Alexander began charging towards Ren once more. Seeing the impossible situation to overcome Ren was reminded of her papa. She drifted to memories of childhood, and the long days of watching him train.
To Ren, no one was stronger than her papa, and he went undefeated as their chieftain. One day an abomination wandered by their camp, and he faced it alone. Ren snuck out to watch the battle and witnessed her father lose in raw power for the first time. When it seemed all was hopeless he stood firmly unwavering in his resolve.
Ren began charging forward to meet him as her aura flared. She knew if Alexander reached full speed again it wouldn't matter. While her body was still transforming the two collided. Ren gripped his horns digging her feet in with all her might.
The second Ren's transformation finished she yanked his horns upwards. Alexander was hurled into the air, but his energy was still protecting his body. Even without reaching full speed, he managed to build up enough to endure one attack.
'That strength is surprising, but it won't break my aura. I won't fall for the same trick twice either.' Alexander thought as he saw Ren take a weird stance.
Ren closed her eyes recalling the end of the fight, and the years of training that followed. When Ren was fourteen she was sparing with her papa. In their years of training, her strength and skill had rapidly grown.
Out of the younglings Ren had the most talent, and most adults struggled to spar with her. Even as a teen she could give her papa a run for his money. While they were sitting around sharing a drink Ren recalled the fight long ago.
"What race is the strongest?" Ren investigated.
"The oni of course. Name someone else who can beat your papa." He laughed chugging his booze.
"What about the monster from before?" Ren asked.
Her father choked on his drink banging his chest to cease the coughing. He looked at the seriousness of Ren's face placing his hand on her shoulder.
"I didn't lie to you. Strength isn't always about the one with the biggest muscles. It comes from willpower and technique. Let me show you." Her father replied as he stood up.
Ren took a deep breath placing her right fist against her palm. There was ominous purple energy swirling around her body violently. A howling wind swept the plains as the glow slowly shifted to her right hand. The glow was rapidly increasing before vanishing altogether as the arena fell quiet watching carefully.
Alexander saw Ren's attack bracing himself. He didn't hit full speed but still managed to build up his aura, and it wouldn't be so easy to break his defense. Ren had a calm look on her face holding her stance till Alexander was within range. Alexander began to sweat when seeing Ren's calm expression replaced with a ferocious one.
When the punch landed a powerful boom echoed through the arena as the feed went blurry. The boulders in the plains were now nothing but piles of rubble as dust swirled. When the feed returned Alexander was on his back unconscious with blood trailing down his chin, and a hole was blown through his armor, but not the flesh.
Ren was raising her hand triumphantly towards the crowd. Blood was trickling down her fist while it was trembling wildly, but she stood standing. The members of Cerebus began chanting her name, and it quickly picked up with the others.
Ren never had that much attention before and began waving with an embarrassed smirk. She never expected so much praise from her strength. The only people do ever do so were members of her tribe and Zack.
Zack's grace flooded the arena to heal the two. When he was mending Alexander there was a strong trace of Ren's essence embedded within him. It was pulsing through his body and took a minute to cleanse. Alexander woke to the sound of the crowd cheering for Ren. He looked down seeing his armor destroyed, and felt the sharp pain in his ribs slowly fading away.
'Father always said the oni were no to be taken lightly. It felt like a barrage of punches at once, but I only saw one before blacking out.'
"That was fun we should definitely do it again sometime." Ren smiled extending her hand.
"That sounds like a good way to pass the time," Alexander replied taking her hand.
Ren lifted Alexander from the ground as the platform appeared. The new citizens became infatuated with the arena. Admission fees for arenas were rather high due to the popularity of guilds on the rise. Even if they could afford such luxury they could never get a view like this.
Ren was stepping off the platform as Zack stood there waiting with his arms open. She saw his grace activated and quickly snatched him up. The kids were laughing seeing her twirl with him so easily. Feeling the audience still observing her so closely she put him down carefully.
"That last attack was new." Zack smiled.
"When can we spar again?" Ren asked.
"Let's get the town situated in the next few days, and then you can help me with demonstrations," Zack replied walking to grab his spear.
Zack placed his hands on it as he closed his eyes. The arena began to rumble as the land was repaired, and new boulders formed. He retrieved his spear as it dissipated. Turning back to Ren he saw William approaching nervously. Ren looked down at him confused about who he was but still smiled politely. William gathered his resolve and lowered his head respectively.
"Will you be my master?" William asked.
"We don't have to fight here," Holly reassured him.
Ren wasn't expecting such a question and seeing Holly interject made her feel awkward. She never considered taking a student and wasn't even sure how. Ren was taught martial arts by her father but preferred her club.
She didn't even know if instructing others was possible. Holding back was something Ren had always struggled with after all. With this coming into mind she felt relieved about Holly's intervention.
"I wanna be like dad," William said clenching his fist.
Zack could feel the overwhelming emotions leaking from the two of them. He already expected them to have experienced tragedy. For purebloods to be without their pack would mean a calamity had to have happened. He could tell Holly didn't wanna control him but was concerned about him getting lost in a rage.
"Learning to defend yourself, and those you love isn't so bad is it?" Zack smiled placing his hand on her shoulder.
William looked up at Holly with a determined look, and after fighting back the tears she nodded. He returned to Ren once again lowering his head. When Ren was little it was the same thing she wanted. Seeing his resolve it was hard to deny him, and that's when Zack walked up putting his arm around Ren.
"I know you can do it, and I'll be right there helping," Zack reassured Ren.