“So, does this place feel like home yet?”

Lyra broke the stillness after a few minutes of peaceful staring.

“Not yet. But it’s closer than I ever imagined two weeks ago.”

Jay sighed as he turned away from the sea of rooftops and looked his friend in the eyes.

“Call me soft, call me a coward, but I’m still not over killing Davad. I’ve accepted it, I’ve accepted that I’ve done it, and that there was no other way. But it doesn’t make it feel any better, you know?”

“I know, but would you rather be dead?”

“I’m not saying I’d rather be anything Lyra. Of course I’m happier here than six feet under, or whatever happens to your body after dying in the arena. But it still doesn’t feel good. I’m a fighter, I have been my whole life, and I’ll continue to be until the day I die. It’s what I live for. But yesterday there was a man called Davad with dreams, hopes, and visions for the world. Because of me, today there isn’t.

“Better him than me. If I was dead, I couldn’t… I couldn’t do anything. But it doesn’t mean I have to feel good about it.”

Lyra paused, her mouth curving into a bittersweet smile as her eyes grew distant.

“You’re a good man Jay.”

“Is that you telling me I’m acting childish? Telling me I’ll grow out of it?”

Lyra turned away from him, hiding her smile behind the back of her head as she overlooked the city.

“No comment.”

Jay stared at Lyra’s back, wondering if he really would grow out of the way he felt. Whether he’d grow calloused to the killing.

He wasn’t sure whether he wanted to or not.

BANG!

Jay snapped his head to the doorway, and the panic-stricken Akira standing inside it.

“Umm guys? You’re gonna want to come down.” He said, panting between each word. “I think Vega’s about to do something insanely stupid.”

----------------------------------------

Jay’s footsteps clattered into the stairway, drawing the eyes of the tavern his way the instant he slammed open the door. They stayed there for a moment, before flicking back to the main event.

“You’ve still not answered my question! What the fuck are you doing here?” said Vega. Her voice hadn’t raised to a shout yet, but she was one testy jab away from it.

Jay realised why when he looked over her shoulder.

The crowd had parted to form a corridor of space between Vega and the tavern’s entrance. Or rather, between Vega and the people stood in front of it.

Ezekiel the Soulsnatcher stood by the Celestial Swords’ entrance. The cocky smirk he’d worn at the auction was gone, replaced by a scowl that seethed like smouldering coals.

His venomous emerald eyes could have burned a hole straight through Jay, but he flicked them back onto Vega.

The same hooded woman from the Flaming Tomb’s lobby stood beside the unarmed swordsman. Her face still hidden behind the shadowy folds of her purple hood. Jay quickly opened her profile.

Alias

Amaya Ironglove

Organisation

Second Chance Coliseum (Soulbound). Flaming Tomb Alliance.

Grade

E

Rank

3

Offence

10

Defence

1

Strategy

2

Instinct

20

Vitality

99

Speed

301/5

Two speed rankings? What’s up wi-

“Are you gonna fucking talk? Or am I gonna have to make you?” said Vega. She slammed a glass bottle on the table and the entire room flinched as she took a step closer to the two intruders.

“Are we not even allowed to set foot into your domain?” said Amaya, twirling a gloved hand in front of her.

Tiny rubies, inlaid in gold, speckled the outside of Amaya’s glove. They reflected the light across the tavern’s ceiling as she waved her hand, but a wayward glimmer always seemed to target Jay’s eyes. Hair-thin strings connected the gemstones across her knuckles, barely visible unless they caught the warm glow of the tavern’s softly lit pillars.

“Oh, mighty mistress Vega. Queen of E grade. You would not grant us mere mortals the pleasure of a single sip of wine in this fine establishment?”

Ezekiel was fortunate to have a friend to do the talking. His beet red face bulged, and he clenched his jaw so tight that Jay felt his own teeth crack under the pressure.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Amaya took a slight step forward.

The room stiffened in anticipation.

“We came here to converse, to debate, and to accuse.” She pointed at Jay and his eyes latched onto her as if drawn by instinct.

Jay kept them there, not wanting to be surprised by the two intruders.

“Lightning Leonard went from a mediocre nobody getting slapped around by an ape in his second fight to defeating a mid-tier prospect of the Flaming Tomb Alliance in less than five days. I call foul play. And demand the spoils of battle be returned.”

“HA! That’s what you came here for?” Vega laughed in Amaya’s face. She held her ground and pulled the room’s captive attention back her way. “The whole purpose of this damn island is for people to grow stronger, idiot. That’s what Jay did, where’s the foul play in that?”

Vega’s words didn’t silence Amaya, or even quieten her. Face still hidden behind shadows, she puffed her chest and addressed the crowd.

“There’s growing stronger, and then there’s that. How was Davad supposed to be aware of Leonard’s strength when he made the bet? You obviously used some sort of secret weapon or technique to train him after the announcement. That’s unfair, and the bet shouldn’t stand.”

This time, when Vega laughed, the entire room joined her. Jay heard a few heckles emerge from the cheering crowd as he left the stairwell to stand beside Vega.

“Did she seriously just say secret technique?”

“Unfair? Does this bitch know where she is?”

“Who do these guys think they are?”

Ezekiel had no sword by his side, so his fist merely clenched air as he bit down on his lip. Barely restraining himself beneath the tavern’s jeers.

“What do you mean by secret weapon?” Vega asked, raising her arms and addressing the crowd as much as she did the duo in front of her. “Do you mean something like a flying shield worth thousands of contribution points that protects and flies around its user? Yeah, something like that would be real fucking unfair.”

The cheering crowd grew louder, and Jay wondered when the Flaming Tomb duo would turn tail and leave, since they were never getting their sword back.

“Why did you even come here?” Vega’s accusation hushed the crowd.

A few overeager patrons still hurled abuse at Amaya, but most stayed focused on the altercation. E grade’s top three fighters all stood in one room together, and although rank two watched quietly by the sidelines, rank one was explosive enough to demand everyone’s full focus.

Vega walked closer to Amaya.

With each step the room grew quieter.

Silence suffocated the crowd when Vega reached punching range.

Jay didn’t know if the coliseum even allowed unsanctioned fights, especially between top prospects. Concern subdued his eagerness though. Because if Vega started brawling, he’d jump in too. And being trapped in an enclosed space with her explosions, along with whatever the Flaming Tomb duo brought to the party didn’t seem safe in the slightest.

The crowd had no such fear. Barely concealed grins and expectant eyes watched Vega’s every move, wondering what she’d do next.

“Fight me.” Said Amaya. Her soft voice bounced around the room, displacing the silence and lodging her words between the ears of everyone listening.

This whole ordeal had started with a reckless challenge. Was Amaya trying to finish with one as well?

Lyra stepped forward, finally throwing her hat into the ring and stamping her mark on the exchange.

“As if she’d accept your stupid challenge.” Said Lyra. “Wait until Advancement. If you’re so desperate to be embarrassed, you can do it then. When the whole world’s watching.”

Lyra’s statement was aimed at Amaya, but Jay could see the other message behind it. ‘Back down Vega. They’re not worth it.’

Vega nodded at her sister, before turning to face Amaya again. “She’s right. When I wipe the floor with your mangled corpse, I want everyone to watch me. I want them to watch me rip each limb from your body until you’re a pile of meat. I want them to watch me burn every shred of flesh on your shredded carcass to cinders. I want them to watch me shatter every bone of your charred remains until the only thing that’s left of you is powder and the only thing you’ll be good for is gravel for my path.

“I wonder what you’ll scream when I burn you alive. I wonder who you’ll call out for in your final moments. I wonder what you’ll think about in the last few seconds before I extinguish the flickering flames of your pitiful existence.”

Ezekiel bit down on his jaw. Amaya's cheek twitched. Jay subtly activated Eye of the storm, not simply slowing down reality, but heightening his perception of it. If the fighters in front of him kicked off, Jay wanted to be the first to react.

A few seconds of tense stillness hung over the room before Amaya shattered it.

“Fight me.”

Jay clenched his fist. His muscles sparked alive. The dormant electricity within him flicked its drowsy eyes open, stirred by Amaya’s command.

It wasn’t just him. As Jay flicked his electrically empowered eyes around the room, he saw dozens of hands drop to the weapons by their waists. He saw a split second of aggression cloud Lyra’s eyes, quickly replaced with apprehension and a worried glance at her sister.

He saw the first embers begin to catch alight from within the hairline cracks across Vega’s glassy body. The fire within her matched only by the burning rage across her face.

“No.”

Vega replied with grim authority. Stomping out the flames of aggression rising across the room.

“You don’t deserve to fight me. You don’t deserve the chance to touch me. You don’t deserve even a glance at the mountaintop. You’re so far beneath me that I feel dirty simply talking to you. What kind of gladiator walks into enemy territory and complains about an unfair fight?

“Disgraceful. The only unfair fight is anything between me and you. Can you get that thought between that stupid, fucking, thoughtless brain of yours? You’re nothing. You’re worthless. You don’t hold a fucking candle to me. I’ll destroy your body. I’ll destroy your soul. I’ll destroy every memory anybody’s ever had of you. I’ll make sure that every single person who you’ve ever met will be disgusted by the mere thought of your meaningless existence.

“Unfair fight! Unfair fucking fight! You can have your braindead, ugly, fucking, swordless boyfriend beside you and it’ll still be an unfair-”

“Then fight us both.” Amaya’s words silenced Vega, interrupting her tirade of insults like a punch to the gut.

The counter didn’t stop there.

Gold flashed across Amaya’s eyes. Before Vega could reply, a screen appeared above Amaya’s head. Visible for the entire room to see.

Vega Twinstrike vs Amaya Ironglove and Ezekiel, the Soulsnatcher

Do you accept the challenge?

Every set of eyes inside the Celestial Swords glanced at the screen before landing firmly on Vega Twinstrike.

Every set of eyes except Vega’s.

E grade’s number one fighter, E grade’s champion, stood perfectly still as everyone else eyed her, awaiting a response.

“Don’t be an idiot Vega.” Said Lyra, breaking the silence but barely scratching the tension “It’s exactly what she wants you to do.”

Lyra looked desperate.

No way.

The inevitable reality dawned on Jay. He’d known Vega for less than two weeks, but he didn’t need Eye of the storm to see where this was going.

Lyra had known her for a lifetime.

She knew better than anyone else what was going through Vega’s head right now, yet she was just as powerless as everybody else at stopping it.

Vega met her sister’s pleading eyes, staying there for a moment before drifting to Jay’s cold analytical stare. He considered shaking his head, joining Lyra in her protests, but he recognised the futility of it.

Jay had never become the world champion, but he knew the burden they carried.

Many people call themselves fighters. And if you call yourself a fighter, you should be prepared to fight. Jay didn’t need to draw on his Harmony, or his experience as a boxer to understand that.

Some people call themselves good fighters. If you talk about yourself like you’re better than others, you’d better be prepared to fight. And you’d better be prepared to win.

Then came great fighters. These are few and far between. If anyone declares themselves a great fighter, it’s not enough simply to win. You have to dominate. You have to set yourself apart from the rabble. You have to prove that you’re above them.

But being the best is different to merely being great.

Being a great fighter is a rare achievement, and there may only be a few great fighters in existence.

But there’s only one champion.

When you call yourself the best, you give up the right to refuse a challenge. When you call yourself the best, domination is the bare minimum.

You have to dominate no matter the circumstances, no matter the challenge.

Because if you didn’t, could you really call yourself the best?

Vega flicked her eyes up to the golden challenge, before meeting Ezekiel on her way back to the challenger.

“We fight in one hour. See you in the coliseum.”

Ezekiel stormed out of the door, not giving Vega another moment of his time. Amaya lingered, her red lips curling into a momentary sneer.

“See you soon.” She said, blowing Vega a kiss as she turned and followed her partner outside.