The sun descends, the first dark period of the day coming. I'm starting to get tired, but Master Liina's showing no signs of fatigue. Understandable, with max stamina like five times mine. She eyes me briefly, then asks if I want to take a nap.

“No, I'm fine.” I shake my head. If I really try, I can go for a while longer.

“Alright, let's head to the arena then. We can watch some, maybe I'll fight a few matches.”

“Yes, Master.”

So we head off to the arena. Shuffling our way into the stands, it looks like it's pretty active around this time of day. There are plenty of people in the stands, a large central circle with numerous arenas set up to allow a number of matches to run at once.

There are all sorts of people fighting too. All sorts of weapons on display, and even some mages throwing their magic around. It quickly becomes obvious that there are magical shields around the arenas to block spells and ranged weapons that miss their target.

Naturally, I'm most interested in the mages, but for the most part, they're using lower power spells, focusing on their accuracy as they pelt their foes with fire and ice and all sorts of other elements. It's a little hard to see, but there's one fight near the far side of the arena where I think there's a mage specialized in gravity magic fighting a ranger.

It's especially hard to see their fight, since the flying arrows and gravity magic are all very small and fast. Unfortunately, it also ends quickly because the gravity mage doesn't have the casting speed to keep up with the nimble ranger, who deftly avoids the incoming spells while peppering the mage with arrows until a few find purchase. The mage staggers, and it immediately turned into a pincushion. He gets dragged off to some spot near the stands where there are healers patching people up after their fights.

Gazing around, I'm seeing a similar story unfold in other fights. The mages either can't wear down their enemies fast enough before getting cornered and dispatched, or they don't have the mana or casting speed to take out their targets.

There are a few here and there, of course, so powerful that they simply wipe the entire field in front of them and win their matches instantly, but those are definitely the minority.

I can't say I'm surprised. Magic classes always had weaknesses in PvP that made things difficult to balance. Here, without any sort of hand of god balancing the scales, mages are either going to wipe out their opponents with overwhelming magic, or the enemies will rush through the flames and take them out in a couple good hits.

It's funny, in an ironic sort of way. I chose Offensive Magic so I could have a lot of personal strength so I could protect myself and fall into that first class. Now as a slave, I've ended up fighting like a crowd control mage, who may have been more suited to support magic or something, since I'm always going to be with my master.

But no, it's fine. Synergist is obviously the best class for me because I can abuse its ridiculous complexity to punch above my weight class. What I really want to know is if there's a support version of Synergist. I can only imagine the insanity I could accomplish with buffs that worked even remotely similarly to the magic I use now.

Oh well, who knows. Maybe I'll have a chance to find out someday?

After watching for a while, Master Liina decides to fight some like she said. I stay in the stands while she heads back to the desk to sign up. Without her around, a few of the people nearby shoot me dirty looks, but I try to ignore them. I definitely can't cause any problems without Master Liina around.

That's something that makes me really anxious now. That as soon as I'm out of her line of sight, I'm essentially helpless in front of anyone else. Knowing I can call for her using the Scan effect from opening a Party window helps ease that worry a little, even though I know doing it will make her mad at me. But I believe she cares about my safety enough that any punishment for doing it when I really need help will be minimal.

Some sort of long range messaging would be better obviously, but we couldn't find anything like that among either of our celestial's magic, so that's the best I can do. I should ask her later, see if I can get her permission to do that to call for help when I need it...

Then I spot her walk out onto the field. She isn't wearing her full armor, but it looks like she changed into some old clothes since they might get damaged and I'm sure she wouldn't want her nice town clothes destroyed. Squinting, I Scan the sword in her hand. Huh, it's not hers.

I haven't had a chance to Scan her sword, but she mentioned it was made of neominitite, which I guess is some specific fantasy metal, but the one she's holding is just steel.

I guess it's understandable, she grabbed her bag with some of her stuff earlier, but she didn't have her sword with her today.

When I find the field she's heading toward, I move from my seat, circling through the stands so I can sit closer. I settle in right at the front, kind of excited to see her fight. I've always been so focused on my spell casting during quests that I haven't really gotten to focus to much on her.

Wait, didn't she have Shield Handling in her Skills? She's only carrying the loaner sword on her right now though. I mean, I guess going in with loaned equipment and no armor, she's not looking for too serious of a fight, just some practice sparring?

Then I see the other combatant approach the arena and blink. Is that a slave? It's a tall, male, human slave. Why is he fighting in the arena?

I-I mean, sure, Master Liina signed me up to participate in the magic competition now, so I guess signing slaves up to fight in the arena shouldn't be that surprising?

But now that I've seen more slaves and understand the way they look and feel, it only takes one look at him to tell he's a high class slave. That swagger and confidence... he hardly even acts like a slave at all...

Something about it makes me nervous.

“Move aside, slave!” a voice barks of nowhere, right behind me, and I flinch on reflex. Turning to look back, there's a man right there. It's wolf-altra with pitch black fur, surrounded by an entourage of slaves. I'm in too much shock to react for a moment. There are almost ten of them, all with heads held high, arrogant looks on their faces like I've never seen on slaves before.

What in the world?!

“Uhh- y-yes sir...” I sputter, blinking rapidly, and start to stagger out of his group's way. I lower my head and back away. I still don't want to cause any trouble, and this whole group is mind-boggling.

Do they look like that because of how their master acts? Even though they're helpless when he's not around? What is he, a noble? Is that why they're all so arrogant?

“Hold!” the wolf commands, and I freeze in place, head still held low. “Come here.” Gulping anxiously, I consider calling for Master Liina, but she's about to start her match and nothing bad is actually happening... yet...

Taking slow steps toward the black wolf, he's tall and imposing, especially from a couple steps higher in the stands. He has black fur that extends down his body, underneath some sharp, well cut clothing that show off his bulging muscles.

Too fast to respond, he sweeps forward and grabs me under the chin. Freezing stiff, he pulls my face up to examine it. From up close, he has black wolf ears, with a disarmingly handsome, human face.

“Interesting...” he rumbles. “Scan.” As his eyes narrow on me, I feel the horrid, cloying tentacles of magic crawling through me. But then his eyes narrow further, and the terrible sensation doesn't go away. What is he doing? I start to quiver, I've never felt a Scan like this before!

After a moment, his squinted eyes widen, and he blinks in confusion. “Oh my, what a rare one you are!” he chuckles. “Who is your master? I must meet them.”

Panicking, I glance toward the arena where Master Liina is taking her position in the ring. Why does he want to meet her? He has so many slaves, he wouldn't try to buy me, would he?

No, Master Liina promised not to sell me! She definitely won't do it! He follows my eyes and looks down at her, taking a few test swings with her borrowed sword. Then over to the human slave stepping into the arena opposite her, no weapon in hand at all.

“Let's see how well your master does against my slave...” he practically purrs in my ear. That's another one of his slaves? The way he says it makes me so nervous...

Thankfully, the man at least releases me so I'm not stuck in his hands anymore. But with one look, the flash in his eyes stops me from moving away.

The best I can do is turn my attention away from him, to Master Liina's match. It's not long before it begins, but... why is her opponent unarmed?

I don't even know why I'm wondering about that, because it's immediately apparent that he's an unarmed brawler. The moment the match begins they both dash toward each other so fast they're a little hard to follow.

The clash is instant, with an intensity that makes me cringe back. Master Liina swings her sword, drawing arcs in the air that her opponent ducks to avoid, until he gets close enough. Then he simply takes an attack directly against his arm. I wince when it cuts deep, blood pouring out. But the man doesn't flinch, doesn't even hesitate as he catches her sword arm.

From there, it's not even a match. With her wrist clamped in his grasp, she can't back off, can't draw her sword away, can't even drop her weapon to take some distance. It turns into a brawl using their free hands, which she clearly isn't built for like he is. She lashes out, blocking and striking, but as I noticed, she keeps her claws filed. She doesn't use them as weapons.

The man meanwhile, takes big swings, pummeling her in the side and face and arm whenever she throws up her guard. She gives it her best, staying standing for almost a minute, taking blow after blow before she falls to a knee and calls her surrender.

The man releases her arm and she stays down for a bit, before shaking herself and slowly staggering to her feet again. She looks battered, but... but I think she's still fine.

Still, watching a fight like that... I gulp anxiously. That wasn't like the others, where a few decisive strikes brought it to a quick conclusion. Maybe she isn't as badly injured as those that took hits from magic or swords, but that man just beat her until she couldn't stand...

She turns to look up into the stands, starting to raise a hand toward me, before cutting short, her eyes moving to the man still standing uncomfortably close to me, his slaves ringing me in, trapping me. I try not to show my anxiety, but it doesn't help. Master Liina practically runs from the field.

With a scary, rumbling chuckle from deep in his throat, the man reaches for me again. I flinch, but there's nowhere to retreat. Grabbing the back of my neck, he steers me toward the entrance door. Within seconds, Master Liina rushes through. As she approaches, she's visibly panting and bruised all over since she didn't even stop at the healers first.

“My my, what a dedicated master, of such a rare slave,” the wolf jeers.

“Please unhand my slave, sir.” Master Liina growls at him.

“I have another idea. I would like to propose a match.”

“And why would I accept? I'm not feeling terribly well after my last match, as you can see.”

“Oh, not between us, certainly. Between our slaves.” Glancing up at him, his vicious grin has only widened, clashing with his charming face.

“Sorry, but my slave is hardly trained and ill-suited for combat,” Master Liina claims. Her eyes shift to the crowd of slaves around the man. If a fight broke out here, wouldn't the guards side with her?

I'm sure they would, but what would happen before that? She's already heavily injured, her health a little below half according to my Party window. And I'm weak, so much weaker than everyone here, I would just be a burden. Probably a hostage.

Shit, I'm already a hostage.

I gulp.

“Ah, what words to speak of your precious slave. Hardly trained? With her rating?” He- what? How does he know my rating?

“Th-that Scan?!” I gasp. Is there a way to do a more thorough Scan to get someone's slave rating?

“You Scanned my slave?!” Master Liina snarls. When I hear the mumbles from the side, I realize we've attracted a crowd in the stands.

“Why of course, seeing such a high class slave standing all alone like that, I felt compelled to know more. I'm sure you understand.” With his words, he draws aside the collar of his shirt, exposing a tracery of lines on his chest. It's just the edge of his crest, except, why is it orange? Adventurer crests are blue and slave crests are gray-black. Besides white common crests, the only other kinds are hero crests and... master crests...

Now I get it. Oh fuck. This guy is a Master, his crest makes him grow stronger when his slaves grow stronger. I've never seen anyone with one before as far as I know, because you need a lot of slaves to empower you.

Which... he has...

“No, I don't understand,” Master Liina growls and pulls aside her own collar to reveal her blue adventurer crest.

That catches the man off-guard. He's flustered for a moment, staring between me and Master Liina. “Well, it's no matter. I absolutely must insist on a match. Because I just so happen to have an interesting specimen in my retinue. Brenlinden.” He snaps his fingers and in a moment, one of his dozen slaves steps forward.

It's a woman, a head taller than me, with blond hair and a long, lanky build. She stands for a moment, unmoving, before Master Liina hisses. “See? How rare to find such a high quality slave that just happens to match with one of my own!”

Matches? Like...? Matches how?

Still eyeing the other slaves, all beginning to fan out around her, Master Liina asks, “If I allow this match, will you release my slave and leave us alone?”

“And leave it at that? That would be far too boring! How about a wage-?”

“I will not wager my slave!” The words leap from her mouth Master Liina's mouth before he's even finished speaking.

“Oh my, I would never imagine proposing such a thing,” he puts his hands up, but his tone is one hundred percent sarcasm. He was definitely about to do that! “How about something much more simple?” Master Liina's eyes narrow as she waits for him to finish. After a lengthy pause, he says, “A single evening with her.”

My leaps into my throat at the implication, but Master Liina says, “She's still a virgin, absolutely not. If you win, you can have me, not her.”

What?!

“Giving yourself up for your slave?” the man scoffs derisively. “What poor form for a master. She's wasted on someone like you.”

“I will protect my slave. That makes me a master worthy of respect. Betting her first time on a rigged match would make me worse than you.” The insult draws his slaves to take a half-step closer, but Master Liina doesn't back off at all. “If I win, you will grovel on the ground before me.”

The man sneers, a big smile on his face. Is it that bad? Master Liina said the match was rigged... “Also! I already told you my slave is ill-suited for combat. Any expenses for magic crystals for the match are on you, not me!” She barks out angrily.

“Haha, fine fine, how petty...” The man chuckles and waves off his slaves, then begins to manhandle me toward the entrance.

As soon as we come close enough, Master Liina grabs me too, and he reluctantly releases me to her since we're already herded on all sides by his slaves.

We arrive at the counter and sign up for the match. The receptionists there eye the whole thing warily and make Master Liina sign a couple extra documents indemnifying the arena if anything happens to me. And then one asks, verbally, “Are you really sure? You have her listed as a SS rated slave.”

Not even looking at the concerned men, she bathes the wolf in the most withering glower that makes me shrink a little even looking at her. She spits, “Yes, I'm sure.” If they didn't get the situation before, they do now.

After finishing the paperwork, we head into the arena. Even as we leave, I can hear the men at the counter beginning to call for the guards.

At the gate, the other slaves have to stop, so just the four of us continue inside. At a slow walk, Master Liina leans close. “Yumi, go all out, but play it smart. Use every trick you have. Anything you can think of with that brain of yours.”

My breath shudders with expectation, then she says, “She's a Rank twenty Synergist.”

Fuck.

I'm... I'm not going to die here, am I? Still trying not to panic, I glance around, and I already see the medical personnel moving closer to arena we're heading toward. Along with half of the crowd. I think word about the match spread through the stands after that scene we made.

Fuck fuck fuck.

Of all fucking things, he has a god damn Synergist slave!

Wait, wait, maybe I can work with this!

Can I synergize magic with other Synergists?

I have no idea, but that's my only shot.

We reach the ring, and I split up from Master Liina, heading inside. As the blond woman takes her place at the other side, I Scan her. Master Liina told me to use every trick I could, so that's what I'm going to do.

Because I don't want to fucking die.

Brinlinden Slave Rank: 20 Race: Human Job: Offensive Magic Class: Synergist Style: Power Focus: Instant

Oh, that's just fucking wonderful. She's Power Style. If I get hit, I'm so dead... The blond woman grimaces as the Scan hits her and glares across the arena, Scanning me back.

Someone calls for the match to start. We stare at each other for a few moments, then she starts summoning. At a distance, it's harder to see the magic and how she folds it together. But... god damn she's sloppy. She just throws it all together. It's fire magic, but formed like that, she's losing so much power.

Ok fine, her stats will more than make up for it because she's ten times my damn level, but still! I have to remind myself, no matter how sloppy her magic is, she's so much stronger than me that if that shitty spell actually hits me, I'll probably die instantly. Do the medical staff here have revival magic?

Not the time to think about that, I really, really, really don't want to find out.

Then she fires. Given the way she formed the magic, I snap shoot a single water element to match it. She used over two dozen fire, so I'll come out ahead in mana use. The question is whether or not I can actually block her spells by synergizing them.

With that in mind, I leap as far out of the way as I can after firing off my water. Ducking for cover on the ground, I watch the two spells collide in midair and successfully synergize. The water slots into the fire and blows the whole thing up in a massive eruption of steam.

Shit! I have to duck down to the ground when the magic is so powerful that the steam reaches me from halfway across the arena. It burns at my back and arms as I keep my head down.

Ow, shit! I slowly rise again, everything stinging and burning. Damn these burns are bad... They make it harder to focus. Looking across the arena, Bren looks a bit burned, but she's still standing there like it's no problem for her.

It's the look on her face though that makes me grin a little. She looks bewildered, like she never imagined I could block her spell that way. Even the crowd in the stands is all murmuring confusedly.

Then she frowns and begins casting again. Do I stay on defense or go on offense? She has a bigger mana pool, but if I can keep making her burn bigger spells, I might be able to win a battle of attrition.

That's only if I can keep successfully synergizing her spells...

She fires off the next spell, fire again, but formed a little differently. It's still haphazard and won't accomplish much more than an uncontrolled explosion, and I counter with a single water again, yielding another steam explosion.

Having no intention of getting burned again, I toss a wind-pull spell, twisted into a gust rather than a tornado like I normally do, and fling it through the steam, clearing it away from hitting me, and directing it toward her.

When she sees it coming, she throws together a few earths and some other elements I don't know, and drops a big block in front of herself. I'm guessing that's metal?

I... might be able to learn more about what I'll get later, now that I think about it... I shake my head. Sure, I'll try to learn what I can by watching closely, but I'm not about to intentionally drag out the match or anything. I'll end up dead for my stupidity.

The block in front of her keeps her out of view, so I can't see her next spell. I don't know what she's about to cast... I summon a handful of different elements repeatedly, holding them to cast the instant I see anything coming.

Then the rock itself explodes forward, straight toward me. I fling all the elements toward it on reflex, but jump out of the way anyway.

Firing uncontrolled like that, they all crash and bounce off, some synergizing but most not, and don't accomplish much before the giant stone-metal block goes flying past, into the barrier around the arena.

I guess that was some kind of push spell, used on her block to fire at me. Alright, things are fine so far. I've made it through every exchange using significantly less mana than she has.

But now she's switching tactics. She sets her shoulders and starts summoning earth elements one after another. Even if her spell formations are sloppy, she's damn fast caster.

I have to focus everything I have on forming my own earth elements, firing them to match each of hers. My aim still isn't the best, so I keep needing to use mana control to shift them when one is off-target.

Matching each of her spells, they collide in the middle as they lob across the field, synergizing into larger boulders that fall to the ground and shatter harmlessly before the magic constituting them runs out and they disintegrate.

Ok, I'm holding out so far. But do I have a plan? How do I actually win? Or even just lose without taking fatal damage? Any one of her spells look so destructive that they'd one-shot me!

She keeps casting for a while, stepping up her speed further, and I'm forced to match it. I'm still coming out ahead since I can cast faster, meaning I need to pull fewer elements on each cast, but I'm starting to burn through my mana pool, so I begin drawing mana from the surroundings to bolster my regen.

I think she's trying to wear me down. She knows I'm much lower level, and she knows I don't have as much mana. She's trying to make me use it up since it's clear that I'm not just going to let her hit me with a big spell. Otherwise, she'd probably just dump her whole mana pool into one big fuck you spell and blow me up.

The only thing that saves me from that outcome is the fact that I can synergize it to stop the attack from landing how she wants. So now she's throwing this barrage to wear me down, but I'm pretty sure with the boost from natural mana, it's having the opposite effect. My usage isn't too bad, while she's probably going through a whole lot.

Once in a while, she slips in a surprise. A fire spell with the earths. Or she mixes something else into her earth spells and I need to adapt my magic on the fly.

Finally, she stops casting, the confident look on her face replaced with irritation. There's no way I should be able to put up a fight like this. Synergy magic is ridiculous, what if you made a team out of Synergists. Able to combine their spells together, they would wreck everything!

Well, that or every one of their spell combos would devolve into cascading chaos. Which granted, is useful, but nowhere near as useful as properly controlled magic...

With those thoughts rolling through the back of my mind, I can finally take a breather, glancing around. The crowd is, understandably, in awe, and even a few of the nearby rings have the combatants inside just standing and watching.

I guess it's really rare to see a display like this, isn't it?

I'm glad for the reprieve, my mana's getting kind of low and I'm still sucking in as much mana as I can, as fast as I can. I've got so much adrenaline in my brain I'm not even feeling the effects yet.

How low is she? How much does she have left? Is it about time I try to take the offensive? Or will I just starve myself before I can finish her off?

Besides, she still has a bunch of spells I don't know about. What if she whips one of them out at the wrong time? At rank twenty, if she does get a new element every other level, she should have seven that I haven't seen yet, after metal and push. Any one of them could catch me off guard and end everything.

Then my breath catches when she starts casting again. She's using two kinds, linking them together, but I don't recognize either of them. My best guess for the first is lightning based on the look of it, but the faint glow of the second element doesn't give away anything about its nature.

I start flinging up spells around myself in preparation, no idea what she's about to throw at me next. Then she twitches her head a little in my direction, and I barely have time to see the spell cast. A lightning bolt bursts across the arena in the blink of an eye, a last second twitch of the elements floating all around me barely saving me from a direct hit.

Even as the magic synergizes and I fling it away, just being near the arcing electricity burns me, on my arms trying to shield my face.

The magic all redirects elsewhere, but I fall to my knees, hot and singed and a little twitchy. I think a little of the lightning clipped me. According to my party panel, my health is around half. God damn, I have that much life-force left? I can hardly move my fucking arms!

Should I surrender now? I think I'm hurt enough that it wouldn't be a problem, right?

And then I remember...

If I lose, that man will...

I gulp, trying not to wretch at the thought. I'm still in the middle of the match, no time to get distracted. No, before I give up, I'll try everything I can. I don't care how dirty I have to play...

Thinking as much, I watch Bren start casting again. Then I Scan her. She shudders, obviously distracted from her already sloppy magic, and glares across the arena at me, Scanning me back.

I ignore it. The horrible crawling feeling doesn't compare to my burns at all.

Fuck it.

I rapid Scan her, throwing a dozen at her every second, while also starting to cast my own spells. It's time to go on offense. If I can't take her down while she's being assaulted by the horrible Scan effect, I'm not going to win this.

I throw spells, dozens of unique ones, all at different angles. She boggles for a moment, surprise and disgust delaying her response.

But then she throws out a big spell.

Half of the arena erupts into flames. I'm thrown away like a ragdoll, rolling to the edge of the ring. How much fucking mana does she have!?

I'm barely able to move at all, staggering with my arms and legs hardly operable. She didn't even hit me, that was just the gust from the explosion.

When the smoke clears, she's looking pretty burned up too, since she just hit herself with her own magic, but somehow, still in far better condition than I am.

“Yumi! That's enough!” Master Liina cries. I look up with bleary eyes, seeing her at the edge of the arena, just outside the barrier. The medical personnel are right there too, crystals in hand for the moment the match ends.

I don't know if it's the ringing in my ears, but the arena feels eerily quiet except for Master Liina.

I choke my words out. “But Master, if I lose, you'll...”

“It's fine, I don't care. I'll be fine!”

“Can I at least try? Can I go all out?” I ask her desperately. I don't want her- with that man!

Her face softens, just a little. She sighs. “I don't want to see you like that. I'll definitely punish you later.”

“Yes, Master.” That's fine. As long as she's alright. As long as she doesn't get...

On hands and knees, I clench my eyes shut, and cast.

I fire off the spells with everything I have, pulling in as much mana as possible from the surroundings and dumping every ounce of it into my magic as fast as possible. Hundreds of spells form. I can't even focus enough to form anything complex, and a lot of them are probably as sloppy as Bren's.

But I create so many of them, as fast as possible, and fling them at her from every angle. I can hardly see, but I can hear her firing off blast after blast of magic to block my endless barrage.

The natural mana is overtaking my brain. I think I'm going to puke. My head is pounding so hard I'm starting to lose feeling everywhere else.

Is my head going to explode?

Eventually, I can't focus well enough to understand anything, but I think I hear Master Liina's voice again. It sounds... scared? It's really loud.

Then I'm vaguely aware of Bren. She's not on the other end of the arena anymore, she's standing right in front of me, panting, retching. Signs of mana depletion. She ran out of mana first?

When I realize that, I also realize I'm still casting. Dozens of spells are raining on her from all sides, but they aren't even hurting her. They're basically just bouncing off. I can't focus enough to synergize them properly.

She grabs me by the neck and lifts me from the ground with my magic still landing on every inch of her scrawny, lanky body. Then she slams me downward.

There's pain, and everything goes black.