Jay charged at Tara Cinderborn with Marko by his side. From the biting venom bleeding through his teammate's eyes, Jay already knew their fight had been an ugly one. In some fights, twenty seconds was an afterthought. In others, an eternity.

A flaming chunk of filth assaulted Jay's eyes and nose as Tara launched a repelling blast at his chest. Jay slipped left and it flew past his shoulder, the trailing cinders singing the hood of his sliced-up moko.

"Be careful, Jay," grunted Marko as four illusory arms spouted from his shoulders. "She can still control them, even when they're behind you."

Almost as if to prove his point, the ball of flame that had just flown past Jay swerved round, changing courses and darting towards his torso.

Jay punched it out of the air, smacking the fireball into the stone below before stamping on it to snuff out the flames. After two hits, nothing but a brown stain and a coating of filth on Jay's boot remained of the once-burning projectile.

But he had more to worry about than shit on his shoe.

Beyond the Ashmaker, Caldus had finally stood up. He lashed his whip with his right hand, before repeating the motion with his off-hand. Jay's Quicksnatch rope was coiled loosely around Caldus' left fist.

Good idea…

Marko began to attack his old opponent, refusing her any time to recover.

An armada of burning scraps met his charge, forcing him to roll aside.

Jay joined the assault. He curved around Tara Cinderborn, flanking Marko before lunging at their opponent. She spun instantly, tossing a fistful of red sand at Jay.

But he'd seen this attack before. And while Marko's illusion simply took the attack, Jay wasn't feeling that brave. He dropped to one knee as the fireball's edge seared the ends of his hair.

Behind his opponent, Jay saw a flicker of footwork. He considered attacking, before repositioning himself for a better view of the battlefield.

Marko's six arms danced around each other, weaving flowing feints in with their attacks as he advanced. The interlocking lattice his strikes made forced his opponent backwards; even Jay found it hard to tell the real attacks from the fake.

The mesmerising flurry pushed Tara back, yet she responded to each attack. Her measured retreat kept her from harm, each footfall steering the battle like steps in an unseen dance.

Their back and forth captivated Jay. His eyes widened, absorbing everything he could from the captivating exchange.

But he couldn't stare for long.

"Marko, dodge!" screamed Jay.

Caldus' whip slashed forward, slicing through the air where Marko stood, barely a second after he blinked away.

HNNNNGG!

Marko clung to Jay's shoulder, head down. He dry heaved again, but managed to spit out a warning.

"Look out, Jay! She always attacks after I teleport."

Jay flicked his head towards Tara. She held her hands up, but didn't seem to be attacking yet. Although there was flaming rubbish strewn across the ground, none of it seemed in her control.

Wait…

Jay spun instantly, raising his fists and preparing to block.

Tara Cinderborn didn't need any of the burning debris surrounding her, she'd already attacked Jay once with a burning dead body tonight. Now she called it back.

PING!

Once again, Jay's protector came to his aid. She smashed the flaming corpse off target before slotting by Jay's side.

But if Ping's here, what happened with Yandiel?

Where the side street met the main artery, three men hobbled away, trailed by a streak of blood. Two men carried the third, whose legs bent in the complete wrong direction while he screamed from within their grasp.

Well… she did what I asked.

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We'll go after him later. Focus on the battle for now.

"Marko, if you can teleport past Caldus' guard and land a hit, I can finish him. He's weak. First we get him, then Tara comes next."

"Fine," spat Marko through gritted teeth. "Let's go."

Both Kestrel gladiators split apart, each taking one side of the alleyway and leaving Tara Cinderborn behind. She sent a swarm of smouldering scraps at Marko on her right but he dodged each one.

Caldus flicked between both his opponents, swinging his whip at one and Jay's rope at the other. Jay wondered who his opponent would protect himself from, the known danger, or the uncertainty?

Whoever he chose, it wouldn't matter.

Jay ran into Caldus' dome. He'd taken the gladiator's left flank, so received a face full of Quicksnatch rather than his opponent's own weapon.

How lucky…

The rope adhered instantly, clinging to Jay's face and sweeping him off his feet.

"Now, Marko!"

The street's eyes flicked onto Marko.

Or onto the place he once stood, at least.

He reappeared behind Caldus, in the one spot where his whipping dome couldn't cover, and managed to stab him in the kidney before throwing up onto the stones below.

Now!

Jay tugged on the rope, redirecting his arc towards his old opponent.

Caldus looked up at him with his one good eye.

Jay saw his fear, but he couldn't let that stop him.

He reared his right fist. Electricity ran through it.

He drew closer.

His right flew forward.

Jay didn't think as electricity diffused through both his flesh and the metal encasing it. He didn't think as his right cross neared his opponent's temple. Nor when it caved in his skull, or when Caldus' body vanished into mist.

He did however, have one thought racing through his mind while looking across at Tara Cinderborn through a cloud of steam.

One down…

"Please, stop. I'll let you have Yandiel, just leave me alone so I can train this month," said Tara.

Even though her voice reeked of desperation, the fire in her eyes was still there.

Jay looked to Marko for advice.

"When you die in a B grade fight, you don't wake up until the battle's over. It happened to me last time, losing three weeks of your life isn't the best feeling. It's not unheard of for gladiators to leave each other alone in situations like these. Your call, Jay. You're in charge of this one."

Although Marko spoke with some sympathy, he couldn't disguise his feelings either. Tara was asking a lot of her opponent to simply let her go after such a hard fought battle. Showing mercy here seemed like an obvious negative for Limitless Ascent, but Jay had already established that he was in this for himself only. Would keeping his opponent alive pay dividends for him?

Ping flew into Jay's hand, their minds instantly connecting through their touch.

"Ping, go after Yandiel. Make sure to kill him this time," he said.

Ping flew past Tara.

"Looks like it's your lucky day, Tara Cinderborn," said Jay, slowly walking towards the gladiator while coiling his rope back into his bracer. She eyed him with caution, glaring at Jay's every step.

Marko joined Jay. And Tara's eyes flitted nervously between the two of them.

Jay's fingers twitched, almost curling into a fist.

She didn't let him get any closer. Jay dove backwards as another handful of red sand whipped towards him. Tara's reaction stifled Jay's hopes of a surprise attack.

Well, only the ones where he was attacking.

PING!

Jay's shield slammed into the base of Tara's skull. Even though he'd verbally ordered her away, Jay knew Ping wouldn't have wanted to leave him unguarded. But Tara didn't know that, and she didn't know Jay's thoughts during the split second where he held onto Ping.

If the gladiator focused too much on Ping, then Jay would have an easy path to finishing the fight. As it was, he was relegated to a mere distraction instead. Not that he minded, of course. Jay ducked beneath Tara's fireball as the gladiator staggered from Ping's blow.

Marko closed the final stretch with a blink before stabbing his dagger through Tara's chest. She vanished into mist a second later.

Jay rose to his feet as Marko turned to face him. They both began running towards Yandiel.

"I really thought you'd let her go, Jay," said Marko, "But I'm glad you didn't. She was too dangerous to keep around, and Samira would have been beyond furious if she found out."

Beyond furious eh? You could've told me that before mate.

"And here I thought you were a gentleman, Marko."

But Jay had more selfish reasons than Samira's wrath or the threat of future fireballs. Through observations during the fight and Marko's comments after it, Tara Cinderborn almost certainly knew who Jay was. Something that couldn't be said for the rest of her alliance. Anonymity was one thing Jay had above every other gladiator in this fight. After all, he'd joined Limitless Ascent after the battle had begun for their opponents. If Tara went back with that information, he'd lose that advantage over all his future opponents.

For his own sake, Jay couldn't let her live.

Marko and Jay followed the trail of Yandiel's blood as they neared the main street. Their target hadn't gotten far, and flailed within his guards' arms while barking at them to hurry up.

They were no match for Jay and Marko however. A quicksilver fist took care of the first guard while the butt of Marko's dagger dealt with the second. The guards' unconscious bodies surrendered their crippled leader to the ground.

Yandiel's face thudded into the ground and his screams became whispers as Marko clutched a fold of his flabby skin and pulled his neck upwards.

"Plea-"

Marko's knife sliced through Yandiel's throat, spilling crimson blood across the street.

"The Howling Wind still roars over Whispertide!" declared Marko, projecting his voice for the entire street to hear.

Jay looked towards him and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" replied Marko. "We have an audience, why not give them what they want?"

Marko gestured at the buildings surrounding them. Sure enough, every window's curtains were half drawn with a legion of eyes staring down at the street through the cracks.

Before Jay could take in his new audience, his attention was pulled elsewhere. A hawk's screech set him on high alert while a thunderous roar of footsteps warned him of what was to come.

Further up the street, in the direction of the Crossed Oars, a swarming pack of at least twenty people charged towards Jay. Randiel Arrandoz led front and centre, screaming at Jay and Marko as they stood over his twin brother's dead body.

Shit.

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