Wow. It has been a while since I last updated. I would promise to do better, but I know how I am. I'll just say for the umpteenth time that I will try. I know my chapter are short, but I hope this provides a couple minutes of entertainment.

Albel had been prepared for a physical attack the moment he stepped through the door, so he was caught off guard with a particularly strong round of Ice Daggers. He hadn't expected her to use Runeology indoors. It did not manage to freeze him however, so he was hardly slowed down when she came at him.

She had intended to kick him back out the door, but he countered. He made sure to stay close to her at all times so she would not have time to conjure a spell.

About fifteen minutes into the fight, Albel, still near the door, hit Nel flying into a chair. As she got up and he rush towards her, she grabbed the chair and swung it at him. Because the chair landed on her right side, she swung from there, but quickly realized it would only hit his claw and do no good. She tried to aim higher to his head, but he blocked with the claw and broke the chair leg.

She tossed the chair aside and proceeded with a quick flurry of attacks.

The girl at the desk did not know what to do. Tonight was worse than the previous two nights and customers were coming out of their rooms. They didn't dare to walk past that room and neither did the desk girl. She couldn't even summon the courage to go shut the door this time. She just looked apologetically at the customers down the hallway and hoped it would end soon.

No one in the inn slept well that night. Not a person at the inn dared to interrupt them. Without an interruption, neither was willing to stop no matter how hurt or tired. The only disturbance came after dawn.

"Nel!... Nel!!" Tynnave and Farleen were once again unsuccessful at getting Nel's attention.

"Are you going to answer your little maggot friends or not. Their voices are annoying."

The two began to circle around what was left of the table.

"Are you going to give up?"

"Never. I'll fight you all night!"

"You already have!" Farleen informed them.

They stopped for a moment and blinked, finally noticing the daylight around them.

"Then I'll fight through tonight! You can't stop me!"

"You are both already late for the tournament. You're suppose to be getting ready for the semi finals." Tynave told them.

They both froze in a crouch and looked at each other for a moment. Then, they walked tensely out side by side.

"You just wait, Zelpher, I'm going to humiliate you."

"Oh, you are the one who is going to be humiliated, Nox."

The two women remained behind, staring in shock at the sudden change of the situation before running to catch up.

They caught up to the two warriors in the center of town. They were not speaking, but the tension in the air was so thick that people were turning and watching nervously. Everyone in town had heard of the nightly disturbances at the inn and there were many rumors spreading through town. No one dared whisper about them as the duo stormed past.

When they reached the area set up for the tournament, they split to go to their own warm up areas. Tynave and Farleen hesitated and then followed Nel. Albel was happy to continue to his place alone.

The tournament was down to four. Besides Albel and Nel, there was a Glyphian miner and an Aquarian runeologist left. Nel was set to fight the miner and Albel the runeologist. Because of delays both matches had to take place at the same time.

The tension was high. Both matches were expected to be highly entertaining. People fought over which match to see. There was an Aquarian and a Glyphian in each arena.

Nel ate quickly and tried to keep her energy up by focusing on fighting Albel again.

Albel ate slowly and deliberately, thinking about the way Nel fought. He smiled a wicked smile at the thought of besting her in battle in front of all the people there.

As they walked through the gateway of the two different arenas, they thought not of their current opponents, but of the battle to come. Nothing else mattered.

The possibility of failure did not occur to either.

1/10/09