“Now!”

The three defenders in the centre waited until the Bear Claws were almost upon them before breaking into a run to meet their momentum.

Gregory lifted his shield and ducked his head behind it before leaning everything he had into the push. The clash hit Like the meeting of two out of control freight trains. In that moment, Gregory was glad for every fall, every push, every bruise and cut he'd taken in training. Without the strength it had given him he'd have very Likely almost torn his shield-arm off at the shoulder from the impact.

Three of The Bear Claws had all tried to strike him down at once, but his shield had given him enough protection to hold off the frontal attacks of the chargers. Wrut immediately shifted the edge of his shield directly into the chin of one of those attackers. Another had tried to slip around Gregory's shield to attack his side, but had instead found himself almost nose-to-nose with a very angry ULf instead.

Yet it was Frun who had bought them the initial time they needed. Rather than thrusting his modified halberd at one of the Bear Claws, he had shifted it off to the side at the Last moment before sweeping the heavy end of the Long weapon across the Bear Claw's charging Line. He'd timed the attack perfectly to land a devastating blow on the flank of one of his attackers that had spun the Bear Claw off balance to crash into the side of his pack mates at full speed. The manoeuvre successfully sent the entire pack off balance and took quite a bit of momentum out of their charge.

After the charge, Gregory swung his weapon over the top of his shield for it to connect hard with the shoulder of the orc he was facing down. The melee broke out immediately, with Little time for him to collect himself. His shield arm felt numb from taking the impact of the attack, and they were immediately outnumbered by the Bear Claws, leaving him giving ground and trying to hold off the attacks of three opponents at once.

ULf and Wrut did a great deal to help even the odds. The attacker who had tried to outflank Gregory still stubbornly seemed to insist on trying to put the human down rather than concentrate on ULf. ULf seemed to take this as an insult, and every time the Bear Claw tried to turn to hit Gregory he found ULf's two bats smashing against his joints This resulted in The Runts taking the first victory of the match when the enemy saw Gregory expose the back of his head and shifted to aim a swing of his club at it. Ulf's bats connected neatly with the back of his knee before thrusting up together on the tip of his chin. The Bear Claw missed the swing entirely and almost hit his pack mate before spinning around completely and then falling on his face.

Knowing that he was now not likely to get his ribs cracked from the side, Gregory lowered his shield a little and aimed several more strikes at his own opponent before offering a feint and delivering a hard kick to the inside of the orc's leg. Realigning himself, he shoved all his weight behind his shield again and smashed into his opponent's chest like a battering ram. The Bear Claw stumbled backwards, finding his knee wasn't as stable after that kick. It gave Gregory some space to return Wrut's favour of giving him some additional protection by smashing his bat into the side of Wrut's opponent, the Bear Claw alpha.

Frun was not faring as well. After his brilliant initial strike, he had a much more difficult time of facing down his own opponents without a shield to aid him. Wrut tried to assist him, but Frun struggled with getting the proper distance between him and the enemy to use his halberd properly. He'd taken several body blows, and one to the face that Left his Lip swollen and bleeding. Though he was moments away from falling, he gave his opponents a bloody grin.

This was because Nullik and Frelki had finished encircling the Bear Claws, and had leapt into the fray from the rear. Nullik announced his presence to two of Frun's opponents by flying feet first through the air and swiftly using both of them to deliver two hard kicks to the sides of their heads. He followed through this attack by launching the end of his staff directly into the face of the third of attacker and spinning gracefully to land at his friend's side.

As the one who had taken a staff thrust to the face stumbled backward, he found Frelki's Long leg to sweep his feet from beneath him. She then leapt up to thrust her own staff under the favoured arm of the Bear Claw pack alpha to plant it hard in his armpit. With a second of their number now fallen, and half of the pack stunned, the Bear Claws were forced onto the defensive.

It didn't matter. Gregory and Ulf easily swept around to remove the orc who had taken it as his duty to put the human in the dirt. Nullik and Frelki attacked from both sides, making two of their opponents forget that they hadn't actually put Frun down. He stood up and lifted his halberd to deliver another crushing sweep of the weapon that took both of their opponents out of the game entirely.

“Hey! That was my guy!" Nullik complained, before ducking a swing of the alpha's club. It was considerably easier since the alpha of the Bear Claws seemed to have a much harder time aiming the weapon after Frelki's opening blow.

ALL but the alpha of the Bear Claws fell to one knee, and the proving grounds fell silent as the Runts surrounded him.

“Knock his fucking block off!" Janette yelled out over the tense moment.

When they began to close in for the victory, Gregory took a deep breath and shook his head before tapping ULf on the arm with his shield. The alpha wore a thin smile moulded around his tusks, sensing his pack's first victory. Yet he turned at the human's gesture and saw the Look in his friend's eyes. Though he couldn't quite believe it, he stopped his advance and in that moment the Runts all halted. After a final glance to the alpha of the Bear Claws, ULf turned and nodded to Gregory.

"You sure?" Gregory asked.

“You have earned it." ULf lowered his weapons and stepped back.

There were a number of gasps heard throughout the proving grounds when the Runts stepped back, all except for Gregory who discarded his shield to the ground. His arm had already begun swelling from the impact of taking that first charge. It showed that he'd sustained a similar injury to the Bear Claw alpha; who was now eyeing him with a newfound degree of respect whilst getting back to his feet.

“Is he nuts! Janette turned to look at Algra, her eyes wide and terrified on seeing her boyfriend seemingly challenge a much larger opponent to single combat despite having a tremendous advantage.

“He has learned well," Algra said; though she leaned forward in her own seat and watched with her own concern.

Without his shield, Gregory took his bat in both hands and readied himself whilst his opponent did the same. Then came the charge. Janette hid her face behind her hands. Algra leaned further in. The Bear Claw alpha raised his club as they were about to clash.

Gregory stopped just before the attack and feinted off to the Left. By that point the Bear Claw alpha had built up so much momentum that there was simply no stopping. Not even when the human swept his leg under the charging alpha and sent him sprawling to the ground.

When he turned, the alpha found Gregory standing over him with his own club raised. After seeing that his weapon had fallen out of reach, the alpha looked up at the human in a moment of stunned silence. Then he slumped back down to signal he'd been beaten.

Only the flustered breathing of many orcs could be heard across the proving grounds, and for a moment it seemed that none could believe their eyes. Then Gregory lowered his bat and offered the hand of his good arm to his fallen enemy. The Bear Claw alpha stared at it for a few moments before reaching up and taking it.