Grateful for the borrowed hoodie, Cameron looked around, his face hidden in the shadows of its hood. There were a lot of people there, and that meant a lot of minds his would brush against even at the minimum range he could manage. He kept his hands in his pocket and stuck close to Greyson, who had a hand resting on his shoulder to help guide the younger boy.

They were in an old warehouse which had supposedly been enchanted to dampen sound some years back to help solidify it as a fighting ring. People lined the second-floor balcony and the first floor, only the center of the space really open.

When they reached the front, Cameron saw the fight going on at the moment, a woman in her thirties and a man in his twenties. The woman was winning, moving much faster than the man. Rather than watching, Cameron turned his gaze to the windows on the second level, noting that they'd been painted black.

Probably to avoid people seeing magic in-use from outside by chance. He turned his gaze back to the fight as the man's mind weakened, a sign that he'd gone unconscious.

"WHO'S NEXT?" The buff man acting as the referee hollered after checking on the unconscious man.

A pair of men rushed into the arena and carried the loser away as another woman entered the arena. Bets were placed, and then the fight began. Cameron watched as the second woman was taken out almost immediately.

A few more rounds went before Blake jumped into the fight, squaring off against the woman who had fought each of those matches and won. Cameron watched as they fought at a high speed, barely able to pick up their movements past the blurs as they moved.

Greyson explained that the woman was the only person that Blake had ever lost against, and that she was another werewolf. Usually, their fights ended up in them both turning into wolves and going at it, though the blood mage commented that it was unusual for them to do that if they didn't turn in the first minute.

Their match lasted for almost six minutes before the woman yielded to Blake, then left the arena. Blake continuing to fight for eight more rounds before the brawling section finished, and the magic section began shortly after.

"Hey, beast," Cameron heard as he felt the female werewolf approach.

He felt a sense of warmth in her and Blake at the same time, something he sensed while they were brawling. He knew that feeling, and inwardly groaned. It was obvious to him that they liked each other.

"Hey, beastette," Blake looked at her. "Good match."

"I almost wolfed out on you," she told him.

"I almost wolfed out on you," he snorted, and Cameron turned his gaze back to the match that had begun.

It was between two males, one of whom was throwing fireballs while the other snapped out with a whip of water. Any time an attack got too close to the crowd, runes on the ground flared up and the attack was neutralized by the force field enchantment.

That intrigued Cameron, with his limited knowledge of how magic worked. They'd even factored in protecting the spectators. The crowd cheered on as the duo fought, until the fireball mage won, knocking the water whip guy out.

Three more rounds went with the fireball mage fighting before he lost to a witch who generated orbs of stone that she threw around. She then lost in the next round to a mage who used a toxic gas, who lost two rounds later against someone who used force fields to trap him in his own cloud.

The force field user fought for nine rounds before being beaten by a force user who pushed out waves of force. Three more matches went by before Cameron got his sight of the unbeatable victor. Dressed in baggy black cargo pants, black combat boots, and an oversized black hoodie, they walked into the arena, their face hidden as much as his own was, hands in the pockets of their hoodie.

He knew that they were a he, though. He'd figured out quickly how to tell the difference between a male mind and a female as he figured out the empathy magic he had months before

"We used to still have two hours until the end," Greyson whispered into Cameron's ear. "But now, there's a good chance there won't be many fighters; everyone's pretty much given up fighting them."

"They probably just want some extra money."

"I bet you could take them."

"Yeah, you should take them."

"Do it!"

"Do it!"

"Yeah! Totally! Kick his ass!"

"Quiet, you guys," Cameron hissed under his breath.

"What?" Greyson leaned back over.

"Nothing," Cameron muttered. "Ignore me. I talk to the voices a lot."

"What voices?"

"The voices."

Greyson shrugged, then watched as the champ took out the force field pusher before he could hit him.

"That's not enchanting, bro."

"Yeah, that's spatial magic."

"He's definitely distorting space to move, which is why it looks like he's moving faster."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Cameron tuned out the voices, but filed the information away for later, watching the next match. A few more went as people bravely attempted to defeat the spatial distorter, though none won.

"So once someone loses, they're out, right?" Cameron leaned over to Greyson.

"Yeah," Greyson said.

"What determines if you lose?"

"If you're knocked out of the ring," Greyson said. "The circle that the runes form. If you're knocked unconscious, or if you yield."

"WHO'S NEXT?" The referee called out again, looking around. No one responded. "ANY OTHER TAKERS?"

Taking a deep breath, Cameron stepped forward, over the runes, and he sensed Greyson panic.

"Hey there," the ref said. "Unless you're a midget, you're probably too young to fight well. You sure you want to challenge them?"

Cameron ignored him, as his anger flared up over the comment about his size, and the ref started to take a few steps back, looking at the other opponent.

"Don't be too rough on the kid," the referee said. "Remember the rules."

The ref left the arena as the crowd watched in silence. Two figures, faces concealed by hoods, one either a midget or a young kid. The ref hollered out for them to match, and neither moved.

Cameron could sense his opponent's mind. They were wary, though he wasn't sure why. Probably because of his size and how rough they were on others.

His anger still bristling from the ref's midget comment, Cameron immediately struck out with a metal battering ram. His opponent dropped to his knees, his hands going to his head. It was the first time they were visible to the younger boy, and they were covered with black gloves. Nothing to let their identity be determinable.

The crowd gasped in response, and Cameron struck again as he felt his opponent tensing up. He didn't want them to attack again.

Cameron sensed his opponent's mind fill with frustration, and struck again. With the third strike, he felt his opponent give in. Instead of speaking that they yielded, however, he simply stood and walked out of the arena.

Silence filled the air for several long moments.

"It looks like Eden has bowed out!" The ref called as he entered the arena. "Marking their first loss! Alright, little guy, what's your-aaragh!"

Cameron glared at the ref, who didn't see his face. He hadn't hit that hard, just like when he fought against Eden.

"Cam," Cameron responded after a moment, knowing that his current preteen voice could be mistaken for either sex.

"Cam has won!" The ref called. "Now! WHO'S NEXT? WHO WANTS TO TAKE ON THE ONE WHO TOOK DOWN OUR UNBEATABLE CHAMP?"

Cam fought three more magicians, not allowing a single one of them to get an attack off by striking with his mental battering ram. He heard others talking, and knew they thought he was applying either force magic or air magic to do it.

According to Greyson, he and Blake had initially thought that, too, and would've kept thinking that if Greyson hadn't been told it was mind magic by Elaine.

After his fourth victory, no one else wanted to challenge him, and that ended the matches for the night. Cameron rejoined Greyson and Blake, who clapped him on the back.

"Why'd you go out there?" Greyson leaned in close to ask. "You could've gotten seriously hurt."

"The voices said I'd be fine," Cameron answered.

Greyson didn't push that, just walked with the two brawlers to the bookkeepers to collect their winnings.

The blood mage explained to Cameron on the way that the way payouts worked was that the house took out fifty percent from each fight's pool. That was split between the house and the winner evenly down the middle, to help deter fighters from having someone bet on them.

Some people did double-dip, but most didn't.

Of the remaining fifty percent, betters' original bets were returned to them if they had bet on the winner for that match, then the rest of the pool was divided evenly between them through some funky math.

"Funky math?"

"Don't ask me," Greyson shrugged. "Blake used that wording when he explained it to me. I think it has to do with how long it takes to go out and other weird stuff."

Cameron shrugged, then stepped up to the counter with Blake. He was curious how they paid out when more than half of the people had bet on the victors, but Greyson didn't seem to know.

"Cam's with me," Blake told the bookkeeper.

The bookkeeper then went and looked through the bins behind him until he located two envelopes, returning to the counter and handing them to Blake, who handed the one with Cameron's 'Cam' on it to the boy, who slipped it into his pocket, keeping it firmly in his hands.

It felt like a lot of money.

With their winnings in-hand, the trio left, mostly unaware of a particular person observing them heavily.

----------------------------------------

Agent Michael Blackmoore left the warehouse and immediately drove to the office, where he knew his boss was working. The agency had known about that particular underground supernatural fighting ring for awhile, but they never caused problems, and so had been left alone.

As he rode the elevator, Michael undid the invisibility spell on his camera and began looking at the pictures. The doors opened, and he walked out.

"How were the matches tonight?" Grace, the secretary, asked.

"Interesting," Michael answered. "Is Lucas still in?"

"He is," she answered. "Do you need him?"

"Immediately," Michael answered. "There's a situation he should be aware of."

She nodded and waved him through, and Michael went up to his bosses door, entering without knocking.

"Michael," Lucas said. "How was your scouting tonight?"

"Interesting," Michael responded, walking over and handing his boss the camera. "Check out the last group of photos."

Lucas frowned as he pulled out the memory card and plugged it into his computer, pulling up the images. He skimmed down to the last of them, pulling them up. The images showed a nineteen-year-old, a small figure in a hoodie, and-

"Is that Greyson?" Lucas asked.

"I believe so," Michael responded. "I asked a few others, and he sometimes shows up with the werewolf, the older boy. The smaller figure, Cam, is an unknown – it was their first time."

"They fought?"

"With the hood still concealing their face," Michael answered. "And while everyone was thinking he was using either air magic or force magic, I think he's a mind mage. He took out four opponents in a row without even moving from his spot. Kept his hands in his pockets, not moving an inch. They'd suddenly feel a pressure in their head that would continue to hammer at them until they yielded or left the arena."

"Did he fight Eden?"

"First match of his," Michael nodded. "Eden simply got up and left the arena."

"Did you get anything from them?"

"They collected their winnings and left before I could track them down," Michael shook his head. "I did catch that they were wearing a mask, though. They've gone to great lengths to make sure no one knows what they look like, or even if they're male or female."

"Did you try to follow Greyson?"

"Cam knew I was watching them," Michael shook his head. "As they left, I felt a pressure. Not enough to cripple me, but enough to let me know they knew I was looking."

"They're rather small," Lucas commented, looking at the pictures. "Do you think they're a kid?"

"It's possible they're simply short," Michael shrugged. "When the ref called him 'little guy', they attacked with their mind blasts. Their size is clearly a sore point, so I'd bet on them being an adult, or at least in their mid or late teens."

"Alright," Lucas said. "I want you to continue to watch the fights. We still need to find out who Eden is, and having another lone school there complicates things, especially since they seem to be able to read minds, unless you were being obvious."

"I do my best not to, sir," Michael snorted. "You want me to watch them both?"

"Yes," Lucas answered. "And if you get a chance to talk with my son, tell him I'd like to talk with him."