The gong sounded and the lights died again, except this time it didn't last. Wind whipped around the arena, and one by one, spheres of glowing light lifted from the ground, wrapped in shields of wind to keep them from Rush's power. By the time she could see again, Rush was dropping on Neil with a pair of blades, and she choked off her breath as Neil met his full length swords with his wind short-blades and danced to the side with...

With a smile on his face.

Rush collided with the ground in a burst of dark magic and spun on Neil with a spell bursting from his palm. Darkness careened toward Neil in the form of a hungering snake, but Neil cast a wind spell into the dirt that sent him airborne. Rush spread his arms and braced his legs, expecting Neil to come back down in an attack, but he didn't. Hovering on the air on one of his globes of light, Neil stuck a hand on either side of his head and stuck his tongue out.

People laughed, and Darius let out a hideous growl that was drowned out by Lorenzo laughing harder than anyone else.

"Are you coming down, coward?" Rush asked with a smirk, but Neil didn't look like he'd felt the slight.

"I don't want to. I rarely get to see anyone from such lofty heights," Neil responded with feigned agony. More laughter. "Plus, you don't fight fair. Why should I? Stealing the ability to see is a coward's weapon if there ever was one. Are you not confident to face me in one on one combat, Remus Shade?"

The crowd silenced then, and Rush growled.

"I will fight you one on one without hindering your perception if you stay out the skies," Rush conceded and Neil dropped to the ground several yards from him.

In a brush of magic the darkness that had swallowed them retreated back into Rush's body, and they were under the bright lights of the arena once more. Neil took up a fighting stance and brandished his short-blades with a smile still. Rush rushed him with both swords in hand and a sweep that held nothing back, but all they hit was air. Neil ducked under them, slid along the ground, and then lifted himself by his hands to swing a leg into the side of Rush's face.

And Rush flew. Wind magic spun with the blow and tore Rush from his feet, but Rush landed as quickly as he left the ground and thrust a spell back. Dark blades rose and flew at Neil. It was the first time Neil's smaller stature had worked for him, allowing him to slide to the side through the blades in an elegant spin before returning the power with a hurricane spell of his own. Wind picked up and raked the ground, barreling into Rush and pushing him back until Rush quelled it with his darkness.

Time stood still for just a moment, everyone silent, and Mer's hand on her mouth. This was not the same man who'd barely been able to help her take down his father's lackeys. Neil was skilled and prepared for what Rush threw at him. They knew each other well, so it made sense that Neil knew Rush's skill set, but since Neil had been so weak, she doubted that Rush was familiar with his. In the last two years, Neil had not been sitting idle in his castle.

Rush paused and let out a slow breath. Magic seeped out of him and ate the light nearest, funneling it into a magic circle under his feet, and Neil braced himself as the spell released. Darkness frothed from under Rush's feet and splashed up into the air to fall back down on him in a rain of snakes that twisted around Neil and constricted.

Trapped within them, Neil spun, a hand out to either side, and wind wrapped around him in a vortex that clashed and screeched with Rush's magic. It blew the spell away in an explosion of magic that shook the ground, and then Rush was close enough to breathe Neil in. Blade in hand, Rush thrust down, and Neil met him with a short-blade of his own. At that angle, Neil was able to redirect Rush's swords, and they slipped out from under him. Rush stumbled for just a second, Neil ducked into his drop, and then he sprung up, running his wind blade across the front of Rush's throat and pushing him back with his other hand, a wind spell cutting the fabric of his shirt.

No one cheered or said anything, and Rush was thunderstruck as Neil took a step back and bowed in respect. The fight was over. That blow would have been lethal if this were real, and Rush had fallen right into it.

Part of her was happy to see that Neil wasn't defenseless against those who were coming for him, but her heart ached for Rush as he regained his faculties and clenched his fists. Neil approached Rush, timidly, like he really was, and offered him a hand. It was a kind gesture, a handshake to show there were no hard feelings, but Rush slapped it away and turned his back on Neil. There was nothing left to do for Neil but to retreat back into the door he'd come.

Why was Rush so stubborn? She understood that he was upset about losing, but Neil was supposed to be his ally, and Rush had disrespected him in front of every house head here. It didn't take Rush any time to return to their seating area after he'd donned a new shirt, but Lorenzo stood and blocked his path to her with his huge form.

"That was cruel," Lorenzo said heatedly, and Rush let out one of his slow sighs. "Losing with grace can be just as honorable as winning, Remus Shade. You will learn that if you live past the current turmoil, but I doubt you will if you shun your allies." Lorenzo motioned to Asmodeus, and the Fleur general stood and followed his master out of the seating area and down some steps.

"Lorenzo is right, Remus. You shouldn't have done that." Darius ground it in, and Rush growled. With how stoic he always was, the action showed how upset he was.

"I know, Darius. I acted on impulse. I was angry, but more at myself than anything." Rush fell into an empty chair next to her.

"Everyone loses a fight now and then," Mer said, trying to reassure him with a touch of her hand on his arm, but he shook her off.

"Meredith, that wasn't a fight." Rush lost his face into his hands. "Neil played around and then executed me. We weren't even in the same league. There is no way Neil could have gotten that strong unless he has been beating himself bloody in training every day until he collapsed. I did not think Neil had that sort of commitment, but it seems he has taken his role as house head seriously."

"You aren't the only person here to underestimate him," Darius said in a gentler tone that didn't do much to ease Rush.

The rest of the fights went by in a breeze since she wasn't hyper focused on Rush. It was single elimination so by the third round there were only four fights. Lorenzo was knocked out by the Fuse house head. That one had rocked the arena as the man fought with what his house name sounded like, explosions. Mer wasn't sure that Essence Fuse won so much as Lorenzo conceded to keep the arena intact. Neil faced the Valk general and it wasn't much of a competition. Without an agenda, Neil did away with him by almost blowing him right out of the colosseum. Let's just say he'd gone up, and Neil brought him down with a twister of wind and a crunch of the man's bones.

In the final round there were only two fights, one of which Mer really enjoyed. Tanya Zehir faced off against Talamayas Sol, and that was a slaughter she'd enjoyed. Since they were both almost nudists, Talamayas wasn't distracted by the amount of cleavage in his face as he pinned the woman with his legs and dropped his hands down to the ground on either side of her face. Either Tanya hadn't wanted to invest her power into fighting the man, or they were just that badly matched.

It didn't matter to Mer the reason. Seeing that bitch pinned to the dirt by a man Talamayas' size gave her a rush of endorphins. It was almost as good as sex, seeing that pompous schemer downed, and Rush squeezed her tighter to his side when he noticed her glee. There was warning in his eyes, but honey on his lips as he leaned down and captured her mouth with his. Dammit, she'd been trying to avoid getting aroused in public, but Rush lifted her thigh and pulled her right onto his lap to press her into him. Behind Rush's shoulder, she hyper focused to see if anyone was paying attention, but apparently not. Public displays of lust to one's blood slave must be common here.

The final gong sounded, and Rush released her to watch the final fight.

"Neil got lucky facing only heirs and generals in the fights," Darius said as Neil strode to stand before Talamayas Sol in the arena. "Had he faced any of the house heads, he would not be here, regardless of his advancement in comparison to Remus."

"I get that," Mer said as she gave the tan, rippling shoulders of Talamayas a once over. They were so bare and hard to miss with nothing but the small tail of black hair covering his spine.

Neil was about to be broken down for spare parts.

They were so still despite the starting signal already having gone off, and then they were gone. Both of them moved so fast, and Talamayas was in Neil's face like a Monday she'd been dreading all weekend. As before, Talamayas formed a flame spell and it burst in Neil's face. At the same time, wind whipped around the arena and met it in a clash of power.

The wind amplified Talamayas' fire, feeding it with Neil's magic, and the blaze engulfed both of them and backfired. An explosion rocked the entire arena, and even Darius in all his composure had to grip his chair as things steadied. Every one of the vampires there hushed as Talamayas picked himself up, touching his cheek to bring it back with a trail of blood. Rage flared up in Talamayas' blood-red eyes and a snarl echoed through the air as he darted for Neil.

Neil looked to have taken more damage from the backlash of their magic, bent over on his ribs as if the blast had shattered a few ribs. It must have made Neil collapsing easier when Talamayas swiped at him with a hand that could rip the head off of a bear. On the ground, Neil pressed both hands to the dirt and it ruptured. Rock and dirt erupted around both of them and took Talamayas' footing out from under him. It didn't do much damage but gave Neil just enough time to slip away and stand on his own too legs.

After that, Neil was an eel, dodging darting and rolling to avoid Talamayas' grasps as he went for him. It was clear to everyone here that Neil was just stalling for time before he lost, but running and staying away from Talamayas was something respectable to these vampires who were watching with awe, Darius and Rush included. Tired of the chase, Talamayas tried for another flame spell, throwing it alongside Neil in a way that Neil couldn't exploit, and then there was nowhere for Neil to go but into Talamayas.

In one last ditch effort, Neil formed his wind blades and dashed for the bigger man. It was so unexpected and quick that Talamayas didn't immediately register it. Neil's wind blades were a micrometer from Talamayas' throat when the man raised his knee and slammed it into Neil's sternum. The blow forced a gasp out of Neil that had him stunned long enough for Talamayas to drop his elbow down on Neil's back so hard that he could have dug a ditch with the poor tiny vampire's body.

A collective groan went up in the crowd, more out of the perceived pain than any displeasure at the act. They'd all wanted to see Neil fall. It was worse to see him lifted up. Talamayas grabbed him by the skull and lifted him in his clenched claws, fangs bared in threat at what was almost a corpse in front of him. Blood dipped down Neil's cracked skull marring his hair and his eyes lazed out into the air in front of him without any clarity. If the fight was lost already, Talamayas had no cause to disgrace him like that, and Mer's anger flared just as two growls filled the air.

Ares Arc was in the arena in front of Talamayas with a hiss that was overshadowed by the snarl of a huge man Mer couldn't forget. Ruprecht, the Arc lycanthrope that had demolished Caelan when Neil's father had tried to kill them all. Now, it was nice to see his ungainly huge form, shadowed by his dark shaggy hair. The lycan's eyes shone with hostility and protectiveness of his master, bronze darkening their core as brighter gold circled them.

"You've won, Talamayas," Ares said with an even tone, one that had to have been forced with every bit of his being, since he looked ready to gut himself in an attempt to free Neil. "It is disrespectful to your position to cause further harm to a house head who fought with honor against you despite knowing you'd crush him eventually."

"Take him then," Talamayas uttered, holding him out to them by his face still, and Ruprecht was under Neil in an instant to catch him as Talamayas let him drop. By then, Neil wasn't even moving anymore, having passed out. "You'll forgive my surge in brutality. It has been a long time since a man has made me bleed, and I was lost in the fury brought on from a battle. Take your master for some rest before the council meeting."

Ruprecht and Ares retreated with Neil, and for once, there was no cheering. The excitement from harmless fights had died the moment Neil hadn't folded under Talamayas. It may have just been Neil's ability to throw Talamayas' spells off with his own magic, but he'd stood against the most powerful man here and done better than any other challenger. Mer liked to think that people were silent in surprise and, more so, respect for one of their own having fought to his last in a fair fight.

At least she hoped that was what it was, and not the calm before the storm that was coming for him.

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Word Count: 2531