Bellona eyed her oppo as she settled into her stan the arena sands. Mordecai appeared to only be wielding an axe in one hand, of a design simir to her own, but he’d already demonstrated that his bracers could form a shield of for and. Those teo be less sturdy than a properly built and reinforced physical shield of equal cost, but had the advantage of being self-repairing and leaving the user’s hand free until the moment they needed a shield. He’d also showhe o of shape-ging he was allowing himself for this battle: his skin would transform into scales as needed. Scales that he cimed were as resilient as her own armor.

  This could be dangerous enough with an experienced warrior, but she was aware that Mordecai had many martial talents avaible to him. She was satisfied with the restri of this spar being martial skills, but removing spells from his repertoire did not make her foe much less dangerous.

  Kazue’s illusion called out the tdown, and at ‘begin’, the two of them cshed.

  Bellona did not try any fancy footwork, she knew Mordecai was faster than her. She this fight into her strengths as much as possible. The two of them exged opening blows, their respective shields defleg each other’s axes, but even as her axe arced away, Mordecai’s shield flickered back off and he snatched at the handle of her axe.

  She swung it out to avoid his hand, then flicked it ba to ssh at his leg even as she shoved back with her shield, f him to choose which to defend against. He took the shove, stepping back to avoid her axe, and Bellona tried to take advantage of the moment by using the swing of her axe to el an arc of electricity.

  Mordecai took this hit with a slight smile, and she scowled as she felt the electricity fade with little effect. He didn’t even have to shift his aura to match the element; he just could resist it. Bellona could not say the same, a point hammered home whealiated. His first attack led with his axe, but it was mostly a lure to give him the ce to grab her shield and keep it out of the way as he snapped out a fast pair of kicks, the first den with cold aura and the sed with fire. Bellona only had the time to shift her spiritual aura to match the elemental ice, mitigating its effects but leaving her open to almost the full impact of the scorg heat of the sed kick, though at least her armor soaked most of the physical blow. She did have some staao all the elements, but it was clearly lower than his.

  The orc champion growled as jagged metal erupted from the surface of her shield, f him to let go, and she took the opportunity to swipe at him with it before she stepped forward to tinue her momentum with an ax strike, increasing its weight temporarily by filling with the essence of earth. Mordecai dodged backward with a flip that he turned into a roll that gave him distance before she could shift her stand chase his movement. Once he was ba his feet, Mordecai settled into a stahat she didn’t reize, but felt familiar. It made her wary as she studied him, and it was only her new sensitivity to the elements that let her puzzle it out. He’d somehow bined several monk forms, and though she couldn’t feel his chi, she could feel the effect it had on the elements.

  Bellona charged as she used her shield to deflect the electrically charged air punches, her own aura shifting to protect her from the electric charge. Her shield and axe had already returo normal, but she also knew how to put all the weight of her body and will into a strike, and she held nothing back as her axe came down at a sharp angle.

  She’d been expeg him to dodge again, but instead, his shield flicked bato existeempered with an aura of metal and backed by his own will. He took her full-powered strike into his shield and his arm didn’t budge, though she at least saw the shield shimmer from the force it had to absorb.

  His attack was almost unfair, but her reition of his monk sta least made her aware of the possibility so she was not taken pletely off guard. Shadowy, cwed hands reached out from his shadow to grasp at her, seeking to pin her in pd attack her with the deep cold of the void. Bellona wrenched herself free, stepping to the side before ing ba at an a a fast series of attacks, finishing with a low, bad swing of her axe that allowed her to follow up with the edge of her shield aimed at his face.

  While she didn’t get a hit in, Mordecai was at least forced to take her shield’s impa his unshielded forearm. This would have been more satisfying if she didn’t feel the resistance of armor-strong scales.

  This retty much the pace of the battle. She could nd hits, but he was resilient against everything. Her spiritual e with the elements was matched by his own, and he could call upon the elements via chi as well. She had a slight advantage in being able to call upon Amirume’s blessing to heal some of her injuries, but that was a well that was quickly dried up and wouldn’t be replenished until she had the time to meditate and pray. In trast, Mordecai seemed to have a natural if slow ability to restore his wounds. She wouldn’t win in an endurach against him.

  His shield broke first, the energy flickering out, but for him, that was a minor ge in his bat style, and he simply tossed his axe aside to focus on his stances. When her shield became too cracked to be trusted and she had to discard it, her bat options became drastically reduced. It wasn’t long after the loss of her shield that Bellona ceded the fight, and sat down in exhaustion as she tossed her helmet to the grouo her. “Holy light, you are a tough bastard.” She felt that by skill alone, limited to an axe and shield, she had a slight advantage. But even without magic, he had access to a lot more skills than she did, or anyone else she’d ever had the ce to spar ht against. Being able te all those monk teiques into a siand chi flow was just unfair.

  Mordecai bowed to her and then sat cross-legged on the sand. “Thank you for the spar, that was a good workout.”

  Bellona retty certain that he was trying to not be smug, but there was a slight sense of self-satisfa to him, not unlike a tent cat. Or a dragon, from what she’d heard. To be fair, however, he had ear. “I think I want to see you go up against one of my seniors. Or maybe a couple of us here could team up.”

  He snorted with amusement. “Even two people is a lot harder to keep up with than one. I get to start using all my tools if you guys start ganging up on me.”

  She gruhen closed her eyes and sat there in silence for a little while as she cooled down and cleared her head for a short meditative prayer. Bellona was mulling over not just what she’d experienced here, but what she’d seen from the war room while Kazue and Mordecai built up the wetnds floor.

  The challenges were hard, and even dangerous at times, but they were fair. You always had the opportunity to turn back. More importantly, this dungeon was growing not just into a unity, but a new and indepe society and civilization. Oh it’s own sort of culture, but that was patible with the growth and independence of other cultures.

  This was exactly the sort of thing that Amirume desired, to see civilization being cultivated and elevated. And now she had a feel for how Mordecai fought: Enthusiastically, but not sadistically. He pushed and strove and desired to win, but it wasn’t everything to him either. In bat, he certainly seemed like the sort of leader she’d be willing to follow.

  And then there was Kazue. Admittedly, Bellona had only gotten to see her through the illusion, but acc to the princess, this was true to Kazue’s avatar, and mostly true to her previous life, but with more maturity. The red-headed kitsune was adorable and sweet, but showed occasional fres of temper when it came to proteg others. There were a couple of fws there; one had to be able to proteeself in order to ably protect others, and her rare temper could be used to draw her into a trap; but they were acceptable to someone so inexperienced in the ways of battle.

  And that was an amusing way to think about someone a full year older than her, but an orc’s life was a much different sort of life, especially ohat sought knighthood from an early age, pared to a sheltered fox who had lived inside of her books. If Kazue wasn’t so clearly enamored with her husband and wife, Bellona had a younger brother she’d have tried to hook Kazue up with. They’d have been cute together with their noses buried in books. Ah well, matchmaking was never her favorite game anyway.

  Speaking of spouses, there was Moriko. Bellona had a lot less iion with the half-elf, but her impression had been favorable, and having awakehe blessings of being a priestess was a good sign to her character.

  Bellona loved Ekuince, but the capital city wasn’t a bone-deep sort of home. Settling into a new one would not be a hardship, if she e, and this strange dungeon seemed a niough sort of pce. And she was already going to be the liaison here for an indefiime. She saw no dowo being a tractor, ti upon her liaison status.

  She took a deep breath a out slowly before opening her eyes again, “I’ve made my decision, I am ied in the position of tractor. What of you and yours?”

  Mordecai smiled as Kazue’s illusion started dang in pce, “I think I fidently report that Kazue is in favor, and Moriko already gave her approval a while ago. But we should go visit Orchid and have her write out the terms, so there is no isunication when she brings the written copy to Ekuince,” He rose and offered his hand to help her up, and she accepted gdly. She erfectly capable of rolling to her feet while in pte armor, but that did not mean it wasn’t a little bit awkward. Then it was time to collect her gear a ed up while Orchid wrote the tract up. Even if there was no real ceremony, she’d rather be and presentable for the moment.

  Zagaroth