Chapter: 666 – Fighting the Beast

Tala couldn’t help but feel a bit of nerves as the clearly experienced, Honored wolf-kin stood on the sand before her husband.

In truth, it wasn’t due to fear that Rane wouldn’t do well. It was more a general concern for someone she loved going into a dangerous situation.

She didn’t like it, but she also wasn’t about to do something to interfere. She didn’t control him any more than he controlled her, and manipulating things to ‘get him out of this’ would show a lack of trust in her husband which she neither felt nor wanted to convey.

Adding to her discomfiture, Rane was not a small man, but the wolf-kin still would have been at least a head taller if he stretched to his full height. He didn’t, instead affecting a forward hunch that made his musculature obvious even under his thick, glistening fur. That left their eyes at nearly the same level above the ground, while having radically different postures.

Even so, the arcane was just as obviously not built to be a brawler. The muscles—large as they were—were lean, and the beast of a person was predatory in the extreme.

Aside from his natural fur, his modesty was protected by a black leather and darkened steel set of armor that was obviously perfectly tailored to him and his movements.

Such a thing could be an incredible boon in battle, especially if the range of movement could be crafted to exactly match that of the wearer. That would protect joints from being overextended either from enemy action, or the wearer’s own exuberance.

As to weapons, the wolf-kin wore a pair of war-sickles, effectively bladed, hooked spikes mounted at a right angle to their handles. As with most arcane weapons, there was a bit of magic inherent in the material, clearly having been imbued during the crafting process.

She couldn’t tell what concept or magics the man used, but the sense that she got through the concealment of his aura was something like water and darkness? It wasn’t clear, and she wasn’t willing to breach decorum to get a better look.

Make no mistake, she would have had no issue, and everyone here would have had to grin and bear it—her advancement and rank did have advantages after all—but Rane had asked her not to interfere, and that request meant something to her.

As for the man himself, Rane wore his customary garb—though one of his nicer sets—his only visible armor being the heavy, white-steel bracers, the larger one on his left arm. Force’s handle extended up from his hip, the blade—as usual—tucked within his personal, small expanded space. He had considered wearing his bone armor, but discarded the idea. As a gated, he had a natural tier advantage, and something in the man wouldn’t let him add to that for something as simple as a duel.

Tala did wish his sense of honor, his desire to act properly, would let him take some advantage when appropriate.

The arena was smaller than that in which Tala had overseen the duel between dwarven House heads, and even still, it was far from full.

This was a ‘small’ matter, with most people who had come likely in attendance purely because of the advancement of the two combatants.

A Platoiri official stood in judgment over the proceedings, and at the appointed time, she raised a hand, causing quiet to descend. “This is a personal matter between the combatants. I will simply ensure there is no interference from, nor danger to, the onlookers.”

She then gestured, and the wolf-kin straightened slightly, projecting, but clearly speaking directly to Rane. “I am Tod, third Guide of the Segler Hunting Pack. Your presumption to walk beside an Eskau of a Major House for all to see offends the decency of all forced to witness the action. Her nature, and your relationship, are your own matter. It need not be thrust in the faces of good, honest citizens.”

Right, some beast-kin are organized into packs or prides, or the like instead of houses. They don’t aspire to have Eskau or Pillars, but they still get the benefits of official association and collective bargaining. She didn’t feel the man’s silly notions were worth paying attention to, so she didn’t bother to actually consider them.

-And they still use vestiges for hold-cores and the like.-

That they do. Now let me focus. My husband will be fighting soon.

-You’re the one who—-

Hush!

Alat sent a huffing laugh and fell silent.

Rane huffed, a small smile pulling at his lips. “Tod of the Segler Pack. I am Rane Sappherrous, acknowledged of the Lunar Hunt, Paragon of Gated Humanity, protector and bond-mate of Tala who is an Eskau of the House of Blood and Reforged Ambassador of Gated Humanity. How I conduct myself, is no concern of yours.”

Tod seemed a bit taken aback by the titles, but he pushed through, his eyes narrowing. “Shall I turn a blind eye if you began stripping in the streets? Your reasoning is flawed at its core.”

“I was not giving reasoning, Honored. I have no desire nor need to convince you of anything. Were I to step out of line, those more advanced than you would resolve the matter.” Rane let his aura roll out, the power within it restrained, but he was clearly letting the feel of it be clear, at least to his opponent.

Tod growled. “It matters not if you have met the Alpha. We are not under his authority, and even if we were, it is unseemly to require those greater than ourselves to bend to our needs. This will only be solved through combat. If you truly have been to the Lunar Hunt, then you should already understand that. Only a clash of blade and fang can show the right of things.”

Rane gave a nod of agreement. “To surrender or incapacitation.”

“Let it be so.”

They both turned back to the official, waiting for the signal to begin.

“Start.” The woman’s voice wasn’t loud, but it was magically carried to every corner of the small arena and stands.

As the word was still fading, Rane shifted, looking almost as if he was falling forward, simply tilting. If he continued, he’d face-plant into the sand.

The movement seemed to confuse Tod for a moment, and in that moment, Rane shot forward, magics propelling him without need of his legs.

Tod drew his sickles and lunged forward and to the side before immediately rebounding, making his trajectory much like a ‘V’, coming at Rane from the right, where his hand was still empty.

Rane’s head had tracked the wolf-kin’s movement, but he didn’t otherwise react until the last moment.

His right hand moved to grab Force’s handle, even as he spun, the bracer on his left forearm flowing to form an oval shield, oriented lengthwise down his arm and extending beyond his fist. That end had a half-circle seemingly removed, leaving two points, framing a depression in the edge.

It was that indented edge that came to bear.

Tod struck out with his sickles, and Rane met the leading one—the man’s right one—catching it and throwing to the side with the shield.

They both spun from the impact, feet off of the sand, but Rane added magical power to his movement, coming around far faster than nature intended.

In the same spinning motion, he drew Force and lashed out, aiming for a leg to wound rather than bisect.

Ahh, Rane. You are so softhearted sometimes.

Despite Rane’s well-executed maneuver, Tod had a counter.

The wolf-kin’s body rippled, and suddenly, instead being about to take a hit on the back of his leg, the arcane had reoriented to be facing the incoming strike, sickles already moving to strike and counter in one.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Rane actually let out a barking laugh, which barely preceded the ring of steel on steel.

What followed was a fascinating exchange that would have been entirely confusing to purely mundane senses.

Rane’s magics acted to reposition him, moving out of the way of attacks and into position for strikes of his own.

Tod, on the other hand, seemed to ripple and shift body-positioning without his physical location or movement otherwise being altered.

If Tala didn’t know better, she’d say they each had one half of a single power. This, of course, was entirely untrue. Rane’s magics mostly functioned on a basis of kinetic energy, where Tod’s felt like they had a basis in water and darkness. Though, Tala still couldn’t determine exactly how.

As Tala was expecting, Tod was the better, more experienced fighter on a purely martial level, but Rane’s magics were both more extensive and more powerful, able to use far more energy than Tod’s could, given the ongoing source within Rane.

On a physical level, Rane was both stronger and quicker—mostly due to his enhancement scripts—but the difference was far less than Tala would have expected.

The wolf-kin had clearly honed himself to be a truly formidable warrior.

Interestingly, as the two fought, a couple of things began to tickle at Tala’s heightened perception.

First, like all gated—including herself—Rane’s magics weren’t perfectly efficient. It wasn’t a lot, but every time his scripts used power—which was constantly—a small fraction of it was lost to the surroundings, the process causing it to lose any tie to Rane and fade into the ambient zeme, fractionally increasing the density.

Second, with incredibly well honed control, Tod was seemingly drawing in these dregs—as well as other ambient magic—to keep himself from running out of power too quickly. He even seemed to bias his larger movements to pass through where Rane passed previously, almost seeming to sweep up the fragments of magic in the air. The result was that the local zeme was becoming a zone of negative pressure, drawing in surrounding power, even if not at enough of a rate to cause issues in the nearby districts.

Oh, he’s good.

-Funny that in watching this battle, you aren’t saying such about your own husband.-

Don’t be ridiculous, Alat. I was expecting Rane to dominate the duel, the fact that Tod is holding his own, and even pressuring my husband, is no flaw on Rane’s part. It is a mark in Tod’s favor.