“Watch out!”. Bortheus managed to get in front of Delilah just in time to block the hit from the huge flaming flamberge brandished by a bull beastfolk.

This is not going too well.

The opposing team was very organized, and most likely watched the King's Brigade previous match to prepare for them.

The three mages, one of which was a chimerist who copied her spells from monsters, were managing to keep Phisena occupied. They stayed together in the rear, keeping an eye on Nez. The remaining two members, heavily armed, kept pressure on Bortheus and Delilah pushing them back at every chance.

Nez tried to flank the mages, but the chimerist inhaled deeply and breathed out a torrent of flames.

Managing to barely dodge the spell, Nez stepped back and tried to shoot her. He hit her in a leg, but was quickly driven back by a purple mist that came out of the ground. He breathed some in.

Nez immediately felt the effect of the poison on his body, going feverish in a matter of seconds.

Those guys had more advanced spells compared to Phisena, but luckily didn't seem keen on using rituals.

Having trouble moving and staying focused, Nez couldn't shoot well from a distance nor get closer to use his dagger. Those guys were good. If it kept going like that, Nez would have had no other choice than to tap into his Devil Touched blood and let loose.

Phisena glanced at Nez. She was breathing heavily. “Make it or break it” she said, right before tapping her staff to the ground. “Anti magicae!”.

A wave of energy rippled from her to Nez, immediately removing the effects of the poisonous spell.

Nez looked at her. “Was that an entropism spell? Amazing!”.

“Now it's not the time!”. Delilah tried to break through the enemy front line.

Phisena vacillated, almost completely drained of energy.

“She's out of juice!” the chimerist yelled. At her word, all the mages turned their full attention to Nez.

“Dammit!”. Delilah went shoulder to shoulder with Bortheus. “They'll overwhelm us!”.

Nez made a ferocious smile. “I don't think so”.

Completely neglected, Phisena managed to get closer to the enemy's other side. She then took out the weird sphere she showed Nez the previous night and rotated a couple of parts.

The sphere emanated a yellow light and, with some metal parts she got from her bag, Phisena formed a shell in the shape of a bulky rifle. Phisena took aim at one of the mages and pulled the trigger, blasting him with a bolt of lighting.

“What the hell is that thing?”. Bortheus was in shock.

“It's her brand new magicannon” Nez told him. “She came up with the name”. He was so glad her plan actually worked... And that new creation of hers didn't explode.

The enemy chimersit turned around. “What's going on? The animated doll was supposed to be useless at this point!”.

Another bolt of lightning came out of the magicannon and hit one of the two bruisers in the back; Delilah finished him with a quick thrust of her rapier.

“Why didn't you tell us about this secret weapon?” she asked, giving Nez a reprimanding look.

“We had to look like we couldn't handle them, so they'd drop their guard”. Having said that, Nez dashed behind cover and and approached the enemy team on the opposite side from Phisena.

The two remaining casters were focused on her, so it was almost too easy for him to get behind the chimerist and stab her in the kidneys. He didn't even give her a second glance as she dropped to the ground.

Bortheus managed to push the bull beastfolk all the way to the back, right next his last remaining companion.

“Lux”. Delilah cast one of her spiritist spells, creating a blazing light in front of the two enemies.

The mage went down. The beastfolk didn't.

Bortheus got bashed right in the temple with the pommel of the beastfolk's flamberge. The royal knight stumbled around, blinking hard as if he couldn't see well.

The beastfolk went past him and charged straight at Delilah, dodging a shot from Phisena even in his weakened state.

Nez had no time to think.

His eyes lit up and he darted in her direction. He managed to tackle her out of the flaming blade's path. “It's time to go to sleep, pal” he said, crouched down, to the beastfolk.

Nez leapt at him and slashed his belly before he could even try to raise his guard.

“The final match of the second round goes to the King's Brigade!”.

They were showered with applause and enthusiastic shouts.

All the parts of Phisena's magicannon detached themselves and went back in her bag. The animated doll ran to Delilah. “Did you see that?” she asked while hugging the princess. “I cast an entropism spell!”.

She then moved to Bortheus but she basically only managed to slam against his armor, unable to reach around him with her arms. “And I made a magicannon!”.

“We saw it” Bortheus said with a gentle smile. He carefully patted her head, making sure not to hit her with a shield.

Lastly, Phisena buried her face in Nez's neck.

“You were awesome” he told her.

They all went back to the waiting room, intending to clean up a little and get some rest at the inn.

But someone was waiting for them in there. Two humans and an ogre, with tan skin and a single horn on the left side of his forehead, were near the exit door. “So, these are the losers we're supposed to fight tomorrow?” the ogre asked with a smug expression.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Delilah straightened her back. “I take it you're the other team that got to the final match”.

The ogre smirked. “You can bet your ass”.

“Watch your tongue!” Bortheus warned him.

“Ooh, scary” the ogre mocked him, snickering with his friends.

“What do you want?” Delilah asked, composed and dignified as ever.

“Him”. The ogre pointed at Nez.

The Devil Touched looked behind himself to see if there was someone else. “Oh, you really mean me”.

“My name is Thurgan” the ogre said, slightly irritated. “And I want you to join my gang”.

“Why would I do that?” Nez asked raising his hands to the sides.

“Because I can bet those three are holding you back... And because I can make it worth your while”.

So he wants to buy me off...

Nez felt flattered, but found it hard not to laugh at his face.

“I don't know how much they give you, but I'm sure me and the boys can give you more” Thurgan continued. He seemed very pleased with himself. “And it's always better to be on the winning side”.

“The winning side is trying to take away one of their opponents, so it's not screaming confidence to me...” Nez said, slowly checking Thurgan out. “But I'll humor you. What are you offering?”.

“Nez!” Delilah exclaimed in astonishment.

“I knew we couldn't trust him”. Bortheus looked like he wanted to kill him.

Nez waved a hand to calm them down. “Relax. We're only talking”.

Thurgan puffed up his chest. “It just so happen that we got our hands on a substantial haul. How does three hundred gold coins sound? Just for tomorrow's fight. And then if you like working with us, you can stay and get a cut of whatever we find”.

That was a generous offer, Nez had to admit. But it couldn't work on him. The Devil Touched shook his head. “I can get money whenever I want. And a rare find like myself deserves more than boring coins”. He took out his dagger and offered it to Thurgan by the handle side. “Take out one of your eyes”.

The ogre seemed confused. “What?”.

His expression was so funny to Nez. “You heard me” he said with a sly smile. He wiggled the dagger in a joking way. “You said you were going to give me something more than them”.

As a matter of fact, Nez had no intention of leaving the group under any circumstances. There was more than money in it for him, and it was something not easily topped. He just wanted to mess with Thurgan, since he came looking for trouble. Besides, Nez was sure he'd never accept such an egregious request.

“Are you insane?” Thurgan asked.

“I'm a Devil Touched”.

Thurgan slapped his hand away. His eye was twitching. “Do you think your partners aren't going to ditch you the second they won't need you anymore? Do you think they want to keep scum like you around?”.

Nez listened to that little speech with amusement.

Delilah stepped in. “You have some nerve asking him to join you and then calling him scum. Are you sure you want to show such lack of integrity to your opponents?”.

“How about we settle this right now, little girl?”. Thurgan brought his hand to the axe he carried on his belt.

Oh boy, this isn't good.

Nez would've loved to get his hands on those three jackasses, but that could mean jeopardizing Delilah's mission. The objective was to meed lord Orzhio, and getting into an unauthorized fight in the arena wasn't going to help.

“How about I show you a little trick?” Nez asked Thurgan with a mischievous look on his face. “We can make a bet on it”.

That seemed to catch Thurgan's attention. “You wanna chicken out? Well, let's hear it”.

“Do you know what a Spirit Theft is?”.

“Never heard of it”.

“It's a little thing us Devil Touched can do. It consists in reaching into an individual's soul, and manifesting it's essence as a material object”.

It's something Nez used to do a lot when he was a kid. It could only be done once on every person, but in a city as big as Cardinal Citadel there were plenty of people. It was a good way to get his hands on any sort of stuff that he could use or sell.

“Most people produce common items, nothing of any value” Nez explained. “But others... those who are stronger and set themselves apart can produce real treasures”.

Thurgan seemed to be interested. If because he felt his ego stroked or because he liked the idea of a treasure, Nez couldn't tell.

“Let me do a Spirit Theft on you. If what comes out is worth at least, let's say... ten gold coins, then I'll join you. But if it's worth less, then you shut up and go away” Nez proposed.

Ten gold coins sounded like a low threshold, and in a way it was. However, it was incredibly rare to get an actual treasure with a Spirit Theft.

“Okay” Thurgan agreed. “Do it”.

Nez took a deep breath. He hadn't done a Spirit Theft in years, and was a little worried that he might feel the rush of blood lust a little too much... But it shouldn't have been anything he couldn't handle.

His eyes lit up once again, then he extended his hand towards Thurgan, and focused. After a few second, a simple hempen rope appeared around his forearm.

“I didn't expect anything, and I'm still disappointed” Nez said, looking at the rope with a pitiful expression.

He could hear Delilah and Phisena snickering behind him.

Thurgan was fuming. He lunged forward and grabbed Nez by his coat. “Listen to me, you little...”.

He stopped once he felt Nez's dagger poking at his stomach.

“You got too close, buddy”. Nez gave him a placid smile that clashed with the murderous intent in his eyes. “A bet is a bet”.

Thorgan let him go, and part of him was disappointed.

“Smart ass” the ogre said with spite. “We're gonna have so much fun with you tomorrow”.

Nez didn't bother to reply. He moved past the three jerks and went down the hallway with the rest of his group.

They hadn't even reached the intersection to the changing rooms, however, that a hail of darts were thrown their way from behind.

Bortheus and Nez noticed in time. The knight guarded Delilah, and Nez dodged without any issue.

But Phisena got hit in the shoulder.

“Let me see”. Delilah rushed to her aid, examining the new wound. “It doesn't seem to be poisoned”. She healed the animated doll.

Nez approached Phisena, uncharacteristically serious. He felt a surge of anger swell up inside him.

“I'm alright” Phisena reassured him. She squeezed his hand.

“Dude, you're eyes are glowing” Bortheus told him in a careful tone.

Looking back the hallway, Nez didn't see Thurgan and his click. He took a step in that direction, intending to go searching for them. “I'm gonna kill them” he whispered. Nez hadn't known his new friends for long, but they were some of the very few people who didn't look at him like he was a monster. They actually treated him as an equal.

And he liked that.

Seeing them hurt that way, targeted by a disrespectful cheap shot like that... It made him furious.

Phisena held to him tight. “Don't”.

The fear in her voice snapped Nez out of it. He calmed down after a few deep breaths. “You all are gonna make me go bald from worrying” he said, back to his usual cheerful self.

Delilah didn't stop staring at him intensely.

“Let's go, I'm starting to feel hungry”. Nez winked at Phisena, and headed to the changing rooms to get cleaned.

“I'll keep an eye on him”. Bortheus became glued to his side.

“I won't do anything stupid”.

After a little while, Bortheus said: “Even if I don't approve of your methods, I can see you care for us. If only you weren't so malicious, sometimes...”.

“We can't change who we are”. Nez was different from his past self, but he still couldn't get rid off his nature.

After they were all ready, the group gathered outside the arena.

“I'm starving!” Nez exclaimed, trying to ignore the worried looks the others were giving him.

“Wait” Delilah stopped him. “We need to talk”.

“Listen, I...” Nez sighed.

Delilah cut him off. “It's about the final match. I already discussed it with Phisena... I need to ask you a favor”.

“Oh?”. Nez was surprised.

The princess got closer to him. “I want you to do what I say, tomorrow in the arena”.

I did say I was going to do things my way...

“I trust you, Nez. Can you do the same in my regard?”.

How could he say no to such a determined and honest face?

“Alright” Nez agreed with an ironic smile. “You call the shots”.

Delilah had a sigh of relief. “Good. Because I already decided what we're going to do”.