Her head tilted to the side as she stared the behemoth brawler down, meeting his smug sneer with quiet confidence.

Everyone loves a show, Ismene said. She needed to make an impression, but how?

By far, her best weapon was the crossbow, but with her opponent’s ability to sense tremors, it would be a useless weapon.

She considered hand-to-hand for a moment - her static would help to stun the man, but once done, she had no way of forcing him to yield. Koa had shown her how to put someone in a choke hold, but she could barely see the man’s neck under all that muscle. She doubted she’d be effective in getting her arm around his neck without him grabbing her and turning her into roadkill.

She faced the same problem with quarterstaff - her skill level was at novice rank and she was doubtful she’d be able to defeat him.

Thinking for a moment, she lifted her chin and said, “Daggers.”

John’s teeth flashed white with approval as some onlookers in the crowd gasped after hearing her choice of weapons.

“Lass…” She could hear Allister cautioning her, though they were far apart. His gaze filled with worry as Bonnie let out a little whine of concern at his side.

“Daggers, your Majesty?” De Mar tried to clarify.

Even he sounded like he was giving her an opening to reconsider and pick something else, but Leta had decided.

It was easy to see that she didn’t have the same level of brute strength as her opponent. A staff or sword would have been an advantage to the large man, who no doubt would have been able to hack or beat her to a pulp. Using a dagger, which required more focus and precision over power, was something that would further level the play field.

Despite his powerful physique, she realized that the classes put more limitations on their hosts because of unbalanced stats than perceived strengths. His stamina and power stats were probably through the roof, but she was willing to wager his reflexes and constitution were not up to the same level.

She could work with that.

“Yes. Daggers. Two for each of us.” She nodded before asking, “Do we need to specify what kind?”

“Uh,” De Mar blinked in surprise a moment before recovering. “No, your Majesty. As long as the weapons are of equal quality and both the same classification of weapon, then it will be equal.”

She smiled, the glow of her eyes flashing in anticipation. “Excellent.”

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De Mar gave a subtle shake of his head before turning to John. “Do you find this acceptable?”

“Aye, plenty.” The brawler sneered down at her, though his expression faltered when De Mar gave a small shrug and whispered almost to himself, “Your funeral, then.”

The Judge offered his hands out palms up, and the two placed theirs over his just as before.

“By the laws and customs of our people, I sanction this duel between the Miner, John Downing, and Oletta Black, Lady of Storms. John Downing may only utilize his strength and ability to sense tremors, while Oletta Black may only use her static electricity and strength for the duration of this duel. The duel ends when one opponent becomes incapacitated or otherwise yields. Failure to abide by the laws of the duel shall result in a loss of abilities or life if warranted by the offense. Do you so swear to abide by the terms of this duel?”

“Yes.” Leta nodded slowly, looking at John expectantly at his slight hesitation.

The brawler recovered quickly and nodded as well. “Aye, this is well and good.”

De Mar bowed his head, the glow of his eyes brightening for a moment as Leta experienced a sudden flush of her skin across her arms and face as the muscles in her chest tightened with whatever he was doing.

[Warning! The Host has entered into a contract with a Judge. Terms of the contract: duel and incapacitate the opponent without the use of skill software save for Gremlin’s Trick and the Host’s enhanced strength. Failure resulting in the Host being incapacitated or using a banned skill during the duration of the contract can result in a loss of skills. The scope of skill software lost is dependent on the severity of the failure.]

Leta licked her lips, a ball forming in the pit of her stomach now that they had made the contract.

That little human part of her brain was absolutely freaking out. ‘What the hell am I doing here? Why am I about to risk my neck for a sword? I don’t know anything about fighting with a sword! My focus is on ancient architecture, not freakin’ weapons! I don’t know the first thing about what to do with a sword other than the pointy end should always face away from you. What the actual fuck?’

The newer, more dominant part of her brain that had every bone in its body broken and still got back up to melt a Minotaur’s face off grinned at the challenge.

‘Probably for the best to put limits,’ the voice chuckled menacingly from the shadows of her mind, ‘I’d hate to turn him into a stain on the floor. That would certainly leave a bad impression.’

Her chin held high, she declared in a firm voice, “I swear,” with John echoing her shortly after.

[Contract complete. Limitations are now being set.]

Leta did her best not to hiss as her body suddenly felt heavier, her movements sluggish and weak, as if every cell in her body had been weighed down.

‘Jezzus, what the hell was that, Gada?’

[Judges have the ability to enforce limits of the nanites of others via the conditions of the contracts that are made. In this instance, the Host has agreed to the terms of a contract that limit the Host’s abilities. What the Host is experiencing is a stopgap created in order to prevent the Host from exceeding the limitations set in the agreement and breaking the contract, thus severely crippling the Host’s abilities. Because of the stopgap, the Host is experiencing the physical loss of these skills.]

‘I thought I just had to make a conscious effort not to do certain things. I didn’t realize it was going to be an actual sensation, like I’m running a marathon in full body armor.’ She groaned but resigned herself to the situation.

There wasn’t any sense in getting upset at this point; she was already in the proverbial ring.