Firlia crossed her arms, studying his face with a mix of curiosity and lingering fear.

"You’re planning to walk right into an ambush tonight. Lothburk is not a standard arena fighter, Kane. He fights dirty, and he brings armed thugs to ensure nobody interferes."

"I’m counting on it," Kane replied, leaning closer to lower his voice.

"I want him to bring his friends. It saves me the trouble of hunting them down individually later. Where did he set up his base?"

Firlia let out a frustrated sigh, clearly thinking he was insane.

"If you die tonight, the prince is going to execute me tomorrow morning for failing my mission."

"Then it’s a very good thing I have no intention of dying," Kane smirked, reaching out to trace a finger gently along her jawline.

She shivered slightly at his touch but didn’t pull away.

The noblewoman was slowly learning to trust the protection he offered, even if his methods were terrifying.

She was shaking slightly from the lingering adrenaline of her failed assassination attempt, but she still managed to stand her ground against the cool stone wall.

"Lothburk fights tonight," she said.

"Outside the east wall. There is a fighting pit that the royal guard officially doesn’t know about. The prince told him you would be there."

Kane studied her face in the dim torchlight.

The panicked desperation from last night was completely gone, replaced by something much harder and far more determined.

She was finally choosing to play the game instead of just being a helpless pawn.

"You came to warn me," Kane noted softly, letting his gaze wander over her tense posture with a quiet sense of approval.

Looking away to hide her face, she pulled her green robes tighter around her shoulders.

"Consider it the first installment."

"Good," Kane said simply and walked right past her into the fading sunlight.

Sending a quick message through his new spy network was remarkably easy.

He relayed exactly three words to Brak through Sira’s intelligence loop that evening.

"Bring the axes."

The underground fighting pit sat hidden near the eastern wall of the city.

Finding it required walking through a winding maze of narrow alleys.

It was a rough stone circle dug directly into the ground behind a legitimate merchant warehouse.

Rules simply didn’t exist down here, nor did official announcers or royal guards patrolling the perimeter.

Torchlight flickered against the brickwork to illuminate whatever desperate fighters the underground circuit brought in on any given night.

Kane arrived alone, leaving his usual entourage behind.

Walking solo meant Lothburk wouldn’t suspect a trap, so the overconfident beastman would feel secure enough to monologue.

But actually being alone was a fool’s gamble.

His backup was already in the perfect position. Brak and six Bloodfang warriors crouched silently in the surrounding alleys long before Kane ever arrived, blending flawlessly into the nighttime shadows.

Sira knelt on a flat rooftop twenty meters back with an arrow already nocked to her silkwood bow.

Lothburk was already waiting down in the pit.

The beastman was enormous, standing a full head taller than Kane and built wider than Rutheus.

Four muscular arms crossed confidently over his broad chest.

A protruding lower jaw covered in natural bone armor made him look like a walking nightmare.

He stared up with flat, predatory yellow eyes that entirely lacked any kind of emotion.

Two of his hired thugs flanked the top entrance of the pit, trying their best to look intimidating.

Kane walked right past them without acknowledging they even existed.

Lothburk looked at the red-haired warlord the same way a starving predator looks at a helpless meal.

"You’re smaller than I expected," Lothburk growled, and his voice sounded exactly like gravel rolling around in an empty wooden barrel.

"You’re just fat as fuck," Kane replied, stopping right at the edge of the sunken stone circle.

While the mutant glared at him, Kane quietly scanned the four-armed beastman with his system interface.

[Scan Initiated]

[Target: Lothburk - Stormforged Stage 4]

[Level: 67]

[Ability: Quad Strike - All four arms attack simultaneously.]

[Ability: Bone Cage - Lower arms lock an opponent’s limbs while upper arms deliver killing blows.]

[Warning: Direct physical exchange not recommended at current stage.]

[Recommendation: Use environment and Soul Brand within the first ten seconds or disengage.]

’Okay. This will be fun.’

Kane didn’t draw his weapon right away.

Standing in the center of the underground fighting pit, he kept his hands empty.

He needed the mutant to move aggressively and overextend himself to create a perfect opening for the brand.

The air smelled of sweat and blood, typical for a place where desperate men came to die for coin.

"AHHHHH."

Lothburk let out a guttural growl and launched his first Quad Strike.

All four muscular arms swung in a terrifying, coordinated pattern that left almost zero visible gaps for a counterattack.

Kane wove his body through the chaotic blur of fists, relying entirely on his base agility to survive.

The sudden wind from the near miss ruffled his red hair, proving just how much power the beastman packed into a single punch.

’One mistake and he turns my skull into powder,’ Kane thought, keeping his eyes locked on the moving limbs.

’Patience. Let him get comfortable.’

The second Quad Strike came much faster than the first.

A glancing blow caught Kane right on the shoulder, sending a painful shockwave down his spine.

’Shit.’

He stumbled sideways across the rough floor, trying to catch his balance.

A normal fighter would have suffered a shattered collarbone from that kind of impact, but his high Vitality stat absorbed the worst of the damage to keep him in the fight.

Lothburk saw the clumsy stumble and immediately read it as critical damage.

The beastman grinned, showing off rows of crooked teeth, and committed fully to his signature Bone Cage technique.

"Is that all?"

Spreading his lower arms wide, he lunged forward to trap Kane’s body in an inescapable grip. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

That was the opening Kane was waiting for.

Dropping sharply to one knee, he ducked entirely under the sweeping lower arms.

He reached over his shoulder and finally drew Mjoldr in a practiced motion and drove the crimson blade straight upward, sinking the steel deeply into Lothburk’s exposed lower left arm, then landed a flat hit on his stomach, and pulled back for a second to look him in the eye.

"Is that all?"

The third strike landed in the middle of his head.

Bam.

[Hidden Property Activated: Soul Brand]