The crowd erupted into massive, deafening cheers.

Just as the announcement was made, quick footsteps sounded on the wooden stairs.

Syrus, Damon’s blonde-haired childhood friend, quickly walked up onto the platform. Syrus had ridden his fastest horse from the city the moment he heard the wild gossip about the death match.

Syrus quickly walked over and sat down on a wooden chair right beside Damon. He looked out at the field, his face full of deep, genuine worry.

"Damon," Syrus whispered softly, leaning completely close to Damon so Howe could not hear them.

"Your best man, Gideon, is completely unconscious in the back tent," Syrus said urgently. He had just spoken to the panicked camp guards outside. "And someone else is standing in his place on the field."

Syrus looked at the slim, anonymous figure in black.

"Are you completely sure it isn’t one of Howe’s dark plots?" Syrus warned his friend. "Maybe Howe poisoned Gideon and placed his own secret assassin on your side to ensure you lose on purpose?"

Damon sat completely still. His eyes were locked entirely onto the slim figure on the field. He looked at the way the person stood. He looked at the confident, completely fearless posture.

"I don’t think so," Damon whispered back calmly, his voice completely flat.

Syrus shook his blonde head in deep pity. He thought his friend was walking blindly into a massive disaster.

"Damon, listen to me," Syrus pleaded softly, placing his hand on Damon’s armored arm. "I think you should just completely forget about the stolen land. Your late father will understand and forgive you from the heavens. You cannot win this with a scrawny boy."

Syrus pointed toward the giant, terrifying mercenary holding the heavy battle axe.

"Just call it off right now that it hasn’t officially started fighting yet," Syrus urged him desperately. "Admit defeat before you lose your main camp land too. Don’t lose everything for pride."

Damon did not move his eyes from the field. He did not call out to stop the match.

"It’s already late," Damon replied simply, his deep voice carrying absolute finality.

Down on the dry dirt field, the fight officially started.

Howe’s giant, heavily armored mercenary let out a loud, terrifying roar. The massive man brought out his heavy battle axe, raising the weapon high above his head with both of his huge, muscular arms.

Standing perfectly still a few yards away, Camilla smoothly brought out her twin daggers. The short, sharp steel blades flashed brightly under the hot midday sun.

The crowd went completely silent, holding their breath in pure anticipation of the bloody slaughter.

"Die, little rat!" the giant mercenary screamed.

Howe’s man lunged directly at her.

The massive mercenary charged forward with terrifying speed, his metal boots stomping the dirt hard. He swung the axe in a huge, wide, horizontal arc, aiming directly to chop the slim, black-clad figure completely in half at the waist.

The axe blade cut through the air with a loud whoosh.

Up on the platform, Syrus squeezed his eyes completely shut, not wanting to watch the boy get chopped into bloody pieces.

But Camilla did not try to block the axe with her small daggers. That would have instantly broken her arms.

She completely understood the advanced physics of combat. She used the basic principle of using a heavy person’s own massive weight and forward momentum entirely against them.

As the giant axe blade swung toward her stomach, Camilla waited until the absolute last, final fraction of a second.

When the iron was merely an inch away from cutting her flesh, Camilla dropped completely.

She bent her knees deeply, dropping her entire body weight straight down toward the dirt in a rapid squat. The axe swung wildly through the empty air, slicing harmlessly straight over the very top of her dark hood.

Because the giant mercenary had put all of his massive strength into the swing, and because the axe had hit absolutely nothing but empty air, the heavy forward momentum of the weapon completely pulled him off balance.

The giant man stumbled forward clumsily, his armor pulling him downward.

Camilla did not waste a single millisecond.

While still crouching completely low to the ground, she immediately spun her body sharply to the right.

She extended her right leg fully out. She swept her combat boot in a fast, vicious low circle directly against the back of the giant mercenary’s left knee joint.

Crack.

The sharp kick hit the weak point of his heavy armor perfectly.

The giant mercenary completely lost his footing. His left leg buckled inward. With his forward momentum still pulling him, he crashed face-first directly into the hard, dry dirt with a massive, deafening THUD.

A huge cloud of dust exploded into the air, completely covering his fallen body.

The entire crowd gasped in collective shock.

Nobody could believe what they had just seen. The tiny, scrawny fighter had just dropped the giant monster to the ground in exactly two seconds without even using their weapons.

Camilla did not stand up to celebrate or wait for him to recover.

As the giant man hit the dirt, Camilla immediately sprang forward.

She leaped completely into the air, landing perfectly, lightly on top of the giant man’s broad, armored back before he could even process that he had fallen. She pinned him to the ground with her body weight.

Damon was having a feeling of familiarity with the black figure. He gestured for Kade to come closer.

Kade bent low, waiting for his master’s orders.

"Send someone home and check if the lady is truly home?" Damon said, his gaze stuck on the field.

Kade nodded and left.

The giant mercenary roared in anger. He struggled wildly, trying to push his massive body up off the dirt to throw her off.

But Camilla was faster.

She quickly raised her right hand high into the air. She held one of her sharp, steel daggers tightly. She aimed perfectly for the small, completely unarmored gap between his metal helmet and the thick iron chest plate at the back of his neck.

She brought the dagger down with merciless, lethal force.

The sharp steel blade pierced directly through the weak leather padding. It sank deeply into the back of the giant mercenary’s neck, completely severing his spinal cord in one single, perfect, flawless strike.

The massive mercenary’s body went completely rigid for a split second. Then, he completely stopped moving. His huge hands fell limply into the dirt.

He was dead.

The entire death match had lasted exactly five seconds.

The massive crowd surrounding the dirt field was completely dead silent. No one cheered. No one spoke. They were all completely paralyzed by the shocking, brutal efficiency of the sudden kill.

Camilla smoothly pulled her bloody dagger out of the dead man’s neck. She stood up gracefully from the corpse. She flicked her wrist sharply, throwing the bright red blood off the steel blade onto the dry dirt. She wiped the blade clean on her black trousers and safely sheathed the twin daggers back onto her leather belt.

She stood perfectly still in the center of the dusty field, completely victorious, absolutely untouched, looking up toward the raised wooden platform.

In the front row of the crowd, Zade slowly dropped his pouch of gold coins. It hit the dirt near his boots.

Zade’s jaw was completely open. He stared at the slim figure in black.

"I..." Zade stammered softly, completely unable to believe his own eyes. "I just lost one hundred gold coins."

Austin stood completely still next to him. He slowly turned his head. He looked at Zade with completely wide eyes.

"Zade," Austin whispered, his voice shaking. "I am telling you the absolute truth right now. I think that is your sister."