The woman next to Gaius let out a low sigh while shaking her head. “What?” Gaius thought to himself as his mind was in a daze.

Gen had a different experience. “Did you see that? Mom, how did they break through the line so quickly?”

Not disturbed by his son lack of empathy for the dead soldiers, she replied, “They condensed their aura into the legs and feet which helped them burst through the line.”

“Wow, that’s all they did?” Gen said as he compared what he just saw to the results he had when he did the same thing. “But, when I do it. It’s not nearly as fast as them. They just zoomed!”

Tulia smiled and said, “Their control over their Aspects are better than yours, that’s why you shouldn’t be so lazy in your training.” She looked over to Gaius and saw his confused face and worried over her son.

“Mom, why does this duel have to be a fight to the death? Aren’t they just throwing lives away?” Gaius finally asked.

Before Tulia could answer him, the woman next to them shrieked, “Throw their lives away?! They fight . . .” was the only thing she could say as the cold gaze of Tulia’s hazel eyes shut her up.

“What she means to say son,” Tulia began seemingly undisturbed by the woman’s outburst, “is that what they are fighting for is between life and death. Whoever wins this duel will gain full exclusive access to the docks and ports of both cities. They will be able to sell their goods anywhere, which will allow trade to flourish. A poor family can rise up in wealth and not worry about their next meal. It is an important duel, one worthy of their lives.”

The woman next to them silently approved of Tulia’s explanation. Her mind was distraught at her city’s first loss in the melee. Though South Calet rarely wins the melee, it was still painful to see. She berated herself for almost screaming at the boy for asking a question.

Gaius thought back to the old couple that shared their wagon, “I wonder how long it took them to grow the vegetables to sell at the market, and it only amounted to 6 bronze coins.” Gaius tried to weigh and understand something he had no idea about—poverty. What it would mean to work until your bones broke just for your next meal, it was a foreign concept to the child. “If wining this duel could allow the old couple to sell their crops for more coin, then that’s a good thing. But I’m not sure if it’s something worth dying for,” he still naively pondered.

As tradition was followed, the losers—dead or alive, were carried out of the pit in shame, while the victors could leave through the stairs imbedded into the walls and not have to bare the shame of being carried out. With the pit cleared, another group jumped down eagerness, vigor, and fighting spirit.

Five fighters jumped down from each side and faced each other. The ambassador shouted, “Begin!” and soon after different auras filled the pit as they condensed their Aspects. Lances of ice shot from the left directed at a charging warrior, and before the lances could pierce him an earthen pillar erupted from the ground completely blocking them. The warrior sidestepped the pillar of earth to continue charging. His Aspect of the Sword condensed within his body help him rush swiftly to his opponent. He was immediately met with another warrior brandishing a spear. They quickly exchanged blows and the ice mage on the left would attack the sword-wielding warrior whenever she had a moment’s respite from the earth mage’s attack. Lances of ice would shoot from odd angles to either meet the warrior’s shield or an eruption of an earthen pillar. The two warriors danced within the storm of magic. The spear-wielding warrior would thrust and block quickly as he also avoided earthen spikes that would erupt from below his feet.

Though the two boys had seen marital and magical prowess on display before, this is the first true battle that they’ve witnessed. Their eyes were wide and unblinking as they stared at the marvelous fight before them.

The right side had a total of 3 mages and 2 warriors, while the left side only had 1 warrior—their spear-wielding one. Four combatants were already engaged from the start of the fight, with two warriors fighting amid the flurry of ice and earth that their fellow mages were condensing at each other.

The 2 mages on the right started to reinforce the warrior in front of them with their auras, reinforcing the strength of his armor while reducing its weight. Seeing this, the 3 mages from the left immediately condensed all of their Aspects and tried to impale the warrior as quickly as possible. Gouts of flame surrounded by wind was funneled into a tight beam of fire and it shot at the warrior. The third mage conjured and beast made of pure water as it bounded towards the warrior. Preparing to dodge the incoming spell and beast, the warrior began to condense the Aspect of the Shield within his body—reinforcing his skin. His two mages that were supporting him both condensed the Aspect of Metal, and suddenly a metallic sword and shield formed around him hovering in midair. The shield took the beam head on and deflected it towards the viewing seats. Luckily the walls of the pit were reinforced with protective sigils to absorb the errant spell, else it would have friend the spectators instantly. With the spell deflected, the warrior charged at the mages while the metallic hovering sword engaged the water beast.

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Seeing their fellow mages in trouble, the ice mage that was supporting the spear-wielder diverted her attention and created another lance to impale the shield-bearing warrior. In that moment of distraction, the earthen mage opened up a hole beneath her feet and swallowed her within the ground. She instantly disappeared, and her lance of ice completely shattered as it almost impaled the shield-bearing warrior. With the balance of the fight shifting towards the warriors from South Calet, the shield-bearing warrior finally engaged the three unprotected mages. Though strong in their own right in close-combat, they still required time to condense their auras while the warrior merely channeled his Aspect within his body and within his weapons—like a conduit, and swung his one-handed axe quickly. The axe was met with a shield of fire as it formed around the mage, though it was weakened the axe still bit into the forearms of the fire mage. The fire mage cursed as his fire shield did little to slow the warrior down.

Seeing their companion in dire straits, the water and wind mage began condensing a blizzard over the warrior, but before the blizzard could fully form it dissipated as a metallic shield rammed into the water mage.

As the water mage was knocked unconscious, the water beast he conjured also dissipated, now a hovering metal sword and shield assisted the shield-bearing warrior against a wounded fire mage and a frightened wind mage.

After the ice mage was swallowed up by the hole, the spear-wielding warrior had a much harder time defending himself as he now had the undivided attention of the sword-wielding warrior and the earth mage. He knew that it was only a matter of time before he was overwhelmed and he would be skewered from an earthen pillar or a sword strike. He quickly swept his spear in front of him in a wide arc as he disengaged the warrior and the earthen mage. The wind and fire mage also retreated to regroup with the spear-wielding warrior. With gloomy faces the nodded and immediately bent the knee and yelled, “We yield!”

The 5 from South Calet let out a sigh of relief as they had fought with their lives on the line and finally came out the victor. Surprising to the warriors of North Calet and the viewers, a hole suddenly opened up and the body of the ice mage that was swallowed emerge lying unconscious. The ambassador quickly went to assess her health and nodded towards the warriors from the northern city. The spear-wielding warrior looked at the earthen mage with respect and nodded at him in thanks for sparing his comrade.

Gen exclaimed in excitement as the fight came to a close, “That was awesome! That beam of fire was really scary! And did you see those spears of ice? How about when the hole swallowed the ice mage?” he rambled.

While Gen was still excited with the display of power, Gaius was still basking in its aura. Though their control over their respective Aspects did not leave much to leak out, the pit was so dense with it that it was still overwhelming to his senses. Gaius couldn’t clearly see the warriors and mages fight, he merely saw their condensed auras erupt and recede, and it filled him with energy. He was not the least bit surprised that the ice mage was still alive as he could still sense her weak aura beneath the floor. It was an odd sensation for Gaius, this was the first time he had ever witnessed true warriors and mages fighting to the death, so the dense aura that they emitted was nothing he had ever seen before. It literally blinded him, his normal sight could physically see the warriors and mages, but his aura-sight superimposed over their figures. With their eruption of power and collision of their auras, it was hard for Gaius to really see with his normal sight. It was a very disorienting experience.

The losers were subject to the humiliating practice of being carried away while the victors stood tall and exited the pit on their own strength. Soon the ambassador came down and said, “North Calet has won the melee, while South Calet has won the group fight. Whoever wins the last category shall inherit exclusive trading rights! The solo duels are determined by total elimination, until one side has exhausted all of their fighters. A fighter may not leave the duel once they enter the pit unless they die or forfeit.”

Two men immediately enter the fighting pit, the left man was tall and skinny with a bow in his hand while the one from the right was short and stout with a spear in his.

The skinny man shouted, “I am Tak Ditet. Be honored to die by my bow!”

The short stout man gave a snort and yelled, “Quit your jabbering and come!”

The skinny man was enraged by his opponent’s lack of curtesy. He immediately drew his bow and released a probing arrow. The short man didn’t move one centimeter as the arrow struck his chest and shattered. The short man gave a wry smile as he stood still as a statue. Eyes wide with shock the skinny man immediately condensed the Aspect of the Bow within his next barrage and soon a flurry of arrows flew towards the small man. The man didn’t move again, but this time he threw his spear at his opponent 30 meters away.

Gaius saw the exchange with his aura-sight and gasped, he wished the ebb and flow of their two auras would go away so that he may see the spear with his normal sight. The faces of the two opponents changed as they felt an imperceptible tug on their auras, but they only reinforced their control over their Aspects as their projectiles flew. The short man raised his arms to cover his face while the arrows, filled with aura, struck and shattered upon his metal armor. Though a bit worse for wear, the short man endured. At the same time, the spear flew towards the skinny man and he easily dodged it. “What a fool, did he really think he could strike me from such a distance?” the skinny man condescendingly thought.

The short man smiled as he controlled his Aspect of the Metal within his spear to change course as the skinny man dodged it. Immediately after, the metal spear erupted from the skinny man’s chest as it struck him from behind. “Ah, damn . . . metal mage,” the skinny man thought incredulously as he fell for such an obvious trick.

“Ah, that fool Tak. Couldn’t even tell the man was a mage. If we lose this duel, I want the Ditet family punished for their stupid son,” a man growled. Though his face seemed young it bore the scars of leadership as the weight of governor was a heavy burden to bear and it would leave its mark.

An attendant to the side nodded vigorously.