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Heila stood on the floor of the arena, allowing the cheers of the crowd to wash over her like the sound of distant rain as she soaked in the far more intimate feeling of Ashlynn’s magic.

She had known that Ashlynn was planning something, but once again, her lady had surprised her with a gesture so deeply touching that she struggled to find the words to respond when she heard Ashlynn’s voice calling out to her to show them what she was truly capable of.

"Though I am small and unworthy," Heila said after a brief pause. Her voice was clear and echoed off the arena walls as she faced Ashlynn and Nyrielle’s figures in High Lady Erna’s private box, showing no sign of the turmoil she felt within her heart.

"I dedicate my victory to the Harbinger of Death and the Mother of Trees, long may you rule! "

"Long may you rule!" the crowd echoed, taking up Heila’s resonant cry. "Long may you rule!"

Just as the crowd’s cheers began to subside, a lone, diminutive figure strode out into a private box on the opposite side of the arena from High Lady Erna’s box.

Though his hair was slightly out of place and he looked like he hadn’t slept in several days, Yotsun still cut an impressive figure in his elaborately embroidered tunic.

Standing with his hand clutching at the collar of his tunic while he puffed out his chest, it was impossible for the audience to miss the heavy golden chain hanging around his neck or the half dozen rings glittering from his fingers as he prepared to address the crowd.

"Willow Witch Heila," Yotsun began, his voice pitched to carry across the arena even if he lacked the strength of sorcery to amplify his words.

"I was wrong to think that the Vale of Mists lacked the strength to fight as the Blood Princess did all those years ago," he admitted, lowering his head humbly before the gathered audience.

"You have delivered clear and decisive defeats to everyone who has stood against you," he continued.

"Tonight, I’m sure that everyone expects to see your heroism on full display!

The Mother of Trees herself has blessed you with the greatest stage ever seen in this arena," he added, bowing in the direction of Ashlynn’s figure in the opposite box.

"I’m sure you would not wish to disappoint her. "

"But, Lady Heila," Yotsun added as he felt the enthusiasm and excitement of the crowd begin to grow.

"My final champions, they are not ordinary men. Before they enter the arena, it isn’t too late.

Some injuries are impossible to heal from, even with the support of the Mother of Trees herself.

I do not wish to see you maimed," he said.

To the audience perhaps he appeared magnanimous, or perhaps he appeared arrogant and condescending.

At the moment, he didn’t care how he appeared.

Sweat soaked his brow and if he were to pull his hands away from where they tightly clutched his tunic, he was certain that the wet handprints of his sweat-soaked palms would be clearly visible.

This was his last chance, the very last opportunity he had to prevent disaster, and no matter what the people in the crowd thought of him, he had to try.

"Lady Heila," Yotsun pleaded. "Won’t you consider surrendering this round before we begin?

A record of ninety men defeated in nine days is still a legend that will echo throughout the ages.

I will personally commission a statue to your glory if you can concede now without a fight.

There is no shame in taking this offer to preserve your life," he said.

In the private boxes belonging to Yotsun’s competitors, the lord mayors of outlying towns and even young socialites spluging on a night of fun, people muttered darkly at Yotsun’s condescending words.

"If that was my man," a young woman from the Glass Eyed clan said sharply. "I’d pack up my jewels and flee the nest before he could drag his sorry self home tonight."

"Maybe he’s trying to be merciful?" a shorter young woman from the Horned Clan said as she looked at the way Yotsun’s horns seemed to quiver as he spoke.

For his body to tremble so much that it was visible in his horns, his heart must be aching, but he had already lost nine out of ten nights.

.. could losing one more really move his heart so much.

"If this is him being merciful," a scathing voice added as a third woman joined the conversation. "I don’t want to see how he treats his woman. She’s probably locked up in their manor, wasting away while this fool does whatever he thinks is best for her, even when he insults her to her face."

Elsewhere, similar conversations rippled through the crowd.

Many speculated, trying to understand why someone like Yotsun, who stood at the end of nine days of losses, could believe he was even capable of demanding surrender.

Most dismissed him as a fool, trying to salvage a measure of pride at this last moment before the battle, but a few began to wonder what exactly lay behind the heavy iron door to give Yotsun the confidence to make this strange demand.

The thoughts of the crowd and the rumors that were beginning to spread as a result of his speech were the least of Yotsun’s worries.

As far as he was concerned there were very few outcomes that favored Heila.

The worst possible thing would be for her to suffer a defeat in the arena that left her alive, only to be taken as ’kindling’ for the Cauldron of Flame.

Compared to that fate, a defeat in the arena that cost the young witch her life was a relative blessing.

In Yotsun’s mind, facing off against the scarred and self-mutilated men of the Cauldron of Flame, even a victory here in the arena could cost the young witch so much that she would curse this day for the rest of her life.

If the wounds were too serious, she might even long for death and wish that she had died.

But if she would accept his offer... if she could retreat from the ledge they both perched on, then perhaps there was a chance that things could be resolved peacefully.

If the men from the Cauldron of Flame never fought in the arena, then Yotsun could claim they weren’t entitled to any spoils that resulted from Heila’s surrender.

He could keep her out of their clutches and still find a way to play the ’bigger man’ in front of the people.

All of those hopes and fantasies burned away like dry autumn leaves in a bonfire the instant Heila opened her mouth to respond to his offer.