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Cody was a bit reassured when she would soon be joining them, if he was going to be fighting to the death for her hand, to keep her from marrying the prince then she should be there. He kept thinking about how insane this all was and how he couldnt believe he was stuck in this mess, but he was and he had to hope he was good enough to stay alive.

Cody was lead to a section where he stepped into a small arena like room where the ring that he was sorta standing in was level with where everyone sat. Cody was given a sword to weild and he saw the prince who was dressed in a military outfit. Cody had beads of sweat forming on his forehead but the prince turned to Strider, "I await when you will meet me at the alter, princess." He said in a cocky tone.

Cody and the prince got in position and raised their blades, which Cody's was a bit shakey. He sighed but as he did, trying to calm himself, the prince lounged forward, slashing his blade at Cody who blocked with his own blade. Cody was if anything a gamer with a decent body and had worked out enough to hold his own against the prince's strikes but the lack of experience with the blade, and the lack of wanting to kill. He had no idea what to do aside from defending as their blades clashed. The prince went to strike at Cody and as Cody blocked, while their swords struggled against one another, the prince turned his blade to shine light in Cody's eyes as he stumbled back a bit. The pdince slashed and cut Cody's arm, cutting his sleeve. Cody gasped but the cut was basically only skin deep and had minor bleeding but the pain was real and by the smirk on the prince's face, meant the first of much more pain.

Cody continued to fight, just doing what he can to defend himself but he wasnt sure what to do to be honest. He heard Strider and wanted to believe her but with each time the prince landed a cut on Cody, mostly just to make small cuts to cause pain and show he was the better swordsman. Cody and the prince clashed swords but as their swords crossed, the prince head butted Cody from between their crosed blades. Cody stumbled back as theprince pulled out a small knife and stabbed Cody in the lower abdomen. He gasped and winced, but he the knife was small, it was the kind to cause bleeding but not alot. He removes the blade but in his pre celebration as Cody falls to his knee a bit, using his sword balance himself. The prince only just turned around to find that Cody rushed him, sword at the ready. Due to having to discard the blade, Cody used some knowledge to use his blade to hit his sword, and twirling his blade til it flew away from the Prince's loosened unready grip. Cody the took the chance and kicked the prince onto his back. Cody put the tip of the blade to the prince's neck and he spat at Cody, "Being killed by some commoner... pathetic but fine, slay me, take your prize." He said as Cody glared at the prince before bringing the sword up and piercing the ground by his neck. The prince was surprised but Cody helped him up, "Im not going to take your life just to prove im strong... it would be a waste to kill you. Both to us and your kingdom, how about a truce and we can work out some kind of trade route or something?" He said but the prince was a bit surprised as he expected that he would fight to save his own life rather then save both of theirs.

Cody looked at Strider when she rushed to him, wincing slightly as she praised him as he still hurt but jolted a bit as her father walked up, "This is an outrage, neither of you are slain and I will not stand for this!" He stated but Cody stepped passed Strider, walking up to the king, "Stand for what, mindless violence?! You want death just to please yourself? What good does my death or the prince's death do for you? He could easily have killed me yet i felt restraint behind some of his strikes and i could have killed him but we didnt. We are humans, not animals and we dont have to kill one another to prove points." He stated as the prince actually agreed with what he said and the King seemed stuck between agreement and anger but as Cody went to walk towards Strider, he staggered a bit before collapsing to the floor, passing out from blood loss as the prince called for a doctor as he and guards rushed to Cody's side.

The prince went to Striders side and had to peel her away from Cody as the infirmary workers came and put Cody on the stretcher. He was taken away to be medically treated as the prince looked at her, "They wont allow you in the er while he is treated, but i can escort you to where you can wait for him." He said as he would walk with her, "He was right, I am one for a fight but i hesitated to kill him, i couldnt do it and im glad that when he could have taken mine, he spared me. He is a better man then I and even though you will havehis hand in marriage, im sure our kingdoms can be allies in this day and age." He stated as they walked to the waiting room.

The prince nodded and soon they were in a waiting room as they waited to hear about Cody. After enough time, they were allowed to see which as they went into the room he was laying on the bed. He had a bunch of small bandages from the small cuts the prince made with his sword and then has a large thing of bandages around his stomach where he had been stabbed. He was sleeping but the doctor said he was going to be alright.

The prince gently patted her shoulder, "If hes anything like the fighter i faced, he wont give up that easy." He reassured, "I bet he will be with you soon." He stated as he would leave to give them some alone time. It was probably an hour or so, whenever the drugs began to wear off but Cody began to come to, "Wha.. what happened?" He asked a bit groggy, he still of course felt off from the medicine.