Rafe tried to force himself to remain calm, but as a warrior, how the hell was he supposed to fight if he couldn't get close to his enemy?

He remembered something like this, that time Helare had come to him after the incident with Filoria. He was scared of her as well back then, disgusted. And now it seemed a lot worse.

"BEGIN!" the excited man announced.

Zora, the fire Elemenoid blazed to life, like some kind of fiery superhero from Earth comics. Then she flew towards Rafe like a cannon.

Rafe kicked off the ground instinctively and fled.

She was faster than him though, and he could tell the whole flame body skill buffed her up as well. Such skills would have timers. It was no wonder the woman was trying to end things fast.

But Rafe felt like his brain was about to jump straight out of his skull every time the girl got closer than a few inches.

The crowds started to boo. The female fighter fought stronger, harder. She was getting confident a few seconds into their bout.

But even after she increased her speed, Rafe's evasive technique was too good. He trained it against an E grade fighter, after all. One of the best Primus had to offer. Now in his desperation to flee, it worked on muscle memory. He was completely unpredictable.

Then the woman paused in her pursuit and frowned. The fiery body skill fizzled out. She looked at her opponent, who was also not moving. Then she made a fist. The fist started to shine with a pale yellow flame, but soon the flame was heavier and denser, getting redder and redder, and there seemed to be something material at its core. Like lava perhaps? All this took only a few breaths.

Rafe was stunned. The woman's hair gave her a weak affinity, from what Rafe knew, but this spell was an improved fireball. Some Elemenoids were born with strong aptitudes, and some like this woman worked hard to gain everything they had. And he was sure this woman could rival some of the best burned mages in just magic. Let alone her hybrid warrior traits. She was probably up there with Filoria as one of the strongest fighters on Primus.

Of course, the natural mages would have more mana. Hybrids had to divide their attention between mana and stamina, while someone like Rafe only had to focus on his stamina because he had no interest in magic. Pure mages only focused on mana.

In any case, this long distance barrage was good for Rafe. He needed some cover to access his soul void.

The fire started, and Rafe had to do his best to be near the blast zone, but far from the imoact. He could hear the crowds screaming in excitement, thinking he would die. Too bad he was mostly getting hit by smoke and some sandy debris.

Rafe squatted down, sending out his first racial ability to keep an eye on his opponent. Through it he could see how she was preparing the same barrage of upgraded fireballs.

Without further ado, something fell into his spread out hand. Rafe smiled when he felt how small it was.

He jumped forward, tucked and rolled. The place where he had been was completely smashed. Then he turned his face to the air, where a winged angel was looking down at him, both her hands preparing upgraded fireball spells.

It was a bewitching sight. So bewitching, Rafe almost forgot he had to dodge for a fraction of a second there. He sighed, a bit of his left upper arm and shoulder badly singed.

Magic also had something about it. It was beautiful and alluring, when it wasn't being used to burn you to death.

Rafe's heart ached. He was going to have to take this fierce woman out of this world. It was a sad and cruel world he lived in.

As he ran around the field, trying to psyche himself up for the inevitable confrontation, he looked down at the little artifact he had just removed from his spatial storage ability.

The portable fight simulator was really as small as the centre piece of some kind of necklace. It was shaped like an eye, oval and with a gem at its centre. With his ability to see the inner workings of magical constructs, Rafe saw the Essence core of this little thing. It was indeed very big, and yet super compressed, with so many tiny rune formations crisscrossing each other as if ropes were used to make a ball.

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Name: Portable fight simulator. (Pending name)(F grade, Divine)

Type: Divine Artifact.

Function: Record an image of an acquaintance if you interact with them long enough. With appropriate amounts of energy provided, you can simulate fights against them, among other things once the object ranks up.(Can only simulate E grade or higher entities with their abilities severely downgraded to F grade standards.)

Requirements: A soul bond after blood imprint. Good energy control.

He touched the small amulet-like thing to his left shoulder even as he ran, and in his soul he saw a new connection line forming to the outside.

With everything finished for now, it was time to end the fight. He reached back and started to carefully tangle the artifact into his bushy hair. Then he stared up at the gracefully flying lady. It was time to bring her down to Earth.

Rafe kicked off the ground with his movement technique. Normally, he'd need to be pointing a weapon in a certain direction to move toward it, but this time he only pointed his fist and flew to her. It was a very fast technique, but he was fighting against an experienced peak F grade fighter.

While she was surprised initially, she only needed a breath to make a decision. So decisive was she. She dived to meet Rafe midair.

He smirked at that, but then his smirk turned into a grimace as she got closer. He'd forgotten about his newly developed phobia.

Still, the fight had to end sometime today, and he did not have any ranged options at the moment. He figured maybe it would do him good to learn some archery in the future.

He gritted his teeth and collided with the woman midair, sending her toppling upwards and sideways with a strong punch. He himself was sent back to the ground.

He landed on his feet like a cat though. The woman struggled to control her flight for more than ten seconds, but in the end only ended up crashing into the ground as well. And her landing wasn't as controlled as Rafe's.

Rafe launched towards her. She stood up before he could get there, and her fiery body ignited again.

There were so many reasons Rafe felt sick as the fight intensified. Killing someone simply for the entertainment of others. Getting close to any kind of female. He almost wanted his old Aeon warrior's trance to take over for a few moments, but he was not using a sword. He had to do it himself.

And so he did. There was always never going to be a chance this woman would survive after she stepped onto this field with Rafe. She might have been one of the strongest F grades primus had to offer, but she was still no match for Rafael.

'Ding': You have killed user Zora Arson, Elemenoid, Epic Crimson berserker lvl.75.

Rafe wanted to hurl. It was the first time he had received such a notification, if he remembered right. And it hadn't even been enough to get him a level.

****

Rafe was flown directly back to the spire. Then he was led down to his cell. He wasn't checked for the contraband, as he had suspected.

He also wasn't provided with any healing, which was to be expected for someone like him who was supposed to be ground down to dirt over the next few bouts.

Something was different about his cell though. The chains were shorter.

His hands would now be forcibly raised all the time, and he couldn't move them at all. And his legs were in a seated position, and he couldn't even lie down at all. This all reeked of that despicable girl.

"Hey," she said just when he thought of her.

Rafe looked up with barely veiled hostility.

"Are you more comfortable now?" she said with a sadistic smile.

Rafe didn't change his facial expression, but he got wary internally. Something had changed about Filoria since the last time they had met.

She stepped forward, Rafe struggled with the shackles, upsetting his injuries a bit.

"Tsk. Still resistant," she said with a scowl. Then she kicked him in a wound he'd received below his ribs in the right.

Rafe writhed in agony. His murderous intent surged.

Filoria staggered back a bit, but then she smiled and moved forward. She shook her head and clicked her tongue again.

"Such a waste of time," she said. "I considered bringing someone to heal your wounds, but…hehe."

Then she slowly sauntered up to him, adjusting her leathers.

Rafe knew what was going to happen next. He cursed himself for falling into his enemy's hands. Why the hell had he thought being captured could end in any other way aside from his absolute humiliation?

'Ding': World quest completed.

Reward: Soul walking training method, divine empowerment.

Rafe wondered why the system thought this was a good time for this particular notification. But then he remembered this quest had more to do with a certain group of deities than with the system.

And then a strange light assaulted him out of nowhere, nearly blinding him.

When he came to, he was no longer sitting or chained to the wall. He was standing, Filoria in front of him still getting ready to embarrass him. She didn't seem to be aware he was standing, just saying something he couldn't hear and looking at him cruelly.

Someone touched Rafe's arm and pulled him sideways.

Obviously, Rafe reacted violently, and that was when he saw that his hand was pale green and translucent.

"Sorry," Goleon, the first chosen of Primus, who was now a god said. "This was the best we could do for now. You can't kill her yet. She might be able to tell you some things we will be unable to."

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