He fired a salvo of sunfire qi arrows at Jie. She whirled in the air, twisting her body out of the way of several of them even as she cycled a finger of light attack and blasted several more before they could reach her.

The force of the explosion knocked him back but sent Jie off course too. Instead of landing perfectly on the platform, she just barely fell short and grabbed the edge of the platform with her hands. The blood pool below her dangling feet stirred as long, sinuous shapes gathered in the dark liquid beneath her.

Jie hauled herself up onto the platform as quickly as she could, but the slight delay gave Hazzik a chance to recover. He aimed at her and fired yet another stream of sunfire qi arrows.

Jie rolled to one side and sprang to her feet, making her qi armor react to the platform to give herself an extra surge of speed. His arrows missed, detonating harmlessly on the energy barrier surrounding the arena.

Jie raced toward him, each step carrying her impossibly far and with a speed that far surpassed her cultivation.

Another finger of light caused a sunfire qi arrow to detonate right in front of Hazzik and he cried out as he staggered backward. Jie capitalized on his distraction and closed the remaining distance between them.

Jie formed a dragonfist but just as she reached him, his aura flared, and he lit up with bright orange light that rapidly intensified into an overwhelming explosion of light that seared Jie's eyes.

Jie cried out as she squeezed her eyes shut. Yet, even with them shut, the light was so intense it burned. But Jie focused on her spirit sense just as Elder Shi had taught her to do during a fight. His aura wasn't veiled, and he was easy to identify. She felt him moving, trying to slip away from her.

Jie struck out with her dragonfist and felt her crackling fist connect with his stomach.

A thunderous snarl of dragon lightning qi striking flesh rumbled through the arena as the scent of burning feathers filled the air. She heard a strangled wheeze as the force of the strike sent Hazzik tumbling away but Jie kept running, boosted herself with a lightning step platform, and appeared behind him where she hit him again. She felt the hard bones of his ribs break beneath her fist and he screeched in pain.

Jie's eyes were still squeezed shut against the intense light. But even so, she kept the power of her strikes lower, in the hopes she wouldn't outright kill him. Despite that, she felt bone after bone break as she struck him again and again.

He couldn't be allowed to attack her friends again. She was determined to make sure of that. Despite his injuries, he still tried to shoot her, desperately scrambling to fend her off. Finally, she struck his arms, breaking the bones and forcing him to finally stop.

Jie grabbed him by what felt like his throat, her eyes still burning from the intensity of his light.

"Turn off your flare. I don't want to kill you... so don't make me," Jie growled.

His light died down and faded away as he stopped fighting her and went limp in her grasp. She almost thought he was dead, but the steady pulse under his feathered neck reassured her that he was, in fact, still very much alive.

Jie furiously blinked the stars out of her eyes as the crowd went dead silent. Through her spirit sense, Jie felt the priestesses getting overwhelmed by her friends though the fight was still not quite over.

"It's over," Jie said as she reinforced her voice with qi, "surrender to my friends and we'll let you live."

They ignored her and kept fighting, but her friends overwhelmed their defenses and restrained them. They were just about to deliver killing blows when Jie cried out, "Stop! We've won. We don't need to kill them!"

She felt them pause but stay ready to finish it at any moment.

Jie blinked away enough of the dancing lights in her eyes to see again and looked up at the arak elders. The audience looked at them all in stunned silence.

"We've won. Collect your combatants and give us our safe passage through to the rest of the dungeon," Jie said.

"The fight is to the death. You have not won yet," Vrethka hissed, "finish them!"

The crowd looked to Vrethka, half of them with shocked expressions, their beaks agape.

"No," Jie said, "you said that if we lost, we would die. You never said we had to kill anyone to win. And it's clear that we've won. My friends and I were the strongest in this fight and mercy is the privilege of the strong. I'm choosing to use it."

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Vrethka glared at her.

Kazzak looked at his son and seemed to deflate slightly with relief.

"She's right," Kazzak said, "the younglings have won, and mercy is their right. Send in the healers. As for you, younglings... I will personally take you across the lake."

The crowd's stunned silence erupted into cheers and applause as the arak took to their feet. The noise drowned out everything in the arena and shook the very foundations.

Someone yelled out, "Merciful Younglings!" As though it were some form of title.

Gradually, the cheers shifted into a chant taken up by the entire arena. "Merciful! Merciful! Merciful!" They chanted between harsh screeching cheers, raising their arms and stomping their feet in unison, creating a thumping beat with the arena itself as their drum.

The intensity of it. Of so many people cheering together was both terrifying and exhilarating.

Vrethka said something to Kazzak and he snapped something back that made her shrink back into her chair as gates around the arena opened and Elementalist arak rushed in. One leaped up onto the platform with Jie. She handed Hazzik over to the healer.

"Thank you..." Hazzik croaked as Jie released his throat.

"Just don't ever attack my friends again. Or next time I won't be so kind," Jie said. Though despite her words she was grateful she hadn't had to kill anyone. And that made her so angry with herself that lightning crackled over her body...

I can't go on like this. One day whether I like it or not... I'll have to kill. Jie thought.

"Definitely... not..." Hazzik said, his voice hoarse. A green glow suffused the healer's clawed hands and pulsed into Hazzik. He sighed and leaned into the healer's power.

Jie turned away and leaped down to her friends.

"Wow. That was an intense fight. You were awesome, Jie!" Pan Tian said, still keeping a wary eye on the priestesses even as they were treated by the healers.

"Thanks. Are you guys okay?" Jie asked.

"Just a few scratches and bruises. Nothing serious," Pan Tian said.

"Indeed," Ithilix said, "this one apologizes for being so weak."

"You're not weak, Ithilix. I saw your fight. You were amazing. All of you were," Jie said as she scratched Xue behind his ears.

"Your words are kind, princess. But this one knows it would've been an easier fight if you'd done it alone," Ithilix said.

"You're not the only one. I messed up the strategy too and made it even harder at the start," Pan Tian said, "I'm sorry, Jie... maybe I shouldn't have asked you to be on our team. I didn't mean to make you carry us through everything."

"Don't be ridiculous," Jie said, "it was tough, but we got through it. Just relax already."

"Now you say relax? You were the most worried of all of us before we started," Pan Tian said.

Jie shrugged. "You guys are okay, so now I'm good," she said.

Her friends smiled and shook their heads.

"Still... Ithilix is right. Since I met you, I've worked harder than ever before in my life, but it's just never enough... how do you cultivate so fast, Jie? Am I not doing enough? Is it my diet? I've tried eating more, but I don't think I can handle as much as you have..." Pan Tian said.

"What are you talking about?" Jie asked.

Pan Tian blushed and suddenly looked uncomfortable.

"This one thinks you should tell her. This one did the same thing," Ithilix said, "there's nothing to be ashamed of."

"What's not something to be ashamed of?" Jie asked.

"Well... you cultivate incredibly fast, and I've been trying to figure out how... I know you work unbelievably hard, but your progress is phenomenal. I saw you get massive amounts of food at the cafeteria and bring it to your residence. I've tried eating more, but it doesn't seem to do anything for my cultivation. Is there an order to it I'm missing or something?" Pan Tian asked.

"Wow... I had no idea you guys were trying so hard," Jie said, "you're the one who told me to relax and do other stuff. I thought you weren't that interested in cultivation?"

"Of course, I am!" Pan Tian said, "I'm a genius of the younger generation and I work harder than anyone! At least... that's what I used to think. You cultivate and train almost nonstop. But, even with that I just don't understand how you progress so fast."

"Well, it has nothing to do with the food. Well... apart from the meals I get from the Onyx Pavilion. But I think you have similar ones," Jie said, "I take a lot of food from the cafeteria for other reasons. I guess I could try to help you guys with your cultivations... but I don't know how. My method is so different from yours. Maybe we can talk about your cultivation styles some time and I can see if I can think of anything to tell you that might help?"

"You'd do that?" Pan Tian asked.

"Why wouldn't I?" Jie asked, "you're my friends. I'll help Pan Zhanshi when we're done with the hunt. Well... if he wants me to... and if I even can. I really don't know all that much about different cultivation styles. But we can discuss it later."

"Yes, you're right," Pan Tian said, "and thanks, Jie. For everything you do for us. I feel lucky you challenged me and kicked my butt."

Jie flicked her hair over one shoulder as arrogantly as she could. "But, of course," she said.

The girls giggled.

Kazzak appeared with a gust of wind that ruffled their robes.

"Ah, my dear younglings. So good to see you. Are you ready to leave?" he asked.

"Very," Jie said, "I wanted to say--"

"Not here," Kazzak said.

Jie closed her mouth and nodded.

"Right then," Kazzak said, "let's get going."

Kazzak led them through a different series of tunnels and out onto the spiral walkways. As always, it seemed that every arak around openly stared at them. Though now their gazes were far friendlier.

"You've earned great respect among the flock for your display of strength and skill," Kazzak said.

"Okay," Jie said.

That response seemed to stun Kazzak for a moment before he chuckled.

"Okay indeed," he said, "the opinions of others mean very little to you it seems."

"Some do," Jie said, "most are worthless."

Several of the nearby arak ruffled their feathers and scowled at her. Jie ignored them and Kazzak laughed.

"I wish I'd learned that lesson as early as you have," Kazzak said.