The atmosphere of The Hearth & Ember had been thick with tension ever sihe other ss and their bodyguards had arrived, but now it was almost suffog. Lorissa stepped aside as she motioo her bodyguard. “Ort, here, will be my champion.”
The massive man, his bulk t over most of the others in the room, even Krion, reached up to seize the axe strapped across his back. The axe itself was a formidable on, and it gleamed ominously in the light of the tavern. Rather than brandish it, however, Ort simply ha over to another of the bodyguards, a younger man who fumbled it, barely managing to keep his hold. The younger bodyguard’s nervousness only seemed to amuse the giant, who let out a low chuckle as his terpart struggled with the weight of the on. Ort then stepped forward to e even with Redrek, and the human’s grin became twisted with a mix and malice.
“This should be eaining,” Ort said in a deep rumble. He sized Redrek up with an almost mog look. “I wonder how long it’ll take me to break that red skin of yours, hobgoblin. You non-humans always talk a big game when The Ivory Banner es calling, but I doubt you’ve got the guts to back it up.”
The insult hung in the air, and more than a few of the tavern’s dwarven patrons shifted angrily in their seats. Likely none of them felt nothing but distaste for the hobgoblin in their midst, but the to used made it clear his words could just as easily have been directed against them as well. Krion, however, felt his blood begin to boil at the casually cruel words the man had used. If this was what The Ivory Banner was all about, he wanted nothing to do with them.
Redrek, for all that he had remained mostly quiet sihe frontation had begun, visibly stiffe Ort’s words, his stoic demeanor faltering. The hobgoblin opened his mouth as though to say something, but it was clear that he didn’t want to give the brute the satisfa of a response. However, Kael, ever observant, narrowed his eyes and muttered a curse under his breath. Garran, for all that he was Valdre’s bodyguard first and foremost, still cracked his knuckles, clearly itg to get involved.
Ort seemed to take notice of the brewing anger in Krion’s group, his grin widening as he tinued. His eyes shifted over to Kael, the shadow elf’s posture stiff from how angry he was on his s’s behalf. The human bodyguard then looked beyond Kael to see Hatsuandio Krion.
“Well, look at this,” Ort said staring at Hatsune who shivered at the look he was giving her. “A pretty little bunnyki so full e. How cute. Looks like you have something to say, but maybe I’ve got something else for that mouth of yours to haer I send the red-skinned bastard pag.” He let the implication hang in the air, his words dripping with a venomous, almost predatory uone.
As he tio look at Hatsune, unblinking, the Leporine shrank and stepped closer to Krion’s side. At her visible distress, a wave of fury shot through Krion. He could feel the heat rise in his face, his blood boiling at the sinister implications of the man’s words. He had already withe nature of Ort’s s at the Dungeon, but this… this went beyond anything he was willing to tolerate.
Without thinking, Krion smmed his hand down onto the wooden table, making their half-emptied ptes jump and sending a loud smack reverberating through the room. The force of it silehe tavern instantly, the ughter and banter from Lorissa’s group cutting off like a knife had e sshing through it. The sound of wood shaking uhe impact seemed to hang in the air for a moment, and those him could almost feel the burni of Krion’s fury.
“Enough.” Krion anded in a growl, his eyes bzing as he stared daggers through Ort, who fli his outburst. “You want to challenge Redrek? Then you’ll have to gh me,” he decred. “I’ll serve as his champion.”
There was an audible murmur of surprise that swept through the room, mostly from the dwarves who had been previously watg in stunned sile the events unfolding in their midst. By their reas, it was rare, apparently, for one s to offer themselves as a champion for another in a duel, especially when it meant knowing they would be fighting someone of Ort’s size and obvious strength. But Krion was resolute in his itment. The bodyguard’s words had gooo far, and he wasn’t going to let et away with it.
A System prompt flickered to life in Krion’s vision, but he barely registered the glowi as it fshed. He took but a moment to hat it was a formal decration, firming his acceptance of the duel on Redrek’s behalf as his champion. In small letters were the same rules Lorissa had stated previously — the fight would be to submission, no ons, no magily fists. Krion wasn’t sure why the System had even o prompt him — it was already a done deal in his mind. Krion nodded, and the System firmed his choice.
With a deep breath, trying to get his fury uighter trol, he turo face his friends, knowing that they were all watg him with wide eyes, some of them with fear, but all of them with . But it was Valdre’s gaze that caught his attention. The half-frost elf’s face was tight with nerves, his body coiled like a spring, clearly thinking something was about to g.
“What are you thinking, Krion?” Valdre hissed in a low voice, breathing fast.
“I’m thinking that I have the best ce against him out of all of us,” he replied, his voice firm despite the small speck of uainty within him. “I won’t let Redrek face Ort by himself.”
Valdre gave a tight nod, though if anything the in his eyes became deeper. “This won’t be a fair fight, not by any means.” Before Krion could respond, the half-frost elf leaned in close, his voice barely above a whisper, the words covered by the loud gratutions from the roup of ss to Ort foading the Bcksword into a duel. “This kind of duel has loopholes. If Ort is willing to fight dirty, he exploit those gaps to avoid allowing you to give your submission. It’s a legal loophole, but ohat lead to far worse than simple defeat.”
Krion didn’t have time to ahe gratutions dying off iher group of ss. Ort turned ba, grinning, clearly expeg the fight to be his easy win. “You’ve got a lot of guts, Bcksword,” the burly man sneered. ”But you’ll need more than that to survive me.“
The others behind Krion all exged uneasy gheir silent worry speaking volumes. It was clear they were all ed for him — no one had expected this, and they likely were not sure how the fight would go. Even though Hatsune had seen him fight down in the Dungeon, and knew his advantage in stats, she still seemed a bit nervous as well.
With the champioed, Vuldrin began barking out ands to dwarves still sitting around the room to push the tables and chairs to the side, clearing a space for the duel that was about to take pce. The ctter of furniture being moved was followed by hushed murmurs from a handful of dwarves who had begun to gregate he edge of where the duel would take pce. To Krion, it sounded like there was some betting going on. He was grimly amused at the long odds against him.
Near where they stood was Vuldrin. His wrinkled brow furrowed as he watched both groups of ss preparing for the duel, his old eyes examining both Krion and Ort in turn. Perhaps Krion was imagining it, but it looked like the dwarven referee was torn on who he wao win. A step in the right dire, given how he had reacted to Krion and Hatsune ing into The Hearth & Ember earlier.
Putting the old dwarf from his mind, Krion stepped to the ter of the cleared space to square off with Ort. The burly man tio grin smugly, as if he already won, while Krion remained calm, his body poised and ready. The tension fairly crackled in the air, the room so quiet now you could almost hear the sound of breath being held.
“You both know the terms,” Vuldrin said gruffly. He eyed both batants with professional detat. “Let the duel begin.”
Ort charged first, his massive fists swinging with the kind of power that could knock a door off its hinges. Krion, though slightly smaller in size, was fast — faster than Ort had anticipated based on how wide his swings went. Krion dodged to the side with a quick step, narrowly avoiding the brunt of Ort’s attack but feeling the rush of air as the man’s fists cut through it. Klrion’s earlier fury had gone cold, and he moved fluidly, tinuing to dodge and weave, trying to get a sense of Ort’s style.
After several seds, Krion could holy say he was not impressed. The man was all brute force. Rolfun would have beaten him in seds and then subjected him to a far more brutal hour of lectures on what he had done wrong.
Given the gap in skill, Krion held back at first. A slight misstep on a creaking board in the floor through him off for a split sed, and Ort darted in close to hit Krion hard iomach. Though he heard an audible gasp from the watg crowd at the blow, all he felt was a whisper of pain before his regeion kicked it, quickly dulling it. Lashing out instinctively, his fist caught Ort a gng blow across his cheek, staggering him, and this time the gasp from the watchers was one of surprise.
When Ort was uo nd more than a single gng blow over the minute, he pulled up short, opening the space between them.
“You’re quick, I’ll give you that,” he jeered, wiping a smear of blood from his lip from where Krion’s fist nded earlier. “But you’re soft. I tell. You’re not used to fighting like this. Not like me. Not like the real men who’ve fought in wars with the Legions.” His tourned mog, “Likely the most you’ve ever done is sparred with your daddy’s maids.”
The words stung slightly, not that they had an ounce of truth to them. ri his own words, but when Krion didn’t react, the bodyguard gnced over to where Hatsuood, and his smile turned into something darker.
“What’s the matter, pretty bunnykin?” Ort called out, his lips holding that dark, malicious grin. “Didn’t think you’d end up watg a scrap like this tonight, huh? Don’t worry, once I’m doh the ol’ pretty boy with red-gold eyes here, I’ll make sure you get a turn as well.” His eyes fshed. “Though that will be a different kind of struggle, I think.”
Krion looked over at Hatsune, who had stiffe the words Ort had directed her way. Her ears were twitg nervously, but there was only a look of anger on her face. Ahat Krio inside as well. But Ort didn’t stop there.
“Oh, don’t worry, Bcksword,” he added, mogly casual. “Ohis little show’s over, we’ll make sure she joins her s in the grave. After a number of us have had our fun, of course,” he said, malicious grin growing wider at the catcalls now ing from the group he had e with. “Chadwick mentioned some things he would like to do, you see.”
The temperature iavern plummeted as Krio something shift in him. A deathly silence fell, thid suffog, far more strig than what those gathered had felt earlier. Even the dwarves, who had gathered, excited to see a s and a bodyguard go at it, had goill. Every other s and bodyguard stared at Krion, their expressiing from stunned disbelief to growing horror.
But the burly man remained oblivious, grinning as if he’d told some clever joke.
Krion’s mind was fire and iron.
This wasn’t simple bravado anymore, or an attempt to get under Krion’s skin — this was a line drawn in blood. The fool had poi out, then crossed it with glee, and now Krion was done pying by their rules. He wasn’t fighting to help a friend anymore. He was fighting for her.
Without a word, Krion moved.
The tavern blurred into the background as he surged forward, using every single one of his stats as he hadn’t sihe Dungeon Boss. Ort’s grin faltered too te. The burly man’s eyes only just started widening in disbelief when Krion’s knuckles smashed into his temple with a siing thud, the force reverberating through the room. The bodyguard’s feet lifted from the floor, only for him to colpse like a felled tree several feet further back, hitting the ground hard enough to rattle the floor.
Silence.
The eavern stood frozen, as if the room itself was holding a breath. Even the dwarves who had been takis moments ago, papers and pencils still in hand, stared wide-eyed. Mugs were paused halfway to bearded lips, and Ordran himself had frozen, a strange look on his face. The veteran owner of The Hearth & Ember turned without a word and rushed back to his kit, his expression not ging.
From behind him, Krion heard Hatsune’s breath hitch. Turning, he saw Valdre, Redrek, Garran, and Kael all as still as statues, shock etched into their faces.
Turning back to his oppo, Ort remained lying unmoving on the ground, his limp form a testament to the precision and power behind Krion’s blow.
Slowly, Krion straightened, his breath steady despite the surge of adrenalihrumming through his veins. He stood over his fallen oppo, muscles still taut with fury.
Krion’s gaze swept over to Vuldrin. The white-beared, old dwarf that had agreed to referee so relutly stood where he had been sihe fight started, but as still as he was, he couldn’t mask the flicker of unease on his face as he stared back at Krion.
Krion’s jaw tensed, his words cutting through the thick, charged air. “As the referee,” he said, cold and deliberate, “did you hear my oppo say he submitted?”
The question hung heavy in the room for long moments. Dwarves, ss, and bodyguards alike waiting, knowing that Vuldrin’s answer would decide if the duel was truly over — or still going.
Vuldrin shifted his stance, his boots scuffing against the floor as he met Krion’s challenging stare. The tremor in his fingers betrayed him, though his gruff voice remaieady. “Nay,” he admitted slowly, resigo what was about to happen. “I didn’t hear him submit.”
The weight of the referee’s admissioled over the room. While both groups of ss and their bodyguards remained silent, the dwarves at once all began muttering, sensing what was ing.
Krion’s red-gold eyes darkened as they returo the crumpled bodyguard sprawled at his feet. Blood trickled from the man’s busted temple, but his chest still rose and fell with shallow breaths. He was unscious, but still very much alive — a fact that grated against the edge of Krion’s resolve.
Boots creaked against the floorboards as Krion stepped forward, each measured step deliberate and ominous. The tension iavern coiled tighter, breath caught in throats as eyes followed him like the grim shadow of fate.
He crouched beside the burly man, his fingers brushing against the man’s thieck, searg. Life lihere, faint but present.
Krion’s lips set into a grim line. Not enough.
With a smooth motion, he gripped the unsan by the throat and hauled him upright. The burly bodyguard dangled in Krion’s grasp like a rag doll, his weight meaningless against his strength and the lingering fury he felt.
A gasp from the dwarven side rippled through the tavern. Vuldrin’s knuckles whitened as he ched his hands, but the old dwarf said nothing. He khat once a s’s mind was set, interference was folly.
Krion stood, arm outthrust, his arm steady despite the weight of the man he held aloft. Muscles coiled beh his uniform, strength born from his stats and his rage.
Then, without another word, Krion shook him — owice — each motion fierd final.
A siing crack echoed through the tavern.
The body in his ha limp, the wisted at an unnatural angle. Gasps and sharp intakes of breath rippled through the spectators, but no one moved.
Krion’s expression was cold as iron in the depths of winter. With a dispassiooss, he sent the corpse boung and sliding across the floor, ing to a rest at the feet of Lorissa.
Krion turned slowly, blood smeared across his knuckles, his chest rising and falling from the iy of the fight. His red-gold eyes bzed, log onto Lorissa, whose face had gone a deathly shade of pale.
Krion’s voice was ice, sharp and cutting. “Do you see him?” he asked, deceptively calm as he gestured to Ort’s crumpled form. “That’s what happens when someohreatens my friends. When someoates their filthy iions to those I care about.”
He took a step forward, his booted steps eg like war drums against the floor. Lorissa flinched but tried to stand firm against his advance. Her ente of fellow ss shrank behind her, doing all they could to avoid attrag Krion’s attention. Even their bodyguards, a mixed group of humans of different backgrounds, hesitated to do more than press closer to their charges.
“I’m done pying around,” Krion decred, his voice growing louder, more dangerous with every word. “You e for Redrek? Valdre? Hatsune?” He looked at all the faces quailing before him, as he gestured back towards his friends and allies. “You e for any of us again, and you’ll get what ot.”
Not a word was said ba in respoo his decration, but the weight of his promise bore down on them like a weight.
Krion pointed directly at Lorissa, the strength of his gre causing the red of his eyes to flicker, briefly overtaking the gold. “That goes for you, your Ivory Banner pdogs, and Chadwick — especially Chadwick.” His lip curled into a snarl. “Tell him I’m waiting. Tell him that if he evehes in our dire, I’ll break him too.”
Lorissa opened her mouth to speak, probably in some desperate attempt at a way to save face, but he cut her off with a harsh, biting ugh. “You think you’re untouchable because of your family name? Your status as a s?” He shook his head in mock sadness, before returning his gre to the spiteful woman. “It doesn’t matter if you have dozens of fancy titles. Titles mean nothing when your bones lie shattered on the ground at my feet.”
Krion took one final step toward her, his voice dropping to a low growl that sent a shiver through even the bravest dwarf in the room. “This is your only warning. You want war with me and mine? I’ll bring it to your doorstep. You’ll wish you never crossed me.”
Lorissa stumbled back, her fidenraveling at the promise Krion just swore before her. With a final gre that was more terror than anger, she spun on her heel, the rest of her group scrambling to keep up as they fled the tavern, their earlier swagger and ughing jokes pletely gowo of their bodyguards lingered for a moment to take Ort’s corpse with them. The door smmed shut.
Krion stood, watg the closed door of the tavern as the tension gradually eased from his shoulders. He wasn’t sure how loared at it, but the rest of the tavern remained quiet as he did so.
Redrek broke the silence. “Well, Krion… I think you made your point. Not sure we’ll see that lot again. At least, not with a fair few more bodyguards in tow.”
Krion exhaled slowly one more time, the fire in his veins finally cooling. “Good,” he said quietly, eyes filled not with triumph but resolve, still fixed on the door where their enemies had fled. Somehow, he didn’t think it would be that easy.
He gnced back to Vuldrin, who had been watg him. The old dwarf’s face was still pale, his eyes wide. Part of Krion wao ugh, despite the seriousness of what had just happened. If he had to guess, ime Vuldrin saw him e to The Hearth & Ember for a meal, he wouldn’t be protesting quite as loudly, or perhaps at all. Still, Krion offered him a faint nod, aowledging his role as referee and thanking him for it. When he received a slight, slow nod iurn, Krion made to return to their table, the dwarves who had watched the duel doing the same, though some tinued eyeing Krion and his group.
As Garran and Kael set the st of the chairs o their table, which had also returo where it had been, Krion made his way back over to his friends amidst the sounds of the rest of the tavern being put back the way it was before the duel. The legs of tables and chairs thumped softly as they were moved. Above the sound of talking, he heard the sloshing of a bucket that a young dwarf, who had barely more than a wisp of a beard, brought a mop out to up the floor where the duel had been fought.
Krion took his seat, gng down at the now-cold pte of food he had only half-finished. His knuckles were sore and bloodied, though whether it was from Ort or the forming his hand down oable, he wasn’t sure. Grim amusement filled him at the thought of Ordran’s table hurting his hand more than the man he had just killed.
Hatsune again sat at his right, her ears still half-lowered, though the she was showing softened as he gestured that he was alright. And he was. Really. He had done what o be done. Ort had threatened Hatsune, Redrek, and all of them — mog them as less than meaningless obstacles to be swept away by their so-called betters.
He ched his fist, remembering the feeling of Ort’s neck breaking. It hadn’t even been difficult with his stats. Just two violent shakes, and the man was dead. Krion wasn’t sure how he felt about that — or if he felt anything at all. There had been a time, not that long ago even, whehought of killing someone would have ed his stomach, weighed down his heart. But here? At the Imperial Academy, surrounded on all sides by potential enemies, enemies who had already attempted to kill him and Hatsuo be bound by naive scruples was a weakness.
The others might not have said it aloud, but they khey had accepted that truth some time ago. Which is why, rather than through accusations or abuse in his face for his choice, they simply took their ows at the table.
He gnced across the table at Redrek, who had started being more of his old self now that the duel was over. Valdre, ever posed, was now quieter than usual, his gaze still lingering at the door to the tavern, perhaps as though expeg Lorrisa and the Ivory Bao return. Their bodyguards were more straightfarran leaned ba his seat, arms crossed, but an approving look on his face as he met Krion’s gaze. And Kael? His expression was once again unreadable, but the subtle nod he sent Krion spoke volumes.
Their enemies had bee running. That was what mattered.
He looked once more around the table, his friends in unspoken agreement as they all again moved to pick up food and drink. All except Hatsune, who seemed to be doing. At the gnce he shot her way, she gave him a small, reassuring smile and made the universal motion for being full. It was at that moment that he had a thought that had slowly been rising to the surface of his mind for days now.
As long as she’s safe, the rest doesn’t matter.
If he had to dirty his hands to protect her and the others, so bet it.
Krion leaned back over his food, f himself to rex as he speared a cold pieeat. Slowly the atmosphere shifted as the normal noises of the taverurned.
Redrek snorted as he grabbed his mug, raising it high. “To Krion Bcksword,” the hobgoblin decred loudly, his grin mischievous once more. “My human champion whs his fists down on bones and diables with equal style!”
And just like that the remaining tension shattered as ughter broke through the group. Even Kael cracked a faint smile.
“Careful, Redrek,” Krion said dryly, spearing another pieeat. “Keep talking, and you’ll be .”
Redrek ughed again, uerred. “I’ll take my ces.”
The mood lightened, but Krion’s thoughts remained sharp beh the surface. This wasn’t over, he khe Ivory Banner wouldn’t back down — her would Chadwick or anyone aligned with him. And when they came again, as they surely would, they’d e harder, more prepared.
But that was fine. Krion had made his stance clear. He was not going to be some timid s fresh from Earth anymore. He would be a warrior, as well as a killer if need be, and he would fight for his friends without hesitation.
He chewed slowly, sav the taste of roasted meat despite everything. His appetite had returned, driven not just by hunger but by resolve.
“You alright?” Hatsune’s soft voice broke through his thoughts.
“Yeah,” Krion said. “I’m alright.”
Hatsuilted her head slightly, ears flig again. “You don’t have to carry everything yourself, you know.”
“I know,” he said. But even as he said those words, he khat some burdens would be his aloo bear. And if that meant standiween his friends, between Hatsune and the dahat lurked in the shadows of the Academy, then so be it.
As the versation at the table turoward lighter topics — mostly regaling them with tales of hobgoblin mischief from when he had been younger — Krio himself ease into the moment. Enjoying the good food, and the good pany he had found. And would keep. No matter who came against him.
The Ivory Banner, Chadwick, and anyone else foolish enough to e for him would e to uand one simple truth:
Mess with Krion Bcksword or those he cared about, and there would be no mercy.
I hope you ehe long chapter, stay tuned for an interlude ime!
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