1729 An Old Friend

Before heading outside of the city to go for another hunt or a fishing trip, Geo wanted to stop by the neighbourhood to gather some of his more specialised weapons. He felt that this hunt would go well after how the whole day was going so great today.

'That Quinn sure is a great guy. If he's going to be here for a while, maybe I should invite him out for a hunt sometime. It would be nice to have a new companion.' Geo said, smiling to himself.

However, upon returning to the village, he noticed the Tower Guards gathered there, and seeing this, his heart skipped a beat.

'What are they doing here?' He thought.

There was a squad of guards of about ten Tower Guards, with one squad leader. The guards wore beast armour on their bodies, which were all similarly styled in a bold dark blue colour, and also wore specially made helmets that would mainly cover the top of their head, but the rest of their faces were visible.

The guards had looked to have gathered everyone on the street, including the kids, rounding them up for some reason.

"What is going on here," Geo asked, a little annoyed. The guards weren't the friendliest of people. Sure, there would be good ones now and then, but they seemed to think of themselves as better than others because they knew that others couldn't stand up to them.

It was then that the squad leader turned around.

"Don't worry. We were just given a special task to do, and I thought I would stop by to meet you all again." The leader stated, with a large smile on his face.

Geo paused for a second but soon realised who it was.

"Nock, you finally came to visit us after all this time," Geo said as he walked forward to greet his old friend.

Suddenly, the other guards standing silently moved to block the way between the two.

"You are not allowed to approach the squad leader!" The guard voiced and threw out his fist. As it came towards Geo, he avoided two of the punches and pushed them out of the way, throwing the guard slightly off balance.

"Calm down, everyone. This is an old friend, and he means no harm." Nock explained. "Without him, I might not have even been in the position I am today."

Hearing these words brought back memories of when the two of them had cleared up to the tenth floor together, but it had been quite a few years since that happened, and since then, it was the first time that Nock had returned.

"So, is there anything we can help you with, Nock? What brings the guards here in the first place." Geo asked.

"Well, the guards have been asked to search the city to see if there is anyone suspicious. We haven't really been given much information other than that. As I said, I decided to come here because I wanted to see everyone again, especially you." Nock whispered the last bit.

"It looks like you have been keeping up in shape, and your reactions haven't slowed. How about a little spar for old times' sake. I never could beat you, but I have been training a lot since entering the tower." Nock asked.

Geo looked a little hesitant. The look on the others' faces didn't exactly feel like Nock had gathered them in a welcoming way. He could see the fear in these people as they eyed Nock and the other Tower Guards.

'The Nock that I knew and the one living in the tower for a while might not be the same.' Geo thought, which was why he chose to be careful with his words.

"We all know it is a crime to fight against a Tower Guard. So we don't want to invite 'trouble' here." Geo smiled.

"It will be okay. Those guys don't come unless one of us calls for them in the first place anyway. I promise I'm the one that asked for this sparring match. Do you think I would then report you if you hurt me? I just want to fight again, for old times' sake."

It looked like Nock was being pushy, and Geo did think about it a bit more. The two of them did use to spar all the time with no problems or questions asked. Perhaps he was just being too cautious for no reason.

"Alright, but remember what you said." Geo smiled.

The area where the kids would usually play football was similar to an arena. At the same time, people from the neighbourhood, including those from a few streets away, had decided to come and watch. The other Tower guard members stood by the sidelines, stopping others from entering and getting too close to the two in the arena.

It was quite exciting for a lot of them. Because it was very rare to witness a Tower Guard fight. There weren't many that would be stupid enough to go against Tower Guards or have the strength to spar with them. Thus, most of the Guards sparred or fought in the Tower.

The match started, and Nock ran from his position, pushing ahead firmly straight towards Geo. He steeled both his arms on his right side and threw them out as hard as he could.

Seeing this, Geo carefully raised his arms, blocking his side and ribs. Still, Nock didn't stop there as he decided to barrage his enemy, throwing out the other two arms, yet Geo still was able to block them.

Geo continued to block. The swings came left and right, and loud bangs would echo throughout the arena after each hit.

"You might have been able to block my attacks forever in the past, but my strength has improved!" Nock claimed, laughing as he continued to attack and changed his attack pattern.

Instead of swinging both his arms, he now was firing them out one after another and had gotten through, hitting Geo's pecs and rigid body.

"Your punches are stronger, but I thought you said you had improved; you're still just relying on the same strength!" Geo said.

At the right time, using two of his arms, Geo had grabbed two of them. The other two arms had hit Geo right in the chest, but he didn't care because he had readied up an attack of his own. Raising his fists in the air, he slammed them down towards the two he had held on to.

Not letting go, Geo had used quite a bit of force, and in doing so, a few fracture marks like that on a rock could be seen appearing on Nock's skin. Trying to shake it off and using the rage inside him, Nock charged forward again while grunting.

"How?! How can you still be this far ahead of me!" Nock threw out a double punch with two of his fists on one side again but fell short of Geo. This was done on purpose as he allowed the momentum of his attack to spin his body, and now with his other arms, he was planning to hit a spinning back fist.

While mid-spin, before Nick could hit Geo, he felt a heavy foot on him push him back. It pushed him just enough so both of his fists had hit nothing but the air.

"What are you doing, Nock?" Geo asked. "That hit, you used a lot of strength in that, a spinning back fist; if that hit me on the head, it would be more than just a shallow wound."

Nock looked around at the others that were looking at him. When looking at them, he could see smiles and hear a few laughs from those in the crowd.

"Geo, you were the one that started it. Look at my arms! You nearly broke them." Nock shouted back.

"I let go, so I didn't break them. Look, I don't want to argue, and I don't want us to hurt each other. We're not kids anymore. This spar is over." Geo said as he turned his back and walked towards the villagers.

"Geo's the best, Geo's amazing! He took on a tower Guard!" The kids said in excitement. Hearing these words, Nock gritted his teeth.

"Tower guards, a Tower captain has been attacked," Nock shouted. "Under Section 4 Rule 23, capture and punish the criminal!"

******

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