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I narrowed my eyes on her and curled up my fists. If I remembered correctly, the shards landed on Lucyna in a couple points along her torso. Mapping those points out in my head, I planned on my defense strategy. Depending on how she’d approach me, I could use the goblins’ wild-shot plan as a way to get out of this rotten little pickle!

“So, you're free,” the princess said, her voice cold and regal. “Was it that boy Redfeur? If I’d known he was a skilled spell-weaver, then I wouldn’t have allowed you bunking with him. He did seem as useless as he looked.”

“You know, you’re pretty damn good at underestimating people.” I smirked. “You should make that your side career.”

“You’re only alive because of him. But I’ll fix that right away.”

“What?! You’re going to kill me, Lucyna?! After all the hype I brought to your arena?!” I said, trying to save my own hide. The princess circled me, her eyes scanning me carefully. “That’d be a waste. How many fights can you say left a mark in your memory?”

“I don’t do Blood Games.”

“Oh, right. I forgot. But, you did show up for my shining moment!”

“I was hoping it’d be your last. I regret letting you have a partner in the ring. But it seems like always, I’d have to get my hands dirty. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself…”

My heart pounded against my chest, and my palms began to sweat. Lucyna looked like an unstoppable force, with that death glare locked on me. A high-leveled dragon beast being praised by a raging crowd and lathered by the hot piercing sun above—it was the perfect storm. And when she made the first move, I knew then and there that I had to rely on her being wounded for a sliver of a chance of getting out of here alive.

She lunged in with her claws out. I step-dodged her slash, but barely. The smell of my own blood filled my nose as her claw caught my cheek. It was deep enough to get my attention for half a second, but I didn’t feel the sting that should have chased it. Lucyna had me against the ropes, and I was so high on adrenaline that all I felt was heat riding up my bones as I weaved and ducked strike after strike.

The pure-blooded dragon was relentless. I could feel the air whoosh and swoosh in between us.  

I tried my best to dodge her strikes, but she kept coming for more, answering back to my counters with ease. I was starting to tire out from all the running and dodging that I did, while Lucyna showed no signs of slowing down—if anything, she seemed even more determined now than before to catch me. Realizing that this fight wouldn't end well if it kept dragging on like this, I decided to take a chance and put my plan to the test and throw my first offensive jab at her side.

A kick would have been more impactful, but I couldn’t give too much of myself to her. At least if a jab backfired, I had enough room to withdraw. With a kick, I’d be putting too much of my momentum out there for her to use against me. Part of fighting a dragon was knowing what your options were, and thinking ahead if all else failed.

There was a 2% chance I would have landed that, so I was glad I had a way out. Weave and roll—she followed up by trying to squish me like a bug, but seeing as I was smaller than her, my agility and nimbleness tipped to my favor. When she saw that she missed, she opened her mouth and blew out a fire ball that scorched the ends of my hair as I evaded it. But then she really sped things up, practically teleporting behind me with a fist cocked back for a fierce punch for my face.

With no time to evade her, I shielded my face with my arm and added an ice sleeve for extra protection. Knowing it’d do little to absorb the impact, I followed up with another arm behind that one, Lucyna breaking through both of them. I winced in pain and leaped back against the wall of the ring, then jumped over her head for cover. With my broken arms cradled against my chest, I bucked it as far as I could across the ring, Lucyna hot on my tail.

Again she barricaded me. I darted around her, waiting for my regen to kick in. There was an opening, staring right at me as I pivoted! I cringed at the thought of missing my one shot of landing a few quick hits on her back, but it was gone in an instant. She spun around, breathing fire, but I jumped over the flames and flipped over on her shoulder, trying to test out a theory…

Her muscles tensed when she stretched her arm up to try to grab my ankles, and I also noticed the faint smell of her blood. Not only that, her breathing changed, my keen sense of hearing picking up on the shallowness of her lungs.

I was right, she was still in pain from the blood knight fragments from that night…

Follow the blood flow, listen to its path from within…and then… there!

I drew out my claws while her arm was still up, and as I leaped off of her shoulders, I back flipped on my way down, and then pivoted my body to slash just underneath her left rib cage.

An area of poor circulation was the golden ticket I needed to find to bring Lucyna down. She tipped over like a house of cards, and if it hadn’t been for the broken bones in my arms, my attack would have dealt more damage.

But oh no, I wasn’t done with her yet!

I just hit the jackpot, so I was going to cash in big time!

I followed up with a roundhouse kick, Lucyna crumpling up as she fell on one knee. Her breathing shook and labored as her body began to shake, the same spot being hit twice flustering her up. The pain etched across her face came with a pair of eyes blazing with anger. “You bitch,” she snarled, and then lunged at me.

She was a little slower thanks to my rib shot. I sidestepped her attack, and then aimed for a quick punch against her jaw. But she caught me off guard, materializing her dragon tail and then lashing it at my feet.

I fell hard on my butt, Lucyna not giving me a hair of a second to react. When her tail came crashing down on my chest, I wailed, the bitch knocking the wind out of me. She aired me out, and kept me pinned down in the sand. With her mouth open wide, I knew what came next, so I transformed to buck her off of me, but my wolf form couldn’t come out in time.

To counter being swallowed by flames, I tapped into the little mana I had garnered during the fight. By summoning an ice shield over my body, I delayed the inevitable. There was no way a puny ice shield was going to protect me from her flames, but I had to try. I couldn’t give up. I couldn’t forfeit years of hard work to die like this! The flames engulfed me, whipping in my ears, and sucking the life out of my lungs. I screamed, I cried, but no sound came, and no tears fell. The inferno smothered everything, and all I could think about was how I’d promised my Senterrians protection from the grave.

The heat seared my flesh. Even then, I clung onto faith. I trusted my body to fight on! As long as this heart of mine continues to beat, I will fight! I felt my clothes singe and burn, my hair now a pile of ash. I wasn’t going to die here, in this arena, at the hands of Lucyna! I will not, I refuse!

And then, something strange happened. Salvation…

The flames around me began to die out. I gasped as the air around me continued to suffocate my chest with smoke. Blinded, I couldn’t see the dragon princess, but I could hear her.

She stumbled back, and then whispered in a jagged breath, “You’re lucky…” she said, and all of a sudden the crowd went quiet. “She is finished!” the princess declared, revving up the crowd again.

But she lied…

She knew I wasn’t done…

The dragon princess was putting out too much heat and her body was trying to compensate, wasn’t it? And with the risk of appearing weak before her people, she ended the fight early, sparing my life…

The pride of dragons… I never thought such a thing would save my hide…

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Silas

The fae of the village didn’t want to let us go, but I had to insist. When it was time to leave Citron, I was well entertained, well fed, and well adorned with gifts. They gave me plenty of mana restoration vials and healing potions. When they offered me food, I declined. Just in case they didn’t see a score like that big boar for a while, it was better they kept the food in storage for the village.

As for the tier three Tempus stone, I plan on keeping that for Jezz.

The last one she had was a tier two, with the ability to rewind time for 12 hours. This tier three was good for only six hours. Granted it was a step down, I was sure she’d appreciate the stone regardless. It pulled me out of the fire once, when I had that one-sided fight with Lucyna.

Are sens

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