I took a breath and headed back into the arena, I felt the last two fights wearing on me a little, but not enough to make me call off the next two. If anything, I was somewhat more excited to see what could be done when I wasn’t at full. With Mogus having been the brawniest opponent I had on the docket, I knew the next two fights would be contests of speed. I wondered if I should switch to wind magic or keep the ice motif I had going until the announcer waved me over.

“Hey, Champ. I’ve had a special request that the next two fights increase the magic types used. This fight should be fine for you, your ice and wind magics are well known in the arena, but the last round… they’re asking for three varieties. I can see if the request can be waived, but I can’t make any promises.” He seemed concerned since I wasn’t keen on giving up my secrets.

“I can hold my own. For the last round, mark my third magic as unknown. If I need to use it, I will.” I told him and smiled.

He pulled back, nodding, walking to the center of the room. “Ladies and Gentlemen! You saw the champ fight one-on-one with a single magic. Before that you saw him take on an opponent with nothing but his fists. Now, watch as we raise the stakes. This next fight is between users of two magics in a style all their own!”

The crowd was so loud I could barely hear him over them. I didn’t have much information about this next fighter, just that she was some girl who worked for a laboratory. I didn’t know what that would be like, fighting a woman who was, for all I knew, human. I would fight female monsters with no qualms, I would kill female assassins the same as I would crush a bug, but I had always separated gender from opponent. This might not be that easy.

“Please welcome to the arena miss Fredrika Smith, Queen of Lightning!” the announcer called out as the other end of the arena opened up.

Fredrika had long green hair and a trait I’d only seen in the mirror, “Silver eyes? Does that mean… is she like me?”

She walked with purpose, her gait told you from a distance that she was a badass with no time to play around. She was dressed in tight fitting yellow and blue biker shorts and a matching sports bra. As scantily clad as she was, the aura she emanated told you that she would end you if you tried anything foolish. I almost expected to see lightning crackle from her person as she came toward me.

We met in the center of the arena, looking one another up and down, and I could see in her eyes the question I had asked myself just moment earlier.

“What clan do you hail from?” her question was short.

“Miza. And you?” I provided, wondering if this was important.

“Reah.”

My blood chilled a little at that. As the Miza were known for killing and hellish powers, the Reah were our opposite. Where I had Hellfire, she would have some element reflecting heaven… like lightning. Sacred lightning versus hellfire, a true match to be seen on another occasion. Today, I just wanted to let off some steam.

“No lineage powers this time, that alright with you? I’d rather keep the dogs in their kennels.” I said, trying to say without saying that we shouldn’t try anything too absurd in the arena.

She sighed, “No hellfire, no holy lightning. Just wind, ice, and normal electricity? I can deal with that.”

I could see her relaxing a little, and I could understand why. The Reah were normally bodyguards of the highest order, loss of life was their antithesis… unless that life was nonhuman. I didn’t know how I sat in her book, but I knew the people in the stands would be counted as people she wouldn’t want killed.

We stepped apart from one another and each assumed a stance that indicated readiness. I flattened my hands and covered them in a coating of ice that came to blades at the end, she made fists that crackled with blue-white energy. We each also let out a miniscule gust of air behind ourselves to give the effect that we were about to really hurt one another, building tension and hyping the crowd up even more.

“Fighters, whoever goes down first for over ten seconds loses. Whoever uses a third power before the other one, loses. You know the rest of the rules, I expect you to follow them. I want a fair fight.”

I shifted my weight onto my back leg and started to prepare for a forward lunge, nodding to the announcer that I understood the rules. I could see her make a few minor adjustments as well when she nodded. I could tell this was going to be a very difficult fight, and I actually began to question how close I would come to losing this time. I also kind of wondered a little bit how much that lightning would hurt when it hit me.

“GO!”

The word was barely out of the announcer’s mouth when I halted my ice dagger covered hand mere milimeters from Fredrika’s throat, as she stopped her lightning fist about an inch from my nose. I felt a tiny shock jump from her fist to my nose, which stung a little. I knew right then and there, I didn’t want that to hit me any more than I wanted to put my junk in a smelter.

We jumped apart again, and… I vaguely remember the next few minutes as a blur of strikes and parries and dodging her shocking strikes. Then I doubled over when a strike slammed into my stomach. The shocks hitting my insides multiplied the pain of the fist impacting, which wasn’t just a tickle to start with. That girl was solid muscle and bone in her fists.

I staggered back and tried to right myself. I could still feel a bunch of my muscles contracting involuntarily, but I was able to get myself upright and turned up the intensity of my magic. Instead of just pushing off with my legs, I used the wind to shoot myself forward. I knew I could pull another fifty or so percent more speed with the wind behind me, and I could add about thirty percent more force behind a hit with it acting as a booster. It was the only way I saw a victory happening at this rate.

My counter strike slammed into a wall of wind and lightning, and I felt the shocks. I could also see the shock on her face as her wall waivered. She was straining a bit to use two magics at once, which told me exactly how long I needed to keep this up.

So I kept slamming into the wall she erected and made her go on the defensive. She couldn’t really use her speed when she was having to use all the tricks she had to block my cutting attacks. She eventually switched to dodging, but the thing about ice is… I can extend and retract it as I need during a swing. Sometimes a thin blade extending inches out from my hand, sometimes a thick coating like a spear head, whatever I needed to keep her from getting an attack off.

Then, right when I thought I had her, something triggered my senses. I dashed backward and watched as a lightning bolt erupted where I had been standing. The sheer level of damage the lightning did told me she had funnelled a huge amount of magic into it, which measured her desperation. I felt a small smile cross my face.

“You feeling the heat? I can cool you down, nice and gently.” I teased.

She flipped the bird at me while panting. So I slowly began to drop the temperature in the room, I knew when I saw her start to shiver that my next step would be the last. I rushed in as I slowly froze her legs in place. Her wall of wind and lightning took the start of the attack, but then shattered and my spear hand struck her in the solar plexus. There was a moment I was uncertain about if I had done any damage, but then she started to bleed all over me and fell to the ground.

I stumbled backward and fell on my arse, dissipating my ice and tried to catch my breath. The announcer came over and confirmed that Fredrika was unconscious and signalled the medics to come in and start patching her up as he turned to the audience and announced my victory again.

One of the medics came over and helped me stand up, and then I made my way to the locker rooms to recoup before the next fight. Or at least I would have, had my bookie not popped up.

“Heya, champ. So here’s your winnings,” he said, sliding me a massive bag of gold. “now here’s the bad news. I’ve had to pull some out due to an unfortunate issue. Your last opponent dropped out after seeing that last fight. So I had to refund all those who placed early bets a third of their buy in. Your original pay for that match is there, don’t freak. And all your earnings for the other matches is there minus 10%.”

I sighed, both relief and disappointment spread over my body. “I’ll take what I can get. The girl in there, she gonna be alright?”

My bookie looked over my shoulder, “Well, if you turn around, you can ask the medics yourself.”

I shooed him off and turned to face the medics walking in with Fredrika supported between them.

“I guess there’s a reason they call you the champ.” She said, wheezing a little.

“Man, you are one tough lady to put down. I thought for sure that last strike would be fatal.” I said, relaxing a little as the medics set her in one of the chairs across from the bench I was on.

“A normal person, sure. The heir to the Reah bloodline, fat chance. Next time though, I’m sending your ass to the nearest hospital room.” She said menacingly.

I sighed, “Next time, we play for keeps. Full power, no holding back. You understand me?”

A wide smile split her face, “You know it.”

The medics carried her out of the room and I got myself cleaned up. I stretched and walked outside.

“That took a while.” A voice said from a little ways off.

“Well, Ed, that’s kind of what happens when you have three fights in a row.”

Ed came up to my side and we started walking toward the exit into the city proper.

“Guess it’s time to get the princess.” I muttered.