Corwal's words sent a chill down Arawn's back. He looked at his friend with new eyes. Although he had seen a lot, Corwal always managed to surprise him. There was quite a dark streak in him.
"Is that really allowed?" he asked in a soft voice.
"I wouldn't have come here if it wasn't. Do you really think I'd put all my hopes on some washed up woman that could only keep the dregs of the outfit that the other side didn't want? They're a lovely family, but that won't help me get the information I want."
Corwal's words were unnecessarily cruel, but they made sense. If one compared Rain to Garshta, no one would believe in her. And her people weren't much to look at either. They were cordial and great to befriend, but they didn't seem to be capable of earning a single point in the Challenge.
Yet Rain acted like she knew none of that. She strolled to the center of the circle and stood before the tall man like she owned the world. Her posture was full of confidence and calm. It didn't seem like she was worried about a single thing.
"You're still just a child," Garshta mocked while pulling out his heavy sword. It was almost as large as the woman.
Rain grinned at him and drew her knives. "Yet you've grown old."
The two of them were only a couple meters apart. There was no line drawn in the center, but the two people seemed to instinctively know where they had to stand. After a moment, Arawn realized that there were probably more rules to the Challenge that he didn't know about. Corwal had given him a mere overview instead of explaining every single detail.
Seconds passed in silence without anyone moving. It was so quiet that one could not even hear people breathing. Time seemed to have frozen still.
Then, as if having received some silent signal, the two people in the center rushed at each other. Garshta's great sword swung in a wide arc, preventing Rain from coming closer. She leaned back, avoiding the tip of the blade and came at the man from his undefended side. No matter how strong he was, it was impossible for him to stop the momentum of his sword.
Yet the earth beneath Rain's feet turned to mud at that moment, and she had to jump back to avoid getting entrapped. For a couple more times, she tried get close to the man, but either the sword or the ground kept her at bay. She never got closer than the great sword's length.
Strangely though, the large man did not press his advantage. He seemed satisfied with just defending against Rain's attacks and waiting it out. Unlike before when he was shouting and screaming at his people, he was now a mountain of calm.
Rain rushed him again, and Arawn expected to see the same result. Yet when she was two meters away and the man was about to raise his great sword, she stepped onto air. Once, twice, then she jumped over Garshta's head with her knives aimed at the back of his neck.
As crazy as it sounded, Garshta seemed to have expected that. He leaned forward, avoiding her sneak attack, and sent his sword sweeping behind himself. Rain saw the blade about to cleave her in half and did a front handspring. In the air.
She landed on her feet some distance away from the man and turned to grin at him. Her breathing was already heavy, but she didn't hesitate to rush back into the melee. Her blades danced like butterflies as she pestered the man from all directions with gravity holding no power over her.
"What is that?" Arawn demanded without taking his eyes off the woman.
At first, he thought she was flying, but once he paid closer attention, he saw ether moving about her. Whenever she needed a foothold in the air, it would dive into the ground and bring a hand-sized piece of rock for her to put her weight onto.
In other words, it wasn't that the gravity didn't work on her, but that she was cheating it. She created ground where she needed it.
"A different style of earth magery," Corwal said with genuine interest. "I've seen it only once before, and she's way better than that man."
Rain moved around Garshta with the nimbleness and speed of a wild cat. Every attack of hers was like a small bite, chipping at the man's defences while he couldn't do anything to retaliate. He was simply too slow and bulky to catch her. Like an acrobat, she leaned left and right, doing handstands, rolls, and gracefuls jumps.
It looked more like a circus performance than a fight, yet the man was constantly being pushed around. Rain had barely drawn blood, but Garshta's leather armor was all scratched and smeared with something dark.
"She's not only using the fly technique, but also got poison on her blade. Who taught her to be this dirty?" Corwal laughed, shaking his head.
"Fly technique? Poison?"
"Don't you think she resembles a fly right now? Buzzing around him without end. Some call it the grasshopper style because of all the jumping around, but it's better known as 'that damn fly technique'. Few can learn it, but those who do are universally hated by every other mage. It doesn't make them that strong, but they become really annoying to deal with."
While he spoke, Garshta seemed to have grown tired of the games. When Rain dodged another of his attacks and fell back through the air, he raised a wall of earth in front of her. She crashed into it at full force, unable to stop her body's momentum.
Garshta advanced on her crumpled form, but before he could smash her with his heavy blade, a dozen shards of rock flew straight at his face. Noticing the danger, he ducked, and ether rushed from him into the ground. It rose, creating a momentary shelter.
They crashed harmlessly into the earthen wall, and Garshta straightened once more. Yet Rain was on her feet by then. Her bun had gotten loose and hung haphazardly at her neck, but she ignore it. With a dark expression, she extended a hand and a dozen more earth shards rose into the air. They hovered there, pointed at Garshta.
The man sneered and raised just as many himself. "You're finished, wench."
"That's the best you've got?" Rain extended her other hand, and the amount of earth shards in the air doubled. "You're yet to touch me."
Midway through her words, she dashed forward. The earth shards remained in the air, not moving. Garshta growled at her and sent his straight for her. Rain went down, sliding right past his feet while slashing at his legs with the knife in her right hand.
When the shards were about to skewer her, she wrapped herself in a layer of earth, protecting her body. A loud crashing sound followed right after, and she screamed as her leg was cut by the heavy sword. Her earth shield had only worked against the shards and not the great sword which had all of Garshta's strength behind it.
The man sneered and put more weight onto the blade, pressing it deeper on the leg, but at that moment, all of Rain's shards shot forward. Like arrows, they hammered into Garshta's back, sending him to his feet. He had gotten careless for a second when he thought he caught her.
An earth shield rose to protect him against the last of the shards, but most of the attacks had hit him straight on. He was lucky to have been wearing a helmet, but it was misshapen and twisted after the attack. Garshta pulled it off his head and threw it to the side while panting heavily.
Blood was trickling down his temples, and his back was a mess. Leather mixed with skin, blood, and dirt, creating a vomit-inducing sight.
"Fucking bitch," Garshta snarled, his words barely recognizable through his heavy pants. "I'll chop you to pieces and make a cup of your skull."
"Good luck with that," Rain answered while pulling herself away.
She was in no better condition that her opponent. Her breathing was just as labored from the excessive use of ether, and her left leg had been cut to the bone. The moment she moved it, her face twisted with pain, and her hands gave way under her. She fell back to the ground, gasping for air.
Garshta advanced on her with slow steps. There was a nasty expression on his face as he eyed her body. "Or should I just cut off your legs so you can't move?" he suggested.
A shiver ran down the woman's body, and ether seeped into the ground. It raised a layer of earth, encasing her in an early grave.
Chortling, Garshta raised his great sword above himself with some effort and sent it down where Rain's legs should have been.
Arawn couldn't take it. He took a step forward, ready to rush in and save Rain, but Corwal grabbed him by the shoulder. "Don't interrupt."
"But she's going to die!" he shouted out while pulling himself free.
"Maybe. Or maybe not. Whatever the case, she chose this for herself, and her battle isn't over yet."
It was the truth, but Arawn gritted his teeth, not accepting it. Everyone was so free with their lives here, like they didn't matter at all. "I need to help her."
"You can't save everyone," Corwal hissed, turning to him for the first time. "This fight is her everything. What right do you have to take it away from her?" He calmed himself then and returned his gaze to the circular arena. "If she had been certain she didn't stand a chance, she would have asked for me to go in her stead."
The blade descended, rising a small cloud of dust when it hit the ground. Garshta had been grinning, but at that moment, his eyes went wide. He realized that he had hit nothing and turned around, expecting a sneak attack. However, poison slowed his reaction speed, and he didn't think to raise his head up.
At some point during the previous attack, a miniature rock shard had risen high into the sky. It shot down at that moment, smashing through Garshta's skull and brain. The large man stood frozen in shock for a moment, his expression one of absolute disbelief, then his legs faltered and he fell on his back. His eyes stared at the blue sky as if questioning it how something like this could have happened.
The earth layer encasing Rain opened up. Her legs were drawn to her chest, which explained how she had avoided the blade.
She raised her head shakily and looked toward Garshta. "He's dead, right?" she asked in a breathless voice. No one answered her, and she pushed herself up.
Pain surged through her body, almost stealing her consciousness, but she held onto it as she crawled toward the corpse. It was only two steps away yet the distance seemed almost insurmountable to her. She pulled herself forward though and reached the man's side while leaving a bloody trail behind herself.
Garshta's skull had been smashed in, but Rain didn't seem to see it. She extended her hand to his neck to check his pulse. It was gone, and she breathed a deep sigh of relief. "He's dead," she murmured to herself and fainted on her worst enemy's corpse with a hand around his neck as if embracing him.