Eddie stepped forward, eclipsing the rising sun. It had just crested the distant black wall that circled the city of T’karamatu. Eddie was shirtless, showing off his bulging muscles and Nordic tattoos with his blonde braid hanging down his back. Over his shoulder, he rested his oversized battle-axe, sunlight glinting off the steel edge.

  Broken Fang had cleared a small circle in the short grass, ten meters across, a longsword impaled in its center.

  On the opposite side of the arena Alek stood. He was dwarfed by the looming cathedral behind. It, like the wall, was pitch black and ancient. Alek was dressed in a patchwork of clothing made from what survived his death and what Broken Fang could spare, all meshed together with Rowan’s needle and smeared with dirt. A mop of brown hair covered Alek’s face with dark brown eyes piercing through. A child, no older than thirteen holding a curved dagger with a green hilt.

  Eddie sighed. ‘This is ridiculous.’

  ‘You agreed to it,’ Rowan said. He was sitting down by the circle scribbling notes into a leather-bound book. He adjusted his glasses and looked up from the page. ‘None of us will accept it if you back out now. Isn’t that right?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Aria said. She was sitting by Rowan’s side and looked a little pale, but otherwise seemed recovered from their last dungeon dive. ‘We all heard you loud and clear. Too loudly.’ She touched her ear as if remembering his booming laughter.

  Jarrah stepped into the ring and walked to the ceremonial sword between the hulking Viking and the orphaned boy. ‘You can back out if you want Eddie, but as judge I will take that as a forfeit.’

  Rowan hummed agreement. Aria nodded, her large pointed hat shifting over her face.

  ‘I was clearly joking,’ he said. ‘The kid hasn’t been here for a month. He doesn’t stand a chance.’

  ‘He only needs to draw a single drop of blood to win. Remember?’

  ‘I know you’ve been training him,’ Eddie said, looking at Jarrah, then at Aria, ‘but the boy can’t even use a coating. How is he supposed to damage a monster, let alone me?’

  ‘Leave that for me to figure out,’ Alek said, ‘I’ll prove to you I can keep up, that I can help.’

  Eddie gave Alek a nasty look, but only grumbled in response.

  Jarrah put his hands to his hips and felt uncomfortable when he only felt one of his daggers there. The boy needs it, Jarrah knew, but it did not make his left feel any less exposed. ‘Are you both ready?

  ‘I am,’ Alek said. He stopped stretching and took a forward leaning stance as Jarrah had taught him. Dagger forward in a backwards grip, second hand just behind.

  Eddie sighed again. ‘Yeah.’ He unslung his axe, spinning it in lazy circles. ‘Let’s just get this over with and go home.’

  Jarrah grabbed the sword impaled in the ground: one of Eddie’s spare weapons. It made a grainy sound as it slipped from the dirt. Holding the sword with two hands, Jarrah raised his voice in the duty of the referee: ‘Two men face off in a true duel. Eddie Hansen will fight until his opponent is incapacitated or at my discretion. Alek Howell will fight until he lands a blow that draws blood.’ A brief silence hung then the sword slammed into the dirt with a moist thud. ‘Let the more courageous prove victorious.’

  Usually in a duel, one or both would leap forward, today no one did. Eddie closed the distance slowly, his blue eyes stuck on the boy who did not move an inch. He means to end this calmly and absolutely, Jarrah thought, to show us that there never was a chance.

  Jarrah took the chance to slip out of the circle. Then the mountain that was Eddie collapsed on Alek. Speed was not Eddie’s skill, but he was by no means slow. The axe head larger than Alek’s entire torso came flying down above him. If it hit there would be no chance to call the fight off, Alek would die.

  The kid had few skills, but if there was one area he excelled it was speed. One second he was there, a lamb for the slaughter, the next he had slipped to the side, stabbing the dagger into Eddie’s bicep. Even Eddie, who knew of the kid’s training, was surprised.

  It seemed like the duel was already over, but there was no blood. Eddie grinned. A razor sharp blade pushed at Eddie’s skin, but stopped short at his coating; an invisible film of lifespan. Alek was quick, but he was not fast enough this time. His face was still shocked when Eddie’s fist slammed into his cheek like a cannonball. Alek’s body struggled to keep up with his head’s momentum. The kid was flung away. He bounced across the grass, stopping just short of the arena’s edge.

  Eddie wrestled his axe out of the ground and seemed satisfied. ‘Well that is that. I guess we can all-’

  ‘I’mth noth done,’ Alek said, his voice muffled and weak.

  But you are, Jarrah thought, I’m surprised you can even speak.

  Alek had climbed back to his feet, but his back was hunched, his knees were weak and his jaw was broken, hanging lower on his left. Yet there he stood, dagger still in hand. Rowan would be able to heal him fine. But to continue fighting now…

  ‘Call the duel off,’ Eddie said, ‘I have won, and despite what you might think I don’t want to kill the kid.’

  ‘I thaid, I’MTH NOTH DONE!’ Alek’s eyes were blazing and he gripped his dagger tighter.

  Why does he even want to fight so badly? What could you possibly be training for, Kid?

  The call came down to Jarrah as the referee and in his heart he knew Eddie was right. The kid could not continue, yet Alek looked like he believed he could win. Stupidity or courage Jarrah did not know, but Jarrah selfishly wanted desperately to go back into that dungeon and Alek was his only hope now.

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  And for some reason, Jarrah believed in him.

  ‘Continue.’

  ‘What?’ Eddie asked, but Alek did not wait for further instruction. The kid raised his palm and a ball of fire formed in front of it. He was fast at weaving spells, unnaturally so for a new entry. The fireball shot forth and Eddie blocked with his axe, but then Alek was already under him. The kid used his momentum to slam the dagger into Eddie’s gut. Again, the blade bounced off his bare skin.

  Alek jumped backwards, dodging the follow-up blow, which kicked up dirt where he had stood.

  Eddie rubbed his stomach where the dagger had hit. Still no blood, but Eddie winced when he touched his skin as if the sharp blade was instead a blunt blow that would leave a bruise.

  ‘Alright then,’ Eddie said, ‘have it your way. It’ll all end the same.’

  Alek was breathing heavily. The kid was a quick learner, but Jarrah knew how exhausting it was to maintain that level of speed. He had learned boosting so easily and to an expert degree. It strengthened you from the inside and was probably the only reason his jaw was hanging from his mouth and not turned to mush. It only made Jarrah more confused as to why the kid could not learn coating. TO be honest, even a complete fool should have learnt at least a follower level coating by this point. Certain people had affinities with certain noctra skills, but to be completely unable was beyond strange. It was the same with magic. Aria could teach him fire, but nothing else, like it was a barred door. Some warriors were horrifically strong, relying nearly only on coating, but Jarrah could not imagine fighting relying only on boosting. It was just too large a handicap.

  It did provide one single advantage though. An advantage that you wouldn’t even consider for a normal person, but when doors are blocked, new ones need to be opened.

  An offensive coating cancelled out a defensive coating, but neither was absolute. The second weakest coating, priest level, could stop a pistol bullet, but below that, a follower coating only slowed one down. Eddie was at minimum at the archbishop level for defensive coating, which meant Alek needed to generate roughly three times greater force behind the tip of his dagger than what is behind a bullet.

  It should be impossible for him.

  Alek ran in again, he shot a fireball at mid-range. Eddie dodged. Alek slipped into his flank and had already charged another bolt of flame. Eddie faced it, sweeping his axe and forcing Alek to jump away, but not before, he shot the spell off. Eddie blocked it with his fist and when Alek tried to slip in again Eddie’s foot caught him with a square kick to the chest. Alek went limp, flailing across the area.

  The back of Eddie’s fist was singed, but he didn’t even look at it.

  That should have ended it, but Alek rolled over. This time when Alek climbed to his feet, he stumbled to a knee before finally standing on two feet. He gripped that dagger like his lifeline. He heaved air, clearly struggling with each breath after having his chest squashed. No one would blame him if he stayed down. No one would think less of him, but he looked at Eddie as if he saw a crack in his armor.

  Eddie turned to Jarrah with exasperation, but Jarrah shook his head. The duel would continue. This will be the last clash. Jarrah could not give Alek any more chances, but for some reason Jarrah still believed the kid had a chance. More than a chance, if Jarrah were a betting man, he would have put it all on Alek.

  Alek still had not used one trick. A trick that Eddie would not know of. Jarrah was sure of one thing; Alek was saving it until he was sure it would work. Saving it until the right moment.

  All three schools of knights have a special skill. Each skill suits that school's style of fighting and takes years to perfect. Ash-knights have reverence: a skill that builds up defensive coating then expels it in an oppressive wave. Honor-knights have tempest: a skill that condenses offensive coating on the edge of their blade then flicks it off like a flying scythe. And cryptics have warping: a skill that requires an immense build-up of noctra inside the body, pushing the muscles far above their normal capacity to perform a rapid movement too fast to see. To the untrained eye, it is teleportation, and Alek mastered it in one night.

  Rez would call me a liar if I told her about this kid.

  The downside to all three skills is that in order to build up enough lifespan all other noctra techniques must be dropped so that it can all be focused on one skill. Dropping a coating for an attack was often not worth it. Not only that, to perform warping Jarrah must drop his coating, warp, then reignite his coating to pierce his opponents defensive coating. A brief delay after warping where he was most vulnerable. But Alek could not use coating in the first place, so why not cut out the fluff and ram straight into his opponent without stopping? If he does not generate enough force to end the fight there he will be defenseless and inside their range, but that makes no difference for him.

  If he can generate enough force, he might just surpass their supernatural armor.

  Alek raised his hand and fire materialized from thin air. It swirled and grew with each second. Eddie raised his axe to block, but then the ball of fire was gone, and so was Alek. Not gone with a blur or a blink, but a true instantaneous disappearance as if a demon had whisked him away.

  Eddie looked down and Broken Fang looked at Eddie. Under his guard, Alek crouched, driving the dagger with all of his might. From its tip, a thin trickle of blood dripped.

  * * * *

  Broken Fang was stunned. Jarrah who had almost seen it coming was in disbelief.

  Aria reacted first, before Jarrah and even called the duel’s victor. She cried out with a cheer and ran to Alek, embracing him like an older sister. One that in truth was old enough to be his distant great ancestor. Rowan ran in next and touched the kid’s jaw, applying his magic. All while Eddie and Alek did not move, frozen in deadlock.

  Eddie held the axe right above Alek’s head and could finish the kid at any moment. Alek would not have the stamina left for any more tricks, but Alek didn’t run. Alek stared straight back up and met Eddie’s cold blue eyes right until Jarrah regained his composure and called Alek the victor.

  Eddie conceded defeat and walked away. Later he reluctantly agreed to uphold his end of the deal, but he had four conditions. The first was that they would not go into the dungeon until all members were fully healed, which for the first time included Alek. The second was that the next narrow escape they had in the dungeon would be their last. The third was that in one week they would head home, dungeon conquered or not. The fourth and final condition was the most surprising; Alek would not watch the parties rear, but fight alongside Eddie up the front.

  Eddie said that he still could not trust Alek to hold off the rock spiders alone, but he admitted Alek would be able to help against the armored ghosts. Jarrah knew it was also because it would let Eddie keep a close eye on the kid.

  At sunrise the next day, Broken Fang entered the looming cathedral of shadows with five members for the first time.