Chương 120: Book 2 Chapter 72 - The City Needs You

His movements grew more jerky and desperate, and she waited for him to try and hit her with his mana sword once again. As he did, she purposefully missed blocking it, knowing the blade would do her no harm. He swung for her neck, but it was a swing, rather than a thrust, so she knew the follow-up momentum of his fist wouldn't hit her this time. As his strike landed and his sword disintegrated, she reached up with her bloodied left hand to catch his hand in her own.

As she caught his hand, she pulled him toward her, driving her sword through his heart. He stared in surprise at the sword in his chest for a brief moment, then fell to the ground, dead on the spot. The crowd had fallen silent, stunned. After a moment, they processed what had happened, and they roared in approval and excitement. Kiara felt sick. She didn't like that they saw this as sport, something to be entertained by. She hadn't been affected like this when she killed those bandits, but this was different.

This was someone she knew, someone she had talked to on several occasions, and she had killed him in front of a crowd of spectators. She turned to the side to avoid seeing his lifeless eyes staring forward. Instead, she searched the crowd for Lord Goren and Ugor. She was feeling sick to her stomach, and in no shape to fight, but she knew this moment was crucial. If Ugor truly planned to attack House Yountal at some point, she wanted him to know that she was ready for him, and she wanted him to remember this moment.

She spotted them sitting in the middle of Lord Goren's faction in the stands. She pointed directly at Ugor, then motioned for him to come down to the arena. She had offered to fight him after the duel, and insinuating that she was ready for that fight right now would keep him from being so bold the next time they met. Both his face and Lord Goren's face drained of blood at her implied invitation for Ugor to come fight right now, even in her current state.

Her danger sense had pinged Ugor as dangerous, and he was certainly a tier 4, but she knew that he was nowhere near as dangerous as Kane had been. She didn't want to fight him right now, didn't want to fight him at all, for that matter, but if he truly was going to insist on trying to bully House Yountal, she knew she could take him. If her danger sense didn't ping him as being as dangerous as Kane, that likely meant that his aura wasn't as strong, which meant she would have the advantage.

She knew that, now that she'd fought Kane. She could see Ugor shaking from where she stood, his jaw working soundlessly. He suddenly stood up and ran. He was fast, but now that Kane's aura wasn't limiting her stats, her mental speed was back up, and she watched his every step as he ran down the stadium steps and out the arena door. Lord Goren was mortified. The moderator was announcing the results of the duel.

"Shian Yountal wins the duel, killing Kane Vondeer in ritual combat. House Yountal is victorious… and now it appears as if Lady Yountal is challenging another contestant to come down to the arena. It's a bit unusual, but well deserved after a victory like that… and oh! It appears the challenge has gone unanswered, the other party is fleeing the arena." She tuned out the moderator as her eyes scanned over to Baron Norshod's team's door.

She knew he was watching from inside, and she stared at the door unflinching for several seconds to send a message. Kane had been the baron's trump card, his expensive and last-ditch-effort way of reigning in the nobles here in Easton. He had mostly succeeded too, in a way that would likely have Easton's nobility reeling for years. She supposed that the baron had considered Kane to be above anyone in Easton's ability to touch, and had certainly paraded him around as such.

Now, she wanted the baron to know that she was still here. That this was her city, not his. Not literally, of course, she didn't really want to run a city of any kind. She did, however, want him to stop harassing her and the other nobles, so they could live in peace. She walked over to the baron's door, ignoring the moderator's sudden pleas for her to return to her own area. As she approached, she saw Baron Norshod's fearful eyes starting out at her from the other side.

"Please don't kill me," he said softly from the other side of the door, his voice shaking with fear. She locked eyes with him.

"Okay." He blinked a few times, relief flooding his face. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. She continued, "In return, let this be the end of the blood debt, Baron. Otherwise, the next duel will be a personal one instead of a duel between houses. It'll be just you and me." His eyes widened in fear, and he nodded frantically.

"The debt is settled, Lady Yountal."

"Good," she replied.

"Now, it's time you started acting like a baron again, the city needs you. The nobles need you. Stop trying to bully them into submission, and step in to moderate. They're ready for your help now anyway." He nodded again, doing his best to stay in her good graces. She sighed, suddenly feeling incredibly exhausted. Her fingers had stopped bleeding, as she'd been pressing them into her side this whole time, but she had lost quite a bit of blood.

Her shirt was soaked in it, around where she'd been pressing her hand against her side. She nodded to the baron one time, then turned and left. As she walked past Kane's body, she remembered her [Delayed Resurrection Token]. She paused for a moment and stared at his lifeless body. She couldn't put her finger on why, but she felt like she should use the token. She tried to push that feeling down, but it came back stronger. She reviewed the token's description.

[Delayed Resurrection Token] Place this token on the body of any person who died within the last five minutes to mark them for resurrection. They will be resurrected six months later in the same place they died. This has a one time use. She pursed her lips. Kane had literally just tried to kill her, so why was she even considering this? After he was resurrected, would he come try to kill her again? No matter how much she tried to ignore the feeling though, it kept gnawing at her, growing and filling her mind.

Eh, she trusted her gut. This was the type of feeling that you didn't ignore, no matter if it made sense or not. She looked at his fallen body and pulled the token from her soul space. She bent down, placing it on his chest, directly covering the wound her sword had made. The moment it touched his skin, it melted into him, merging with his flesh. Soon, the coin was no longer visible, but now there was a raised portion of his chest in the shape of a scythe, almost like a well-designed, high-fidelity welt.

When nothing else happened, she shrugged to herself and left the arena. * Kiara lay in the bath, soaking in the warmth, letting her full body relax. The pain in her hand from her two missing fingers was an ever-present reminder of what she had just been through. Her chest, collarbone, and ribs also ached where Kane had hit her. As she lay there, she noticed that now familiar strong pull to open her World Engine interface. She opened it up to find a new message from the World Engine waiting. Congratulations!

You have showcased the merits of your class by defeating a tier 4 mage in combat for the first time. You will be given the following rewards: A 5% increase to each of your stats Your soul space size has been increased to a diameter of 20 feet.

Stats: Strength: 472 => 495/600 Mind: 157 => 164/200 Endurance: 73 => 76/400 Healing: 63 => 66/4000 Sleep Fatigue Resistance: 42 => 44/400 Food / nourishment requirement: 23 => 24/200 Durability: 136 => 142/10000 Life Expectancy: 70 => 73/3000 For defeating an opponent a tier above your own, you have also been given the following rewards: Three warp gates that allow for instantaneous warping between any two points. Distance: unlimited.

Kiara stared at the text for a solid minute, trying to wrap her head around what it was telling her. Did this… did this mean that she now had a way to teleport? She began salivating at the possibilities that would open to her. She began imagining how convenient it would be to get from Portish to Easton in a single step! She could make the trip in under an hour by running, which was nothing to scoff at, but doing it instantaneously would be so much more convenient.

It didn't mention it as a personal ability, but more like an item reward. Did that mean others would be able to use it as well? If Dustin could travel between the two cities so easily, that was sure to help the whole of House Yountal. Just as she had that thought, she felt three new items drop into her soul space. She could tell they were large, and since she was soaking in the tub, it didn't seem like the right time to pull them out for inspection.

She honestly couldn't think of anything she wanted more though, than to pull the new items out to see what she had been given. Shaking with anticipation, she stood and toweled off, the pain in the two stubs of her fingers completely forgotten for the moment. She hurried to dress, then moved to her bedroom proper. She shut and locked the door. She trusted everyone at the estate, but until she knew exactly what she was dealing with here, it was wise to be cautious.