The crowd was ecstatic as they witnessed the fight. Leo stood with his abs bruised in a shade of purple around where his rib had been broken. The pain caused him to stand slightly tilted over his pained side.

  Despite the pain, his gaze was filled with anything but fear or pain. He was locked onto Thane, who froze upon hearing Leo’s question before standing more upright as if the sand had been nothing but a dream.

  “Yeah, I’m a Smogborn. What of it, kid?”

  Leo shook his head, a chuckle escaping his lips. He propped himself up, hands resting on his bent knees.

  Leo let out a tired breath. “You wouldn’t be kind enough to tell me what it is…would you…?”

  Thane stood tall, unfazed by Leo’s discovery. If anything, it seemed he had become even more excited at the prospect of fighting him as a cruel smile creeped onto his face. “I think you already got the gist of it. No more wasting time, let’s go.”

  Before he could move, his leg was punctured by a javelin, piercing right through his left calf. With a look of surprise, he whipped his head back to see Anthony had run to the weapons rack, standing beside a barrel of javelins. Thankfully Leo had bought enough time distracting him with this nonsense, but this confirmed one of his suspicions.

  The Refraction wasn’t constant. The fact he hadn’t dodged or deflected that javelin proved it.

  But that was only his Refraction, dealing with the man himself was a whole different matter. And Leo hadn’t exactly figured out how to get around the Refraction if the man were to use it, let alone any signs that would indicate the use of his Refraction.

  Disrupted by his thoughts, Thane disappeared, leaving Leo stunned as he quickly snapped his head, looking around the arena to see him charging angrily at Anthony.

  Without thinking, Leo threw the spiked mace at Thane. Sensing the mace, Thane halted the charge and slapped the mace away mid-air. He nastily stared at Leo, the red irises of the mask curved, unamused. “What a cowardly way to fight, throwing trash around like that.” He pulled out the javelin in his calf and snapped it in two. Gripping the two pieces of wood, he pointed each one at both Anthony and Leo, making a T. Then, what he did surprised both Leo and the crowd.

  Anthony, picking up a longsword, began circling around Thane, keeping his distance so he couldn’t get charged. Leo followed his lead, staying opposite of Anthony. He limped as he kept his arms ready and his body low, all the muscles in his body were tensed, prepared for Thane’s brutal assault.

  Meanwhile, Thane stood in place, rotating as his hands followed the two as he stared at the ground. The scene could only be best described as a bear circled by two wolves, both starving for their way out.

  Across from Leo, Anthony began mumbling to himself, thinking deeply on what the next best course of action was.

  Looking at the situation, Leo knew they were at a massive disadvantage. Both he and Anthony had broken ribs, with Leo having a massive bruise on his side. All while Thane was practically unscathed, save for his palm that took the mace strike. What could they possibly do…?

  Thane sighed in disappointment. “This is taking too long…”

  At one moment, Thane stomped into the ground, a cloud of sand surging upward. Leo and Anthony’s view was obstructed, but Leo could roughly hear his approaching footsteps as they grew louder and faster.

  Alarmed, Leo jumped back, but got his leg caught on something.

  To his horror, he saw that Thane’s hand had a firm grip on Leo’s leg.

  Pulling back, Thane brought Leo’s leg up, lifting him so that he was hanging upside down. His body and arms flung around as he tried to free himself of his grip. To the crowd, it looked like a pig stuck on a meat hook.

  Anthony ran up from behind, trying to slash into Thane’s back. But Thane twisted his body and tossed Leo into Anthony like a backpack.

  The two collided, with Anthony barely stopping to catch Leo, dropping his sword with a clang.

  The leg Leo got caught on was swollen with grip marks branded onto his ankle.

  Through the cloud, Thane slowly emerged as his figure grew larger and larger.

  Still recovering from the throw, Anthony threw Leo onto the ground and brandished the longsword as he approached Thane’s shadowy figure.

  Charging, Anthony attempted to slash downwards but completely missed, misjudging the distance between the two.

  Not letting his attack go to waste, Anthony stopped the blade and slashed to the side, hoping to catch the giant offguard.

  Unfortunately, Thane saw this and smacked the sword out of his hands.

  From afar, Leo grabbed a javelin from the racks and threw it as hard as he could.

  He wasn’t as proficient with handling weapons as Anthony, but he did what he could against the unstoppable force. Unfortunately, the javelin futilely landed into the dirt nowhere near his opponent.

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  Thane chuckled at the sight before launching himself at Anthony as if the wound in his leg wasn’t even there.

  Anthony, seeing the giant charging at him, prepared to meet the charge head-on. But the charge suddenly came to a stop as Thane grounded the front foot, causing a wall of sand to cover Anthony.

  Anthony tried getting away from the sudden attack, but it was too late.

  From behind the wall, Thane threw a quick kick, slamming into Anthony’s head. Leo could hear a snapping sound as his skull took the full force of Thane’s piston for legs.

  Anthony's head cocked to the side as he was flung across the sandy arena, dropping his sword and falling face first into the ground.

  Standing above the fallen opponent, Thane raised his fist to finish the job but suddenly stopped, his strike hovering just over Anthony.

  A drop of blood fell from his hand, not Anthony’s nor Leo’s, but his own. Seemingly impressed, he said, “See? That wasn’t so hard, was it? Good job, I’ll let you rest now.” His fist turned into a blur.

  Anthony, still barely conscious, watched in terror as the fist came down on him, unable to block or dodge the attack.

  Leo, in a panic, mustered up all his strength and tensed all his muscles, exploding forward toward Anthony.

  ‘C’mon! Make it! Make it!’

  Like a torpedo, Leo rammed the top of his head into Thane’s fist, veering it off course. Resulting in a giant cloud as the fist slammed into the dunes at the cost

  “You’re just full of surprises aren’t you, kid?”

  Suddenly, Leo felt a sort of vibration in the air. Looking towards the feeling, he instinctively put his arms in front as Thane’s leg appeared through the brown smog. Slamming into his arms, Leo clenched his teeth as he, along with Anthony behind him, were sent back flying once again, thrown against the wall.

  Upon impact, Leo coughed up some blood, gasping for air as he laid on the ground, struggling to get up.

  ‘Think! Think! How do I get us out!?’

  It was do or die, Leo had to give his all into the next attack. After this, they’d be goners. Anthony was unconscious while Leo was practically crippled. His arms had swollen from the kick with purple bruises forming on his forearm. His arms shivered in pain, crying desperately for rest. But rest was not given as Leo forced himself to a knee.

  Thane came into Leo’s bloody vision as blood seeped down his head, most likely from the impact from the wall.

  Thane looked down as he stood above Leo. He cracked his knuckles with a bored expression as if finishing an annoying chore.

  “Looks like this is it, kid. Don’t blame me for your weakness.”

  Leo weakly sighed, blood trailing down his chin. “Looks like it…”

  Eyes full of desperation, he charged at Thane, launching one last desperate attack. His muscles were screaming for rest, begging for him to cease this foolishness. Leo himself wanted to rest, but he couldn’t.

  Not now.

  Now he had to survive.

  Now he had to win.

  And to win, he needed the people here to quake at their boots upon seeing his victory. He needed them to know those he cared about were protected by a monster.

  Thane, seeing this, responded in kind, charging towards Leo like he had done time and time again.

  It looked as though the two were about to ram into each other, crashing into each other like two bulls. But at the last second, Leo put himself into a full stop. Fighting through the pain, he let out a strained growl and grounded his foot with his left side facing the incoming boar of a man. Twisting his body, he used all his strength to throw a kick directed straight at Thane’s head.

  ‘Please land! Please!’

  The kick landed right on Thane’s jaw, causing him to stumble mid-charge. Stopping in his tracks, the kick caused Thane’s body to tense, his legs locking into the golden floor causing a sand cloud larger than past ones to form.

  The crowd grew quiet, holding their breaths for the outcome.

  Seconds, minutes passed as the dust finally settled.

  What lay before the crowd’s eyes was Leo being held by the neck by Thane, whose head had become swollen from the kick.

  Thane manically laughed, satisfied with the results.

  “You almost had me there, kid.” Thane laughed, massaging his jaw. ”Using my own momentum against me—that kick did some real damage! I’m impressed.” He used his hand to stretch his cheek, showing his teeth. “I even cracked a tooth!”

  Leo struggled for air as his legs, still barely touching the ground, wriggled for freedom and his hands grabbed onto Thane’s. Even with that kick…Even with all of that effort…

  ‘No! I can’t stop now!’

  Leo refused to give up now. He couldn’t die here! He still needed to find those responsible for his friends’ deaths!

  Something strange—

  The air tickled Thane, as it began vibrating against his skin.

  ‘I need to…I have to win!’

  Gritting his teeth, Leo threw a shaking, weak punch. Seeing no need to block such an attack, Thane allowed it to hit his elbow, doing no damage whatsoever.

  Oddly enough, the punch had caused indescribable pain to his entire arm. It was as if something inside was wriggling around, trying to break free of the muscle, skin, and bone.

  But Leo was too deprived of oxygen to care.

  “I’ll put you and your dog there out of your misery…”

  Thane clenched his fist, tightening his hold on Leo’s neck. Choking the life out of him. Leo’s legs flailed more as his vision slowly left him.

  ‘This can’t be it…’

  Then a snapping sound echoed from Thane’s elbow.

  Leo was perplexed as his vision was filled with the view of the bloody sky, air filling his lungs once more. Why had the grip loosened?

  Falling to the ground, Leo looked up to see Thane’s elbow inverted with his entire arm dangling to his side like a cloth resting on a line.

  His arm had been shattered.