Devon couldn't believe how close his plan had been to utter ruin before this egotistic chief had reined everything back into place.

When Val Kazar had started talking about not intervening in the human's conflict out of concern for vishan lives Devon's blood had run cold. After all, there would have been absolutely no purpose to the conflict happening out there if the overseers simply sat back and watched.

And I would have been the architect of a pointless slaughter.

But for as poor a measure as he'd had of Val Kazar's character, his assessment of the vishan's culture had been spot on. They were bred for war, and that need for violence defined their existence.

Still, this chief is a greedy one.

Devon examined the chief's equipment as he walked around Devon, pulling stakes out of Devon's limbs. Devon made sure to give somewhat believable cries of pain each time one was pulled out.

He's got at least five pieces of truly exceptional gear.

The chief's breastplate, greaves, boots, and axe were all forged of metal unlike any he'd seen any of the other vishan wearing. He could only assume the chief had claimed those relics as spoils of war from the enemies he'd killed.

But the fifth piece set Devon's nerves on end just to look at. It was a bloodred pendant that hung around the chief's neck. Devon almost felt like he could sense some kind of demonic aura from the thing.

It must have a special ability like my amplification gem. I absolutely cannot allow him to think I'm strong enough to be worth using it on, or I'll have no chance.

Devon couldn't even begin to judge the difference in strength between them. By merit of pure stats, Devon was absurdly strong for his level. So strong a normal level 74 would have likely made a fair contest in an arm wrestling match.

But the chief wasn't normal. He'd clearly lived a life of war, and his equipment was so ludicrously good that even Devon's uneducated eye could tell it would likely give the vishan an edge against a foe at least 10 levels above his own.

I only have one advantage.

"Give the human it's equipment. I want to fight it at full strength. I would take the measure of this species before I exterminate it from this world. On the note of full strength…"

A powerful grip latched onto Devon's jaw and his mouth was forced open before the chief shoved the healing pill he'd been holding down Devon's throat. Coughing, Devon felt his injuries begin to heal as Val Kazar unceremoniously threw his equipment in a heap next to him.

This guy massively underestimates me.

[Notice]

Captivity has been terminated. The seal on affected functions has been broken.

Huh. So the system has to consider you as being held captive for the seal to work. Interesting.

He went through the motions of putting his equipment back on while the holes in his limbs closed. When he found the amplification gem buried within the bundle he was so surprised he almost dropped the thing, but collected his wits fast enough to quickly put it around his neck.

That Val Kazar…

Undoubtedly, the reason the chief underestimated him so much was because Val Kazar had failed to properly explain the extent of Devon's achievements. When it came to his capture, all the overseer had said was that they'd caught him skulking around the mountain. Never once was the fact that he'd slain a level 60 lord while being below level 40.

What's his game? Does he actually hope I'll overwhelm the chief? I suppose it would be a good chance to then step up and play the hero by saving the chief at the last second. Or perhaps…

Devon shook the thoughts out of his head. He'd just have to stay on guard and be prepared for Val Kazar to attempt to intervene in their duel. Though he knew the chief didn't think of this as a duel in the slightest.

In his eyes, this is just a thinly veiled torture session. He'll play with me like a cat does a mouse, and I'll play along until an opportunity comes to show my fangs.

Once he was finished dressing up Val Kazar threw his final piece of equipment, the golden curved blade, at him from the sidelines. Devon picked it up before immediately putting it in his tile. In its place he brought out the spear and the second of the bone architect's blades, attaching the bone blade to the end of the spear like a bayonet.

Both Val Kazar and the chief took notice of his clearly mismatched weaponry, but Devon didn't pay them any mind.

Message known user Trey.

Waiting… Connection established.

[Trey]

Devon! I was so worried! Do you need help? I have members of the squad standing by, but I'm a bit preoccupied with leading the people of Plainstown.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

[Devon]

I know, great job setting stuff off by yourself. I should be fine, the overseers are moving exactly as expected so you should have everyone focus on clearing out their numbers when they attack.

[Trey]

Are you sure you don't need assistance?

[Devon]

I told you before, this is the stage upon which I shall dance.

Connection closed.

That's right, this is the perfect stage.

His original objective had been to handle Val Kazar alone, since in Devon's mind he was the only good dance partner amid the tutorial, but this worked just as well. No, it was even better than expected. If either of these two were allowed to leave this place the casualties on the battlefield would be much worse.

No, in truth that's just an excuse. I can't bear the thought of anyone stealing this dance from me.

He readied his spear, and the chief didn't bother asking if he was prepared before coming at him with the axe.

Devon barely managed to deflect the blade of the axe with his spear before he skittered to the side. In his head, he felt himself approaching the line between life and death.

That's right. My dance this time is not an all-out contest of strength. It's a subtle act, a pretending to be something I'm not.

The chief kept coming at him, and Devon kept defending within an inch of his life. As the chief's bloodlust ramped up he started increasing the pace, and Devon's defenses lapsed as the chief's speed became more than what Devon could handle.

Cuts appeared on Devon's body as he failed to parry or dodge some of the chief's attacks completely. As expected, the chief's axe cut through the defensive plates in his armor's chest area like they weren't even there.

He threw out a few of his generalist skills to maintain the illusion that he was struggling for his life, but his expression fell every time the chief either deflected his attacks or his weapon skittered harmlessly across the chief's armor.

A sadistic smile appeared on the chief's reptilian face as a particularly long gash scored across Devon's chest.

Devon grimaced and desperately lunged forward with his spear. The chief snorted and knocked it to the ground with ease. Devon's composure collapsed as he desperately tried to retreat, almost dropping his spear in the process.

The chief gave him a derisive look as he stepped forward to punch Devon, evidently not willing to end the humiliation with the axe so early.

Finally.

With the tip of his spear still underneath the chief Devon intoned the activation commands in his head.

Activate amplification gem. Activate magic; Lightning Imbuement II.

A bolt of lightning pierced the blue sky and crashed down into the arena. However, the target of Devon's magic was not the spear. It was the short blade of bone directly underneath the chief.

Imbuement magic only ever targeted one weapon. He'd tested fire imbuement before using the trick weapon in sickle form and found that even though he wasn't directly touching the blade at the end of the spear it was still a valid target for imbuement.

Additionally, he knew from the difference in lightning during the fights with Zane and the lord of the mountain that the arcane affinity of the bone blade affected the size and power of the thunderbolt.

The bone blade's elemental affinity and the amplification gem combined created the most devastating pillar of white fire Devon had ever seen. And it came crashing down on the chief of the vishan far faster than he could possibly avoid.

In the briefest of instants as the chief was engulfed in an electrical current with enough wattage to power half a city Devon saw the breastplate seem to suck in some of the arcane power of the bolt before the breastplate exploded, leaving the chief's torso bare.

It's just like what happened with my previous bone blade. It absorbed so much magical energy it couldn't take it and exploded from the built-up pressure.

Speaking of his bone blade, Devon looked down and saw the blade at the end of his spear hadn't absorbed any of the energy within the lightning blast.

As expected, if something gets in the way of the transference of power the imbuement doesn't complete. But it doesn't matter.

Devon whipped his spear up, not bothering to hide his true abilities anymore. The chief stood paralyzed, body wracked with spasms from the residual energy the armor hadn't been able to absorb.

Without any wasted motions, Devon plunged his spear into the chief's chest. But he was far from done.

Activate magic; Lightning Imbuement II.

Another bolt split the sky and pierced the chief once again. This time the electrical energy had nothing to absorb it, and flowed freely through the chief's body, cooking him from the inside.

But flesh is a conduit, and even as it cooked the chief alive the electricity found its way to the short blade of bone lodged in the chief's chest.

When Devon's previous blade had exploded, he'd hypothesized that the more power went into a weak weapon the faster it would self-destruct. And now Devon's arcane had gone up by several levels from the fight with the lord of the mountain.

The short blade of bone detonated inside the chief's chest cavity, blowing a hole in one side and sending bone shrapnel through all of the chief's major organs.

Devon whipped the spear out of the chest and flicked off the melted metal mesh that had been his makeshift handle/attachment device. Then he took a defensive stance as he prepared for Val Kazar to leap from his blind spots.

However, the act of turning created a blind spot he didn't expect.

He barely saw the glint of an axe blade in his peripheral vision before blinding pain exploded from his shoulder.

Devon tried to dash away, but his balance was way off, and as he stumbled he felt a second attack hit his leg. He stumbled forward and tried to catch himself, but the arm that would have stopped his fall wasn't there. So he crumpled to the ground.

He managed to turn his head to look at the chief and his eyes opened wide at the golden glow around the chief, as well as his perfectly healthy physique.

Gone was the hole blown open in the chief's chest cavity, and the chief looked down upon Devon with an expression of disdain.

No way, he had a rejuvenation token too?

It was the only conclusion Devon could make of the situation. The chief, barely alive, must have been able to give the system the command to use the token with his last shred of will.

"How could a being like you have such power? No, it doesn't matter. You must be exterminated, right now."

The chief stepped forward, his gaze locked on Devon.

So you used a rejuvenation token to take me by surprise. I can do that too. Come a little closer, asshole.

And then a sword sprouted from the chief's throat.

"Too long have we been misguided by your greed and avarice. No more."

Then, as the chief gurgled blood, Val Kazar pulled his sword back out of the chief's throat and in one clean motion decapitated his leader.