The man who had been looking into his satchel raised his head, looking surprised. "You want me to go? What for?"
"Are you refusing my order?" the leader growled, tightening his grip on the reins. A few people closest to him took a few steps back in fear.
The earlier speaker shrugged. "No. I'm just telling I won't die for you. There's no way I can defeat him."
"Go!" the leader roared.
"Fine, fine. No need to shout."
The man pushed through the crowd to the front, and Arawn finally saw his appearance. Unlike the others dressed in a black uniform, he was wearing simple traveling clothes. He had a lute strapped to his back, and there was a genial smile on his face.
He was slightly rotund and had the red-cheeked innkeeper image, but Arawn didn't discount him for that. There were many weirdos in the world, and the Talons seemed to have collected most of them.
"Aren't you tired yet, child?" the man asked amicably. There was a short sword at his hip, but he didn't reach for it. "Why don't you forfeit so someone else can take your place? Both sides already have enough points that it'll be the battle between the two leaders that will decide the final outcome."
Arawn tilted his head, wondering what the strange man was up to. "Didn't you just declare that you didn't want to die under my hand?"
"Oh, that!" The man laughed as if Arawn had just told a joke. "I just don't like to fight in general. Not my chosen field of interest, you see."
"Is that why you're a hired combat mage?"
The amicable man's expression faltered, and he pouted at Arawn. "You don't need to pour salt over my wounds, do you? I ran out of money so had no choice but to sell other services besides my lute."
Instantly, Arawn understood where the man was going. He smiled back at him. "I'm quite similar, so apologies, but I can't stand back either. Gotta earn for my upkeep you see."
"Don't you have a friend to buy you food for a time? Pity me who's alone."
Yet even as he said that, he lunged forward with a speed that no one would expect from his portly body. Arawn wasn't caught off guard though. Having expected something like that, he formed ether blades and sent them forward.
The man dodged them, and fire rushed toward him from all the torches. It formed a tornado around him before whirling itself toward Arawn alongside the man.
Having no weapon of his own, Arawn could not engage in close combat. He sent ether blades to diminish the fire tornado and escaped to the side. Yet his speed was slowed by the injuries on his legs.
He wouldn't be a match for the rotund man on a good day, let alone with injuries inhabiting him. Upon realizing that, Arawn turned while calling upon the ether. It coalesced into a meter wide ball which rushed toward the man and his tornado.
"Cheater!" the rotund man shouted out while falling to the ground to dodge.
Half of the fire tornado was shorn through, falling apart in a shower of sparks, but a part of it retained form. The man sent it toward Arawn, not giving him time to attack again.
All Arawn could do was batter the last of the fire tornado with ether to defend himself. This gave the man time to rise to his feet, and he called upon more fire. Balls of flame left the torches and flew at Arawn from all sides.
It was exactly the same attack as with the rocks. Back then, he hadn't had a way to defend himself, and this time was no different. Or was it? Fire wasn't a physical object.
Without having time to consider if it will work, Arawn raised walls of ether around himself. While doing so, he didn't forget to send two blades of ether at the man to make him jump to the side.
Upon impact, the ether walls shattered like glass. Arawn knew it would happen, and he closed his eyes while falling back two steps. The bright light from the clash of ether hid him, and he took the moment to coalesce another ball of ether. It shone like the moon, and Arawn grinned.
He held it in one hand while lunging forward, straight through the curtain of light. It dispersed with his movement, but that didn't matter. The moment he appeared in front of the rotund man, he threw the ether straight at his face.
The man's eyes went wide, and he called upon the flames to defend him, but it was too late. Arawn was too close, and only pure ether could block him. No scattered fires could hold his ether blast.
"Cheating bastard," the man croaked as he was sent flying back.
He crashed into the ground some twenty meters away with a heavy thump. Arawn jogged to his side and raised an arm with an ether blade in it above the man's head. "Still wanna fight or?"
The man was dazed for a moment. He blinked a couple times, then saw the shining ether balde poised to take his life. His adam's apple bobbed, and he shook his head violently. "I give up! I certainly give up!"
"Good!" Arawn clapped and dispersed the ether.
Noticing that the man was still a little out of it, he extended his hand to help him up. The older man looked at it for a moment, then took it with a sigh. "When did the young generation become this strong? I remember being unbeatable not that long ago."
He seemed to be talking to himself, so Arawn didn't say anything. He instead focused on what had just happened. He had gained an idea of how to moderate his ether usage! The way he defeated his last two opponents was quite similar, but the outcomes were very different.
The previous man would have died or at least went blind if not for two doctors instantly working on him. Even so, he was traumatized and couldn't open his eyes. The old man, however, was fine, if a little dazed.
Before, Arawn had simply used ether blades to face off his opponents, but in the duels, he was faced with the reality that fighting wasn't as simple as throwing forward a couple attacks. People who had spent their whole lives fighting were fast and had a lot of tricks up their sleeves. They could dodge his attacks and trap him to prevent him from avoiding theirs.
"You look happy," Corwal said when Arawn jogged back.
Arawn nodded, not able to hide his excitement. "I'm starting to understand how ether works! There's so much more that I can do with it than I thought."
And there were different ways to fight different elements. A wall of ether could do nothing against rocks, since after being raised into the air, they had momentum due to their weight and gravity. Even if they were slightly slowed and shifted off course due to the ether wall, he would still get hit.
Fire was different. The moment ether was removed, it went out because it had nothing to burn. Because of that, a wall of ether was its natural enemy.
"Who exactly are you?" Rain demanded in a low voice. "No one can use this much ether."
"Nobody," Arawn answered while sitting down by a tree.
Excitement had numbed the pain from the dozens of cuts, but once the fight was over, it came with a vengeance. He winced and examined his wounds. Most weren't deep, just enough to draw blood.
"Leave him be," Corwal said while bending down to take a look at the wounds as well. "Nothing bad, but you should still get them treated." He raised his head at Rain. "Call over one of your healers."
She hesitated for a moment, then nodded and left. In a few moments, she returned with a an older woman which carried a large bag with her. She didn't look too happy about coming close to Arawn, but didn't say anything and crouched by his side.
He was forced to take off his tattered shirt, and the old woman frowned even more. "Who starved you?" she asked while poking his ribs.
"That's me after I've eaten well for a month," Arawn said to her with a glare.
He was still as thin as a stick, but at least he looked human now. His bones were obvious under his skin, but were no longer protruding from it. There was a little meat to hide the worst of his time in the Gutter.
A shadow passed over the old woman's face, but she didn't speak more. After examining the wounds, she disinfected all of them. Arawn wanted to shout at her for making them hurt even more, but Corwal hit him over the head, telling him to not be a child. Apparently, this would make them heal faster.
The old woman poured some tincture on the deeper wounds and wrapped them with a bandage. Most of them were on his arms, since he'd used them to protect his head. Still, there was one sufficiently deep gash above his forehead that kept on bleeding.
By the time Arawn started to get cold from sitting bare chested in the woods, the woman finished and he was given a clean shirt. It was a little too big for him, but he didn't mind. In reality, it was even better with the bandages all over his arms and one on the head.
"What's happening?" he finally asked when he was let free.
Corwal turned to him from where he'd been looking at the enemy camp. "Small break. The injured get treated and everyone can steam in their own worries before the final round. Once the sun reaches its zenith, the battle between the two leaders will start."
There was still quite some time till then, so Arawn closed his eyes to rest. Although he hadn't done much, he felt exhausted. The battles had been short but intense. He couldn't relax for a moment if he didn't want to receive a fatal wound and lose control.
His sleep was nightmare ridden, however. He woke up moments later drenched in sweat and wide-eyed. Corwal gave him a look, but didn't say anything.
Arawn breathed heavily to calm himself. It was all fine. Everything was fine. He hadn't wiped out both sides just because he tripped and hit his head.
Once his heartbeat returned to normal, he closed his eyes again, but didn't try to sleep. The entrance to the dream world seemed to be barred to him during the day.
After some time, he heard the two horns once more. They rang through the forest, startling birds that rose in flocks. Once the forest was empty of animal life, Arawn rose to his feet. He went to stand by Corwal and looked at the arena. No one had come to repair the circle, leaving it littered with fragments of walls, scorched ground, and mud puddles.
"Do you think she has a chance?" he asked softly while looking at the enemy leader.
Even when dismounted, he was a giant of a man and would tower over Arawn by two heads. His shoulders were as wide as a mountain range, and there was a great sword strapped to his back.
With every step he took, his muscles bunched, speaking volumes of his physical strength. He had the air of a battle commander who had seen a hundred battles and had won all of them.
In comparison, Rain looked like a common thief. She was dressed like one and had knives instead of a sword and shield. There was nothing about her to inspire confidence in people.
"Only a surprise factor, but I doubt it'll be enough."
"What then?"
Corwal smiled, but his gaze became freezing. "I'll challenge him myself. As a participant, I can declare that the leader is too weak and take up her position. If I win, I'll become the new leader. If I lose, I and all my relatives as well as friends will be killed to wash away the stain of my pride."