I put the sewing needles down and looked across at Galin. He looked more resigned than scared. I nodded toward the door. "Go see what they want. I'll be right behind you."

He held his hand to his forehead looking about to vomit. "I can't take too much more of this."

"You won't have to," I said patting him on the back. "Now go."

With the walk of a man heading to the gallows, he set off. The ogrid and his five ascended buddies waited at the front, glaring death at him. They barely registered me,

"I've been talking to people, Galin."

"Aye?" the Grunir answered.

"They've been telling me that my boys did come in here. Only they never come back out. Which makes me think you been telling me lies."

I stepped forward and spoke to Galin. "Oh yeah, about that. I forgot to tell you about the visitors yesterday."

"Who's this?" the Half Ogrid asked Galin, looking me up and down like a hunk of prize meat.

"Joren." I said, flashing a smile at the big motherfucker. "I'm offering a little help around the place and of course, I'm offering protection."

"Protection, eh? So how did this go with my boys?" he said leering at me, still confident.

I walked closer. "I'll tell you outside, Dalgom."

Then I shoulder barged through the two level fourteen Warrior thugs in the doorway. They tried to prevent me passing, but I wasn't of a mind to be stopped and head-butted one in the nose, and elbowing the other in the temple before slipping through the door before any more hands could grab at me. I'd like to say it was because I didn't want Galin's shop to get destroyed from fighting Dalgom, but that wasn't strictly true. I wanted to put on a display for the people of Lasital, so once outside I headed to the middle of the street and waited for my new friends, taking deep calming breaths. Don't kill 'em Earl. Don't Kill 'em.

Dalgom came out roaring his indignation. He wasted no time with small talk, lumbering across the street he swung to knock my head off.

It was too easy to avoid. I ducked, cracked him in the ribs with a left hook, and stepped around him.

"Disappointing," I said as he righted himself. Another of his men attacked me. A level 15 warrior. I side stepped and tripped him, while Dalgom did exactly what I'd hoped he would and roared again. "NO! This runt is mine. All mine. Back off."

We squared off again and this time his guard came up like he knew how to fight rather than just swing haymakers.

I kept my arms down low and bounced on my toes. "Speed was my friend in this battle and I needed to make this fast, brutal and hopefully restrain myself from killing him. As my Mental Acuity increased It was getting easier to restrain the urge to kill if it served a purpose. Still not easy, but there was a definite improvement.

He came at me, fists thrown like pistons, sharp and direct and aimed at my head. I ducked weaved and swayed like a tree in a hurricane. "Good accuracy," I shouted as I evaded each attack and scored a right hook on his left bicep. "Shame your slower than a slug in syrup."

He roared again, coming more wildly this time. It didn't help his cause. I scored two more solid shots to his left bicep.

"Fight properly," he growled. "Flitting around like a Snap Stinger is not tough."

"Smart though," I pointed out, evading another flurry. "Plus, I'm trying to keep you alive. You don't want the smoke that comes with toe-to toe."

There were a few chuckles from the growing crowd as Dalgom stepped back guard up. He had a disbelieving expression on his big ugly face. "You think you can kill me?"

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"I know I can. I've killed full Ogrid's before, and beaten them soundly with just fists. You've got a little more control than them, but you're not as tough."

"Lies!" he growled coming again and throwing a continuous flurry that missed with every swing and only served to tire him out. I continued to take the occasional pot shot at his left arm and he was struggling to hold it up now.

"They had proper claws too. Couldn't pick your nose with those little baby nails."

He came again, and again I popped his left arm until he roared again, the most feral one we'd had yet. "Stop hitting that arm!"

"Why? Is it starting to get heavy yet?"

"No." he lied and jabbed again as if to prove a point.

I leaned to the side and laughed as it sailed harmlessly wide of the mark. "That was way slower."

Rage filled his face and he gave up with his fists, instead opting to dive for me. I was ready and waiting for an act of desperation, and jumped back, slapping away one of his outstretched hands so I could fully evade his grasp.

As he landed on the ground I hoofed him in the head, spinning him onto his back, and then against all of my murderous instincts, I stepped back.

He showed good durability and rolled back to his feet a second later, then finally showed some intelligence and with a wave of his shovel sized hand to his men barked for them to attack.

I set myself for an onslaught but his men never came. A look of horror crossed his Dalgom's face and when I glanced over my shoulder I saw they were all stood stock still, arms out wide like they'd been crucified. I was as confused as Dalgom until I saw Loosh's slightly strained, but definitely smiling face a few feet away from them.

I gestured to her. "Dalgom! Meet my merry mage, Malika the Mighty. She's going to keep an eye on your friends until we're finished.

"So that's how you've been beating me! With her help?"

"Nope. I'm just better than you. And now I'm taking over your little patch of Lasital and you're currently a broken cog in the plan. That means we have two ways of doing this. I kill you, or you work for me."

"I'm not working for a weakling cheater. Might as well kill me now if you think you can."

I was sorely tempted, but Loosh and I needed me to take out Peralt and I could see a lot of potential for Dalgom. "No cheating here. But I've got an idea. How about we go toe-to-toe like you wanted. Right here, right now. I won't dodge or duck and neither do you. We just slug it out and the winner gets the neighborhood?"

He didn't answer, but started backing off.

"Are you running away?"

He didn't stop moving, but shouted back. "No. But if we're going to do it I want to be away from that mage."

"She's holding five fucking people! How do you think she's gonna help me as well?"

"I don't know, but I don't trust mages."

I supposed it didn't matter. "Fair enough!" I replied and jogged after the big bastard, eager to get to work.

He came to a stop and held his guard high. His left arm seemed to be a bit more responsive after the break in the fighting.

More interesting was that that the ever increasing crowd followed us down the street. There were a lot of boos for Dalgom and a lot of cheers for me.

"Dunno what they're all cheering about." I told him as we squared up again. It's not going to get any better when I'm in charge."

"You think my boys'll just follow you?"

"You think I won't kill them all if they don't?"

He shook his head. "You're crazy."

"Damn right I am. But look at it this way, I'm looking to expand so the money'll be better in time."

He grunted, trying to pretend he wasn't interested. "Where'd you get a level 30 mage from?"

"She's my better half. Got a thing for the rough types."

He frowned and lowered his hands. "You think I'll get more money working under you?"

"That's the plan. You stay boss of this lot and keep any rackets you've got going for yourselves, you'll just work under me. Still a top dog."

He lowered his hands further. "Doesn't actually sound so bad. We could do with some help with the rival gangs. You up for that?"

"Sounds fun. Now get your fucking hands up."

He shook his head. "You've got a level 30 mage. You've killed a quarter of my men, and you've already fought one hell of a fight. I'm saying I'll join you."

"Yeah, but you promised me a proper dustup."

With a look like he was hallucinating, he reluctantly raised his hands.

"That's better." I moved forward, throwing a jab that broke through his guard but only grazed his chin.

He threw back, immediately, only catching my raised right arm. Then we were at it. Swinging like mad men, no guard, no dodging, just a good old punch up. The fucker hit like a hammer, but so did I.

After about three minutes of non-stop action he held up a hand. "Fuck it. I believe you. You're tough on your own. We'll be here all day and neither of us need any help getting uglier. I'm in. Whatever it is, I'm in."

I used my bloody hands to wipe blood from my face. The result was… unhelpful. Using my jumper wasn't much better. "Good fight Dalgom. You have my respect for going for it."

"How can you be so tough for a Level 18?"

I flashed him a bloody grin. "Because I do stupid shit like this."

He grinned back. "Good answer."

"Only one I've got. Go get your boys and clean up. Where do you drink?"

"Pilgrim's inn. Pilgrim street."

I nodded. "I'll see you there tomorrow at noon for a chinwag."

"We'll be there."

I poked a finger at him. "No funny business. I don't do second chances unless you've earned them." That was a lie. There were no second chances.

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