Chapter 536: Rumble Part 1

The roar of the crowd faded to a dull noise as Raven was led past a set of double doors, and double guards, and along a hall that sloped upward. The room she found herself in at the end was richly appointed with crimson cloth covering the otherwise bare concrete of the shelter space, whose purpose was hidden by the decorations.

A large, stone table in the middle of the room showed an illusory rendition of the newly started fight from all angles, a trio of mousekin fighting an orc druid, the latter’s body wrapped in layers of hardened, fungus-like chitin.

The spectators in this room were far better dressed than those outside it, and Raven immediately felt out of place in her borrowed clothes. These patrons, she recognised several prominent merchants and industrialists, barely spared her a glance as they quietly spoke amongst each other with one eye on the fight, occasionally touching the table with small pulses of mana that tabulated their wagers.

It spoke to a degree of sophistication that Raven hadn’t expected. Gambling wasn’t illegal, and while she didn’t know what the legal limits were, she knew they existed, and the amount of crysta flowing along this table alone seemed excessive.

Past this room, her guards stopped and let her into an even smaller room, with an even smaller illusion table, behind which sat a woman who radiated confidence as she reclined on a set of pillows. The bronze-skinned rock elf with sapphire hair stared Raven down with eyes like burnished silver. A small, golden gem shaped like a pyramid was centered on her forehead.

Raven thought it might be held there by magic, mostly because she didn’t want to consider that the woman actually had the thing set into her skull. It gave her the sense of dense mana, but the most intimidating thing about the elf was the muscles she wore openly, her midriff exposed, and her arms almost as thick as Owyn’s without being a giant; that, and the massive gauntlets on her hands, which were clearly enchanted mithril.

Behind the elf, Skull waited at more than arm’s length, given the suit-dressed male servant, another elf, standing at the female elf’s side and glaring at him. The look on his face was no longer self-assured, and to Raven’s acute blood senses, he had a bruise forming on his left brow.

"Welcome to my arena, Miss Crow," the elf said, ignoring the fight being projected on her table. "My associate seems to think you might be someone special. Please, sit."

Raven composed herself, realizing from Skull’s nascent contusion that something was amiss. "A pleasure," she sat, and after adjusting her tunic, placed her thumbnails under the nails of her forefingers, preparing herself to draw blood. "May I ask who you are?"

"Arduina Varcott. But you might know me as Champion of the Martial Magic Tournament."

"Can’t say I do," Raven said, noting the hostile glint in the woman’s eyes the moment the words left her lips. "I-I mean to say I’ve only ever seen the older tournaments. I’m very out of touch with the, ah, sport..."

Indeed, her father used to sit her on his knee as he went over the old matches, and Raven had consequently grown up with a bit of a crush on Amarena and Rainier, the only two members of the House of Stars to participate in the matches, who each had three championships to their names, and in all six of those tournaments they’d wound up against each other in either the finals or semifinals.

After the House of Stars stopped competing, her dad lost all interest in the Tournament, and she remembered how sad she felt at the age of nine when she had to watch the matches alone. Watching the Tournament never felt the same after.

"Is that why you’re here then?" Arduina asked. "Unsatisfied with safe, bloodless sport?"

"I’m just looking for my rival."

"Purple hair, yes? A demoness?" She looked aside, a bit distant for a long moment.

"I..." Raven’s eyes flicked over to Skull. She’d never told him Arc was a demoness. "I think I’d prefer to search for her myself. But if she’s fighting, I’d like to face her."

"A bit covetous of you. But I tell you what... I can put you in the arena, and in exchange, you can tell me everything you know about her..." The elf cast her hand forward, and a pair of obols landed on the table, illuminated by the fight projected above them. "... Miss Raven Black."

The moment she heard her name, Raven pierced her forefingers under her nails, a familiar enough pain as she drew her own blood into a protective circle around herself, before shooting up to a stand. "I’m afraid I’ll have to decline your offer, Miss Varcott."

"A blood mage, just like your father. Charming," Arduin mocked.

"If you know my father, you should know better than to mess with me," Raven said, unable to keep the fear out of her voice even as she poured more mana into the blood she had floating about her.

"I’ll take my chances."

The moment Arduina finished her sentence, a strike from behind crashed into Raven’s skull, and she fell forward onto the table. Rolling onto her back, she caught sight of one of the thugs from the door as he tried to strike down at her with a truncheon, and out of instinct more than anything else, she converted her blood into a small shield that stopped his next strike.

But defending herself left her open, and Arduin had only to reach forward, and one of the gauntlets from her hand flew from its mount, a cap on the stub where a hand should have been, wrapping all the way around Raven’s throat from behind.

Unable to concentrate as she scrambled to breathe, Raven’s blood splattered to the floor as she lost control of her magic. The floating gauntlet rotated, bringing her face-to-face with Arduina before loosening slightly.

"Bitch!" Raven gasped. "I’ll-" the gauntlet tightened again, and Raven choked.

"I think I’ll take my time with y- agh!" Arduina held her remaining gauntlet up to her temple, and a vein bulged on her head as her grip on Raven’s throat loosened once more, only this time she was dropped, landing on her side. "You don’t get a say in this, boy!" Arduina snarled to herself.

Raven took her chance. As she inhaled, she focused everything she had into the nearest blood she could feel, sending a trio of bullets flying, the first one into the obol she’d managed to grab when she hit the table, and the next two right for Arduina’s stupid face-

A shield flashed into existence as Skull leaned forward, protecting the elf with his magic. "J-Just give up," he stammered, all of his prior pretentiousness gone.

"Ganther!" Arduina raised her voice, and the thug from before stepped forward, this time readying a fist before punching Raven deeply in the stomach, driving the breath from her.

As the world grew blurry, Arduina started barking out orders.

"Make sure she’s knocked out, then take her to the Lodge! And quit your snivelling!" She directed the second order at Skull before turning to the servant who’d remained impassive behind her, "Lockdown the pit. Start a match and send Ripper out to deal with her Outsider friend. Omua can put him in the arena. If he lives great, drag him to the Lodge; if not, Ripper knows what to do."

The last thing Raven saw was the thug from before crouching over her before unstoppering a bottle and placing the foul-smelling fumes of the concoction in her face. Then the world went blurry as her consciousness began to fade, and she barely caught a glimpse of Skull’s distressed face before the world went black.

*

As Owyn pushed his way through the back of the crowd, he kept his eyes peeled for any hint of lavender amongst the heads of those watching. He had a couple of false starts before realizing Arc was far too short to be any of the people he saw, the first being a human and the second being an amethyst-haired elf.

At one point, he found the staging area for the fighters, and he grew even more concerned when he noticed Arc was not amongst them. More than a few of them were drinking, their matches already done, and in general, they seemed a cheerful lot. Owyn was reminded of the dockyard rings where sailors sorted out their differences from the long journey to Reclaim before heading out for drinks.

One fighter, a spindly-looking demon with mandibles lined with razor teeth and bat-like webbing under his arms, stared Owyn down until he walked away. But as soon as Owyn returned to where he started, he was met by the giantess who had made eyes at him on his way in.

"Your friend’s in the next match," she slid an arm over his shoulder in a firm grip as she pressed her muscular body into his, eliciting a full blush from Owyn. "She’s invited you to join her."