Vidari and Imber had been together a long time. I expected their coordination to be top-level and I wasn’t disappointed. I recognised that she was the brains of their little duo when we first met, but I had also learned that Imber wasn’t as stupid as he looked either. I was impressed to find his technique had improved since we last fought.

He didn’t present any clear gaps in his block and he didn’t bother with masquerading as a raging brute. He simply focused on maintaining the distance between us so that his longer reach could threaten me without allowing me to dart within his range and find a path to Vidari.

Vidari stayed out of sight. She hid behind Imber, leaning out to hurl her stones in between his strikes. Her timing was well considered.

Imber’s guard was lowest in the moment after he swung his heavy mace. While he was regaining his balance, I had the best chances to strike, but every time I tried to take advantage of this, Vidari’s attack would force me to dodge.

I could potentially save Mana by parrying her stones, but I wasn’t sure whether the Tick Target skill would still apply to me if I blocked the stone with my dagger. If I parried, but still took the annoying hex, I would be in trouble. The hex applied a 50% damage increase to each subsequent attack and 10% increased accuracy. If I let her dictate the flow of the fight, her stones would starting homing in on me, no matter much I dodged. After enough ticks, the damage would be enormous.

However, Imber was ready to deal enormous damage right now… and his armour was sure to offer him enough protection to survive my luckiest strikes. Heck, he could probably tank a blast from Sengamura and stay on his feet.

They both knew it made sense for me to evade Imber and find a way to deal with the squishy ranger first. That’s basic strategy... but I don’t like to be predictable.

Imber wasn’t swinging wildly yet. His attacks were composed, but I knew once he was feeling threatened, that composure would start to slip.

He side-stepped like a gigantic, shiny crab, moving at a gradual, consistent pace to allow Vidari to always remain behind him. If I stepped towards him, he struck at me with a wide sweep that he kept low to stop me ducking beneath it.

I was forced to leap backwards or jump above the mighty blows. If I jumped up, I would have to use Basic Dodge to avoid any follow-up combos or attacks from Vidari. So I chose to leap backwards.

Imber smirked. I was responding as intended. He was clearly trying to force me into a corner to trap me there and hit me with a big swing from that monstrous mace. Damn, they planned well.

Unfortunately simply knowing someone’s plan isn’t enough. I needed to find a way to counter it. I had to break his stance.

He was semi-crouched. His height allowed him to still tower above me with his knees bent. His arms were kept low and central in preparation for both low and high blocks and his armour was flawless.

I feinted right, then basic dodged to the left wall of the cage, but Imber turned in step with my movements. My Mana recovery was great, but I wouldn’t be able to rely on Basic Dodge if I activated Surge too. I needed to be able to outmaneuver him with only my stamina, but I was barely managing to avoid him even with Basic Dodge.

I need to hit him hard enough to break his rhythm.

I scrambled up the wall of the pit using a mixture of jumps and dodges, then kicked out into the air to slash at his head.

Imber read my movement and raised his guard.

I focused on his eyes, waiting for the moment when his mace would block his vision of me for a fraction of a second.

Now.

I spammed Basic Dodge towards the ground, hurling myself onto the floor with enough momentum to drive the wind out of me. I struck my legs out and absorbed the impact in my knees. My health dipped a fraction and my bones rattled, but I kept my feet under me.

Imber glanced down and saw me darting forward beneath his block. His eyes widened in shock, then fear, as he tried to jump backwards and crashed into his partner.

I heard Vidari’s muffled yell as they crashed, then it was quickly drowned out by a rolling laugh from the excitable crowd above us.

I continued with my dagger thrust, but the twitch in Imber’s arm alerted me to his intention.

He knew I had caught him, so he was preparing to take the blow while landing a hit of his own. Rather than go for the late block, he had switched to a one-handed grip and was whipping his mace down lengthwise with my body. Even off-balance, his strike could flatten me.

I was forced to pull out of my strike and block his downswing while side-stepping.

The clang of his mace against my blade numbed my fingers. The bones in my arm rattled. I felt it all the way up to my shoulder.

The crowd drummed their hands in excitement at the sudden back-and-forth.

I fell to the side and withdrew to a safe distance to nurse sensation back into my arm.

Imber regained his footing and Vidari pelted me with stones to keep me at bay.

I clenched and unclenched my right fist in an attempt to return feeling to my arm and raised my dagger with my left.

When Imber spotted me trying to shake the numbness out of my forearm, he pressed his advantage.

A roar from the crowd went up as Imber launched a full-force flurry of attacks. I knew I couldn’t just bat them aside, especially not with my weaker hand.

I dodged one way, then the other, ducked a high-swipe and leapt backwards in time to avoid a stabbing lunge packed with extra range because of his considerable reach.

Even though, I was reading his attacks well, he was still closing in on me. The last attack in his barrage almost nipped a rib, but I was able to knock it aside with my dagger at the last moment.

However, with all my focus on Imber, I missed Vidari’s sudden strafe out into the open. She pelted me with two of her Ticking stones and they both caught me in the side of the head.

The first nicked me on the jaw, the second smacked into my temple and set my head ringing.

Tick Targetted.

Efficiency: Max Duration: 19 seconds remaining.

This Hex is Stackable. Each Tick provides: +10% Incoming accuracy from caster, +50% Incoming damage from caster, +20 Duration.

Current Stack: Incoming accuracy: +20%, Incoming damage: +100%.

A thunder of applause and whistles exploded above us. The crowd were happy to see the first blood spilled. It just happened to be mine.

“Shit.”

Vidari nodded to herself in acknowledgement that both of the stones had indeed hit their target, then she ran back behind Imber as he regained his poise and caught his breath.

He’s probably regaining Stamina too.

I didn’t want to rely too much on my analysis of his stamina pool because I knew that hiding his true strength was part of his strategy. It was unusual for direct fighters like him to deploy such well-considered tactics. I respect that about him and I respect her timing. If they weren’t such traitorous dogs, they could have worked well in my party.

My eyes rolled over the barred walls of the pit and the faces beyond. I knew Serilla was out there, probably pacing back and forth in nervous panic. I would feel bad, but in truth, I didn’t have the wherewithal to spare her much thought. I needed to focus on the opponents in front of me. Nevertheless, the blurry faces in the crowd stuck with me, kindling another memory of a different crowd… the crowd in the arena at Pentamorel. My chest tightened, but I resisted the memory and instead whipped out my Pocket Book.

Vampiric Bite was taking up one of my Skill Slots because it was my only heal, but using it in combat was never going to be easy. The memory of my Ram-Slam into Katri the first time I encountered her raced through my mind. I had bitten Katri’s neck and tasted her warm blood. If I had known then what she really was, I would have ripped her throat out. As it was I just took what I had to to survive. She wouldn’t forgive me for it, though. She had held onto the deed as if it was the worst thing that ever happened to her.

Vidari and Imber had already seen my Vampiric Bite, so it was unlikely I could catch one of them with it. They were also much better armoured than Katri, so my chances of finding flesh were much lower. Even though Vampiric Bite was my only way of healing quickly, I decided to swap it out for one of my other skills… not that I had many.

I’m higher level than I was when they killed me, but I have less skills now than I did then. Those fuckers owe me. Imber and Vidari included. They’re part of it. They may not have been the ones to…

A wave of cheers rose up from the crowd as they tried to encourage another round of close combat. They were growing blood-thirsty. They weren’t the first crowd to do so. I had heard that sound before…

The sensation of my neck tearing as my head was ripped off came back to me in a flash. The pain and terror struck at my heart and I found myself retreating to the back of the pit.

Imber looked concerned by my movements. He didn’t know what I was planning.

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Despite the small bolster of confidence I felt at the sight of Imber’s apprehension, I couldn’t shake the strangling tightness around my neck. The memory of Brother Lecter’s cruel face swam before my eyes. The pull of his hand in my hair as his chains wrapped around my neck, started to choke me. The ugly scowling face before my eyes blurred and transformed into Katri’s flawless one.

I hate that face.

I was dimly aware of Imber drawing back his mace in preparation to cleave me in half, but I ran at him anyway.

I snarled and activated the skill I had replaced Vampiric Bite with: Smokescreen.

My Mana fell as a plume of smoke burst forth and smothered the pit in a cloud of thick, ashy greyness.

The crowd grew restless with a murmur of questions. None of them could see what was happening, yet all felt the need to ask the person next to them to describe it in case they missed something.

Imber’s mace passed through the smoke a few inches from my face as I crouched and bunched my muscles. As the mace returned once more into the greyness, I leapt at it.

I caught up as it reached the end of its swing and began to whip back towards me. I brought my dagger down to catch his momentum before he could put much force into the backswing.

Then, before he could react, I landed both feet on the mace and slashed out at head-height.

A sharp clang rang out as my dagger hit something metal. He must have brought one arm up to block.

I dropped forward, rolling through the air. I couldn’t see Vidari through the smoke, but I knew she would be somewhere in line with Imber’s back. I stretched out my arms in either direction, just hoping to catch her as I kicked Imber in the back, using his weight as a base to jump from.

My head collided with something not completely solid. Found you.

Vidari grunted a mixture of surprise and panic.

I readied my dagger to slash her throat.

Imber roared in terror and frustration and some kind of bell chimed as a wave of force blasted me up into the air and into the wall.

Vidari crashed down somewhere beside me and as the smoke rushed past me, my vision cleared.

Imber had activated a skill I hadn’t seen before. It was still ringing in my ears. I knew he was the source of it because the smoke had been blasted away from him in a sphere.

I slid down the wall and clambered to my feet.

Vidari was dragging herself away from me.

I slashed at her, but was forced to change course at the last moment to defend against Imber’s oncoming attack.

In my instinctive, ravenous blood-lust, I reflexively caught Imber’s panicked strike with my dagger at a beautiful angle.

The crisp clink of a perfectly-timed parry rung in my ear and a moment later, Imber’s mace clattered to the floor.

Stat Increase: Dexterity +1.

You disarmed an opponent with a parry.

I basic dodged forward and snatched up Imber’s mace, which turned back into an iron rod. I spun to face him just in time to see a recovered Vidari throw a barrage of stones

My dexterity was up and I was feeling reckless. I batted with the iron rod and parried the first stone. It clanged harmlessly to the ground. The second was flying at my head, but I leaned aside and it soared harmlessly past. The third was on course for the center of my chest. I rotated my wrist to whip the iron down to deflect the stone, but I miss-timed it. The rod hit the stone too late and it sailed into my waist.

Tick Targetted.

Efficiency: Max Duration: 24 seconds remaining.

This Hex is Stackable. Each Tick provides: +10% Incoming accuracy from caster, +50% Incoming damage from caster, +20 Duration.

Current Stack: Incoming accuracy: +30%, Incoming damage: +150%.

Vidari smiled as I winced. I could feel a welt forming on my hip, but I resisted the urge to rub at it. I slowed my breathing as Imber and Vidari reformed into their combat stance, albeit with a now weaponless Imber as the vanguard.

I waved his iron rod back-and-forth and waggled my eyebrows at him.

Imber’s lips moved, but I didn’t catch what he said. My ears were still ringing.

“What?” I asked.

Behind him, Vidari poked a finger into her ear as though she was trying to clear wax. Imber’s new skill had almost deafened us.

I rolled my jaw around trying to unblock my ears, then I noticed a new symbol on the top right of my vision with the other buffs and active affects.

Bellicose Chime.

Efficiency: 97%. Duration: 15 seconds remaining.

This hex activates when caught inside the range of the Bellicose Blast Skill. While the brass armour still rings in your ears, stamina regeneration is stalled.

“Not a bad Skill, Imber,” I said. “It came with the armour, I assume? Bellicose Blast. It works well with your skill set. Everyone should have a crowd-control skill in their back pocket.”

Imber frowned. I knew he was suspicious of responding in case I had some trick up my sleeves, but his curiosity got the better of him. “What’s a crowd-control skill?”

I considered not answering, but some part of me couldn’t resist. “It’s a skill that manoeuvres or slows down your opponents. They are useful when fighting multiple enemies, but can also work for keeping a single enemy at ideal range.”

Imber nodded thoughtfully.

“So you have three skills, one for your weapon, one for pushing enemies back when they get too close, and one for charging in, right?” I asked.

He squinted at me so hard, I wondered if he even had his eyes open anymore.

Vidari fired off a few more stones at me, but I was able to dodge them easily.

“You can’t use your hone weapon without something to hone in the first place and you probably don’t have the Mana anyway. I’m guessing that Bellicose Blast probably uses all your Mana bar.”

His eyes opened a little and his lips pursed into a slight, but clearly smug expression.

“Not all of it. Just half? Interesting,” I said, reading his silence.

Imber looked like I’d slapped him.

“Stop giving him information,” Vidari growled.

“I’m trying,” Imber whispered.

I laughed.

Above us the crowd had gone silent watching us circle each other.

I felt confident I had seen everything Imber had to show. Vidari might still have a few tricks up her sleeves, but I doubted it. She was a ranger after all. Her skills were in Perception and I had sensed her identifying me a while back. Her other skills were most likely devoted to Perception-based utility. Ranger would make for an interesting build, if this wasn’t such a harsh world.

The Bellicose Chime buff blinked, then disappeared from my vision and my Stamina began to recharge. I was about ready to finish them. There was no further need to delay. But one thing still bothered me. It was because of how easy Imber was to read.

“One more question,” I said. “When you betrayed me… when you pushed me into the dungeon and rushed off to rat me out, did you plan it in advance? Or was it a spur of the moment thing? That’s what I can’t quite decide on.

“At first, I figured you guys just took advantage of the opportunity with me standing so close to the cave, but then I remembered that it was you, Vidari, who told me to stand there. So maybe you scouted the place in advance and filled Imber in on the plan once I was in position. But then again, maybe you were planning it all along. Maybe you already had decided it while I slept...”

They were silent.

We continued to circle each other.

The crowd’s anticipation was growing, I could feel waves of excitement dripping down from above us, but they seemed happy to let us converse in relative quiet.

Imber broke first. He sighed and rolled his shoulders.

“It was the girl,” he said. “She wanted us to kill you while you slept, but we…”

Katri. Her laughing sneer appeared again in my mind.

“You beat that shifter,” said Vidari. “You deserved better.”

“You deserved better than that,” said Imber. “But the girl was talking about how we should be punished with you for aiding a heretic. So we realised we needed to report to The Frontier.”

“I wanted to bring you with us,” said Vidari.

“She argued for you,” said Imber.

“That’s enough,” I said, and I was surprised by how suddenly they quieted at the whip of my voice. “I’ve told you before, I don’t need to hear the excuses. I just wanted to know if you were already planning on betraying me when we rode together. Imber, I thought you were as easy to read as a sign on the road, but when you were teaching me about different damage types, I honestly didn’t suspect a thing. You got me good.”

Imber looked tortured. “I wanted to help—”

“Don’t,” I said.

His eyes were filling up and his chest swelled with a great sigh. I knew what was coming and I couldn’t bear it.

Don’t you fucking dare. Don’t you dare say it, you bastard.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

The iron of the pit’s cage-like walls seemed to shimmer as the memory of the bars of my cell suddenly leapt up in front of my eyes. Katri stood on the other side of the bars, leering at me as I knelt, hopeless and defeated.

“I’m sorry.” My voice sounded pathetic.

“Mean it,” she gloated.

I envisioned the glow of her eyes as she looked down on me. Her thick pouting lips widening into a ravenous smile. But the past me had no idea. I was too wrapped up in my own guilt, blinded by my own mistakes to see the monster before me. She had led me to ruin and I was about to give her exactly what she desired. No one had warned me. Why didn’t anyone warn me about her?

“I do mean it,” the old me was saying. No, Null, don't say it! But there was no stopping the past.

“Katri, I’m sorry,” the memory of me said.

Katri grew stronger with every pathetic word that passed my lips.

Beg for forgiveness. She stood over the pathetic kneeling victim.

I felt my eyes harden and my fangs grow pointed.

My vision returned to the present.

The moment Imber opened his mouth to apologise, the fury in me reached its limit. I activated Surge, shifted my stance, and unleashed a torrent of quicksilver through my feet, blasting myself at the unprepared Imber.

My heart beat a drum as the crowd roared with excitement at the outburst. But inside my head, Katri’s voice was loudest of all.

I win, Null. I win and you lose. The All-Mother made the right choice. Do me a favour and find me in the crowd. I want to see the fear in those heretic eyes before I send you back to hell.

The crowd was a blur, but I saw a hundred Katris watching me from every angle. She smiled, laughed, clapped, and flushed with pleasure at my downfall.

I screamed a war cry as Imber crossed his arms and activated his Bellicose Blast once more.

The wave of force threw me up into the cage ceiling, but I barely even felt it. I continued to blast quicksilver as I charged.

His arms were still crossed in a raised guard. I smacked the iron rod down on his wrists, breaking through his defence. The following blow with my dagger knocked him out of his stance.

He staggered back, throwing wild punches.

The light through the grimy windows above us shone down onto a streak of long hair behind him and in the dust-streaked rays, the hair looked like a golden braid. Some feral beast inside of me was certain that Katri was hiding behind Imber.

If I see Katri, I kill Katri.

Part of me knew she wasn’t really there. My mind wasn’t completely lost to the rage pumping through my veins. I knew deep down that it was only Vidari hiding in Imber’s shadow. And yet, I felt that if I didn’t attack at the first sight of Katri, even a hallucination of her, I was conceding to her.

Her voice echoed in my ears, “beg for forgiveness.”

My sudden switch from Imber to Vidari, took her completely by surprise.

I caught her temple with a swipe of the iron rod, she didn’t even try to block it.

She collapsed to the ground and barely shuddered.

Opponent incapacitated: Vidari.

Gain: 235 XP.

Imber roared and tried to tackle me.

I ducked and drove my dagger up into the small patch of his neck that was visible below his chin, but above the armoured plates around his chest.

A thin trickle of blood dripped onto my fingers as Imber halted his momentum.

Unmarked Quest complete: Achieve Victory in a Gladium Arena.

Gain: 50 XP. New Quest Available: Gladium Challenger.

Quests available in the Pocket Book.

Imber coughed and dropped to his knees. “Enough,” he gargled against the tip of the dagger pressed to his neck. “You win, Null. I swear, I’m changed. I will never betray anyone again.”

“You swear it? With your soul, do you swear it?” I growled.

“I do. To my core,” he said, then he spread his palms. “I yield.”

Opponent yielded: Imber.

Gain: 235 XP.

“Good.” I tightened my grip. “Maybe your next life will be better for it.”

“Null, don’t!” Serilla screamed from somewhere above.

I slashed the dagger deeper until it was lodged inside his neck.

Imber’s chin lulled forward as his body slumped.

I was now holding the weight of his top half with my dagger.

Stat increase: Brutality +1.

You performed an execution.

Unnamed Soul Blade is Evolving.

LEVEL UP +1.

NULL, Human, Level Five.

New Perks Available.

New Class Selection Available.

The tavern, the pit, the crowd, Imber, Vidari, everything… just vanished. I was back inside the liminal space, AIAI’s Instantiation Zone.

Select Class?

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