Chapter 537: Rumble Part 2

The moment Owyn was roughly shoved into the shallow pit concrete, stumbling to keep his balance, he regretted not asking more questions of the giantess that brought him here.

"Good luck, boy."

"Wait, what about my..."

The giantess laughed as the shield slammed closed, the mage in charge of the bubble smirking at him as Owyn pounded on the wall until some sound made him turn.

His opponent waited on the other side, the fierce-looking demon from before gave him a savage grin with razor-sharp teeth that hooked slightly inward.

"Frazzk m’lesh," he said with a voice like shredded wood that seemed to come more from his chest. It was a harsh tongue that Owyn didn’t recognize, but assumed was Demonic based on the few times he heard Arc swear in that tongue. A moment later, perhaps sensing his discomfort, the demon translated, "Fresh meat."

Owyn knew that demons, those that kept a manavoric diet, didn’t technically need to eat. That the being in front of him would feed on whatever strong emotion-tinged mana he let himself emit. But fear still tensed the back of his neck and twisted his gut. It didn’t help that the bubble muted most of the sound from outside, leaving them in an eerie silence on the blood-stained, partially destroyed floor.

Outside, the crowd had thinned significantly, and Owyn saw that those staying were the ones handing over larger crysta notes, denoted by their purple color, to the attendants, who smiled and collected their wagers before returning a red betting slip. A bombastically dressed human came out and faced the crowd, gesticulating as he shouted things Owyn could hear but not understand.

A strange, snickering sound drew his attention back to the demon, who wiped one of his mandibles clear of saliva, displaying red-stained teeth that Owyn hoped were from some sort of chew and not what he thought it was. Then he saw the demon had bony, slightly spikey protrusions on his knuckles; not at all fair for a punching match.

The demon started galloping in place, his excitement growing with every hop. "Yesshh, I will eat giant tonight!" He stopped and tilted his head at Owyn twitchily.

A chill ran down Owyn’s spine.

"Let the deathmatch... begin!" A voice suddenly announced, and before the line even finished Owyn’s opponent leaped into the air with a flap, gliding fast towards Owyn’s face like a razor-mouthed missile.

Instinct made Owyn duck, but the demon’s razor-clawed foot left a cut on his arm and the sleeve of his borrowed tunic.

Owyn tried to flood his body with enhancement magic, but his opponent gave him no time to set up as he kept close, jabbing and stabbing at Owyn with claws tipped with razor steel. The demon was short enough that protecting his core and face was difficult, and every attempt Owyn made to punch back was met with razor cuts.

As he risked a heavy swing, the demon ducked under his arm and stabbed him with three rapid, shallow strikes. He screamed and kicked, which was finally enough to make the demon back off.

"Boring! Boring! Boring!" the demon said. "Show me more blood!"

Owyn shoved aside the disturbing enthusiasm of his opponent as he enhanced the first thing he knew he needed: the speed of his thought. Fighting Arc had taught him that against a faster opponent, it was the first thing he needed. As the world slowed, Owyn’s opponent leaped into a slash that he realized was a feint. A slight pain lanced into Owyn’s arms asd his magic began to circulate.

Opening one arm, he stepped into the slash, which passed harmlessly between his elbow and ribs, before grabbing his opponent’s incoming arm by the bicep. He tried to break it, but all he got for his trouble was another cut on his forearm from a razor spike on the demon’s elbow. The demon’s look of surprise registered as Owyn resorted to pushing him away in order to avoid the incoming stab.

The push sent the demon stumbling a single step back before the demon used the momentum to flip into a pounce. Eking out a small amount of enhancement to his speed was the only thing that kept Owyn from being skewered by the counterattack of his cackling opponent.

This guy must be insane!

The next few moments were filled with blood as Owyn pushed his speed with as much enhancement magic as he could. It brought him to the peak of his potential speed... but he was still too slow compared to the wiry demon. The mana he put into his fists hurt, but the demon only dodged faster, as if he knew where Owyn was channeling his magic.

The cuts on his body multiplied as he gained enough breath for a simple spell. "Fire, manifest and burst!" A ball of flame gathered in his hand and he threw it. It was considerably faster than how he knew to create fire from before coming to Norneau, but Arc had never managed to get him down to single-word casting.

His spell broke against the demon, who dove through it before slashing a set of streaks down Owyn’s chest.

"Ahaha! Hwee hwee!" the demon chortled as Owyn fell to his knee, pulling in his arms to guard himself as the demon continued to poke and slash and squeal in delight. A rattling chortle sounded from his chest as Owyn punched out, missing him. A stab in the thigh sent him screaming before the demon leaped back and away from Owyn’s counterpunch. "Stupid giant," he chittered. "Slow and fat." Behind him, the remaining crowd silently screamed for blood. "Kz rakt tij mey."

The phrase went untranslated, as the demon charged once more.

Owyn sensed the demon was coming in for the kill. He was too hurt to focus on charging a new enhancement, and so he put all he could into speed of thought and body, and everything else into a single, enhanced punch...

As the concentrated mana charged down his arms, a new pain started. The flesh of his forearm rippled. Fire filled his veins, which went black before glowing a sickly yellow. His opponent ducked his first counterpunch, and to his dismay slid aside just enough to let Owyn’s true attack miss as his claws stabbed for Owyn’s underarm-

A grey blur slammed into the demon before he could land the final blow. For a few moments, there was a blur of limbs and bodies as Owyn’s enhancements slipped, and the moment he accelerated his thoughts, he saw the demon Arc was hanging around with. Veng, he remembered the name as a tear opened up in Veng’s high collar, revealing his face.

The vampire moved far faster than Owyn could, enough to be equal to the demon’s speed. Owyn took a step forward, intent on helping Veng, but suddenly all the fresh blood in the arena rose up, the droplets gathering into a liquid rope that tripped the demon before binding around his wings and arms.

"Dretch!" the demon swore at Veng. Whatever he said next, in furious Demonic, made Veng’s face harden before the youth knelt down and started beating the demon’s head. Only when he was unconscious did Veng relent, turning to Owyn.

At that moment, Arc landed, dropping the unconscious mage who had been holding the barrier up. Veng bound the elf with blood, which hardened into iron just like the blood around the demon had.

"Owyn! Are you alright?" she touched his arm and suddenly recoiled. "What happened to you?"

At first, he didn’t understand, but when Owyn looked down at his arms, he found that from the backs of his hands to his elbow, his skin had turned rough and cracked. Blood seeped from the strange... wounds? Strangely, it didn’t hurt as much as he thought it should. "I’m fine... we were looking for you."

"Where is Raven?" Arc asked. Behind her, the stands were in chaos. Staff and guests alike fled, taking the main hall as they fled into the darkness. Owyn saw none of the guards that were there when he arrived.

"I don’t know, she said she was going to talk to someone," he answered, still panting. "Damn it all... We were looking for you!"

"Why?" Arc asked. Owyn explained as quickly as he could, and she slapped her forehead. "That stupid... grrah!" She paced for a frustrated moment before Veng reigned her in.

"Where did she say she was going?"

A bare minute later, they broke into an ostentatiously decorated room to find it completely empty. "I can smell her blood... she was here," Veng reported, stalking silently into the room as he held a single finger to his lips for silence. Suddenly he reached behind a curtain and pulled out the skinny, black-clad human who’d humiliated Owyn earlier.

"Wait-wait-wait!" Skull shouted as he was planted on his back, holding his hands up in surrender.

"Steven?" Veng’s voice rose one confused octave. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

Skull- Steven, stammered out, "I-I owe people some money." He jerked as Arc pulled him her way by the jacket.

"Where’s the girl?" Arc demanded, one fist in the air.