The Sword and The Shadow

Leguna was rather bored. He had nothing else better to do, but he had no choice but to buy some tickets so Innilis and Eirinn could watch Kurdak and Vera’s match under the former’s persistent pestering. As observers didn’t have to go through the procedures the participants did, they were quickly allowed through to the colosseum. Fortunately, the autumn weather was warm and breezy. Had the tournament been held in summer, not many would have been willing to wait so long under the sun.

“Big Bro, you were so bad in yesterday’s match!” muttered Innilis.

“Huh? Didn’t you stay at the inn?” Leguna asked, surprised.

“No. Uncle and Sis brought us to watch the match.”

“Well, a match like this is risky. Big Brother and Sis sounded calm, but they couldn’t stay away. They just didn’t tell you,” Eirinn interjected.

Her long, silver hair hung like a silver waterfall. It attracted quite a bit of attention. She intentionally covered part of her face with her hair; she was a maiden at heart after all. Though she appeared optimistic and positive, she felt a little ashamed of her appearance. Her inferiority complex had strengthened since she met Innilis. If not for Leguna’s incessant invitations, she wouldn’t have wanted to come along.

“They will be fine, right?” Innilis asked.

“Don’t worry! Boss only has 13 strata, but he’s worked as a mercenary for nearly a decade. You know most of a mercenary’s enemies are impetus-using humans or orcs. How could such hunters who only kill brainless fiends compare to him? I doubt even a 50-year-old hunter could match him. Sis’s also been in the same line of work for a while now and she broke through just a few days ago and now had 12 strata. Most importantly…”

“Yes?”

Leguna stroked Innilis’s head. He paused just to see her make that expression. Her cute face matched her wondrous expression perfectly. Leguna never could resist the impact of such cuteness. Innilis slapped his hand away. Smiling, Leguna raised his brows.

“Most importantly… Hehehe… Boss and Sis have been together for ten years now. Well… Let’s just say they’re really in sync. They shouldn’t have a problem making it through.”

“Oh!”

“Hehehe… Let’s just watch Starfall’s double trouble couple wreak havoc.”

Eirinn didn’t like Leguna’s nickname for his ‘elder siblings’ and gave him an angry punch. As the three chatted, the two girls’ fluttering gold and silver hair and their bright voices attracted more and more attention. Leguna didn’t mind though. He was disguised very well, there was no need to worry about being recognized.

The participants arrived through the portal an hour later. The arena was approximately a kilometer across and Leguna and his girls sat at the top of the stands to the back. The match was just a bunch of black dots clumping together to them. Despite that, Leguna picked his companions out of the mass pretty quickly.

“Boss is over there.” he said, pointing in their general direction.

The two girls squinted their eyes, just barely making Kurdak out. Obviously the dot next to him had to be Vera. Innilis started cheering and shouting uncontrollably.

“Calm down! They can’t hear you,” Leguna admonished as he pulled the girl back into her seat.

“Hmph! You didn’t do well yesterday, so I want Uncle and Sis to do better,” Innilis retorted, struggling to wriggle free of his grip.

“Just sit quietly and watch. Where did you get such wild personality suddenly?”

“Alright, Innie, don’t disturb everyone now. That isn’t good,” Eirinn soothed the girl with a pat.

The little wildfire finally calmed down and sat quietly. The same announcer as the day before finished explaining the rules at the same time. This time there were less than a hundred participants. Everyone thus had two badges instead of one. They carried one on their person, and the survivors would get the second once the match was over. When he gave the signal, the atmosphere boiled.

Kurdak drew his two-handed greatsword and nodded to Vera before bursting into a charge.

Leguna was right, the two worked together well. The synchronized even better than he expected. They understood each other so well they didn’t even need to talk. Each just shot the other a glance and the other immediately knew what to do. Vera wasn’t the strongest in the arena, but she could do much more damage than a mage of equal strength. Kurdak was one of the most experienced competitors in the entire tournament and even the strongest opponents had a tough time against him. The two’s cooperation made them even stronger as a team. Few could give them a run for their money in the match.

They took down seven opponents in just half an hour. If they didn’t have to hold back to avoid killing their opponents, they’d have done even better. Even with such restrictions, the two would not be eliminated.

“How’s that? Told you so, didn’t I?” Leguna laughed.

“Hmph, aren’t you ashamed? Look at Uncle and Sis! Now look at yourself!” Innilis countered.

“Big Brother has his reasons, Innie,” Eirinn interjected.

“Yes, Eirinn understands me best.”

The three bickered incessantly as they watched the match, which soon came to an end. Just under 15 people were still standing, among which were Leguna’s companions. The two weren’t under too much pressure at any time in the match. Though they had some light wounds, it was barely even worth any mention to two veteran mercenaries.

“The match was pretty tame,” Kurdak said as he caught his breath. Light injuries aside, fighting for a whole hour was taxing.

“That group over there still want to fight,” Vera pouted.

Kurdak turned his gaze to the team of three; two warriors and a ranger. The three returned the gaze.

“Still want to fight?” Kurdak shouted.

“Apologies. My partner lacks a badge,” the leader responded politely.

“No worries,” Kurdak replied, waving his greatsword nonchalantly, “I hope you can put up a decent fight for the few minutes left.”

“We will.”

“Alright then.”

Kurdak charged as the words left his mouth. The announcer reminded the contestants of the match’s impending closure as Kurdak took his first step. Vera rolled her shoulders. She could tell the three were strong. But they were not on either her or Kurdak’s level when the two fought together. Even if the three went all out, they couldn’t win. She drew dulled arrows, made solely for the competition, and shot a few to disrupt the group’s movements as she waited for the match to end. Something suddenly changed.

Vera felt a sinister chill run down her spine. She reacted quickly, but before she could dodge, a massive force slammed into her back. She stumbled forward and dashed away. Her attacker, however, stuck to her like glue. He vanished and appeared in front of her a moment later. He held an intricate dagger. It glinted sinisterly in the sunlight.