After finalizing their plan, and setting a time for departure on the morrow, the group all left one by one, going to prepare for the next day. Phoenix, Astaroth, and Violette were the last ones in the room.
“Wait. Before you leave. I have a request for you,” Phoenix said, looking at Violette.
Violette looked at the woman, tilting her little head.
“I would like to test your capabilities with a spar. I have fought alongside all of the people present earlier, so I know what to expect. But you are a mystery to me.”
“Would you mind coming to the arena with me, Violette?” Phoenix asked, trying to keep an amicable smile.
Astaroth knew better than to look at her facade, but he let Violette decide for herself.
“Umm… I don’t mind,” Violette answered, becoming nervous again.
All she could think of was, ‘What if I’m not good enough? Will she not let me come to the dungeon?’.
Astaroth could feel her anxiety rise again, and put a hand on her shoulder.
“It’s alright, Violette. She just wants to know what you can do. Phoenix is the planner for this trip, so the more she knows our abilities, the better our chances are,” Astaroth said.
This calmed down the girl. Of course, he only said this, and not his real thoughts.
He could guess by how Phoenix had looked at Violette earlier that Phoenix mainly wanted to know if Violette would be a future competitor. He knew she was a very competitive woman.
It went without saying, since she was a pro player, after all. But he also knew she wouldn’t resort to underhanded methods to get rid of opponents, either.
So this was still a safe outcome. Therefore, he wouldn’t interfere.
After Violette accepted, the trio headed to the arena together. Once there, they talked to a lobby attendant, requesting to rent the grounds for a duel.
The attendant asked if it was for now, or for later, and set them up for when he was answered now. It didn’t take long to set everything up, since a lot of players were renting the arena these days.
That also meant there was a crowd in the stands. Violette’s anxiety spiked again, but Astaroth calmed her once more.
“Everything will be fine. Just imagine they are all monsters, looking at you fighting another monster,” Astaroth said, taking her mind off the players.
Their turn soon came, and both women walked into the arena. The crowd burst into cheers at the sight of Phoenix.
She was somewhat of a local celebrity, since she often accepted duel requests from players. This allowed her to raise her popularity and get free training dummies.
She also often bet some money on herself, so it was a profitable business. Rumours started spreading in the crowd, when they saw the woman’s opponent.
“Look at her. She’s so small.”
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“This fight isn’t going to last long.”
Astaroth wasn’t liking what he was hearing, so he murmured something to a player next to him.
“I heard it was Phoenix that challenged the little girl to a duel. Something about seeing how powerful she is.”
The man next to him wanted to laugh at first, but when he turned his head to ridicule the whispering player, he recognized him.
“P… Pl… Player Astaroth!” the man blurted out.
Astaroth smiled in a snide way before going to another place in the bleachers. He repeated his little trick until the murmurs in the crowd had changed altogether.
Now the rumours going around were talking about the small girl being a crouching dragon. Others were saying she was maybe a hidden pro player, making her debut fight against Phoenix.
This put a smile on his face, as even though it wasn’t the truth, it was already more positive. Maybe after this fight, Violette’s name would be known across this entire city, or further away.
The two women were facing off in the arena, while an NPC explained the rules of the duel to them. Phoenix barely listened, since she already knew them, but Violette was extremely attentive.
The rules were standard arena duel rules.
The first one to fall to zero hp had lost
If a player was incapacitated completely, even if they weren’t dead, they had lost.
If a player surrendered, they lost.
A very simple set of rules that everyone could get behind, and prevented any misconduct.
Phoenix was staring down at Violette while the NPC explained everything. She was trying to gauge her magical power by the surrounding mana.
She had gotten quite good at this when she fought against mages. Most mages couldn’t control the mana around them, making them open books to anyone with good mana senses.
But the girl in front of her was barely emanating mana at all. Phoenix looked over at the stands, spotting Astaroth almost instantly.
Astaroth returned her stare with a wide grin. He mouthed words that only she could see, and it made her grin.
‘Do your worse.’
She quickly understood that the person who taught magic to Violette must have been the same master as Astaroth. And by the looks of it, she had learned more about magic than the latter.
This only made Phoenix even more enthusiastic about this duel. She could feel the anticipation buzzing at her fingertips.
After going over the rules, the NPC looked over at both women in turn.
“Player Phoenix, are you ready?!” He asked her.
Phoenix nodded in response.
“Player Violette, are you ready?!” He asked Violette, turning his head to her.
“Yes!” She said, her voice shaking.
She was holding her staff in her hands; her grip tighter than a noose on a hanging man. She did her best to control the mana trying to leak from it, just as Aberon had taught her.
The old man had once told her that the best mages left no power leak from them at any time. So she had practiced hiding her mana signature a lot.
Her opponent, Phoenix, was barely releasing any mana herself. But she already knew how powerful the woman was from having watched the tournament.
The NPC raised his hands.
“May the best player win!”
“Fight!”