A rational person would remember how badly they had lost against Hussa and would avoid fighting her again. Neer knew that had she left the task to Leonard, he'd already be done. He even had the time to put on a little show, going by the roars of approval she heard from the tribune.
Neer prided herself on her ability to assess the battlefield coolly and never give in to emotion. This might have seemed counterintuitive, given that she was currently fighting for her life against her opponent in what should be a doomed duel, but she knew better.
It was true that Hussa had overwhelmed her the last time. Neer was even willing to admit that her opponent had greater strength and experience.
But she hadn't been herself. Not only had the sudden switch up between welcoming "noble savage," as Leonard had described it, and cunning manipulator stunned her, but she also had to think about the damage she’d do to the plan and the camp should things escalate too much.
That wasn't an excuse—she had lost and made a mess—but it was an explanation. Neer spent the last day of her captivity thinking about what she should have done differently, and beyond simply not taking the bait, the answer was only one: win.
To earn Leonard's trust back and to show the orcs that she was a worthy warrior, Neer needed to defeat Hussa in single combat.
Hussa's grin was savage, her eyes gleaming with malicious glee. She stood tall, muscles rippling under her skin, a massive warhammer casually resting on her shoulder as if it weighed nothing. Neer could feel the sheer physical power radiating from her, far beyond anything she could naturally match. But she wasn't here to match Hussa in brute strength. She was here to win.
She dodged to the side with a grunt, avoiding a blow that would have crushed her. The impact was so significant that she was forced to spin back, losing precious contact with the ground.
The earth split and cracked; such was the force that the bear totem conferred to Hussa. Neer barely kept her footing as she landed.
The orc laughed, deep and taunting. "Running away again, half-blood? Just like last time, huh? You going to dance around the field while your master watches?” Her words echoed through the battlefield, enhanced through some skill to be audible even from the bleachers. It would have been enough to send anyone into blind anger.
Neer didn't take the bait. She kept her breathing steady, refusing to let Hussa's words rile her up like before. Instead, she seized the brief moment of stillness to gather her mana, muttering a few words under her breath.
Oh yes, bitch. I’m half-good. That means I can use spells, too.
Hussa frowned as a faint glow surrounded Neer, the air crackling with a subtle energy. "What, resorting to human tricks now?" she sneered, but there was a hint of wariness in her eyes. She hadn't expected Neer to stay calm and certainly not to pull a new ability out.
[Emergence] surged through Neer's body like a river of molten lava, heightening her senses and causing her muscles to vibrate with new energy. She'd practiced it only a few times with Gareth but had no other recourse if she wanted to win. It enhanced her physical attributes and granted her an almost supernatural sense of how her opponent would move—a flicker of insight, a brief premonition before each attack.
It was the result of pouring over the divination division's research to try and get something directly useful out of it. Admittedly, the bulk of the spell's matrix had been worked out by the little Archmage, but Neer could rightly say that without her input, it wouldn't have left the lab for quite a while.
Of course, it also required her entire attention to cast and maintain a calm, collected state of mind. There was a reason she hadn’t even tried to use it last time.
Hussa's grin faltered slightly as she realized this fight wouldn't be as easy as expected. "So, you've grown a spine. Fine, let's see what good it does you."
With a snarl, Hussa charged again, swinging directly for Neer's head. This time, however, she was ready. Neer moved with the grace of a panther, dodging just before the hammer could connect, feeling the wind blow as it whooshed past her. The ground shattered behind her, but Neer was already repositioning, stepping into Hussa's guard and swinging her cleaver toward the orc's ribs.
Hussa blocked it with an armored forearm, the clash of steel on enchanted leather sending a shockwave through both of them. But Neer felt the advantage shifting. [Emergence] also sharpened her senses, allowing her to read Hussa's movements. The next hammer strike came, but Neer slipped under it, slicing a bloody line across Hussa's thigh.
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The orc growled, her grin finally slipping. There was no more playful banter now, no more condescending laughter. She buckled down, fighting with deadly intensity.
Neer had known the savage warrior Hussa portrayed herself as was a ruse, but experiencing it firsthand was different. Her brute strength disguised her speed and precision, but every attack was carefully planned and executed flawlessly.
For a few moments, it took all Neer had to stay on her feet. The ground cracked and groaned beneath them as they fought, each swing of Hussa's warhammer sending shockwaves through the battlefield. Neer parried and dodged with increasing speed as she got used to the boost, but she could feel the raw power behind every strike in the creak of her bones. Each one carried enough force to end her if she made a single mistake.
But she wasn't making mistakes this time.
Neer circled, watching for openings. Hussa's blows were heavy, but they were also increasingly predictable. She could now feel the rhythm of the fight, sense where the next attack would land before it even started. When Hussa lunged forward, Neer twisted out of the way, delivering a sharp kick to the back of her knee, forcing her to stumble.
Hussa snarled, swinging in a wide arc. Neer ducked under it, bringing her cleaver up hard on Hussa's hip. The blow cut deeply into the armor, but the resilience totem's protection was still at work. Hussa didn't fall; instead, she roared in fury, spinning around and slamming the side of her hammer into Neer's ribs.
The force of the hit sent her flying, crashing through a tree and skidding across the ground. Pain exploded through her side, but she gritted her teeth, pushing herself back to her feet. The buff spell and the griffin's boon were more than enough to tank a hit like that, and though she was hurt, she was far from done.
Hussa charged again, but this time Neer met her head-on. They clashed in a flurry of blows, steel ringing against steel, each strike more vicious than the last. They tore through the battlefield, leaving destruction in their wake—trees splintered, rocks shattered, and the earth itself seemed to tremble beneath their feet.
Neer could feel the strain in her muscles, the haze of the battle pressing down on her, but she didn't falter. She had trained too much for this, endured endless hours of sparring, and pushed her limits just to be of use to Leonard. She wouldn't let Hussa break her.
And for the first time, Hussa's eyes showed something other than glee or scorn.
Doubt.
Neer pressed the advantage, her cleaver flashing in impossibly tight arcs, forcing Hussa onto the defensive. The orc's swings grew more desperate, her breath coming in labored gasps as she tried to match Neer's pace. But [Emergence] had given Neer more than just speed. She was there before the blow was even fully realized. No matter the feints her opponent tried, nothing could fool her now. She was in the flow state.
Finally, with a sharp feint to the left, Neer broke through Hussa's guard, cutting deep into her side where she had previously broken the armor. Hussa let out a bellow of pain, staggering back, blood pouring from the wound.
Neer had gained the upper hand for the first time since their battle began.
She didn't waste the moment. Her instincts screamed to finish the fight before Hussa had the chance to recover. As her opponent staggered back, Neer caught sight of a faint light under the rent in Hussa's armor—the unmistakable effect of a healing artifact. It was patching up Hussa's wound, slowly but surely.
Neer's eyes narrowed. She couldn't let Hussa recover.
Without hesitation, she did something that took even herself by surprise—she tossed her cleaver to the ground. The heavy weapon landed with a dull thud. Hussa's eyes widened briefly, then a slow, wicked grin spread across her bloodied face.
"Giving up already? Scared of a little blood, are we?" Though her tone was light and mocking, but her grip tightened around her warhammer's haft. "Not so tough when things become real."
Neer didn't answer. Instead, she shifted her stance, her gaze fixed on the faint light in Hussa's armor. With a swift motion, she kicked up a fragment of the shattered battlefield, a jagged piece of stone no bigger than her palm. Her hand moved on its own, guided by [Emergence]. Without a second thought, she hurled it straight at the glowing point.
Hussa, still grinning, barely had time to react as the shard struck true, slamming into the center of her chest. There was a loud crack as the artifact hidden beneath her armor shattered. The glow flickered, then burst outward in an unfocused surge of energy, washing over Hussa's body.
The orc gasped, stumbling back as the healing power unraveled. It mended her flesh, but only in patches, the magic sputtering without focus. Instead of sealing the wound entirely, it dissipated evenly through her entire body, leaving Hussa still bleeding, though less profusely.
Neer didn't waste any more time. She scooped her cleaver off the ground and advanced, ready to put an end to things.
She could see from the dawning horror in her expression that Hussa realized that the wound was still too deep to fight with. She gritted her teeth, blood running down her side, but there was no fear in her eyes—only a grim resolve.
"So, this is how it ends," Hussa muttered, adjusting her grip on her warhammer. "Fine. I'll make my stand here."
Ah, she’s actually going to make me do this. It’d be just like her to poison our first public appearance with the death of a respected warrior.
Despite her frustration, Neer still raised her cleaver to strike. That was when a body flew across the battlefield, crashing into the ground between them with a sickening thud. Neer instinctively turned toward the source of the commotion. Hussa's ally—the shaman—lay in a broken heap, bones visibly shattered, barely conscious.
Neer's gaze shifted to the figure that stepped into the fray.
Clad in shimmering Light-based armor, Oliver strode forward with the calm confidence of a man who had won without resorting to any of his real skills. His radiant armor flickered but held, and he stopped just a few feet from where Hussa stood, bloodied and exhausted.
"Think very carefully about what you do next, Hussa," Oliver said, his voice steady, almost bored. "Do you really want to throw your life away here?"
Neer blinked, surprised. She hadn't expected Oliver to finish his fight so quickly, let alone show up for hers. She hadn't even thought to check the shaman's power, having concentrated entirely on getting her revenge.
Hussa, breathing heavily, looked from Oliver to Neer and then to Leonard, watching them from afar. Her gaze lingered on him for a moment, and something flickered across her face. Her pupils shrank as if she had seen something there that the others could not.
Slowly, her grip on her warhammer loosened. She took a step back, then another, her bloodied body trembling with fatigue.
With a grunt of defeat, Hussa dropped her weapon. The warhammer hit the ground with a heavy thud, echoing through the battlefield.
"I surrender," she muttered, her voice thick with bitterness.
The last trial was over.