Kira appeared in the middle of the coliseum, her ji drawn and ready. Opposite her stood yet another fae, this one wearing thick, obsidian armor. It seemed he was a heavy armor user, though she couldn’t imagine why a bow user would wear such heavy, restrictive armor.

Though, now that she looked closer at him she could see he wasn’t wielding a bow at all. “What?” she asked, eyeing him. “Where’s your bow?”

“Don’t like bows,” Lowkey said before reaching to his hips and drawing two rather long daggers.

“Wait, seriously?” Kira asked with a grin. “But don’t fae get all their skills for bows? How do you plan to beat me like that?”

“I mean, it’s just for fun in the end. But like this,” he said before tapping his foot on the ground twice before appearing right in front of her. She let out a yelp and tried to move away from him, but he stepped in quickly, keeping close. She tried to drive her polearm down on his head, but he deflected it with his right dagger, the left one going forward and stabbing her twice in the stomach.

Her HP went down a little and she let out a startled gasp. “Whirling petals!” Kira cast, her body once more seeming to move on its own and unleashing bursts of shadows in all directions when her polearm spun. She caught him in the assault but, a moment later, he teleported away. She quickly brought her ji down and aimed the tip at him. There was no way she’d let him take her by surprise again like that.

“Crescent flash,” he cast before once more seeming to appear in front of her, his blades slashing out. She let out a loud curse and stepped back and to the left this time, catching the blades on the shaft of her ji and deflecting it past her and to the right.

“Corruption wave!” she cast before swinging the polearm and unleashing a wave of dark energy at him. He let out a cry of pain, stumbling back before teleporting away once more.

“You’re not bad,” Lowkey said.

“Isn’t it kind of handicapping yourself playing a fae if you’re going to use daggers?” Kira asked.

“In a way, I guess. It mostly just means I have to level both classes. Besides, fae are a lot of fun once you get used to the teleport and the mobility is amazing,” he said before leaning forward. “Crescent flash!”

This time, though, she was ready for him. She pulled her polearm in close, digging the bottom into the ground to stabilize herself and shield as best she could. “Shadow eruption,” she cast, the darkness swirling around her for a moment before erupting outwards, sending him stumbling back.

Kira didn’t let up, though. “Corrupting strike!” she cast, darkness enveloping the blade of her ji. She charged in, stabbing wildly with the ji while he struggled to get back from her. A few stabs got through and then he, once more, teleported away. She didn’t see him in her vision and so she quickly kicked back behind herself when she turned.

“GRRKRK!” The sound from behind her made her hesitate for a moment before she looked at her opponent. More importantly, where she had kicked.

Lowkey had gone entirely still, dropping his daggers and clutching himself between the legs.

“Are you okay?” Kira asked, unsure of how to proceed after that. “How high do you have your pain burst settings?”

“I’m fine,” Lowkey said sheepishly before slowly kneeling down to pick his daggers up. “Sorry, it’s just a bit psychologically frightening to get hit there.”

“You sure? You want a minute?” Kira asked. She glanced up into the stands. She wondered how many people in the audience had cringed at that sight. “Err, I didn’t mean to hit you there, by the way.”

“No, no, it’s just VR. Not like it really hit me there. Just… whew. That’ll wake you up,” Lowkey said before moving back a few feet from her. “Good reaction. Remind me never to try and attack you from behind again.”

Kira gave a light chuckle, readying her ji towards him. “Okay, say when.”

“Ready!” he yelled before charging her again. He teleported once more, this time appearing to her right and stabbing with both daggers towards her chest.

Kira ducked under the assault, the blades barely nicking her hair. She swung her ji into his legs, twisting with all her might and knocking his feet out from under him. He fell back and she quickly jumped down on him, stepping on his right arm and jamming her ji directly into his chest. “Necrotic ram,” she cast, the pole shifting into the dark ram and then plowing once more into his chest, wiping out the last of his HP. He disappeared a moment later, making her stumble forward before she could steady herself. She quickly raised her ji into the air, giving a loud cheer. “I did it!” she yelled, moments before she disappeared and reappeared back in her seat.

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Kira took a moment to glance at the guild chat and couldn’t help but laugh. Reading the messages she could tell just where her low blow had happened. A few people had apparently even recorded it and were linking small videos of it. She rolled her eyes, but decided to play it back.

Kira wished she hadn’t. She quickly closed the video before sending a message to Lowkey. ‘So, so sorry.’

‘It’s fine, really. It wasn’t real,’ he sent back to her.

A moment later a second message arrived, this one from Orion. ‘You’re not going to do that to me, are you? Can I surrender now?’

Kira gave a light snort before responding. ‘Only if you try and teleport behind me. You’ll be fine, probably.’ She glanced up at the timer over the arena. To her surprise, it hadn’t begun to count down yet. ‘Is something wrong with the counter?’ she sent back to him.

‘No, it’s just waiting for them to accept it. Have you seen them?’ Orion responded.

Her eyes widened and she quickly sent Ervent a message. ‘Are you and Blueberry still talking? Is everything okay?’

She stared at her messages, waiting for a response. Panic started to rise in her and she mentally cursed herself for leaving the angel alone. She swore if Blueberry started screaming at her about what happened, she’d kill him.

Kira finally got to her feet, intending to run down and check on her, when the timer started. A moment later she received a message from the angel. ‘Sorry! We got caught up in our discussion, didn’t notice the message. Everything is fine.’

‘Are you sure? Do you need me to come by? Did Blueberry say anything rude?’

‘No. He said Quill won’t be bothering me anymore, though. Apparently they had a really, really, really long talk. He’s honestly kind of pissed at him because of what he was saying.’

Kira thought on that for a moment. She’d had him muted so she hadn’t heard any of what he’d said, but now she couldn’t help but wonder what it had been. She considered messaging Blueberry for a moment to ask before quickly pushing that idea away. It was probably best if she didn’t know.

Up above the timer finally hit zero and Blueberry and Ervent appeared in the arena, standing opposite each other. Blueberry’s axe had only gotten larger since she’d last seen it, nearly the size of him and seemingly made of molten lava. Ervent held her shield up, shortsword held tightly in her right hand.

Kira quickly opened up a second screen to watch the fight, this time focusing on both of them. Blueberry made the first move, charging in and slamming his axe against Ervent’s shield. The force drove the angel to her knees and the dragon followed up quickly, using his tornado spin skill to slam into the angel, the axe sending her flying away.

Ervent hit the ground and rolled a good ten feet, laying on her stomach and not moving. Blueberry didn’t hold back, running towards her and lifting the axe high. “No no no,” Kira whispered. She couldn’t believe it. Was her friend really going to lose that easily? “Come on, Ervent! You can do it! Get up!”

The angel didn’t move, though. Blueberry drove the axe down and lava began to spill out from it, raining down on the girl.

Ervent rolled up and held her shield over her. Ice spread out from her shield, flowing out and around the axe and dispersing the lava to all sides. She could see the surprise on Blueberry’s face at the sudden shift and he tried to pull his axe back, but it was lodged into the ice. Kira couldn’t help but stand up, yelling for her friend. “Ervent, you can do it!” She felt a small swelling of pride at knowing those leviathan levels the girl had earned when they partied together were being put to good use.

Ervent dropped her shield and pushed out, letting the ice hold the dragon for a moment. She slashed with the sword and ice spilled out from the blade, striking Blueberry in the chest. She then pulled back and attempted to stab him in the chest but, before she could, fire erupted from the dragon’s body. Ervent spread her wings and took to the sky, narrowly avoiding a sudden ball of fire from his hand. He then pulled his axe free from the quickly melting ice and put a foot down on her shield.

Kira clenched her fists, wondering how Ervent would possibly proceed. Without a shield she was at a disadvantage now. Even with the shield Blueberry could knock her aside with such ease. A close fight wasn’t going to work now.

To her surprise, Ervent didn’t seem to agree. She unleashed her crescent flash skill, darting in and slashing at Blueberry. The dragon held up the haft of his axe, catching the blade against it and stumbling back a few feet before shoving back, hitting her with the flat edge and sending the angel toppling backwards.

Ervent landed on her back, but the shield was by her side now. She reached upout to grab it, but before she could, Blueberry was on her. A scaled foot landed on her stomach and the axe came down, red magic coursing over the blade and lava spilling over the angel. The second and third strike came down a moment later, the axe glowing a bright red. Cleaving strike, a follow up. Worse, Kira could see from this angle that the attack had lopped off one of Ervent’s arms.

Then a black light enveloped the axe before it was brought down on Ervent’s head. A moment later the angel disappeared and the message ‘Winner: Blueberry’ came up.

Kira stared at the dragon for a few moments before he disappeared, then she sat down with a small sigh. Well, she had honestly feared it being a lot more one sided. Ervent had tried her best, there wasn’t anything wrong with that. She quickly opened up her messages once more and sent a quick one to the angel. ‘Good job. You were really cool out there.’

‘Thanks. It hurt, but was fun,” Ervent’s message read. “Sorry I won’t see you in the final round.’

‘It’s fine. I’ll just have to beat up Blueberry for hurting my friend,’ Kira said, a grin forming on her lips. It seemed Ervent wasn’t too upset by her loss at least. She then clicked the ready message for her match.

Only a few more minutes and she’d fight Orion. After all this time, she’d finally get her chance to prove she could beat him. No more crushing her just because his level was higher. Her stomach did small little jumps, a mix of anxiety and excitement.