As Gabriel and Kwame agreed with the terms of the duel, Jonas and Daniel were told to wait at their respective tents until the time for the duel arrived.

Bryn went with Daniel to his tent to check on him.

“Are you sure about this?” Asked the faun.

“I’m not Bryn. But there are moments when logic and reason do not come into play. If you have to defend your honor, you must. If you have to defend your family, you must. If you have to keep your word, you must. Doesn’t matter the odds or the situation. You either rise or lose yourself.”

“I think I get it… but isn’t Jonas much stronger than you?”

“I’m not so sure about that. Yes, his pressure and bloodlust are strong, but they are using magical items to prevent us from appraising them. He can be stronger or weaker, I’ll have to find out during our fight…”

“Good luck teacher, I’ll cheer for you!” Said Bryn leaving Daniel’s tent.

As he was walking out, he decided to go and look for Kwame and Gabriel.

Walking around the village, none of the people from the village seemed worried about the duel. They were still talking with the people from the caravan as if nothing offensive had happened. Many were talking about watching the duel together.

With each sign, Bryn’s confidence in his teacher fell another degree.

If I’m only considering the speed at which Jonas learned parkour and my three hours with him and Gabriel… Daniel is about to have the surprise of his life… Still, Daniel never showed me all he could do.

Arriving near Kwame and Gabriel, Bryn once again felt no animosity between the two.

“Kwame, I think we can have a couple of seats around the arena, what do you think?” Asked Gabriel, looking around an open area at one of the village’s sides.

“That would be great. We can help carry things here.”

“Nonsense! Bryn told me you study magic, correct?”

Kwame looked at Bryn who had just arrived, wondering why would Bryn tell Gabriel about that.

“I do, yes.”

“Very good, what elements do you focus on?”

“Fire and wind, Mr. Gabriel.”

“Hmm, then you are not going to be much help. Not to worry… Luca, come here!”

As the other kid came near them, Gabriel whispered something in his ear. Walking a few steps away from them, Luca started to focus on the middle of the open area. As his focus increased, the air surrounding him felt different.

The scene reminded Bryn of the time Kwame had made his vow. Unnatural effects on the air could only mean one thing!

Magic!!

As Bryn thought the word, Luca moved his hands and stepped forward. As his feet touched the ground, a slight tremor was felt in Bryn’s hooves.

Suddenly a huge square came from the ground and went half a meter up from the dirt. The area was perfectly five by five meters wide.

Bryn looked back from the area just affected by Luca’s magic to Kwame and Gabriel.

Kwame was amazed at what he had just watched. His bulging eyes pointed at the child who had just used magic as an extension of his own body.

How long did it take to learn a few skills, I don’t think I have achieved such a natural relationship with fire or wind as this child demonstrated.

Looking at Gabriel, whatever doubt he had about who trained Luca went away.

With a wave of Gabriel’s hand, all four sides of the arena started to move. Stairs on both sides, and every 3 steps of the stairs, a huge side branch made of stone appeared. With that wave, Gabriel had created one grandstand at each side of the arena.

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Kwame couldn’t hold his reaction anymore.

“M… Mm… Mr. Gabriel, are you the one who taught Luca his handling of magic?”

“What, this? I’m not sure you can call this handling of magic but yes, it was me and Jonas who taught both Luca and Michele in regards to magic.”

Bryn’s expression was similar to Kwame's, but his mind was in turmoil.

It is true, real magic exists in this world. The repercussions are tremendous. I need to find a way to train under Gabriel and Jonas. Even if just for a while, they can help me achieve heights I can barely imagine. Can my knowledge from Earth also help me with magic? There are so many things to test…

“I believe with this we are ready to call everyone for the duel, how about you guys?” Asked Gabriel looking at Luca and the two amazed bystanders.

“I agree with you Father, almost everyone from the village has a place to sit and those who can’t can stand on the sides…”

“Kwame and Bryn, would you like to change anything?”

“I’m ok, thank you.” Said Bryn.

Kwame was still fazed by their display, but Bryn pulled on his legs to bring him back to reality.

“Me too, I’m fine with everything.” Said Kwame.

“Good, let’s invite everyone and the challengers!”

As they went around the village to call everyone into the arena, Bryn and Kwame were a bit confused. They could tell that apart from those from the caravan, nobody was impressed by the arena that suddenly appeared. All the villagers walked there as if it was a normal occurrence. Little by little, everyone took their seats, and the entire arena was filled.

Spread out across the grandstands, the members of the caravan were anxious to see their Daniel, their champion fight. They all knew that the party members were strong, but it would be the first time they saw him in action. Ever since they started training in the mornings, it was like a small ember of fighting spirit started to burn in their hearts. Today that ember was flaming in anticipation.

It was impossible to tell who was more excited about the event, Bryn who wanted to analyze every aspect of the fight to see what he could learn and implement in his training. Luca was excited to see Uncle Jonas against an unknown force. Kwame only imagined the kinds of magic Jonas would display in this match.

As everyone settled down, Gabriel went to the middle of the fighting stand.

“Good evening, everyone, how are you all doing today? As you all know, today we had a challenge!” A small silence allowed for the villagers to roar.

“Yeeeea!!”, “Go Jonaaaas”, “Uhuuull”...

Using his hand to control the cheering, Gabriel calmed everyone and pointed to one of the corners.

“Alright, I know you are thrilled about the action, so let’s introduce our opponents. On the left corner, representing Yurei village, we have our beloved JONAS!!”

The small crowd went crazy in cheers, “I love you Jonaaas”, “Destroy hiiim”...

Screaming out of his lungs to overcome the shouts, he continued.

“On the right corner, from our friends in the caravan, we have Daniel!!”

Mixed responses were heard. “Buuuu”, “You got this!!”...

Bryn knew Daniel’s chance looked slim to none, but he screamed anyway… “Go teacher!! Show him what you are made of!!”

At his scream, both Michele and Luca looked at him and started to encourage their uncle Jonas as well.

Kwame was the only one extremely confused in how the situation went from a banquet the night before to a coliseum fight against both parties.

Welcomed by their supporters, both fighters arrived in the ring.

Gabriel used his hands to invite the fighters to the middle of the ring.

Daniel walked slowly, looking around, he had never seen this arena before, and he remembered the village very well. I don’t know how I missed such a different construction, I must be slipping in my scouting. Anyhow, I must focus on him. Looking to the opponent in front of him.

“Gentleman, let’s go over the rules one more time. The rules of the duel are simple, first blood wins the fight. You are not allowed to kill your opponent, the fight will be immediately interrupted if I feel anything close to it. Do you understand?” said Gabriel to both of them.

Jonas was the first one to answer. “Yes, I’m good.”

Daniel followed almost at the same time. “Fine by me.”

Then Gabriel looked at the stands one more time.

“Everyone, we are about to start…” He walked slowly to the side of the arena, where Bryn and his son and daughter were.

“Fighters ready?? BEGIN.”

The atmosphere inside the ring changed as soon as Gabriel finished his last words. Both fighters were experienced, so neither moved a single inch at first. Still, if a regular person walked inside the ring, they might faint from the pressure both were exuding.

Bryn was new to the fighting world, so he decided to ask Gabriel what was happening. “Mr. Gabriel, why aren’t they moving?”

“Good question Bryn. Usually, when you are fighting someone you should study their movements, skills, and weapons, every aspect of him can give you information usable in the future. They are both studying each other, but that should end soon enough.”

Bryn looked at Daniel first then. He was wearing full armor, a one-handed shield, and a sword. From what he knew about his teacher, he was going all out on his equipment. His eyes were more focused than what Bryn had ever seen when hunting. Small shoulder movements were seen now. As if he started to faint, some attacks to see Jonas's reaction.

Jonas on the other hand was not at all looking like Daniel. Even though he was just standing there, he was wearing the same clothes he had before. No armor in sight and no weapon in hand. Smiling at his corner of the arena, he was simply standing there with both his arms opened, as if welcoming Daniel’s attack.

Small drops of sweat began to accumulate on Daniel's forehead. His body did a few more faints before his line of thought was cut by Jonas’s voice.

“If you are planning to stay there for the entire fight, I’ll going to you.”

As if in slow motion, Jonas started to move his left leg. His right arm went backward to compensate for the weight shifting. As his foot touched the ground he disappeared from everyone's eyes.

Daniel was focused on Jonas's every movement. From his perspective, the mas demonstrated a surreal amount of agility in his first attack. When he disappeared in the eyes of the crowd, Daniel only had time to trust his instincts.

“Left si…”, his mind was interrupted by his shield blocking a backside slap from Jonas’s hand.

“Good job defending that,” said Jonas looking at the man rolling to the side of the arena trying to comprehend what just happened.

Almost falling to the side of the ring, Daniel thought “Did he just slap my shield? How is that even possible?”. He was quickly back on his feet as his body recovered.

“There comes another one, prepare yourself,” said Jonas. This time his left leg was the one to move. Once again, the speed he demonstrated was so immense that he appeared to have teleported in front of Daniel. His right arm came down in a swinging motion aimed at Daniel’s face.

Having almost no time to breathe, he stepped forward to try and misdirect Jonas’s strike. Unfortunately for him, the man realized his plans and bent his arm from a slapping motion to an elbow strike coming down like a missile. Realizing the situation he was in, Daniel sidesteped and rolled away from his attacker.

The entire exchange had lasted for only a second, but he was already exhausted. Now on opposite sides from the starting position, Daniel had one knee on the floor and Jonas was standing in open arms once again.

From Bryn’s perspective, in a single second two blurs moved so fast that he couldn’t tell who was attacking who. All he could register was that after they became blurs, Daniel looked in a dire state.

“Bryn, your friend is quite good, much better than I anticipated!” complimented Gabriel as he looked to the arena.