Though the short man had an easy first win, he still recalled what the governor said to him earlier. Looking back above the stands the short man saw the luminescent cat staring at him causing shivers to run down his spine.

The next opponent jumped down from the left after the body of Tak was carried away to his grieving family. The woman had a lithe figure as she gently floated down onto the pit. “Wind mage,” thought the short man. As her feet touched upon the ground the short man controlled his spear to fly at her. The woman’s face was calm as it belied her angry at the man’s lack of curtesy. She wrapped herself expertly with very fine control over the Aspect of Wind. As the spear would fly towards her, she would shift ever so slightly and dodge by centimeters. The short man kept manipulating his aura to control the spear that was 30 meters away, it was very taxing. He started walking closer to her to decrease the distance so that he would not have to spend so much effort controlling his spear. Once he got within 10 meters, he took out his sword and dagger to defend himself in she decided to get close and engage him.

But to his chagrin, she danced and floated to the other side of the pit as if she was toying with him. With the distance back to its original length, he felt his strength falter and the spear came crashing down onto the floor. Without waiting for the short man to bend the knee, she dashed towards him with the speed and grace of the wind. Immediately after she arrived by his side, his head was sent flying as a fountain of blood began to fly into the air where his head had been. “If you had shown me curtesy, then I may have spared you,” she thought to herself distastefully.

Gaius marveled at the woman’s fine control over her aura. Though a bit of it leaked out, none of it reached Gaius. He was enamored with the woman before him, not because of her looks—as he couldn’t see with his normal sight from so far away, but because of her mastery over her Aspect. Though she was incomparable to his mother’s control, she was the closest person he had seen reach his mother’s level.

Another short but skinny man jumped down from the right side. He was also wielding a spear. The wind mage looked at the new man before her with a discerning eye. As soon as he landed, he bowed to her showing his respect. She returned the favor and they began. Unlike his predecessor, the short skinny man was actually a warrior and not a mage-in-disguise. Though not as fast or graceful as the wind mage, he condensed his aura into his feet helping him catch up to her quickly. Before he could get close, the wind mage summoned shears of wind blades to slice at the warrior. Seeing the blades before him, he jumped in midair and twisted and turned his body in all different angles to dodge each blade. When he landed, it was as if his acrobatic display did not hinder his forward sprint and he continued expertly. “Oh, a skilled one this time,” she thought to herself. Just as the warrior was getting close, she summoned a wall of wind around her. The tornado spun rapidly preventing the man from engaging.

The Aspect of the Wind condensed heavily around her and it allowed Gaius to bathe in its aura. Though her control was great, there are bound to be errant leaks when condensing this much aura. Perhaps it was because the man had a lot of experience fighting against wind mages, but he saw the same vulnerability that Gaius saw.

The warrior, with aura strengthening his feet, launched himself into the air and came crashing down atop of the wind mage where the aura was the weakest. Matching the man’s expertise, the wind mage released her spell as soon as the man was overhead. Dozens of blades of wind flew upwards cutting the warrior where it found flesh. Though he was expecting a few wind blades to meet him—no more than 6, he did not expect there to be several dozen! He immediately threw his spear towards her with all of his might and she danced gracefully away to avoid the attack. When the man landed he bent the knee and yelled, “I yield!”

The man looked at her with respect and allowed one of the stewards to carry him off the fighting pit.

“Mom! It’s him! Look!” Gen shouted excitedly from his seat. The auras receded back into her body after the fight and he was able to see with his normal sight the man his brother was shouting at. Sylus Buch, the man with the moonsaber Lei’ai, jumped from the ledge as his beast joined him.

The woman eyes widen in shock as she realized who her opponent was. Though she would much rather prefer to surrender now, to concede now would be just as bad as dying—her governor needed to win this at all costs, even if it was at the expense of a few powerful mages. She became alert as she waited for the man to strike first. Though it looked like she was able to easily defeat two opponents, the amount of energy it took for her to manipulate her Aspect was staggering. She felt too tired now.

Sylus stood there and smiled as his beast immediately bounded straight for her. While still several meters away, the beast swiped its claws at her and though they physically missed her a trail of black fire erupted from its claws.

“Moonfire!” she cursed within her mind, “Damn cat, can’t take it easy on me. Has to go all out.”

Though she knew she was no match for the beast, least of all the man behind it, she knew she had to put on a show of effort so that she does not get punished by her governor. One of the weaknesses of fire was that it was susceptible to the whimsy of wind. She summoned whatever aura she could and a gust of wind surrounded the moonfire and diverted it away from her. With her attention on the moonfire, Lei’ai pounced on her with claws extended raking into her flesh. Defending herself with her arms and legs, she summoned her last remaining strength and quickly flew a few meters away. Though not far, it was enough for her to bend the knee and shout, “I yield!”

Though most of the spectators missed it, Gaius spotted the magnificence of Lei’ai. He turned to his mother and asked, “Mom, does that cat practice a Heavenly Aspect?”

The woman beside the family was curious by the boy’s question and intently listened as much as she could, “A Heavenly Aspect?! If Governor Mathias was able to recruit such an expert, then the duel is as good as ours!” she thought.

Tulia smiled and said, “The saber cat does inherently condense a Heavenly Aspect of the Moon. And it also chose an Earthly Aspect of Fire. Though these two Aspects conflict with each other’s nature, if they’re combined successfully then it is synergistically more powerful.”

“Oh, wait. What do you mean they conflict with each other’s nature?” Gaius asked.

“There are a total of 8 Heavenly Aspects, yes?” Tulia asked.

“Yes, they are the Aspects of: Life & Death, Time & Space, Lightness & Darkness, and Sun & Moon.” Gaius recited.

“Correct, but the Aspect of Life, Time, Lightness, and Sun are considered to be within the same nature. While Death, Space, Darkness, and Moon are considered to be their opposite nature. Some Earthly Aspects also follow these two opposing natures, like how the Aspect of Fire is akin to Lightness and the Sun, which means it is opposite of the Aspect of the Moon. Understand?” Tulia asked.

Gaius pondered upon the new perspective but was jarred to reality when he heard a familiar roar.

“I am Matilda Calbar, prepare to die beastman!” she shouted as she drew a large two-handed sword and immediately condensed the Aspect of Fire around the weapon. The sigils etched upon the sword hungrily devoured the flames and it stayed alight without her constant control over her aura. She rushed the man as he stood there shaking his head while smiling and the moonsaber suddenly charged to meet her head on.

The giant woman and the cat danced around each other, as they both dodged strikes, slashes, chops, and rakes. Matilda swung heavily with a forward chop, Lei’ai gracefully dodged to the side and the sword bit deeply into the ground. Momentarily immobile, Lei’ai swiped at the woman’s calf trying to disable her movement. Though blood was drawn, it did not cut deep enough to rip tendons. With a grunt, Matilda drew her sword in an upwards arc biting into nothing as Lei’ai dodged.

In her fury, Matilda charged wantonly towards the cat and Lei’ai swatted at the woman only to be met with fiery steel. Her moonfire aura condensed around her claws and it protected her from the flames, but the steel bit into her paws—blood drawn.

Sylus communicated with his companion, “Why must you cats be so prideful, do you need my help now?” he asked and was responded with a low growl, yet he shook his head while ignoring her protest and joined the fray.

He condensed the Aspect of the Beast, borrowing some of his companion’s power into his own. Gaius saw the eerie scene with his aura-sight. Unlike most mages or warriors where they condense an Aspect from Heaven or Earth, Sylus drew upon his beast companion. Gaius saw the thick aura of black and red flow from the saber cat towards his body. Sylus erupted with power as his speed and strength exploded, though his companion did not seem to slow or wane in strength.

It was immediately 2 against 1. Matilda blocked with her sword as the cat tried to rake across her legs, and with an unguarded midsection Sylus also raked across her chest. To her surprise the man’s hands were in the shape of sharp bestial claws. Grunting in dissatisfaction, she bellowed in rage and summoned an inferno around her. It erupted from her body and spewed forth, covering the beast and his companion. Though most would not be able to see past the inferno, Gaius’s aura-sight allowed him to pierce the veil, though he could only make out blurry outlines it was more than what most could see. He could see the combination of slashes as beast and man worked in concert against the giant woman. The two seemed unaffected by the bright geyser of flame that engulfed them. The woman slowed down after a while as she realized her sword was covered in a black flame, slowly eating away at her aura. Matilda was covered in cuts and rent flesh, and in a last ditch effort she threw her two-handed sword towards the cat. Lei’ai swatted the sword aside and realized that the large woman had already sprinted towards Sylus with a dense ball of fire within her palms.

Grinning, Sylus met her with his own black flames head on. As the two dense balls of fire collided, an explosion erupted from within the inferno. As the swirling flame dissipated, a prone Matilda was seen on the ground while Sylus stood immaculate—appearing unscathed by the whole fight. Bits and pieces of the black flame floated around him like wisps of hair until it slowly dissipated back into Heaven and Earth.

The woman besides Gaius stood and shouted with glee as her city won the duel, tears of joy and breaths of relief could be seen and heard around him. Quickly, Ambassador Rorick Sten began to officiate, “This concludes the duel! South Calet has won fairly and will have exclusive trading rights beginning this next year! Congratulations.”

Gaius found that it was easy to spot South Calet residence from North Calet residence at this moment.

“THAT WAS AWESOME!” Gen shouted atop his lungs, seemingly overjoyed with glee.