The day was similar to the previous ones. Although Adam needed a lot of rest after his performance, he woke up almost like nothing happened, and began the whole breakfast ceremony with a cup of heated up coffee from the can.

I watched it like hypnotized asking myself why. Since I didn't really have my own ritual, which I would perform before getting out into the battlefield, it was quite hard to understand. Still, I respected it, like other hunters, and we all did our best to stay out of his way.

Then he did all the rest of the stuff, and finally entered the arena with the heavy cloak on, and the cane in his hand. Since he was early he had to wait for his opponent, but the man was quite patient, so that wasn't really a problem.

I used this window to pay closer attention to Ashal Kal Anur and Zor'xal. I wanted to read their mood, and from that judge how well were we going, and, hopefully, how long will this whole thing take to finally end.

I failed, maybe because they were quite good with hiding their emotions, or maybe because the fight didn't start yet, and there was nothing to stimulate them, but the effect was the same. Besides, I wasn't sure how important this was for them. For the official, it could be just another day on the job, for the Emperor a meaningless little planet in the vast multiverse, or the complete opposite. A matter of honor and reputation.

Adam's opponent entered the arena. It was a small creature with long, thin limbs. Kinda like a stick figure. The elbows were ending with protruding bone spikes. The head was also interesting, as it was long and with something that could easily be a bony growth or some calloused tissue all around it. Forming all kinds of sharp edges, which made it look like it was wearing some kind of decorative helmet. Two eyes were looking like some kind of decoration made out of black, polished obsidian.

It was basically just bones and skin, a red one. Deep and dark, like a mix of blood and tar.

There was a simple loincloth on its waist and a pair of sharp, black, jagged daggers in both hands. They were not ordinary weapons. If you looked closely, there was something wrong with them. I was unsure if it was some kind of technology I couldn't comprehend, or maybe something else, but there was definitely some kind of aura over the blades.

The alien creature wasn't really in a hurry. It walked slowly, wobbling from left to right, like it had problems with walking, and was curiously looking around. Its eyes eventually rested on Ashal Kal Anur, and remained there for a solid moment.historical

I had no idea if it was just simple curiosity or some kind of deeper story.

Eventually, though, Adam became the main focus, as he was the opponent the strange warrior had to fight, and the alien slowly made its way towards the correct spot for the duel to start.

The sound of the gong made everybody tense in the waiting room, in complete opposition to the situation in the arena.

Both the fire mage and the creature were just looking at one another for the first couple of seconds, then the human decided to attack. He moved his hand and send a firebolt, that missed the alien, who just slightly moved to the side, and avoided it without much trouble.

It was obvious that Adam wasn't really trying. He just wanted to provoke the attack from his opponent. I didn't know his plan, to me, it seemed like he wanted to lure the enemy in. Maybe the strange being foresaw it, or maybe it was just its normal attitude, but there was clearly no will on its side to attack. At least not for now.

- Why is that thing not attacking? - sked somebody.

- Who knows? - somebody else responded.

The situation in the arena was strange, so I couldn't blame those people for asking such questions, since I, myself, had no idea what the fuck was really happening.

Adam sighed. Maybe he got annoyed, or maybe the reason was different, but his attitude clearly changed. He jammed the cane in the sand, and fixed both gloves, and pushed the glasses a bit deeper on his nose.

Then, with incredible grace, he started moving his hands, like he was wavering some kind of invisible thread, or playing a stunning piece of music on a non-existing piano.

A small, bright orange magic circle in number equal to a few dozen appeared all around him, and firebirds, no bigger than a fist of an adult man, flew through them and started circling around him. The alien's eyes tried to keep track, but their amount quickly become just too big.

As the fire mage's rhapsody reached its crescendo, the circles vanished, and his creations flew through the air, leaving an afterimage in the air in form of orange lines. They arched from different directions and angles, to finally reach the destination, which was the alien's body.

The creature started moving to avid them, which quickly became this strange dance, which accelerated to an incredible tempo.

The whole duel became more like a crazy performance than a real fight. At least until the moment when the first bird reached the target, and it exploded in a burst of flames. This caused a chained reaction and the creations of Adam's magic one by one popped, with loud noise all around the poor creature cowering it win aright red cloud of fire.

- And that would be it - said Alban, who wasn't that far from me.

- No - said Gavriil, who also was observing the fight. - It would be too easy. There is no way they wouldn't try to counter Adam's abilities when he displayed them so openly yesterday.

The vampire wasn't wrong.. Af the fire disappeared, leaving sooted sand and plenty of black smoke, the stick alien looked completely unharmed.