††† Haylee †††

“Let me go!” Haylee screamed at Ryden. “We have to help him!”

“Calm down, Haylee,” Ryden urged. “If it was close enough, he would use his ability and punch them full of holes instead of taking the damage,” the healer explained calmly. “They cannot beat him— he just tries to act weak to keep us safe.”

“He almost got crushed!” Haylee shrieked. Her breath stocked when she saw the feline following up and continued when Sieg crushed the male cat’s paw in his fingers. She couldn’t see it from that distance, but it seemed like Siegfried was just too tough for their claws, and his strength was above the scalings.

Then the bull-man stuck with his hammer.

“Nooo!” Haylee shouted. “He is hurt! He is bleeding!” She tried to break free, even going as far as shredding Ryden’s arms bloody, but the healer only grunted briefly and restricted her arms too.

“Haylee, calm down!” Ryden finally shouted. “He has still not used everything— he would have if it was close!”

His words made sense, and Haylee blinked through her tears at the battle below. Siegfried had freed himself, and the feline defenders had backed up— one of them bleeding from a long gash across their arm. Siegfrieds left arm was a bloody mess of flesh and stones, but he still managed to get out and injure one of them.

The bloodied warrior did not waste a second and went into the offensive even with one arm useless.

Haylee could see his face, and there was no trace of anger or pain on it. Only sheer focus and commitment.

The feline’s tried to harry him as he went for the downed grey-skinned thing, but they were wary of his reflexes now. In the end, nothing stopped him from ending the limping defender.

With only one weaponless bull-man and two felines, the fight was short and deadly. They attacked together and only scored a clawed blow across Siegfried’s chest before succumbing to his blade.

“He made it!” Haylee cheered for a moment before she saw the severe expression on Ryden’s face.

“You’re right— he was incredible down there. But the guy in the dark robes still hasn’t moved,” Ryden answered, uneasiness colouring his voice.

Looking down again, Haylee found that Sieg had stopped the bleeding from most of his wounds. The man in the cowled robes was still not moving.

Only when the injuries to Sieg’s chest and legs had fully healed did the mysterious guy raise his voice.

“I’ll wait for that one as well,” the cowled man called out to Siegfried. His voice was oddly thin but still loud— almost metallic.

Haylee held her breath as Siegfried stared at his left arm that was still shredded and full of stone splinters.

Sieg nodded, touched the ghastly wound with his other hand and let out a roar.

Ryden quickly cupped one hand on Haylee’s eyes and didn’t let go until she heard the gasps of the spectators and dug her claws into Ryden’s skin.

A fresh splatter of blood covered the ground in front of Sieg, and more flesh was missing on his forearm. But the stones were gone, and his expression was stoic as always.

“Victor’s shrivelling balls,” Kaz cursed. “I’ve known a lot of hard men, but this human can really take some pain.”

The wound didn’t heal nearly as fast as Ryden could do, but everyone could see the flesh slowly knitting together. And still, the cowled man did nothing but watch.

Haylee’s stomach churned. Her guilt and fear wrestling for dominance and settling on downing her together.

††† Siegfried †††

Sieg went to one knee, steadying himself by the pommel of his sword, the tip buried in the ground.

His last enemy was obviously confident that he could beat him even after thrashing a whole group of defenders. If that allowed him to prepare and heal, Siegfried would welcome it.

Meanwhile, he used the time to observe his enemy. The robe hid most features, but there was an odd lump over the left shoulder. Memories of the disfigured giant that he had thought years ago let his imagination run wild. What kind of monster lay beneath those robes?

It was several minutes until skin grew over his forearm again, but no noise interrupted the challenge. Not even from Zschrisch.

Siegfried straightened and cast the ruined tunic from his torso. His muscles glistened with sweat from the process, but the injury was fully healed.

His opponent tilted his head like a cat and studied Siegfried for a few seconds. Then he removed the cowl, revealing a face that was only vaguely human-shaped. The over prominent cheekbones and wide jaw were unsettling, but the black exoskeleton covering it all made Siegfried clench his teeth.

“My name is Kesh, and I regret having to end your legacy before it began, warrior,” the insectoid man said as he shed his robes. “Alas, I owe someone a favour. And I pay my debts.”

Unlike Trish, the half-spider woman that Sieg had fought, Kesh had no visible weak spots. His whole body was covered by the iron-hard black shell and both feet and hands ended in three curved digits.

The lump that Sieg had noticed before was actually a segmented tail that ended in a pointed stinger. It was long enough to hang over Kesh’s shoulder and was now hovering slightly behind and above his head.

A shout of outrage from a particularly loud spectator drew both their gazes to the side of the pit.

††† Haylee †††

Haylee startled as Kaz roared, giving voice to his displeasure.

“Torg!” the lion-man shouted. “This transcends simply bending the rules! You cannot let someone from the upper levels fight here!”

Even Torg himself looked astonished and started to argue with Zschrish. Apparently, he had not known who hid beneath the robes until now.

“Upper levels?” Haylee asked fearfully. “Ry, Siegfried can beat that guy, right?” she pleaded.

Ryden gnashed his teeth, a grim look on his face as he studied Sieg’s opponent. “Black devil,” he growled. “That’s what we called this race back home. Their exoskeleton is nigh impenetrable, and even their organs are partially reinforced. That’s why he sounds so strange.” The healer closed his eyes and shook his head as if trying to banish a bad memory. “The worst part is the poison in their stinger. Siegfried can’t take a single hit from that,” he explained, clenching his fists.

An enemy that Sieg could hardly damage, but they only needed a single hit to kill him. Haylee trembled as the ramifications fell into place. He could hardly survive this encounter, let alone win. With bleary eyes, she looked for Kaz.

The lion-man held her gaze and nodded with conviction. “If Rak can hold his stinger down, we can ram our claws into his eyes and mouth,” he whispered, looking at the big drakish clansman.

Rak grunted deeply in acknowledgement.

“He doesn’t want us to intervene,” Ryden intermitted their planning.

It took Haylee a few moments to realise what the healer had just said. Looking back towards the arena, Siegfried's gaze struck her. He was looking at them with an expression like hard stone. With a shake of his head, the warrior raised his sword and faced the black devil again.

Torg was still arguing with Zschrish, but Kesh and Sieg paid them no mind.

“Siegfried, no,” Haylee breathed, a lump forming in her throat.

And then Kesh attacked.