“Keres wins!” an announcer shouted and Etana held her hands up in victory. Her opponent lay partially dissolved at her feet. “But can she take on The Fortified Fiend of Ragnar?!” The announcer shouted and the crowd roared.

Etana looked around at the people in the arena. They had handed over many coins just to be here. They paid even more with the gambling. While the capital city of the adventurer’s guild was known to be competitive amongst each other, fights to the death such as these were not approved. Nonetheless, some of the stigandorian people wanted to see the bonded fight to the death and bet on which aspects were the most powerful. The Committee was more than willing to accommodate and take advantage of the situation.

She walked quickly, but not urgently to her side of the arena. She took a drink of water as her final opponent was getting ready for the final fight. Her divinity was not hit too hard by the previous fights, but she wanted a full bar for this one. Thankfully divinity recovered very quickly. She eyed the gate where she knew her next opponent would enter from as she considered how she had gotten herself into this situation.

It had not taken her long to convince The Committee to let her join them. While Trina’s system called them bandits, Etana received confirmation beyond just the paperwork she had found that they were a highly structured organization. They had code names, hundreds of locations throughout the world, and a decentralized command structure. From what she could tell, they all wanted to get rich however. That was the glue that kept them together. After a few days of consideration, The Committee had given her an opportunity to prove her value. One of their one of the committee members, a man named Faer, had sent her to Randar via a portal ring. All she had to do was win against every opponent in this illegal fighting pit for the bonded and she was guaranteed an opportunity to work with them.

“I wonder if they’re betting on me or against me…”, she muttered to herself. She blinked in realization, “They’re probably not betting on either of us. They’re probably stealing money while I’m distracting everyone.” The Committee had demanded a portion of her jackpot winnings should she win, but she did not care about the money. She wanted another Aspect. So far she had seen only fakes.

She watched The Fortified Fiend enter the fighting ring and wasn’t surprised to see it was a man. He was very muscular and clearly had focused all of his attributes on strength. Etana felt out with her Aspect of Removal and saw the cost to outright atomize this person was well over a thousand divinity. “He definitely has a real one”, Etana grinned. That number was extremely high and only some of the Committee’s Council members had garnered a higher divinity cost.

Due to the absurd outfits they had to wear in these fights, Etana’s necklace was on full display. It also meant The Fiend’s aspect was fully visible. It was fused to him just above his belly button. “Keres, you’re going to regret coming here today!” The fiend roared, theatrically.

Etana just rolled her eyes. The horn was blown and the fight began. Etana ran in and tried spraying the same acid that the man in the forest had done. They were not allowed any weapons. Just fists and whatever an aspect could do. The Fiend merely held his arms up to block. The acid covered them and Etana could feel their effects take hold. Strangely, the damage was negligible. “Fortified Fiend….” Etana repeated to herself. She ducked under a punch and thrust another blast at the man’s midsection. The acid once again just slid off and left barely any damage. There was damage though.

“You cannot hurt me Keres!” The Fiend screamed. “I am invincible!”

Etana looked at him with some concern, “Do you really think that? Your skin is clearly melting.”

The fiend looked down at his stomach, but appeared unconcerned. He came running back in again with fists. Etana avoided as best she could, only taking one glancing blow. The fiend seemed to think he could end it quickly and over extended. When his swing completely missed, Etana slammed her elbow down into his back and knocked him to the ground. “I learned that one the hard way too”, Etana said.

With the Fiend on the ground, she took a step back and held her hands out in front of her. She began to gush out a clear liquid from her fingertips. This liquid was far more refined than whatever the original wielder could create. It flowed out of her fingers like a stream, and quickly covered the ground. The fiend got back to his feet and looked in horror as the arena floor began to get covered. He dipped the tip of his boot into the acid and made a choice. He ran across the liquid. The soles of his shoes dissolved after just the first step. Etana once again avoided the punch that was coming her way.

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“Is your durability your only advantage?” Etana asked, her tone casual. She merely backed away from The Fiend’s attacks and continued the activation of her aspect. This took quite a lot of divinity for Etana, but she could just barely maintain the amount she had out now. The Fiend did not answer her question, but just kept coming after her. In a short time, the entire arena was covered in the clear liquid. Then Etana saw what she had hoped to see. Blood was mixed in with the acid.

“This is going to be a really bad experience. Give me your aspect and I can end this sooner”, Etana said as she continued to avoid The Fiend’s increasingly desperate swings. Etana could see The Fiend cringing with every step. He might not be melting, but Etana could see the pain in his feet was becoming increasingly intolerable.

The Fiend looked around desperately, but only then seemed to understand there was no safe place for his feet anymore. He looked up at the crowd and then back to Etana.

Etana spoke again, “I can do this all night. At the rate you’re dissolving, it probably will take all night. But in the end, I will still win.”

The fiend shook his head and came back at Etana once again, unable to accept her inevitable defeat. “Fight me, Keres!” he yelled.

And so the fight continued far longer than any previous fight in the history of the arena. None could stop the fight however long it went on, however. The judges were bound by the rules and the fighters could not concede willingly. The guards standing at the edges of the arena were ready to kill either participant should they betray the agreements they made earlier. Eventually the audience thinned as some could not stomach the spectacle of slow suffering in front of them. Only those who had gambled enough money to bankrupt themselves remained behind.

Etana felt increasingly guilty for the suffering this man was experiencing, but there was nothing she could do to hasten the end. A quick death wasn’t within her power. “Please, someone give me a weapon. This is already over!” Etana begged the judges desperately. They sat there passively and gave no response.

“Keres…”, The Fiend said as he balanced on what remained of his legs. “I… I can’t anymore.”

Etana walked closer to her opponent, sadness in her voice. “I know. Please, let me end this. I need your Aspect.”

“But why? You already have one.” The fiend answered, tears of pain in his eyes.

“I have a family to save”, Etana answered quietly.

The man looked at her as if truly seeing her for the first time, “That’s… that’s Trina’s necklace. You’re Trina! My name’s Tybalt. Trina please, take your aspect back”, he said, a silly smile on his face.

Etana saw the delirium in the man’s eyes and knew he must be in shock. She approached Tybalt warily, but she could see he had lost all will to fight. “He really thinks I’m Trina” she thought to herself. She forced as much condensed acid into her fingertips as she could manage and held it to the skin surrounding the aspect. It still took her time to dig out the aspect and Tybalt’s pain was unbearable the entire time. As soon as she held the stone in her hand, she saw the cost to remove Tybalt had dropped significantly. She immediately used her remaining divinity to end his suffering.

The stone leapt from her hand and into her necklace.

You have been bonded with the Aspect of Health. Attunement 100%. You have gained new health.

Etana was once again dragged to the ground as the stone bonded with her. Every cell cried out to her at once as her body underwent a transformation. When the pain stopped, she stood back on her feet, marveling at the feeling of flawless health. She checked her health bar and gasped.

Health: 99999/99999

“Is this the health cap?” Etana asked herself. Her surprise was interrupted when she received a world announcement.

World Notification: Masterpiece Creation. Vina, A Bloodweaver and Traveler, has created the masterpiece: The Hope of an Asharaina. The masterpiece may currently be found in:

The City of the Halos Family.

The entire arena went quiet as everyone tried to understand what they were seeing. Etana frowned, “Vina… what in Trina’s name are you doing?”