Henry's insight caused Garrett to feel as if another piece of the puzzle had fallen into place. Quickly reviewing everything he knew about the Ebony Association, Garrett realized that he had inadvertently forced Gero into a corner.

The Ebony Association was made up of adventuring teams that primarily worked in the swamp, maintaining the official trade routes between Insomnium and some of the other cities connected by the waterway. They were one of the city's main suppliers of monster material as well, harvesting all sorts of rare and hard to find goods from the swamp, and then bringing them into the city to sell.

That hadn't been a problem, as there had been a gap between the Grave Walkers' territory and Janis Manor's territory, giving them an easy route to take their goods to the markets in the center of the district. Those routes had now been eliminated, as the Klein family had absorbed all of the smaller gangs that controlled those streets.

Had the Klein family simply remained the Grave Walker gang's subordinate, it wouldn't have mattered, as Gero and her forces could have simply ignored them. But because Garrett was being pushed into taking one of the ten seats, that put his gang on the same level as the Ebony Association, which would force Gero to negotiate with him if she wanted to continue moving goods through his territory.

It was no wonder that Gero was taking this fight seriously. Henry, seeing that his words had been properly understood, gave Cynen a nod, and then wandered off to find a seat, looking forward to watching the challenge.The first fight quickly approached, so Cynen led the way, Garrett following behind her as their team headed into the arena. It was a massive stone building, with enough seats for thousands of people. The arena stretched in an oval around a large sandy pit where the fights would take place.

There were seats already reserved for them at the edge of the arena, and Ryn pushed Garrett's wheelchair up to one of the seats, while Cynen led the rest of the team down into the arena. The challenge was simple. A gang that wanted to maintain its seat had to persist against each challenger team in turn.

Their first opponent was Delland of the Marble Griffins, along with four of his men, they entered the arena, across from where Cynen and the others stood. Though Delland had clearly stated that his only interest was in making sure the Klein family was up to scratch, Garrett was still wary, and told Cynen not to let down her guard. Hearing someone call his name, Garrett glanced up, and saw Thomas Gelavin walking towards him with a wide smile.

"Are you excited to assume your seat at the table?" the young nobleman asked, laughing when Garrett rolled his eyes.

"I'd be much more excited if we didn't have to go through this farce," Garrett said.

"You and me both," Thomas chuckled, patting Garrett on the shoulder. "We have much more important things to do, don't we? Speaking of which, I'm quite looking forward to meeting your special guest."

Leaning down next to Garrett, Thomas lowered his voice.

"Believe me when I say my father is just as excited."

Glancing down, he saw Garrett's eyes shift, as if pointing towards something. Thomas looked over and saw a robed young woman sitting next to Garrett. Though he couldn't see her face, Thomas was sharp enough to pick up what Garrett was indicating, realizing that the person he had just been speaking of was sitting next to Garrett. His expression stiffened slightly, and the hand he had on Garrett's shoulder twitched. His recovery was swift, however, and he waved to one of his attendants.

"Bring me a chair," he said. "I'm going to sit next to Garrett."

Ryn, who was sitting on the other side of the princess, heard Garrett's silent command and quickly stood up.

Bowing slightly to Thomas, Ryn said, "Sir, you're welcome to take my seat."

"Oh, that's perfect," Thomas said, giving her a grateful smile.

Seemingly oblivious to the hard stare Morris was giving him, Thomas took Ryn's seat while she went to stand behind Garrett. Sitting down, he casually greeted Princess Eloise, pretending that he didn't have any idea who she was. His acting was so good that the princess actually fell for it, and with considerable delight, introduced herself as Mary.

It didn't take long for Thomas to engage her in conversation, and as the two of them chatted happily, Garrett returned his attention to the arena, where the first challenge was about to take place. Maximus stood on Cynen's right, his large shield covering her side, while Obe stood on the other side, his large mace resting on his shoulder. Abbius stood behind the three of them, his crossbow held loosely in front of him, while the red-masked assassin stood unmoving next to him.

Delland, who had donned a helmet, strode towards them, his four men trailing close behind. Each one held a small shield on their left hand, carried a javelin in their right, and had a sheathed sword at their waist. Each was dressed in splint mail that clanged as they walked, filling the air with quite a bit of sound. Better than any bell, the ringing of their armor caused the arena to quiet down, as everyone stared at the two teams getting ready to fight. Arthur Tellson was overseeing the fight, and he stood up from where he sat at the edge of the arena, lifting his hand as Delland and his men stopped, approximately a hundred feet from Cynen and the others.

"Welcome to the first challenge," Arthur Tellson said, his voice booming effortlessly across the arena. "This fight will continue until one of the leaders surrenders. Other than that, there are no rules. You may begin."

As soon as his words rang in the air, the Marble Griffin team charged forward, their shields rising in front of them as they thundered across the arena, sand spraying with every heavy step. Abbius responded with a crossbow bolt that glowed with bright light as it tore through the air towards the enemy on the furthest right. At the last moment, the man managed to bring his shield up, but the force of the bolt dented the shield and stopped him in his tracks.

Cynen, Abbius, and Maximus all advanced, breaking into a light jog as they met the incoming charge. At the same time, the Red Masked Assassin began to move as well, his body blurring and then vanishing completely. For a moment, those watching him could track his steps across the sandy arena, but then they too faded, causing gasps and glances at Garrett. Everyone knew that the Red Masked Assassin was a member of the Klein family forces, and seeing him completely vanish sent shivers down their spines.

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Abbius was already shooting a second bolt when the two teams crashed together, unleashing their awakened powers and holding nothing back. Delland was hoping to tie up Cynen by himself, but the blast of flame that she let fly curled around him, even as it forced him back, causing his heart to sink. At the same time, Maximus and Obe teamed up on the remaining soldier. Maximus hit him with a shield charge, causing him to stumble as Obe stepped around Maximus' shield and slammed his mace into the soldier's side. Much of the force was absorbed by the man's armor, but he was quickly overwhelmed by the two fighters working together.

The fourth soldier was trying to rush into the fight, but he was forced back once more by Abbius' bolt, and a moment later, a terrifying feeling of danger shook his heart, causing him to dive to the side as the Red Masked Assassin appeared behind him, stabbing toward his kidney with a long dagger. The attack missed, and without a word, the assassin stepped backward, fading from sight once again.

They'd only been fighting for a minute, but Delland already knew that his team was outmatched. Cynen was effortlessly fighting against him and two of his soldiers, while the other two soldiers were being double-teamed by their opponents. Though Delland had some tricks of his own, his goal wasn't mutual destruction, and so, after another tense minute of fighting, he jumped back and called his surrender. And not a moment too soon, as one of his soldiers felt the sharp tip of the assassin's steel dagger on his neck.

As soon as the fight was over, the assassin retreated, returning to stand quietly next to Abbius. Maximus offered a hand to the soldier he and Obe had been fighting, and had just knocked down for the third time. After staring at it for a moment, the soldier swore and grabbed it, letting Maximus help him to his feet. Delland walked over to face Cynen, lifting his helmet to reveal a grudging look of respect.

"I genuinely thought you'd be the only one with any ability," he said, as his eyes swept over the other members of her team. "But clearly, each one of you is skilled. It would have been a little bit more fair if you weren't quite so oppressively strong but as long as you had been able to match me, your team probably would have won anyways. Well done."

"Thank you," Cynen said.

In the stands, Thomas leaned forward to speak across Princess Eloise to Garrett.

"Your forces are quite well trained. It's fairly rare to see Awakened who can go up against the Marble Griffins."

"I mean, it was two on one," Garrett said. “Hardly a fair fight.”

"Even if it had been completely even, it probably would have ended the same way," Thomas replied, clearly not wanting to let Garrett dodge the compliment.

"The real challenge will be the next fight," Garrett replied, his eyes drifting to where Gero and her forces sat.

After Cynen was declared the winner, Delland led his men out of the arena, and Cynen was given two minutes to gather her team together. After that, Arthur Tellson called Gero to the stage. Garrett didn't recognize the other four fighters she brought with her, which surprised him. He had thought that she would have given Twen Fieldsmith of the Dark Blade Collective a chance to prove himself. But it seemed that this challenge didn't actually have much to do with the gang that Gero had nominated to take the empty seat.

With an ugly expression on her face, Gero stalked into the arena, her four fighters trailing behind her. If she won here, then all it would mean is the Klein family wouldn't be eligible to hold one of the seats. While that would temporarily solve her problem of being fenced in and blocked from access to the markets where the Ebony Association sold their goods, it still wouldn't solve the problem in the long term, and it was clear that Gero understood this just as well as anybody else. She was in a rough position, and as she faced off against Cynen and the others, there was an obvious desperation in her glare. Frowning slightly, Garrett took command of Cynen, speaking through her mouth.

"We're willing to negotiate if you step down," Cynen said, speaking too quietly for anyone outside of the arena to hear.

Her words caused Gero to pause, but then the woman's expression hardened once more.

"I have no desire to be under your heel," Gero snarled. "I'd much rather just cut you down."

"So be it," Cynen said.

As Garrett relinquished control, her covered eyes stared straight at Gero, as if her gaze was burning through the cloth mask and burrowing into Gero's body. Even before Arthur Tellson gave the command, Cynen had begun to walk forward, forcing him to hurry up and announce the beginning of the fight.

As she did, the aura around her grew stronger and stronger, causing heat to radiate through the arena. Behind her, Maximus and Obe both retreated, joining Abbius and the Red Masked Assassin, who was still visible. All four of them watched with tense expressions as Cynen got closer and closer to the enemy. Seeing the Grave Walker guild leader advancing by herself, a feeling of humiliation washed over Gero. With a furious scream, she drew her swords, causing wind to whip through the arena, spraying sand this way and that.

Her team was clearly prepared. They quickly donned masks to keep the sand out of their eyes. At the same time, they spread out, revealing their weapons. Each was armed with a pair of hooks with chains on the end of them that extended to their wrists. It didn't take a genius to figure out what their plan of attack was, but Cynen continued to walk forward slowly, unperturbed.

"She's foolish enough to come alone. Take her down," Gero said.

Her body suddenly blurred as she dashed backward. As soon as she retreated, the others advanced, sprinting forward to surround Gero on four sides. Once they were in position, their hooks shot out, the sharp ends tearing at Cynen's body as they tried to tie her down.

Since Gero relied mainly on speed, her advantage would increase massively if her opponents couldn't move. This would allow her to strike and retreat before they could respond. Cynen, whose eyes were still fixed on Gero, didn't seem to care about the hooks and chains. A wave of fierce flame burst from her body, completely surrounding her.

The first chain to reach her rapidly melted, transforming into little more than slag that dripped to the ground at her feet. The second chain followed the fate of the first, and all four of the fighters quickly withdrew their other attacks, not wanting to lose their chains to the flame that ate at the air around her.

One of them didn't manage to withdraw his chain fast enough, and without even looking, Cynen suddenly reached out and grabbed it, her fingers locking it in place. A thread of green flame darted along the chains, lighting up each link as it went. A moment later it reached the Ebony Association fighter, revealing a mouth like a giant serpent as it bit the man's hand.

He let out a terrible shriek as the flame burned his skin and began to slowly climb up his arm. Shaking himself free of the chain, he fell to the ground, trying to smother the flame while pumping as much of his mental energy into his arm to resist it as he could. Yet the flame continued to burn. No matter how he tried to smother it, it continued to dance on his skin, charring his arm black.

The mental energy he used to try and block it was rapidly eaten up, and suddenly the flame jumped to his shoulder. There was a whooshing sound, and his arm flew into the air, to land some distance away. Blood spurted from the wound on his severed arm, as Gero appeared in front of him, her jaw clenched tight.