“You were smart to stop.” A woman's harsh voice said and Maylia and I turned around to face her. About thirty feet up on a branch about the thickness of a city street, stood an ornately dressed young woman and two dozen guards. The woman had dirty blonde hair and wore a similar outfit to the guards that surrounded her, with form-fitting brown pants and a tight top, covered by a thin metal bustier, arm bracers and thick leather boots. Only hers had gold filigree and looked to be about a hundred times more expensive. Everyone had long hair and had it tied up in a ponytail.

“Princess Sylvana!” Maylia exclaimed when she saw who had spoken. “What are you doing here?”

“Word that one of our subjects had found some kind of artifact reached the castle and I was sent here by my mother to see if the claims were correct... or just a fabrication to get our attention.” Sylvana said.

“We would never do that! We love you!” Maylia said. “Our patrol found a man and...”

“I can see that with my own eyes, thank you.” Sylvana said dismissively and looked at the woman next to her. “Couldn't they have cleaned him up for me, at least?”

“We tried.” A woman said as she stepped out through the bark of the tree, as if it was a hologram. I could see that it was actually solid and they just passed through it without any trouble.

“Hello Ari!” I said and waved to her. “I see you got out of the cell okay.”

Ari waved back automatically, then stopped herself when she saw several disapproving head shakes from the women around her. “We were trying to remove that thing from his face when he woke up and attacked us.” She said. Sela and Nita came out of the tree behind her.

“Wasn't he shackled?” One of the guards asked.

“Yes, he was.” Nita said. “For several hours, actually.”

“Yet he still managed to manifest mana?” Another asked. “That's impressive, especially for a man.”

“He caught us with some kind of wind spell and held us.” Sela said. “He knocked Nita out and he...”

“It doesn't matter how he got here.” Sylvana cut Sela off as the woman I had captured previously and the other guard came out of the tree. “His journey ends here.”

“Princess, he has the artifacts.” The guard and woman said at the same time.

Sylvana laughed and jumped the thirty feet down to the ground. Her body was covered in mana and she landed softly. She pulled a long sword out of the scabbard on her hip, and it glowed with green energy.

“I've never lost a fight. Even an artifact can't help a man beat me.” Sylvana said with confidence.

I heard the words 'a man' and they sounded like a curse. “Maylia, can you tie my hair up? It seems I need to teach this child a lesson about underestimating her opponent.”

Maylia looked at the other elves around us to see if any of them had a spare hair tie. When no one offered, she sighed and took her own out and expertly tied my long hair up into a ponytail.

“Thank you.” I said, knowing there must have been some significance to her sigh and letting her hair down. “I can still fight with my hair down, except it's a lot harder to concentrate.”

“I know.” Maylia said and stepped back. “You are not going to beat her.”

“Shall we wager on that?” I asked and looked at the princess. “If I win, you will provide me with supplies to survive for several weeks, appropriate clothing for warmth, a bedroll, and safe passage through the lands of the elves.”

Sylvana laughed. “It will take you weeks to get to the protective barrier that surrounds our lands, even with the fastest horse we have!”

“I'll worry about the little details when I get there.” I said. “I didn't ask for a horse, though.”

Murmurs flowed around the gathered female elves. More arrived on different branches and I felt five strong beings approach.

If I'm not mistaken, these are the women from inside their sacred chamber. I thought as the women came out through the collapsed doors. They looked a little wrinkled and their blonde hair had streaks of grey in it. They wore similar outfits to what Ari, Sela, and Nita wore. I saw that all the elves I thought I had trapped in the lobby of the tree were missing. I absorbed the solid walls of Presence I had made inside, since it hadn't stopped the elves from escaping and only changed the direction they could go.

“That's a man's logic for you.” Sylvana said to general laughter from her guards and a lot of the other elves. “He doesn't want a horse to travel with.”

“It's just another mouth to feed and worry about.” I said. “So, what do you say?”

“I'd say you're a fool.” Sylvana said. “When I win, you will become my devoted servant.”

“I should ask what a devoted servant does; but, I'm pretty sure you're going to say 'anything I want them to'.” I said, and she gave me a big grin. “I agree to the terms.”

“As do I.” Sylvana said and she started to chant. Her body glowed brightly as the energy increased and I saw it seep into her muscles. She took a fighting stance and held her glowing sword at the ready.

“Maylia, can I borrow your sword?” I asked, and everyone in the crowd gasped. “I just insulted you, didn't I?”

“Yes.” Maylia said angrily.

“Then I apologize.” I said to her surprised face and stepped forward to within ten feet of the princess.

“You need a sword to fight.” Sylvana said and looked at my waist. “You have my permission to use one of the artifacts.”

“I don't want to waste the energy, so I'll fight like this.” I said with empty hands.

Sylvana stared at me for several moments. “Are you crazy?”

“I'm not crazy. You are the ones persecuting me for trespassing when I don't even know how I got here or even where here is.” I said, and silence fell on the crowd. “Yeah, some of you can tell that I'm telling the truth, especially the elders.” I motioned to the five women. “When I win, I have some questions I would like answered.”

“Not demand?” The one in the middle asked.

I smiled my best smile and her eyes widened. “Making a demand on a woman only leads to more grief.” I said and glanced up at Ari and Sela. “They can attest to that.”

“Enough stalling! Prepare to fight!” Sylvana said, crouched down, and lunged at me.

I quickly hit the power button under my right armpit to activate my powered armor. I could feel the flow of energy was broken in two spots, at my abdomen and at my back, where Kara's Light sword had impaled me... and at the time I had thought it had killed me. Most of the armor became weightless and I formed a Presence box under my back and bent backwards to avoid Sylvana's sword.

The glowing green energy shimmered by my face and if I hadn't had my hair tied back, it would have taken a good portion of it from the side of my head. I rolled off the box and absorbed it as I tried to kick her legs out from under her. My feet hit and instead of her legs going out from under her, I slid backwards away from her. She had stayed still and it felt like I had kicked a brick wall.

I used a mental technique to dull the pain and then enhanced my own body. It didn't quite work like it was supposed to, and I realized it was because I wasn't including mana in it. I adjusted my mental technique right away and mana and Presence flowed over me. Sylvana turned to me, confidence on her face, and she turned her blade over in her hand and did a back swing with it. I rolled to the side and the sword nicked the uniform on the elbow joint and cut the wires embedded in the seam.

She turned and followed through with a forward swing and I held my other arm up to put the armor right in the sword's way. The loud clang of metal on metal hurt several people's ears, and the hum of the energy field spit and sputtered as the green energy of her sword disrupted it.

That's good to know. I thought and pushed her sword to the side, covered my hands in solid Presence and mana, then jumped up to my feet as I punched her right in the face with an uppercut. Her head snapped back and the force picked her up from the ground. In that instant, I saw her green energy fade slightly. When she landed on the ground, the energy was back at full strength.

“So, that's the secret.” I said and walked over to her. She swung her sword at my feet and I lifted my boot and kicked to let the sword bounce off of my heavily reinforced boot soles. It sent vibrations up her arm as the sword impacted and rebounded, and she barely held onto it. I bent down and dug my hands into the cloth under her shoulders and picked her up effortlessly.

“Wow, you're really light.” I said as her green energy started to fade, then it kept fading.

“Put me down!” Sylvana said and whispered something under her breath. She couldn't swing her sword, since I was within its lethal arc, so she put a hand in front of my face, palm towards me. “Blinding Light!”

Everyone covered their eyes as something as bright as the sun burst from her hand to blind me. The only problem with that strategy was that I was wearing a blast shield, which by definition, protected my eyes from bright blasts. The smile on her face faded as the light did and I didn't drop her like she had hoped.

“He's a man!” Someone shouted and then a bunch of them joined in and shouted. “He's a man!”

Before I could figure out what that chant meant, Sylvana hauled her foot back and kicked me right between the legs. Pain unlike any I had ever felt before shot through my groin and I dropped her to cup myself as I fell to my knees, then laid down on the ground. I moaned and rolled around as all of my mental techniques disappeared because of the debilitating pain and I couldn't concentrate at all.

“Yes, that's right.” Sylvana said as her green energy came back in full force. “You understand your place now, don't you?” She asked. “Men need to be subservient and should debase themselves before the superior woman.”

I couldn't respond, or do anything really, except moan at the pain. Her green energy had pushed my protective and strengthening energy aside and her foot had connected with its full force on my delicate goods. I tried to use healing on myself again; but, I couldn't concentrate as I lay on my side.

“I hope you're enjoying this position.” Sylvana said and kicked me in the back, right where Kara had wounded me.

“ARGH!” I yelled as the pain diverted from my crotch to my back, where Sylvana's boot tip had torn into the wound and opened it again. She pulled her foot away and blood gushed out.

“No!” A woman exclaimed, then I heard a slap and a thump.

“You can't interfere.” Someone said. “They are still battling.”

“Causing bodily harm that can kill wasn't in the rules.” The other voice said, subdued. “They are supposed to live for the bet to be valid.”

“I didn't intend to harm him like this.” Sylvana said. “His body is pitifully weak in comparison to our own males.”

As they talked, the pain diversion had given me the brief moment I needed to cut the pain off momentarily. I was still very tender and sore, so I covered my crotch and the wound on my back with Presence and made it solid. With both held securely, the excessive pain receded and I used several mental techniques to restore my Presence, tried to heal myself again, then used Detect Presence to full effect.

“I think I've heard... enough boasting from you.” I said and rolled up onto my knees, then slowly stood. “I've been trying to take it easy on you to teach you a lesson; but, I see now that only a resounding defeat will sway your mind from this folly.”

Sylvana chuckled. “You were just rolling around on the ground and mewling in anguish from a simple attack.”

“That's because I foolishly underestimated your underhandedness.” I said, and several women gasped. “Where I come from, hitting someone below the belt like that would disqualify you from the fight.”

“You are obviously from an uncultured place to avoid such an obvious weakness.” Sylvana said.

“No, we usually protect ourselves when in a situation where something like that could happen by accident. I was stupid and didn't think that a woman like you, a princess no less, would lower herself to the level of scum to try and win a fight.”

“You DARE speak to me that way!” Sylvana exclaimed.

“If you act like scum, then I'll call you scum and treat you like you deserve.” I said as lightning bolts flowed over my hand. I held my hand towards her and shot a single bolt at her. It hit her green energy and nothing happened.

“Is that all? A level one lightning bolt spell?” Sylvana said and chanted something, then held her hand in a fist. After a moment, a ball of fire covered her fist and she threw it at me. I formed a Presence Hand and caught the one foot wide ball of fire. With my Detect Presence going full force, I could see the green energy mixed in with the fire. With that knowledge, I absorbed it and put it into the mana reserve in my head. The fire ball flickered and died and I absorbed my Presence Hand as well.

“Shall I attack again and show you what I can really do?” I asked and shot three lightning bolts at her. A large green shield appeared in front of her and the lightning didn't reach her. I knew she hadn't chanted, so either she had it ready or someone helped her. I smiled and use Presence Run to appear right in front of the shield and touched it. As soon as I did, I turned my head and looked up at the branch with her guards.

“Is cheating allowed?” I asked and shot the guard with a lightning bolt. She screamed and fell to her knees, then she fell forward from the branch before anyone around her could react. The shield disappeared as she fell, and I ran over to the tree, jumped up about fifteen feet and bounced off the trunk, then caught her in mid-air before she had gained any significant momentum. I landed and put her down, looked at all of their surprised faces, then ran over to the princess and grabbed her sword.

“Hey!” Sylvana exclaimed as I walked away from her.

“I don't see any kind of power source.” I said and turned the sword over. “I have to assume it's been charged with energy, since it counters my armor so well.”

“Princess!” Someone yelled and threw her a spear. Sylvana caught it easily, flipped it around into a throwing pose, then charged it with energy and threw it at me. I held the hilt of the sword and I could feel that it wasn't made for me.

Just like my Light swords. I thought and turned it on an angle and held it up to my face. The spear hit the charged blade and ricocheted slightly off course and flew into the gigantic tree behind me. There was a mana explosion and a huge crack appeared in the tree as the bark was blown off of it.

“NOOO!” A dozen women yelled and ran to the tree.

“So, you can charge any weapon and not just this one.” I said and used Presence to push her mana out of the sword. She caught her breath as her mana disappeared from the sword and I concentrated my own energy into it. I used the same technique that I would for attuning a focusing crystal and was pleasantly surprised when both my Presence and mana flowed over the blade.

Someone handed Sylvana another sword, and she grimaced at me.

“I'll make you pay for insulting me.” Sylvana said.

“I'd tell you to do your worst; but, I've already seen that.” I smiled. “So, do your best instead.”

Sylvana grunted and did several odd motions with the new sword and it was covered in green energy. She made a dozen swipes through the air in different directions, and I suspected what was coming.

“Take this, you fool!” Sylvana said and made one final swipe right at me.

I turned on my personal shield as thirty phantom blades appeared around me and struck me all at once. The shield had been failing when Kara had attacked me and this last attack finished it off. The electronics sparked and sputtered as the shield died and it smelled like it was on fire, so I covered it in Presence and made it solid.

“Have you got another mana shield?” I asked and pointed the charged blade at her and shot another lightning bolt through the blade at her. Her green energy wasn't quite as strong this time and some of my Presence made it through and hit her.

“AHH!” Sylvana yelled and tried to block it with the sword, which just made a better conductor. She dropped the sword and rubbed her hand where several burns appeared.

“It seems when you hurt the tree, your protective energy became weaker.” I said and formed a Presence Hand on the blade of my sword and threw it at her.

“NO!” Maylia yelled and tried to block it as she stepped in front of the princess.

“I'm sorry, I need to win.” I said and used the Presence Hand to move the blade around her and plunged it into center of the princess' chest.

A cry of outrage rose up from everyone, even from the five elder women, as Sylvana fell onto her knees and stared down at her own blade sticking into her chest. I created a wall of Presence around myself, the guard, and the princess before everyone tried to swarm me. I walked over to her and Maylia, who was on her knees and cried as she tried to hug the princess without hurting her.

“This means I win, right?” I asked, and Sylvana looked up at me with both anger and hopelessness in her eyes. She nodded slightly, so I turned to the elves that were trying to get at us. “Did you see that? She concedes. I won.”

“You will die for killing the princess!” Nearly everyone said as one. There were yells and hollers for my head, and I laughed. That made them angrier, so I turned to Maylia.

“Can you let her got for a minute?” I asked.

“Why?” Maylia asked. “You've already killed her!”

“Does she look dead to you?” I asked, and she looked at the princess. Despite the little bit of blood coming from the sword in her chest, she was breathing normally and wasn't struggling with anything. Not even pain.

“What... how...”

“I told you. I needed to win.” I said and pulled the sword out of the princess. It came with a short spurt of blood and I quickly healed the wound. Only about two inches of the blade had been inside her chest and I had held it there with a Presence Hand to make it appear like I had skewered her.

“I will kill you.” Sylvana swore.

“You can't.” I said and smiled. “You promised me safe passage through the elf lands, remember?” I asked and stepped back, then did it again and turned to look at the elders. “Your princess is unharmed and I defeated her in combat.” I said. “I expect the bargain to be upheld.”

“With reluctance, we must agree.” The one in the center said and turned to one of the women near her. “Fetch the things he asked for.”

“Right away.” She said and ran inside the large tree.

“While we wait, will you answer some of my questions?” I asked.

“Drop your barrier and we will discuss it.”

“If you give your word that safe passage through the elf lands has already started.” I said, and she exchanged looks with the other four elders. “Yes, I'm smarter than my earlier performance suggests.” I said, and that made her smile slightly.

She turned to the still hollering crowd and waved her hands. A pulse of energy covered everyone and they quieted down. “He hasn't killed the princess and has beaten her in the fight.” She said. “He will have safe passage from here to the protective barrier of our lands.”

The princess' head guard glared at me. “If you ever come back here, I will skin you alive and feed it to my hounds in front of you.”

“You can't.” I said and smiled at her. “Did you hear me say I only wanted safe passage this one time?” I asked and looked at their surprised faces. “I've been granted safe passage in the elf lands. Period.”

“The princess never meant for all time!” One of the elders said.

“She didn't say it was only this one time, either.” I said and grinned at their shocked expressions. In their confusion, I absorbed the Presence barrier I had created and stepped over to the group of elders. “So, my first question.”

“Yes, go ahead and ask.” The one in the center said in resignation.

“What planet is this?” I asked, and stunned silence greeted me.