The others were speechless, but, surprisingly, Jezibel was the first to recover.

“We can speak in the private at the negotiations room in my family’s manor. Let’s go.” She said with a serious expression.

The others kept their mouth shut as we followed Jezibel to her home.

About ten minutes later, Jezibel locked the door behind us then took her seat in the enchanted room.

“Okay, we’re all settled here. What did you want to speak to us about, Kiara?” Nisos asked, and that was the moment I finally erupted and began tearing into them.

“You people have taken me for granted for the last gods-damned time!” I screamed.

Nisos and Jezibel flinched, even though everyone saw this coming.

“I tolerated your little ‘jokes’ that came at my expense because I did not want to threaten our friendship over the first mistake you make. But instead, when I gave you an inch, you took a hundred miles!”

I stared them down for a moment before continuing.

“You’ve consistently made a mockery of my ability to do the simplest things and avoid the most egregious mistakes! You openly said you can’t trust me with any delicate matters!” I said, glaring at Nicotris.

I then turned to Ati and glared even more intensely.

“And then you chose to intentionally keep me in the dark against dangerous enemies just to get a single sneak attack in! You kept me worried about your safety and that of the hostages, as well as feeling cornered and outnumbered, all because you thought I would give away your hiding spot like a bloody imbecile!”

The veins on my temple were so pronounced that they looked like they would burst if I got even the tiniest bit angrier. Fortunately for me, my fury was volcanic enough that it could not possibly get any worse.

I took a deep breath, then calmed down enough to stop clenching my fists and teeth. I stared down the other members of the party with what was now a cool, calm anger.

“If the lot of you cannot treat me with the respect that I deserve or trust me when it counts the most, then I will have absolutely nothing to do with any of you the moment we’re done crushing the Assassin’s Guild!”

I said my piece, then leaned back into my chair with crossed arms and a leg on top of the other to wait for their response.

Nisos and Jezibel looked uneasily to each other but didn’t say anything. Not that those two were responsible for anything offensive against me.

Ati had a thoughtful expression for a moment and was about to speak, but he was beat to the punch by Nicotris.

“So that’s it? This important matter you wanted to speak of was your fragile ego? While we have a lead nearby that could be silenced by the Assassin’s Guild?” she said, a hint of anger visible in her voice.

I felt my anger swelling up once again. I narrowed my eyes at her as I responded.

“The whole world can burn to ashes as far as I am concerned if preventing that means I have to tolerate disrespect from anyone, noble. I know my worth and I will never let anyone put me down. Not my enemies, not my friends, and not even my own mother.”

“You might think the world revolves around you, Kiara, but it doesn’t, no matter how much you wish it did. What you thought was disrespect was the rest of us giving you the truth that you can’t handle straight to your face rather than lie to you and letting people die. It had nothing to do with insulting you; it had nothing to do with you at all in the first place.”

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I maintained eye contact with her as I responded.

“And what would you know about trusting me to do a delicate job? You’ve never even let me have a chance at one.”

She scoffed at me.

“You’re obviously a sheltered little girl with more brawn than sense bumbling about in the world. When you’ve been handed everything you ever needed on a silver platter by virtue of being born a dragon, you’d never have a chance at getting experience at handling anything that needs a delicate touch. All you would know to do is to throw bigger and bigger breath attacks at any of your problems until they go away – it’s always worked out for you before.”

Born a dragon? No experience with delicate matters? Brute forcing a solution to all my problems?

“Hah! That’s rich coming from a noble! Your family gave you rank A monster equipment without a thought as your servants bowed to lick your boot straight from the cradle until adulthood. You’re one to lecture me about being a pampered brat!”

My answer might have struck a nerve, judging by the ugly scowl on her face.

“Disrespect this, disrespect that. Where I come from, girl, respect is earned. And you’ve done absolutely nothing to earn mine. So why don’t you put your coins where your mouth is?”

“Huh? What are you trying to say?” I asked incredulously.

“Since you’ve complained my ears off about demanding the respect you deserve, then why don’t you earn it with your fists, like the barbaric brute you are? Let’s go to an arena and settle this, one on one. We might as well get the match that Instructor Adelphius denied us on the first day of the Academy.”

The others looked nervously at each other.

“Hey, you two, let’s take a deep breath and calm down.” Jezibel said placatingly.

“Let’s not escalate things more unnecess-” Nisos said, but I interrupted him.

“We’ve finally agreed on something! I can’t wait to wipe that condescending look off your face.” I said to Nicotris.

“If you’re so confident, why not agree to a wager?” she said in response.

“Huh? What kind of wager do you want?”

“If you win the fight, I’ll happily apologize over everything I’ve said so far and stop excluding you from any plans we make. You can never beat me through brute force, so that will serve as proof of your competence.”

My brow twitched in anger.

Even now, she’s underestimating me. She’s going to pay dearly for that.

“And if you win?” I asked.

She stepped over the table and stood in front of me to glare into my eyes. Her face was mere inches from mine.

I didn’t back down and glared back at her.

“If I win,” she said, “then you will apologize for insulting my upbringing and for wasting our time in the middle of a crisis. You will shut your mouth about your inflated ego and accept that we won’t entrust you with sensitive matters without throwing a tantrum; at least until we determine that you’ve gained enough experience. What do you say?” she said.

“You’re on, noble girl. Do your worst.”

***

We stood in a private arena that we rented near Jezibel’s home. Jezibel was operating the controls, and, unlike usual arena battles, there was no referee this time.

“Are you sure we can’t settle this peacefully anymore, you guys?” Jezibel asked.

Neither of us answered her since we were busy glaring at each other.

Nisos sighed.

“The two have a lot of pent-up frustration at the moment. Letting them fight in a controlled arena is much better than the alternative. This is a form of communication too.”

Ati then spoke to us.

“Just to confirm with the two of you; the stage we will choose will be the standard tournament arena, no time limit will be assigned, and the match will be over when one of you two receives fatal damage. Correct?”

The two of us nodded without breaking eye contact with each other. The first to look away would be losing, and it sure as hell won’t be me.

Jezibel sighed again.

“Okay you two, I’ll be starting up the arena. Please don’t continue fighting after the match is over, okay?” she said.

“I am not the kind of dishonorable wretch that would do something like that.” Nicotris said in response.

Was that a dig at me?

“I won’t be needing to do something like that; I’ll be smashing you into a bloody pulp as it is. There’d be no point in going any further.” I replied.

Jezibel shook her head as the black dome of the arena began to cover us. The stars rushed past us, and Nicotris and I found ourselves standing in a simple dirt field. An empty gallery surrounded us, like we were in the abandoned tournament arena in the middle of a ghost town.

Jezibel’s voice boomed at us once again, and she confirmed the rules one last time.

We nodded.

“Okay. I’ll be starting the timer now. Prepare yourselves.”

The familiar numbers appeared between us and began counting down.

Nicotris summoned her golden armor and bow, while I transformed into my base humanoid form and readied my staff to summon mana blades.

I eyed the countdown just in time for it to start the fight.

“3… 2… 1… FIGHT!”