“Barrier, yes. Rules, we need to come up with them. Adventurer’s Ethan, Gregory, Thomas, and Leshal, please step into the circle.” Perry announced with his booming voice. Everything about the dwarf held power, in my eyes. We waited a moment and my eyes narrowed when I noticed Ethans foot was no longer bleeding. For the first time I allowed myself to get a good look at them, having seen them in the guild around Ethan but not paying them mind.

  Ethan was, of course, the idiot in shining blue armor. On his back was a greatsword with a similar blue handle and crossguard. He was tall, a bit older than me and clearly well muscled. He had bright blonde hair and dark eyes. Tanned skin showed he was often out in the sun but the calluses on his hand did not reveal much other than it seemed he didn’t practice with his sword enough.

  Gregory was wearing steel armor, and looked to be a half elf or something similar. His skin was fair and bright and he was the one with the spear. Stubble peppered his face and his hands, contrasting Ethans, were calloused deeply. Rough, worn. Used to work and training. He would actually know what he was doing on the battlefield.

  Thomas was a human with a pudgy face and black hair. He had the shortsword and my [Detect Metal] skill identified multiple shapes of throwing knives as well as a few needles, from the looks. He had leather armor on with plenty of pockets. His fingers looked less worn than Gregory’s, much more nimble too. A rogue of sorts.

  The last of the group was Leshal, the most interesting of the group. He looked reluctant to join the fray, but he was the one who had the hammer. It was a single handed warhammer, reminding me much of Thor the mighty warrior. Leshal, however, was a beastfolk. He had a lizard-like head with narrow pupils and a forked tongue that flicked out on occasion. His scales were a coppery green, glittering in the torchlight of the training hall. His armor was simple chainmail, the least robust looking of the group, and he had no additional weapons on his person.

  “Now, adventurer’s, it seems that a conflict was brewing above. I don’t care about why, but my adventurers will not damage MY hall without just cause. Instead, all grievances will be aired out here. This goes for those who are here for the tournament and those who live in Ironfell. Now, Ethan, as you were the instigator we will allow Alexilios to set the terms for battle and you shall set the stakes. Please ensure the stakes are equal.”

  “The terms?” I asked, a bit shocked for a moment before thinking it over. The circle was around twenty feet from center to the edge, giving me plenty of space to fight. “In that case, weapons are allowed. Magic is allowed. Someone of a higher level will pull us out in the event that a killing blow would be dealt. And, lastly, I’ll fight all of you at once. I haven’t the time to waste on these ants.”

  Was the last bit necessary, maybe not. Was it fun to watch Ethan and his lackeys, save Leshal, bristle with anger at my provocation? Absolutely. Leshal, to his credit, simply tilted his head and grinned with pointed teeth, seemingly excited for the fight.

  “Then for the stakes. This peasant will break off any ties with the ladies Eva and Rose and they will join my party for three months if he shall lose. If we lose I will leave the three of them alone until after the tournament of Rhosha. Fair, yes?”

  Before Perry could interrupt I tilted my head and clicked my tongue. “ Fair? I think not. If I lose I have to abandon my party and they, two uninvolved individuals, have to join your party without their consent? If you lose you’ll just leave us alone? Nah. Instead I think if you want to exchange party members how about this; when you lose you give us Leshal, then you fuck off and leave us alone?”

  Leshals eyes flickered with surprise and he tilted his head. “I agree.” His voice was a whisper in the silent room. A smile flicked onto his scaly lips as he nodded emphatically.

  Ethan pulled his group in for a huddle, talking quietly as I turned to speak with Eva and Rose again.

  “Is this okay with you?” I asked Eva first. She was glaring angrily at Ethan, the boy who asked her out on my first day at the guild.

  “I’m not particularly thrilled by it. No chance I can convince you to let us join you in this fight?” she didn’t so much as look at me as she asked this. I noticed her thumbs rubbing the pommel of her dagger at her hip as she continued to stare daggers at Ethan.

  “Well, I wasn’t expecting the stakes to be a trading of party members. If you really feel the need, you can join me. I would, however, prefer to fight alone. That’s when I fight at my best, after all.”

  “We’ll be fine to watch. Don’t give them a chance to retaliate. Slaughter them.” Rose was vehement, venom evident in her expression. She, who was typically happy and cheerful, stared the blue armored man down. “I don’t think I’d be much help, and Eva is used to fighting at range. Forty feet across... that's a challenge even for you Eva.”

  Eva huffed, glanced down at the foxes for a brief moment, then looked back up at me with a shake of her head. “If you lose, I’ll kill you myself. Got it?”

  “I got it. I won’t lose to them.”

  “Don’t just win, make it so Ethan never challenges you again!” Rose intoned.

  With nothing left to say I turned to Perry and saw the man pulling out a flask and taking a silent sip. Seeing me watching him he wryly passed it over. When I took a sip I found it was a sort of whiskey, burning deeply as it came down with heavy hints of cinnamon. I nodded gratefully as Ethan turned back toward us.

  “Fine then. You lose and you leave the girls to our party, I lose and you get Leshal. Is there anything else we must discuss, Guildmaster?” The smurf seemed positively infuriated that Leshal had agreed to it so readily.

  “Allow me a moment to ensure we have someone strong and fast enough to catch you before a fatal attack. Any volunteers in the crowd?” Perry’s voice rang out, and he looked around the circle eyeing everyone. He was familiar with each of their levels and likely knew who would be a good choice. Before he picked anyone out a voice came through.

  “I can look after the munchkins.” The voice was jovial and immediately followed by the crowd parting slightly to allow a man with spiky blonde hair and casual clothes to step through. His eyes were an unnatural shade of purple, crackling with power.

  “Harkan, you're back? I suppose it is around the right time. Fine, make sure none of the kids dies. Not that I think it’ll be too tough for you.” I took a good look at Harkan, just as he turned to look at me with an amused smile on his face. I tried to find any weapons on him but there was no metal on him whatsoever, save for a sliver of something caught in his arm. A wound that healed wrong?

  With that Perry stepped out of the circle and the four others drew their weapons. Ethan grinned sadistically as he brandished his greatsword, swinging it smoothly as the others backed up to stay out of his range. “Well, one armed swordsman, I think it’ll be quite fun to see you try to fight without any arms!” He leapt forward the second the barrier was erected with a whumpsh sound.

  I sighed, turning my back to him to look at Eva and Rose, sidestepping as the greatsword slashed down at me. “Don’t worry, have a little faith, I’ve got this. Smurfy boy is gonna get knocked down a peg.” I sidestepped a second slash, noting that the other three were simply watching for now. As I moved I started to draw the first rune of twenty five for my new flaming enhancement. I wasn’t able to use it with [Compendium Actualization] just yet due to a lack of proficiency, I hadn’t danced the runes out more than once, but I figured the fight could last a little while while I humiliated the pompous brat.

  “Is that the best you can do, Ethan?” I called out, parrying his slow moving sword. I had trained against Elric for months, and Elric was significantly faster with his own heavy weapon. “Are the rest of you planning to sit back and watch? I’m fine with that but our audience came down here expecting a show.”

  I saw Gregory brandish his spear, leveling it as he strode forward. Thomas and Leshal shared a glance before shrugging and stepping forward as well, as I led Ethan more toward the center of the circle. I danced around him easily, watching as a vein bulged on his forehead. With more enemies I stopped taunting them, knowing that it would make my spellwork that much more difficult if my focus strayed from the battle.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Leshal came forward first, swinging his hammer quickly, much quicker than I had expected, but I dodged back. I nearly dodged into Gregory’s spear but danced around it at the last second and kicked off of the greatsword that came toward my legs. I jumped back, using the movement to push Ethan’s sword into the ground and landing beside Thomas the rogue. I was about a third through the spell and grinning wryly when the rogue attempted to poke at me with his shortsword.

  I blocked quickly, knocking his blade to the side, and bashed him in the chest with the pommel of my sword. In my sphere of perception I saw Leshal and Gregory lining up some sort of combo, with Leshal swinging his hammer in my direction seemingly hoping I’d jump back like last time, falling close to Gregory. Instead I hopped to the side of the incoming hammer, feeling the wind of it flash across my chest, and struck the crook of the lizard man’s elbow with my pommel. I grinned as the lizard seemed to lose his grip only for the hammer to swing down on a strap allowing him to grab it again.

  Behind me the spearman lunged forward, causing me to dance in a diagonal line toward the rogue who seemed to be trying to stay out of my line of sight. The spear caught on my silk tunic, tearing a hole into it and grazing my skin, leaving a tiny cut against my ribs. The rogue and I met as I finished dodging the spear. Our blades clashed and new runes formed beneath my feet as sparks flew. I debated activating the aura of my sword, and thus the embrace, but decided to test my pure sword skills for the time being. My blade and his cracked against each other once, twice, five times before I was forced to sidestep Ethans sword. Wind brushed against my skin as he sliced through my silk tunic, the purple fabric tearing easily, and he whooped in celebration at landing a blow. At least, until his face sunk realizing that he had merely grazed me.

  At this point we had been fighting for about fifteen seconds. I was only a couple of runes away from being able to activate my skill but I was wondering about my foes not using any magic. Perhaps they were simply warrior types? I found it unlikely if they were a party. Leshal was the first to activate his skills, it seemed. A crackle resounded behind me as he slammed the hammer into the ground, causing sand and dust to fly into the air. His eyes were narrowed and serious, losing the amused expression from before.

  I jumped up just as the earth tore open below me, a mouth made from the sand clamping shut where I had just been. Wary, I ducked under the spear that followed as soon as I landed, magic exiting my foot as heat struck me from above. Gregory was using fire magic, his spear was engulfed in flames. I batted his weapon away from me before it could so much as singe my freshly cut hair.

  Finally, as I sidestepped a larger hammer wrapped in earth magic, I felt my spell click into place. I took a deep breath and first activated the aura of my sword, heat radiating from me though not enough to turn the ground beneath my feet into glass. Everyone but the spearman stepped back while I caught a grin on Ethans face. I smirked as well, figuring the blue in his armor was likely representative of water or lightning magic.

  With my aura active and everyone backed away as I faced off against the fire user, I finally activated the spell, using my sword to amplify it. The red flames around me grew and turned white, now slowly turning the sand underneath my feet molten. I felt the fire mana coursing through my veins. My muscles bulged and heated up, already aching a bit but still reinforced by my mana. I jumped forward, putting as much energy and force into my movement as I could handle, and forcing a ton of sand to explode behind me, peppering Leshal. In an instant I was in front of the confident spearman and moved to slash at him. As my sword grew close to him he vanished, appearing on the other side of the barrier.

  Well, vanished wasn’t quite the right word. I saw as Harkan, the mysterious adventurer wreathed in lightning mana, sped through the barrier and yanked the spearman out from the path of my sword. I only barely perceived him, leaving me wondering who else had seen the powerful adventurer.

  I paid it no mind as I turned to the other three, who now watched with wide eyes as my speed and power had suddenly changed, suddenly exploded. Pushing off against the sand again, I lunged toward the rogue, Thomas. As I neared he belatedly raised his shortsword, stumbling backward. My sword crashed into his and I watched as his armor darkened, baking under my shroud. I withdrew from the clash first but immediately kicked at his gut, pushing him into the barrier with intense force. I felt a bit bad, but couldn’t hold back my elation as I cackled. He collapsed onto the ground and moved to stand as Leshal approached me from behind, sand coating his body and armor, despite already wearing chainmaille.

  I turned to face the lizardman, considering my options. This was a good opportunity to test my spell, but I didn’t think it was a true match. I faced him, ignoring the man on the ground, as I lashed out with my sword. The flames on it crackled as Leshal attempted to wrap my sword with his sand, to smother the blade. At the same time I felt some sand wrap around my legs and harden, holding me in place as his golden hammer swung toward me. I ducked beneath it to see a knee rising up at my face.

  Finally, I decided to stop playing and used as much force and flame mana as necessary to break the sandstone binding my legs as I pushed off toward the side. Directly into the swinging blade of Ethan, now wrapped in a blue aura and with water mana coating his sword and armor. I had to twist uncomfortably beneath his flying sword, hearing a sizzle as steam rose between us. I landed behind him with a flourish, elation clear on my face.

  “Good! Good. I was worried you were all simply pushovers, plain warriors. I’m glad you've proven me wrong.” It was now that I realized Thomas had been removed from the arena, and was now sitting beside Gregory, Rose humming to him to heal the wounds I gave him. He looked a little shell shocked from the sudden shift in the battle.

  “Silence, mongrel, it seems you only know how to run your filthy mouth. Don’t you know your kind shouldn’t even look at mine?” Ethan growled at me, his aura flaring. I laughed at the silly serious face he was making, at the anger on his face.

  Without bothering to reply, I kicked off the sand again, pelting the barrier. The battle had not yet required me to do anything extraneous and my new spell would last at least a minute, perhaps longer if I was able to stay focused. I slashed out at him and pushed him back as he blocked with the heavier sword. The blue metal was pristine, different from the mana steel I was used to using. It clearly came as a set with his armor, and likely cost a pretty penny, but he was a bit clumsy with his sword.

  As he moved to retaliate, I ducked a strike from Leshal and twisted to counter. Instead of simply slashing at him I activated the wind enchantment on my sword, flinging a flaming crescent in his direction as he backed out of my range. I barely registered his eyes widening before he was removed from the circle and the barrier took the strike, shuddering beneath the power. The sand beneath it heated into glass, nothing pretty of course but the grains still fused and became translucent.

  I saw a flicker of movement as he was taken away, catching Harkans body just barely. I ignored it, sure the adventurer would talk to me after this as the brief moment I saw him he appeared shocked at the turn of events. Or deeply amused. Probably the second, I doubted an adventurer who was able to avoid even my [Portent] could be surprised by me.

  I turned to the last combatant just as they charged at me. He was screaming something, the vein in his forehead compounding, a second appearing. Despite his blue aura his face and body were turning red with anger. A berserker of a sort? That... actually made a lot of sense, given his temperament. It didn’t matter.

  I met his charge head on, digging my feet in as I took back my aura, pouring mana into my sword again. Steam rose as our blades clashed, his a greatsword and mine a longsword held with a single hand. I trembled a bit under the weight as he pushed me back a little bit but he wasn’t able to land a blow or force me to drop my weapon. Focused, I ducked under his sword after a few seconds, twisting my sword and causing him to stumble as the resistance suddenly vanished. My sword lashed upward, slicing through his right hand and cauterizing the wound in an instant.

  He continued to stumble forward and his sword dipped toward the ground now that one of his hands could no longer grip it. With less control the man turned toward me, seething in his rage. He shakily lifted his sword again, trying and failing to grip with his other hand without registering his right hand was even gone. His sword swung awkwardly toward me, easily dodged, and I aimed to thrust at his chest. Just as I heard the sizzle of our auras clash, and felt the crunch of his plated armor beneath the tip of my sword, a blur snatched him away.

  I stood there panting for a few moments, allowing the remaining mana from my spell to dissipate along with my adrenaline. I sheathed my blade releasing me from the infernal aura I had taken on and turned wryly toward the other party who I had just faced in a one versus four. Harkan was holding Ethan down as his berserk ran its course, while Rose sang a song of healing, allowing anyone with injuries to regenerate. Sadly, this did not allow for Ethan’s hand to regrow.

  I shared a glance with Leshal who seemed to grin at me, glancing at the hand in the sand. Perhaps he hadn't liked Ethans company either. The crowd itself was fairly quiet as they watched Harkan try to handle Ethan before giving up and thwacking the noble in the back of the neck, knocking him out. Then clapping and some cheers broke out. I watched as a few people exchanged coins with one another, many of them grumbling as they had expected the group of four to win.

  “That was incredibly reckless, Alexilios.” A stern melodic voice called from behind me as Rose walked into the sand circle.

  “Honestly, at the start it felt like you’d be overwhelmed quite easily. Don’t tell me you were holding back at first.” Eva said from her side as I turned, the foxes breaking free from their grasp and rushing me.

  Sky hopped worriedly onto my torso, hanging on by her claws, before climbing up to my shoulder. “Big Brother we could have helped...”

  “I know Sky, I know. But I wanted to test myself a bit.” I smiled at the girls and nodded toward the entrance of the training room. As I looked that way I saw a giant of a man look at me over the crowd and toss his head back. My smile grew as I realized Adrien and the others had returned to town.

  “Come, let's go get some drinks. Maybe meet our new team member.” I led them through the crowd, a few adventurers clapped me on the shoulder as I passed and I nodded at them with my head held as high as Sky would allow. Luka grumbled as he walked beside me so I scooped him up and gave him a kiss on the top of his head as we went back up to the guild proper.