While he waited for the noble children to draw sticks Amaro let out an exaggerated yawn, “Are you ready yet? Honestly, all of you could have challenged me earlier like this and I might have accepted. Then again I probably would have just walked away. Now I’m forced to fight back.”

There were five enemies in total. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves. He had talked a big game, but now he had to back it up. How long had it been since he felt like this? He hated that feeling. Knowing that he could not fail, or lose on purpose.

His tail thrashed about in the snow behind him. With Kadmus here he could not beat just three or four of them, he had to beat them all. He knew he could, but what if he overestimated himself? He grit his teeth and stood up as his first opponent stepped forward.

As he took his stance, a sense of calm washed over him. He was at home here, and he always had been. He honed in on his target like a hunter to its prey. He felt his worries wash away, and his heart slow down. Their match started. He did not even need Brainstorm to see how slow this one was.

The first punch his opponent threw costed him his nose. Amaro slipped another strike and slammed his fist into the same spot as before. His new goal was to make his nose touch the back of his skull.

Blood spattered across the pure white snow, a smile curling on his lip. He feinted another blow to his head, hooking to the body as his opponent raised his guard. His first opponent crumbled at his feet, clutching his liver.

Amaro grinned. Now was the chance to intimidate them. He stepped on the first’s head, “I’m not satisfied yet. Will my next opponent come through before I squish this poor boy’s head like a grape?” He kicked him in the nose again. He could see the fear in their eyes as he toyed with his prey, “Come on, step forward before I rip his head off.”

His second opponent rushed forward. Amaro could see it all. He was throwing with everything he had, and his balance was too far forward. He backed up, punishing each punch with a hard kick to the legs, “Think your arms are longer than my legs?” He said, delivering a final kick that snapped his shin.

He felt good. These fools deserved to be humiliated. They deserved to be in pain for everything they had done, “There was not enough blood that time. Next!”

The third and fourth came and passed. The third had already been regrowing his teeth before he rattled his brain around with a head kick. The fourth was cut open by an elbow, mounted on the ground and beaten until his head was bouncing off of the ground.

Amaro used his shirt to wipe the blood from his knuckles before standing to face the last one. He stalked forward, pretending to be the Tikuur which guarded their home. Could someone as inferior as this noble truly understand fear like he did? Could he overcome it, or would he be stunned?

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Amaro pat his shoulder, “You don’t want to fight? Then make sure they don’t die, will you? That’s your role as a coward. Learn your place.”

The fifth fell to his knees, sobbing to himself. Amaro glanced at his father. He despised the look on his face. Was that pride? After what he had done?

He held his hand out, “I’ll be taking my gift back now, father.”

Kadmus smiled at him, “You’ve earned it, my son. It has been a while since I’ve seen you like that.”

Amaro clicked his tongue, swiping the box to show his discontent, “How am I to explain the blood on my clothes now? I’ll have to change.” He walked away.

He felt a mix of pride and disgust knowing his father had approved of his brutality. Amaro had shown him everything he wanted to see, and he felt terrible for it. He had gone too far, and he always did when it came to fighting like this.

The thrill of battle was forever ingrained in him as a Xirxus. He could lose himself in a fight and wake up atop a pile of defeated foes. He had no idea how many people he could hurt like that. What would Kaara think of him if he was not merciful in battle?

It didn’t matter in this instance, though. Those boys had deserved to see the monster inside of him. They had started it, he merely finished it. He had tried to warn them before, but they hadn’t listened. He doubted they would be back, though.

If they did come back, Amaro did not know if he could stop himself from outright killing them next time. There was no room for idiots who did not learn from their mistakes, after all.

He went back to his tent to change. He needed to take his mind off of what had happened. He could still feel bloodlust lingering in his gut. It had taken all of his willpower to stop himself from hurting that fifth noble boy.

“I see, so that’s why you lose so much of the potency with more ingredients. This is good. It’s incredibly simple too!” Sancta said.

Amaro raised an eyebrow, peeking into the tent. It smelled like Sancta was in the middle of making potions.”

“Let’s try adding just one thing, though. I think we can still make it better.” She said.

“What did you have in mind?” Another voice said.

“Potions are good only outside of combat, or when you can duck behind cover to drink one, but what if you could open the bottle and it automatically works on you?”

“How would we do something like that?”

“Vento berries might be able to make it into a high pressure gas to be inhaled, or applied to a wound once uncorked.”

“But that might remove some of its potency.”

“Yes, some but it’s a tradeoff. You could use two of these before you’d be able to splash or drink it otherwise.”

“I think you’re right, let’s try it.”

Amaro took the opportunity to walk in, “Oh! Hello. I was not expecting the two of you in here. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” He glanced at the one Sancta had been talking with. It was the human Noxa from before.