“Anything?” Ierba asked.

Nadier's eye curved through the glass vial of murky liquid he had stolen. There were two chemicals he knew of with that level of viscosity and transparency. One was useless for their current situation, while the other, when exposed to air, would harden into a rubbery substance that could be used to staunch wounds. However, the simplest test for the substance required him to expose the chemical to air, which was contradictory in itself.

“They are not all useless. Two are flammable and one is an anaesthetic.” He set the vial aside with the other 5 he had taken. “The last one is questionable though.”

Nevertheless, he poured one of the longer lasting flammable liquid into his newly modified copper vial which would serve as a new chemical injection magazine for his dagger. The final vial which he appraised as nothing more than saltwater was emptied into the drain.

Ierba added, “Why go through all this trouble?”

“Unlike you, I don't have the firepower to simply waltz into a fight,” he answered.

“You have a shadow wolf.” Zen's ears pricked from the mention. “That's more than enough magic for most battles.”

“I'd rather she not risk her life unless absolutely necessary.” He had grown attached to the girl. Or perhaps, he had always been.

From his hiding corner beneath the frozen camera, Ratface chimed, “Well ya' fight's starting soon. So do whatever ya' want to get ready.”

Ierba, unhappy with being told what to do, asked, “Why don't you fight with us?”

“And blow my cover? No thanks. They think I'm dead, and I'd really rather keep it that way.”

“With all the help you've 'provided', I'd think you're dead too.”

“Hey, if it weren't for me, ya' wouldn't even know 'bout this next fight of yours.”

Nadier quickly added, “And we're very appreciative of that.”

Ierba raised a brow as if to say, We are?

“So very appreciative,” Nadier punctuated.

As their conversation drew to a close, the room rumbled and the arena wall slowly began sliding open.

Ratface got to his feet. “Well boys, best of luck to ya'.” He melted the ice from the camera and morphed into his rat form, sliding under the door and quickly out.

Ierba picked up his crudely makeshift spear, with the heavy shaft from Agnus's battleaxe. They had considered stealing a replacement from the armoury, but doing so might draw attention to their escapés.

“Right,” the knight breathed. “Let's head out.

The wall fully opened, stopping with a loud crunch. Zen returned under Nadier's coat and the pair stepped into the cave portion and made their way through towards the cavern. As their cell closed behind them, they immediately realised something was amiss.

Instead of the eerie bio-luminescent scene, the walls were faintly flickering yellow. The pair exchanged a glance and a wilhelm scream dropped around them. They ran out into the cavern to see it lit in bushes of fire across its grounds.

A winged salamander with feet of talons snaked its way through the air, a helpless man in its grasp desperately swinging his sword at its slithering body.

The beast, twice the size of a man, spat orange fire onto the body it carried before ripping the charred corpse apart with its claws. It then flapped its twice-long wing once, riding the heated current it produced with its fiery breath further to the cavern ceiling.

“Our third fatality of today, Osterio the Wild.” The announcer's voice echoed. “My apologies to Lady Natasha on her wager. To compensate, we have Nadier the Wanderer and The Omniknight, Ierba Lang, entering the field. Will they also survive the onslaught of salamanders? Place your bets.”

Nadier paused. “Salaman...ders?” Plural.

He turned in time as one of the monsters glided down onto him. With extended talons, the slimy flying serpent landed on his shoulder with its full weight, tackling him onto his back. He could feel the claws pushing against his leather vest, attempting to stab through to his heart. But his immediate concern was the breath of fire which he needed to stop. As he thought so, the salamander opened the mouth on its lizard face, preparing to burn its prey.

From the side, Ierba swung his heavy spear like a hammer, smashing the salamander spinning, fire breathing in a spiral as it turned, flames barely missing Nadier's face.

But Nadier was still in its grasp and he rolled alongside the monster. However, he ended on top. He drew his daggers and cut at its legs, causing it to release him in a gurgle of pain.

His vision quickly traced the creature's neck where a bulge running along the side revealed the sack where it stored its flammable liquid. He stabbed down at it and the fluid splattered out like blood. Immediately, he struck the flint of his dagger and the creature's neck exploded. The initial force of the blast sent Nadier flying back, but before the fire could cover his sights in light, darkness engulfed him.

Moments later, Zen spat Nadier out of her cold shadow and onto the floor. He grunted from his back as the wolf circled to his head and licked his cheeks.

“Good girl.” She snuck under his arms and lifted him up, and he used her as a crutch to get back on his feet. “Very good girl.”

Ierba jogged up to him. “I count five more salamanders and seven other fighters.”

Nadier grunted, “That's five more than I want to deal with. We could just set up defensive positions and wait for the herd thin.”

Ierba looked almost angry, though his tone was calm and normal. “Or we could save the other fighters. It could be useful to have them in our debt.”

The dark elf sighed. “Fine. Your call.” While not happy about pitting his life for strangers who could possibly end up killing him at a later date, Nadier at least trusted Ierba's instincts in battle. If the Omniknight felt fighting was something worth trying, he was on board.

Together, they ran towards two salamanders that were breathing fire down upon an outcropping of rocks where three figures hid under an overhang from the flames. A hand stuck out from underneath and shot a random bolt of blue lightning into the air, though missing everything it targeted.

“Hold one down!” Ierba commanded. He stopped running and began charging magic into his spear.

“Zenith!” Nadier called out and the wolf appeared at his side. Together, they raced to below the creatures. “Up!” he gestured.

The shadow wolf sprinted forward, curling itself into a ball of shadows. Nadier jumped onto the ball and with a blast of shadow magic, Zen launched him at one of the salamanders. With just an inch to missing, he managed to grab onto one of its talons, throwing the weight of the beast off balance as it attempted to maintain its glide. It was at this point that Nadier could smell the caustic flames burning below and understood the monsters were not flying but were rather using the heat from its own flames to gain lift on the hot air currents.

“Okay,” he huffed under his breath.

He bounced against his own weight and pulled the salamander to his direction, steering the creature closer to its companion. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Ierba signalling he was ready to attack. With a shimmy of his waist, Nadier swung off the first salamander and onto the back of the second just as Ierba threw a spear of light that hits the former.

Zen rushed to the injured and crashing first salamander, likely to finish it off.

Nadier turned his attention back to his fight. He drove his daggers into the wings of his monster and leaned and pulled to the left, dragging the right wing up. Despite its efforts, the salamander could not regain control and drifted away from the burning sea below.

Once they were over the cold stones of the cavern, the salamander began to descend, having lost its air current. It dropped, fast. It began to spiral as its pained wings were no longer able to hold its weight and Nadier held on for life, knowing the landing atop its body was the only cushion he was going to get.

The ground drew closer and he braced himself as they crashed. The salamander squirmed as its body, bloodied and draining, was dragged across the rough stone ground. By the time they came to a stop, it had stopped struggling and drew its last breath.

Nadier was breathing hard. He was not at all pleased at his new role of playing guardian to a knight-mage. He was even beginning to miss the hardheaded Adelle, who'd rush into situations only for him to clean up her mess. Heck, this never happened to him as an assassin either.

Soon, Zen had tracked him down and the two were reunited. In the short distance, Ierba was jogging over with the other survivors.

Nadier missed cleaning up messes instead of being in them.