“So why’d you end up wanting to pick a fire user to fight?” Kaara asked when she and Arik were en route to find their target.

“Hm? Why not?”

“Is it cuz you’re gonna wanna rematch against Tadios?”

Arik tried to hide her smile, “You know me too well, Kar-Kar. I guess the Xirxus aren’t the only ones who can’t take a loss sitting down.”

“I bet Anitus thinks you’re practicing for him,” Kaara giggled.

Arik put her arms above her head in casual fashion, “It’s not like I wanna lose to that asshole either,” She pouted.

“Do you think Rorik can win?”

“Do you?”

“I believe in him.”

“That’s good. I do too, but I’ve seen Anitus fight in their first match. He’s a monster. You wouldn’t have thought earth had an advantage over fire just by watching them. Not sayin’ it was a blowout or nothin’. It’s more like I dunno if Rorik has had enough time to close the gap between them yet. I made sure he had a good sparring partner every day, though. Just wish he wouldn’t push himself to injury all the time.”

“He really does overwork himself, huh?” Kaara said, looking up at the branches, “I think Rorik can win. I just don’t know if he will.”

“Yeah, I feel the same way. Even if Rorik is strong, the matchup is so competitive it’s hard to make heads or tails of it.”

“Sorta like you and Tadios.”

Arik chuckled, “Think so? He beats me everytime.”

“Yeah, but sometimes the difference was so thin it could’ve gone either way.”

“Those are the worst kinds of losses, honestly. Doesn’t make me feel better lying awake at night wondering if I could’ve won if I just made one less mistake.”

“It keeps you training hard, right? Plus, you’ve got another opportunity with this whole war game thing right? Just don’t get grabbed!”

Arik slapped the back of her head, “Hush.”

The two stopped at the foot of an Ingen tree where a rotund xio bent the branch he was sitting on top of.

“Oi! Your name Gaor?” Arik asked.

The xio leaned back, catching his fall and hanging by his tail to look at them, “It would happen to be, yes, who might the two of you be?”

“Name’s Arik, this is Kaara. We’re here to challenge you and your buddy Nihilik for your horns.”

Kaara leaned over to Arik, “Y’know he kinda looks like a squirrel preparing for winter.”

“I heard that!” Gaor shouted.

“Where’s your friend? We’re looking for a two on two!” Arik said.

The snow covering the tree moved, causing both of them to scramble backward. A skeleton white xio stepped forward. His eyes were bagged and deep blue right down to the sclera, his face stuck in a perpetual resting frown, “I’m here. Normally people on the other side aren’t so formal with their challenges, so I hang out under the snow in case someone tries to ambush us.”

“That’s so cool! I didn’t even notice you were in the snow and I’ve got water magic too! How’d you do that?” Kaara said with a wag of her tail.

“If I freeze my body I can slow my heartbeat down enough to the point even a wind user like your friend there can’t detect me.” He said with a drawling slothful tone, “It’s real useful for hunting, or avoiding something that might hunt me.”

“How did you know I have wind magic?”

“I have seen you around. You likely haven’t seen me, though.”

“Kinda creepy, not gonna lie.”

“I get that a lot.”

“Why do the two of you seek to challenge us anyways?” Gaor said between bites of fruit he plucked from the branches, “You’re Tibur like us by the looks of it, why have you sided with the nobles?”

“Cuz it’s more fun that way!” Arik and Kaara said in unison.

The two boys looked at each other with a shrug. Gaor dropped from the tree like a ripened peach, his graceful landing betraying his rotund appearance.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Kaara and Arik understood what it meant, both of them jumping back to start the fight on even terms.

A silent agreement to start the fight later, and Nihilik had disappeared beneath the snow once again.

Kaara thrust her hand out and clenched her fist, compressing the snow around him into ice. She was not about to allow him to vanish again.

Nihilik blasted from beneath the snow pointing his finger at Kaara and blasting a thin dart of hail at her. Arik stepped in and parried it with a gust of wind. The hail bullet carreened off to the side and took a chunk out of a nearby birch tree.

Gaor came charging like a mammoth, making Kaara dive out of the way as he sent his full weight into Arik.

She slid in the snow, grappling the much larger xio who now visibly steamed with heat. That sort of trick did not work on Arik, however. She was used to creating a thin bubble of air around herself to defend from fire magic.

Nihilik had disappeared again, lurking the battlefield like a sniper waiting for his opportunity to pop out again. As Kaara moved to assist Arik, another hail bullet shot just shy of her horn. By the time she traced the shot, Nihilik was gone.

Arik lifted Gaor above her head and slammed him into the ground with a thunderous clap. Kaara saw Nihilik pop up from the corner of her eye and raised a barrier before Arik could be sniped from her blind spot. The hail curved its path and slammed into Kaara’s temple in a shower of ice.

Kaara had just barely managed to destroy the bullet before contact.

“Get rid of the snow!” Arik shouted.

“On it!” Kaara said, letting out a cold foggy breath as she commanded all the snow within two hundred meters to melt and refreeze. From the branches, Nihilik toppled down on top of Kaara. She caught his wrist before he could send water to cut through her horn.

He ducked, a screaming kick from Arik narrowly missing his head. He didn’t expect her tail to hook his neck, however. Arik sent him flying through the nearest birch tree, “Shoulda stuck to sneakin’ about-” She jerked her head out of the way just in time to avoid a bolt of fire from Gaor. She raised her guard, deflecting a heavy head kick, “You move pretty well for a big guy, y’know that? It’s kinda freaky.”

“Most people are surprised.” Gaor laughed, cutting Arik’s shawl with a blazing ax kick.

Arik forced him to duck a jab right into a brutal head kick. He raised his guard falling for a feint that allowed her to bury her knee into his gut.

Arik slipped a counter hook, cracking him square in the nose, and sending him sliding backward on the ice.

He clicked his tongue, realigning his nose, “This ice is troublesome terrain. I can hardly swing without slipping somewhere. Tell me, how do you move so well?”

Arik was already on top of him, “As if I'm gonna let you distract me while your buddy recovers.” Arik’s strikes, however, did not seem to phase Gaor. He ate one heavy punch kick after the other countering with a hard uppercut to the gut that sent Arik staggering.

Kaara imposed a wall between them which Arik used to push herself away. She slid next to Kaara, clutching her gut, “Bastard’s tough I’ll give him that. I know I hit him hard, but he’s got a chin on him.” She inhaled sharply through her nose, wind kicking up around her, “Got some power in his strikes too.”

“Gaor! It’s ready!” Nihilik yelled from atop an Ingen tree.

Gaor kicked the ice wall towards them, Kaara melted it before it could connect.

“Checkmate!” Gaor shouted from above having joined Nihilik in his tree. Hundreds of sharpened icicles rose up around them and launched in like a flurry of arrows.

“I don’t think so!” Kaara yelled back, sending every last one of them off course as they sank into the nearby birch trees like daggers.

“The hell? How much magic do you have?” Nihilik said in his slothful monotone, “It’s too bad that wasn’t my trap.”

The water around them formed jaws of ice and snapped close. Arik and Kaara were caught in a maelstrom of cutting ice and crashing water. He had summoned a water elemental underneath them without Kaara noticing at all.

These guys were good. Better than either of them had expected. This elemental was a guppy compared to Chompy, though.

A violent serpent burst from the center of the enemy elemental, swallowing it whole. Warm water flowed around her and Arik, and left them in a protective bubble. It stretched above the Ingen trees, unleashing a loud crashing roar as it coiled defensively over its owner. It loomed over the two of them as they stood atop the branches of their Ingen tree.

Nihilik raised his hand at the sight of it, “I would like to forfeit.”

Gaor jolted, “Nihilik! Come on! We can still win this!” He said.

“No we can’t. Not worth the effort.”

“Fine, then I’ll prove it to you. Hear me now Kaara and Arik! You’re worthy opponents to push me this far! You’re making me use my trump card early!” He took a wide stance, shouting at the top of his lungs as fire blazed around him.

A power up which was interrupted by Nihilik cutting his horns off with his water magic.

“Huh-”

“Don’t waste that technique on a game, dumbass. Save it for the Siren Ceremony.” Nihilik said, cutting his own horn tips off.

“What the hell, Nihilik!” Gaor shouted, “It was gonna be really cool and everything! I’m sure I would have had enough time to recover for the ceremony!”

“Not gonna take that chance. Losing our horns now is better than losing our lives later.” Nihilik turned to Arik and Kaara who stood dumbfounded at the display, “Here, we admit defeat. Take these,” He tossed their horn tips to Arik, “I doubt that summon was the limit of your ability either. Judging by how easily you took control of my magic.”

“Why did you have to cut our horns? We could’ve run!” Gaor shouted.

“Doubt you woulda done that, idiot. Plus, that wind user can catch you.”

“You don’t know that!”

Kaara and Arik looked on as the two bickered. Arik crossed her arms, sighing, “Man, I was hoping they would fight more. I was actually getting kinda excited. Didn’t I tell you not to use chompy too quickly?”

“Sorry, I just reacted with what I thought could get us out of that water elemental’s belly.”

Arik put her hands on her hips, “Well I guess we got what we came for. No using Chompy unless we’re about to lose! It makes people quit too easily when they see him.”

“Alright, I’ll try to keep him as a last resort and let you fight more next time.”

“Good. I didn’t even get a good cut from this fight to remember ‘em by.”

Kaara looked over her shoulder, seeing Gaor getting dragged away kicking and screaming by Nihilik, “I wonder what sort of technique they’re reserving for the Siren Ceremony.”

“Well whatever it is, let’s hope it helps everyone survive a bit easier.”

“Yeah.”