Maurice scuttled into the arena to cheers and shouts from the crowd. The rows and rows of seats were full to bursting. The crowd was enthusiastic, and to his surprise and Henry’s, Maurice had had to be escorted with B-ranks just so the crowd wouldn’t slow him down.

  The announcements might have had something to do with it.

  Within an hour of the challenge being made official, news had spread out quickly, and the whole settlement had been whipped into a frenzy. Even though there was a bit of shock and mumbling at the ‘to-the-death’ part of the duel, the follow-up announcement by the funny A-rank really ignited the mood.

  Maurice peered down at the packed earth under his feet. He’d been here hours ago with Henry to make sure his skills worked as they should, but then Henry had to get back to training so Maurice hadn’t had a chance to examine the soil in detail.

  By now he should be here, though. He said he would be.

  Maurice scooped up a bit of the dry soil just as someone began speaking, and he had to stop examining the crumbly piece of earth, surprised at how loud the voice was.

  How are they doing this? I need to ask Henry… This must be useful. For something. Oh, there’s the human I’m not supposed to kill.

  On the other side of the arena, the human who’d challenged Maurice was glowering at him—if he was interpreting the expression right. He had a spear in hand, and he wore different white robes that seemed a bit tighter on his body.

  “Greetings, citizens of Thalis and guests! Today we are here to watch a duel! One that even our Lord will be seeing and as you all know, the rules have been modified! This used to be a challenge to the death, folks, but our Lord, in his infinite wisdom, decided to grace us with his presence! Which means, these two fighters can fight to their heart’s content, and neither will die! So, without further ado, let’s introduce our fighters. To the east, Maurice! An awakened being and our Lord’s guest. A freshly evolved, level 8 C-rank Chimeric Hermit Crab with a striking shell and sharp claws. What could he do with those? What will see out of this unique being? Would it be enough to bridge the level gap to his opponent?”

  The crowd roared, some booing, some clapping and waving flags, and the announcer continued after a couple of seconds.

  “To the west, is one of our own. Lord Sev, son of Lord Tevarius who you all know. While our guest is an unknown quantity, we all know of Lord Sev’s abilities and of his domineering and explosive style. This promises to be an interesting fight, folks, and now, let us see what the prizes will be. Warriors! Present your wagers so our judge can take their measure.”

  Sev kept glaring at Maurice as he turned the sand over in his claws, listening. The young man gestured, and two of his attendants stepped past him and set down a very pretty wooden box.

  Riiight. The treasures.

  With the fight no longer being to the death, Henry and Maurice had to come up with an equivalent treasure, or at least, they had to match the value in tokens. Unfortunately, they had no unused B-rank core they were just sitting on, and from the few things they showed Arisia, only one thing would be accepted as a wager.

  Of course, they didn’t show the spare turtle shell, nor did they show the mysterious metallic orb that would guide them to the planet above. As for the carcasses and weaker cores, they kept those to themselves.

  In any case, I’m not supposed to lose here, or Henry would have my shell.

  Maurice reached into his hoard, and plucked out a three-foot-wide pearl.

  The precious stone took in the light of day and began to shine with an unearthly pink and white glow. The crowd went silent, then exploded into deafening cheers.

  “Look at the size of that pearl!”

  The judge, a woman in flowing robes, stared at the treasure with wide eyes for a second before she coughed and made her way to Sev’s presented chest. She took a knee in front of it, then gently opened the box. She examined the contents slowly and meticulously, asked the attendants a couple of questions, then got up and made her way to Maurice.

  The crab was holding on to the pearl with a ghostly limb, cradling it gently, and as the yellow-haired judge approached, her eyes seemed to reflect the glow of the orb.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  The judge picked up the pearl from Maurice’s claw, gently turned it around a few times, unblinking, and then she exhaled and looked down at the crab.

  “This surpasses the value of the prize presented by your opponent,” she said, voice echoing in the arena, at which point the crowd gasped. “Do you accept the offered wager or do you wish to change it for something of a lower value?” She looked down at the pearl, then back at Maurice. “Of much lower value.”

  Maurice looked at the pearl, looked past it at the simmering Sev, then shrugged. “It’s fine. I’m not going to lose it anyway,” he said with an illusory voice, and was surprised as he heard it echo loudly in the arena.

  The crowd cheered and laughed, which made Sev’s ears take a scarlet hue, almost matching Maurice’s color.

  “There you have it, folks! The wagers have been set. The bout will begin in one minute! The fight will go on until one competitor is unable to continue. Place your bets if you haven’t already!”

  The judge gestured, and both the pearl and the intricately carved chest lifted off the ground and moved toward the podium, following in the judge’s wake.

  “You’ll pay for your insults, crab,” said Sev, and the crowd hushed, waiting for Maurice’s retort.

  “Okay!”

  There was a silent beat, then more laughter.

  “Our guest is fearless!” called out the announcer. “The time is nigh, folks! The fight begins in 3… 2… 1… Fight!”

  Sev whipped his arm back and threw. The bone spear came at Maurice impressively fast, seamlessly cutting through the air, and the crab had to remind himself that there was no water around to slow projectiles. Henry had told him, and Maurice had experienced it himself, but it still felt surreal.

  “Die,” snarled Sev. The man broke into a run, even before his spear had landed, and Maurice decided it was time to get moving.

  The crab disappeared into a swirl of purple light, and reappeared a few yards to the right just as the simple bone-spear embedded itself in the ground where he used to be. Sev’s head whipped around, shocked, but he quickly recovered as he extended an arm.

  The spear flew back toward him, and the shaft slapped against his palm as he ran at Maurice.

  The crab stole a quick glance at the crowd, and found them jumping and cheering, but he couldn’t hear anything.

  How?

  So many things to learn about. So many things to discover and see! Maurice had barely slept since they'd gotten here, and he was already getting anxious at having to leave without learning everything.

  The spear flashed at his shell, tip glowing green, so Maurice popped out of existence again, dodging the thrust and reappearing behind the attacker.

  Alright. Henry said I should make this quick so… Let’s see.

  Mana surged out of his hidden body as the space around him became part of his Domain. Sev was turning, swinging his weapon once more, but Maurice just had to snip his claw.

  A foot-wide bubble appeared around Sev’s thigh and instantly began to shrink, but the young man jumped to the side as the blue bubble popped with a sharp crack.

  Oh? He sensed it? Not fast enough, though.

  The young man was panting, a grimace of pain on his face as blood trailed down the missing chunk of his thigh, but that wasn’t enough to slow him. The man lunged and stabbed forward, only for a giant blue claw to swipe down at him, forcing him to abort his attack or risk being crushed.

  Sev dodged backwards and surged above with a powerful leap, and his eyes widened when he came face-to-face with a spray of imploding bubbles. The young man cursed and held his spear horizontally, summoning a dome that took Maurice’s bubbles surprisingly well, only to get past the bubbles and find two pairs of giant claws waiting for him as he approached the ground.

  Maurice brought both claws together, as if to crush the young man, but Sev’s spear suddenly shone red, and it gained that heavy feeling Maurice associated with concepts and Aspects. Which meant his summoned claw was about to be dispelled, but that was alright.

  Maurice just needed to keep him still for a second, or at least know exactly how his opponent was about to move.

  Sev stabbed the right claw, popping it as if it had been made of those soap bubbles the children liked to play with, and used the second claw as a foot-hold to propel himself faster at Maurice. The red glow was still present on the spear, which meant the crab shouldn’t be taking it head on, but there shouldn’t be any need for such. After all, the man was coming at him in a straight line. Just how he wanted him. And Maurice still had plenty of mana.

  A row of bubbles appeared between him and the falling young man, and the latter’s eyes went wide as he realized what was happening.

  Maurice snipped his claws, and all the bubbles imploded in a spray of red.

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