The elf was over six feet tall and heavily muscled. He strode directly north, his every movement a poem in grace and strength. As he walked closer, an invisible pressure built. It felt like Luke was drowning, falling deeper and deeper into the uncaring sea.

  He felt a knock on his leg armor. Vanessa was kneeling down, her head down. Everyone else was too, including the nearby lords. The Indomitable must be a pretty big deal to have royalty bow to him like that. Belatedly, Luke joined them, putting both fists down on the ground in the Kalibutan fashion.

  “I am the Finger of the Gods, the Arbiter of Life, and the Indomitable assigned to you today. I am here to oversee the Malamon. You may all rise.” The Indomitable intoned. He spoke with a strange cadence, like he was reading scripture. “Lord Edobar Falodun, Advocate Onioni Eseidu, present yourselves and defend your claims.”

  Lord Edobar walked forward, his normally aloof attitude tinged with stress. A bead of sweat appeared on his temple. Closely behind him was a new elf, presumably Advocate Onioni. He wore scarves draped over a skin-tight silk jumper. A circlet with a pair of small horns adorned his forehead.

  They both bowed deeply to the Indomitable and didn’t straighten back up.

  Advocate Onioni said to the ground, “Finger of the Gods, Arbiter of Life, and Indomitable. Thank you for hearing our claim. I represent twenty-four righteous people who have fought for the right to replace Lord Edobar’s staff. They have passed every test given them today and wish to take their place in his entourage.”

  Lord Edobar didn’t look up either. “Indomitable. Thank you for coming here today. My staff have also passed every test and wish to continue to serve me. I ask that you give them the opportunity to defend themselves.”

  The rustic amphitheater was silent for a few long moments.

  “Very well, this Malamon may continue. Bring all whose fate is tied and I will judge the competition,” the Indomitable said. He turned around and grasped his hands behind his back.

  There was a pause in the ceremony as everyone gathered. One by one, elves, orcs, and dwarves lined up behind their leaders. There were several tearful goodbyes, just in case their side lost. Quiet murmuring filled the crude seating.

  Luke leaned down and whispered to Vanessa, “Do you know anything about this Indomitable guy? Is that his class or his position?”

  “It’s a title given to the enforcement arm of the outer court. He’s the final word out on the edge of civilization. Think Judge Dredd.”

  “Judge, jury, and executioner, huh? I guess we better not make him mad.”

  “You said it. They say no one has ever killed an Indomitable. You see those medallions on his chest? They are the end of anti magic nails they have hammered into his body. If you hit him with any spell, he’ll just shrug it off.”

  “Holy hell. How isn’t he dead?”

  “His class gives him some regeneration, but it’s mostly the gods that keep him alive. They feed him power and make him stronger than anyone with just system magic. It’s also why everyone trusts him to follow the rules. If he ever angers the gods, he would literally die.”

  “Damn. Talk about Sword of Damocles.”

  Vanessa nodded and they went back to watching the groups gather. Once everyone was lined up the Indomitable turned back around.

  “Your forces are gathered and your minds are set. I will give you one last time to sacrifice glory for life. Does anyone wish to withdraw?” When no one spoke, he nodded and raised his hands. A transparent purple dome dropped across both groups, like a soap bubble forming. “If there is anyone who has a claim of justice on anyone held by my power, let them speak now or forever forgo recourse.”

  Luke turned to Lord Momoh. It looked like the pudgy elf was nervous. He stood still, his hand raising and lowering inch by inch. Before the Indomitable moved on, he smacked his fist on his chest.

  “Finger of the Gods, Arbiter of Life, and Indomitable. I have a claim of justice against Lord Edobar.”

  “And you are?”

  “I am Lord Momoh Evbusogie, the lord assigned to the estate east of here, Monta Hejmo.”

  “What claim of justice do you present?”

  “Lord Edobar has abused his position and unjustly enriched himself over the last three years. He has taken away opportunities from the other two estate lords and amassed a greater and greater fortune. He is tight with that fortune, taking and never giving. His glory has been growing at the expense of the Empire.” Lord Momoh said, his confidence growing as he spoke. “Perhaps most importantly, Lord Edobar has earned more than eight million gold over the last three years and only paid taxes on two million of that.”

  The Indomitable had been giving him a flat look through most of the speech, but when Momoh mentioned taxes, his eyes widened and he leaned forward. “That is a serious accusation. I assume you have proof since you mentioned specific numbers.”

  Momoh wiggled his hands in agreement.

  The enforcer turned to Edobar and said, “What say you in your defense?”

  Lord Edobar scowled at his staff, clearly upset that someone had spilled his secrets. He turned back and calmly said, “My counterpart, Lord Momoh, is jealous and twisting facts to meet his own agenda. I’m sure he has records of shipments passing through the portal, but he is incorrect in assuming I sold everything. Many of those shipments from Earth were given to my friends as gifts. I received nothing in return.”

  Lord Momoh scowled. “You mean you think you’ve hidden your wealth in a way you don’t think will be caught.”

  “The Triumvirate's own Seer would agree that they were only gifts.”

  The Indomitable cleared his throat and waited for them to turn back to him. “It appears that you both agree that great wealth has passed through the portal, only differing on what happened after that, yes?”

  Both lords replied with a hand wiggle.

  “Then it is good I am here. The Malamon is canceled, we will have a duel instead. Lord Momoh, should you win, you will be awarded half of Lord Edobar’s capital and holdings and the ability to nominate his successor. Lord Edobar, should you win, you will be rewarded with half of his capital and holdings and the nomination. As the accused, your glory should grow more if you win. I will also support you in the next shuffle and cast one of your six votes. May the gods watch over us and choose their victor.”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  He raised and lowered his hands again, dissipating the dome around the staff and narrowing it down to just Edobar and Momoh. “I grant you a handful of minutes to settle your affairs and select your seconds, Chosen under level twenty-four. I will be back with appropriate monsters to complete the conditions of the duel.”

  He turned and bolted away, gathering speed before jumping and rocketing into the air. He flew two hundred feet with that jump, and the next jump was even bigger. He was out of sight seconds later.

  “Wait, what? Why is he getting monsters?” Luke asked as he turned back around.

  Momoh had been straightening his armor over his overlarge frame. He froze and slowly looked up at Luke “Please tell me you are joking. Surely you’ve at least read about duels before?”

  Luke shrugged. “No, I haven’t, sorry. I assumed they would be similar to Earth style duels, but clearly not.”

  Momoh walked up to the edge of the magic dome and bonked his head on it. “What have I done? I’ve aligned myself with a reckless idiot. This is all Lord Kadiri’s fault. I should have known better than to trust him.”

  Kadiri glanced over from where he was talking with his own staff. “Hey, I assumed he was competent. His envoy talked him up constantly.”

  “But you never said you were risking my life with assumptions!”

  Edobar chuckled at their bickering and turned to Cormac, standing at the head of their line. “You will be my second, Seneschal Cormac. I know you don’t want to fight your pet human, but I am ordering you to kill him. Duels like this are the reason I refused to allow you to advance past level twenty-four. I always have a powerful magic user fighting by my side to resolve legal matters. Something that a prudent ruler should always keep in mind.” He turned to the mountain lord to rub it in.

  Cormac cleared his throat. “Lord Edobar, I regret to inform you that my core is cracked and I can’t use my magic. I have used a remedy and should be completely healed in a week. I will not be able to fight by your side today. I am so very sorry.”

  “What?!” Edobar yelled and slammed his fists on the barrier. “Why didn’t you tell me before? Have you broken your oath? I’ll get the Indomitable to kill you where you stand.”

  “My oath remains unbroken. I was hoping to fully heal before any of your enemies discovered my temporary weakness. I apologize that I didn’t consider the possibility that you would be accused of tax evasion.”

  Momoh laughed loud and ugly. “All that time, you constantly bragging that you had bought the contract of a high leveled Seneschal and now you can’t even put him to use.” He turned to Luke and said, “I am suddenly much more confident in our victory, human. Let me explain the rules. The Indomitable will return in a moment with two high tier monsters. Normally tier nine, but these are thin lands, it may be only seven or eight. Whatever he can find on short notice. He will place them in the center of the arena. Then Lord Edobar and I will be placed on opposite ends of the arena, with you by our sides.”

  “So, what, do we race to kill the monsters or something?”

  Momoh slashed his hands down. “No, the duel participants are forbidden from attacking the monsters or the seconds. We must focus solely on our equals. As soon as one of us is dead, our soul will be absorbed by the gods and the duel will be over. You may attack anyone. The monsters, the other second, even Lord Edobar. One common strategy is for the second to kill the monsters, then the other second, and then distract the true enemy and create an opening for their master.”

  Luke’s Acuity was working overtime as he digested these facts. “But that’s not the only strategy. I could herd the monsters over to create distractions you can use as openings. I could ignore them and fight by your side from the beginning. Lord Edobar could herd them over to kill me as long as he doesn’t attack them directly. This whole thing is a mess with threats everywhere.”

  “Yes, which is why I am so grateful that Lord Edobar won’t have his normal second by his side. Wait, you were Cormac’s friend. Did you know he had lost his class? I didn’t know humans were so quick to betray.”

  Luke turned to Cormac. “This isn’t a betrayal, I’m trying to save his life. I overheard Lord Edobar talking to someone earlier today. He was planning on losing the Malamon as a political favor to someone. I’m fighting by your side to save my friend’s life.”

  “Liar!” Edobar shouted and punched the magic dome. “My glory is bright and I would never do anything but my best in all competitions. If I wasn’t trapped in here I would shatter your bones and boil your teeth.”

  Luke’s lip curled back. That was a weirdly graphic threat. He ignored the trapped noble and turned to Momoh. “Anyway, any advice for me? I guess we can’t talk strategy with Lord Edobar right there, but anything else I should know?”

  “Know that you will die for trying to take my glory!” Edobar interrupted.

  Momoh chuckled and said, “I’ll give you instructions when it’s about to start. Until then, save your mana. Once this starts, you will need every bit of it.”

  While they talked, Momoh’s attendants brought him a sword and a mace and placed them directly outside the magic dome. Apparently they already knew which weapons he wanted to fight with. They offered Luke a sword, but he refused. It was too small and he didn’t want to fight with an unfamiliar weapon.

  Edobar cursed Luke out a few more times before turning to Cormac. “Bring me the head of my guard, my page, and that human I hired yesterday, Sheepherder. Oh and my Seer.”

  Cormac spun on his heel and hurried away. A short while later, he returned with four people in tow. Luke recognized the pearlescent bald head of Seer Theobaldine. The head of his guard was a gangly elf that looked like a teenager. He was probably in his fifties since elves aged slowly. His page was the young kid with speed magic that delivered his messages. Shepard brought up the rear, his bulky power armor looming over the others.

  Edobar stared the three of them down. “Guard Samu, have you leveled up since I hired you?”

  “No, Lord Edobar Falodun,” the guard said and looked at his feet.

  “Then you won’t be strong enough to be my second. Page Elo, I know you are more than fast enough, but do you believe you can hit hard enough to peel that despicable human out of his armor?”

  The young page stared at Luke, trying to murder him with his gaze. When that had no effect, Elo said, “I am sorry, Lord Edobar Falodun. My skills are all geared towards speed. I hit fast, not hard.”

  Edobar sighed. “As expected. You still aren’t worthy of that class I gave you. My sister dotes on her son too much. Go. Bring me my shield and spear, the good ones.” After the page dashed away, he turned to Theobaldine. “Use your Seer skills on Sheepherder and tell me if you think he would be a worthy second. I would ask him, but I doubt he truly understands the complexities at play.”

  The dwarf turned to Shepard and grabbed his chestplate, pulling him down. Shepard grunted in annoyance, but let him do it. Theobaldine stared him in the eyes for a few moments and then let him go. He turned back and said, “His class and levels are low, but I sense the divine about him. If he can access the power of the gods, he would be more than worthy.”

  Lord Edobar scowled at the mention of the gods, but then sighed. In English, he said, “Sheepherder, you will be my second in this duel. Your task will be to kill Luke and then assist me in sending Lord Momoh to meet the gods. I want you to pray unceasingly until the duel begins. But first, remove that sword I gave you. It’s cursed. The plan was to let our enemies take it from you, but that no longer matters. Stab it into Cormac’s leg. He has angered me.”

  Shepard hurriedly removed the sword from his hip magnets when he heard it was cursed. Then he turned and smiled at Cormac. He brandished the sword and then slowly stabbed it into the orc’s thigh, staring him in the eyes as he did. The orc winced, but stared right back at him. Shepard frowned and knelt down to pray. The alchemists rushed up to Cormac and helped him remove the sword and bandage him up.

  Luke was impressed with the display of courage, but still worried about Cormac. He had brought along a pair of healing potions since he intended on fighting. If he still had one after the duel, he would give it to the badass orc.

  He cleared his throat. “Hey Shepard. Don’t you find it fascinating that Lord Edobar gave you a cursed sword? It’s almost as if he was setting you up to fail.”

  His question was annoying enough to get Shepard to stop praying. But whatever he was going to reply was lost when he saw something in the sky. Luke turned to see the Indomitable returning. He was jumping through the air, two large magic spheres following him. Inside the transparent cages were monsters. One was the largest troll Luke had ever seen, an Apex Troll, and the other was a monster he had read about but never seen. They called it a Rust Drake, an eight legged scaled monster that would be called a dragon if it had wings. Its scales were burnished red and slowly flaked off. There was already a pile of rust at the bottom of its magic prison.

  Luke gave Vanessa a metallic hug and stepped away. It was time to fight.