The two duos walked together in silence to Slander’s arena. The man had been warned in advance and his specialized lesson at the time was taught by one of his assistants so that he could supervise the duel.

Mahon followed Zac inside the arena where they could choose their weapons from a rack full of blunted swords. For now, they were allowed to duel with swords only, but there was still a large choice to be made regarding the weights, length and handle. The swords looked the same though and there was no long sword, dagger or saber. They were allowed to pick one that fit them and Mahon chose his weapon without thinking. They were using the same one during training, so they all knew which one fitted their need the best.

Mahon’s sword was short. He much preferred a longer and heavier one, but given his current physique and endurance, he was training with a lighter one. And since his own endurance was the main challenge of today’s fight, he couldn’t afford to be greedy for his weapon selection. After they all selected their swords, Slander gestured for them to move to each side of the arena. It was mostly empty and consisted of a round area with earth and sand circled by a wall. The ground was flat and there was nothing inside besides the four fighters and Slander.

“When I say you’re dead, you’re dead. If I say nothing, that means you can still fight. Whoever doesn’t obey the rules is eliminated. Questions?”

Only silence answered Slander’s declaration as he lowered his hand. “Start!”

The two duo were ten meters away, and they advanced towards the other with quick steps. Mahon’s battle plan was pretty simple. Given the strength of the fighter in the duel, Zac was the best. Then came Hagas, Laiex and Mahon. If Mahon could trade his own elimination with Laiex, then Zac would be able to win the fight. In the best scenario, Mahon would trade for Hagas, but they knew better than to be greedy.

While devising their strategy, Mahon and Zac had agreed on two constraints to maximize their chance at winning. First, they had to be quick as with each minute the fight would drag on, the wider the gap between Mahon and the others would be. Mahon knew how to fight, but he still lacked endurance. He had reduced the gap between his body and mind and so he could perform moves good enough to fight against First White, but only for a short time.

Given a month or two, he would be fit enough to fight how he wanted. At that point, he would be able to easily win against the two by himself in a few seconds. Alas, even then, if he fought for a long time, he would be tired. Such was his endurance. With Zac they had estimated that Mahon should bring down Laiex before three minutes passed or after that it would only become harder and harder.

The second thing they should consider was Zac’s involvement in the move. If Zac sacrificed too much to help Mahon trade, then he might not be able to end the fight against Hagas afterwards. With all these parameters to take into account, Mahon and Zac advanced towards their opponents and, upon Zac’s signal, they attacked.

It was not a gauging opening move to know what their opponents could do, they had seen them fight before. Instead, they wanted to bring Laiex down as soon as possible and Mahon targeted her directly.

However, as soon as their swords clashed, they realized how good they truly were. They were brother and sister and that’s why they had gambled on the two to accept a duo challenge. And it worked. But as brother and sister, they also knew each other for a long time and their teamwork was impressive. They were even better than Mahon and Zac.

In a single exchange, Laiex used her impressive agility and the help of her brother to disengage from Mahon. Under a second she had left Mahon behind and was already flanking Zac, who was fighting against Hagas.

At this point, Mahon realized that Laiex was also aware of Mahon and Zac victory’s condition. She had moved around so that Zac was between her and Mahon, preventing Mahon from trading their eliminations. Moreover, if Mahon wanted to follow her around, he would have to expand his precious endurance much faster than they had anticipated.

To be sure, Mahon followed her around, but each time she escaped, leaving him in the dust. He was forced to pursue her or he would leave Zac too long in a two versus one scenario, expanding strength he would need later to end the duel.

Mahon whistled and Zac backed away. The two duos eyed each other for the first break of the duel. Hagas and Laiex were in no hurry to attack them. They knew about Mahon’s poor endurance. Time was running in their favor. They just had to wait and they would be able to pluck them easily afterwards.

In any other situation, Mahon would have been able to use his better fight understanding to move ahead and compensate for his lack of speed and endurance, but it didn’t seem possible here. Laiex was too smart to attack first when she knew time was on her side. She could retreat with no worry and she would never let herself be stuck in a long duel with Mahon.

Mahon had no way to prevent their strategy. The arena was round, which means they wouldn’t succeed in cornering them somewhere. He could only see one other alternative. Alas, it was both risky and unreliable. But it was either that or another month with the First Red. Or two weeks at least before they could defy Laiex and Hagas a second time.

Sighing, Mahon accepted his fate. He gestured their new strategy to Zac with the few hand signs they had agreed to beforehand. It was still a strategy they had prepared in Nightmare in anticipation of such a scenario, but they had hoped they would not need it. Zac grimaced in return and resumed his fighting position.

You want to exhaust me? Fine, let’s see if you can keep up.

A second later, they advanced together towards their opponents and the cat-and-mouse game started again. Mahon swiped towards Laiex shoulder while Zac countered an attack aimed at Mahon. Laiex ducked away from the trajectory and rolled backwards when Mahon twitched his wrist to extend his reach.

The woman jumped up to her feet and circled behind her brother, thus putting Zac between her and Mahon. Her brother started to retreat as well, but Mahon rushed in and engaged Hagas. The man was less agile than his sister, but with her help they again managed to force Zac into a position that left Mahon half a step away.

Again, Mahon rushed in to fill the gap and attacked relentlessly. The fight was quite intense and every time the First White tried to disengage and make space, Mahon was at their heels, preventing them from moving away.

The fight continued for long minutes and soon they passed the three minutes timer they had imagined with Zac. But Mahon kept coming at them without respite. The four fighters were breathing loudly and sweating from the intense pace Mahon was imposing on them, but they held their ground. In fact, Mahon was probably the worst of the four at this game of endurance, but he never resigned and kept coming at them.

Not yet. She wouldn’t buy it. I have to hold a bit more.

The fight lasted another minute before Mahon showed the first signs of fatigue. He still rushed any time he needed to, but he was half a step off. His timing started to be messed up and his respiration was irregular. Laiex noticed his condition and she smiled in anticipation.

Got you.

But she had learned from her mistake during the strategy duel and she knew better than to trust Mahon’s behavior. And so they kept their strategy of withdrawing and Mahon kept coming at them, a bit later each time.

The consequence of his slower moves was all upon Zac as the time he had to fight alone was increased. But Zac was a monster of consistency. He was efficient and lucid despite the building strain. He repelled and countered without a hint of hesitation, and the situation had been a centimeter away from being completely reversed if not for the incredible teamwork of the siblings.

The fight dragged on for another couple minutes and Mahon felt he couldn’t hold anymore. He had tried to fake exhaustion to lure Laiex to attack, but the woman had seen through his plan.

It’s not working. She’s too smart to take the bait.

As Mahon realized their failure and expanded his last resources, he whistled for retreat so that he could rest and maybe try later, but again Laiex was a step ahead of him and they attacked them a couple seconds later. They wanted to prevent Mahon from resting too long. They were not fully engaging them, more like harassing. They rushed in, exchanged a few swings and then retreated as fast as they came, but it was effective and Mahon felt his strength leaving him.

The situation was way past any checkpoints they would have chosen. Mahon clenched his teeth as the strain of the long fight weighed heavily on him. His legs had trouble following his order and his muscles trembled under the exertion he put them on.

At least Laiex was fighting him now. But it was already too late. He knew he couldn’t take her down with so little energy. Nonetheless, he did not give up and Mahon’s impressive concentration enabled him to stay lucid even in these conditions, as he kept an eye out for the slightest mistake he could exploit.

Oh Fada, how much I miss the Flow.

Zac came to help him, but Hagas was already on his way and the duo switched. Laiex led Zac a few steps away as Hagas swiped at his new opponent. Mahon stumbled as he countered the heavy strike. However, the impact left him a bit behind while Zac was holding back an unleashed Laiex. The woman was trying her best to break Zac’s defense, but he stayed calm as he parried all her attacks.

Just as Hagas was ready to help her and Mahon had lost all hope of ranking up, Zac whistled. He flashed a hand sign and turned back to fight Laiex. He moved on the offensive and instantly increased the speed of the exchanges. In order to take her down, he ignored his surroundings and focused only on his direct opponent.

But that left his back completely open, at the mercy of Hagas. Zac trusted Mahon to protect him while he was fully concentrated on Laiex. But could he?

Mahon was half a step behind Hagas. The man was both stronger and less tired than him. And he had a head start. Mahon couldn’t find a way to help Zac. His friend had been too reckless. He had made a mistake. It was not a good timing for Mahon to protect him.

As he thought so, another saying reverberated in his mind. There was one thing that ruled every duo in Nightmare. It was best to commit together to a bad decision than to split and follow a different direction each.

It was not Nightmare. But Mahon had lived and fought too long there not to have the idiom engrained deep inside his body. Reflexively, he did the only thing he could think of to save his friend.

He threw his sword.

From the corner of his eye Hagas had just the time to see the incoming projectile, but he didn’t manage to parry it. The tip of the sword hit his stomach and the man froze for a second. He had been touched by a sword. Was he dead? But Slander didn’t say anything.

The throw meant nothing. It lacked force, the angle wasn’t good and even with a real sword it wouldn’t have injured Hagas severely. Thus Slander said nothing, but, during that short time, Hagas had frozen. And it had been enough.

“Laiex, dead!”

Frustrated, Hagas swore and walked back to a weaponless Mahon and touched him with his sword.

“Mahon, dead!”

Hagas and Zac didn’t bother with a break before they engaged in a fast-paced duel. Hagas had more endurance than his opponent and moreover eliminating Laiex in such a short time had cost Zac a lot. But Zac was still a better duelist. He had been trained by Mahon and he knew moves that were not taught by Slander. Slowly, the fight turned to his advantage and after an impressive dodge, he managed to touch his opponent at the heart.

“Hagas, dead!”

A silence settled as the contestants realized what had happened. Mahon couldn’t yet believe it. Did they really win such an improbable bet?

“Fada, that was unnecessarily long! Mahon and Zac, you’ve won your duel. Laiex and Hagas you lost. Exchange your badges, now!”