Knights in shining armor. The clash of swords on steel. It's hard to imagine in the 21st century, but that's the scene in Serbia this past week. A fortress town is hosting a global contest of medieval-style combat. CGTN's Aljosa Milenkovic checks out the action.

It started with a kiss. Just minutes before 300 hardcore fighters faced each other in the main arena, a Chilean team member surprised his longtime girlfriend with a marriage proposal.

She obviously said yes, because who could reject knight in shining armor. A few happy tears were shed, the audience applauded, and with the rain stopped, the fighters started arriving for the main event: a medieval clash of the century.

ALJOSA MILENKOVIC SMEDEREVO FORTRESS, SERBIA "The highlight of maybe not just the final day of the event, but the entire Championship is this battle. Hundred and fifty fighters in medieval armor wielding replicas of the weapons used in the Middle Ages to fight another group of 150 fighters. This is the first battle of this kind held on such scale in this century."

On one side were European teams, led by Russia and England, and joined by Serbia, Germany, Belarus and a few other smaller teams. They were facing formidable opponents. Among them: Ukraine, China, U.S., Australia, and New Zealand. The goal was to capture all five flags of the opposing side, using all means necessary. And "all means necessary", as you can see, meant all means necessary. The first round, the European side won with ease, with Russians leading the 150 fighters on their side to win.

FIGHTER TEAM USA "That was fun. That was a lot of fun. Those guys are rock solid."

Aljosa: "Which ones?"

The U.S. Team Fighter: "The Russians, they were on this side. Belarusians too."

Aljosa: "English as well?"

The U.S. Team Fighter: "Yeh, but no. I don't care about them."

And the fun continued here in Smederevo Fortress all afternoon, at least until journalists started asking about whether world politics created any divisions among teams.

EDOUARD EME, PRESIDENT HISTORIC MEDIEVAL BATTLES INTL. ASSOCIATION "We can fight very hard with each other, but outside, you see, we are all sleeping on the same camp, we are sharing drinks with each other when the night comes, gathering around camp fires and everything. So, I think the politic is completely absent. It's really we are here as sportsmen, as lovers of medieval history and friends."

Over 20-thousand people attended this World Championship, to the delight of local organizers.

VLADIMIR BLAGOJEVIC JUST OUT FESTIVAL "You can see for yourself that all of this is so spectacular, particularly when we have mass fights in the arena, the stands are full of spectators. I do think that for the promotion of Serbia and Smederevo, I think it was a major score. It's hard to top this."

In a world saturated with modern technology, there is apparently an appetite for a slice of life in much simpler times. The success of this festival is a clear example of that. Aljosa Milenkovic, CGTN, Smederevo Fortress, Serbia.