While Sereza made her way down the arena steps, my mind wondered back to what I had done. More correctly, what Zog's skill had done to me.

Ragnarok was a thing from old myths back on Earth. Nothing more than a tale told to kids or used by television to entertain the masses. The name in of itself shouldn't have meant anything. It was just a story.

However, so were elves and dragons.

It could mean nothing. Hells, it probably is nothing.

Yet the two orbs at the foot of my thoughts kept pulling me in.

I shook my head and discreetly summoned Galarion. He formed in the back of my hood and slid into the base of my skull without alerting the others. After hooking his tentacles inside my thoughts, I sent the memory toward him.

"Can you separate it?" He sent a mental thumbs-up and I nodded. "Okay. Sort through the information, try to compile what I was feeling and seeing during Zog's skill. And Galarion?"

Before I had to ask, I felt the mental clamps in my mind shift. Suddenly the glowing eyes and the faint wolf's howl retreated. Galarion moved more of the memory into a sectioned grip, leaving me with a clear train of thought. I ignored the faint easing of pressure at my temples, letting the headache flow away.

At least this one isn't because of me. Damn you Zog. I didn't need another thing making me look bad. Gah! I want to punch him but that's exactly what the bastard wants.

No. The cocky grin on Zog's face during the fight didn't feel malicious. It was exactly as showboaty as it was supposed to be.

I sighed.

Or so I hoped. I didn't believe he intended to fuck with me, but if he did I'd handle it when it mattered. For now, I wanted to watch my friend fight.

A hand touched my shoulder and I turned to see Teddy smiling. "Something up?"

He shook his head. "No. Just wanted to check on you."

"I'm fine if that's what you're asking."

"Good." He sat down on the chair beside me and kicked his feet up, resting it atop Arturous' slumbering form. "You know. I want to apologize to you."

What?

"Apologize for what?"

"For the stress you're going through. It's unfair and I feel as if I've been a poor friend."

"Dragonshit. You guys have been great. Well, except Isaac. Actually, maybe Igas too. He did abandon me to the little monsters."

Teddy chuckled. "You handled them well, but that's not why I'm apologizing."

"So?"

"Cyrus. When I steered us toward the capital it was for a few reasons. One. We needed to be here and check in on our interests. See my family, meet friends. I thought the kingdom's capital would provide you a better opportunity for skills and training. It'd allow you to experience our world and gain knowledge. Something that we wouldn't be able to experience travelling to villages on the outskirts of the kingdom."

"If that's what you intended, then you succeeded," I said. "I mean it. Without you guys, I'd probably be dead so there's that. And besides, even with all my complaints they're never serious. It took awhile, but I even learned to like Isaac, and that's with his personality."

Another chuckle and I saw Isaac's middle finger in the corner of my vision. When I looked around, I noticed a subtle whirlwind of mana calmly spinning in place around our chairs. It separated Teddy and I along with Arturous' head inside a barrier that I hadn't noticed.

I frowned and tilted my head to the side. No sound. Khrem was talking as was Celenae but I couldn't hear a word of what they were saying even though I saw their lips move.

"I asked Eodyne to give us some privacy. I can remove it if you want."

I shrugged. "It's fine. Thanks for the thought, I guess."

Teddy's hand touched my arm and gently squeezed. "Beyond the information and the experience, I hoped and planned for you to take a break. You went from one catastrophe and trauma to another on the island. When we went there you were only supposed to participate in a normal rift and train in the dungeon while relaxing. Of course I didn't know what you were back then but my point stands. I'm sorry that I've failed to give you some peace. Every few days feels like another problem. Every week is something else. In that, I've failed you, and I wanted to apologize."

My chest tightened and I searched his face. He kept the same gentle smile as he usually did, with only genuine remorse in his expression. I resisted the urge to retreat from his grasp and instead returned a smile.

"None of what happened to me is your fault. I'm the idiot throwing himself into dangerous situations, but thank you."

He hesitated, for a brief moment looking as if he wanted to deny what I said. Eventually, Teddy released me and sighed. "Be that as it may, I shall continue to strive to do better. Even if fate has marked you and is determined to make your life difficult, we'll weather it together, Cyrus. Even if it brands you and throws danger at your feet. If we can't stop it, then we'll simply have to grow strong enough to change it. Especially without having to sacrifice it all."

That time, I did catch a strange look in his eyes. I wasn't given the chance to clarify what he meant by sacrificing it all because the barrier faded away and sound returned. Around the same time, the announcer took to the field and signaled for the start of the match.

Sereza held the green corner and launched into action.

Teddy adjusted the enchantment and split the screen into four panels allowing simultaneous viewing of the fighters. Two of the three looked to be normal adventurers, sharing none of the recognizable house crests or shiny gear. One was a defensive warrior with a shield and hammer with the other being a fellow rogue.

The noble looked to be a caster, sporting fine, silky battle robes and an ivory stick. I pinged Galarion to search my memories in case I recognized the house but he grunted a negative.

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Might be a nobody then. It doesn't matter anyway, not with Sereza as his opponent.

The warrior stood in his area with his shield raised. A stomp of his metal boots summoned a slab of cracked stone and sand to orbit around him. He then raised his hammer and banged it against his shield generating a brown film over his body. Preparations complete, the turtle stayed rooted while his head swiveled between the competition.

The rogue's mask covered his mouth and nose but he winked at Sereza and the ground parted below him.

Shadow? No. The sand shifted out of the way. Earth mana then.

Sereza continued her charge, swerving away from the pillar and toward the armoured fighter. The caster stayed in place but raised his stick and generated a bead of brown flames at the tip.

"Disgusting. What kind of fire is that?" Isaac scoffed.

"I don't know, but Zharia would starve before she consumed it," I said.

"Brown flames are usually debuff orientated. A few skills come to mind but they are all pseudo-flame skills. Merely mana representing fire while casting different effects. Most likely mud or stone in this case," Celenae explained.

Whatever the skill was, the noble built the charge, growing the flame to the size of his head before he extended his arm. He shouted something unintelligible and released the projectile. It flew through the air. Like Celenae said, it was slow.

The warrior raised his shield and intercepted the brown flame before it exploded against the metal.

It stuck to the shield. With a grunt the yellow mana flared around his arms and expanded outwar, pushing the flames away before it retracted. The noble grunted and began summoning a new fireball.

Sereza neared the warrior and sent a barrage of daggers. He held his ground and repeated the barrier trick to deflect a bottle that landed against the sand. She jumped and stabbed down. The floating slab caught the attack and he reared his hammer back. Black spikes of dusty iron sprouted from the hammer's surface and forced Sereza to jump away.

Unfortunately for the warrior, he failed to predict Sereza using her tail to swing to his back and unleash a condensed ball of acid. His skill protected him once again but he stumbled forward.

The other rogue made his reappearance and two swift hands split the sand as they sank through the yellow barrier. As the skill faltered the iron blades sank into the warrior's uncovered armpits. When the man stumbled into the sand, the rogue released his blades and retreated into the ground.

When the warrior crashed into the sand, he didn't stand up. Across his body, blue web-like veins appeared over his skin, while he oozed dark-cerulean sludge from his wounds.

One down. Two to go, and nobody is touching the pillar.

Sereza crouched, her tail twitching as she scanned her surroundings. The sand rippled around her trailing a wide circle.

The caster held an orb ready but waited, a calculating look in his eyes.

In an instant, a blade exited the ground and flew toward Sereza's head. She flipped to the side, returning fire with a dagger of her own. It hit the ground and sank to the hilt but the rippling continued. For nearly a minute, blades would fly at increasingly difficult angles. Some appeared at her feet with less than a second to deflect the attack.

While Sereza managed to avoid harm, a single glance at the drops of blue staining the sand showed what would happen if she failed. Even with a vine wrapped around the fallen warrior's chest, the blue veins continued to pulse underneath his skin.

"That's an annoying movement skill," I said.

"It's useful but it has to be draining his mana at a high rate. He'll most likely try to end things fast. If Sereza can hold on, she will wait him out. That'll be the time to strike," Eodyne said.

"They're doing better than the coward," Isaac said. He pointed to the caster who slowly approached the pillar while the rogues fought. "He better not win this."

"He won't," I said.

Isaac didn't refute my statement and we continued to watch the duel between Sereza and the sand shark. I noticed that not all of the daggers where blades. More than a few attacks thrown against her were needles that splintered apart. One nearly nicked Sereza's shoulder as her tail smashed the needle away, sending thin shards into her armor.

Come on, Sereza. His mana is building. Just got to…

Like Eodyne predicted, the rogue shot from the ground. A hail of needles forced Sereza back. Her tail broke three, while she caught two with her blades and dodged another four. She flipped and turned to face the rogue rushing at her from behind.

The rogue thrusted a pinky thin javelin of grey iron into her gut. She knocked it aside and slammed an acid marble into the shaft, shattering the skill.

Instead of cursing her out or retreating, the man smirked. Pieces of shattered metal lifted into the air and reformed into a needle. It penetrated her pants, sinking deep into her leg. Immediately, blue veins grew up her neck and down her hands.

Sereza dropped to the ground, clutching her thigh. She managed to pull the needle out but her arms gave way and flopped against her side.

"Risky. Using poison against a poison specialist, always a gamble," the rogue approached Sereza and generated a new dagger from his palm. He held it against her neck and grinned. "Luckily for me, nobody uses culshag extract."

"Culshag?" I asked.

"Rare dungeon flower that only germinates for three hours. If you fail to harvest the plant, it withers and requires three years to grow again. Not the most dangerous poison, but it's rare," Celenae explained.

I frowned but I wasn't too concerned.

"Then he's an idiot."

Celenae smiled. "He is."

To the rogue's credit, he kept his monologue short and proceeded with the 'kill'. He could have left Sereza to the poison but he thrusted a second needle into her arm while slashing across her stomach with his blade.

Sereza weathered the attacks and struggled to raise her arm. Her eyes blinked rapidly and she rocked forward. The rogue shook his head and turned to the caster.

That was his mistake.

In a blink of an eye, Sereza's tail impaled his spine. Bone crunched and her hands grabbed his ankles. He screamed in pain and tried to attack but she released a cone of acid point-blank. His sizzling form dropped to the sand and she stood up.

"H-how…" he coughed. "You w-were fin-finished."

Sereza rolled her shoulders and inspected the cut along her stomach. "Only an idiot bets on a poison user having no immunity. Acquiring a resistance skill is the first step. Or it should be, either way; thanks for the meal. Haven't had culshag before. Too expensive to acquire on an adventurer's budget."

He mumbled a retort but his saliva spilled from his mouth and his eyes fluttered shut. His bracelet shifted colors and a ring appeared around his body, signaling the end of his run.

When she cracked her neck she turned to caster. He had stopped just shy of touching the pillar and turned around. Several orbs floated around the ivory wand.

"If you give up now, I'll spare you the humiliation," he shouted.

Sereza dipped her blades into a vial in her bandolier and flicked her tail against a line of blue sand. It came away with chitin coated in blue. Mana built in her tail, ramping slowly in volume.

"I'm starting to think he's right. You really are peacocks," she sighed.

In a blur Sereza charged. Projectile after projectile filled the space between them. Her spectral daggers cut through the air only to meet a wall of floating orbs. When the two skills touched the brown flames sizzled away while they caught the blades.

Is he really…

I groaned at the caster.

"What's wrong?" Teddy asked.

I pointed at the noble. "He looks stupid."

"Ah. It's certainly a well-telegraphed performance," he laughed.

When different colored orbs bounced off the sand, Sereza tossed a dagger and jumped over the melon-sized ball. The blade popped the slimy liquid and then mana surged. Earthen spikes shot from the ground, nearly stabbing into her calf. She kicked away and threw more blades.

Within seconds, the caster had hastened his death and secured Sereza's victory. Each spike only helped her have a foothold to dodge around. By the time the caster caught on, Sereza had cleared the distance and landed at his feet.

A sharp yelp exited his throat while he activated a skill in response. The torrent of mana shot from the wand's tip while ballooning outward in size.

Sereza's tail pierced through the balloon and released its charge.

Acid flowed over the field and up the pillar creating a smoky haze as the mud evaporated around them. Like the rogue, the caster dropped defeated while Sereza added two dagger's into his back–securing her victory. With casual ease, she activated her movement skill and glided toward the top as a green cloud. When she reappeared she raised a fist while bowing.

The crowd ate it up.

Showoff.

I sighed and pulled up the system clock.

Three minutes. Alright. I think I can beat that.

I glanced at Sereza's opponents lying unconscious face first into the sand.

Eh. Maybe.

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