Dreadwolf, Lord of Runes

But no blood was spilled.

Just as the blade was about to slice through Nera's belly, a soft, yet sharp ting rang out, that echoed through the tense silence.

The soft ting that had replaced the tearing of flesh and spilling of blood was then followed by the sound of breaking glass. Luna's reverse-gripped sword was now hovering less than a finger width away from Nera's tunic covered stomach.

Cold sweat was dripping down the human woman's back as she continued holding her sword aloft. She looked down anxiously, just in time to see the last remnants of a kind of light barrier dissipating into the air.

Meanwhile, Luna looked up at Nera with a suggestive grin, as if asking whether she should continue or not.

But then, two beams of light suddenly descended from above. One green and shining down on Luna, the other red and shining down on Nera. Its meaning was clear: Luna had won.

With that decision made, Luna pulled back her weapons and retreated with an impressive backflip that send her long white hair fluttering in the air. Afterwards, she landed back into her initial combat position. She beckoned towards the crowd with the same taunting gesture as before, a lopsided grin on her face.

At the same time, Nera crumpled to the ground and shivered in fear. She had thought her chances of winning were somewhere around one third, but instead she'd seen her life flash in front of her eyes.

After shooting Luna a look of fear, she quickly scampered off the platform while muttering, "T— Thank you." No one was sure who she was thanking exactly, or why, but with that, the first battle had finished, and Luna was ready to go again.

Next to the platform, a sombre Aelia and proud Kane both had their gazes fixed on the victorious catling. "That was… impressive," Aelia muttered unwillingly. "But how did she deflect Nera's blade so easily?" she then asked while turning to Kane with a frown.

Kane smiled slightly. "I suppose I don't mind telling you now. The answer is simple, and I'm sure you'd realize it as soon as you fight her yourself."

He turned his head towards Aelia with a small smirk, "It's a skill issue, my dear Aelia. Yes, their blood cores were equal, but my Luna has been trained in the usage of multiple different weapons, in just as many styles, by true experts, and from basically the moment she left her mother's womb."

Back in the internment camp where Luna was born, her mother, Myst, had more than a dozen husbands, and each of them was proficient in a different weapon.

All of the beastling's of Earth had warriors as ancestors, after all, and the beastling internment camps were mostly left to their own devices, with only the border being truly maintained.

And, naturally, Myst wanted her daughter to be prepared for the rigours of life, so she'd asked her husbands to teach her everything they knew, while Myst herself took charge of Luna's training with the sword.

When Kane first met Luna, the fourteen-year-old catling was already a more accomplished weapon master than most adults. Thus, she'd taught Kane all she knew. Unfortunately, this was not a case of the student transcending the master, as Kane himself still couldn't match Luna's prowess and skill when it came to weapons.

Aelia grew even more sombre when realization began to set in, and her likelihood of victory began to shrink. Kane then threw oil on the fire by pointing out the exact same thing that Aelia was now thinking off.

"I know you're thinking: 'yeah, but me and my girls have been fighting almost all our lives, surely that counts for something', and you're right it does." Unfortunately for Aelia, he then shrugged casually, "But so has Luna. And I doubt any of you have ever had a true teacher for any real period of time."

He waved in Luna's direction proudly, "And that will be her contribution. The one you'll be paying ten percent of profits for: training. And today she'll be proving the worth of that training."

As they talked, the next hopeful had already made her way onto the platform, only to be swiftly taken down by Luna. Hesitation was spreading among the bandits, but not everyone was deterred. Thus, the fighting continued.

Fortunately, she could keep this up for a long time. She was barely using any effort so far, and by channelling small bits of aether through her blood core, she could recover stamina quickly. The only real exhaustive resources were her mental focus and aether storage, but so far, she'd barely used either of them.

Meanwhile, Aelia had remained quiet for a moment as she internalized Kane's explanation and continued watching the catling dominate her people.

Finally, she said, "I get it… If you'd told me this before I might have even agreed to give her that ten percent, but you wanted to make a statement. To show the others she wasn't only worth that ten percent, but also worthy of being your right-hand woman."

Kane smiled slightly and nodded. "That's why I like you, Aelia. You're not only loyal and determined, but also intelligent, and you have a strategic mindset, like my own."

He didn't lack intelligent people around him, as Ella and Luna were plenty smart in their own way, and so was Anna, but a naturally strategic mindset was a talent that you either do, or do not, have.

"Thank you…. I think," Aelia muttered noncommittally, before turning a curious gaze towards him again. "But are you so sure she'll be able to defeat even me?"

"I guess we'll find out," Kane shrugged mildly. Of course, he preferred if she won, but it wasn't a big issue. By the time that ten percent turned into anything significant, he'd likely already have plenty of other avenues for earning a profit.

The most important thing was for Luna to make an impression, and she'd do that so long as she could at least give someone like Aelia a fight for their money. Literally.

Besides, her skill and training weren't the only advantages Luna had over them…

"Hmpf," Aelia snorted and narrowed her eyes. "I guess we will, but no underhanded tricks, remember? I know that Ella of yours controls everything now, so…"

Naturally, she was talking about the fighting arena, which was clearly an electronic device somehow.

But Kane chuckled and shook his head, "You don't need to worry about that. Ella doesn't control any of this."

"Eh?" Aelia first reacted surprised, but then, realization dawned. "Ah… right. She mentioned something about that last night, didn't she?"

Suddenly, holographic Ella appeared behind the two of them with a small smile. "Yeah," she nodded calmly. "I can really only turn anything on or off in this place, including this thing. I have no clue of the inner workings, so it's all automatic."

'"Fair enough," Aelia nodded, and focused back on the fighting. She didn't question her words, because she figured Kane had earned that much trust at least.

Meanwhile, the fighting continued for a while, but challengers began quickly dropping off. By now, Luna had defeated ten women, and while the first five had no cores above the third rank, the latter five all had one core in the fourth, but even they were quickly dispatched.

The tenth woman even had a fourth rank blood core, but it made little difference, despite Luna's third rank equivalent. And yet, the catling had barely broken a sweat so far.

Unsurprisingly, the bandits were quickly understanding they stood no chance, and now looked towards the four most powerful among them: Lyra, Mira, Anna, and Aelia.