“Was all that really necessary?” Zack’s ally, the ogre Makai, asked the youth as he stepped out of the room. Zack’s response was a look that would intimidate the fiercest of Althanian beasts. It was this look that caused Makai to not prod any further, and instead simply follow his master out of the citadel.

“Can I seriously not find somebody worthy to fight in this damn thing?!” Zack yelled to nobody in particular, his hands still smeared with the blood and melted flesh of Elthas. “I only have one more opponent, and I don’t even know who it is yet! Given my ‘competition’ so far, if you can even call it that, I wouldn’t be surprised if I was fighting my own damn shadow!”

“Pretty funny you say that,” Makai said as he held a list of Zack’s opponents in his massive hands. The youth had been teaching his monstrosity of an ally how to read and write since their inaugural outing together. Now the raging beast had become quite good at reading tradespeak, even the hastily written in opponent that was listed as Zack’s fifth and final opponent for the Althanas League. “You may just be doing that.”

Zack paused for a moment, turning to look at his friend. “What do y---“

“Kyla Orlouge.”

Zack’s eyes widened, his demeanor both physically and mentally completely shifting from the raging fighter of seconds before. Kyla Orlouge was a legend, one of the biggest names on Althanas. She had been the only Mystic to conquer both Light and Shadow magic, she was the daughter of the renowned Sei Orlouge. Surely if anybody was going to give Zack a decent battle, it would be her.

“Those sons of drakelings…” Zack whispered to himself, “Saving the best fight for last, eh?”

“So, what’s next?” Makai asked, handing Zack the papers.

“First, a trip to the bazaar, and then, we’ll try to see just how soon Miss Orlouge would like to fight someone worth her time…” Zack chuckled.