Raging Storm.

"Not good... Very, very not good."

Taishen ran a hand through his hair and let out a deep sigh. Wind stared at Taishen, his hands and legs shaking.

"T-Tai... What's wrong? Is what he said that bad?"

Taishen shook out his arms and regained his composure. He looked to Wind, his eyes betraying a slight nervousness.

"Well, it's definitely not great."

Taishen sat on the lockbox with a sigh, deep in thought. A minute later, he opened his mouth.

"I've heard his name before. Longarm, I mean."

Wind cocked his head, staring at Taishen.

"How?"

Taishen fidgeted with the pommel of his sword, a slight tremble ran through his lip.

"My first partner, the man who taught me, told me about him. He'd been a spectator long before he was a combatant, before he was abducted. He'd seen Longarm fight... The man is ruthless, and he's an attuned."

When he heard the word attuned, Wind began to fidget.

"So you're telling me that he's a ruthless magic user."

"Yes."

"And he has survived here for much longer than you, through who knows how many fights?"

"Yes..."

"And I suppose, if he's a lot older than you, Belire won't be very effective against him?"

"..."

Wind sighed, "Well so much for asking you for help."

Taishen cringed, "Yeah... I'll be busy with Longarm. You'll have to kill Gild on your own."

As if rehearsed, the cheering began again as double doors opposite the entrance slowly swung open. Bright, natural light flooded the room. This was Wind's first time seeing sunlight in a weeks. His eyes stung as he looked into the nauseatingly bright light outside. He activated air attunement, allowing him to see while he waited for his eyes to adjust.

With air attunement active, Wind clearly sensed the area outside the room. The arena had a sand-covered floor, as he knew it would. A stone wall, just taller than himself, stood protectively several metres in front of the door. It blocked incoming arrows, preventing a quick and boring end to the fight.

Taishen stood from the lockbox, his eyes darkening. They seemed less kind than usual. His brows relaxed, and an arrogant smile spread across his face. Even his posture changed. He stood as tall as he could, his back as straight as a spear. He walked proudly towards the door, drawing his sword as he did so. He motioned for Wind to follow.

"It's time, Wind. Let's give them a show."

Wind nodded, getting his limbs under control. He managed to stop the shaking in his hands and legs, but his lip adopted the quivering in their stead. Wind mimicked Taishen's champion-like posture as closely as he could, then followed the man.

When he stepped into the arena, Wind finally got a look at the roaring crowd. There were hundreds of figures watching from the stadium, only some of them were human. His ears ached with the unfettered strength of their cheers, echoing from all angles. He heard two names being cheered very clearly.

"Orphan! Longarm! Orphan! Longarm!"

The chants of his nickname grew louder as Taishen walked out into the open, no longer protected by the arrow-blocking-wall. He didn't seem to worry, and for good reason. Across from them in the arena, Longarm and Gild were posing for the crowd. Wind observed the other combatants closely, trying to judge their strengths.

Longarm stood tall, at least a foot higher than Taishen. His massive muscles caused his armour to burgeon outwards, nearly too small to be effective. His hands clasped a gruesome polearm, Wind hadn't seen anything like it before. There was a spear point as long as Wind's forearm at the end of the weapon, and a massive axe blade jutted out from its side. On the back, a massive spike extended outward, seemingly bent from hundreds of impacts.

"Scary…" Wind muttered, grinding his teeth as he did so.

Gild was less intimidating, though he still looked fierce. The man was a similar height to Wind, albeit much older. He held a bow with ends that curved forwards. Like its owner, the bow was small, but menacing. A quiver hung from Gild's waits-belt. It was stocked with a plethora of arrows that, given his sadistic grin, he intended to use all of.

When Wind looked at Taishen again, he saw the man posing as well. Though Wind found it somewhat embarrassing, he attempted to copy the other three fighters. He didn't want to survive Gild and Longarm, only to be eaten by beasts if the crowd didn't like him.

"Look at our astounding fighters, witnesses! Give them a cheer, and wish your favourite pair luck!"

The crowd sounded as loud as floating islands colliding. Their sound crashed into Wind like roaring thunder. Wind almost fell over with shock as he heard his own name in between shouts for Taishen and Longarm. His cheeks reddened slightly and he took a half step backwards.

Before he had a chance to bask in the adoration of the crowd, air attunement sensed something small speeding towards him. Acting instinctively, Wind ducked down. An arrow flew past, shaving a small patch of hair off the top of his head as it went by.

"Holy fucking fuck!" Wind screamed, his eyes dilated instantly and his pulse quickened.

The protective wall had never looked so appealing. Wind rushed back to cover. Another two arrows flew past, both scarily close to striking Wind's neck. If not for air attunement and his quick reactions, Wind would've been a head shorter.

Wind breathed rapidly, his heart pounded so strongly that his entire body vibrated in response.

"Calm down! Calm down! You're good, you've got this, you've got this!" Wind comforted himself, barely allowing him to regain composure.

Wind peaked out from behind the wall. He noticed Taishen crouched behind a pillar further down the arena. He had run towards the enemy, rather than away.

Wind noticed that the crowd cheered less often. Not out of a lack of entertainment, but because they seemed to hold onto every movement the combatants made. Not wanting to interrupt their own attention by cheering, the crowd held silent. Wind shuffled loudly out of cover, hoping to see where Gild was firing from.

Seeing an arrow come his way, Wind ducked back behind cover. He let out a gasp as the arrow struck the other side of the wall. Sand was knocked loose from the crumbling stones, relocating onto Wind's head. Before he'd ducked back into cover, Wind had narrowly glimpsed Longarm. The man was running around the side of the arena, headed for Taishen.

"Aghhhh…" Wind grumbled to himself.

If he didn't get to Gild first, Taishen would be an easy target for the man's arrows. Sighing, Wind stood up fully behind the cover. He grabbed two handfuls of sand as he did so. Wind took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and tossed the sand out on both sides of the wall. The sand formed a cloud as it fell, creating a momentary block from Gild's sight.

Wind kicked another burst of sand out on one side of the wall, then bolted in the opposite direction. An arrow flew past Wind moments after he emerged from cover, just nicking the top of his ear. A small bead of blood dripped down the side of Wind's head. Despite his trickery with the sand, Gild seemed to anticipate his movements. Noticing the man's seemingly precognitive aim, Wind grew suspicious.

Wind continued to run at nauseating speeds as he dashed towards Gild. He scrambled to a stop at a small, waist-height pillar several tens of metres from the archer. Wind used the small break from running to draw his nail from the pouch it was sheathed in. Another arrow deflected off the top of the pillar. The arrow flew towards the crowd, where it disintegrated as it hit an invisible barrier above the arena wall.

"A fucking forcefield?"

Wind tore his gaze away from the disintegrated arrow. He looked towards Taishen, checking his condition. Longarm quickly approached the pillar Taishen hid behind. Wind had to do something about Gild, and he had to do it quickly.

Arrows broke the air around him as he sprinted from cover once again. He towards Gild at full tilt. He sprinted from cover to cover, only stopping for small moments to catch his breath. If he lost Gild's attention, Taishen would be in trouble.

"Fucking coward archer!" Wind hissed.

The crowd cheered as Wind side-stepped an arrow. Wind noticed Gild flinch.

"Lucky fuckin' rabbit, stop dodgin'!" Gild shouted back.

Wind frowned as he continued dodging Gild's arrows, he hadn't expected the man to hear his insult.

Wind stopped again at a long stone fence that divided part of the arena. He needed to trick Gild so he could get closer. Wind ripped his water-skin off his belt. He drained half of it to quench his thirst. Looking at the water-skin, a plan formed in his mind.

Wind crawled along the half wall. He stopped several metres from where he'd originally ducked down. He lifted the water skin and held it above the fence. No arrow came.

'Strange' Wind thought.

He confirmed his suspicions by throwing the half-full water-skin over the fence. It impacted the sand with a quiet thud. Immediately, an arrow split the water-skin in half. The sand was soaked with water. Wind smiled and removed both his shoes.

Wind threw his one of the shoes far to his right. He then hopped the fence quietly and walked slowly towards the archer, not making a sound. An arrow skewered Wind's shoe as it landed. A few seconds later, Wind threw his other shoe behind a small boulder near Gild. Gild's bow swung towards the boulder, an arrow nocked and ready to fly. Wind continued stalking silently towards Gild.

Seeing Wind's actions, the crowd cheered loudly once again.

"Witnesses, isn't this newcomer astounding! In mere moments, he figured out Gild's secret!" The announcer shouted, his voice barely audible over the roar of the crowd.

"Fuck!" Gild pointed his bow wildly as a frown replaced his malicious grin, "Longarm, where is he!?" He screeched.

A harsh voice, seemingly rusty with disuse, rung out from behind Wind.

"He's half a turn to your right!"

Wind watched as Gild whipped around, his bow aimed directly towards Wind. With no cover nearby, Wind could only attempt to dodge as an arrow rapidly flew towards him with uncanny accuracy.

"Damned announcer!" Wind attempted to sidestep, but let out a cry as an arrow struck him in the left side of his chest. The sheer force of the impact knocked the breath from his lungs and sent him reeling backwards…