Minutes had passed since Aspen had challenged my obsidian fox and neither of the two seemed willing to take a step back. They both wanted this duel, although for very different reasons. While Aspen fought with his honor at stake, the fox in question enjoyed the mere thought of having something exciting to play with, a fact its wagging tails easily revealed.

Of course, I couldn’t have the two duke it out on the open ground like the meadow we were currently standing in, especially with the fox’s abilities still being unknown to even me. So once I had sent the lava foxes back to their fiery home to rest and warm up after their exhausting fight, I instead made my way to the lake’s shore to ask the watching water foxes to heal those hit by stray attacks.

Overhearing my words and likely knowing about their rather harmless nature by now, the surviving men happily accepted the healers in their midst. They didn’t go as far as to touch the monsters or pet them, but that only meant I would be required to reward them myself afterward, which I would gladly do.

With the water foxes ready to do their part, I instead made my way over to the equally curious Liri Fox, who was watching all of this happening with its big, blue eyes. Gently lifting it up, I walked over to Marisa and placed the precious little beast right into her waiting hands, so it would be taken care of until after the battle, when the obsidian fox would likely be thankful for some healing herself. Soon, Marisa was already petting the fox, making it stretch and purr in pure bliss.

I couldn’t help but look at the two in envy before continuing with my work. As my next course of action, I knelt down, closed my eyes, and imagined large plates of mithril growing out of the ground, each with slits that could be used to watch the fight without being in too much danger.

After creating several dozen of these shields, each taller than the men, woman, and foxes they were meant to protect, I made my way over to Alfred to ask him to act as the referee for this duel, knowing he was somewhat neutral and would surely know about rules and practices associated with these kinds of fights.

The paladin readily accepted, before walking up to his commander to ask for the rules he wanted adhered to. The man in question quickly listed a handful of them, such as no outside influence, no leaving the makeshift arena, or the choice of weapon, which somehow only applied to himself as the fox was barehanded. As for magic, both he and the fox would fight at their full strength, which would likely favor the monster in turn.

After giving himself this handicap, Aspen looked over to the men who had been revived by the blessing before slowly nodding. “This duel will be to death,” he added like it was a mere sidenote to him.

Alfred immediately began trying to talk him out of it, but his commander remained firm in his decision. With this back and forth happening right in front of my eyes, I could only shrug, as it was very likely the man would have made a different decision had he not still been under the effect of the blessing, though I couldn’t possibly guess if he was just stubborn and prideful or simply curious about what it would feel like to be reborn in such a way.

Of course this change, should it happen to him, wouldn’t be without detriments, as Aspen surely knew. If he lost, everyone who took a single look at him would know it for sure, especially so when my dungeon and its unique blessing became common knowledge among those living in Abervale. And once it spread to his family, his standing would surely plummet. He could only hope that foxkin would not be looked down upon by society, but I had little fear about that as they were almost indistinguishable from regular beastkin, save for the colored tips of both the ears and the tail.

In the end, it was not for me to decide whether to take the risk or not, as both the fox and Aspen were eagerly awaiting the fight. So after taking a deep breath, I shook Aspen’s hand as a sign of accepting the rules in my fox’s stead, before making my way over to Marisa, who was already waiting behind one of the shields.

Alfred instructed all non-participants to hide behind the shields, before asking the two duelists to wait at the arena’s corners opposite to each other. He then rammed his shield against the mithril plate, eliciting a loud, chime-like sound from it, before quickly going to hide himself. The duel had begun.

Almost immediately, a golden flame enveloped Aspen’s blade, casting a warm light on the man. He mumbled a few words, likely praying to his chosen deity, before charging towards the obsidian fox who only now was realizing the game she had been waiting for had just begun. Soon, her tails were wagging, before she stomped on the ground with one of her front paws, forcing a shiny, black shard the size of a bottle to shoot out of the ground.

The projectile missed its target by a long shot, not even making the man flinch as he simply raised his shield, but that immediately changed when it suddenly lost its velocity upon reaching the height of his head. The shard hovered in the air for a split second, rapidly spinning around its own axis, before suddenly exploding in a sudden flash of orange and yellow. Loud, high-pitched sounds could be heard as countless shards pelted the arena and its surroundings, some of them impacting the shields with such a force that only spots of black dust remained on the thick plates of mithril, others flying far into the distance instead.

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I could only gulp as I watched the marks on the nearby shields, silently praising myself for having chosen the sturdier material over a simple earthen wall.

Aspen was taken aback by the sheer power of the attack. His shield had blocked the projectiles, but it clearly had seen better days, as there were many deep dents in the metal and all of them looked as if they were surrounded by soot.

The paladin mumbled a curse, before shaking his shield arm, indicating that he was in pain, but he didn’t let that stop him. Rapidly mumbling another prayer, his shield soon was enveloped by the same golden flame that could already be seen on his sword. His opponent yelped in glee, knowing this meant the fight would continue on, before rearing up and stomping both of her paws at the ground.

Aspen immediately dropped to his knees to take cover behind his shield, and not a moment too soon, as I could count at least seven of the projectiles now spinning in the air. I couldn’t help but shrink away and close my eyes as they all exploded in unison, filling the air with an ear-numbing noise and countless deadly shards.

After the attack, both of my ears were painfully ringing, and others were much the same, as I could hear groans of pain everywhere around me. Aspen himself was already back on his feet again, leaving me in shock. It wasn’t that he was uninjured, no, a stream of blood could be seen at the corner of his lips, meaning at least one of the shards had bypassed not only the shield but also his armor, but the man wasn’t about to give up with just that. He lifted himself back onto his now-shaking legs and readied his shield and sword before dashing towards the fox with a wild roar.

The obsidian fox happily answered in kind, yelping loudly as she ran towards her opponent. With each of her steps, more and more shards shot out of the earth, causing dozens of explosions.

When she then leaped up to heavily land on all fours, I could only watch in awe as several rings of sharp-edged, black glass erupted from the ground, easily throwing Apsen back and onto his back.

For a moment, there was total silence. The paladin was barely moving, blood streamed down his face, his sword was gone and his armor was destroyed beyond repair. The fight already seemed to be over, but I was once again surprised by the tenacity of the man.

There was a bit of movement as the man's right hand tightened into a fist before he used all of his remaining strength to roll onto his side, lift himself up, and crawl over to his discarded weapon. His opponent watched it all happen with wagging tails. Even when the paladin used his now visibly damaged sword to prop himself to his feet, she continued watching, looking as curious as could be.

It only took Aspen a few moments to prepare his final stand, and once again his sword was alight with golden flame. With only a few steps still separating the two, he raised the weapon high above his head, before shouting loudly as he brought it down.

The obsidian fox just let it happen, likely having realized the sword would miss her, but she was forced to jump away at the last moment when the golden flames had lept from the blade to cover her instead.

Aspen couldn’t help but laugh as his opponent jumped around, trying to get free of the flame, only to suddenly fall silent when the monster suddenly sat down, confusedly tilting her head as the flame slowly petered out.

“Wha- what,” I heard him stammer. “But- It's a monster!”

It was at this moment that I heard Marisa breathe out the loudest sigh I had ever heard in my life. She was about to stand up and give the man an explanation but soon thought better of it, likely not wanting to influence the duel in Aspen’s favor.

Aspen took a few steps away from his opponent, unsure what to do now that his trump card had turned out to be useless. But he soon gathered his remaining courage. Lifting his sword into the air, he once again whispered a prayer, as the blade was once again enveloped in radiant golden flames, bigger and brighter than the last.

But before the paladin could make his next move, his sword suddenly gave in. Burning chunks of metal rained onto the ground, leaving him in a state of utter shock. He couldn’t even react to his opponent fanning out her three tails and opening her maw wide for a final attack.

Soon Aspen was pelted with dozens of small projectiles, each of which exploded into tiny shards after deflecting off the shattered remains of his armor. The paladin was thrown back by the sheer force of the attack, his body heavily impacting one of the mithril shields. It didn’t end there, as more and more explosions occurred, soon hiding the man in a cloud of black, constantly illuminated by flashes of yellow and orange. Then, suddenly, there was a bright burst of white, followed by a second.

Alfred immediately stumbled into the battered arena, shouting for the fox to cancel her attack, and when she did, my eyes widened upon seeing the cruel results of her magic. Aspen’s armor lay on the ground, entirely covered with black marks, dents, and even some holes where the volcanic glass had somehow penetrated the metal instead of just evaporating or exploding on impact. His battered shield was only slightly better off as Aspen never had the chance to lift it in front of his body.

As for the mithril plate? It had withstood every single one of the attacks with only black marks covering its once shiny surface, keeping the viewers safe. Or at least it would have if it wasn’t for the eye slot I had given it, as it turned out. Not only had it soot covering its edges, indicating some of the shards had passed through, but I could also already hear the panicked yelps of the water foxes trying their best to save those that had been hit.

I immediately ran over, wanting to help at least a little bit, but when I finally reached the shield, I immediately noticed I was too late. Two of the remaining paladins were clutching their heads, having been hit by at least one of the shards, but they had several foxes each taking care of them. But there were also robes to be found on the ground, and countless tools and artifacts of all colors and shapes. Their owner was nowhere to be found, having long disappeared in a literal flash.

I couldn’t help but curse.