Coming out of the locker room and entering the arena it was then that Lass came face to face with his next opponent. A strong-looking dragon folk from the distant region of Victoria was eagerly waiting to go up against him.

"So you will be the one to challenge me?", Kalimo spoke in a cocky manner.

"Yea-yea save it for later and sorry in advance."

"What?", Kalimo took a weird look at Lass. “Hah. This won’t take long.” he scoffed.

The announcer then cut in between the two excited about announcing the next match about to begin.

"Hey, village boy! How did you take care of all them injuries so fast?"

"Piss off already.", Lass said as he pushed the announcer away.

"Haha, a feisty one! Well then, everyone is eagerly waiting for you to show them your moves and sponsors are pouring in so make us proud alright kid?"

"Listen here.", Lass spoke harshly, before grabbing the announcer's tie. "I'm pissed enough as it is already. So instead of grinding my gears further and objectifying me for your piss low share of a sponsorship, do that one job you've got and back off, alright?"

"Is this because of that sandwich from earlier?"

"Kill me...", Lass facepalmed in despair.

"Uh...anyway! On this side, we've got the newbie of the Knight of Knights tournament-or we should say rising star, Lass Leviere!"

To his surprise upon the annunciation of his name this time, a large part of the crowd started cheering Lass on as they eagerly awaited the next match to start.

"And on this side Victoria's, world-renowned spear master, Kalimo!"

"Hmph. To think that my second match of this 'show' would be with some random villager, let alone a young one at that."

"Oh really? And here I was thinking my next opponent wouldn't be a narrow-minded brute. But...oh well."

"How dare you! Say it.", Kalimo angrily said, looking at the announcer.

"Man everyone is pissed off today...could it be the weather? Though it is relatively sunny-", the announcer's words were cut by both Lass and Kalimo.

"Say it!", they both yelled as they took their stances.

"Alright, alright, fine! Fight!"

Without a moment of hesitation after those words were spoken both Kalimo and Lass found themselves menacingly charging toward each other. However, to Lass's surprise, the battle was about to be shifted against him.

"How naive.", Kalimo chuckled as he took off in the air.

"The hell? So you're a coward after all? Get down here and get your ass kicked properly!" Lass yelled, pointing his sword at Kalimo.

" Hah. 'Those without wings will forever be rooted to the ground unable to reach those who the earth couldn't bind'. This will surely be easier than I initially thought.", Kalimo scoffed. "Now, let us begin.", he maliciously said, throwing his spear directly at Lass.

With strength that might very well match that of dragons, Kalimo lodged his spear only missing Lass by an inch. It was apparent that Kalimo was toying with him as the shockwave from the spear's landing was enough to send Lass flying.

"Hmph. One and done.", Kalimo said as he landed by and picked up his spear again.

"That all you got?", Lass said as he got up again.

"By the goddess. You surely have the willpower I'll grant you that. I was expecting you to be unable to stand, or better yet dead."

"Yeah, I'll admit it I thought so too. Lucky for me, you throw like a girl, so surviving was a non-issue."

"You insolent, uncouth bastard!", Kalimo screamed, jumping back into the air. "Let's see how long you can endure!"

With those words Kalimo once again took in the air and started a relentless cycle of throwing and grabbing back his spear from the ground, completely mocking and damaging Lass in the process as he was unable to counteract Kalimo's barrage.

"Gah!", Lass yelped as he dropped to the ground.

"Accidents go hand to hand with the arena grounds. So today marks the day one such accident will take your life!"

"Damn...this isn't good. I have no idea how the hell I'm up for this long. But if I have to endure any more..."

From the crowd at the edge of their seats, Ikarisa and Anya were both anxiously witnessing the torture of their young friend.

"Shit. He must be at his limit.", Anya said as she looked at the ongoing match.

"Isn't there someone who can stop this?! Anyone?! Someone has to save him!"

"No there isn't. During matches, the entire arena is blocked off by guards until the final blow decides the result of said match. From the looks of it, this winged dragon asshole isn't planning to just K.O. Lass."

"What?! No way! This must be against the rules! Any rules!"

"It is. The only rule is the one that says, ‘Don’t kill’, but everything else is game. It’s a slaughter fest. But Kalimo is a regular challenger in the Knight Of Knights tournament if and when it happens. So most likely, if he does end up killing anyone, he will resort to his status to cover it up as an accident of using too much force into a fight..."

Ikarisa’s eyes widened, "Lass can die..."

"The reason why I haven't jumped off myself to stop this is...hell it's weird. Somehow I just know and feel it. Lass has a plan despite what it looks like."

"What kind of plan is worth him going all in for with his life?!"

"A crazy one.", said Anya, laughing away.

"Can you both stop being so secretive at times and just tell me?!"

"Hehe. The sword's about to be unsheathed..."

"H-Huh?"

As they both witnessed the final moments of the ongoing barrage it came to a point where the decisive blow was being prepared for Lass's life.

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"You don't like giving up, do you? Fine by me...since you won't say the words I'll have to compensate them with silence. Die!", Kalimo screamed as he prepared to make one final thrust.

"Screw it.", Lass whispered as he drew his sword.

A mighty clash of metal occurred as the sound of grinding still filled the arena walls and a gust of dirt covered the arena itself. All but especially Anya and Ikarisa were jumping off their seats as they eagerly tried to see the results from the dispersing dust cloud. And much to the surprise of everyone.

"What?!", the crowd yelled in surprise.

"What?!", Kalimo screamed in disbelief.

"What?!, yelled Ikarisa in surprise.

"Hell yea, here we go!", Anya laughed as she took out her calculator.

Lass, holding on to his sword with one hand and stopping the entire thrust of the spear with his other bare hand, was standing promptly in the middle of the arena, he was trying to hide away the feeling of sheer surprise his move caused. And as the entire arena fell silent all but one decided to cheerfully snap everyone to reality.

"No standing around big guy! Kick his ass!", Anya yelled at Lass, her voice echoing throughout the silent arena.

"Heh. You're damn right, mutt.”, Lass smirked, turning to face Kalimo. “Here. Take this!", he screamed, pulling Kalimo close.

Imbued with a dark aura with red-like sparks flowing all around him Lass had sent Kalimo back into the air throwing the spear upwards with incredible force and jumping after him in the process.

"Ghk! What is...this?!", Kalimo grunted as he took the hit.

"This is your defeat, cocky bastard!", Lass screamed as he unleashed a flurry of slashes.

Before he could finish Kalimo off, "he" took over Lass once again.

"Stay down.", said 'Lass' as he grabbed Kalimo by his face, brutally throwing him to the ground.

The sheer force of Lass's every move far surpassed what anyone could have expected. At an increasingly powerful rate, Lass only kept emitting more sparks as his every move simply became terrifying. His throw of Kalimo from mid-air only helped to prove said power, as the impact of his collision with the ground had created a huge crater Lass completely turned the tables around.

And momentarily, Lass was able to once again take over.

"Checkmate.", Lass spoke against Kalimo, as he grabbed his spear and sheathed his sword.

"Keep it together...", the voices of another echoed in his head.

"Hmph.", Lass scoffed, snapping out completely and twisting the spear in his fingers.

Almost instantly Lass shifted the course of his spear still sending it to the ground with force enough to break the barrier of sound. The sheer force of the spear's throw was enough to cause an explosion that launched Kalimo from one side of the arena completely to the other smashing the wall and immobilizing him completely. Instead of silence yet again almost immediately the crowd had started to cheer at the top of their lungs for the seemingly legendary sight they just witnessed.

"We have a winner! Spectacular! One of a kind! Remarkable! Lass Leviere is the winner!"

"Whatever.", Lass said, dismissing his victory and kicking Kalimo's spear off the ground, grabbing it again. "Take this to him once he opens his eyes. If he can open them.", he let out a sigh.

"Never underestimate a Frigo race dragon village boy! He will one hundred per cent be up and running by tomorrow!”, the announcer turned around to face the crowd, “Ladies and gents! This will conclude the first eight matches of the first day of the Knight Of Knight tournament! Join us tomorrow for more exciting adventures as the tournament keeps on going further and further until it shows this year's champ! Have a good one folks!"

Going to the locker room Lass was quick to be greeted by two completely different manners as both Ikarisa and Anya had different things to feel and say.

"Lass! I thought you were a goner!"

"Insert 'I told you so' here!", Anya said while chuckling, "I knew you had it in you big guy! Hell, I don't remember the last time when a battle in Kok was this damn exciting!”

"Would you relax? Risa, I'm fine!", he said as he tried to push Ikarisa away.

"Huh? Now that you mentioned it...you are fine. No matter how hard I look I can't find a single scratch! Lass...did you heal yourself?"

"Ah huh. So on top of everything else...should I add healing effect too?", Anya curiously mentioned.

"I suppose you kept your promise about the 'experiment'? What are the results?”

"As I thought the powers you emitted were more or less correlated to demon class demi-humans, though it wasn't the same. When I was testing it I also had open the default demon frequency data I collected from all the weapons and dungeons I have raided so far...but while it would look to be similar it's not."

"So that's still a mystery?", Lass said with a sigh.

"Pretty much. But this did help us eliminate some factors we had in mind. On top of that judging from the massive amounts of damage, you took during the match and the fact I had Risa with me at all times also proves that it has a...healing factor of sorts? I can't confirm that yet."

"That being said.", Ikarisa said, before softly landing a weak punch on Lass's stomach. "Lass, why did you risk your life so much?! He was going to kill you! Why didn't you draw the sword in the first place?!

"That is true...I did catch a glimpse of your plan midway through the match but that was way too big a risk for the element of surprise."

"Would you please calm down Risa? I just...I don't know. I don't. My mind's hazy anyways so cut me some slack and give me some space will ya?

"Hmph, fine! But I don't want to see that ever again!", Ikarisa said, putting on an angry face.

"Alright, alright, let's chill. Besides, Lass, this is yours and Ikarisa's first time in the big city correct? On top of that, you just had a huge victory over one of the top contenders in the tournament so...that's an invitation for a celebration if I've ever seen one!”

"Fine. Just make it as private as possible. The last thing I want is some nuisance with fans and screams."

"Kut and Dry in an hour."

"Are you serious?", Lass was surprised.

"What is it?", Ikarisa asked.

"Kut and Dry are at the very least the top 3 restaurants in Reingard and the top 5 in all of Riza. How the hell did you manage to do that given they're full? You had a reservation?"

"Eh, yes and no. I mean I paid triple the price and bought a VIP pass so that was enough to shove me at the top of the list. Reserved as soon as I knew the match was over before we came to the locker rooms."

"Plain insanity...", Lass stared at Anya.

"That sounds so cool! I'll go get dressed!", Ikarisa ran to the changing rooms.

"Oh, I already told Risa, but here are some preppy clothes for delivery on demand I bought you guys. Sorry, but Kut and Dry do require some class to enter it. That being said, go get a shower and dress up, we have roughly 45 minutes till reservation is overtaken."

"Alright. Risa, you can go change now I'll join you later.", Lass told Ikarisa.

"Ok!", she said, giving a thumbs up to Lass.

As soon as the little goddess had left the room Lass's eyes locked on the mischievous wolf in front of him.

"Alright. Spit it."

"You're quick to catch the ques aren't ya? I found more. These powers can be traced believe it or not. And from their traces, I could find out that they are terrifyingly old. Like way back old. No current Obsulyte data trace, pure energy powers or innate auras match it. But the more I keep going back the more I can see it being Identified with something else. Hell, I even dipped into the forbidden library data on the database of the Ministry of History and Science itself. They actually have paperback books stocked up there. I know. Actual paper pages instead of a tablet screen.”

"Is that even legal?", Lass said curiously.

"They do call it forbidden for a reason.", Anya shrugged.

"What even the hell is going on...what is this? What am I?", he said frightened, looking at the palm of his hand.

"For now you can relax. We don't know anything specific and we don't know what they're capable of. But your powers seem to be safe with you. I mean just that match tho, though Kalimo tried to kill you, you could've easily killed him when you turned the tables but you didn't. That's good enough proof to be sure for now."

"I-I...I need to tell you something. 'I' was going to kill him. Don't get me wrong, I have killed monsters before and injured thieves during my and dad travel's I know it's...wrong to do something in such a fashion. I would never hesitate to kill had it been for something I deemed right or necessary. But when I use this...this thing...something inside me might go horribly wrong. If it hadn't been for that voice I heard telling me to keep it together Kalimo would be 6 feet under."

"Don't worry.", Anya softly said, patting Lass on the shoulder. "Even in the little time I know you, I know you're not as bad a person as you make yourself feel like. Besides accidents can happen!"

"Hah. 'Accidents'. You know an awful lot for practically anything...not bad for a merchant."

"As I said, the art of the trade.", she said with a shrug, winking at Lass.

"Don't think the score is settled yet. It will take a lot more than some luxury to settle it after all the shit that happened in one go."

"Hehe. Trust me. We will certainly settle it way sooner than you think big guy."

"The hell is that supposed to mean, mutt?"

Before they could yet again spiral to another fight the joyful goddess had sprung out of the changing room excited to show her new dress before the restaurant dinner.

"So how do I look? I'm still trying to um...fit in all these flashy toys and jewels."

"Suits you!", Anya happily said.

"Isn't it a little...I like it. But-", Lass said, trying to avert his eyes from Ikarisa.

"Oh come on it's one night only! Now get in there and get ready we've gotta run right after!", Anya said, pushing Lass to the changing room."

"Urgh fine! Don't push me to it."

And with that, Lass could not help but submit to the wishes of the little goddess and the wolf merchant as they were getting ready to go out on their celebratory night…