Elsa stabs at me in anger but I was ready for it and block with ease. She doesn't hesitate and simply raises her sword over her head and swings down with force..

-Jesus Mary Joseph…- I plant my right leg back and brace myself for another blow.

“You!” she slams my shield with all her power.

“Fucking!” another swing knocks my shield sideways.

“Asshole!” I correct my shield in time to block the next swing.

Metal hits metal and her eyes widen. She yells in frustration as her sword is stuck in my shield and she doesn’t have enough strength to pull it out.

I jump back expecting punches but she just throws her shield at me, which I doge to the side.

Panting slightly I try to calm my hands which are shaking from the adrenalin, in preparation for the punches I’m certain will come now that she’s weaponless, but all I see is Elsa’s back as she walks away.

I look at the trainer next to me and back to Elsa with a sigh.

“So…” I scratch my head and address Tabika, “I guess you get me all to yourself…”

Tabika mercilessly pulls the sword out of the shield and my arm with it.

“Oww!” I have no need to exaggerate this time.

-Almost ripped my arm off…-

She examines the sword and the hole in my shield with an awkward expression.

“I’d be careful from now on if I was you.” she says after a moment of silence. “Unless you want her to try and kill you again…”

“Talk about overreacting to a joke…”

“No. I mean she really tried to kill you. She even got a skill as a reward.”

-What now?-

“Explain.”

“Look at your shield.” She points at the large gash in the middle of it and moves her fingers over the dents around it. “There’s no way she could’ve done such damage with this sword, at least not with a swing and certainly not at her level. That was an armour breaking skill of some kind… shield’s useless now.”

“And why is that strange?”

“Because even with your otherworldly powers this is much too fast. Unless of course… the world tree considered this real combat. And if that's the case it means that one of you was trying to kill the other. And I’m guessing it wasn’t you…”

“Oh…” I search for Elsa but can’t find her.

-Should I be angry?- I scratch my stubble as I think -I am half to blame here as well though...-

-Maybe… but that doesn’t mean I deserve to die for offering a thressome.- answers my logical part.

-True. But it’s not like this is a normal situation…- counters my rational side.

-And as good of an excuse that may be, it doesn’t excuse her of trying to kill me.- vetoes logic.

-Didn’t I get a skill earlier as well? Or was I also trying to kill someone?- asks my inner skeptic.

-I was trying to destroy a barrier… maybe that counts?- answers hope.

-Ahh and right before that she made that remark about never hurting people before.- claims rationality.

-Physically at least…- adds the cynic in me.

-And it matters cuz?!- bursts out anger.

-Because it would mean that she might have a better excuse for her attempted murder.- answers logic.

-Which means that there’s no need to be angry yet.- my rational side tries to calm me down.

I sigh as I loosen the straps on my hand to take off the broken shield.

“I got a skill earlier. Took just a few minutes as well.” I bend over to pick up Elsa’s shield from the ground.

“Which?” Tabika asks in surprise.

“Pounding.”

“Passive?”

“Yeah.”

She looks at the ground as she contemplates.

“That one might be possible. But not an armour breaker…” she shakes her head.

“How does it know it was real combat?”

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“It just does,” she shrugs. “I’m sure a priest can tell you more but it’s common knowledge that you rarely survive a life and death situation without gaining a skill.”

“Where's my skill then?”

“Were you afraid for your life?”

“Yes…”

She looks at me in disdain.

“For a moment.” I smile awkwardly.

“Right… so whatcha gonna do now hero?”

-This is getting annoying…-

“Hmm… slay the dragon and save the virgin I guess?”

I take Elsa’s sword from Tabika, grab a new shield from one of the crates and start walking in the direction Elsa disappeared in.

There aren’t that many places to hide at the arena so I locate her pretty quickly.

Passing a small wooden construct sticking out of the wall -a storage of sorts?- I notice, outside one of the smaller entrances to the arena, a knee sticking out from the edge of the opening. As I walk I try to make as much noise as I can without it sounding like I’m doing it on purpose.

Elsa pretends to ignore me so I just sit down to join her.

We both sit in silence and look at the people walking about on their daily business. Since the barracks are near it’s mostly soldiers but there’s quite a few servants running around as well.

-At least I think they’re servants… kinda hard to tell with everyone being so dirty and smelly…-

“Congratulations on your first skill.”

Elsa turns at me in annoyance.

“Tabika says it’s a good one.”

-She’s crying... Shit,- my demeanor grows cold and my expression blank. -I hate it when people cry…-

I hold back a grimace as I notice a tear roll down her cheek and I feel myself distancing away from the situation.

-What’s she trying to get?- says the side of me I hate the most.

-Ask her.- answers rationality. -Nicely…-

Elsa leans her head on the wall with a sigh and sniffs. A pained expression on her face.

-Why am I doing this again? Such a waste of time…-

-She has a gun, and its better then getting magical HIV from one of the locals?- asks rationality.

-Theres Mary. She’d be dtf- interrupts logic.

-And fun as well most likely. But it’s no reason to miss out on Elsa.- states my lower brain.

-And no reason we can’t have them both.- adds hope.

-I wonder how far she’ll go before saying the safe word.- anger makes me smile.

-Only one way to find out…- explains courage.

-Or idiocy… it’s always difficult to tell the two apart…- remarks my inner skeptic.

“You know… I’m kinda offended you think so low of me.” I say in an annoyed voice. “Do you really think I’d touch any of these people without an extra thick condom? Or at least some antibiotics at hand?”

She says nothing in response.

“You have your own problems. We all do. And we are all in the same fucked up situation.” I point my finger at her accusingly.

-You're not looking but I know you can see it from the corner of your eye.-

“But I make a joke and you try and kill me?”

Now she turns to look at me.

“What? The knight wasn’t enough for you?”

Anger flashes on her face. It is replaced momentarily by sadness and horror and then back to anger again.

“I didn’t try to kill you. Couldn’t even if I wanted could I? Not with these safety charms in place.”

“So? Doesn’t mean you didn’t fucking try! I saw it in your eyes! I was just about to yell for help when your sword got stuck.”

“Don’t lie. I can see you’re faking it.” she rolls her eyes.

“And I could see you weren’t.” I glare at her.

She opens her mouth to retort but simply lowers her head to stare at the ground instead.

I watch the people walk by as I wait for Elsa to say something.

-The ball is in her corner now. It’d be nice if she falls for it but what should I say if she doesn’t?- I scratch my beard and smile as my eye catches the little battlehare that helped me tie my shoes.

-Wonder where she’s going? I’d love to play a little with that slave crest of hers.-

“Sorry.”

“For?”

She gives me a look that tells me she’s regretting not killing me when she had the chance.

“For you being an asshole. Life must be really horrible for you isn’t it? I apologize for trying to help end your suffering faster.” she sticks her tongue at me.

“Funny more than horrible but apology accepted.”

“Greeaat.”she says sarcastically.

“Wonderful.” I jump to my feet and throw her a sword and a shield. “I also want a skill. What does yours do exactly?”

“And you think I’d tell you why?” Elsa looks at me like I’m an idiot.

“Well… you did get it at the cost of my life. So I’m curious what my life was worth.” I start walking back to the arena through the short stone corridor with Elsa following behind in silence.

“Dividing swing. I think it allows my swing to cut things in two better.” she shrugs.

“Does it say what?”

“Nope. And I’m not telling you in what tree I got it, so don’t bother asking.”

-Shit…-

“Also, it’s my second skill.”

“Right… the whispering… I forgot about that.” I shake my head as an image of the little Indian girl spasming lifelessly on the altar flashes in my mind, -This brings back memories I thought I finally managed to forget...- a small sigh escapes me.

We stand a few steps away from each other. Partially hidden from the trainers and earthlings by a wooden construct sticking out of the wall.

-How do I go about getting a skill?- I ask myself as I prepare to fight.

-Kill her! That's how!- answers anger in return.

-No. I can’t do that. I didn’t fuck her yet.- my lower brain calms me down.

-Rape her then!- reasons anger.

-That can work.- logic makes me smile, which in return causes Elsa to flinch and get into a fighting stance.

-Can’t do that though… I’ll get caught. So I need to find a way to trick her into trusting me more instead.- vetoes rationality.

-I can lose on purpose.- says pride.

-But it’ll probably backfire in the long term…- whispers fear.  

-New world new rules!- rises anger.

I notice Elsa’s eyes widen in surprise for some reason and my body bursts forward on instinct.

-Kill her and fuck the body!- burns anger from inside of me and I roar at Elsa, shocking her into flinching backwards. My vision narrows as an image of her lifeless body on the ground flashes in my mind and fills me with joy and even more anger.

She tries to recover and counter my advance but it’s too late. I tackle her to the ground and mount her abdomen, my legs pinning her arms to the ground. She tries to struggle but with the added weight of our combined equipment she can’t even make me budge.

She starts saying something but I slap her ruthlessly.

Recovering faster than expected she opens her mouth to scream in protest so I thrust my fingers down her throat causing her to gag and cough as some stomach acid gets pushed up into her mouth.