The sound of a flute whistled over the crowd's cheering. It came from the noble's seating area. Scorpard stood at the head of the platform and played a tune on his Twillion Flute. Why was he playing it so soon? According to tradition, he was supposed to quieten the audience, deliver a speech, state a prayer, have soldiers check the contestants for any Enchantments or hidden weapons, and then count down from ten before he played the Twillion Flute. But he just did it right away. Why?

The gates to the left and right of the two entrance tunnels rattled and rumbled. Growls spilled out from behind them, growing louder and louder as the Twillion Flute's tune continued in its song. As the tune crescendoed, they burst out of the gates. Their chains rattled. But not as loud as normal or as frequently as normal.

They were unchained. They only rattled as the Corrulfs trotted past them and kicked them aside.

Not only were they unchained, but there were more of them than usual. Four came out of Cutivia's side of the arena, whilst six came out of Giggiam's. The four Corrulfs on Cutivia's side of the arena glared past her and focused on him. Scorpard was clearly playing the Twillion Flute in a way so that they primarily focused on Giggiam.

Giggiam glared up at Scorpard. Did he even care about tradition anymore? The scumbag paused his playing of the flute specifically to shoot a smirk down at him. Did he not want him and his daughter to marry that badly?

Megella and Leieffa glared up at Scorpard as well. They must've realised what was going on. But ever since Scorpard inflicted a drunken beating onto Leieffa, she refused to argue with him as much as she used to. She just scowled, took a deep breath, softened her face, and looked back into the arena with a frown.

The violent fury that burst in his chest when she told him how Scorpard did that to her resulted in Giggiam smashing half of his house to pieces. Took weeks to clean up his place after that. But what never recovered was his pride. The guilt that came from telling Leieffa that he couldn't avenge her pain anytime soon haunted him everyday and every night. It reminded him of how helpless he was in the forest covered mountains between Villance and Graeron.

Winning this tournament and earning Leieffa's hand in marriage would surely give him a tiny step up out of that miserable pit.

All the vice-chiefs seemed a bit confused as well. A few frowned at Scorpard. But none of them spoke up either. Even though it was a break of tradition, it wasn't enough to start messing with the politics of the Chiefdom over. Especially considering how Scorpard was the highest level System Herald in the entire Chiefdom with an intimidating level of 30. Megella was Level 25. The Vice-Chiefs averaged around the same Level. Giggiam, Leieffa, and Cutivia were even lower than them with a mere Level 10. He certainly couldn't do anything to defy him without throwing away his life. The only way to stand up to Scorpard was to trust others would stand up with you. To do it alone was foolish.

At least Megella seemed to have found the courage to spit out a few words to Scorpard. But as always, he just ignored Megella. Words weren't enough. Only the threat of an axe to the head would make a difference. If Giggiam won the tournament, then Scorpard would surely give in to tradition. The uproar would be too much for Scorpard to stop. He may be the strongest, but he'd be alone. Even the vice-chiefs would be against him. He at least hoped they would.

But would Giggiam be able to win? There were ten Corrulfs. Each one was level 5. Most of them focused on him. Cutivia was the same level as him. Losing this fight may not just mean another tournament loss, but it could also mean deaths. The Corrulfs were unchained. If Cutivia knocked him out, the Corrulfs could tear him to pieces. Scorpard could just wave his hands and say that the Twillion Flute randomly stopped working or that he accidentally played the wrong note. Maybe Scorpard weighed the options and finally decided that Giggiam wasn't worth keeping alive if it risked letting his daughter marry a nobody like him.

Scorpard opened up a box. He pulled a flag out of it. He raised it above his head. It was a white flag. He threw it into the arena. It was only thrown into the arena if it was suspected that one of the participants wanted to surrender but due to some sort of injury couldn't audibly state that they could give up. The fact that Scorpard threw it in right then was a message. Scorpard knew how dangerous it was. He wanted to pressure Giggiam into giving up. And he did a good job of that. The chances of winning were slim. The chances of death were high.

But despite it being a while, he'd never forget his father's words. Once you've got a task to do, it's better to do it than live in the fear of it.

All he had to do was win. So Giggiam ignored the white flag, ignored Corrulfs rushing towards him, and sprinted straight for Cutivia, dropping Scorpard's smirk into a frown.

Giggiam shot fist after fist at Cutivia, but she ducked under and side-stepped each one with ease. She had the Assassin class so her agility was high enough to make her body blur to his sight. Most of her punches and kicks landed on him, and each one rattled him from head to toe. Some ripped skin and splashed blood.

After thirty seconds of their conflict, Giggiam was finally able to punch her in the chest. She groaned. She gasped for breath. Her eyes bulged. Blood splashed out of her mouth. She flew away and rolled across the dirt like a ragdoll. Giggiam ran at her.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Even though she was fast and hit hard, her defence was low. Giggiam was a Bruiser so he had a balance between the three traits.

She coughed as she pushed herself up to her knees with wobbling arms. She was too slow to get up. As soon as he reached her, she'd be defenceless. He'd hit her in the head and knock her out cold. A quick win was what he needed.

But as soon as his shadow smothered Cutivia's shivering form, the Corrulfs roared and leapt at him. He side-stepped the slashing claws of one, ducked under the snapping fangs of another, and kicked a third in the ribs, cracking bone, and sending it flying.

Three Corrulfs stood close together and pointed their open maws at a singular point between them. They were about to shoot a Soul Beam. Why was Scorpard allowing them to activate Skills like that? Whilst it couldn't kill System Heralds like him or Cutivia, it could kill members of the audience. Scorpard's desperation was getting out of hand.

Giggiam lunged at the three wolves, and they lurched away and broke apart - cancelling their casting of the Skill.

By then, Cutivia was on her feet. Her body was still, the shock of his attack faded from her body. Back to square one. Except this time, he had all of the Corrulfs to deal with.

It was hard to dodge Cutivia's attacks before, but now it was impossible with Corrulfs slashing and biting at him from every angle. Cutivia's blurring punches and kicks covered him with bruises. The Corrulfs covered him with cuts and chomped chunks of flesh off his body. Blood dripped across him. He quickly grew exhausted. His legs wobbled. Sweat stampeded down his body. Each breath was a desperate gasp to fill his lungs.

One of the Corrulfs leapt at Cutivia. Scorpard probably did that just to make it seem more convincing. But she dashed beside it with ease. Whilst she did that, he lunged at her and swung a fist at her face.

She ducked under it. She jumped and flipped backwards whilst flicking her foot up at his chin. Pain shot up his face. His head shot backwards. He stumbled and tripped. He crashed against the dirt. He glanced at the noble's seating platform. Scorpard was grinning as he continued to play the Twillion Flute. Megella stood up and scowled at Scorpard with anxious eyes. Leieffa looked down at the arena with a horrified expression. There was nothing they could do.

The vice-chiefs frowned. The crowd booed. Everyone recognized the unfairness of it all. But they did nothing. Cutivia rushed at him. She didn't care either. The Corrulfs leapt at him from all angles, ravaging his ears with their roars.

Giggiam jumped off his back and to his feet. After dashing to the side of the slashing claw of a Corrulf he lunged into Cutivia's punch. Whilst her fist slammed into his chest, he gasped, grimaced, and shivered in agony. But in exchange, he mentally stated 'Stunning Strike' to activate that Skill. His right hand glowed yellow. Streaks of electricity flashed and circled around it. He swung that fist at Cutivia.

She wrenched her torso back. It brushed her chest, not fully hitting her, but that was enough. Sparks flashed across her body, showing that the Skill hit her.

She froze. Parts of her body twitched, showing her resistance to the Skill, but her body didn't move much more than that.

Shadowy clouds burst and circled around her. It covered her. She vanished. The shadow exploded in an empty space several metres away. Within that explosion of shadowy smoke, Cutivia appeared. She must've activated her Shadow Dash Skill. She must've thought that he used the Stunning Strike Skill in order to stun her, giving him time to hit her with a flurry of un-interrupted punches and kicks. But that wasn't his plan. Not when so many Corrulfs surrounded him.

He spun to them. One of them leapt at him, smothering his vision with its rippling teal fur. He ducked under its snapping maw. He shot his fist up at its stomach. Blood and old food splashed out of its mouth. Its ribs cracked. Giggiam spun, linked his two hands together, and slammed them down at the corrulf's skull. Bone cracked. Blood and brains splashed. The Corrulf fell the dirt with a thud. It was dead.

A white an ethereal mist formed in the monster's corpse. By glancing at it, and mentally stating Absorb, the mist shot into his body, providing him with Soul Essence.

Two more Corrulfs ran at him. He dashed between them, grabbed both their heads, and slammed them together. Their skulls cracked and their contents mixed. Their corpses dropped to the dirt. He absorbed their Soul Essence again.

The patter of feet against dirt whispered behind him. He spun. It was Cutivia. She winced at the sight of the Corrulfs dead on the dirt. Not because of the gore. Both he and her were used to that. It was the fact that she lost her advantage.

Giggiam wiped some blood out his eye and ran at her. Her lightning fast punches and kicks still shuddered his bones and smothered his body with stinging bruises. But the Corrulfs ripped less skin and bit off less flesh. Due to killing a few of the monsters, his attention was spread less thin. He was able to duck under a few swinging paws. He was able to swipe a few punches to the side. But most importantly, more of his punches and kicks were able to swing at her close enough to rattle her hair and brush her skin.

He pivoted to the side of a Corrulf's leaping form. Whilst he did that, Cutivia swung a fist at his face. He wrenched his torso to the side.

But the punch was a feint. She yanked her fist back, dashed past him and slid across the dirt behind him. He spun whilst ducking under the snapping fangs of two Corrulfs. Cutivia shot a foot at his face.

It landed. Pain flashed across his cheek. Blood splashed out of his mouth. But it didn't hit hard enough. He spun back to her, snatched her ankle before she could yank it away, and pulled her in. With his other hand, he rammed his fist into her face.

He let go of her ankle and she flew away from him. She flipped and spun through the air. She tumbled across the dirt. She slid to a halt. She didn't move.

Giggiam jumped over a leaping Corrulf and kicked another's skull to pieces as he landed. She still didn't move. He won. He spun to the noble's seating area .

"She's unconscious!" He shouted up at Scorpard. "I've won!"

The crowd burst into an ear battering cheer.

Megella and Leieffa jumped to their feet and yelled in celebration.

Scorpard scowled down at a grinning Giggiam, pausing his playing of the Twillion Flute, wincing and hesitating. But then he opened his mouth.