Chapter 372: Example
The rest of the steam vanished from the stage, revealing one of the twins standing a dozen paces away from Kien and the crumpled body of her sister. She held her daggers before her defensively, the cocky arrogance that had been present on her features no longer anywhere to be found. The only emotion that remained now was fear. Fire crackled across her knuckles, marking her as Ash.
“How did you know where she was?” Ash demanded, taking a step back and swallowing heavily. “You shouldn’t have been able to see us!”
“Why would I need to see you?” Kien tilted his head to the side. “Your magic is not very effective when your breathing is so loud that I can hear you two dozen feet away.”
Healers rushed onto the stage, practically kidnapping Lilly from the ground at Kien’s feet before darting away. Ash’s eyes tracked them, but it was too late to do anything. Her sister was out of the fight.
“That’s bullshit,” Ash snarled, her gaze snapping back to Kien. “There’s no way you heard us. We’re completely quiet. What kind of class do you have? How much did Thornhelm pay to get an expert like you?”
“I don’t think it’s very customary to reveal your abilities during a fight,” Kien said. His face remained perfectly flat as he spun his broom around and lowered into a fighting stance. “I believe we were in the middle of something.”
“Whatever they’re paying, we’ll double it if you stand aside,” Ursa called. “This is a fight between our guilds. There’s no reason for you to build bad blood between yourself and the Starforge Guild. Art brought outsiders into our fight.”
Art’s lips thinned. He’d honestly been expecting Ursa to pull that card earlier. And, if Ash was completely honest with himself, that was exactly what he’d done. Kien was only half of the outside help he’d gotten.
But part of knowing how to win was knowing when you were completely outmatched. He and Vix had no way to deal with Starforge themselves. And at the end of the day… Art didn’t give a shit about playing above the board.