A thunderous cacophony of cheers and clapping resounded through the arena at the announcement of Marcus and Mrazivy's victory. For those who had not panicked and fled when Mrazivy used her draconic form, they had gotten to witness a truly breathtaking battle. Even during the tournaments of the Muharib Festival, it was rare to see such an astounding match. Especially one so far away from the finals.
At this point, the crowd was almost feverously excited about Marcus and Mrazivy's prospects. Zilre and Igna were guests of the Sulb Clan that had done well in last year's tournament, and frontrunners expected to make it to at least the quarter finals as they had before.
Yet now these two extremely powerful fighters had been knocked out of the tournament in only the third round, by a pair that were participating in the festival for the first time and relatively unknown.
Now though, it was apparent that these two were the dark horses of the competition and would go far. A few even thought that perhaps they could even win in an unbelievable upset and beat the Sulb Clan's grand elder and his brother.
"They sure do seem to be taken by us now." Mrazivy said, waving her hand at the crowd and eliciting even louder cheers.
Marcus followed and did the same and was surprised when a large section filled with young women gave him the loudest cheering. Some of them even sent flirtatious winks his way and adopted poses that showed of their bodies.
Mrazivy glowered at the second and released a wave of intimidation their way, and the crowd of women quickly shut up, and many began fleeing.
"I think that may have been a bit much Mraz. You know that temptations like that don't really work on me."
"I can't help it. Jealousy is a natural feeling everyone gets. Watching those girls try to seduce you pissed me off." Mrazivy said, a low growl in her voice since she was still in her draconic form. Acting nothing like the princess she was and more like a beast.
Shrugging his shoulder, Marcus could not argue with Mrazivy. If some guy seriously came after her, he would likely find himself suddenly falling from a tall building without knowing why.
Having won the match and stoked up and scared the crowd, the two of them began to exit the stage, but were stopped by one of their defeated opponents.
Despite her injuries, Igna had gotten back up and limped over to them.
For a moment Marcus was afraid that she would be angry and was about to promise to get even with them, but she had a content smile on her face.
"That was a good match. It is not often that we get to fight like this, and rarer that we taste defeat. If my sister were awake, she would give you her thanks as well for the amazing fight." Igna said, extending her nonbroken arm.
Mrazivy was the first to shake her hand and Marcus followed after her. But before he released his grip, he cast a powerful healing spell on his former opponent.
A bright light engulfed Igna and after just a few seconds her barely connected leg, broken arm, and the other debilitating wounds Marcus had inflicted on her began to fade away.
Igna was shocked for a moment, but quickly remembered Marcus healing his opponents in the last round once he and Mrazivy had been declared the winners.
"Don't worry, I will heal your sister as well. Consider a gift in appreciation of our enjoyable match." Marcus said, noticing the glance that Igna was sending towards her sister. It had been writing all over her face that she was hoping Marcus would heal her as well.
When he reached Zilre, several members of the medical team that were putting her onto a stretcher froze up in front of Marcus.
"Regenerate." Marcus said, casting the famous tier seven healing magic spell.
In only a couple of moments Zilre's wounds had closed up and her broken bones had snapped back into place with audible crunches.
The moment after her shattered jaw fully pieced itself back together, Zilre's eyes shot open, and she jumped up in a battle-ready stance.
Luckily, she did not get too caught up and attack Marcus, thinking that the match was still ongoing. With just a single look around she was able to determine what had happened.
"I guess that we lost." Zilre sighed.
Still a moment later she met Marcus with the same smile and seemed quite happy just to have gotten to experience such an exhilarating battle.
She thanked Marcus for the fight and healing her, before inviting him and Mrazivy out to go drinking. Her and her sister's treat of course.
Mrazivy was more than willing to agree, wanting to speak more with the two of them, but Marcus was a bit more hesitant.
It was not like they could just go out to a tavern and sit at the bar. The four of them were foreigners and could not freely move around without guides from the clans that they were guests of.
But when Marcus brought this up, Zilre flashed him a confident smile and said, "Don't worry about it. I'll have Ghazi work something out for us."
Marcus just nodded his head in response, not really expecting anything to happen soon. Except just an hour after they had returned to Akeem's viewing box to watch the rest of the day's matches a formal invitation came through.
'Wow they work fast.'
The Sulb Clan at Zilre's request had rented out an entire tavern in one of the more upscale parts of the city for the entire night. The message even detailed that the four of them would be the only ones allowed to attend so that they could speak freely.
Akeem advised them to reject the invitation, stating that it was far too dangerous for them to go alone to meet with opponents they had just beaten. It was rare, but not unheard of for furious losers to try and harm those that knocked them out of the tournament. In his eyes accepting the invitation was like willingly walking into an ambush. Something Marcus and Mrazivy had actually done recently.
Marcus and Mrazivy had to spend several minutes persuading the grand elder of the Eazim Clan, but eventually they got Akeem's approval by insinuating that it would be a good opportunity to gather some intelligence on the Sulb Clan's remaining fighters.
Having received Akeem's consent, Marcus had a response written up and sent out.
It took a few more letters between them to hammer out all of the details, but it was soon decided that they would all leave for the tavern immediately after the end of the day's matches.
When that time came, Marcus and Mrazivy were brought to a carriage that had been prepared for them and got inside without anyone else to accompany them. Despite how difficult it was to arrange, both major clans were doing what they could to accommodate their guests' unreasonable demands.
Soon the carriage had taken off and Marcus spotted a carriage with the Sulb Clan's emblem on it going in the same direction.
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