“Get back here!” Diana’s claws raked gouges in the clay as she leaped forwards, wings flapping to propel her across the arena.

Blocking the elf’s strikes with her sword, Leila hissed in frustration. The elf had taken the title of dragonslayer after all! Rampaging through the Paws, the ancient leviathan had left the forest and struck out towards the royal capital itself. When the guild had pronounced its defeat, her people had held a great celebration. After that, Claude of the Creator’s Willful had reappeared with a gift from the World Serpent, and been dubbed Dragonslayer Claude by the church and guild… But Diana had received a prize of her own?!

Leila’s retaliation threw Diana backwards, the slim adventurer landing lightly on the other side of the coliseum. Dashing forwards, the two fighters clashed again, shimmering greatsword meeting clawed hands and lightning bolts. Stray bursts of energy pulsed off the arena wards, and the hole at the top of the dome threatened to widen further despite the efforts of the stadium mages.

“They’re breaking it…” Benvolio held up his hands to repair the shield, fair hair dropping down to cover his feminine face as he stood. “Didn’t you say this ward would be too strong to worry about, Roethus?”

“I did,” the guild master replied. “That was for the tournament, though. The guild mages can’t be expected to hold back those two if they get serious, and-”

“Wait a minute.” Christoph held up both his hands, blinking down at the two women exchanging blows upon the clay. Diana’s wings were clearly visible from the balcony, and he could even make out the dark green scales that covered her body in a similar fashion to Leila’s fur. Small horns had sprouted on either side of her head, and a tail whipped around behind her hips as she moved. “Is it just me, or did something incredible just happen to Diana?”

“It isn’t well-known, but the World Serpent will appear to bestow a reward upon anyone who manages to slay his creations,” Lucius said, tilting his head as he observed the fight. “In your case the dragon was most likely too young to qualify, but it looks like Diana received quite the gift.”

“She must asked him to take her in, or at least for power to rival what she lost.” Benvolio rolled his eyes with a pout. “I don’t see what’s so great about all those gods. The Ouroboros has some dragons, I have a whole city! She could have just asked me for help.”

“Is that where you got the idea for the tournament prize?” Lucius asked, spectacles turning towards the small man.

“Don’t try to read my mind!” Benvolio shook his head, feet stamping on the wooden floor as he held his hands out towards the arena’s failing barrier. “I’m busy!”

“Please, my lord,” Roethus said. “You need to stop this match. The danger-”

“It’s fine,” Benvolio said, glaring at Lucius as the saint righted his head. “I’m not going to let them die over something as small as this.”

“Please think of the citizens as well.” Roethus glanced rapidly over the crowd of spectators, and his words were punctuated by muttered orders to his many staff, a hand raised to his head as he cast the required communication spells. “If we don’t stop the fight, the crowd will be in danger.”

“I won’t stop them.” Benvolio’s brow furrowed as he repaired the shields, pupils widening as they followed the two women across the clay. “I need to see this.”

“My lord…” A brief silence followed Roethus’ words before he adjusted his glasses and bowed his head. “I’m ordering an evacuation.”

…

“We should leave.” Whistler’s words took a moment to sink in, and Plume tore himself away from the duel to turn towards his comrade.

“Leave?” Plume asked. At Whistler’s suggestion, they refrained from attending the tournament’s second day, but had returned now for the third. The final had been impressive even among the many matches, but this was something else entirely. “Why would we leave?”

“Look around you!” Whistler hissed as he spoke, and the half-elf’s eyes widened as he realized what the tall man was referring to. Cracks were appearing in the stone-bricked coliseum walls, and the arena wards were being pierced with each blow from the fighters. The magical shields patched themselves almost instantly, but the coliseum itself sustained serious damage nonetheless.

“You bitch!” A roar echoed over the stands, a cracking rumble of thunder following behind as Diana unleashed her magic. Lord Leila blocked the attack with her sword, slashing out with a line of mana that was deflected in return. Bursting through the wards, the energy wave crashed out into the edge of the brick-walled pit, dust rising behind it.

“Attention everyone!” One of the tournament staff was waving a flag upon the steps, her voice amplified by some sort of magic. “Please prepare to evacuate the stadium!”

Plume was on his feet before the wards had time to repair, pushing past the people nearby as he made his way to the stadium steps. Whistler was right, there was nothing to gain by remaining behind in such a place.

…

Diana flexed her claws, mana dispersing as she stopped feeding energy to her bolts of lightning. The beast-woman’s greatsword seemed to draw her magic in, and the only damaged she had caused with the attacks was the patch of fur she’d burnt on her opponent’s leg.

“I will not accept your surrender,” Leila said, catching her breath in the lull.

“Surrender?” Diana flapped her wings with a scoff. “I’m going to tear off your limbs and offer you up to Lord Benvolio on a silver platter.”

“Bastias would not allow that,” Leila replied. “A god protects his chosen people from such cruelty. You would not know about that though, would you?”

Diana’s tail jerked as she suppressed her retort, glaring over the clay at the lord of the forest. Gritting her teeth, her spirit blazed as mana welled up within her newly formed body. If channelling the energy into magic didn’t help, maybe pouring it into her fighting spirit would give her the advantage.

“How pitiful.” Leila spat onto the clay, taking a defensive stance with her greatsword as the elf changed her tactics. “You will never defeat me with that kind of power.”

“We’ll see about that!” Leaping forwards, the scaled elf began her assault. Closing the distance before the beast-woman could level a slash with her greatsword, Diana continued to force her opponent back across the clay. Leila’s massive blade was deadly while she held the advantage of momentum, but right now the unwieldy weapon was almost a hindrance in her defense. She could not afford to discard it, either, or she would lose her best source of protection against magic attacks. The beast-woman’s fighting spirit was prodigious, but that alone would not protect her from Diana’s magic.

Spreading her hands apart upon the greatsword’s hilt, Leila began to block Diana’s clawing swipes with both ends of her weapon. For all of the elf’s shouting, her hand-to-hand attacks were still on the level of an amateur. Had she never trained for combat with anything but the thin blades of the elves? What foolishness. Leila’s clenched fist caught Diana on the chin, and the beast woman readied her sword as the elf was pushed backwards. Rather than give Leila an opening to use her weapon, Diana shook off the blow and stepped back towards her.

The duel that had begun as a masterful display of magic against swordplay slowly but surely began to devolve into nothing more than a brawl. Diana took the offensive, making full use of her wings and tail to launch a barrage of frenzied attacks. Deflecting the majority of the elf’s attacks, Leila allowed others to land as she smashed her right fist into Diana’s body, the beast-woman’s vicious counter striking with far more force than her opponent’s own attacks. If Diana didn’t have the advantage of her wickedly long claws, her attacks would be almost useless against the beast lord.

Shrugging off the hit once more, Diana’s breath hissed out between her teeth as she fully committed to the next series of attacks. Her tail and wings were useful but still cumbersome, and even her arms and legs were not weapons she was used to wielding. Still, she had faith in the strength of her body, and the power of her spirit. If she could overwhelm the beast-woman with the volume of her blows, she could still win this fight.

Leila was not about to let that happen, though. Grunting each time her weapon moved too slowly to intercept one of Diana’s attacks, she finally bared her teeth and withdrew the blade of light, casting the hammer aside. Surging forwards, she pummeled at the surprised elf, each punch landing with enough force to smash a crater into the ground underneath them. At the edges of the coliseum, the crowd paused in their evacuation, seeing that the two women’s attacks were no longer threatening to burst through the fragile wards.

Gasping in pain, Diana forced herself back on the offensive, but was stopped dead when Leila’s fingers wrapped around her throat, the heavier woman tackling her to the ground and straddling her tail. Reaching up, the elf sunk her hooked claws into the beast-woman’s arm, but Leila ignored the pain, fingers closing tighter around the mage’s neck. Shifting her hips, the beast-woman wriggled up Diana’s tail until there was no chance of the elf’s clawed feet striking back at her, the clawed limbs closing uselessly around her waist instead.

“What’s the matter?” Leila bore down on the elf with her left hand, blood dripping down her forearm as Diana’s clawed at the furred limb, wings thrashing uselessly at her sides. “Aren’t you used to being in this position, whore?”

Diana’s kicked out with her legs, tail writhing as a choked gasp replaced her reply. Her magic! She had to maintain enough of her body’s strength to stall her strangulation, but if she could muster enough of her mana besides that… Her thoughts of a counter were dashed from her mind as Leila’s right hand slammed into her face, the back of her head smashing a hollow into the clay below. Gathering her wits, Diana fought to ignore the shock of the second impact. She was so close! Her jaw cracked as the third punch landed, but by that time she had amassed nearly enough energy, bolts of lightning arcing through the air around her. As Leila’s fist rose to deliver the finishing blow, Diana prepared to unleash her final attack. The air split around her as Leila began to move, and lightning flashed over her body into the sky above.

“Okay.” Benvolio’s voice somehow reached out past the cracking thunder to travel out over the damaged coliseum. “Any more of that, and somebody’s going to die.”

…

“Hey.” Christoph knelt down over Diana’s bloodied form, brushing her hair from her face as she began to stir. Benvolio had been true to his promise, and the medics had done their job well after the duel. Diana’s fair skin had returned, but he could still see the flickering mana of her second form now that he knew it was there.

“What happened?” Diana asked, rising slightly off the wooden bench before slumping back down. “Where’s Leila?”

“I’m not sure,” Christoph replied with a shrug. “Benvolio stopped the fight before either of you could land your last attacks. Look.”

Rolling onto her side, the elf turned towards where he had indicated. They were within one of the rooms under the coliseum seats again, and she could see the remnants of the arena floor through the barred gates opposite her. One side of the clay was a mess of craters, the other sporting a massive circle of blackened ground.

“He teleported you apart,” Christoph said, leaning back against the cool bricks. “They were evacuating the crowd, but he waved his hand and the arena just magically repaired itself, so pretty much everybody’s back now.”

“Wasn’t that an exciting final match for the opening ceremony?” Benvolio voice echoed into the small room from across the newly repaired stadium. “It pains me to see such animosity between two women so beautiful… Putting that matter aside, it is time to award my prize to the tournament’s winner. Cliff of the Creator’s Blessed! You may ask of me any one gift, and it shall be yours!”

“What would you ask?” Christoph turned towards his elven companion as the crowd began to murmur. “You told me to come to you before making use of the prize, didn’t you?”

“It doesn’t matter what you ask of Benvolio,” Diana replied, sitting up to lean her shoulder against his. “It just has to be something he already owns, or he will want it for himself instead. As for the things he has already… it’s more about the getting than the keeping for him.”

“I have no desire for worldly objects.” Cliff stood upon the announcer’s box underneath Benvolio’s private seats, bowing his head at the city’s lord. “Thus, I will ask for land.”

“Land?” Benvolio asked, stifling the mutters of the scattered crowd with a raised hand. “What would you do with this land?.”

“We will build a church,” Cliff said. “A temple to honor lord Progress.”

“Manitas City is a place of freedom,” Benvolio replied, the crowd crying out in agreement of his words. “I may be lord, but no citizens are forced to serve me. There are no churches here. This is a place for people, and there are no gods here either.”

“No gods besides yourself, don’t you mean?” Lucius said, his youthful voice carrying over the coliseum as Benvolio’s did. “Lord Benvolio, ruler of Manitas City. Or should I call you Manitas, god of the plains?”