The two women looked into each other's eyes. They knew that their opponent was not to be underestimated. As soon as the signal was given, Lynia started to attack, Auris could hardly evade her arrows. But her sword strokes were automatically controlled as if the sword had its own consciousness. Moreover, her body felt lighter and she had more strength in her arms. The sword adapted to the user, but only a few individuals were worthy of the weapon. If an unknown person were to use the sword, his consciousness would be devoured by the sword and it would make him kill himself with his own weapon. The archeress's eyes lit up and her look became more serious. Getting stronger with each passing second, Auris managed to use attacks herself. Lynia just managed to dodge, her arrows glowed and she fused them with magic. When the guards were about to intervene, the king ordered not to interrupt the fight. Leo knew exactly that Sezur wanted to give Auris a lot of disadvantages. But this time it was in favor of Auris. Suddenly the runes appeared on the sword and Auris' eyes turned blood red, this time she was able to maintain this state. When Lynia saw the runes she got angry and wanted to kill Auris as soon as possible. The wolf-woman fell into a huge frenzy and concentrated on her target without paying attention to her surroundings. Lynia immediately realized that she was likely to be pushed back. She moved back and got ready to counterattack. For the audience it looked like the sword was about to hit the defenseless bowwoman directly in the cheast. At the last moment she took out two daggers from her cloak and blocked the attack. By now there were no more rules, the fight was getting more and more heated. The rage of the women hardly subsided, no one allowed the other to breathe.
("She will soon lose focus, too much time has passed.")
Leo stood up and prepared to intervene. This time Aiden pulled him back to the seat and showed him what was happening on the battlefield. The fight slowed down and the attacks were no longer full force. It looked like they were talking during the match.
"Where did you get that sword?"
"Why do you want to know?"
They exchanged a few words after each attack.
"Because I know that sword belongs to someone else!"
"And what if it does?"
"I know the owner very well. So why do you have the sword?"
"He lent it to me for the fight. Are you his enemy or an ally?"
"Actually a companion but I don't know if he still sees me that way."
"What do you mean, what exactly do you want here?"
"To repay a debt, I don't like chasing after favors."
"Look, he gave me a mission. I have to win the tournament by any means so just concede defeat."
"I'm not going to give up that easily, don't you have a fighting spirit anymore?"
"Speak for yourself.."
The two women didn't stop fighting each other. As they both stepped back, Auris pointed her finger at Leo. When Lynia saw him, he stared at her with a murderous lust.
"Ha, so you're still not over it. Don't think I'm making it easy for you."
The two men saw from a distance that Auris was losing, as predicted by Leo she ran out of strength for the sword. Eventually Lynia knocked the sword out of her hand and threw her to the ground. When she tried to get up after a few seconds, an arrow was aimed at her head. Suddenly black smoke came out of the sword and formed a shield in front of Auris. Lynia realized what was going on and withdrew her weapons. As she was about to show mercy and the commentator was about to announce the result, the audience demanded Auris' death. The king changed his decision and the condition changed to the death of the loser. Suddenly Gladius interrupted the commentator and announced in front of everyone that he wanted to contest the final immediately. Through this spectacular and exciting fight, he got hungry for the fight against the winner. He gave the condition free for the two to fight together. Auris was completely exhausted on the ground and Lynia was also worn out but there was no escape.
"Honor and justice? It's all fucking lies! Aiden, prepare to play two more jokers. Those two won't be able to beat him like this."
"What if Lynia kills Auris first?"
"Not this time, she's not here for that."
"What exactly are you going to do? Turn everyone against them? If you do that, then the whole city will be after us.
"I know that myself, but I have a bad feeling. The fight is two against one, even if he's stronger than the two of them combined someone won't take a risk and help him anyway."
Gladius was now attacking him while chaos ensued in the arena. Leo and Aiden entered the battlefield without permission, the king sent the soldiers ahead. Sezur recognized the danger of the two men and made his way into the arena along with his elite unit. Leo saw that he was suddenly surrounded by blood-red aura. He smiled and turned to Auris.
"Stand up, you did well. Now the real fight begins, it's time for plan B. You're not alone anymore."
Leo took his sword and the runes ignited, the weapon was surrounded by fire. At the sight, the whole arena was astonished. Auris stared at Leo in amazement while he handed her the weapon again. This time Auris felt even better while holding the sword, endless power was flowing through her.
"The three of us will take care of Gladius and the rest of the soldiers, you two take out the king and his elite squad."
"What do you mean "you two"?"
Auris saw Leo as a cold emotionless young man. But at that moment he showed her a natural friendly smile.
"He did say that he will help you, didn't he?"
Suddenly she heard a loud growl in her head followed by the voice.
("I hope you are ready, young wolf.")
Suddenly there was a rumble in the city, screams could be heard everywhere outside the arena. A loud howling echoed, a huge wolf ran through the gate directly towards Auris. She was frozen as the huge creature opened its mouth, bit her on the fur and placed her on its back.
In her head she heard the voice again.
It was the giant wolf communicating with her.
("We have quite a big audience here. Now it's showtime, I hope you haven't forgotten your purpose Auris.")
The spectators couldn't believe what kind of creature was standing in front of them. It was mentioned in almost every book, its appearance perfectly matched the description in the scripts. Everybody was sure: this giant wolf is one of the black knights of Fenriolus, the wolf god. A legend, a myth, a true ancient power stood before them. Auris was also shocked at who exactly she was sitting on. Sezur froze at the sight, but he did not give up easily. His throne was at stake. He ordered his followers to get his ultimate weapon. They all advised him against it, but he insisted on it in any way he could. When the giant wolf saw the black vial, he growled at the king and backed away.
(" This smell...Tsk, even today this cursed blood exists. You just couldn't part with it what?").
"What exactly do you mean?"
("In this vial are the remains of an ancient fiend. Fenriolus had a brother who wanted to proclaim himself a god out of envy for his brother. He needed a sacrifice for this and took their little sister. But his power was different from my master's. When Fenriolus learned of his brother's deeds, he killed him with his own claws and destroyed the remains of his cursed power. But the other gods became curious and so they kept a small part of his blood so that Fenriolus would never forget the misdeeds and corruption of his little brother. I never thought that after all this time, parts of it would still exist. Prepare yourself Auris, you're about to see what blood corruption looks like. This will not be an easy opponent.")
Without hesitation Sezur took this potion, his fur turned blood red and he grew bigger and bigger until he was on par with the wolf. All the beastmen who were near him suffocated and fell dead. Their corpses turned into a black liquid that nourished the king.
("It's been quite a long time since I had to fight such an opponent. But this time I have a great assistance with me. Auris, focus on the sword and imagine a big black flame!")
She closed her eyes and imagined the black flame. Suddenly the wolf's fur started to burn in a black flame but Auris remained completely unharmed.
("Now it is very important that you stay calm. Hold on to me with one hand and with the other the sword. Bear the pain for everyone's sake, we only have one shot at this.")
Suddenly Auri's body began to burn black. Full of agony, she cried out with a very loud scream. The sword caught complete black fire and burned her hand. But Auris withstood the pain. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the flame in her mind. Suddenly, thousands of images shot past her. She could hardly understand what she saw there, but it somehow felt familiar.
("is...Auris wake up! You did it, it was successfull.") She heard the wolf even more clearly now, her senses were stronger and her body felt like it was completely new. Red runes had formed on her arm, they were the same as on the sword. The runes had also formed on the giant wolf's forehead. Along with the other two marks, it flamed fiery red.
("It is done, now you are connected to me. Can you feel it, the enhanced) senses, the strength?")
Their calmness was interrupted by the king. Due to his monster form he lost his mind, now he was a wild animal what was out for his prey. Ferociously, he lunged forward to slash at the wolf. His claws scratched the creature's fur. Suddenly Auris felt a sharp pain, which disappeared after a few seconds.
("Auris, we share our minds and our bodies. Any pain you feel, I feel too. It's the same the other way around as you just realized. From now on, you can partly control me, your thoughts affect my body.")
"O-Okay, but I have no idea how to fight on a wolf....
("Try to remember, your kind was already controlling us back then. Somewhere in your memories and mind there has to be this knowledge. Unfortunately, I can't show you these memories directly. Without you, this battle will be very tough, I can't guarantee our surival.")
Auris was overwhelmed, but she closed her eyes as the wolf had commanded. She went through all her memories from her birth to the present, but that was all she could think of.
("Look closer, find out where you really come from").
The wolf fought against his opponent. Since he had to protect Auris, it was more difficult for him to launch an attack. Now everything depended on Auris, her background was actually much bigger and more important than everyone would have thought.