I blocked the punch to my head with my forearm, and then the kick to my head. My opponent was aggressive and if I had faced him a few months ago I would have lost indefinitely. But now… it was just part of the dance we did. Like a choreographed performance, we ran through the steps like we had done a hundred times before.

I had gotten too used to his fighting style so when he aimed a kick at my leg I moved in close, grabbed his leg and brought him down trying my best not to injure him too badly.

“Damnit!” Janus swore. The boy was quite a bit shorter than the rest of our peers despite being the same age.

“Come on champ let’s get you back up.” I held out a hand which he grabbed quickly. Janus was probably the closest thing I had to a friend, a personal bodyguard given to me by Red. I never really ever had to worry about where he was cause he was always in my shadow.

“You’ve progressed well,” Red spoke from the sidelines. “We need you to get your armour painted, can’t have you being associated with the rest of the worthless bunch.”

I blushed at her compliment, the skin-tight underarmour was doing wonders for her. She totally knew as well which annoyed me, I hated the way she smirked when she wrapped her arms around me and chewed on my ear.

She always did it out in the open, never alone. A demonstration of saying that I was hers and it certainly created a lot of rumours.

“Should I be concerned about your growth or just enjoy its size?” She teased pushing her body against mine. We were currently in the combat room and many people were here watching the show, it was always some sort of publicity stunt with Red. I think she just enjoyed the attention.

“Being part of an Einherjar group is unfair,” I said not looking her in the eyes. Back when I was with Fox I could never spend time in the combat dome. It was too full and unfortunately, you did need space the train. Additionally, and this was probably the most important fact, you always had to hold back. The Seraphim were always lurking in the corners. But now that I had Janus I could train for as long and as hard as I wanted. Add my ichor onto that which makes me never need a med pod I went from spending no time in the training rooms to upwards of ten hours. My fight partners literally had to rotate just to keep up with me and they would often bring food and water for me at Red’s request. The only time I would ever leave this room was at Red’s request or sleep.

Because of this in the coming weeks, I quickly outperformed my peers. It was honestly embarrassing how much just being in an Einherjar group improved your skills.

“Why are you even here? You don’t usually come to watch me train. That is unless you’d like to get in the ring with me.” I smirked. She’d kick my ass, even without ichor she was death-given legs. However, that didn’t stop me from challenging her every chance I got.

“As much as I like ending up on top of you I’m just here to watch tonight.”

“Kinky.”

“Gross.” Janus gagged. “You two need to bring it down a little, you make it uncomfortable when sparring.”

“You still have another round in you Canis?” Pallas asked examining me over.

“Yeah he’s fine, I took it easy on the bastard.” Janus puffed out his chest.

“Sure you did.” Red rolled her eyes. One of the other members of our group gave Janus a comforting pat on the back.

“You see we’ve got a bit of a problem. The challenges I’m receiving have become more frequent,” Red continued. “This wouldn’t usually be a problem but I’ve been hearing whispers of the next event. I don’t want to fall behind again, I can’t be wasting time recovering after fights. I need points to be made, said point being to leave me the fuck alone.”

“You can just speak freely to me Red. Let’s not do these games where you hint at what you want me to do but you can’t actually say it cause otherwise there is a whole political problem. No, none of that. Just tell me what you want.”

“I want you to fight an Einherjar. Truly I don’t really care which I just want you to win. Of course for political problems I didn’t tell you to do this, In fact after this I gave you a stern warning and a spank on the bottom after this.” Red sarcastically said. “Some of the Einherjar are a bunch of cowards and have some unspoken non-aggression pact. As much as I loathe to admit it I would rather not have to spend an afternoon being told what to do by a bunch of whiney children.”

“But if I do it without you, then at worst a slap on the wrist.”

“That’s fine, besides I know just who to target.”

“Yeah, Bennu.” Pellas interrupted. “Look it’s no secret you have a hate boner for Solaris but he and Titan are off-limits. They are the only two Einherjar that have ichor and are guaranteed to keep their positions in the coming weeks. We should target who is about to lose their position soon, no harm in kicking an opponent while they are down.”

I scowled but his decision made sense, but I didn’t care for sense right now. He was right there, in his stupid bright orange armour. Rumours spread about his ichor. Apparently, there were only two high grades in the bunch, mine and his. Almost like it was fated he would get the best, a punishment from the universe delivered to me.

Wasp tried attacking him but she was too slow every hit. The Artemis ichor was leaked due to the size of his large group. Solaris and Wasp had the largest group so it was natural their group couldn’t keep a secret. What the Artemis did was it didn’t make a person faster per se, it didn’t boost physical stats, but, what it did do was increase reaction speed, Low grade it was just a general boost so it was harder to sneak up on you. Usually a waste of an ichor unless you could get something better. However, on the high-end spectrum it was obsurd. He had no lag between movements, while he wasn’t faster his body just was always ready, always moving. The second part that apparently came from Solaris’ mouth that if he concentrated he could slow down time. His brain was able to increase his cognitive function and processing speed to the point that during a fight he could apparently flip a switch and see everything slower.

Combat wise his ichor was far superior to mine and skill wise he still outclassed me. I would just need to train harder to kill him.

“Fine. I’ll deal with Bennu, but his squad will try to stop me.”

“Ha! I’d like to see them try.” Janus laughed.

A small smile found its way to my lips, it was nice to have someone by your side. I turned to go face Bennu, but the annoying bastard was hiding at the far end of the room getting his one fight he was forced to do out of the way so he could leave and keep his Einherjar status. Not this time.

Before I could go Red grabbed my shoulder, her grip tight to the point I don’t think I could just walk off it I tried.

“Don’t forget though Canis. One Einherjar per group, that’s the rule.”

“Of course.”

“Do you understand?”

“Perfectly.”

I rolled my eyes. Red was a violent bitch but what made her truly difficult was the games she played. It was honestly ironic, watching her from afar I always thought she was earned her rank through violence. That she didn’t have a single thought in her head besides blood, nothing more than a vicious dog. Now I realise that title belonged to me more than her. Despite being the best fighter in our group it was her who played the popularity games and pointed me at the people she wanted to beat up.

Bennu was quick to notice me approaching, and with a nod to his own team he started heading to the exit. Though, it was most likely intentional that the stairs and elevator were placed near eachother. By simply intercepting their path it would be impossible for them to leave without a fight.

“Come on Bennu, why prolong the inevitable?”

“Go fuck yourself Mutt.” I rolled my eyes, Mutt had quickly become my new nickname due to my namesake Canis Major.

“Come on Bennu if not now then when? Every time you walk in here you fight, you’ve done well to last a long as you have but let’s face it. You’ve got three weeks tops.”

“Ha! And you think you can beat me? Red’s Mutt.” Again with the Mutt, unfortunately it was quite popular. “You’re nothing but a fuck toy so why don’t you go back to crawling under Red’s bed sheets and piss off.”

I let out a sigh. This was going to be a pain if I lost, I’d never hear the end of it by Janus. Reguarless I started the initiative by launching myself forwards. All I needed was for the teacher to acknowledge the duel and no one else would be able to interfere. It’s just up until then they could try to hurt me as much as possible first.

The first one of his group charged me attempting to tackle me to the ground but Janus was faster eagerly accepting the tackle with his own. The poor boy was smaller and got swept away by him but he’d be fine. He was a feral bastard.

The next tried swinging a fist as me but another one of Red’s, or rather my teammate took him. It was less of a fight and more of two swarms running into eachother. Bennu’s goal was to get out of the room, mine was to single out Bennu. This was just a time game of whether I could get to Bennu before the wave of people made it to the exit.

I wouldn’t work though, It was a weird feeling being the stronger one. Red had done well with her team. I didn’t even need to contribute as whenever someone approached me they were met with another body. Just over and over there was always someone to split the sea of people for me. Even Pellas of all people joined the fight bloodying his own knuckles and fighting off two people at once. He’d lose but he was a smart guy, he knew that his victory wasn’t the one that mattered.

“Hey bastard.” I smirked finally making it to Bennu through the sea of opponents. A loud crack rung as my fist hit his cheek sending him scrawling into the floor.

Time seemed to stop as contact had been made and everyone looked in one direction towards the teacher. Had she noticed? Is the one on one registered?

A bright smile made it way to my lips as a small nod was given by the teacher who was observing from the far end of the room.

“Shit!” Bennu kicked out with his legs pushing me away from him as so he could get himself back up. I took the kick to my sternum sending me staggering back but now both Red and Bennu’s allies had created a circle of people around us.

The fight was on.

“Come at me Mutt!” Bennu roared pumping out his chest.

“Such valour, I’ll enjoy watching the Seraphim pick you apart when you become one of us ‘Einherjar.’”

I ran forward, Bennu despite his bolstering had a defensive style it seemed. Shit. Thanks to my ichor my best match-up was against aggressive opponents, I won by out-lasting my opponent. A defensive fighter could wait till I make a mistake and knock me out in one clean hit.

I wouldn’t give him the chance though as I swung my fist which he easily blocked. Then another and another and another. He kept his guard up but ultimately started to waver under the assault of knuckles. He weaved under one of my blows and he gave a strong hook shot to my kidney causing my eyes to bulge in surprise. I tried to move back Bennu’s strong uppercut met my jaw first.

My teeth rattled and for a second I lost my orientation as my head was sent back. Bennu was better than I thought. However, he took a few moments to long to deliver a powerful knee to my diaphragm so I was easily able to bring my arms down just in time to block it. It stung and he certainly wasn’t holding back.

He tried sending a kick to my leg trying his best to hit my nerve but I rotated it so it was just bone on bone. A loud disgusting crack sounded as our shins connected and the part of my brain that told me I was feeling pain rang. Thankfully our pain tolerance was absurdly high but we still got the signals for it telling us that this wasn’t good.

He swung twice at my head, going left and right which I weaved between and aimed a jab for this throat which he blocked with his forearm. Like lightning, he brought his arm down catching my extended hand stopping me from avoiding his flurry of punches. All I could do was raise my guard as he repeatedly hit my body, face or throat. Where my arm wasn’t guarding he aiming for.

Having enough of getting my ass kicked I pushed forward, he had overextended and I brought my knee up crushing his balls between my knee and his pelvis.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

The two of us disengaged from each other, taking a few seconds to recuperate. The crowd at least was having fun cheering, more for Bennu than myself. Was I really that disliked?

“Looks like Red should’ve taught you how to fight instead of be a whore.”

“Big talk from the coward who had to be forced into a fight. Afraid to be the bitch of a whore?”

“You’re dead Mutt.”

“You seem to misunderstand. I am the one winning this fight, all this talking only benefits me? While you’re wasting your breath my bruises are already healing.”

His eyes widened in surprise, he’d forgotten in the middle of combat.

“What’s wrong Bennu? No clever comment? Or is it just going to be a bunch of sexually frustrated growls?”

He closed the distance quickly, to Bennu’s credit he was better than me. Hand to hand, one on one with being freshly rested he would’ve had a much greater chance at winning. But, he clearly had been avoiding the med pods for minor injuries, not wanting to waste time, all while the weeks of challenges and small injuries had compromised his form. It wasn’t a lot and he probably could quite easily still beat me but at least now I had a chance.

A smile found its way to my lips as he swung first brushing my nose with the hit. I tried swinging in retort but his other hand was faster knocking my head to the side and sending spittle from out of my mouth. Bennu tried another kidney shot but I was ready blocking it with my forearm and then closing the distance so our chests touched each other.

Now I wasn’t proud of what I did next but pride was a new feeling for me so it wasn’t hard for me to let go of it so easily as the two of us fell to the floor. The close distance made punching impossible and the best either of us could do was a fairly weak elbow. Technique had been effectively removed from the fight as now there was no skill to the combat. Being on the floor in a knot of limbs meant hits couldn’t miss. Just a flurry of elbows. At the time I couldn’t tell who was winning, I just felt him try to rip the hair out of my scalp as he shattered my nose, but eventually, the blows stopped coming.

The hand on my hair lost its grip on me as Bennu’s arms fell to his side. He was bloodied badly, and his breath was heavy. He gave a cough causing a wave of blood and teeth to oose out of his mouth.

Skill wise Bennu would win. But when it became a battle of attrition I was the strongest in our year. I stood up from the group, my own face was bleeding with one eye not fully able to open and my nose wasn’t at the right angle but I won.

Some cheered, Janus was howling in my victory while most scowled and left and started to walk away. Only one looked me dead in the eye, the girl whom I had made a promise to just before.That's right, only one Einherjar per group.

I walked up to Bennu who was wheezing on the ground and I picked up one leg from the ground.

“I forfeit. Congrats ‘Einherjar’ you won.” Then I brought his leg down on my own twisting it till I heard an audible pop.

Bennu let out a gasp of pain, his broken leg not responding to his cries.

I ignored the confused expressions as I walked back to Red who only smirked. I had the Einherjar position in my grasp and I let it go. , something no one had done before. It was a clear victory for me, I had won the fight but forfeited the Einherjar position. They were all wondering if you could even forfeit the Einherjar position, it was something won by combat and if you won combat could you even give it up?

That was a question even I wanted to know. All eyes fell to the teacher who was still watching from the sidelines, she didn’t seem surprised but gave an uninterested shrug as if to say ‘I don’t care, do what the fuck you want’.

Bennu’s squad quickly picked him up rushing him out of the room, he was still technically Einherjar and would have to accept any challenge in the combat room even in his awful state. Some of his team members even gave pity congratulations for keeping his title. Pathetic. My scowl must have been quite obvious as most of Red’s squad made room for me as I stood before Red.

“Happy?” I raised a brow.

My head shot to the side as my cheek burned red. Red had quite a slap.

“Happy? Happy?! What the fuck was that?!”

“Oh, I see.” I rolled my eyes. Who were we even trying to fool? The Einherjar all probably saw through this stupid ploy, this whole thing was just so she could have some level of deniability.

“Oh, you see! I’ve had enough of it Canis, something has got to change cause this isn’t working.” She was having fun with this. “I give and I give and I give, but you just take! How much more can you take Canis 'cause I’m running out of stuff to give!”

“You done?”

She slapped me again.

“Am I done?! Am! I! Done! I just can’t with you right now! I will speak to you tonight, so maybe we can finally deal with your attitude problem!”

“Of course.” I growled, my teeth grinding together. Turning around I rolled my eyes, I’ll put up with it for now. I have proven I’m capable of beating the weaker Einherjar and I can do it again. Red has promised me Solaris and Wasp. Even if I had to be paraded around on a lease around Mayrterdom I would.

I was quick to find Wasp, Fox and Solaris in the crowd. It was easy with Solaris’ pride being as large as the room, you could spot the arrogance from miles away. Fox to his credit couldn’t look me in the eyes, good. He had no pride, no friends and had traded his balls for survival.

Wasp just glared. She was a vindictive little one. I gave her a bloodied smile and pointed at her. A promise.

Though Solaris still had the annoying smile he always wore. Unlike the other Einherjar, he seemed unphased as always. He was thrilled, practically glowing. His eyes shone so bright that everyone else in the room seemed to be absorbed by his arrogant glow. Even at my triumph, when I was supposed to terrify him he gleamed.

“You better not be rolling your eyes at me!” Red roared.

Later back at Red’s private room our squad laid around, Janus was quick to take the hammock he created for himself, it would often break apart in his sleep and Pallas would often reconstruct it better as so it would at least last a few days. The Einherjar rooms were obnoxiously large, intentionally big enough so that they could fit a whole team.

“Okay, we got strawberries, grapes, vodka, chocolate,” Hygiea said looking through the basket of food we were given. While the Einherjar were given food it seemed that it was less nutritional and more beneficial. It wasn’t a lot for a whole team but it was enough and full of rare delights. Chocolate was something even those of power and status Mayterdom had to put some effort into getting it.

“You know Red loves the chocolate, save that and some fruit for her.” Pallas hovered over Hygiea making sure she didn’t try sneaking anything away.

“Yeah, yeah I know. Chill. Oh my! We got sugar liquid cans!”

“It’s called soft drink.” Pallas rolled his eyes.

“Vodka and sugar liquid is amazing!” Janus cheered much to the agreement of several others in the room. “What per cent?”

“It’s eighty.” Slayers were the pinnacle of human achievement, our bodies were designed to fight venom from Seraphim. Beer was just like water to us, for us to even start to feel a buzz we would need enough alcohol to kill a regular person.

Pallas knelt over the basket taking out an assortment of items and putting them into a separate cloth. Mostly chocolate and strawberries along with a few others.

“Canis,” He called. “Red wants to talk to you privately tonight.”

“What why?!” I asked.

“Didn’t ask.” He shrugged.

“I can think of a few ideas,” Janus smirked.

“Careful, Janus. Red will kill you if she hears you talk like that.” Hygiea.

“Nah, she’ll be too tired fucking Canis for that.” Janus leaned back in his little hammock.

“Are you kidding? Canis is too much of a prude for that. Red could sit on his lap shirtless and he’d think she was just looking for a place to it.” Mathilde teased.

“Oh really? Wanna bet?”

“With what money?”

“We can play for alcohol, you can take my share of it.”

“You got yourself a deal.”

“I wanna join! There is no way Red would stoop to Canis' level. If she wanted a lay she could do so much better.” Hygiea commented.

“Most of that was unnecessary.” I glared at her but she just flipped me off.

“How about you Pallas?” Janus chikly grinned.

“I thought you and Canis were a thing after all your late-night ventures to the training room. I’ll sit this one out.”

Soon more and more people joined the betting till it became an actual problem. More and more deals were being made over my love life. It was humiliating seeing how many people think I had no chance with Red. I didn’t even want Red!

Ignoring them I took the cloth that Pallas held in an outstretched arm. Stupid allies, stupid Red and stupid me for even listening to them. I was going to steal some chocolate. That will show her.

I knocked on Red’s personal room. While she was awake the door remained shut for privacy but while she slept it was kept open as so the people on watch could protect her from any Seraphim that tried sneaking in like they always do.

“Come in!” I opened the door, unsurprising to see her in just her underwear.

“Here is your personal cut of the food. Pallas made sure you got all the chocolate.”

“That boy is loyal.”

“He’s probably into you.”

“Maybe.” She shrugged. “But I don’t think so, you can be loyal without being horny.”

I snorted. I’ve yet to see it.

“The is a fridge there. Just throw it wherever careful some Seraphim like to hide in there.”

A personal fridge? I had to swallow my jealousy, Red of all people was not deserving of such luxury. Inside was even worse. It was like a treasure trove of rare sweets and alcohol. I was actually salivating at the look of it.

“Impressed?” She teased lying down on the bed her legs kicking behind her.

“Yeah, quite the reward that your team amassed for you.” I narrowed my eyes. If she cared she certainly didn’t show it.

“I like to hand out some of the better treats as gifts for doing well, associate benefit with serving me. It’s important that the leader has some show of superiority. A shepherd does not call himself a sheep or else the sheep might think themselves shepherds.

“You shouldn’t try to be clever you aren’t very good at it.” I turned to leave after delivering her goods but she grabbed me as I walked back past her bed to leave.

“What?” I raised a brow.

“You did quite good today.”

“Thanks?”

“You deserve a reward.”

“I’ll take the chocolate.”

“Not quite.” She purred. “I was thinking you could have something else.”

She pulled me onto the bed. Her hips grinding against my own, her hands pinning my own above my head.

“I was thinking something more… intimidate.” She leaned over giving my lips a light kiss before she rocked her body pressing into mine to nibble on my ear. Unfortunately for her and Janus I wasn’t so idiotic. I pushed her top half off me earning a surpise yelp from her.

“Get off me,”

“Awwww but why?”

“Cause everything you do is a game and I refuse to be a player.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” She leaned back down to try kiss me again but I raised my hand pushing her face away.

“I don’t know?” I rolled my eyes. “How about today, you didn’t actually need me to scare people by beating Bennu, you just needed to see my progress for yourself didn’t you.”

“You know me so well.”

“You’re afraid?”

“Terrified actually. Not of you betraying me, you aren’t capable of that. But of losing you, you’re gone the moment we take out Wasp and Solaris. I have no doubt you’ll take Janus with you as well, the poor boy loves you more than me.”

“You’ve been procrastinating taking out Wasp and Solaris because you don’t want to lose me?” I growled.

“No, not until I get ichors for myself. And even then I still want you. You are perfect. You don’t want to win, you’re happy to be mediocre so long as you aren’t alone. Despite your poor attitude you crave attention. My cute little guard dog. You lack that desire I have, to be the very best. You try to bring up everyone around you, I personally think it’s moronic. I see you stay up at night, take detours cause you are worried about Seraphim ambushes and you’ve taken several injuries for my squad. You are terrified at the idea of someone dying even if they can be replaced. You are so much more valuable and have so much potential but you squander it so the useless can live. That’s why we work. I don’t have to worry about sacrificing my team for my own benefit, cause you’ll be there to catch them.”

“This isn’t a competition. It doesn’t matter who graduates so long as we all do. These are people’s lives! There isn’t a winner to this!”

“Yes there is! This whole thing is a competition! The winners prosper and the losers die! Why do you think I’m not afraid of Wasp and Solaris teaming up? Two Einherjar can’t coexist. To thrive here you need a winner’s mentality. A mentality that only Einherjar possess.” I certainly didn’t argue with that. All the Einherjar were selfish monsters who would let another kid be eaten so long as it meant they got a cushion for their chair.

“Listen, there are two schools that New Brisbane has to produce Slayers. The majority get sent to Harbour.”

“Yeah I know.” Slayers were the closest thing to celebrities we have and the government was more than happy to pump out any gossip they had on Slayers for the sake of patriotism. One particular thing everyone knew was the two Slayer schools. Martyrdom and Harbour. Besides just the names not much was really known about them, the Slayers was the important part, not the education.

“Then you know you got fucked over being sent here. When it came to Slayers the government had a choice, quality or quantity. It is better to have more slayers or better slayers? So the answer was both, one school to pump out as many Slayers as possible while the other to create the most effective killers.”

“I’m guessing Mayrterdom isn’t the good one.”

“Mayrterdom usually has fifty-five students entering the fourth year. Both are sent five hundred kids. Martyrdom only has eleven per cent make it to fourth year while Harbour has two hundred. That's forty per cent survival.”

“So? Is this just to make me feel like shit for losing the coin toss?”

“I’m trying to tell you that at Harbour the teachers actually protect them. Looks after them. It’s a school where mediocrity is encouraged. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of talented Harbour slayers. Some of the best come from there. But the place is made so they can get as many people as possible to pass. People like you would do good there, people who are all about working together, but here? No. The individual prospers. Winners! We are competing against each other to live! Two Einherjar can’t work together because they are incapable of it. They have learnt, been rewarded for and actually enjoy selfishness. Wasp and Solaris will kill each other. That much is certain, it’s just a matter of time.”

“You promised me I would get to hurt them.”

“Oh please Canis. You don’t want that, you’re a little boy who is angry at his ex-girlfriend for dating his bully. You go around acting like you are some revenge-crazed fool but you have taken no steps to get there.”

“I am planning!”

“You’re stalling, but that's okay. I don’t want you to be selfish or hunt down you’re enemies cause frankly, I don’t think you’d be good at it. I want you to stay just the way you are cause this works for me. When you are like this I can win.” She pressed her lips to mine.

“Why are you doing this? I’m just a toy to you.”

“Yup, but I take care of my favourite toys. Now relax, every part of you but the part I want is so rigid.”

“I hate you.”

“I know, but you won’t hurt me.” She kissed my neck, slowly starting to go down. “Maybe a little light spanking though.”

Red was a manipulative bitch. She had the complete opposite ideals when it came to Mayrterdom that I did. She was the worst and was good at it. I had no doubt later in my life that we would fight against each other, we just weren’t compatible, and eventually, our ideals would clash. But… just tonight, just for tonight. I would worship her.