The moment the announcement came, Syl disappeared from where she stood within the arena, reappearing at Kai's side to shoulder her shoulder against his.The act didn't go unnoticed as the crowd gasped, many of them now pointing to where Syl now sat beside him.

"Show off," Kai chuckled. "They are going to think you can teleport now."

"Actually, I think I did everything but show off," she said as she tilted her head. "And when you think about it, I can, in a fashion, teleport."

Temra coughed, "Now, remember, we can't have people thinking you're a dandy halfwit that was carried through a few dungeons by a couple of tough capable woman. People will suspect that's the case if you put on a poor show. Especially after what they have just witnessed. We need you to show off a little. Do you remember your list?"

Kai sighed as he got up, his nod to the group letting them know he hadn't forgotten the list of restrictions they had placed on him and his abilities.

They were, of course, concerned that he might give away his identity as either the man who had come out of the Trails dungeon with the sages apprentice, or the man who had become one of the three new monarchs of a fallen empire in front of the collective leaders of most of Alea.

That meant no glowing eye's arcane eyes to improve his perception, no dragon scale armour to improve his defence, and especially no manipulation of time or space to absolutely dominate the fight… which limited Kai to what most would consider basic skills and spell craft.

He was just lucky that they had allowed him to use his spectral blades as tales of magical dungeon swords that produced some kind of energy blade weren't actually that rare. Temra had checked and there was actual about six of them going dusty in the shops of Cibiale at this very moment, the mana requirements to use them apparently untenable to most adventurers.

His glowing eyes were inconsequential in the fight. The glow of his iris's a racial trait related to his arcane eyes that, truthfully, he didn't know exactly what they did besides helping him see in the dark and detect stealth'd opponents. The glow itself was easily hidden by controlling the mana within the body and limiting what went to his eyes. So that wasn't a problem.

His dragon scales, however, were always technically equipped. They were part of him, and he could never take them off. The morphed scales tingling under the armour where they were hidden away, adjusted to look almost indistinguishable from human skin, though he had discovered they glittered a bit like a damn vampire from a series he refused to name when the skin on his arms caught the light just right.

So, though he lacked the visible scales and the physical defence they offered unless he allowed the scales to fully form. He still had all the extra mana control from the gauntlets that Trengor, a divine dragon, had made for him and anything else they afforded. Such as what he gained from the items they had so greedily absorbed when he first put them on, like his massively increased mana pool from the mana storage cuff and the regeneration from his runic regeneration ring.

He had to wonder what other abilities he could gain from letting soulbound items with interesting properties get absorbed by his dragon scales as he went up in level and his gauntlets continued to grow with him.

He was dying to visit the city's markets, vendors, stores and auction houses to see what the adventurers of Cibiale had sold off after their dungeon dives. He just needed to get through today, tomorrow and the day after.

He flexed and stretched his arms as he made his way down to the arena. The supple leather of his gloves shifted under the metal of the new bracers he was wearing, creaking slightly as they protested his movements as he hadn't had time to wear them in.

They were a gift from Ester.

Apparently, Syl had the foresight to suggest them at some point along the journey to Cibiale, and Ester had found the time to make them in between everything else she had been working on.

Though when she handed them over she complained about the restrictions she had to work under while also reflecting that working to those same restrictions had actually improved her understanding of the runes and enchantments involved.

They were arcane items with limited enchantments that allowed them to repair themselves and absorb mana. There were also a few runes worked into them wherever possible to improve their normal durability.

The main restriction being that they could not have the typical soul bindings built into them as that would likely cause Kai's dragon scales to try to absorb them. This meant the armour was not tied to him and his mana, and he would need to supply them with a trickle of his mana to maintain the effects of the runes and other enchantments.

In hindsight, something that he could wear over a pair of gloves he had absorbed into his raiment might have been better, as the gloves would have adapted to whatever form factor Ester had made for him whilst fitting him perfectly.

He considered it food for thought and would bring it up when he inevitably out-levelled or, more likely, destroyed these.

When Kai got to the sand of the arena, the first thing he noticed was that he could no longer hear the calls of the crowd or the catcalls and whistling he had done his best to ignore on his walk down from his seat. The clamour was replaced by no more than a hum the moment he entered the arena.

There must be some kind of sound dampening built into the invisible barrier that protected those in the stands from an errant attack like that of Alicia's arrow earlier from going wide and injuring some innocent bystander.

He took up his position and waited.

Kai had expected to see his opponent coming out to greet him when he got there. But when he looked across the arena, he saw that the announcer was arguing with the collection of adventurers who had fought as assessors before and some who hadn't.

The swordswoman Cillian and Aoife had fought seemed the most animated, and Kai wished he had some skill or ability that improved his hearing so he knew what was happening.

It looked like she was pleading her case to fight him. The mage who had fought against Niamh and the armoured defender Syl had just defeated there at her side, also pleading their case with a little less enthusiasm.

Kai didn't know what was happening. This certainly hadn't happened with any of the previous bouts so far as he noticed.

He decided it didn't really matter to him.

But rather than waiting there twiddling his thumbs, he pulled one of his focuses free from his belt and anchored his spectral blade to it and began an adapted version of his training kata.

All of his focuses now had a braided leather wrap thanks to Ester, and when he gripped them, he felt the enchantment she had worked onto each thin leather strip that helped with friction go to work significantly enhancing his grip.

He made a show of working his arcane blade back and forth, as he took the time to warm up and calm his nerves while he waited.

The leather grip was a minor modification, but the change was significant as he juggled and slipped the blue magical blade from one hand to the other, often letting the focus roll over the back of his hand and through his fingers in an unnecessary flourish as he puled free one of the other shorter focuses and worked that into the display for a bit as he waited.

When he finished the second variation of his kata, one that worked with two shorter blades, he noticed the announcer as they pointed off into the middle stands to where he saw a young girl was working her way along a section of seats. She was navigating her way past people to get to someone sitting alone. The surrounding people bunched up as they gave this person space.

When she got past the crowds, she had a short discussion with the woman who sat in her seat, laid-back without a care in the world.

Kai felt his pendant go cold as the woman the girl was talking to straightened in her seat and gave him a long look before glancing off into the stands where his group sat.

She nodded with a wide feral grin, and a moment later the girl was left standing alone in the stands where the woman had vanished.

"Sorry for the short delay. As you know, we like to space out our assessors, keep the fights fresh and fair for everyone's sake. After those last bouts, our assessors are all eager to go out and prove themselves, but we have decided to make a special request. As Kai here has chosen to register as an arcane swordsman and a…" the announcer coughed, "Battlemage. We have requested the assistance of the famed arcane sword master, The Panther of Karta, Harriet, in his assessment."

Kai heard the muffled hum of the arena change as the woman from the stands appeared in the sand before him.

Looking past her at the crowds, he saw shock, awe and outright glee ripple through the onlookers as they realised what was happening.

"She has accepted," the announcer called out.

The woman across from him, the so called Panther of Karta, grinned at him as she gave him a subtle bow of her head.

She had short cropped hair, furry cat like ears coming out of the side of head and a pale white eye where a vicious-looking scar crossed from her left temple and down over her eye, just before touching her button nose.

A beast-kin Kai thought. Maybe that was why they called her The Panther of Karta?

Kai examined her.

Harriet Snubtail (???) The Panther of Karta.

Okay, so, she is so high level it's not giving a race or anything else for that matter.

Feeling his examine she narrowed her eyes before saying, "Give me a minute. I did not think I would have the opportunity to fight today, so I'm not exactly ready to pick you apart. My guild master begged me to attend when we got word The Sage had commissioned a team of his own and it was today that they were registering for the Guild," she said wearily as she looked up to the stands where his friends were gathered.

Her head flicked back to Kai, and she barely repressed a shudder.

"Imagine my surprise when three unknowns come into the arena and waltz right into the area that had been set aside for the Sage's lot like it was nothing. At first I thought you were some noble little shits that had somehow used your privilege to gain access to The Sages group. Possibly sent by some rival guild or some overstepping faction. But when I checked your little group out, I nearly pissed myself." She chuckled dramatically. "That woman that is with you… her aura, nothing less than monstrous. How anyone can stand being near her I dont know she must have impeccable control."

Her? Who did she mean by her? Kai glanced up at the stands in confusion. When Talious tipped her head to him and he got chill's he knew exactly who she meant by her.

"It piqued my curiosity when the two before you came down to the sands and did their best to show as little of what they are capable of as possible," she continued. "It looks like you don't recognise me, so I'll tell you this. They rarely let me assess anyone these days. Especially not new guild applicants, and especially not after the last incident. Maybe a bronze or silver that needs to be taken down a peg as they try to climb the ranks too soon… Things have been so boring since I officially reached gold." Her brow rose thoughtfully as she took a moment and made a show of looking Kai up and down.

Kai said nothing, he couldn't tell if she was just chatty, but it felt more like she was talking for the benefit of others, which was weird because he hadn't been able to hear anyone say anything in the previous bouts when they talked.

"You may prepare any spells you need as I choose an appropriate weapon to deal with a…" Kai's pendant chilled again, and the woman's lips curled into a grin and she continued, "fight a high-bronze opponent."

High-bronze, what was she on about? Kai was just level twelve, sure his stats were better than average, and he had access to an abundance of mana, but saying high bronze was a bit much.

A series of floating great swords appeared in front of the woman and she made a point of briefly inspecting each of them before casually swiping one after another off to the side where they disappeared to be replaced by another on the other side like she was scrolling through prospects on a dating app.

Kai let his long sword fall to the side and waited as he watched the mana shift around in thick waves with his mana sight. What was visible was nothing compared to the density of what his mana sense felt within the woman.

The woman eyed him between the blades, her white eye somehow focussing in on the blue spectral blade that he held at his side.

After six or seven blades were dismissed, she finally took the hilt of a sword; the blade was longer than the woman was tall and broader than any sword needed to be.

The ludicrous weapon that reminded Kai of something you could only find wielded by the main character of some fantasy game.

It made him wonder at what point a person's stats would make unreasonable weaponry seem completely reasonable. Maybe someday he would wield a spectral blade that would topple mountains with a simple swing.

As her fingers curled around the hilt of her weapon, Kai noticed a series of runes as they pulsed with mana as she lowered the tip to sweep the unwieldy-looking blade from side to side as easily as Kai wielded his own weapon.

Satisfied, she nodded. The other remaining blades disappeared as plain looking plate, chain and leather armour adorned her, and she took a step forward, turning to nod at the announcer.

There was a chime.

Kai reacted instantly as he swept his blade across the arena. The infused strike he unleashed blasted a line in the sand where he conjured a barrier that split the arena clean in two.

The top edges of the barrier crackling where they brushed against the arenas own barrier making the depth and strength of Kai's magic clear to anyone who could read such things until with a thought he adjusted his construct to fit within the arenas bounds and it became invisible to anyone without a form of mana sense as he tied it off.

There was a boom.

Kai's barrier vibrated like the skin of a massive drum when The Panther of Karta unleached her first strike from where she stood.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Runes that read far and strike flaring to life along the length of her blade as she swung the weapon.

Kai dismissed his spectral blade for now and started summoning mana bolts in batches of ten, releasing them to spread out around his side of the arena. Each of them condensed down to a glowing pinprick of light that sparkled like a tiny star.

There was another boom.

This time, the attack against the barrier caused cracks in the solidified mana as fractures lashed out from the point of impact.

Kai continued to summon more mana bolts as he looked through the barrier to see The Panther of Karta pull back her blade, the runes for empowered, far and strike growing dim as she straightened her stance.

A smirk curled on her lips as she watched the cracks slowly spread out from the area where her attack landed.

Acknowledging the cracks, Kai realised he had made the barrier too rigid. He reconnected with it and with a thought, and he manipulated the mana, making it more flexible so it could shift and rebound to better absorb any impacts before he pulsed a fresh burst of mana into the spell construct as he tied off the spell once more.

The white in The Panther of Karta's good eye flashed for just a moment in surprise as she watched the cracks in the barrier as they suddenly receded, the barrier becoming whole once more.

She lashed out again with another attack, her sword swinging in a massive arc as a shockwave blasted the sand back and the barrier thrummed again. The same set of runes of empower, far and strike flared violently as she pulled back.

But when the barrier simply flexed under the attack, no cracks forming anywhere on its surface, she hit it twice more before relenting and stepping forward to place her free hand against its surface. Her sword swept back and rested casually on her shoulder, the sharp edge having no effect on her armour as she took the time to assess Kai's work.

"So much mana, and you have locked it off… You didn't even use an incantation, wand or anchor to place it, not the work of an amateur. What level barrier is this? Is it your skill or an item, no you adjusted it, has to be your skill then, right?"

Kai just smiled as he checked his barrier skill.

Advanced Mana Barrier. Your manipulation and control of barriers border on mastering the spell. Though you lack a true understanding of how you do what you do as it is your will and intent that bends barriers to your desires. Achieve a true understanding of the spell and what you do to gain what others would consider true mastery. One who can not teach what one knows to another is rarely considered a master.

His lessons with Talious had been fruitful as she taught him to relax when it came to what she called the unnecessary details and instead lean into what truly made his magic special.

The Panther of Karta seeing that he wasn't going to answer any of her questions stepped back a few feet, "If you were a just a mage, this alone would have been enough," she said as she gave Kai a look and raised her blade. "But you submitted yourself as an arcane swordsman and I'll be damned if I don't test that claim."

She pressed the tip of her weapon against the barrier and pushed it in about an inch with visible ease; the move reminding Kai of how he used to use his own great sword against goblin shamans in the trial dungeon when they pulled off a similar trick of locking themselves off against the dungeon wall with their sickly green barriers.

Only what The Panther of Karta was doing was different as she let go of her sword. Runes reading absorb, counter and shatter flared to life as the heavy-looking weapon hung in the air.

Kai just kept filling his side of the arena with his mana bolts as he eyed the glowing runes on the blade cautiously.

They were growing brighter with each passing second. He remembered how badly his old swords had dealt with too much mana, and he had a troubling premonition of that massive piece of metal violently exploding.

For her part, The Panther of Karta had summoned her array of swords again and was scrolling through them once more without a care in the world as the runes on the sword in the barrier were indeed growing brighter by the second.

Kai cleared his throat. "Just curious. What are the chances of that sword exploding if it were to absorb too much mana?"

"Oh, that old thing. It was a prototype, so it's possible. I was hoping that the mana from your barrier would be enough to empower the runes and take it down." There was a pop as a flake of metal flew away from the weapon. The woman tilted her head and sighed, "But I think you are right, it's going to fail. Not a problem. I only use it when I need something expendable, still it's held up well over the years and I'm hoping you'll stop hiding behind that barrier before anything catastrophic happens. That or the explosion itself is enough to take out the barrier and we can actually get started. That is if it doesn't wipe you out at the same time."

"Soo, you're not worried about that thing going off," Kai said as he eyed the weapon wedged into his barrier dubiously. Another pop and more flakes of metal broke free from the weapon.

The Panther of Karta grinned. As the runes grew brighter, the intricate lines of each rune now bleeding together, "I'll be fine. I'm sure the guild is reinforcing the arena's barrier as we speak. Question is, will you be okay? That's an impressive amount of mana you put into that barrier of yours. Someone needs to teach you not to overplay your hand, their could be unforeseen consequences."

The flash of teeth had a manic, feral quality that made Kai wonder if it had more to do with the woman's title than her race.

"I'm sure you're hoping that field of mana mines you're creating will slow me down. But I promise you, no matter how many of those little mana sparks you make, it won't make a difference."

Kai thought he might survive a blast with his regeneration, but with the amount of shrapnel the sword would throw off, there could be an issue with something hitting one of his vitals and killing him outright before his regeneration would kick in.

He reached out with his mana sense, checking his work. He had filled his side of the arena with hundreds of mana bolts, the glittering specks of mana that his opponent thought were something called mana mines drifted lazily around him in an intricate display, everyone of them just waiting to be directed and further manipulated as he desired, released on his opponent with just a though or when the implanted criteria was met.

He was a little worried he had gone overboard with all the mana bolts. But he had been instructed to show everyone watching that he was capable in his own right. That he was not to be messed with. All with the limitation of not actually showing anyone what he was truly capable of.

His opponent was making a point of taking her time as she selected her next weapon, her bad eye never actually leaving Kai for a moment as he saw the glow within was fixed on him.

Pushing the mental note he had just made to explore the concept of mana-bolt-mines to the back of his mind for later study, Kai shrugged and released the barrier.

He made a point of reabsorbing all the mana that the spell construct had left in it and, as luck would have it, anything that was attached to it like The Panther of Karta's sword.

The Panther of Karta herself, seeing the barrier drop, wrapped her fingers around the hilt of another sword, the stupidly long weapon somehow reasonable when compared to her last weapon that landed lifelessly in the sand.

The now almost burnt out and illegible runes on its surface faded rapidly without the mana to fuel them. The heat that remained in the blade caused any moisture in the sand to hiss and pop as it was burned away from the touch of the metal that glowed a dull red.

"Your mana control is insane. You must have an exceptionally overdeveloped mana core to do something like that, but that is not the feeling I get when I look at you," she said as she looked down at her discarded weapon.

Kai chose not to reply as he pushed out mentally and a torrent of his mana bolts flooded out from his side of the arena to fill the whole space that was available, before he left them weave and drift as they had before.

His opponent just watched the mana bolts as they swirled around her, totally unconcerned.

Kai had to wonder if they were in fact no danger to her or if she had terrible mana sense and didn't actually comprehend just how much mana was actually packed into each of them.

From what she had said, she could certainly see or sense something, and he had a feeling it had something to do with her bad eye.

He had grown even more efficient with his mana usage under Talious's tutelage. But even a small amount of energy was dangerous when you compacted it down and released all of it at once. Gunpowder would puff and pitter when you lit it, but the moment you stuffed it into a barrel or contained it with a bullet, it would explode. The same could be said for mana.

Kai wanted his mana bolts to occupy every angle of attack, every blind spot, and if his opponent had the misconception that they were some kind of mine, he would happily play into that.

Suddenly she struck from where she stood near the middle of the arena, lashing out with her new blade.

The faint glow of another set of runes along the length of the blade was Kai's only warning.

With the runes for far reach and strike lighting up, he knew the attack would reach him.

A temporary barrier condensed in front of him to absorb the attack.

He could have conjured a spectral blade, but blocking with that would have been pointless as the attack would no doubt hit his blade and continue on and around to hit him as it was so broad a swath of energy that came his way.

But the attack never reached him or his barrier, as the arc of the attack that moved towards him was so thick it struck one mana bolt after another instead of slicing through the gaps and was blasted apart, the forces disrupting one another.

Kai made an addendum to his earlier mental note. Mana bolt minefield; possibly a good counter to area spells and other such attacks.

Setting that aside, he had his mana bolts move into the space that had been cleared and conjured a few more to replace what he had lost as he swept his hand across the field.

The focus he held formed a spectral blade that pulsed with an infused strike that struck out towards his opponent, who had yet to make her next move.

If The Panther of Karta wanted to stand back and swing her sword, he could do the same.

The angle and trajectory of the attack were just right to hit her while cutting cleanly through his mana bolts without triggering a single one of them.

His attack, however, threw the sand of the arena up into the air in a blast that washed over his opponent as it struck, obscuring how she chose to react.

When the sand cleared and he could see her again, he could see she was fine.

She did, however, have the tip of her sword planted in the floor of the arena before her, runes that read shield faded rapidly as she looked back at him.

He had to wonder if this was all she was capable of, empowering the runes in her weapon like some magician who used magical items instead of learning actual magic.

When she lifted her sword and took a step forward, he was suddenly reminded that no, the runes on her weapons weren't all that there was to her. There was a massive stat difference to account for.

He got his sword up in time, the condensed mana of his blade catching her sword as she appeared before him, a delayed cascade of exploding mana bolts going off behind her plotting her straight path to him.

Her armour glowed with protection and repair runes, many of which looked distorted and burned out under a series of scorch marks.

The pressure of her blade against his immediately reminded Kai of his sparing matches with Kardain and his time training with The Ghostblade in the trails dungeon.

When she relented and stepped back to glance at the sooty marks all over her, two things were clear. He was lucky she held back in that last attack, and his mana bolts were truly of no concern to her.

She tsked, "Won't be able to fight for long in that field; you'll burn out this armour in no time. Good thing I have you in range. Now we fight like swordsmen."

Kai nodded. There was something in what she had just said. The words 'burn out this armour' already had him forming a plan; he just needed to survive long enough to make it work.

She had closed the gap between them, and he doubted he could get out of her range to safely put his mana bolts to use. Using them now against her would only have him caught up in his own attacks.

Unless of course he broke one of his restrictions.

He lifted his blade in a basic attack. Her counter seemed impossibly fast, and he was reminded he really needed to improve his swordmanship as he barely deflected the heavy blow in time.

Twisting to the side, he didn't even try to couter, deflect or parry the next thrust of her blade.

When she gave him a subtle nod, Kai thought he was getting somewhere. He just needed her acknowledgement, right?

She shifted into another attack that gave him no choice but to reposition his blade just in time to skirt along the edge of her sword in a flare of purple and blue mana.

Her next attack came quickly, and as he stepped back, he realised he was at her mercy.

Another attack, another step.

She wasn't relenting, not even to let him strike back once.

As she moved him around the arena, he had to concentrate, manipulating his mana bolts subtly so they shifted out of the way so he wouldn't inadvertently trigger any of them in his retreat.

His split focus limited any chance he had of forming a significant counter attacks.

Still, he was forming a plan.

She stayed close, expertly wielding her long weapon in a series of short swings and shunts that kept her close to him, her weapon moving slow and heavy one second, then impossibly fast the next.

He had tried condensing more mana into his spectral blade, refining its frequency and honing the edge. But it seemed that whatever material her sword was made of, it wasn't steel, and he couldn't cut into it no matter what he tried.

Hit after hit came his way, and his arms began to burn with the repeated impacts.

She let their blades lock, and she tsked, "You pass, but I have a bit of a reputation to uphold. A few days in the guild infirmary will do you good, and the ladies love a good scar, trust me," she said, winking her pale dead eye at him.

Feeling the mana within her flare, Kai decided he had no other options left.

Kai stepped back into an invisible pocket of distorted space, releasing it the moment he had his footing to let it carry him through his mana bolts to the other side of the arena in a blink of the eye, depositing him as for away from The Panther of Karta as possible.

She turned slowly. The look she gave him read to Kai that she couldn't quite believe what had just happened. The slow smile that spread across her lips set the hairs on the back of his neck on end as the mana grew thick around her.

That feral grin crossed her face, and she blinked away.

Kai stepped into another distortion the moment he saw her eerie smile, and he released a flurry of hastily conjured mana bolts into the spot he was standing as he left it behind.

When space snapped back to where it should be, there was an almighty crack as The Panther of Karta collided with his trap.

Her sword was wedged into the arena wall just behind where he was last standing, and a series of explosions rocked the form of the woman who had stopped holding back and seemed intent on doing him harm.

She let go of the hilt of her sword to gesture at herself.

A few runes glowed angrily, but there seemed to be no more burnt out runes than before.

"I'm sorry, I told a little lie, this armours runed to adapt to whatever aspect of mana is used against it. Your mana mines won't do as much damage as you had hoped," she chided, before she grabbed her weapon and pulled it free from the wall like it was nothing.

Kai raised a hand.

"You can't submit," she called. "Not unless it is deemed that I have forced you to submit… it's a tricky loophole to prevent people taking these assessments lightly. Cuts down a bit on the idiots who think they will just give it a try."

He shook his head. "I'm not submitting. I just wanted to let you know something before you try to give me a pretty scar like yours."

She tilted her head and dipped her blade, her ears twisting slightly to hear him better. A clear signal for him to go on.

"They're mana bolts, not mana mines, and I still have full control, over all of them."

"That's not possible," she blinked in confusion as she looked around her at all the specks of mana that shifted position.

"Trust me, they're mana bolts," Kai repeated. "I'm not sure how actual mana mines work. but these being mana bolts means I can do this."

Kai reached out and twisted the mana aspect of everyone of his mana bolts, careful to keep things simple. He handn't actually practised this much, but if her armour had indeed adapted to the pure or un-aspected nature of his mana that he had hit her with so far, surely that made it less adapted to other more distinct mana types.

His condensed mana bolts shifted and warped to the size of small marbles, each one of them slightly different to the other as their aspects changed to one of the core elements, as Talious called them.

Some flared into flames, the heat and intensity of each one of them different from the last.

While there were those that cooled and hardened into dense spheres of ice.

Many glimmered and shone like droplets of water.

A few crackled and sparked as lightning arced between their charged forms.

And others whirred with the sound of a barely contained gale.

"I only do this because, from what I've seen, you should survive. That, and I hear some time in the guild infirmary, does one good," Kai said, and he released every mana bolt before he finished.

He couldn't give her the chance, and he hoped her pride would keep her from avoiding the attack.

If it harmed her, heck if it killed her, he wouldn't be to blame. They had thrown the gold ranker into the ring with him, and she had just made it clear she meant to do him harm.

The cacophony of colliding elements seemed to blot everything out in a flash as he had to duck behind a barrier to avoid the shockwave that followed.

When everything cleared, and Kai stood up, he didn't know what to expect.

He was actually relieved to see a figure in battered and broken armour uncurl from a small crater in the sand.

But something was off.

The mana around her was growing.

It billowed from her forming a violent cloud as inside her it grew far denser than he had ever seen her utilise in their match so far.

The look she gave him nearly made Kai piss himself as she tossed an empty potion bottle to the side and reached out to grasp a black blade that seemed to absorb the light surrounding them.

There was a chime.

"Kai accepted, high-mid tin!" the announcer called out hastily.

The Panther of Karta stepped forward, and he felt the full pressure of a gold ranker's aura suddenly press down on him as her mana burst forth to cover the arena.

When her eyes narrowed and her jaw tightened, Kai only had time to utter the word, "Oops," as another flare of mana told him The Panther of Karta was coming for him.

Thump.

Kai winced as a shockwave washed over him, and he opened his eyes, half expecting to find himself once again run through by an opponent he couldn't hope to outrun.

But to his surprise, Talious knelt in the middle of the arena, one hand pinning a struggling Panther of Karta to the ground as she yawned into the other.

The Panther of Karta glared at Kai as she struggled in vain against the lazy grip of the small figure that held her.

Talious just lowered her head to the fresh pink flesh of the woman newly regenerated ear and whispered one word.

"Mine," rippled across the arena. The use of dragon tongue carried the quiet word on a wave of mana that made the meaning clear to everyone present.

The Panther of Karta stilled as her eyes went wide and Talious released her grip.

The officials in white approached slowly, not sure what to do with Talious standing over the still figure of the cowed gold ranker.

Talious just nodded at them both and disappeared.

Kai looked to the stands to see she was there, talking to Temra as if she had never left her seat.

A ruffle under his armour told him a rather concerned Castiel had just joined him, and though his heart pounded in his chest, he sent her, and everyone else he was bonded to, reassuring thoughts.

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