With the gong having been struck, Leonard starts to side-step clockwise on his hindlegs while his opponent, Flare, goes counterclockwise, both combatants holding their staves outward firmly in their forelimbs. All while the crowding masses beyond the arena cheered and voiced their anticipations.

Leonard could never imagine the day would come when he’d be fighting in a bipedal stance. Such a notion would be seen as virtually impossible prior to the strange spell Jerren had cast. Absurd, even. And yet, here he was, although it wasn’t nearly as upright as Radahn and the other humans of the Lands Between as it possessed a slight hunch comparatively.

It was one of several things he’d been sure to thank Tzu for during her tutelage. The last thing he needed was to be falling over frequently during the match. There was also a particular matter concerning his outfit, which formed a smirk on his muzzle as the roar of the audience slowly died down.

“I can’t wait to wipe that smirk off your face,” challenged Flare(add voice), the duos’ hoof steps clopping against the wooden surface of the arena as they circle one another. “It’s flattering to know that you had to seek Sun Tzu’s aid just to stand a chance against me. So much for all that bravado whe-”

The stallion’s abrupt action interjects her words as he lunges forward and swings his stave overhead with an arm resting at his side, causing Flare to dodge the attack in the form of an aerial backflip.

Flare spins her stave while twisting in the air, and as she steadies herself and freefalls to the arena, intending to land gracefully on a single hindleg, Leonard seizes the opportunity and charges at her again just as the crimson-maned kirin’s cloven foot touched down on the arena’s surface.

However, those seconds of contact were enough for Flare to kick off toward the heavens again, evading another one of Leonard’s strikes as he looked back and skyward at her over his left shoulder.

Seizing the opening, Flare spins her staff and roars while descending upon her brown-coated opponent, who just barely manages to raise his stave to defend himself.

[KLOMP]

The collision of their wooden weaponry echoes across the forestation, followed by the ever-watchful crowd’s explosive reactions. Leonard can be seen skiing backward a short distance across the arena with gritted teeth of resistance as, despite defending himself, Flare’s attack still contained enough force to push him back, paired with the stallion only narrowingly managing to set up a defense.

Leonard’s skiing comes to a halt. He then regains his bearings, spins his stave overhead while tilting his head to avoid hitting himself, and tucks it under his arm in a sideward stance before pushing his other arm out as if challenging his opponent with an appointed forehoof.

Over a ten-foot distance before the stallion’s ebony eyes, Flare flawlessly balances herself on a single hind leg like a qinese crane, the upper length of her staff gently pressed across her back.

“Striking at me while my guard’s down, huh? For that, you’re doing all the work during our first night together, breeder.”

“Sorry, Flare, but I’m here to win,” Leonard responds with a wink, spinning his staff around and thrusting it forward. “Tell you what, though. If victory is yours, I’ll gladly ‘do all the work’ on our first night and every other night after that. I am what Redmane horse breeders would call a Chef-De-Race, after all.”

Flare raises a curious eyebrow, “Meaning?”

A hearty chuckle vibrates the walls of Leonard’s throat. “Beat me, and maybe I’ll consider telling you.” He finished with a toothy grin, prompting Flare to narrow her eyes in determination while sporting a grin of her own.

“I like you.”

The kirin rushes forward from her crane-like stance and fires up her horn along the way to levitate her weapon in a light opal aura, closing in on the stallion like a true predator on all fours. Leonard takes on a defensive fighting stance as it now looks as if he were fighting two opponents.

Flare wills her staff to engage while leaping to the side and out of view as the wooden weapon strikes Leonard’s stave repeatedly, the stallion parrying and retaliating against the inanimate object. The Redmane’s attention was now divided between the staff he’s currently engaged with and the kirin puppeteer pulling at its strings stalking at his right.

As Leonard sideglances at Flare while simultaneously contending with her weapon, the kirin suddenly vanishes with a burst of magic.

‘Shit!’ He inwardly exclaims in caution. ‘Radahn’s balls, this is-’

A burst of magic abruptly graces his sense of hearing, followed by Flare manifesting in front of him yet below her staff as she’s lowered to the arena’s surface like a feline ready to pounce onto unsuspecting prey. Flare lunges forward and lets out a sawing roar, tackling Leonard onto his back and standing over him. The sound of the stallion’s staff clanking against the arena due to having been dropped in the process and the watchful crowd’s wild reactions follow seconds after.

Flare swiftly rests her cloven forehooves on Leonard’s forearms to pin him down despite the stallion’s struggle and effort. She also uses her hind legs to wrestle and entrap Leonard’s own, just as he is about to use them to get her off of him.

The pinned stallion continues to resist with gritted teeth, his defiant and determined eyes aimed directly up at the kirin’s own, who looks down at him with a pleasantly toothy grin.

“Just so you know, stud,” Flare says as she leans down and brings her muzzle inches away from Leonard’s face, whispering sultry into his right ear, ‘I’m literally just toying with you, and here you are, already being mounted by yours truly~.’

The crimson-maned kirin maneuvers her head and glides her tongue from the bottom to the top of Leonard’s right cheek, causing him to close his right eye as he compared her tongue’s touch to being slightly rough like sandpaper before planting a kiss on his forehead.

“Heh. Not bad, Flare,” Leonard commended as Flare inched her muzzle away. “I guess you earned that lick. But that’s all you’re getting for now.”

“Oh?” She chuckles. “And what, pray tell, is preventing me from going for more than just a silly little lick on the cheek or pec on your head? Really. Do tell.”

“Yeah, well. Thing is… I can teleport!”

Flare blinks.

“...Say what now…?”

“Get up, Leonard!” Sandy bellows from among the audience, standing alongside her mother while Udrako, Angus, and the black bull’s family root for the saddle arabian combatant.

However, as the dark-orange kir-rabian turns to her mother for guidance, realization and a hint of relief build within Sandy as the expression on Tzu’s face says it all. It was neutral. Unbothered. But for Sandy, that spoke volumes in of itself.

“The battle has only just begun, daughter,” Tzu states without ever taking her red eyes off the events within the ring. “Fear not. You’ll find that Leonard isn’t as helpless as it might seem. It’s like I often tell you, ‘Pretend to be weak, so your enemy may grow arrogant. Arrogance causes the enemy to leave the door open…allowing you to rush in.’”

At that moment, something transpires within the arena, causing another joyous uproar amongst the audience and stealing Sandy’s immediate attention.

“Holy shi-OW!”

“No swearing in my presence, daughter.”

“For the love of—come on—I’m over two hundred years old!”

The golden borders of Leonard’s clothing glow with enough intensity to cause Flare to shield and close her eyes. “What in the diyu did he just do?!” She cried out.

Leonard vanishes from beneath the kirin via a burst of golden magic energy and reappears with another burst next to his staff.

“Did he just teleport?!” One of many nearby voices comments.

“I thought he didn’t have magic?!”

“It’s got something to do with his clothes!”

“Yeah! I saw them glow!”

“Thank you, Tzu,” Leonard mutters as he quickly picks up his staff and focuses on Flare, charging forth to capitalize on her vulnerable state. He utilizes his stave to pole jump into the air, spins, and channels all of his strength into a decisive strike aimed at a particular area of Flare’s body.

Her flank.

[WOPACK]

“AAAAHHHH~!” Flare cries out to the heavens in great pain and a sprinkle of embarrassment, dropping her staff on the wooden surface as a fine red outline of Leonard’s stave is left behind and engraved into her cream-coated flesh that wasn’t protected by her draconian-like scales.

Several members of the audience wince, ‘Ooh,’ and whistle in response to what had happened, but as Leonard continues his assault and attempts to make another strike, Flare throws her hindquarters into the air and stands on her forehooves before somersaulting away.

Leonard gives chase and strikes at her during her acrobatic movement. But her timing was practically flawless as her forehooves launched her backward evasively just as the stallion went for another swing—despite the pulsating pain still present on the kirin’s rear.

The cycle continues several more times until Flare launches herself even higher into the air than ever before and uses her magic to stay afloat, stopping Leonard in his tracks as he takes a combative stance while looking up at her.

“Hah! Hey, Flare?!” His call garners the kirin’s shocked-at-what-just-happened attention. “I hope you’re not feeling butthurt after that. Eh?” He questioned while looking around and allowing the joke to sink in. “Eh?”

A moment of silence takes hold.

“Booo!” The crowd responds.

“Aw, come on!” Leonard retorts to the masses. “That one was a good one!”

“How?!” Flare’s voice suddenly boomed from above after the audience died down. “How did you do that?!” She demanded while landing in the arena. “Saddle arabians don’t have magic!”

“That may be true, Flare.”

Sun Tzu answered, causing Leonard and Flare to shift their gaze toward the southern portion of the arena, whereupon the crowd splits for the scarred kirin as she makes her way toward the ring.

“But there’s something saddle arabians excel at that magically gifted entities like kirin often overlook.” Tzu’s brown-coated and golden-scaled form positions itself at the arena’s fence.

“Enchantments.”

“E-enchantments?!” Flare questioned, practically voicing the same curiosity that flowed throughout the crowd. “You mean to say that Leonard’s clothes are enchanted with spells?!”

“A few, yes. But they’re mostly for utility rather than pure combat, and there are limits.” Tzu closes her eyes as if to draw upon a pleasant memory. “As some of you may know, my late husband wore that same attire with dignity and pride. What you don’t know, however, is that I added a few…adjustments to it and presented those changes to my dearly beloved on our wedding day.”

Murmurs of curiosity and interest fluctuate as all in attendance—save for Mulan and Rain Shine, who already possessed knowledge of what was being revealed, and Leonard, via his training with the battle-hardened kirin—were entranced by the wonder of her tale.

“The golden fabric you all see forming the borders is laced with several strands of hair from my father, Sun Wukong.”

Flare’s eyes shot open even wider than they already were, followed by inquiries being thrown out by others in attendance.

“What?!”

“THE Sun Wukong?!”

“What else can those clothes do?!”

“I-isn’t that cheating?!”

Overhearing that latest inquiry, Tzu lets out a rumbling chuckle. “Neither Leonard nor Flare have made any official rules for this match. From what I understand, the agreement is simply to see if he’s capable enough to join the Blades and, per his wager with Flare, become her breeder should he lose this battle—that’s it.”

Voiced agreements are let loose from the crowd as, true enough, there weren’t any strict rules of engagement.

“Besides,” Tzu began, “couldn’t Flare also be considered ‘cheating’ for using her, let’s say, natural magic against a race that relies on artificial magic? That’s one of the reasons why I lent that outfit to him in the first place.”

Nearby agreements are released again, causing Flare to puff out her cheeks with an annoyed sideward look.

“Hmph!” She said through closed lips in dissatisfaction—Leonard, grinning at her in mockery.

“She got you there, Flare. Hahaha!”

Flare shoots her angered gaze to her opponent. “Oh, don’t you even start, you- y-you- cheater!”

“Says the magically gifted kirin, picking on little old magicless me.” He emphasized with a pout and pitiful eyes.

“Why you…!”

“Regardless of any and all perspectives, the fact remains that neither adversary has breached any rules, for there really aren’t any. Well, except for killing your opponent, of course.” Tzu sighed while shaking her head with closed eyes in disappointment, “Honestly. Whoever set this up is an absolute amateur.”

Incidentally, and across the way towards the northern side of the ring, Mulan lowers herself with folded ears behind the fence, earning a hearty head shake from Rain Shine.

“Now that I’ve hopefully covered any confusions present here, let us reconvene with the match.” Tzu raises and sets her sights on the purple-coated, blue-maned, mallet-wielding referee up on the tree platform.

“I leave the rest to you, Grapevine.”

Grapevine salutes with her mallet in response. “You got it, Sun!” She spreads her forelimbs apart to address the crowd, “Well! I think I speak for all of us when I say that that was certainly entertaining! Let’s call it our first round for now!”

The audience roars out in a celebratory fashion. All the while, within the arena, Flare takes a recuperative breath, followed by a joyful chuckle.

“Not bad, Leonard.” Her compliment draws the stallion’s attention from the referee. “Not bad at all. I’ll concede and give you this ‘round.’ I’m a grown lioness, and I can admit that I underestimated you.”

Leonard beams gratefully. “Haha! Well, gee. Thanks, Fla-!”

“Unfortunately for you, however,” she intervened in an icy tone, causing his words to be trapped within his throat. “Now that I know that you’ve got some Monkey King-approved and Sun Tzu-taught tricks up your sleeve…”

A sudden surge of light opal energy starts to form, grow, and surround the kirin’s form, following the alighted runes on her horn. Her mane and the manes of all in attendance are fluttered by the winds her build-up of power created, which has long since silenced the crowd.

“I’m going to take this seriously now.” Flare slowly hovers in the air. “I’m not holding back… ANY LONGER!”

Thrusting her forehooves apart, Flare creates a rectangularly transparent, magic-comprised, light opal casing over the arena, effectively shielding those outside and encasing herself and Leonard within.

“Woah-hoho!” Grapevine voiced, her words unhindered by the barrier as both combatants could still hear them. By Flare’s design, of course. “Looks like Flare’s getting fired up, everyone! In the countless battles I’ve seen her use that technique, only she’s ever walked out of it as the victor! Could our red-maned challenger be biting off more than he can chew?! Or does his attire truly hold some jaw-dropping surprises for us?! Let’s find out!”

Amongst the crowd’s booming reaction to the referee’s announcement, Mulan, Rain Shine, Tzu, the Blades of Peril, and anyone else who knew the truest depths of Flare’s power all voiced their thoughts on the scenario from their respective sides of the arena.

“Good luck, my friend,” says Mulan.

“He’s going to need it,” Rain Shine adds. “That stallion’s about to discover why she’s called Flare Burst.”

“This seems unnecessarily overkill,” a kirin comments.

“Not at all,” Blaza Qin voiced, standing nearby and overhearing the kirin’s words. “Flare’s opponent is donned in attire graced by the Monkey King and was trained by Sun Tzu herself. Flare’s already underestimated him once, and he arguably made her pay for it without using any of those powers. She won’t be underestimating him again.”

“She’s actually going to use that technique,” a high-ranking member of the Blades of Peril comments.

“W-what technique…?” A new recruit inquired curiously.

“You’ll see for yourself, newbie. You’ll understand how Flare defeated Shuilong—the Water Bearer. One of the five Dragon Elements of Oolong’s elite force: the Black Lotus.”

“And that’s not even taking into account her nirik form,” another member of the Blade’s mid-rank adds. “She put that barrier up for a Buddha-damned good reason.”

“Was that wise, mother?” Sandy asked.

“I simply must agree, dearie,” Udrako chimed in, using her magic to secure the pups sitting on her back. “Why would you reveal all of that admittedly useful information? Doesn’t that just make things harder for poor Leonard?”

“That don’ sound like somethin’ you’d do without giving it much thought,” Angus Prairie adds to the conversation, nodding knowingly at the scarred kirin. “Which is why ah know there’s more to it than that. Ain’t that right, ol’ Tzu of the White Lotus?”

Tzu remains silent for a moment, her eyes never ceasing to study the stallion within the arena. Then, after what felt like years had passed, she broke her silence.

“During his training, Leonard drew upon a strange power source. One that’s left me perplexed since then.”

“Power source?” Sandy inquired.

“Perplexed?” Udrako questioned. “You?”

“You’ve got’ah be pull’n mah horn, Tzu,” Angus responds. “That there feller’s got soemth’n that even yawl can’t wrap yer head around? Sho-hoot. Well, ah’ll be a monkey’s uncle.”

“What was this power source, mother?” Sandy asked.

“It was only brief, daughter. But at that moment, when I pushed him to his very edge, I saw what looked like a fiery rune pattern in his eyes. And with it…a strange well of power he has yet to tap into. If he’s truly going to join the Blades of Peril, then this fight is more important than he realizes.”

Satisfied with her work, Flare uses her magic to pull her staff off the floor and into her grasp in one swift motion, followed by her aiming the weapon down at her opponent, who readies himself for the next phase of their battle.

“Now then, Leonard.”

Five spheres of blood-red flames manifest all around the floating kirin, each one taking on the shape of the staff she wields within her magic. The fire-stave imitations move to form an arch above their creator, who looks down at her battle-stance opponent.

“Let’s turn up the heat. Hope you can handle it, stud.”

In the skies over and near the north-western border of Qina, where it blends into the Dragonlands, a brownish-grey male griffon nearing his late twenties with steeled brilliant orange eyes breaths in fatigue as he soared through the clouds with utmost haste.

Powerful wing flaps could be heard at his rear, but the flyer dared not to look back—not that he’d need to. He knew what was coming.

‘Bugger me!’ He cursed internally. ‘Just my luck! The one cave I choose to rest in belongs to a bloody nesting wyvern! Focus, Grover, you can-’

‘REEEEAAAAWWWRRR!’

The wyvern roars out as its full girth rises from below the clouds, its wings dispersing them in the process as the red-scaled behemoth with slitted orange eyes gives chase to its prey.

Grover’s pursuer opens its maw, lined with rows of sharp teeth, and intakes a large surge of air. Realizing what is happening behind him, Grover dives down just in the nick of time as the wyvern spews out a torrent of flames.

“Argh! Come on!” The griffon bellows in frustration. “Have you got nothing better to do than to chase me, you scaled, bird-brained wanker?!”

The wyvern roaring out in primal fury was his response.

“I’m not even on your turf anymore, ya git!” He scoffs while looking forward, trying to escape from his fire-spewing pursuer. But as he does so, a prime opportunity presents itself as he spots an enormous mountain with perilous peaks.

“Aha! There we go.” Grover celebrates before looking back to the wyvern, “With any luck, maybe I can trick this overgrown bastard into skewing himself on those mountaintops!”

With a plan in mind, Grover focuses all his efforts on reaching the mountain, dodging the wyvern’s attacks along the way. Unbeknownst to the griffin, however, is that the mountain’s peaks have earned it a particular title known to those who inhabited it in secrecy and isolation.

The Peaks of Peril.

Next Chapter: Chapter 21~ Estimated time remaining: 28 Minutes