I walked through a dark corridor towards the source of the light and noises. Ha, I could hear the voices of hundreds, if not thousands of people already gathered in the arena, waiting to spectate my duel.

Funny. Previously, as the village chief’s son, I was forced to participate in many social events: speeches and gatherings and the like. My father taught me how to keep my stage-fright under control. It was all but an act - to ‘pretend’ that you were calm, ready, and you had everything under control, all while you were shaking internally like a leaf.

I was ALWAYS terrified of giving a speech - even in front of people I knew and lived with my whole life. But now? I was calm. Completely calm. Serene even. Even though I was about to stand before thousands of people - most wishing me to fail in all likelihood, as they bet their money against me, my mind would move on its path, repeating everything that I learned during my last several days of training with Natasha and my two other instructors.

I was ready. I had to be. Carrying a simple blade by my belt and dressed in plain armor, I was about to clash in an environment that was setup with the sole purpose of obstructing my movements.

So be it. This wouldn’t be the first time I had my back to a wall. In the dungeon I also had to fight despite its natural formation disturbing the freedom of my movements.

Soon enough, I reached the end of the corridor, and stepped out, into a dim, dark light.

“AND HERE IS OUR FIRST FIGHTER! IN THE LEFT CORNER, REPRESENTING THE HOUSE OF LION, A MYSTERIOUS, NAMELESS KNIGHT! FAMOUSLY CALLED DRAGON-SLAYER! DEAR PATRONS, WELCOME - ALABASTER BLADE!”

To the words of the speaker, the crowd reacted with a cacophony of screams. Cheering, words of comfort, as well as wishes to victory, mixed with booing, offenses and wishes to see my blood. There were more of the later than the former but I didn’t mind, just knowing a few cheered me on filled me with a small uplifting sense of purpose.

Deciding not to pay more attention to it, my mind tried to process what was in front of me.

Looking around, the entire area was made of small empty spaces with a pedestal in the center, and then, just a few meters from it, a literal forest of pillars was erected.

It became obvious that running through it was absolutely impossible for most people. Raised irregularly, they would make the person moving through it stop every few steps, just to take ‘another path’ in the labyrinth of several meter tall stone-spikes.

But, there was something more. At first I thought it might have been the pillars, but the sensation was more concentrated than them. In fact, it was the pedestal in the middle that drew my focus. Concentrating a little I could tell it was emitting a faint ‘smell’ of magic. Upon my realization of this, a few notifications flashed before my eyes, making me grin under my helmet.

For now, I quickly dismissed the messages, trusting in my own skills for now, as the gate on the opposing side of the arena was lifted, revealing the silhouette of my opponent.

Rowan entered the stage. He wasn’t tall, even for a ‘regular human’ he was a good half-head shorter than the average man, now, wearing a ‘masking’ dark-leather armor, which blended his appearance with the shadow that surrounded the arena, he seemed even smaller, making me appear twice as tall as him.

But, it wasn’t what brought my attention. With my perfect dark vision, I saw him as if he was handed to me on a silver platter. And yet - there was something that nearly ‘screamed’ at me to be cautious. My magic senses were going crazy. His weapons seemed to burn like small suns. On top of that, threads of mana seemed to be escaping from under his leather armor.

So, they coated him in several layers of magic, huh? So that’s what they meant by saying that “they will cheat without cheating”.

“AND FROM RIGHT CORNER, REPRESENTING HOUSE OF FOX! - A PEAK-GOLD RANK ADVENTURER! RISING STAR IN DUNGEON-RAIDING, ROWAN THE SHADOW!”

Again, noise overtook the area, on a volume and scale that eclipsed my own. Notably there were far more cheers than anything.

“My dear good patrons! If you’d please turn your undivided divided attention to me! My name is Zari, the Red Dove…”

Choking, I practically snapped my head backwards towards the commenter stands, noticing a white-haired individuals yelling to the gathered people. Much to my surprise, people didn’t seem to pay him much attention, almost as if his bizarre clothing - of, dirty rugs - crazy hair and mad twin-colored eyes, as if these were seemingly nothing special.

“...As I will have the pleasure, and honor, to be your speaker for today’s battle! As we host a battle between two ADVENTURERS - upon mutual agreement - the arena was set up to mimic one of the old, legendary, Tomb of Navok - an elder lich and undead lord! BUT PHYSICAL APPEARANCE IS NOT THE ONLY THING THAT WAS ADDED! In the pedestal in the middle of the arena - THAT IS REAL HEART OF NAVOK - thanks to generosity of the House of Black Foxes, that decided to unseal this powerful artifact for the sake of YOUR ENJOYMENT!!! This powerful gem-artifact spreads an aura, which upon absorbing mana - battery provided - periodically increases its power and effect. Now what are its effects you may be asking my inquisitive crowd? It’s a seeee-cret! But, trust me - if you are alive, you would rather stay away from it! Now no need to worry, dear patrons, you are protected by a powerful barrier that…”

While the god, or what I was really hoping was the god playing some game and not some strange trick of fate, kept talking to the crowd I focused again on the pedestal.That was the reason for my previous smirk.

[Warning!] [User in [Area of Effect] of [Heart of Navok] - level 1] [All [Stats] reduced by 5%]

[Healing effects reduced by 5%]

[Stamina restoration effects reduced by 5%]

[Lesser Stamina drain - [User] will lose 1 point of Stamina every 5 minutes]

[Heart will reach new level in 9m22s] [Warning!] [User’s race marked as [Undead]]

[[Heart of Navok] will have an alternative effect]

[All [Stats] increased by 5%]

[[Dark Arts] effect increased by 5%]

[[Mana Cost] for skills reduced by 5%]

[Lesser mana regeneration - [User] will restore 1 point of mana every 5 minutes]

[While in presence of heart - [User] will receive 1 point of [Essence] every 10 minutes]

[Heart will reach new level in 9m4s]

Rowan’s armor was enchanted to block magical effects, this must be precaution made solely for the aura that they have set up here - in the end, they thought I was but a warrior, unable to cast magic and thus magic-protection would be a useless precaution.

Oh the irony! They were so desperate to weaken me in every possible way, that unwittingly they set up an empowerment, just for me! Empowerment, that would keep getting stronger with time passing! Another reason to drag this fight as long as possible.

“With this being said!...” the Beast in Black continued his speech “... we are ready to start our battle! But! Before that - Let’s give the opportunity to speak to our duelists! Rowan! My good lad! Any words before the battle?!”

The “noble” adventurer straightens his back and projects towards the crowd with bravado in his voice.

“We are here due to Lion’s pride, or, as we call it - foolishness and arrogance! Once again, they have proved that they are archaic remnants of lost epoche! Despite the hopeless situation that they were in, instead of lying their heads low, they allowed their arrogance to speak up, leading to this event! Today, we will prove that these backwarded fools belong on courts, pretty fields and army, not dungeons! It is time to make Lion’s Pride fall!”

Several people cheered, but most of the people received this information with lack of any distinct approval. Despite what they were thinking or saying, Lions were heros - not only of this country, but of entire humanity, always standing ground against evil.

They were willing to boo and demean individual knights for slights and offences but that was one thing.

This ‘direct attack’ - not on me, personally, but on the entire institution, was widely considered dirty.

Then again. Foxes didn’t care about their “good name”. Their effectiveness was their only concern.

“Alabaster, any response to that?!” The announcer whirled and pointed towards me.

I remained quiet, standing proud and tall.

“...Alabaster?” “He forgot to bring his own tongue, it seems!” Rowan snickered, taking the bait that I laid before him.

Rowan gave a couple additional remarks as I continued to remain quiet, then when it looked as if he was becoming unsettled at my quietness.

“Lions do not parley with sheeps.”

I finally answered, adding as much strength as I could to my voice, making the entire room go quiet.

Just as I was instructed before the fight.

“You represent the Lions…” Nicolai had said “... as one of us, or not. It doesn't matter. You must remain cold and calm. Proud, like a lion walking among sheeps, unbothered by their words. Lions do not kneel. Lions do not falter. Lions do not parley with sheeps. After the commander's order, we march out, and not even the king can stop and turn us around.”

Proclaiming this credo here, I once again addressed his ‘offence’ of accusing us of arrogance. The message - “You are unworthy to be addressed”, and “know your place”. Did I really think so? No. Not really. It didn't feel right to say these words, but now, as I was part of something greater than myself, representing a bigger institution, I was forced to swallow my humbleness and deliver the message of my superiors.

I could see a vein popping atop Rowan’s head, and many people on the stand realizing what just happened - completely ignoring the offense that was just thrown into my face, earning me the crowd's sympathy.

“Oh my! Oh my! And who said that 'less' doesn’t mean 'more'?! - Now, try to convince your girlfriend about it… I mean… Back to the main event! YES! Are both our participants ready!? No?! Splendid! In the dungeon, no one waits for you! Battle, start!”

Not only the worst god, but also a terrible speaker, gave the signal to start our duel, and I could have sworn that my opponent didn’t even wait for that. As soon as Zariel started saying ‘Start’, he had already moved.

My opponent nearly dropped low, charging onward with his whole body close to the ground, not falling only due to his ridiculous forward speed.

Preparing for impact, I changed my footing, right leg back, digging it into the ground, standing with my left side towards him, shielding and grounding myself. Now, I knew that he wouldn’t just blindly ram into my shield, rather, he would change direction a split second before the impact and try to attack me from the side. In the end, his short swords, even if enchanted, would be ‘useless’ against the frontal block.

The question is - from where would he attack?

From my left! Why? Because I still held my sword in my right hand, so, if he would move to my right, he would be in range of my blade, while moving to my left would leave me ‘defenseless’, with my back exposed.

Rowan knew that too, in the end, humanoid monsters were - well, maybe not common - but present for sure. And so, some ‘default’ tactics of dealing with them were already well-known and spread among both adventurers and knights.

Deciding to rely solely on the difference between our dexterities, the sly fox decided to follow this pattern, thinking I would not be able to follow.

But, you don’t need to ‘follow’ if you know where your enemy is going to appear anyway.

I swung my shield to the side, making a huge chunk of iron bash into his body, silently grinning at his surprised face just before it contorted into a pained grimace.

I watched his body fly across the room, a good several meters, spinning his body mid-air, and landing on both his feet, with an angry expression. Guessing by his body-layout and how he held his dagger, he had wanted to cut my tendon, crippling me in the first seconds of battle.

Dirty move. Move of a bully that wants to drag the show, humiliating his opponent.

The crowd cheered and booed again, thinking that “I did well”.

No, not really. As my opponent was already moving in the same direction as my strike, it dealt barely any damage, serving only as information for my enemy that I wasn’t as easy as he had presumed, thus putting him on guard.

Rowan smacked his blades together, dragging the edge of one blade across the other, sending sparks of mana into the air, activating some spell stored in it.

His ‘blueish’ blade shivered, trembled, and sang like a bird, covering itself in an aura of...wind? Then, he started running at me, head on, as if wanting to repeat the same reckless, stupid attack from before, but this time, when he was still several meters from me, he swung his blue blade vertically, sending a sickle made of wind magic, flying towards my head at a ridiculous speed. Blocking it was certainly possible, but stupid - it would only damage my shield, and without knowing how many times he could re-use it or what other side affects it could have…

… I moved off the spell's trajectory, ready to regain focus on my enemy…

… who was no longer there.

Shit! Spell was just a distraction that he used to merge with the shadows! Where will he attack from?! Left? Right?!

I was saved by my [Life sense] ability, which for a split second informed me where a “potential source of food” was located.

Above.

Using the power of his equipment, he jumped high in the air, flying above my head, now ready to come down and dig his blade in the crack between my helmet and armor, possibly killing me on the spot. He had skillfully placed himself in the sun’s path, likely trying to blind me if I looked up at him.

Side-stepping, I got off the attack's trajectory, and prepared a counter to slash him as soon as he landed. But, I was not allowed to do that. He was fast. Faster than most humans had any right to be. Definitely faster than a gold-adventure, faster than platinum even! His mobility alone could be compared to that of Diamond-class, second only to the actual legends themselves.

He would get up, duck under my slash, going to my left, where I tried to bash him with my shield. But, as if time had slowed,and he didn’t, I watched him getting between my shield and weapon, with his weapons raised around my waist level.

A succession of rapid thrusts targeting my core. Normally, short swords would barely be able to even scratch heavy, full plate armor, and yet, he literally melted through certain spots, letting his weapons ‘in’, just for 3-4 centimeters deep though.

[You armor mitigated damage] [Armor’s endurace 100% -> 97.2%] [You armor mitigated damage] [Armor’s endurace 97.2% -> 96.1%] [You armor mitigated damage] [Armor’s endurace 96.1% -> 94.5%] [You armor mitigated damage] [Armor’s endurace 94.5% -> 93.1%]

Delivering his last attack, he kicked me, using the momentum of the blow to send himself flying, perfoming backflip and landing safely several meters away.

I myself took several steps back, putting my hand around my grievous “wounds”.

Obviously, I didn’t suffer a single point of damage, as his strikes targeted my belly area, thus, after piercing through my armor, they stabbed into nothinessnes. Still, I had to at least ‘pretend’ to be hurt. Maybe, this would let me fool him into more reckless attacks, as he would believe that I was weakened. Perhaps I should have asked for some pig blood packs to place under my armor to complete the illusion? Would that have counted as cheating on my end?

The crowd became mad. Whistling, clapping, yelling, booing, and, the young rogue seemed to bask in the attention that he received, giving me a few precious moments to reevaluate my position.

I will lose this battle - it was obvious. At least, if the current pace was maintained. I literally could not keep up with him after all.

Think, Aster, think!!! You need to drag this battle - to both tire him out and let the unholy artifact become stronger! If I focused on defending, he would take it as the ‘smell’ of a wounded animal, and resume his attacks. Attacks, which were deadly. Attacks that I wouldn’t be able to block.

Then again, seeing how fast he is - there was no way for me to land even a single attack…

… But, why isn’t he resuming his attacks already? Why is he waiting? Why is he playing to make spectators more ‘agitated’.

While I was conducting my evaluation Rowen was spouting out to the ground with his arms raised. Giving boasts and insults towards myself and the Lions. The crowd loved it all.

Ah, f course. He didn’t come here to win. If that was the case, he would keep on pressing forward, pushing me back, delivering attack after attack till I would inevitably fall. No. He himself wanted to drag it out - to show how ‘helpless I was’. This way, he would not only achieve his own victory, he would deliver twice as much damage on the Lion’s name…

And tell me now, Rowan. Who is arrogant?!

I had to swallow my pride even more, and play the ‘useless’ and ‘helpless’ one.

If I kept on attacking, and missing every attack - then, I would ‘humiliate myself’ further. I could let him drag me between the pillars, where he would have the biggest advantage, where he could defeat me in ‘any moment he chooses to’... thus prolonging the battle. Will he take this bait, I wonder?

Stupid to ask, let’s just find out, worst case I get a few new “wounds” that he can boast about with no physical affect on me.

I straightened my back, standing tall and proud, hitting my shield with my sword several times, dragging his attention back to me. Then, I started walking towards him, the walk turned into trot, the trot, into a full blown charge. As I ran at him, I raised my blade above my head - informing him in advance that I would strike from above, committing the ‘greatest mistake’ of fighting with someone faster than you are - betraying your intent.

And of course, he dodged. Bah, only a half-hearted dodge - he would take half of a step to the side, almost not moving from his position. His whole body seems to ask ‘where are you aiming’?! Thus showing me as even less competent than before. Doesn’t matter. Let him play his game.

Following up with another wide swing, and another non committal dodge. I kept on delivering crude, wide, slow attacks, making him ‘give up on his ground’, as if without realizing I let him lead me towards the pillars - a place where he could absolutely stomp me.

Slash, pierce, half pirouette, and returning pirouette, all dodged with such a mocking style and derisive smile, taunting me, and me - blindly following that taunt, till eventually, my blade stopped on one of the pillars, as I “found myself” in the dense stone forest.

“You are even dumber than I thought you were!” he laughed “...Do you have muscles instead of a brain too?!” he spat another insult, starting to dance behind the pillars, avoiding my attacks even more easily than before. “You tell me, dear friend…” I answered with an edge now coming into my voice, I had been timing all this from the start after all. [Heart will reach new level in 0m2s] [Warning! [Heart of Navok] has absorbed enough mana and reached 2nd level] [Warning!] [User in [Area of Effect] of [Heart of Navok] - level 2] [All [Stats] reduced by 10%]

[Healing effects reduced by 10%]

[Stamina restoration effects reduced by 10%]

[Lesser Stamina drain - [User] will lose 2 point of Stamina every 4 minutes]

[Heart will reach new level in 14m54s] [Warning!] [User’s race marked as [Undead]]

[[Heart of Navok] will have an alternative effect]

[All [Stats] increased by 10%]

[[Dark Arts] effect increased by 10%]

[[Mana Cost] for skills reduced by 10%]

[Lesser mana regeneration - [User] will restore 2 point of mana every 4 minutes]

[While in presence of heart - [User] will receive 2 point of [Essence] every 9 minutes]

[Heart will reach new level in 14m51s]

“... You tell me…”

With a low voice I spoke. I felt a sudden infusion of power enveloping me as Rowan’s own eyes widened slightly, unsure of what he was seeing.

“Wait, what…?” “My turn!”