††† Siegfried †††

When Ryden approached the middle of the pit, Siegfried kept his eyes on Torg.

The red-skinned examinator looked down into the arena, and his chest rose with a heavy breath. When he raised his gaze to Ryden, his eyes hardened with resolution. Whatever scruple he had, it was clear that he would obey the cunning spy that had Victor’s ear. After a short but tense minute of silence, he finally spoke.

“I have been told that these five warriors have crushed the shadowclaw faction singlehandedly.” The pit fell into silence after that statement. “In regards to their evident combat prowess, it would not be fair for a single defender to face them.”

A storm of outraged voices filled the air. When Torg raised his voice, everyone shut down except for a single, beat-up Nivetian.

“One of those five is a drakish clansman, and you let him pass too!” Samuel shouted from the opposite side of the arena. He was covered in grey bandages, and his face was still pale, but his voice thundered across the cave. “That monster could have taken the faction alone, and they just tagged along. This is—” his voice broke when a leathery fist struck his chin, and he fell unconscious.

“Silence!” Torg roared when the spectators cried out again. He might not have liked what he had to do, but he gave no more sign of hesitation. “Keep him in the field hospital— I’ll make personally sure he understands his place after this event.”

“I take it it’s not normal that we should fight several opponents,” Siegfried commented.

“No. That they let us pass is a scheme from Zschrish,” Kaz growled. “They prepared one defender for every challenger, means they now have twelve on reserve for Ryden, Haylee, and you,” he said in a dark voice. “I can’t remember something like this ever happening before. And it will leave a stain on Torg’s reputation, but he will lose his head if he doesn’t comply.”

Siegfried fumed as he saw Torg select three defenders to face Ryden. All of them were massive but slow— likely intended to force Ryden into using a powerful ability to hurt them enough for the fight to end. Two were bear-like furred men, and one was looking more like a massive beetle than a human. The insectoid warrior walked on four segmented legs and sported a huge, double-edged horn on his forehead. The only hint that gave his intelligence away were the observant eyes that tracked Rydens every step.

Despite the unfair match-up, Ryden was still moving with his usual confidence. His walking gait changed into small hops, switching his front and back foot constantly.

The movement itself drew a string of laugther from the crowd— until the first bear-man swung a massive claw at Ryden.

The Healer twisted his body like a snake, avoiding the had-long claws by a margin and struck a heavy blow to the right backside of his enemy.

As everyone expected, the massive bear hardly felt the punch, and Ryden was already dancing around a charge of the insect monster. Using its huge body as cover from sight, the physician sprinted into the blind spot of the first bear-man.

He rammed his fist into the same spot once again.

Siegfried wanted to shout a warning but saw that Ryden’s left thigh muscle had already tensed. The healer spun out of reach before the second bear-man’s paw hit the empty space.

Three punches in quick succession hit the second bear in the left part of his back, just above the rear.

Ryden danced back to get some distance from his opponents. The insectoid screeched with an earsplitting promise of violence, forming up between his fellow combatants.

Things looked grim to Siegfried as those three finally decided to attack Ryden together, but his companion sported a cocky grin while bouncing on his feet. A second later, the first of the bear-man collapsed when he tried to take the first step, holding a paw to his back while moaning with pain. It was the one who had attacked first and taken two hits to the back from Ryden.

“Yep, kidneys can be real killjoys,” the physician laughed. “C’mon, big guy, give me a real fight,” he addressed the insectoid, which in turn taunted the other bear-man who apparently wasn’t worth a glance from Ryden.

Contrary to his taunts, Ryden dived away from the massive bug’s charge and ran for the bear-man instead.

A deep roar of hatred left the bear-man’s lungs as he started to run towards Ryden. The roar cut up when his right leg bucked under his weight. He looked surprised at his own limb when Ryden put a fist to his temple, taking the second bear out of the fight.

Siegfried had seen all of it and still couldn’t fathom how those punches to the back made the bear-man’s legs weak. He was sure those were the only hits Ryden had landed. And he knew that he had underestimated Ryden once more.

The rest of the fight was easy to predict as Ryden chipped away on his enemy’s carapace without taking a single hit.

“Enough!” Torg shouted, ignoring the acidic glare of the reptilian spy next to him. “The challenger wins, the remaining defender will transfer to the lower area.”

“At least he has some balls left,” Siegfried spat.

“What now?” Haylee asked, her fur standing straight from her body.

“It seems they pull back their best— likely because Zschrish saw me with the enforcer’s sword first,” Sieg answered. “It might be better if we go along with it and leave me for last so they won’t try to push everything onto you.”

Haylee nodded in agreement, but Sieg could see her throat move with a gulp.

“You’ll be fine. You’re faster than anyone we have seen, including Sinha, a professional assassin in the higher area. Trust your speed and endurance, evade and observe— just like you did when you attacked the howlers,” Siegfried coached her. “There might be several stronger felines in here, but none can catch up to your speed, Haylee. Just rip them apart bit by bit— nothing can hurt you if it can’t catch you!”

Haylee still had a sliver of uncertainty in her eyes, but she nodded fiercely and jumped into the pit gracefully.

Sieg held out his hand towards Sally once Haylee was focused on the arena. She gave him back the enforcer’s sword with a resolute nod. If the worst came to happen, he would go all out— consequences be damned.

“I hope everyone has observed this fight with a keen eye!” Torg shouted into the round.

“We just saw an example of how strong even a simple regenerator can become if he has the dedication to train the way of the warrior!” Torg cried out with genuine enthusiasm. If he believed Ryden’s performance to be purely a result of training or not was hard to say, but the older man definitely appreciated the way he fought.

“If the quality of these champions is consistent,” he emphasised the word champions, “you might soon be able to see the pinnacle of what you feline fighters can achieve!”

Siegfried could hear the enjoyment that suddenly tainted Torg’s voice, and he hated him all the more for it. The bastard had left behind the embarrassment he held for forcing them to fight several opponents and even got excited at the prospect of seeing them fight unfair conditions.

“You, you and you!” Torg sorted a black-clad man and two lean canines with muzzles like howlers but shorter arms and intelligent yellow eyes. One of them had started to go grey in places and had a nasty scar that reached from forehead across his nose to the left jaw. The other one seemed to be younger but had a fierce look. The last guy was clad in a tattered black robe with a cowl, hiding his face.

Siegfried instantly had a bad feeling as this was the first man he had seen that hid his features. Fortunately, Haylee had the same sense as she immediately moved to bring the canines between her and the mysterious guy.

Both of them shot towards her. The younger one was a bit faster, his body lighter with fewer muscles and no fat at all. Haylee evaded long before he reached her and set up some distance.

It was a missed opportunity, but Siegfried knew that this was her first fair fight and that she had to test her limits in such a setup. Still, he ground his teeth, thinking of how easy she could have scored a blow and jumped out afterwards.

When she ran half a circle around the arena to put even more distance between her and her enemies, Sieg got a glance at her face. Haylee was terrified. Her breast heaved with effort, almost hyperventilating. This was far worse than he thought it could be.

Within the next few minutes, Haylee sprinted around the arena without showing fatigue. It was amazing that she could hold that up for so long, but the canines would not drop before her, having to use much less endurance to chase her across the pit.

In several instances, she waited for one of them to catch up, but she got cold feet and fled again at the last moment.

The first jeering from the spectators rose, but Siegfried didn’t even hear it. His stomach clenched in cold fear for his cat-girl. It was a close enough match against three, but her fear would cost her life if this went on.

“I don’t have time for this,” Sieg heard a high-pitched voice from his right.

“Haylee, watch out!” Sieg shouted when Zschrish heaved up noisily and reared his head back. A blob of green slime shot out of the lizard's mouth and into the path that Haylee was running.

Her left foot got caught in the bubble, and it immediately bound her to the ground, causing her body to slam face-forward into the dirt.

“Haylee, no!” Sieg shouted when he saw the canine with the scar advancing on her torpid body.

Siegfried’s muscles tensed to the point of breaking as he bent his knee. The stones beneath him splintered slightly but held far enough against his weight to allow the movement. He burst forward, dust and rocks exploding behind him as he sped through the air towards Haylee. He touched the arena's ground with the same force, compelling his body forward while everything behind him took the power of his motion.

The canine, his arm already bent to strike at Haylee with his sharp claws, reared his head back in Siegfried’s direction. He grinned for a second, knowing that the warrior would be too slow.

Haylee’s cry shattered Siegfried’s soul. He saw the blood and bit of flesh fly from where the younger canine blocked his vision.