A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Astrid smiled excitedly and exploded into motion. She surged forward at blinding speed, blades slicing the air. For the first time, her blades collided with Zohran's shadowy sabres. The vampire and werejackal exchanged tens of blows in a mere few seconds, their weapons colliding loudly.

Clang Clang Clang

Zohran howled, Astrid grinned. It soon became clear that Astrid's skill was just a little higher than Zohran's, but that wasn't the reason why the latter came to be in trouble.

No, after exchanging nearly a hundred blows in these few seconds, Astrid's third-rank and most insidious ability reared its head. Suddenly, every attack she'd made in this clash started reappearing as streaks of solar energy. Instantly, Zohran had four blades to contend with.

"Shit!" he roared, his feet slowly inching back as he was fully suppressed and forced into a defensive position. "Nasir, you wanna jump in here?!"

The first few wounds started appearing on Zohran's brown fur—some bleeding, some immediately seared close by solar light.

"What's the matter, doggy?!" Astrid cried out excitedly. "Didn't I ask for at least half a challenge?! Try harder!"

Zohran snarled, howled, and tried to push back against her assault. His sabres sped up even more… but it was simply impossible for him. Engaging Astrid directly like this had been the wrong move, and now he was caught in a situation he couldn't extricate himself from.

Fortunately for him, that was when Nasir was finally done dealing with Astrid's opening move. Seeing Zohran's difficulty, he silently strafed behind Astrid and once again twirled his spear. As the spear moved through the air, magma gathered on the tip, and then he stabbed forward.

Astrid vaulted into the air, soaring gracefully over the spear, and landed behind Nasir. Her excited grin remained. Now, she was in her element. This was what she loved. She immediately engaged, instead.

Meanwhile, Zohran was still stuck in place, dealing with the last few solar afterimages. He received no more wounds, but he still couldn't simply move away—the attacks moved far too quickly for that.

"Do not engage her directly!" Zohran roared in warning. "She's far too dangerous for that!"

Nasir got the warning and quickly retreated from Astrid's assault. Naturally, she wouldn't let him go so easily, but Nasir was prepared. He stomped his foot, and a wall of magma shot up from the sand in front of him.

Scoffing, Astrid was forced to back off. The heat coming from that magma was far too high for her to break through unscathed, and it wasn't worth it.

At the same time, Zohran finally defended himself against the last solar streak, and took a moment to collect himself, heaving from the effort.

With the wall in place, however, Astrid could only focus her attention back on him, and immediately did so. The werejackal snarled and retreated a few steps, then suddenly charged forward and engaged her directly again.

Astrid was momentarily surprised, but then she noticed that shadow clone approaching her from the side. Instantly, she was forced to divide her attention, and it became easier for Zohran to weather her assault.

Naturally, this gave Nasir another opportunity to approach from the flank.

Meanwhile, on the sidelines, Erik and Zahra were watching closely. With every clash, Erik grinned proudly, and Zahra became more anxious. Previously, she'd been convinced that, at the very least, Astrid wouldn't be able to defeat them both, but now…

"Your wife is very powerful," she muttered nervously, arms crossed.

"Hehe, of course," Erik answered calmly, hands still in his pockets. Underneath his skin, however, a subtle electric charge constantly circulated, ready to activate lightning flash and intervene. "You don't think I'd marry just anyone, do you?"

"What about love?" she suddenly asked, her question coming a little out of left field for their situation.

Erik cocked an eyebrow curiously, but didn't bother asking why she asked that. Rather, he simply shrugged. "I love her with all my heart, but for love to be born, you first need to be interested… and I'm only interested in quality. Not all my wives excel at fighting, but they all excel at something."

Suddenly, a small smile spread across his lips. "Although, truthfully, I have two wives with whom I fell in love before I started looking for excellence… I was just lucky they were both excellent, anyway. Astrid is one of those two."

Obviously, Elora was the other. He married the fairy out of love, but then she pushed him towards creating a harem of powerful women. Except, his past with Astrid would have always ensured he'd marry her.

"I see," Zahra nodded cautiously, a frown appearing on her brow. "You are a lucky man…" she agreed. "Have you ever met someone you were interested in, but who didn't feel the same way?"

Erik blinked and got a message from Elora. Now, he understood that Zahra was trying to suss out his character. Erik could see she was still frustrated and anxious due to the sigil on her back, but she was obviously quite cunning underneath.

And it made sense. Regardless of this duel's outcome, it was obvious Erik and his fledgling empire would have a massive impact on not just Maghreb, but Africa as a whole.

Smiling, Erik parted his lips to answer, and the conversation continued as they closely watched the battle.

Meanwhile, Nasir was flanking Astrid, thus attempting to spear her while Zohran and his clone kept her busy.

Finally, Astrid was obviously starting to feel some pressure. The excited grin remained, but her eyes became far more focused than before. At the last possible moment, she parried three separate attacks from the front with one sword, twirled on her axis to divert the spear, and then twirl back to kick the clone in its stomach, sending it backwards.

But that was only the beginning. Now, a close-combat melee broke out between four combatants, three of whom were all focusing on Astrid. Nasir started twirling his spear like a polearm and, to Erik's surprise, the spear's tip actually changed shape to look more like just such a weapon—now possessing a curved edge for slashing attacks.

If there was any doubt before, he could now be certain these weapons were not made after the awakening. He glanced curiously at Zahra, but she stared stubbornly ahead and continued their conversation from before, clearly unwilling to explain.

Erik left it at that for now. He'd discover their secrets with time.