The tavern had went silent as Viyetral and Harwin approached the notorious beast-man. All eyes were fixated on the trio — waiting for the outcome of this interaction. Harwin was just as confused as the rest of the bunch.

  “I smell an elf, hmm, a strong one, but what is this familiar smell? A fellow murderer? Oh no, no...we have a righteous murderer, someone who will be offended by such barbaric terms. None the less, hands are soaked with blood. Peculiar pair.....a human and an elf.....” The beast-man spoke with his back-turned towards Viyetral.

  “Quite a skill, but it is expected from the infamous “Eqor the butcher”. I have a matter to discuss with you.” Viyetral sat beside him without any hestiation.

  “Brave, very brave....courageous...perhaps foolish as well….” Eqor mumbled to himself but could be heard across the tavern.

  “I want you to find some people for me. Do you understand!?” Viyetral questioned sternly as Eqor was still looking down.

  “Yes, I hear you, but what is the offering? What is the name?” Eqor asked.

  “I do not know, they are messengers who are ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice. They remain stationed somewhere in the town, and they work directly under the council-men of this town.” Viyetral whispered all of this.

  “Hmm....perilous task, I do not want to do....” Eqor became disinterested.

  “I will offer you five gold empyreans for it.” Viyetral offered.

  This amount was not something he could have gotten hold of by himself, but he had strong backing in this matter.

  “Gold empyreans, meaningless, boring! Do not bother me again, elf…..” Eqor sounded infuriated.

  “What do you want? Ask, and I shall try to arrange it.”

  “A fight, a worthy opponent....blood is what Eqor requires…”

  “Will you work for me, if I defeat you in a fight?” Viyetral questioned — confidently.

  “Of course! Now let our blades talk. I will see what you can do elf…” Eqor stood up. His face became visible — he had a huge scar across it which had left his nose disfigured. He also had a single horn which popped out his forehead; he continued:

  “Out, we will not vandalize this place…”

  “Very well, let us go outside of the town.” Viyetral suggested, as he did not want to create any commotion as well.

  At this, a strange man came over. Having heard their conversation, he stated:

  “If you two want to fight, I can offer a stage for it. It will be away from this ruckus, what say you?” The strange man rubbed his hands togather — awaiting a response from the intended.

  “Very well, but it better not have a lot of people.” Viyetral agreed while Eqor did not care.

  “Yes, only a few men who have taste for this kind of art. Let us head there right now.”

  They followed the man. No one else from the tavern tailed behind. They had witnessed many times of what events unfolded after this. They were simply not interested in seeing any more slaughters from Eqor.

  Viyetral finally filled in Harwin about his plans and also his role in all of it. The latter could not do anything but adhere to the commands of the captain.

  Soon they arrived infront of a small building. The strange man knocked on it thrice each with a long gaps in between. The door opened revealing an ordinary cloth shop with a reception right at the entrance. The man on the reception took them to a hidden staircase which headed to a dark alley. The strange man had already rushed through it, on account of getting things prepared. The receptionist guided Viyetral and Eqor rather slowly which slightly annoyed the beast-man.

  They finally reached their destination, only to find a large underground arena. It had an abundance of torches lighting up the whole place, so much so, that it hardly felt like it was dusk outside. There were seats all around the edges occupied by the wealthy. Most of them wore silk clothes — expensive in this region — with mistresses, slaves and guards surrounding them.

  The strange man was standing in the middle of the battle-ground. He announced:

  “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WE ARE GATHERED HERE TO WITNESS ANOTHER MURDER FROM EQOR THE BUTCHER, OR WILL THE CHALLENGER TODAY FINALLY DETHRONE THE CHAMPION! HOLD YOUR BREATHS AS YOU WITNESS THE SPECTACULAR FIGHT TONIGHT!”

  “Enough with the stupidity, let us get this over with!”

  Viyetral said while taking off his cloak. He wielded a short-sword in one hand and a dagger in the other.

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  His opponent had a spear which was brought to him by a servant of the stadium. As soon as it was handed over to him, the beast thursted it right through the servant's abdomen.

  “Yes..same, grateful…” Eqor mumbled whilst inspecting the spear. He then pulled back the spear and kicked the dead slave few meters away.

  “You live up to your name.” Viyetral commented.

  Now they both came face to face, awaiting for the announcer to begin the match. The announcer, after getting away to a safe distance, shouted:

  “BEGIN!”

  Eqor lashed out with strikes upon strikes with speed and precision that almost matched to that of a captain. He was a worthy opponent, just as Viyetral had anticipated and heard.

  Viyetral did not remain still either, he deflected each strike but there were no openings, either. Each block could only prevent a hit which was a disadvantage for the captain, but he was duel wielding, offering more options as well.

  Viyetral leaped back a few steps. Eqor sensing that his opponent was being pushed back followed swiftly, but he was met head-on with a charge from Viyetral. The slash from the blades nearly missed the throat of Eqor and only managed to scrape his chin.

  The latter felt fear for the first time as he jumped back. Viyetral did not follow but decided to stand still. Eqor smiled, though there was a hinge of restrain as well. He then commented:

  “Strong, just as I thought, fun…”

  The captain did not humour him any further and leaped towards him once again. He was fast, fast enough for Eqor to lose the smile. The beast briefly dodged the strike once more, but just before he could counter, Viyetral kicked him in the gut — throwing him away. He was able to get a hold of himself quickly and took a defensive stance, but he was gasping for air now. Viyetral wore a smug face this time.

  The audience were in awe at this marvelous feat of strength but none spoke or cheered, rather they observed carefully.

  Eqor did not get infuriated. He was a seasoned warrior and knew how to remain calm on the battlefield. Surprisingly, the beast threw down his weapon. Now he was going with different style of combat, it was a simple yet powerful technique called the "Beastly Instinct". It could be used by anyone, but the sharp claws of the beast-men allowed them to excel at it.

  Farelen, though also was accustomed to the style himself, had no claws to ever reach the pinnacle of it.

  “Prepare…” Eqor warned his opponent as he went down on all four — preparing to charge straight at his opponent.

  Viyetral felt the impending danger and braced himself for the attack. Infact, he tried to get away from it, but before he could do anything, Eqor vaulted towards him as fast as a bullet.

  The captain could not dodge in time and took a direct hit. He was thrown straight against the walls of the arena. Of course, the walls were fortified enough to not fall, but they were certainly damaged. Eqor jumped back.

  Viyetral was hurt. Blood trickled down his forehead and his entire body felt crushed, but there was something a miss from his hand.

  Eqor was grinning, but that was only temporary. As soon as his body relaxed, he noticed a dagger stuck in his gut. He removed it, and just as expected, blood began to gush out rapidly. Both of them were becoming dizzy now.

  Viyetral after a few seconds got a hold of himself and came out of all the rubble. Seeing that his opponent had also been injured, he felt relieved. The spectators were silent, this fight was nothing like they had seen before at this arena. Usually Eqor finished his opponent as soon as the fight began, but now someone on equal footing had arrived.

  Both gasping for air, took their stance once more. Eqor could not charge once again, so he instead tried to just use his claws to thrash at his opponent who deflected the strikes but was too weak to counter. The fight remained stagnant for sometime.

  Beast-men were famous for their endurance, if Viyetral did not finish the fight soon, he could be the one to fall. The captain even felt internal bleeding which would make it impossible for him to fight at full power any time soon.

  Eqor did not use any new techniques but stuck to the plain old strategy of striking at his opponent non-stop till he was tired out, but each strike was becoming duller due to the blood-loss. Viyetral finally saw an opening in between the attacks, not to strike, rather to step away. His opponenet could not follow fast enough and the captain was able to grab the dropped down spear.

  Elfin captains were specialist in all kinds of weapons, though they prefered to stick with whatever they were best with. Wielding the newly acquired spear, Viyetral pushed against the beast-man who now was on the defense.

  Eqor stepped back, but Viyetral did not give him time to relax even for a moment. There were no new wounds on either sid, but the previous ones were too deep for the both of them. Eqor finally managed to trick his pursuer and get away a bit. He decided to bet everything on the next move — to charge again — even though, it could mean not surviving himself.

  Viyetral took a defensive stance. Everyone held their breaths as a single move was to become the deciding factor. Eqor launched himself, there was another crashing in the walls of the arena with dust flying off everywhere as the audience stood up to see the results of the battle, but none could witness....

  As the dust cleared, the spectators saw the spear of Viyetral broken in two halves while he had gotten stuck in one side of the wall while Eqor’s body was almost crushed from the impact. Viyetral was hurt, but just at the last moment, he had tilted his body a bit to the other side making his opponent miss any of the captain's vital spots. The match was already decided, Eqor the butcher laid on the ground — unconscious.

  Healers rushed to the arena grounds and began chanting all sorts of spells. Harwin hurried towards the captain as well. Luckily for Viyetral, his internal bleeding was stopped almost immediately. He was now only weak from the blood-loss. On the other hand, Eqor was carried off to another room, he was not dead yet but there was little to no hope. As the audience cheered, the announcer proclaimed:

  “WE HAVE A NEW CHAMPION!”

  He raised the arm of Viyetral, at which the crowd cheerfully hollered once more. Harwin was supporting his comrade who was a bit weak to walk on his own. Some from the spectators were staring attentively at the pair as if they had recognized them.

  Just as the two were exiting the arena, several guards surrounded them. They were not the younglings, but rather appeared to be body-guards of sort. One thing was clear, they were all powerful warriors and well-equipped as well. Soon, one of them whispered something to Viyetral who nodded in assent.

  They were then escorted outside to a carriage. Harwin was suspicious of it all, but he trusted the judgement of the captain. They travelled through the back-alleys to a quiet and posh streets. These had great estates on both sides, one after the other. All built lavishly and masterfully.

  The carriage came to a halt infront of the largest estate of them all. Whoever awaited them inside held great power and influence, comparable to even the council-men.