While Christopher was watching the combat demonstrations in the fighting Pit, a massive gong reverberated through the Arena, causing all heads to swivel to the large platform far to his left. An old man stepped forward into view of all the spectators, waving regally to the people below. A loud cheer erupted from the crowd.

A large silver and gold horn stood prominently on the platform, through which the loud voice of the old man could be heard booming through the Arena soon after.

“Dear citizens, are you ready to witness the might of this beautiful city!”

A thunderous roar rose up from the crowd, and he decided to join them, letting himself get swept up in the excitement. Surely, this man could only be Eugenius Swift, the Earl of Lumen. The horn-enhanced voice was extremely clear and crisp and easily reached all the way to Christopher. It was so clear that he could only assume that there was some kind of Soul Force effect on the horn.

“Today there are plenty of exciting matches to look forward to. And I don’t want to spoil too much, but there is a surprise to look forward to at the end.”

Another roar met his declaration. Christopher wondered what kind of surprise the Earl was referring to. Eugenius Swift continued.

“Now as all of you know, the Blight has been sighted in increasing numbers in the land around Lumen, which has now resulted in the unfortunate destruction of Stonehill by the Blight. We cannot allow this tragedy to happen in this beautiful city. Here today, you will watch why Lumen will never succumb to those most unholy of creatures! Now let the matches begin!”

The loudest roar of them all met these final words and lasted well over a minute. When the noise finally calmed down, the two tunnels leading towards the fighting pit opened up. Under the enraptured roars of the crowd, the first fighters made their way to the sands of the Arena.

He had received a short crash course earlier on how the fights would proceed during the event. The first matches would be between fighters lowest on the Lumen ladder, and they would be defending their position against challengers outside of the top hundred.

Who was allowed to challenge to enter the top hundred was determined by fights outside of the Arena matches. Of course, entering the top 100 would provide plenty of benefits so the stakes were enormous for these fighters. Fighters were only allowed to bring their chosen main weapon into the Arena, no Soul Force tools or other weapons were allowed. Contestants were also limited to pre-determined Soul Force techniques during their fight since otherwise there would be too high a risk of death.

The matches would then gradually move to the stronger fighters, until finally Anara, the number one would have her match.

Of course, everyone fighting here today would be crazy strong and these first two fighters moving onto the sands of the Pit certainly looked the part.

“How dangerous are these fights? People are not going to get killed, are they?” The loud cheering required him to speak loudly to make himself heard. He had been worrying about people dying, with the stakes so high, he could imagine that a wrong move might lead to a fatal wound.

“It is not unheard of, but mostly these are professional fighters that know how to protect themselves. The Best healers of Lumen are also nearby, chockful of Soul Force and with their best regeneration potions. Nevertheless, we are still sure to see some gnarly wounds today. Also, the weapons used are blunted, it would be a waste for people to lose limbs here after all.”

Still a bit worried, but somewhat more at ease, Christopher focused on the two fighters that were now standing in position. This was a fight between two males that had a similar brawny build.

To his surprise, the horn blared to life once again, this time the crisp and clear sound of a deep and resonant man’s voice reached their ears.

“It is time to introduce our first contestants of the day. walking from the western tunnel we have Boreus, a proud member of the city guard and the current number 97 of the Lumen Ladder.” A man that looked to be in his late thirties, with long black hair and scar tissue on his nose theatrically pointed his blunted broad sword in the air to the delight of the crowd.

“And now to introduce his challenger. Santol works as a blacksmith’s apprentice at the Unwielding Forge and spends his remaining time training. This is his second attempt to add his name to the Lumen ladder. This twenty-three-year-old is clearly one of our upcoming stars. Let’s give him a hand shall we!”

The crowd was all too happy to oblige. The blonde man with surprisingly delicate features decided to forego the theatrics and simply stared down his opponent with a concentrated look. He wielded a massive Warhammer on his shoulder on a long metal handle. The weapon looked ridiculously heavy, and blunting such a weapon was completely useless. Having your head smashed with that thing would surely mean that your life was forfeit. Were people really not getting killed with these matches?

After another 20 seconds, a loud gong sounded through the Arena, which signaled the start of the match. Both fighters looked focused but were still not making their move. The stalemate was soon broken however when Boreus moved forward with surprising speed.

Santol was quick to react and swung his Warhammer with equally impressive speed for such a large and heavy weapon. It was nothing compared to the speeds that Sin had shown that one time during training, but it was surprising that even these brawny men were ridiculously fast.

Boreus had no choice but to back off to get out of the path of the hammer. They were moving way too fast; these were definitely not normal movements. Both of them once again circled each other carefully watching.

This time Santol made the first move and swept his massive Warhammer towards Boreus, but he was too far away. They heard a boom in the arena. Wait what had happened, Boreus was not anywhere close to the swing, but he stumbled back as if pushed back by the hammer. Was this his first look at some kind of Soul technique? It was as if the air had pushed him back. Boreus shrugged of the mysterious Force Push, somewhat grimacing from the attack. The Warhammer might be massive, but the Broadsword of Boreus was also not a joke, the two weapons proceeded to clash multiple times.

To the untrained eye, it might look like Santol and Boreus were just aggressively swinging, but he was now just able to discern that there was an incredible intent behind each swing, they were closing any potential opening for an attack skillfully. It was like there was a mind game played between the two men, he looked at both of them with great admiration.

Finally, it seemed as if Boreus has found an opening, and he went full in. But he had been fooled by a feint, Santol had provoked the reaction and was prepared, swinging his Warhammer straight for the other man’s chest. The Scarred man could do nothing but intercept with his own Broadsword. It was completely ineffective this time, it merely grazing the hammer, not stopping its momentum. To Christopher’s horror, the hammer continued its way towards the city guard with full speed.

As the hammer impacted the chest of Boreus, he almost looked away, nervous at the scene that would surely follow. But to his surprise, things did not turn out as he expected. Boreus was on the ground in a daze but looked surprisingly whole. Impossible! That swing had ridiculous power behind it, it should have turned the opponent into nothing but blood and guts. Had Santol somehow weakened the blow at the last second?

Boreus was not in any shape to continue the match though, effectively ending the fight. The victory belonged to Santol, who now had made it into the Lumen Ladder, thereby earning the monthly stipend. The crowd was pleased by the unexpected victor and chanted Santol’s name.

A healer had already made it over to Boreus, who had managed to get into a sitting position, apparently not that badly hurt at all. He was given a potion by the healer regardless, which seemed like a wise move.

Both men showed some great sportsmanship and clasped each other’s hands. The spectators loved it and he had to admit that even he felt some emotion at the sight.

After the cheering had died down, he asked Hito about the hit.

“How can he still be alive after receiving that full-on blow?”

“Hmm, body strengthening of course. Being able to temporarily reinforce your own body with Soul Force is a prerequisite to fighting in the Arena. Otherwise, it would really be too dangerous.”

Body strengthening using Soul Force? So, there was something like that going on, that sounded extremely useful. If he could also survive such a hit that would really help him survive. He now had a new skill that he desperately wanted to learn!

“How do they do it, where can I learn it?”

Arlo chuckled behind him, having overheard his words. “Why don’t you train another 20 years, maybe you will get somewhere then.”

Hozil to his right answered his question seriously. “They are using their Soul Force to temporarily strengthen their body. Once you have reached a certain skill level, your body instinctively uses your Soul Force to protect you when you receive a serious hit. That’s why deaths are extremely rare since all contestants fighting in the Arena have reached that skill level.”

Now it all made sense. That extremely powerful Warhammer hit should have normally turned the Black-haired guard to paste, but this extraordinary defensive skill had saved him from serious damage. If he could also learn this Soul defense that would give him a serious power-up. Arlo’s comment had made it clear though that this was quite an advanced technique.

Starting to understand, Christopher asked another question. “I assume that they also somehow increase the strength and the speed of their swings with Soul Force?”

Exasperated, Arlo spoke. “These questions, what kind of Goblin hovel did you crawl out of?” He was really starting to get annoyed by the man’s running commentary.

Hito answered this one. “Absolutely. They move their Soul Force to the required muscle groups which significantly strengthen them. Reinforcing your arm will lead to a more powerful and faster swing. Reinforcing the muscles in your legs can make you dash with incredible speed. We are all years away from being able to show anything resembling these techniques though.”

Incredible. Everything he had seen suddenly made a lot more sense. The Soul Force manual had not covered any of the techniques used for fighting. He felt like he was now finally starting to understand how things really worked. This new information also would allow him to watch the other matches with a more discerning eye.