Luke shook his head. The Indomitable had clearly chosen a monster that would have a good chance of killing the humans. The Rust Drake was the perfect counter to someone in power armor. Its magic would dissolve his protection and weapons in moments. The muscly elf wanted to take the humans out of the fight, but it wasn’t going to turn out the way he expected. Luke’s new skills changed that equation completely.

  For the first time since he passed his threshold, Luke was truly grateful for his new skills. He had really missed Frictionless Slide. Almost every combat he wished for his movement skill back. But his Summon Vehicle would be invaluable if the Rust Drake destroyed his mech. And his Phantom Shot was his best chance at getting through the tough armor of the drake or Edobar.

  “Lords of the Triumvirate. You have consented to a duel and the loser’s soul will be sacrificed to the gods. Present your stomachs,” the Indomitable said.

  Both lords stepped to the front of their bubble and bared their stomachs. The muscly elf bared his own chest, revealing even more of the medallions embedded in his chest. He grabbed one near his collarbone and dug his fingers underneath it. He grunted and pulled. The medallion slowly pulled off with a slurp and revealed a five inch long ribbon of steel. The steel had been wobbly, but straightened out as the blood dripped off of it.

  He walked over to Edobar first and stretched his hand out. He moved through the magic dome like it wasn’t there and placed the thin blade against Edobar’s stomach. He waited a few moments and then plunged it in suddenly. Edobar grunted loudly and a small trickle of blood dripped off the edges of the medallion. The blood stopped and his skin healed around the inscribed metal disc.

  The Indomitable moved over to Momoh next and did the same thing. Momoh was quieter and acted like it hadn’t hurt as he readjusted his armor to cover himself again.

  “Seconds, please join your masters. We will begin shortly.”

  Luke bristled at the idea that anyone would be his master. He stomped over to stand near Momoh. Shepard got up from praying and stood near Edobar.

  "It's not too late to give up, Luke!" Shepard yelled over. "Just sit your pansy ass down and I won't have to kill you."

  Luke popped open his faceplate so he could show his serious expression. "Shepard. I'm not a murderer, but I am a soldier. If I meet you on the battlefield, I will kill you without hesitation."

  Shepard flinched back at the ferocity in Luke's voice. He opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted when the Indomitable expanded the bubbles and lifted them all up in the air. The two bubbles slowly floated to opposite sides of the stone arena. Luke snapped his faceplate shut and turned around.

  Momoh waited until they were far enough away from Edobar and Shepard before he talked faster than an auctioneer. “Lord Edobar’s class is Silver Storm. Think ice powers but with metal. I won’t tell you my class but it’s a nature based one. My finishing skill is Decay Beam, it’ll kill him even if he’s armored up. I just can’t get interrupted while I charge it. Your job will be to kill both monsters and his second. Ignore our fight and focus on them. I don’t think he’s trained against something like my Insect Aura. It should distract him and interrupt his own finishing skill for three or four minutes while he adjusts to it. Use that time to kill your targets. If you take too long and I get interrupted, we are both dead. You got that?”

  Only Luke’s high Acuity let him understand the rapid fire instructions. “Yes, I understand. Three minutes to kill them. I’ll go all out from the beginning.”

  “See that you do. Our lives and the glory of the mountain home are at stake.” Momoh said. He hopped up and down in place, limbering himself up for the fight. He unsheathed the sword and mace his attendant had brought him. The mace crackled with yellow lightning for a moment and the sword made a strange warbling sound, like it was singing.

  Luke didn’t bother arming himself with his chainsword or ice hammer. They would likely stay magnetized to his legs the entire fight. The Rust Drake and the Apex Troll both needed to be tackled from a distance. His spell rifles were fully loaded, his mana was full, the first half of Repair Craft had been cast, and he had two healing potions in his armor compartment. He activated the two hidden spell rifles on his back. They popped out of their casings and swung up and over his shoulders. He hopped a few times in place and then looked towards the other side of the arena.

  Lord Edobar held a spear that was twice as tall as he was and Shepard knelt by his side, praying once more. The prayers must have done something because the steel armor was starting to glow. A yellow light was brightening the air around him like a halo. Luke was starting to regret not investigating the Kalibutan gods more after discovering their ritual sacrifices. He didn’t know what kind of divine abilities he would be up against soon.

  He did have firsthand experience with Shepard’s class and fighting style. His former employee liked to have monsters come to him so he could use his Retribution skill to reflect their attacks on them. If he didn’t recognize the Rust Drake, he would be out of his armor and dead within moments. Unfortunately, Luke couldn’t count on that. Shepard had been at this for a few years, he likely knew exactly what he was up against.

  The next few moments would be a guessing game. Each of them knew a bit about the other and they would be going all out in the first few seconds. It was like a chess game, every move mattered. Shepard knew about Luke’s spell rifles, although he hadn’t seen the newer ones in action. He didn’t know anything about Luke’s two new skills, but it was possible Shepard had new skills too.

  Luke furiously worked through different strategies as the pieces were put into place. The arena was a quarter mile wide and the combatants were on opposite sides. The monsters were placed in the middle, near some of the few rock formations that remained. The monsters were each big enough that the boulders and spires only half covered them. Everyone was still in their bubbles while they waited for the duel to start.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  The Indomitable turned and addressed the crowd. “Assembled subjects of the Triumvirate. You are being given a rare honor. You will see justice done and a sacrifice to the six gods of the pantheon at the same time. Few can say the same. You may cheer or shout, cry or wail. However, your place is as a witness. Whatever you do, don’t look away. These two Lords deserve your complete attention as they fight to reveal the will of the gods.” He turned towards the center of the arena and shouted, “To those who are about to win, we salute you. May the fallen glory flow to you. The battle begins now!”

  As soon as the words left his mouth, the magic bubbles disappeared and were replaced with a transparent dome covering the entire arena.

  Luke bolted forward, eating up ground with his long legs. They were inscribed with strength and dexterity runes, and combined with his own high stats and buff, he was running close to sixty miles an hour once he got going. Momoh still outpaced him, running around the middle of the arena and towards a silvery cloud of flying stars. Luke wrenched his eyes away. He had to trust that Momoh could hold his own. He needed to focus on Shepard. He was the wildcard.

  The two monsters he was running towards were deadly and dangerous, but also predictable. They would act on instinct and attack when he got close. Shepard could surprise him.

  Case in point, somehow Shepard was just as fast as Luke was. The gears and linkages Luke had designed shouldn’t have let him run that fast, regardless of the man’s stats. They had speed limiters built in, disguised as redundancies. Somehow he was bypassing those limiters and running slightly faster than Luke. It didn’t take long to come to the obvious conclusion. It had to be divine powers.

  As the two of them raced for the arena center, the two monsters there weren’t just waiting for them. They had turned and attacked each other. Monsters normally didn’t attack their own kind, but these two monsters were used to being the master of their own domain. They didn’t like that something nearby was threatening them for supremacy.

  The twenty foot tall troll lumbered towards the thirty foot long Rust Drake and slammed a fist down atop its armored head. At the same time, the drake slung its tail forward like a whip, hitting it on the upper shoulder. Unlike dragons, the drakes had their magic in their tail and the whipcrack was accompanied by a wave of rust red shards. The magic punched into the troll like dozens of tiny daggers.

  Neither monster was seriously hurt. The nature of the troll meant that the spray of rust knives didn’t faze it. Tiny troll units were killed and fell off, but the creature as a whole didn’t bleed. The same amorphous nature meant that the troll’s strike spread out on impact and didn’t crack the drake’s armor.

  The two monsters attacked each other again and again before realizing that they couldn’t hurt each other. The troll stood up and looked around for other targets. Just in time to get a fireball to the face.

  Luke had run up while they were fighting. His focus was on Shepard, but he couldn’t pass up the easy shot when the troll presented itself like that. The fire spell rifle used his mortar tube and larger magnets, so the resulting fireball was able to take out the high tier troll’s entire head. While it was reforming its head, Luke watched the drake out of the corner of his eye.

  As expected, the Rust Drake immediately refocused on Luke. It planted its eight legs and swung its tail at the approaching human. It didn’t have a hope of hitting him from a hundred feet away, but Luke jumped anyway. He used Machine Bond to activate his jump boots. The pistons in his legs activated at the same time his Inertia rune flickered with power. He rocketed into the sky in an instant. As he arced through the air, he saw the rust shards scream by underneath him.

  While still in the air, Luke fired all four guns at the Rust Drake, one shot each just to see how each element worked. As he landed, he saw the fireball roll off it without a scratch. The lightning and ice bolts did even less damage, but that might have been because they were small. The medium sized acid bolt was the winner. It splashed onto the drakes scales and threw up smoke as it slowly ate into the monster. Luke smiled to himself and put it out of his mind. He needed to focus on the real threat now.

  Instead of waiting for an attack like Luke expected, Shepard hadn’t stopped running and was practically in his face now. He lifted both arms and pointed his palms at Luke, yelling, “Chain Lighting!”

  Two thick bolts of lighting shot from his hands and cracked the air between them. Luke’s Acuity sent him into bullet time, thinking fast enough that he could see the spell racing towards him. He activated his jump boots again, aiming to spring to his left.

  The world sped back up and Luke was hit by both bolts. His mind might temporarily be fast enough to react, but his mech suit wasn’t. The sustained lightning crackled across his suit, burning deep channels across his armor. The jump boots finally fired, propelling him out of the way of the rest of the attack.

  Luke gasped as he landed, only then realizing the lightning had made its way through his armor and burnt his left arm. It felt like it was still on fire and hung there limply. He grunted in pain and raised his right arm to fire back.

  He held his shot at the last second.

  Shepard’s Retribution would return his shot if he fired now. Instead, Luke activated his jump boots again, leaping further to his right. The move proved prescient, Shepard had fired his lightning power again and the twin bolts just missed him. He had gotten lucky.

  Luke’s eyes narrowed. Shepard hadn’t yelled out the spell name the second time. He had clearly been trying to set false expectations and it had almost worked. He must have planned out this fight, specifically how to beat Luke. Maybe he hadn’t planned on the duel, but he had clearly been planning on a battle.

  He wasn’t the only one. Luke had been planning too, specifically on how to beat his Retribution skill. His new over the shoulder spell rifles were exactly what he needed. He bolted forward, closing the distance between them. As he ran, he used Machine Bond to aim the machine gun air rifles at the asshole’s smug face. With a thought, he fired as fast as he could, over six shots a second between the two spell rifles. Small lightning and ice bolts streamed out of the guns in two parallel lines.

  Shepard contemptuously raised his hand and activated his skill, sending the first two spells rocketing directly back at Luke. He ignored the reflected spells, his Mark V suit could shrug off a few small bolts. As Luke expected, the Retribution skill only reflected the first few spells. The remaining dozens of lightning and ice bolts hit him full force, rattling him inside his tin can. Shepard’s skill had to be manually activated each time. It could handle single attacks but dozens of them one after another were his weakness.

  The lightning bolts didn’t seem to affect him, perhaps the divine blessing gave him some immunity. But the ice was covering his right arm and creeping across his chestplate. Shepard roared in frustration and smacked his arm. Huge tendrils of lightning wrapped around the arm, shattering the creeping ice and freeing him. He moved his arm around to test his maneuverability. It moved flawlessly. It was like he hadn’t been hit at all.

  Luke smiled. During that whole attack Shepard had been standing still. Luke had flanked him and then ran towards him to stop and distract him. The idiot mercenary had forgotten there were more than two people in this fight. The Rust Drake had just galloped into range and snapped its long tail towards Shepard. As dozens of rust shards streaked towards him, the Apex Troll raised both fists and brought them down towards the little man's head.