Sage and Rynessa dropped me a few minutes’ walk from the pce where the illegal fights were taking pce. We were supposed to get inside separately, as if we didn't know each other.

  The Lady Dragon’s Tournament, during which men fought for the chance to spend private time with her, was the st part of the whole event, which meant I didn't need to be there from the beginning. When I reached the pce, it was already ongoing.

  I emerged from between the trees into a wide meadow that was already crowded. At its center stood a rge circur structure, with tiered seating where people watched the fight taking pce below. From what Sage had told me, and from what I could see, it resembled a small circus arena.

  Booths lined the area around it, offering food, drinks, sves, and various other attractions. People moved between them, though most were gathered at the stands, focused on the fight in the arena.

  I was immediately approached by two muscur men and a woman. “Ticket,” she asked, barely giving me a gnce.

  I passed her a ticket that Sage had given me. She had gotten it from the person working at the b, who had told her about the location of the event.

  “Hundred ryns,” the woman said after checking my ticket.

  Again, already prepared, I handed her the money that Sage had given me. The woman pulled out a bck stone mechanism that looked like those used at the city's entrances. After she left a magical symbol on my wrist, she wished me fun and ushered me to move on.

  The group of people in the middle cheered, reacting to whatever was happening in the arena. I didn't really feel the need to watch what was going on there, especially since I first needed to find the person responsible for registration for the tournament I was supposed to take part in.

  I walked slowly, looking around, trying to find the right stand, and watching the people nearby. Many of them had masks on their faces, hiding their identities, and I wondered why Sage didn't provide one for me.

  When I found the right pce, a woman sitting there looked bored.

  “I want to take part in the Lady Dragon’s Tournament,” I said, approaching her.

  “Sorry, you’re too te. We already have eight candidates,” she replied.

  “You can just make one more fight,” I suggested. “More attraction for everyone.”

  “I’m not setting the rules here,” the woman replied with a frustrated voice. “Lady Dragon closed the registration. She loves those fights, but not everyone is super interested in them, so she doesn't want to have too many.”

  “Can’t you throw someone else out and put me in?” I asked.

  The woman snorted, shaking her head. “Maybe if there was something special about you, Lady Dragon would do that, but seeing that you are quite slow, it’s not likely.”

  “You have zero power here,” I said, realizing that talking to her made no sense at all.

  “It’s the Lady Dragon’s Tournament,” she replied, as if that was the most obvious thing in the world and I was an idiot.

  “Then give me the card and I will get her acceptance,” I said.

  “I can't give you the card. She closed the recruitment.”

  I stopped myself from groaning. If only Sage had brought me sooner, then I would’ve registered without trouble. But that could cause other problems, at least according to Sage. “How much do you want for it?” I asked. I had more cash from Sage in case I needed it.

  The woman rolled her eyes. “Those are not for sale,” she said, gesturing with one hand beneath the table and reaching the other one toward me. I passed her a fifty ryns coin, but she looked at me, waiting, wiggling her fingers. I gave her another one, and only then did she hide the money in one of her pockets and got up.

  “You know what? I don't even need to sit here anymore,” she said, and left the stand. I followed her with my gaze and then leaned over the table, looking beneath it. Fortunately, she didn't scam me, and I found the bck cards under the table. I grabbed one and left quickly.

  It was a small bck pte the size and thickness of a pying card. It was supposed to react only to the Dragon’s mana, turning white if she accepted you into the tournament. Getting the card was supposed to be the first easy step, and getting her acceptance was supposed to be harder.

  But she had closed the recruitment already, and while I had bought the card, it seemed getting her acceptance would be harder than I thought.

  I had been worried that I might get only one shot at getting it, but it seemed I didn't even have that. There was still one thing that I believed would convince the Dragon, that I hadn’t even mentioned to Sage, and I hoped would be only a st resort. I could use the fact that the Dragon was a vampire against her, and it didn't even require that much effort.

  But first, I needed to find her, and that meant getting into the arena, as she was probably somewhere there watching the fights. I needed to climb the stairs to reach the top of it. In the middle, it was just hard-packed earth where two men were fighting. The first ring around the arena in the middle was for seats, but then there was a ft ring where many people stood in the crowd, trying to get a look at the fight.

  I ended up at the back of that crowd, and while I had a terrible view of the fight, it didn't really interest me. I was looking for the Dragon among those seated close to the ring. It wasn't really that hard to spot her.

  She had free space around herself, with a few big men blocking the way to her and one woman sitting on her right. The Dragon was tall and lean, with long bck hair and tanned skin. At least compared to Zoe. Apparently, being a vampire didn't mean you had to be completely pale.

  The Dragon looked to be around thirty, and I wondered if she never rejuvenated herself, or if she was keeping herself at a more mature-looking age to be taken more seriously. But despite looking a bit older than Gemma or Sage, she was just as hot as them.

  Any ideas of trying to flirt with her and asking her to insert me into the tournament were dead when I spotted two men trying to push their way toward her, but both were stopped by the guards around her.

  Both of them were holding bck cards, which meant they wanted to join the tournament too. Either they bought the card after the recruitment was closed, just like me, or they got them before. Whatever way they got them, it seemed the Dragon was not even interested in giving them a look, let alone talking to them.

  So it seemed I had no other way but to grab my st chance. Or I could give up and abandon the mission. My gaze shifted to two sves fighting in the arena. Both of them looked terrible. Bloody and wounded, yet still fighting. Till death. One of them would not live to the end of that. And while I couldn't do anything to stop that fight, I could help stop the woman organizing it all.

  With a sigh, I focused again on the Dragon and turned off the Veil of Blood skill that, up to that moment, had been masking the smell of my blood. From what Zoe had told me before, she wasn’t able to tell from the smell that I had mana, but it was really amazing and enticing.

  Luring a vampire with the smell of my blood really seemed like a terrible idea, but the core of this mission was seducing her, so it was a risk all the time.

  I was watching the Dragon, waiting, starting to doubt if the smell would be strong enough to reach her from that far. Maybe I should get closer? Or maybe it wasn’t going to work at all. But then her nose twitched as she frowned.

  She raised her gaze from the ongoing fight into the crowd, her gaze moving over the people standing around me, until she stopped - her eyes locked on me.

  She tilted her head, staring curiously.

  I smirked, holding her gaze for a few seconds. Then I raised my hand with the card between my fingers. A soft smile appeared on her lips, and suddenly I sensed mana flying over the ring toward me. A really small portion, and not directed straight at me, but at the card in my hand. I tried not to react in any way, to not let her know that I sensed it.

  But with so many people around, many turned in my direction, trying to understand why someone was using mana so bluntly over the ongoing fight. As the card began turning white, I smiled at the Dragon and, hiding the card, moved back to vanish into the crowd of people.

  I wanted to get away from the ring to avoid seeing the rest of the fight. And I needed to return to the registration stand to confirm my participation in the tournament. On my way there, I spotted Sage, and I couldn't believe what that bitch was doing.

  We were supposed to be on a mission. I was supposed to take part in a tournament, and she was supposed to make sure that nothing happened to me. Instead, she was straddling some bulk thug, pushing her tongue into his mouth and grinding her hips over his p.

  What the fuck was she doing? She was almost fucking a dude in the middle of everything, rather than keeping an eye on me.

  Letting out a deep sigh, I tore my gaze away from her fit and hot body moving sensually in his p. I was supposed to not approach her unless my life was in immediate danger. Reaching the registration stand again, I put the completely white card on the table in front of the woman who had apparently returned to take care of her job.

  She looked clearly surprised at the card, then at me. “I don't know how you did that,” she said, tapping the white card. “But apparently one man just resigned and you will take his spot.”

  “Perfect,” I replied, wondering if his resignation was marked on the card, or if the Dragon had already passed the information to someone and they were thrown out of the tournament.

  “Do you know the rules?” the woman asked.

  “Better expin them to me,” I replied.

  “Give me your hand,” she said, holding another mechanism that would leave a magical mark on my hand. After she pressed it to my wrist, a bit higher up, I was left with a shining number zero that didn’t vanish like it always had before.

  “It will vanish in around three hours,” the woman said, noticing my curious gnce. “You can’t use any weapons, only your body. Everything is allowed, but you can’t kill your opponents. You fight without breaks until the referee stops the fight or your opponent surrenders. As for the Dragon’s request, all participants take part without any upper clothing. You will be healed between each fight and after the whole tournament. If you need food or drinks before it starts, approach any of the stands and show them the symbol - they will provide it for free. It’s forbidden to bet on your own fights. It’s forbidden to use any magically enhanced items, even if they are not standard weapons. You can’t drink potions mid-fight, so whatever you want to drink, do it before. When the fights start, you fight one after another without breaks between, so you need to stay at the ring the whole time. That’s all. Is everything clear?”

  “Yeah, thanks,” I murmured, realizing that Sage hadn't mentioned a few things. And while fighting without a shirt didn't change anything, the fact that my opponents could drink potions that I had no idea what they could possibly do, was worrying.

  “The Sve Tournament is finishing soon, and then it's your turn, so better move toward the ring already,” the woman said. “And good luck.”

  Walking toward one of the stands to grab a drink of water, I saw Sage in the same pce - in the p of that man, as he groped her ass. She looked like she was a bitch in heat, grinding herself against him. But not wanting to get too distracted with whatever she was doing, I moved toward the arena.

  When I entered the highest ring, standing at the back of the crowd, two men were fighting. One of them had been fighting when I was getting my acceptance, but the other one was new. Both of them looked to be around twenty, held swords, and were wounded. Both of them looked tired and like they were barely standing.

  The new one seemed to gather enough strength for one final attack as he rushed forward, striking first from the right. When his opponent deflected it, he twirled his weapon over his head and smmed the bde into the man from the other side. The defending man didn’t react in time, and the bde cut deep into his chest.

  The man pulled the bloody bde free, and the wounded man dropped to the ground, most likely already dead, or about to be within minutes. The crowd cheered, but the winner didn’t seem happy about his victory, dropping to his knees, looking completely exhausted.

  I looked around the crowd, wondering how sick those people were, cheering and cpping as they had just witnessed a murder.

  A few big, imposing men entered the arena and dragged both fighters away as a woman stepped in and stopped in the middle. She was clothed only in chain underwear that barely covered her nipples and crotch.

  “And that was the final fight of the Sve’s Tournament for today. I hope you all had fun, and that those who lost money on bets at least enjoyed themselves. In a few minutes, we will begin the st attraction of the day. Eight courageous, or stupid, volunteers will have a chance to spend the night with our beloved Lady Dragon. Only one of them will have the honor of warming her bed tonight. Stay with us,” she announced.

  “All candidates, please approach the staff over there,” she added, pointing somewhere in the crowd. As she left the arena, people from the crowd moved out of the pce too, but a lot of them remained in pce to wait for the incoming st tournament.

  Moving toward the designated pce, I raised my gaze to the Dragon and caught her staring at me. Not that she was trying to hide it. Her gaze followed me as I moved through the crowd.

  When I approached the staff member, I just needed to show the mark on my wrist for them to let me pass into a small room that was part of the tribune around the ring in the middle. They ushered me through it, down the stairs, and I was at the ring with seven other men.

  Looking at them, it seemed that they had gathered the tallest and most muscur guys they could. Or maybe the Dragon had her type. Or maybe, seeing them, no one else was stupid enough to participate.

  I was tall, but five of them were taller than me. All of them had wide shoulders, big arms, looking like thugs who were supposed to protect a mafia boss in a movie. Compared to them, I didn't look that tall or muscur, and I was really gd that I had the advantage of my css, because there was some serious difference in weight between me and a few of them.

  The announcer woman walked into the middle before speaking again. “We are starting our Lady Dragon’s Tournament. My dy, choose the first fight,” she said.

  When I looked at the Dragon, her gaze was locked on me the entire time, so I took a step forward. She smirked before her eyes moved over the rest of the men, then flicked her hand toward one of them, before looking back at me again.

  I held her gaze, resisting the urge to check my opponent. There would be time for that ter, but for the moment, we were locked in some strange staring contest with the Dragon.

  “Shirt,” someone said behind me, and only then did I tear my eyes away from her. There was something in her eyes I couldn’t expin, something that pulled me toward her. And… I realized that those feelings, when I couldn’t expin something, weren’t that unfamiliar to me. I was pretty sure it was some kind of magic.

  I took off my shirt and handed it to the woman behind me who had asked for it.

  “Go,” she said, pushing lightly at my shoulders, and I walked to the middle of the ring. My opponent was one of the men shorter than me, not by much, and seemed to have a simir physique, an athletic build, but not one shaped by a life spent entirely in the gym pumping steroids into their bodies.

  A woman stepped closer to us, gesturing for us to approach her, and I assumed she was the referee. “No weapons, no items. No breaks, no other rules. You stop when I say so, or when your opponent surrenders. Three taps mean surrender. Is everything clear?”

  After we both confirmed, she ordered us to step a bit farther away from each other before the fight began. I watched my opponent carefully, trying to judge what he was capable of. With my advantage in speed and strength, someone like him shouldn’t be much of a problem. I just needed to make sure no one grew suspicious of me.

  We were fighting barehanded, without gloves, using only our fists, so one solid hit would be enough, and no one would really question how I took him out. The problem was nding it first. And, hopefully, not getting hit myself.

  “Ready?” the referee asked, gncing between the two of us. I focused completely on my opponent as the judge started the fight.

  He moved toward me quickly, opening with a wide right hook, but I simply stepped back, just out of his range. He began to circle, and I mirrored him, both of us waiting for the other to make the first real move.

  He edged forward, shoulders tensing as if he was about to strike, then stopped, waiting for my reaction, trying to bait me into committing.

  When I didn’t react, he pushed forward once more and tried the same wide right as before. Just like earlier, I stepped away, letting it pass harmlessly through the air.

  He pressed after me, throwing a few more punches. Most of them fell short, and the ones that did reach me nded on my guard. I didn’t feel much power behind them. Keeping my distance, I waited for my moment.

  We parted for a short breath, before he stepped in again, feinting. And just like before, when I didn't take the bait, he moved to attack, but this time, I moved too - one step to the side and forward at the same time. His punch slipped past my face by inches, and my fist went straight into his chin, where his guard wasn’t there to stop it.

  He dropped to the ground, looking like he was completely limp. I didn’t follow up, thinking the fight was over, but he gathered himself really quickly, getting back on his feet. He surprised me by being able to stand up, but his eyes looked unfocused. I wasn’t sure he was actually aware of where he was. I gnced at the referee, but she didn’t intervene, simply watching us.

  My opponent raised his guard and stumbled toward me. He wobbled on his feet, and it was clear I just needed to finish it.

  I stepped in. He tried to punch me, but it was like he was swinging blind, his fists cutting through empty air, nowhere near me. I slipped between the wide, sloppy hits and, without even putting my full weight into it, drove an uppercut straight into his jaw.

  This time, when he hit the ground, he didn’t get back up.

  The referee ended the fight. As she sent me back to wait for the next one, several men entered the arena to drag my opponent away, hopefully to get him the medical help they had promised.

  As I walked toward the edge of the arena, I spotted a familiar face among the spectators. Sage was there. It seemed she was done with the thug she had been kissing earlier and was now watching my fight.

  She smiled when our eyes met, then gnced toward the Dragon. Leaning against the wall that ran around the ring, I followed her gaze. The Dragon was staring at me as well, only tearing her eyes away when she was asked to choose the second fight.

  A woman approached me and asked if I needed help. For a moment, I wanted to refuse, but then I realized that after that first punch, my hand should have been hurting. Fighting without gloves, I would have had to be very lucky not to break something in my palm.

  Or I would need to have a css.

  So I pretended my hand was hurting. She handed me a potion, which I inspected to confirm it was just a healing one, then drank it, even though I didn’t actually need it.

  The next fight began when the Dragon chose the next two men. Both were taller than me, with broad chests and muscur builds. One of them didn’t have anything particurly distinctive about him, just short blond hair. The other, however, clearly wasn’t new to fighting.

  His nose was crooked in a way that made it obvious it had been broken more than once. Even more telling were his cauliflower ears, a clear sign of someone who had fought many times, and likely trained just as much. If he were truly skilled, he should have had enough money to fix them… unless he fought regurly and it simply wasn’t worth healing them every time.

  Their fight took some time. Both men were cautious at first, circling and testing each other, their movements showing clear training and experience. Many punches nded on guard as they felt each other out.

  Then the blond overextended, and his opponent took advantage of it. I winced as the punch nded on his jaw. To my surprise, the blond managed to stay on his feet. He raised his guard, but the other man smelled blood and pressed the attack, punching again and again, slowly breaking through his defenses until he finally fell to the ground.

  The referee stepped in and ended the fight.

  The next fight was between two equally big men, one with a scar running across his face, the other with long bck hair tied into a ponytail. This fight was far less technical. Both clearly had experience, but they were much more aggressive and constantly pressing forward.

  The man with bck hair relied heavily on kicks, but his opponent handled them well, dodging or blocking most of them. When he took a kick to the body, he stepped in instead, countering with an uppercut. Both of them went to the ground, with the scarred man ending up on top, raining punches down on his opponent.

  The man underneath couldn’t get out. When his arms dropped to his sides and he lost consciousness, the referee stepped in and ended the fight.

  The next two men stepped forward. Compared to the others, they looked much less threatening. Both were shorter than me and closer to my build.

  Their fighting was chaotic and amateurish, as if the two weakest had been matched together. They exchanged awkward punches until one of them finally knocked the other to the ground. That alone wasn’t enough to end the fight, but once he straddled him and nded a few more punches from above, the referee finally stopped it.

  That marked the start of a new round of the tournament, with two more fights waiting for me before the end of this whole thing.