he felt the faint bruising of blows all over him.
The Red Viper looked at Gendry. The Storm had still held back. Otherwise, there would have been no need to practice his moves like a cat playing with a mouse. "Though I lost, I admit this was a match that set the blood burning."
The Red Viper raised his hand, his face and body covered in sweat.
This had been his fiercest spear, but unfortunately, he had still fallen one move short. It was not something human strength could bridge.
"This is for you." The Red Viper lifted his cracked helmet. The precious metal on it was still worth quite a bit.
Gendry directly tore the small golden disc from the Red Viper's helmet, the Viper's beautiful ornament, and tossed it into the watching crowd of King's Landing.
This was in imitation of his ancestor, the Laughing Storm.
"Storm!"
"Storm!"
The crowd laughed and cheered, all scrambling together for that beautiful golden disc.
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