Isadora’s pulse quickened. She shifted her gaze toward her new opponent before moving them to the dead Fang dragged away, leaving behind a trail of blood.
It’d certainly be another fight to the death, and Isadora wasn’t on board with that idea.
Kyla discerned her indecision, so she leaned toward her ear and whispered. "Consider this your penalty for wandering where you shouldn’t. You didn’t think I’d forgotten, did you?"
Isadora gulped, clutching the axe. She could feel their searing gaze pinned on her as she made her way to the center.
Her opponent’s savage glare made it clear how slim her chances were of surviving this.
Yet, that didn’t stop Isadora from bracing herself for what was to co. She had no intention of being dragged away with an axe in her chest.
She had to do whatever it took to survive, but that doesn’t an she’d blindly take a life.
"Fight!"
The Serpent yelled, coming for her at speed, wasting no mont to aim for the kill.
The fine hairs at the back of her neck stood on alert, and the close intimidation of death overwheld her. The only reasonable thing to do was to aim the sa thing right back.
However, seeing the hopeless look in her opponent’s eye, it was a clear ans of survival. It didn’t matter if you wanted to kill or not. Their twisted desire to please their Warden was far too strong.
Isadora shut her eyes briefly, trimming her aura. In a swift reflex, she evaded to the other side, her movent as light as the wind.
The Serpent yelped as she bumbled forward. She had anticipated a direct attack, not a dodge.
She glanced back at Isadora with a glare, as if she had been insulted.
She struck again, but Isadora reacted only by sidestepping every attack and made no attempts to fight.
"Fight!" The Serpent yelled in frustration, adding more density to every strike.
"What is she doing?"
"She moves so swiftly."
"I can’t even hear her footsteps."
"But why isn’t she fighting back?"
"This isn’t a ga."
"Why isn’t she fighting?"
"Does she think this is a joke?"
"This is an insult!"
The murmurs grew as everyone experienced a battle they hadn’t seen before.
Kyla grew enraged by the Fangs’ behavior, who thought she could just insult their ways.
At the corner of her eyes, she caught her Warden watching from the top.
Panic stord her body. "Stop!" she yelled.
The Serpent was breathless, rasping through breath and eyeing Isadora, who didn’t look as if she had done a thing.
No one was dead, but it was obvious who won this battle.
"Who is that?" Aric asked Marek beside him.
Marek narrowed his eyes. "A Fang," he replied, wondering why his master asked that question.
"I wouldn’t have asked that question if I didn’t know that, Marek."
Marek gulped. "Forgive , master. It’s just unlike you to take an interest, especially in your Fangs. They are yet to be initiated and can’t be controlled."
"Yes..." Aric mused. "Which makes this one intriguing."
Marek faced the scene. His master was right, this Fang was certainly intriguing. The rest were not hesitant for the kill just to prove themselves.
This particular Fang acted as if there was nothing to prove.
Slap!
Isadora’s head turned to the side at the impact. Pain exploded on her face, causing a hamring headache.
"You do not hesitate when you’re in battle, when we hunt, we hunt for a kill!" Kyla yelled. "How dare you insult the Warden?"
Biting back the pain, Isadora snapped her gaze back to her.
A sudden chill found Kyla’s spine the mont she looked into those pale ambers that burned like the sun. There was an instinct to step away.
"Kyla."
Kyla tensed at the sound of her Warden’s voice. This grasped Isadora’s attention as she shifted her attention to Aric stepping down the stairs with a tall musclar figure beside him.
’Aric,’ she thought darkly. The last ti she had an encounter with him, he launched an arrow that almost took her eye out.
"No need to be rash," he mused.
"But Warden, she’s hesitating," Kyla replied.
"I can see that."
Isadora grew uneasy as Aric pinned his milky eyes on her. It was just like she rembered, but unlike before, she had no hatred for him like she did now. She wanted to rip his eyes out with her nails.
Aric noticed her deadly glare and his fascination grew for this Fang who dared to look him in the eye when no one did.
Having such defiance in his Tower stirred an interest. He’d been bored for so long, and this was a pleasant change. It made him wonder how long it’d take before she finally submitted to him.
Marek kept his gaze on his master who seed more amused than ever, they moved to the Fang, and the more he studied her, the more it made him wonder if she was truly a Fang.
’But Logi is the only ravenite,’ he thought. ’Or there’s more of them?’
He still hasn’t told his master about his encounter. He was torn between decisions and couldn’t bring himself to.
Before he knew it, his mouth had been shut the entire ti.
For the first ti since Aric took him under his wing, he kept a secret. And the feeling ate him alive. He thought he would have to deal with Logi alone, but another ravenite could be a problem.
"That look shows you’re ready for anything. Tell , young Fang, where does your loyalty lie?"
"My loyalty is to you," she lied through her teeth, holding his gaze intensely.
Silence passed between them and the entire hall until Aric broke the spell. "Kyla."
"Yes, Warden."
"Duel with her."
She froze at his command, about to question him with caution, but Aric was already striding toward a seat. He settled in, resting his elbows on the armrests and his hands above his lips.
Marek stood beside him, hands placed behind his back.
"Begin. Use whatever weapon you prefer, only stop when one of you dies."
’A duel to the death?’ Isadora thought with wide eyes. She faced Kyla who looked just as bothered as she was. And it made Isadora wonder if it was not a common thing for the Matron to duel with Fangs.
Kyla exhaled sharply, pinning her gaze on the Fang, before striding to the weapons displayed and grabbing an axe.
Isadora’s grip tightened against hers, she would have drawn her twin daggers but she couldn’t risk it.
She had a feeling that this spar wouldn’t be like the one she had earlier. Kyla’s eyes said it all, and she looked committed to proving herself to her Warden.
Isadora felt Aric’s eyes pinned on her like a hawk, but disregarded his attention and focused on the wrath coming for her.
Kyla was the first to attack, quick and steady, unlike her other opponent.
Their axe collided as grunts filled the space. Kyla growled as she planted a kick on Isadora’s stomach, the force driving her backward.
She clutched it in pain because it felt like her guts would spill out. She discreetly used her weave to heal, pressing her fingers more into her abdon to give the illusion that she was in pain.
However, the ti to recover was cut short when another strike ca, but she reacted quickly and slipped away.
’She’s not using aura,’ Isadora thought, which had been her concern since her first fight.
They all fought with raw strength just like Kraven, which made them a deadly foe.
Isadora yelled when a cut sliced into her arm, blood streaming down. Kyla kept coming like a force to be reckoned with, and not giving her enough ti to recover.
Isadora knew holding her ground would not do much, so she stepped up her ga.
Rather than defending herself, she fought back harder and faster until they were on a relentless pace; even so, Isadora aided herself with sothing Kyla didn’t have.
Her aura.
Isadora overpowered her, knocking her weapon aside with the back of her axe before spinning into a high kick that struck Kyla’s face, sending her falling against the floor.
When she tried to get up despite the pain, Isadora stopped her with her steel aid at her neck.
"Yield," Isadora declared.
Murmurs filled the hall instantly.
"She overpowered her."
"I can’t believe it!"
"No one has done that before!"
"Yield?" Kyla voiced in confusion. "You’ll have to kill first!" she growled.
Isadora inhaled sharply. ’Gods! Why won’t she?’ she thought, frustrated. The last thing she wanted was to kill soone in cold blood.
She would not be subjected to their cruel thods when it ca to a test of strength.
"Why isn’t she going for the kill?"
"She said yield."
"Yield?"
"She’s crazy."
"She’s disobeying the Warden!"
"Kill her, Fang," Aric said in a deadly tone. "It’s kill or be killed, or have your Matron not taught you that?"
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