?The corner of her lip ticks up higher as she tracks the movements of the fighters. “No magic. . . what exactly does that entail? Natural aura and power isn’t technically magic.”
?I nod and whisper beside her ear, “Natural strength regarding whatever race you are is all that is accepted. You can let your aura build around you so long as you don’t use your magic associated with it as a psychological maneuver if you wanted.” I try to feel for her aura. Her eyes all day have been that pale pink color. “So you don’t feel like a mortal.”
?“You mean like a vampire.”
?“I mean like weaker than you are.”
?She snickers. “Vampires are not weak.”
?I hum and look around the room not wanting to comment. On the other side of the cage I catch Rovan’s storm swirling eyes. They dip and move between blue to grey and back depending on his mood, what magic he’s using, and if he’s wanting to be intimidating.
?They flash stark steel as he looks at Mavyn and quirks a brow at me. Then he pulls his hood up and over his head before Mavyn can see him. She had seen him clearly in Asier’s classroom and if I hadn’t been there – hadn’t somehow stopped her blood from touching the ground – she would have killed them.
?Beside him, however, Percius approaches and I can feel Mavyn tense. The fight finally ends and cheers and boo’s go out, but people seeing Percius acting as Varian brings in a new wave of cheers.
?Syphix tunnels his sound elemental magic to be heard throughout the house. “Red board wins! Green is out, fiveminute intermission until the fight of the night!” Cheers roar and Syphix pauses for dramatic effects. “The one and only,” he begins lowly before raising his voice, “Varian Asier, Devil of the Primordial Devil, Desmityros!”
?Mavyn’s scent strengthens and I peer down at her to watch as her eyes deepen into red. My stomach drops though, because Mavyn is meant to fight next. Percius’s brute strength is more than Varian’s.
?“And against him, a newcomer but not beginner. She did what no one else has. She faced the Kolasi and lived. She faced the Kolasi and forced him back. A being with magic of old, the Death Devourer, Mavyllora Tsukkenai.”
?A spotlight hits us but she doesn’t flinch. She doesn’t move. Not as the crowd roars louder at her name.
?I dig my fingers into her as I force my body to heed to control. A clock hanging from the ceiling above begins ticking down the five minutes. I have half a mind to drag her out of here and risk being banned so she doesn’t have to fight him. I didn’t think she would have to be fighting Kolasi. He is in the highest tier.
?He moves through the crowd and begins closing in on the door of the cage which is right in front of us. I turn Mavyn around and force her to look at me. Her red eyes deep and dark as she stares darkly at me.
?“You don’t have to fight him,” I say under my breath. “We can leave now and try again another day.”
?Her head slowly tilts to the side as her eyes slit. “Why?” she says slowly. “Varianshouldn’t be a problem.”
?Unholy gods.
?I harden my stare. “Don’t try to be smart.”
?She steps out of my hold and faces the cage with a roll of her eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why are you so worried about Varian, anyways? It’s not like he can actually hurt me.”
?I fist my free hands and lean in close so only she can hear me. “You know exactly who that is, so back out.”
?Percius is getting closer and his eyes are zeroed in on her. She no longer spares him a glance, and she now ignores me.
?When he approaches us he slides his eyes over to me and grins. “And why is one of my students, who is not fully matured, set to fight me?” he says smoothly. He sounds exactly like Varian to the point where I sometimes can’t always tell them apart.
?I can feel Mavyn’s aura settling around her as her scent deepens and my instincts heighten. She faces the devil and looks up at him like how she has to tilt her neck to look at me. Varian and Percius are only an inch shorter than me, making them six foot five, but they could be a whole foot shorter and their size difference to Mavyn would be just as stark.
?Not that she balks at it. Her red eyes stay locked on Percius’s and her aura slowly, steadily, strengthens and darkens. The people around us start feeling it and back away from us.
?“For all you know,” she starts, and her tone holds a frigidness that makes me shiver, “I could be a twin and Mavyn is safely tucked into bed at her school.”
?Percius drags his eyes over Mavyn’s currently covered body. “What makes you think some little vampyr could fight against a devil descended from a devil of old?”
?Her aura strengthens ten fold and I catch Percius tense. Everyone around us silences.
?“So it’s not just vampires you look down upon.” She huffs. “You know there are stories of devils bowing to vampires and vampyr? You should take a lesson out of their books.”
?The bell rings and Syphix announces the beginning of the fight. Percius clucks his tongue as he passes Mavyn, collects his weapon from Syphix, and enters the cage. The floor only ten by ten feet with chains making up the walls and ceiling. The only way the fight ends is if one falls. Preferably by going unconscious.
?Mavyn doesn’t look back at me as she steps up to the Hells Devil and requests her weapon. A staff, then she lets the robe drop right before grabbing the weapon and stepping through. If the crowd wasn’t silent before, they don’t even breathe now.
