The roar of the crowd woke me from my slumber. I had been laid outside the crowded ring to recover from what I assumed was a hard blow to my face. I touched my swollen cheek and winced, confirming my suspicions. Djadja had knocked me out cold with one punch.

“This round goes to Ersabet!” Roan yelled to the crowd. My scattered thoughts slowly fell back into place, and I made my way to my feet.

I could barely see Ersabet through the crowd, so I gently pushed my way through. At first, I’d catch an angry glare, but they parted for me when they saw who it was.

Ersabet saw my haggard self as I emerged from the crowd. I gave her a thumbs up, which she returned with a neutral nod.

At the far end of the ring, an unconscious human was being carried out. He was a big guy, but it seemed like she had no trouble dealing with him.

“And now, we ask that a second-tier fighter steps forward to face our newest initiate!” Roan said.

The crowd gasped when a new Kurksin stepped forward. Apparently, this was seen as odd from the audience's perspective.

Ersabet didn’t seem to mind her new opponent one bit. “Please introduce yourself to me before I dispatch you.”

The Kurskin hissed at her. “If you want my name, come take it. Defeat me, and I will tell you.”

Ersabet shrugged. “As you wish.”

Roan started the match, and the Kurskin bolted forward and went low for a tailsweep. With a graceful side flip, Ersabet avoided the tail and positioned herself to land a swift punch into the crouched Kurskin’s face.

He scrambled backward and rose to his feet. He showed his teeth and attacked, but Ersabet had better range, and she could keep him from getting close enough to land a serious blow.

The way she moved in combat mesmerized me. She was so fluid, never wasting energy. She bobbed and weaved like she was as weightless as a flower. Her every move was calculated and executed with precision.

She was terrifying. And beautiful.

The Kurskin had thrown and wasted at least thirty punches in less than a minute, not including the kicks he had failed to land. He was tiring quickly; his strikes were slowing.

When Ersabet landed a stiff knee on his side, the direction of the fight changed dramatically. The Kurskin almost caught her with a right hook but missed by an inch. Ersabet punched the spot she had just injured, and the Kurskin yelled out in pain.

She leaped into the air, and I thought she was going to kick him in the face for a moment, but instead, she wrapped one leg around his throat and the other around the back of his neck. She spun around him until she had enough momentum to make her move. She twisted her hips and launched the Kurskin hard onto his back, her legs still wrapped tightly around his throat.

“Do you yield?” she asked him in a sweet tone.

His only response was a muffled hiss as he tried desperately to pry her leg from his throat.

“Fine.”

The muscles in Ersabet’s long legs flexed even more as she tightened the hold on the Kurskin.

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The lizard’s eyes bulged, and with three taps on her leg, he submitted.

Ersabet released him immediately and hopped up to her feet. There were cheers, but I noticed those cheers only came from the humans.

I whooped and gave her a double thumbs up again, and she winked at me. I wouldn’t have believed it possible, but I saw it for myself. Ersabet had a personality underneath that frozen, ‘holier than thou’ exterior.

“A decisive victory for Ersabet!” Roan shouted into the crowd of Hunters. She and her companion, John, have already proven they have what it takes to join us in most of our hunts.” Roan held up a finger. “But not all.” He wiggled his finger. “No, no. There are some monstrosities in this world that even the best of us might fail to subdue. If your goal is to take down a category three unnatural being someday, you must rise to the top rank of the Hunters.”

He turned to Ersabet. “Do you wish to continue?”

“Indeed.”

“Then send out a man or woman who can truly test her mettle!” Roan bellowed.

On the other side of the ring, a group of Kurskins, including Djadja, argued about who should step forward. I could tell that Djadja was campaigning for himself, but there was another challenger. He was a big lizard. His bare arms were dusty white, and his face had a light blue tint, which dazzled his brilliant blue eyes ever so eerily.

After some time, Big Boy won out over Djadja, and so the blue-white monstrosity of a Kurskin stepped into the ring.”

And that’s when Ersabet started laughing.

“What is so funny, blue demon?” her opponent said.

Ersabet regained her composure and pointed to him, “I know you. You were an arena duelist. But I don’t remember seeing you win anything. You’re no fearsome opponent like Prajio Vrentris. You’re the bottom rung of the ladder he used to climb to the top.”

Enraged, the Kurskin bolted forward, attempting to tackle Ersabet to the ground, but the woman flipped seven feet in the air and landed gracefully behind him. She then rocketed her shin right under his tail and between his confused butt cheeks.

The Kurskin howled in pain and collapsed to the ground. Ersabet leaped onto its scaly back, and all he could do was gasp for breath.

He stood on all fours, unwilling to fall to the stone floor. Ersabet sat atop his back, her legs locked in a death grip around his throat.

The Kurskin didn’t have the strength to dislodge her. He couldn’t outlast her, yet he refused to give up.

All it took was for Ersabet to lean back a few more inches, tightening her leg’s pressure on his throat, for him to fall to the ground, unconscious.

Roan rushed in to check and make sure the Kurskin was alive. I took note that he checked for a pulse in a similar way as he did with humans, just below the base of the jaw.

It seemed that the Kurskin did indeed have a pulse because Master Roan said, “Can two or three men please help me get Hunter Vrito out of the ring? He’ll wake up soon enough.”

Two humans and Djadja came forward to carry the fallen out of the ring. They’d try to wake him outside the circle of onlookers.

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” Master Roan said, his voice proud and powerful. Today, we have been honored. Mother Erda herself has blessed us with an individual who has the potential to greatly aid our endless quest to rid this world of malevolent beasts, unnatural beings, and monsters that do not belong. Today, fellow Hunters, we celebrate our two new, and dare I say, astonishingly formidable members!”

The crowd erupted into cheers, and Roan gestured me forward. He grabbed mine and Ersabet’s hands and raised them in the air. The crowd cheered again, louder this time. They began to change ‘hunter, hunter,’ but I noticed a certain demographic was not engaging in the celebrations. Each and every Kurskin looked like they wanted to cut my throat.

The hatred they were projecting towards me paled in comparison to Ersabet. From the look in their eyes, I’d be surprised if Ersabet survived the night.

Master Roan had a few more proclamations, but the only one I heard was about an initiation party. It would be held later tonight.

Honestly, I could use a party. My thoughts had been teetering too much into the dark side lately, and that’s a big no-no for me. Sometimes, it seemed like everything was hopeless, like there was no good in this world. When I thought like that, it made it easier to hate. Like the way I hated Prajio. Like the way I hated all the Kurskins. I didn’t know if I hated Ersabet. I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to because I liked her. I thought she was someone worth being friends with. I was beginning to understand her. She was here for a chance to have her name etched in history, but she was also a person, complex and enigmatic. I couldn’t hate what I didn’t know, so maybe I didn’t entirely hate her.

I’d have to think about the rest of the Dalari, though. At the moment, they were pretty high on my list of enemies.

The point was that a party might cheer me up and clear my mind of these wasted thoughts. Hopefully, there would be alcohol.