Yes, the plan works out

“Command Run Program …” As Bell spoke, Verdi closed his eyes, letting his senses hone in on his voice. He didn’t care for detecting his surroundings nor did he even try to defend himself, trusting Fenri to protect him while he let his mind focus. Every skin cell in his body became hypersensitive, detecting the slightest micron of dust in the air as Fenri spawned a barrel of water for Verdi, his right hand touching it as he focused further, shaping it into a long thin rod. Pointing it to Bell, he focused every brain cell in his body on his skin as Bell finished requesting his program.

“Forty-one!” As he spoke, Verdi stuck his left hand into the water barrel and pulled it out, a fully formed cone of ice emerging in his left hand as he began his counterattack. His right hand still clutching the rod of ice, he focused on the slight vibrations pulsing across the rod and into his fingertips, committing the sensation to memory. In his left hand, he used instinctive magic to begin imitating those very sensations in the cone of ice, his mind and magic pushed to the very limit as he tried to vibrate the ice at the precise frequency.

“Fohurdi-win!

“Foatiwun!”

“Fuerdi-wan!”

A chorus of Bell’s voice filled the arena as Verdi kept his eyes closed, all of his brain power fixated on replicating the sensation of Bell’s voice to his makeshift megaphone. Sound, ultimately, was just the vibration of air molecules. Verdi wasn’t a skilled musician and his hearing was average at best. His skin, however, was always far more sensitive than any human’s eardrums by leaps and bounds. Detecting enemies through sound waves was an instinctive ability he had naturally due to his hybrid monster nature. Feeling the precise frequency and trying to replicate the sensation, however, took active focus on his part. He felt a surge of heat as Fenri sped up, playing on defense as she dodged Bell’s fireball while carrying Verdi. Though his eyes were closed, he could feel every cell in his body screaming as his heart raced, the mere residual heat enough to cause goosebumps. One bad hit and his flammable skin would burn him to ash.

“Here comes the Zone of Silence again folks! Do you think Beauty and The Beast can dodge it in time?” The harpy announcer asked, Bell’s eyes wide with panic as he realized what Verdi was doing and scrambled to counter his scheme. Of course, this only served to dig himself in further as all the air in a 40 meter radius around Bell was forcibly purged from the arena, the world going silent as Verdi’s sweat evaporated off his body. Already accustomed to the attack, Fenri threw a knife into the air while grabbing onto the length of piano wire wrapped around, sending the two of them flying upwards as their sweat evaporated, leaving only a trail of salt in their wake. As soon as they escaped the vacuum, sound returned to their ears as Fenri looked to Verdi, the words “Forty-one” emanating from his makeshift megaphone with Bell’s exact voice. As the knife lost momentum and the two of them began falling, Fenri spawned an empty barrel underneath her feet and stood on top of it, floating in the air as Bell’s spell repelled the air particles trapped within the barrel.

“Hey, spawn a bottle. I need to pretend that I’m drinking a healing potion.” Verdi requested as Fenri did as told, handing him a bottle of water and letting him drink it as he undid the ice spells freezing his body. Instantly, all the wounds Bell inflicted healed over as his innate regeneration took effect, his chest closing as Fenri replaced his damaged shirt. Just as Verdi finished healing up, he heard a sonic boom as a stake flew past them, the weapon missing them by a mile as it traversed the stars forevermore. The second stake missed them by an even larger margin as they looked down to see Bell squinting, randomly flinging stakes into the air in a vain hope of landing a hit. With the sun shining directly into his eyes, it was near impossible for him to properly aim at them.

“So now what?” Fenri asked, Bell’s voice still repeating the word 41 from Verdi’s megaphone as another stake blew past their heads. Of course, neither of them were particularly worried as they spent this precious time catching their breaths. Fenri was too fast for Bell to hit while Verdi was just too resilient to stay down from mundane attacks. The only real threat they had was from his magic, and Verdi’s little trick had neatly sealed it off.

“We wait until he runs out of magic, then we gang up on him until he surrenders.” Verdi answered, their odds of winning far higher than before. Bell was a tough bastard, but he had sabotaged himself by abandoning his partner at the beginning. Fighting a 2v1 in a city that equalized levels would be impossible for anyone to win. Upon hearing the plan, Fenri snickered as she sat on her haunches like a dog, waiting for their time to strike. As they looked down at him, they watched the vampire get to one knee and raised his hammer above his head.

“Hey, what the fuck is he doing?” Fenri asked, watching the vampire place a stake in the ground and hammering it into the arena. Repeating the process, Bell continued ramming stakes into the ground, making a small circle around him before grabbing his hammer with both hands. Suddenly, his vacuum spell deactivated as Bell managed to utter one final spell before Verdi’s megaphone permanently sealed off his calculator.

“Command run program 13!” The only warning they had to his spell’s effects was a small crack in the outer borders of the arena as Bell’s arms tensed up, his teeth grit in exertion as he let out a low growl of discomfort. His legs were shoulder width apart while he had both hands gripping his hammer tightly, his eyes focused on the ground rather than at his opponents. Bending his knees, the vampire made an awkward swing, his hammer’s head slamming into the ground and vaporizing the area around him as it advanced, his posture not unlike that of a golfer’s. Eventually, the hammer reached one of the stakes he embedded into the ground, the resonance of stone upon steel letting out a soft hum as though he was trying to serenade them. It was only when the arena began to rise up that Verdi had an idea of just what the vampire was planning, dread filling his heart at the sheer scope of Bell’s physical strength.

“He’s throwing the fucking arena at us!” He thought, Fenri seemingly reading his mind as she pulled 5 barrels of water from her inventory. Grabbing one of the barrels, Verdi silently read the formulas he’d carved into them and casted a formulaic ice spell, shielding the two of them within seconds. Looking down, they could see a rapidly accelerating landmass flying right at them as Bell tore out the upper layer of the arena and tossed it straight at them, the depth of the barrier roughly 3 feet in length. Even though he used some of his magic to help propel the arena upwards, Verdi felt a tinge of fear at how terrifying someone using magic and spirit at the same time could be.

“Command Run Program 17!” That was all Verdi heard before the thrown arena detonated like a bomb, razor sharp blades of sandstone scattering in every direction and chiseling away at Verdi’s shield as they were sent flying into the arena’s barrier like an oversized pinball. He silently cursed, abandoning his goal of fighting with only human abilities as he used his monster cores to continue repeating his recording of Bell’s voice to ensure he could seal off the vampire’s magic and maintain his shield. As they drew closer to the arena, the visibility worsened as the shattered arena rained upon them as a cloud of dust. Despite that, of the fighters within the arena, only Fenri was blinded by the attack. Verdi could detect Bell through the soundwaves in the air while Bell could do the same, listening in on Verdi’s constant recording of his voice. Lurking within the rubble and dust, Verdi could detect Bell with another stake as he sprinted towards them. Two evil grins appeared within the ice barrier as Verdi and Fenri shared the same idea, their minds in perfect sync.

“I gotta stop hanging out with Fenri so often. I think I’m starting to think like her.” Verdi thought, grabbing the ice barrier and forming a hole in it as the hero silently leapt out, lurking within the dust cloud as she pulled a pair of bowie knives from her inventory. Bell’s voice echoed in the arena from Verdi's barrier, his voice interspersed with the sound of the falling rubble and the cheers of the crowd. Like a moth to the flame Bell sprinted to Verdi, following the sound of his own voice as he raised his hammer, his stake at the ready as he prepared to craft the ice sculpture of an era. As he gazed into the crystal clear barrier, his face fell as he saw only Verdi staring back at him, a smile plastered on the alchemist’s face when he saw Bell's mouth fall agape.

“Look out.” Verdi mouthed with a smug grin, being as arrogant as possible while pointing to his left. Cursing, Bell turned to where he was pointing and prepared to swing his hammer at the hero, only to find himself staring into an empty clearing. Reacting instantly, he dove to the ground as Fenri’s knife cut at the air behind him, severing the hood of his cloak as he turned around and raised both his arms to block what was coming. A high pitched shout escaped Bell’s lips as sparks rained down on him, Fenri’s knives meeting his hammer and stake in a blur of ****.

“I’ll let you surrender now if you'd like.” Fenri said through grit teeth, her eyes twinkling with pride as she offered Bell the same deal he had done for her. To Verdi’s surprise, the meek vampire seemed to stiffen at the offer, his previous somber attitude dissipating as he copied Fenri’s psychotic grin. “That’s a nice smile. Maybe I should take you with me after this.” Fenri added, her knife slowly moving closer and closer to Bell’s heart. A soft rip emanated from Bell’s chest as Fenri's blade slowly gained ground, cutting the cloak and drawing a single drop of blood from the undead’s body. Suddenly, Bell’s chest seemed to explode in size as though he’d taken a dose of Verdi’s breast expansion potion, ballooning out from flat to a modest B cup in the blink of an eye.

“Look’s like Verdi’s getting a new toy to impregnate later.” Fenri said while licking her lips, hooting and hollering filling the stadium as one of Bell’s breasts was exposed to the world, the pink nipple glistening with sweat as the pair struggled on the ground. Taking a closer look, Verdi noticed that Bell’s proportions were far from male. She had a slim, lithe build similar to Citrinas and bound her chest to ensure nothing got in her way during combat. The only reason Verdi had mistaken her for a man was due to the heavy cloak she wore everywhere. As he ogled the bouncing breasts, he could tell everyone else in the stadium was doing the same as they cheered on Bell. Though Verdi wanted some admiration or cheering for himself, he couldn’t blame the audience for enjoying the view.

“OH YEAH!”

“FUCK ME, THAT’S NOT AN ARTIST THAT’S A FUCKING MELON FARMER!”

“TAKE YOUR TOP OFF HERO!”

“QUICK, CAST A WATER SPELL! WATER SPELL! WE NEED MUD WHILE THEY WRESTLE!”

“Folks, folks, we’re having technical difficulties. We are a family friendly arena! Avert your eyes!” The harpy announcer shouted as Bell clicked her tongue. Though Verdi wanted to help out and finish the battle, he knew better than to deny Fenri her triumph. Sucking in a deep breath, Bell prepared to utter the one word that might break Fenri’s hold on her.

“Invent-”

“Ptoo!”

“Ack! *Cough* *Cough*!”

In every language known to the world of Ruyanei, it was always going to be faster to spit into someone else’s mouth than it was to say the word inventory. Falling into a coughing fit from the unorthodox attack, Fenri’s knife dug deeper into the vampire’s skin, mere centimeters from Bell’s heart as the hero bared her canines like a wolf to its prey. As Bell turned away from Fenri and coughed, Verdi’s eyes went wide as he detected what the vampire had done in that split second.

“Fenri!” He didn’t need to elaborate further as Fenri broke her hold on Bell and leapt backwards at full speed, hearing Verdi’s frantic tone and abandoning her position in a heartbeat. Despite dodging the second Verdi spoke, she still left a crimson trail as several lacerations appeared on her right cheek. Her eyes went wide as she traced the cuts with her fingers, startled at how close she’d come to ****. Glancing over, she saw Bell sit up, her face a wicked smile as looked over and spat on the floor, her saliva full of small pebbles and dust. Despite how closely she’d brushed with ****, Fenri looked even more excited as she looked at her blood stained fingers.

“You little fucker! You almost got me!” Fenri said playfully, almost entranced by the injury as Bell changed her outfit using her inventory ability, abandoning the heavy cloak for something more combat friendly. Like Fenri’s furs that only served to hide her most important bits, Bell’s outfit left everything and nothing to the imagination. It was a silken bodysuit that clung to her body that was pitch black in color that seemed to turn invisible at certain angles of light yet hiding everything about her. The hoots and hollers around the arena intensified at the sight, each person in the arena aroused far more by her new outfit than by her bare breast. Once she finished changing, Bell squatted down and touched one of Fenri’s stray blood droplets, holding it up to her face before standing up and staring down the duo, the once timid and scared vampire now a full femme fatale.

“Do you mind if I get a little serious? I think you two can handle me at full power, but I’m fine with surrendering now if you two would like.” She offered, continuing to play with the blood in her fingers while she spoke. There wasn’t even a moment of deliberation as Fenri answered for the pair, the duo’s desires coinciding. Fenri wanted a good fight to sate her bloodlust. Verdi wanted a good fight to make sure Belsach got it all on film for fame. A dull fight hidden in a dust cloud was far too dull for them.

“Everyone here is going to go all out. If I find anyone holding anything back I’m gonna kill them.” Fenri said threateningly, tilting her head back and giving Verdi a **** glare, silently telling him not to hold back. Considering everything until now was Bell holding back, Verdi decided to allow himself the luxury of using all 3 monster cores and his secondary body for calculating formulaic spells. Upon hearing Fenri’s answer, Bell flashed a smile that could make flowers bloom, her face statuesque as she held her finger up to her mouth and licked Fenri’s blood off it.

With a swallow, she looked at Verdi and pointed at him with her hammer, the next word out of her mouth incomprehensible yet familiar to him. At that moment, Fenri seemed to wither from fatigue while Verdi felt a strange energy engulf his very core, the sensation familiar yet illogical at the same time. He looked at Fenri as the pair shared the same puzzled expression, the duo outright shocked at the turn of events.

“Hunt.” The words Bell uttered lingered in the air like smoke, not dissipating in the slightest as the second stage of their battle began.