“Yes! Yes! Yes!” cheered Captain Gru when he heard that the little woman killed Bellagio. He especially enjoyed that most of the fighters and adventurers were laughing at how Bellagio’s own arrogance got her killed. Gru hated Bellagio, but he couldn’t deny her combat skill. He estimated that he only had, at most, a one in five chance of beating her in the arena himself.

Marbles said to Gru, “The tiny woman must have some very wealthy backers to own an enchanted spear strong enough to kill Bellagio like that.”

Rowe commented, “She’s going to be in hot water with someone for breaking it! However, now that she can’t use it, your match will be a cake-walk.”

Gru replied, “Maybe, maybe not, but I won’t make any assumptions or underestimate her like Bellagio did. If Bellagio had been paying attention, I think she could still have dodged the throw.”

Marbles laughed, “Yea, good point. You don’t want everyone laughing at you like they’re doing at Bellagio!”

Rowe interrupted, “Marbles, let’s get out of here and let Gru get ready for his match. Good luck Captain!”

Less than 15 minutes later, Gru looked over at the little woman as she walked onto the arena floor. Her shoulder appeared to be healed. “Why would she take an expensive healing potion? She must think she has a chance of beating me.” Captain Gru thought to himself.

Sam asked Jen, “What trick do you think Tamako is going to try against Gru?”

Jen snorted out a laugh, answering, “Not a damn thing unless you gave her another one of those spears or something else that is going to break the physics known to this world!”

Sam grunted, “No, no other enchanted weapons! but don’t act like your AI isn’t game changing!”

Jen raised her eyebrow, and responded, “The whole city isn’t going to find out about my AI! Anyway, the weapons and armor she’s fighting with now, may suck in comparison, but she’s as relentless as a honey badger!”

“Do you think she can beat Gru without using her enchanted gear?” asked Sam.

“Not sure. Gru’s weapons and armor are top-notch. I’ve also got the sense that he has some pretty good skills he hasn’t displayed yet.”

“Makes sense. He used that mana shield and his steambow bolt gun when we were attacked by the Poison Dagger Guild.”

Jen replied, “I don’t think he’ll use a mana-shield scroll, they are way too expensive to use in this tournament.”

Jen and Sam were not the only ones talking about the matchup. Across the arena, a shriveled old man walked slowly towards a woman and said, “Deck Director Keisha, how are you doing tonight?”

Keisha was one of the few people that knew the old man was the City’s Spy Chief, and she knew he was digging for information about something. She kept her demeanor relaxed, but waved for one of her guild fighters to move, allowing a place for the old man to sit, and she said, “I’m doing well, and you Elder Cards?”

The old man carefully sat down in the vacated seat and said with a sly smile, “Thank you for the seat, Director Keisha. My body is growing weak, but my mind is still getting stronger.”

“What does your mind tell you about this match?” asked Keisha.

“It wonders why you did not enter the tournament with a dungeon token up for grabs.”

Keisha’s contacts informed her the only reason the City offered the token was because the dungeon had just moved. The City Lord was going to continue offering these tokens, hoping the guilds would spend their resources to find its new entrance over the next couple of years. Of course, she knew if Gru won, it would tick him off when he realized the dungeon had just moved.

Keisha smirked internally at the Spy Chief’s attempt to change the direction of her question, and gave a nonsensical answer with her next question, “True, but what do you think of the small fighter? Do you have any guesses as to who they are?”

Elder Cards wasn’t surprised when Keisha replied without answering his question, and said, “I assumed she was in your guild from a sister city, and teleported here for the tournament, but from your question, my assumption is clearly wrong?”

“So that is why you came to visit?” replied Keisha.

The spy chief continued, “The small woman is very impressive, and I am curious, but unless Marbles’ berserk skill has lost its power, it’s safe to say she is much stronger than her level would indicate. However, you are a much more skilled fighter than I ever was, and I wouldn’t presume my theories on the outcome of this match are better than yours.”

“How do you think Bellagio will take the loss?” Keisha asked.

“Ha!” laughed Elder cards, and said, “In the arena, Bellagio will show no mercy if they meet again. Outside the arena, Bellagio is more likely to try and take her to dinner and bed!”

Kiesha chuckled at Elder Cards comment, and said, “Yea, she is a horndog! Heads up, the match is beginning.”

“What is that?!” Elder cards asked Keisha.

Keisha wasn’t sure what she was seeing. The woman pulled out of her ring a giant tower-shield that was mounted on a small platform and slammed it to the ground in front of her. The shield was clearly too heavy for anyone to fight with in a battle, but the woman crouched behind it, hammering a steel spike deep into the ground and locking the platform in place.

The woman’s shield surprised captain Gru, but he wasn’t standing around doing nothing. He pulled his bow and fired several armor-piercing arrows, but they shattered on the shield. “Dammit!” he swore to himself and started running to the side to get around the angle of the shield for a clear target. He knew that if the shield could shatter his arrows, it would be too heavy for anyone to maneuver quickly.

Elder Cards couldn’t believe what his eyes were telling him. As Gru ran to the side to fire arrows behind the angle of the shield planted in the ground, the woman easily turned the shield to keep it between them. “Where did she find a powerful enough enchantment to move a shield of that size!” he exclaimed.

Finn, the Stone Guild’s enchanter, was sitting a few seats behind Elder Cards and Keisha, and replied, “That’s not an enchantment. It’s mechanical! See how she is pushing down on a lever that allows her to turn the shield before locking it back in place on the platform.”

Everyone was zooming in on Tamako, watching her as she stomped on a lever mounted on the base of the platform. This lever lifted the shield just a hair off the ground, allowing her to turn the shield easily with one hand while keeping her spear ready in her other hand.

Keisha said to Elder Cards and her guild members sitting around her, “That shield will not do her any good once Gru closes the distance, but that is clearly what she wants. She must have heard of Gru’s reputation with a bow.”

Bellagio was on the edge of her seat, cheering for the small woman. Her guild-mates sitting around her already knew she had the hots for the little woman. Bellagio laughed, saying, “Gru is so pissed that his expensive arrows are just shattering on that shield.”

Tamako sighed with satisfaction as Gru cut the bullshit and finally closed the distance between them so they could have an actual fight. As Gru moved in close enough for Tamako to strike him with her spear, she knew he wouldn’t be able to pull out his bow without first storing his shield, and leaving himself open to her attack.

Tamako circled Gru, moving the fight away from the platform shield Sam had made for her after Razz the merchant said it would be too heavy for her to use. Now that Gru was close enough, she needed to use the reach advantage her spear provided, while also being ready to charge him in case he tried to back away and create enough distance and time to use his bow.

She couldn’t use her enchanted spear again for obvious reasons, but that wasn’t her current problem. Gru was fighting cautiously and patiently, and she wasn’t able to get any strikes through his defense. Then he chopped at her spear with his sword, breaking her spear in half before she could withdraw her thrust. Tamako thought little of it as she simply dropped the broken haft of the spear and started to pull another spear out of her ring while keeping a safe distance.

Gru smiled to himself as Tamako backed just a step away after he smashed her spear. As she was drawing a new spear from her ring, he dropped his sword and pulled out his steambow with one hand, and fired a bolt at point blank range.

Tamako knew Gru had a steambow, and was prepared to dodge, but with her transitioning to a new spear, the speed of the steambow bolt, and their close proximity, it made it impossible for her to completely dodge the attack. She lunged to the side, but the bolt tore through her armor grazing her ribs. Tamako felt the pain and knew it was a little bloody, but the wound was not all that bad, and she was feeling more confident, now that she didn’t have to worry about when he would use the weapon against her.

Tamako just grinned at Gru as he pulled another sword out of his ring and she advanced to meet him with her spear, but then her Grin faded as her AI informed her, she was mortally poisoned if she did not heal herself within the next 30 seconds.

Tamako screamed at Gru, “You fucking poisoned me!”

Gru just shrugged at Tamako, while keeping a defensive stance. He was happy to just let the poison do its work and win the dungeon token.

Keisha looked sideways at Elder Cards, and said, “never expected Captain Gru of the oh so righteous Arc Guild would use poison in an arena fight.”

“Apparently, neither did the small woman!” replied Elder Cards.

Keisha then said with a little satisfaction, “He must have wanted that dungeon token pretty badly. Just how pissed do you think he is going to be if the dungeon has in fact, moved recently?” Keisha smiled to herself as Elder Card’s face went a little pale and he turned back to watch the rest of the match.

Tamako knew she didn’t have much time left, but she was pissed. She dropped her spear and pulled a heavy mace from her ring, and charged Gru. Leaving herself open, Gru struck a killing blow through her arm and side, but she was able to smash his leg nearly off at the knee with her mace.

The crowd cheered as Tamako died and Gru screamed in pain for a good 20 seconds before the arena removed them from the floor.

“Holy shit!” exclaimed Sam.

Jen replied, “Yea, Tamako was clearly pissed at being denied the fight she was hoping for, but there is no rule against poison.”

Sam shook his head and said, “No, I was thinking of the money Gru will need to spend to fix his enchanted armor.”

“Oh, I didn’t think of that, but we need to come up with a plan to get Tamako out of the arena without someone seeing us or following us.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got a plan for that,” replied Sam

“What’s your plan?” asked Jen.

“You’ll see. Just follow me to the System Shop.”

“No, you’ll tell me now!” demanded Jen.

“You millennials have no patience! Whatever! We can purchase a gambling quest for any woman about Tamako’s height to run into the arena and then back out again all at the same time. It might cost us a few gold, but a simple gambling quest like that will get hundreds of women running into the arena to earn a few easy copper, and it will allow Tamako to run out with them without being noticed. Especially if she disguises herself by changing her hair, putting on makeup, and wearing a wig”

“Not a bad plan. Let’s get going boomer!” replied Jen.