There was silence as they all stood there. It was dark now but the buildings had turned on their huge lanterns for the night.

The clearing lights up as the building closest to them got lit, and weapons shone in the darkness. The dark material their weapons were made of drank the light but the edges reflected it.

Azaroth’s eyes were like two red orbs as he looked at Darian, daring him to do something. Behind Azaroth, stood his group with their weapons ready.

Bella stepped forward. "We accept!"

"But...." Darian began before Bella shot him a glare and he swallowed whatever he wanted to say.

Azaroth shrugged. He didn’t care if they fought here and now. He didn’t know how good Darian was but Azaroth was sure he was faster than the big Buffalo.

Catena rubbed his hand.."Since we are issuing the challenge we will come to your dormitory in two weeks."

"Hold," Bella said as Catena turned to go.

"What?" Stallus replied.

"Shouldn’t there be something at stake?" Bella smiled slowly and raised her brows. She reminded Azaroth of those little monsters they killed in the crypt.

"You mean beside Darian’s ego?" Alex said and Stallus snorted.

Bella’s eyes twitched but she continued. "Something to drive up the challenge."

Azaroth was getting tired of this. "Just say what you want." 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Bella smiled through clenched teeth. "When we win, you owe us a favor. As a group."

Azaroth smirked. "When you win?"

Bella shrugged and raised her head. "Yes. Do you think you can bridge three weeks of training as an Initiate level Awakener for just two weeks? Two weeks we would also be training."

"Does it matter?" Azaroth asked curiously.

"What?" Bella asked.

"Does it matter if our training time is different? The only important thing is who wins and who loses. The only thing that matters is to know the strong and the weak." Azaroth said.

Darian grunted. "Yes! We will surely know who the weak one is if it hadn’t been made clear enough!"

Stallus rolled her eyes. "So, if we win your group will own us a favor?"

"Exactly." Bella smiled.

"What type of favor?" Stallus asked suspiciously, her eyes flashing to Azaroth for a moment.

Azaroth understood what she meant; ’don’t drag us into a mess’ Azaroth didn’t care about dragging the group through mud or rock but he wasn’t going to lose to that big dump.

"An unavoidable favor. The Captains will make sure that once called, the favor must be obeyed." Bella said.

Stallus started at Azaroth, her eyes asking him a question. Azaroth nodded at her.

"We accept," Stallus said.

Beside Azaroth, Catena yawned, his eyes already sleepy. He’s back to his default state.

Bella giggled. "Very well, a duel in two weeks then."

The Captains moved closer then. They blended well wirh the darkness and even with the lanterns on they were like moving shadows.

So this was how they must look when going on missions, especially assassination missions. Azaroth thought.

"We witness this challenge." Zephyra Hound said. Her voice was neutral, carefully devoid of emotions.

"Yes, we do." Kael Hound intoned.

And just like that it was over. Zephyra nodded at Kael then turned and left, her students following her. Darian looked back to shoot Azaroth a glare before hurrying to join his group.

"Well," Alex said. "That was interesting."

Kael nodded and started walking, he led them between buildings and around them. "It was something all right."

"Who is that Darian? I haven’t seen him before." Stallus asked.

"A transfer. From another outpost of the Inferno Legion territory to East Haven here. The Yama is to be a group of four so he was to complete that group." Kael shrugged.

"He didn’t seem...." Stallus gestured.

Kael snorted. "Like an orphan or children from a destroyed outpost? That’s because the larger bulk of the Inferno Legion is stable and the people there are happy and well-fed. Outposts only get destroyed if they refuse the Legion’s rule."

Azaroth frowned. He hadn’t thought about the Inferno Legion at large. The Inferno Legion now dominated all of the Eastern Doomhaven continent and he hadn’t thought how the millions of people were living. So it wasn’t all bad like it was down here?

Kael led them until they stopped at the front of a tall ugly building, just like their previous dormitory but this one was bulky and made of grey stones.

"Welcome to your new home," Kael said gesturing for them to go in.

Inside was the same as their former dormitory but there wasn’t any wood to be seen. The floors were made of smooth stones, the stairs and even the eating tables and chairs in the far corner were made of stones too.

"Now this is suitable for learning skills," Kael said. "The stones here are reinforced with essence so it’s harder than normal stones. Even the dummies."

Kael pointed to the iron dummies scattered around the training floor, the dummies were big iron armor. The armors had words written on them in strange looping patterns. Enchantment.

"So we are learning skills now?" Alex asked.

"Well... yes. You will learn the basics of Awakened powers and we will begin attunement of your essence with your techniques." Kael said.

"Attunement?" Stallus asked.

"Yes. I will explain all this later. You know the deal, go up and change, then dinner. You’ve earned a night off today." Kael said.

"Damn yes, we have!" Alex shouted. He rushed up the stairs. "I’m picking the first room!"

Stallus rolled her eyes and followed him. Catena yawned again and started climbing the stairs.

Azaroth stared at the stone stairs for a while making sure the others had chosen their rooms before he went up. The upper part of the building had eight doors leading into different rooms, and a long corridor cut through it.

He entered the first room that wasn’t occupied. It was bigger than his other room with a larger bed and even a bedside stone table, still, there was no window and the room was dark.

A small door connected to the bathing room and that was where Azaroth headed.