When Zuken Banksi expressed his wish to duel him, Lukas imagined it to be a continuation of their brief struggle from back in the Crypt of Fiendish Worms. Of course, back then, the Banksi had taken him by surprise and struck him down, packing him into a rocky sarcophagus. That was before he’d gotten to truly see what Lukas could do in action, and certainly before drawing the conclusion that he was a demigod.

A statement as ironic as it was inane. Had he been back on Earth, Lukas would’ve laughed in his face.

Now? Not so much.

He’d expected him and Zuken to duke it out in the fields outside the mansion, or perhaps a barren portion of his property. A fight between them would probably cause large amounts of destruction, and Zuken seemed the type to keep everything prim and proper.

He hadn’t expected this, however.

Lukas’s gaze shifted skyward as he eyed a set of colossal white pillars along with a towering curtain of glass ascending hundreds of feet to a vaulted ceiling, from which halogen spotlights blazed overhead. Suspended in the air was a network of catwalks and balconies, dotted with black-and-white silhouettes that moved through the upper galleries and admired the artificial lagoon down below. Even the acoustics felt foreign — instead of the traditional hush of sound-dampening finishes, the place felt alive, with murmured echoes bouncing off of stone and glass.

“This is just the outside,” Tanya chimed in. “You should see the grounds.”

“Grounds?” he asked. “This— is this a stadium?”

“What’s a stadium?” Tanya and Zuken demanded at the same time.

“It’s a, um, a field of sorts. For sporting events, with tiers of seats for spectators.” Lukas pointed at the high walls of the building in front of him. “The seat tiers are arranged in increasing elevations so everyone can enjoy the sports being played below.”

Tanya hummed. “That’s exactly what this is, though we just call it a dome.”

“What’s it used for?”

“Spiritist battles. Element versus element. People pay lots of money to see element shapers fight.”

He looked at the Dome, then back at them. “You need a dome this big just for a fight?”

Zuken shrugged. “Normally, a dome of this size is used to host tournaments, but given the setting and our situation, I thought it was apt.”

Lukas considered that. Between him taming a wild ifrit and, well, everything else, Zuken wanted to re-evaluate everything he knew about the Outsider. In that light, it was obvious why the man wanted to try his strength against Lukas’s own. And, if Lukas were honest with himself, he was looking forward to it, especially with the constantly recurring memory of Zuken trapping him within seconds back in the caverns.

Still, something about this situation seemed a bit… off.

“I should warn you, Partner. Fire does have a natural vulnerability against Earth.”

His kami. Arah. One would think a creature so boisterous on the outside would be similar inside. However, Arah’s demeanor was very much like a librarian. A sadistic, cunning, dangerous librarian with a penchant for burning things.

“Hah! You forget that the bond between Kami and Host always pushes them towards compatibility.”

Lukas rolled his eyes. I’m not getting married to you.

“Funny,” Arah went on. “But I wasn’t talking about that. I consume your soul capacity. I reside in your consciousness. One cannot ingest something without being altered by it. Whether you admit it or not, my demeanor fits your personality to some degree, which is why we are so well bonded. Somewhere deep within you lies a wish for a being just as you described.”

You think I want a sadistic librarian with a penchant for destroying—

The rest of his thoughts died midway. As funny and unreal as it was, the description also fit a certain spurned goddess. Granted, she’d probably kick him in his marbles just for that mental image.

But… it did.

“Lukas?”

“Yeah?” he responded, shaken out of his reverie.

“Are you looking forward to it?” she asked. He quickly noticed the grin on her face. She was clearly looking forward to this. He wondered if he’d have to fight her too before the day was over.

“Not a bad idea. I too wish to see how her wind fares against my flames.”

Lukas sighed. Alright, here’s the plan. I’ll first try to channel your powers to avoid trouble. Worst case, I let you out to play. Just… try to restrain yourself. We don’t want to scare them into acting out.

“Where is your sense of adventure, partner?”

On a vacation. Ever since sanity and—

He froze, an icy feeling slithering down his spine as he remembered the one entity with whom he’d had a similar conversation. Apparently, Arah had a point when he had said about compatibility.

Just, he thought shakily, don’t go overboard.

“Today’s certainly going to be interesting,” Zuken commented. Lukas noticed that he was gazing fondly at the edifice before them. “Tell me, Aguilar, are you intimidated?”

“By you?”

Zuken chuckled. “No. By all of this!” He grandly gestured towards the dome. “You’re right. It’s big. And it’s exactly why I chose this place today. Cost me a pretty coin for it.”

Lukas frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“You will,” Zuken exhaled and met his gaze. “I will admit, you did not make the most sterling first impression when we encountered each other in the cave. Ignoring your immense power, you were little more than a puppy that had been kicked one too many times.” Lukas made a face, but Zuken pressed on. “I still think you are one, though I see now that there are other qualities to you.”

“How nice of you,” Lukas deadpanned. “You’re going to make me cry.”

Zuken smirked. “You are a confounding creature. By Asukan standards, you qualify for the title of demigod. Maybe in your own race’s standards too, if what you told us earlier was true. Yet I can see it in your eyes that this talk of status is little more than a joke to you, and you wouldn’t think twice of rejecting it if the act would help you gain whatever it is you truly want.”

Lukas wanted to speak, but Banksi raised a flat palm.

“I know you bargained with me to get a position at Iylaerion, but it’s patently obvious you don’t actually want it either. All you wanted was a bargaining chip. A bit of breathing room in case things with Tanya went sideways. Isn’t that right?”

He remained silent. Tanya’s reaction, or lack thereof, told him something had transpired between the two of them when he was asleep at the Banksi estate. This dome, Zuken’s urge to fight him, Tanya’s own excitement — it all tied together somehow into an intricate web. One he didn’t fully understand yet.

That didn’t matter. He would eventually.

“What do you want from me?” Lukas finally asked.

“Many things,” Zuken admitted. “Right now, it’s to establish the status quo you forced upon me. Or rather, upon myself and my associates.”

“I think I should explain it a bit more,” Tanya interrupted. At Zuken’s nod, she continued. “You’re an outsider. Not Outsider, but I mean a foreigner of the Llaisy kingdom. But Zuken Banksi, owner of Iylaerion, offered you a position on his Board. You also have an ongoing contract with the svartalfar community. No,” she raised her voice when he tried speaking up, “my name might be in the contract, but we both know they’re more interested in you than me. And now, you’ve tamed an ifrit of considerable power. You may not realize it, but you’re attracting a lot of attention, and not all of it will be good.”

Lukas let out a bitter laugh. He hadn’t intended for things to go the way they had, but it did paint a pretty damning picture. “And what does any of that have to do with this?”

“I know we don’t like each other very much, Aguilar,” Zuken offered. “However, allow me to offer you a key piece of advice. In the Asukan Empire, people in power make the laws. People in power hold the positions. Power means everything.”

Zuken walked closer to him. “You have power. I’ve seen it. Tanya has fought it. Olfric is pissed at it. Elena is downright scared of it. But it doesn’t make things any less true. When I chose to accept you into Iylaerion’s Board, I knew what I was doing. This match is just to prove that my decision wasn’t entirely misplaced.”

Lukas met Zuken’s stern gaze. He looked towards the dome, where he knew there would be hundreds, maybe thousands, of seats for people to watch two spiritists duke it out like magical spartans. He thought back to Tanya’s palpable excitement.

Finally, he exhaled.

“I have power. I have a dangerous ifrit. I’m a foreigner. People in power can justify everything in the Empire, so I can see how this is going to end.” He tilted his head. “Just when were you going to tell me that you brought me here to fight an entire platoon of spiritists?”

“As soon as you arrived at the conclusion yourself,” Zuken quipped, a satisfied smile on his face. “No need to worry, though. You’ll fight a few amateurs first, even some monster-tamers. Then spiritists in increasing order of skill and power. The longer you last, the higher the Adventurer’s Guild will rank you.”

Lukas widened his eyes. “You mean—”

Zuken was openly grinning now. “You’re about to face the Adventurer’s Guild. I want to see the shock and despair on their faces when they realize how hilariously superior Iylaerion is to them.”