Solomon stepped into the arena to find it as he remembered it. The enormous seating area, left completely empty. The sand on the arena floor. The pillars tucked into each corner, repaired after the boss's rampage. Nothing had changed.

Almost nothing. A translucent blue circle blinked at him from the ground of the arena, about ten strides from the center of the ring. He headed for the starting circle. Before he had taken more than a step, a flicker of motion caught his eye. Another person was heading for their own starting spot.

Well, a person-shaped figure, anyways. Kanmi, if he remembered the system dialog right.

Kanmi was a little shorter than Solomon and covered head to toe in plate armor. It could have been a knight from olden times standing across from him, but Solomon didn't think he was so lucky. With magical abilities in play, plate armor might just be the new modern trend. The one thing he knew for sure was that his opponent was more familiar with the system than he was. It was extremely unlikely that he'd weighed himself down with anything useless.

Despite the full body covering, Kanmi's confidence was obvious as he swaggered to the starting circle. Nothing in his body language showed any serious concern over the fact that he was about to engage in a duel to the death.

A new system dialog appeared once they both took their places.

Duel begins in 00:30

Solomon studied his opponent as the thirty seconds ticked away. Besides the armor, there wasn't much to see. He couldn't even tell if Kanmi was carrying a weapon. That might have been reassuring if it didn't mean that he was perfectly comfortable walking into a duel without one.

"Hey, buddy," Kanmi said. His voice sounded a little strange, coming from a metal helmet, but there was nothing about it to mark him as an alien. "You work fast, huh?"

"I guess," Solomon said. Maybe he was actually doing well to be kicking off this duel on the first day. "You speak English?"

Solomon had never expected to have a polite chat with somebody before engaging them in a duel to the death. To be fair, he'd never expected to engage in any duels to the death at all before the system arrived.

"I bought the cultural package," Kanmi replied, patting himself on the chest with a clank. "Gotta be able to work with the natives."

"Work with?" Solomon asked, his hand falling to rest on the grip of his pistol.

"Hey, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar," Kanmi said. "The system disrupted your life, sure, but we can still work together and get rich."

He didn't seem concerned about Solomon reaching for his weapon. Nor did he react when the timer hit zero and the duel officially started.

Solomon channeled his ability to the pistol to make the next shot piercing. He finished that and started using the ability to make the next shot explosive when Kanmi made his move.

He didn't take a step closer. Instead he reached for his waist, gripping what Solomon had taken to be a decorative belt. The belt made a metallic ringing sound as it dragged free of his armor, revealing its nature as a flexible sword. With a flick of his wrist, Kanmi snapped the sword like a whip. He brought it back around his body and soon wove a dizzying web of steel around himself. Solomon could barely see the weapon as anything but a blur until it stopped suddenly, slung casually over Kanmi's shoulder.

"Just take a knee on this one," Kanmi said. "You'll be employee number one. Trust me, it's a lot better deal than most of the locals are going to get."

Solomon considered for a moment. It was more tempting than he'd like to admit. He didn't want to die.

He didn't want to just give up, either. If he could win, it would be a big deal. At the very least, he'd be his own man, free to set his own goals and make his own choices. He didn't want to be tied down to some alien's idea of a good development plan while his family went through hell back in the city.

He went ahead and activated the magic laser dot while he thought. In the end, he didn't think he could live with the regret of giving up without a fight.

Finally, he shook his head. "I gotta know I did my best."

Kanmi shrugged. He whipped his sword around in another quick pattern that Solomon could almost follow. "If you're sure... well, I'm taking the trouble out of your salary."

Solomon drew his pistol. As he brought it to bear, he watched the dot move along the ground and up Kanmi's body. He started slamming his hook down as it reached Kanmi's legs, touching off the shot just as the dot reached his chest.

The roar of the gunfire filled Solomon's ears. For a moment, the smoke that billowed forth along with the bullet veiled his sight. He kept his eyes focused on where Kanmi had been. The cloud of smoke thinned out and faded away in the steady breeze.

The knight in shining armor that had been staring him down was gone. Well, no, on second look he had taken a few steps back and then fallen. Metal clad hands were scrabbling around a hole that had been punched through the armor, just below the sternum. Blood spurted through the fingers that Kanmi was pressing down over the wound. His flexible steel sword lay in the dirt, forgotten.

Solomon took his own step back and tucked his pistol under his left arm. In a maneuver that was becoming increasingly familiar, he pulled a paper wrapped cartridge from his pocket and bit off one end of it. He poured out the powder within, then dropped the bullet into the barrel. He then pulled the ramrod from his belt and did his best to tamp everything into place.

He didn't intend to take any chances.