("I know I had to disguise myself but why did he use Yasaris as a name? Fuck, you have to concentrate Auris! Now there's no turning back, now it's time to survive this game of death").
After everyone calmed down, the first squads headed to the battlefield. In group combat, weapons were randomly chosen for everyone. Nayari got a spear, the two airheads were given axes, and Gladius was fortunately assigned his great sword. Leo had the king figured out, all night thinking about how exactly the tournament was going to go his way. Since Yasaris was from the Yokariu tribe she was given two daggers to hold as her ancestors once did.
"Was that your plan? To give her a weapon that I trained her with? A sword would have been better. The dagger was only our second choice."
"Be thankful, it could have easily been a bow or a crossbow. Look closely, the opposing team has a ranged fighter. Total chaos is about to happen, she has to use the whole area if she doesn't want to be caught off guard. Now we'll see if your training was worth it."
"Thanks to your glorious plan, though, everyone will immediately see her as the first target."
"I'm not so sure about that, I think there's someone who personally wants to fight one of the Yokariu. I think she'll have her own bodyguard."
Auri's heart pounded out of her chest, she felt dizzy for a moment but quickly regained her concentration. She looked in Nayari's direction, who only smiled at her with complete fear and gave her the sign. In the opposing squad were bigger fighters of many different beastmen tribes. From alligators to fox fighters, each of them had bloodlust written all over their faces. They all looked at Auris with big smiles. She closed her eyes and went over everything Aiden had taught her.
("So one more time, everyone is my enemy, I must trust no one and meet every enemy with the intention of killing them. Use the environment Auris, manipulate their psyche if there is a chance. You have all the attention, don't let your fear guide you, Leo and Aiden can't help you now. If you want to survive then show what you've got.")
Suddenly a loud signal sounded and the two teams ran towards each other. Of the 10 fighters, only 2 would advance. There was a big reason why groups were created and it wasn't just everyone fighting against everyone. Within the groups, alliances were often formed or allies were sought, and after eliminating everyone else, they would end up fighting each other. That was the plan most of the time but in the end, the fight was dominated by betrayal and backstabbing. A small tragedy within a much larger one. For the audience it looked like a play, which could change at any moment. Leo understood from the beginning what exactly the intention of the grouping was, so it was even more important that Auris followed his advice.
After a few meters, Auris suddenly turned around and sprinted towards her own teammate. Nayari thrust her spear forward and missed Auris. She used the spear as a springboard and pushed herself forward. Auris closed her eyes while moving her daggers crossed towards Nayari's neck. Just before her throat she opened her eyes and looked Nayari straight in the face, with her lips she still said thank you to Auris before her eyes went wide. With a short crack and splash her head rolled forward. The blood splashed Auris directly in the face and on her armor. The entire arena held its breath and stared directly into the face of the Yokariu descendant. Even Aiden and Leo could hardly believe what had just happened. To them, it looked like Auris had brutally decapitated her teammate without hesitation.
"W-Why did she just do that? What exactly just happened Leo?"
The young man saw through her plan to release the young raven woman from this world but he too was slightly stunned that Auris was able to do so without any problems.
"She did someone a great service even if it doesn't look like it at all."
"Are you fucking kidding me Leo?! That wasn't the Auris we know. Something must have happened yesterday."
"Believe what you want Aiden, in any case it was unexpected. I may have to come up with something else, that was a little too soon for her."
"Stop fucking talking in riddles Leo. What would have been too soon for her to have killed someone?"
"Something to that effect. Anyway we don't have to worry so much about her survival anymore Aiden. So calm down and watch the fight."
"How am I supposed to calm down? Just because she killed a defenseless fighter she will not automatically defeat the other enemies."
"All I will say is that there was a reason why I freed her..."
Leo relaxed and calmly watched the fight while Aiden still looked at Auris with excitement. Slowly he began to despise Leo for his cold nature. But he also knew that Leo had never lied before. Suddenly the whole arena turned its eyes once again to the young woman fighter, even Aiden couldn't believe what he was witnessing. Leo looked annoyed yet pleased, his first wild card had taken its course.
Auris wiped her face, when she saw the blood she felt sick. But before she could vomit, her heart pumped faster and faster and her body filled with adrenaline. But it was not real adrenaline but a strength that no one had expected. Her eyes turned blood red and she howled loudly. Her scream went through the whole city and spread fear to everyone who heard it.
("I guess you found a real jackpot Metsu...")
She then stood still and growled louder and louder, her ears stood up and her fur literally burned. Her hands formed into huge sharp claws.
By then the battle was in full swing, Tigras and Xoris were a surprisingly good team. The tiger was in full bloodlust, biting off the fox fighter's arms while the bull pierced the alligator's thick skin with his axe and impaled the head with his horns. Before they could show off for each other, Xoris' head was suddenly pierced by an arrow.
At the sight, Tigras backed away. The next moment Auris dashed at him, at the last moment he dodged her claws. Seeing her more closely, he smiled and threw away his axe. He sharpened his claws and bulked up even taller.
"Who would have thought that little bitch would be so strong after all. But you're forgetting one thing: the tiger has always been above the wolf. So don't show off!"
The tiger rushed at the young wolf-woman and attacked her. Auris dodged his attack with no problem, her senses heightened to an ultimate level. Bloodthirsty, she looked down at her claws, which were getting smaller and smaller. Quick as a flash, she attacked him again but Tigras smirked in satisfaction.
"Kuhaha, I guess you're too predictable as well."
Instead of dodging he held his arms in front of him as a shield, her claws bounced off and he rammed his fangs into one of her arms. But instead of screaming out, Auris just looked at the bite wound and faced her opponent with even greater bloodlust. Tigras had never seen anything like this before, so far each of his opponents had a terrified look after his attacks but Auris was completely different. He didn't give up and swung his claws right into Auris' face. But she let the claws rush towards her, suddenly her whole body was on fire. The tiger wanted to pull back but it was too late, the claws were on fire and he cried out in pain. The next moment he only saw the fangs of the wolf rushing towards him, biting him directly in the throat.
Tigras was gasping on the ground and started to smile.
"Ha....ha....seems like the wolf won today..."
His eyes rolled back as a blood puddle formed. Auris touched her wound, as she turned she saw an arrow coming towards her, which she barely dodged. The archer kept his distance, waiting for the perfect opportunity to kill with his arrows. He panicked when he saw his opponent coming closer and closer to him. He began to draw his bow again, his hands shook and his arrow fell to the ground. Just as he was about to beg her to spare him, he saw that Auris was still standing in place. He started to smile and drew his bow again. When he took aim he saw only the tip of a dagger piercing his head. As if shot by a pistol, he fell backwards while his head burst from the large projectile. The sight was gruesome and turned the stomach of several viewers. Auris had shot one of her daggers at a high velocity like an arrow. All at once she began to stagger and was about to faint. When one of the enemy fighters noticed this, he quickly attacked her. Before the blade reached her shoulder it bounced off the armor of Gladius, who was protecting her.
"You are the strongest opponent here, I hope we fight each other in duels later. Don't dare to lose to other opponents then me."
Those were the last words she heard before she fell unconscious on the ground. Gladius had already taken out one of the opponents and was now about to take out the last of the enemy group. His fighting style was extremely accurate and precise, although he was still young it looked like he had been fighting his whole life. However, instead of torturing his enemy he gave him a quick death and saw him off from this world.
"What an incredible battle we have just seen. The strength of the Yokariu is yet almost untouchable were it not for the undefeated tribe of lions with Gladius. We have the first two participants for the next round. Give a big cheer for the two survivors, Yasaris and Gladius."
The crowd listened to the commentator's command and erupted into huge cheers. All over the stands, people were discussing and admiring Auris' fighting style and her wild almost barbaric manner. Although the arena was filled with blood and brutally destroyed bodies there was endless applause.
"So this was your plan for her survival. I won't complain or rage about it, in the end she survived as you promised. Yet do you know exactly what her condition is? Is she even fit to fight anymore? Why did I even train her if she can just do something like that?"
"It wasn't exactly planned, even I didn't think she would become such a monster. We were lucky that her bodyguard protected her. I guessed that Gladius would not let himself take a duel against such a strong opponent. Today he didn't even use all his strength to kill the other two opponents. Now we can only hope that she recovers quickly. Unfortunately we can't do much for her but have faith in her abilities. Your training will have to prove itself in the next fights. She won't be able to use those powers again so she can only rely on her normal talent."
"You probably won't explain to me again what exactly happened, will you? Is she really okay?"
"The wound should be no problem. I don't know where exactly she is being taken but she should be safe. Very soon you will know even more than you probably want to know. Be a little patient you pain in the ass.
Auri's condition was relatively bad, her wound would not close and she was getting a fever. Suddenly she opened her eyes, but she was not in her body. She was surrounded by a completely black void that was changing rapidly.
"Where am I? What happened? Am I still alive? My head hurts so bad, make it stop? My whole body is on fire, somebody help me! What's going on, I don't feel any pain? Why do I look so different, what happened to me? Where is this loud growling coming from? The flames are getting closer, why do they feel so familiar? Am I really Auris? I don't know anymore..."
Suddenly she heard a loud growl, a huge wolf appeared out of nowhere and looked at her.
"Auris, so that's your name. Don't worry, you're still alive. However, you've taken quite a bit of damage from our power."
" What the hell are you? You look like a monster but you can talk. My parents always told me about such things. Are you a god?"
"Haha, no, I'm far from being a god. We're not as different as you think. Your parents must have only told you the shallow stuff, no wonder you're confused. Soon we will meet in your world. Until then, you have to survive, so do your best, our blood flows through your veins, so don't lose your fighting spirit.
"How the hell are we supposed to be alike? You are a beast and I am just a normal wolf-man. What kind of blood do you mean, where did I get these abilities?"
"I can't answer those questions for you right now, it seems your body is calling out to you. All I can say is that you can trust the young man with the black armor. He is stubborn and has a cold nature to him but he would never betray his allies."
"Do you mean Leo, how do you know him? It's all so blurry, I can't see anything anymore, where did you go? I don't even know your name yet. Come back, I'm not done yet!"
But the voice disappeared and a blood-red light raced toward her. The next moment her eyes opened, she was in her body. Around her were paramedics tending to her wound. But they could not believe their eyes as they looked at Auris. Her wound, which just wouldn't close, was healing after less than a minute. Completely dumbfounded, they explained it to themselves as being an ability of the Yokariu. Auris could remember everything that happened today and was shocked. She had missed the other group battles, the participants for the next round were set. She remembered the words of Gladius and the words of Leo and Aiden. The tournament system prevented an immediate duel between Gladius and Auris. One of the winners of Match 1 fights one of the winners of Match 2 in a duel. Auris had no preparation, nor could Leo and Aiden help. But she tried to keep calm and focus on the fight tomorrow.
"Hey why did we have to sneak into the inspection room? We could have just ambushed one of the guards and snatched his weapons, couldn't we?"
"Any weapon won't do though, plus I didn't want to keep running around all naked. We have to make Auris use my sword in the fights. It's best in her hands, we need to prepare everything for her that will make her survival more likely."
"I get it, the sword certainly makes a difference nevertheless we could have at least done it with masks. Now he knows what we look like."
"Should we have bought the children's masks from the marketplace? It looks pretty suspicious when an man alone buys two children's masks surrounded by children. Then I would have had to not only steal the sword but get you right out of the city jail."
"Hey, who's old here? From age we may be about the same but from appearance you look like you are already 10 years older. Besides, you're only as old as you feel."
"You should have told that to the mask vendor and the women next to the stand, that really sounds like a good reason to be there."
"You always want to have the last word, don't you Leo? But I'm way ahead of you in one thing. At least people are hardly afraid of me and talk to me normally while everyone gets out of your face right away."
"If you had bought the masks you would be in the same situation as me."
"Is this going to be the topic of the evening: "Aiden and the curse of the masks". I get it, so let's call a truce. So how exactly should we handle tomorrow?
"I don't know what opponent she's fighting exactly, but it certainly won't be an easy fight. Also, I have no idea what weapons will be used tomorrow. We can't use the sword until she wins tomorrow."
"This all sounds like improvisation, do we need to pray for her right now?"
"You can pray to your God if you want. I'm thinking about how she can turn the fight to her side. One thing is clear Aiden, if she really gets to the finals I promise to everyone that she will win. If I need your help you will hopefully help me and her, I can count on you right?"
"Only if you buy me a child's mask...
Now there is no turning back so I have no choice but to help you. Besides, I want to free my sister from my father's clutches, so giving up doesn't matter at all. And the title Kingslayer doesn't sound so bad either."
"haha...you're right for once..."
"What do you mean, I'm always right."