Flash! The room vanished and was replaced by a much larger room in which three cages stood. In the first cage was a muscled man with a huge two handed sword. The second cage held a huge furless doglike creature with huge tusks and horrid rows of teeth. In the last cage was a huge gray skinned creature that stood about three metres tall and had huge lumbering hands with deadly claws and curved horns that could impale a warship.
With a swirl of flames, Bebei appeared, speaking maliciously, “You survived the game of luck, now its time to see some skill. Here you will be tested on your combat skill.”

When Bebei mentioned the game of luck she had looked at the scars on her wrist and shuddered. She had been completely healed and felt refreshed but the scars had no doubt been left as a reminder of the pain she had endured. The creaking of the hinges on the first cage snapped her out of her thoughts and drew her attention to the muscled man running at her with his sword ready. Unsheathing her own blade, she raised her sword to counter his onslaught of blows.

The sound of metal on metal echoed through the room as she come under his downward slash. She withdrew her blade and spun it around to catch the man across the shoulder, sending him stumbling backwards. He grunted before raising his blade and coming again this time faking a swing at her head and curving around to slice her across the hip at the last second, then coming in again his sword just clipped her cheek. Ignoring the burning from her hip and warm trickle of blood down her face, she launched a flurry of blows that the man barely managed to block until one slipped through and opened up a gaping wound in the man’s back. While he was groaning and kneeling on the ground she brought the blade down with such force on the mans neck that she severed his head off neatly.

Panting in exhaustion, she had no time to rest as the second door opened and the hound dove out if its cage and bounded towards her. Its paws came hard and fast as they reached for her. The air left her body as one of its bulky paws collided with her chest and bowled her to the ground. Desperately she kicked the creature in the stomach as it leaped towards her, forcing it back and giving her time to ready her sword. Upon its next leap she raised her sword and allowed the beast to impale itself on the blade. Its body sagged and it gurgled, a steady flow of blood flowed from its slobbering mouth.

Her body ached from her fall but she had to keep going for Riori’s sake. The third door opened and the brutish giant began to walk towards her, the ground trembling as it stepped. Smoothly she slashed it across both knees, causing it to fall to the ground for a second, but a second was all she needed as she drove the sword into its chest. It grabbed her in its gigantic hand and threw her away into the stone wall. She coughed as blood filled her throat and trickled out of the corner of her mouth. Ignoring the pain she stood and started towards the creature. Though its breathing was laboured it wasn’t ready to give up yet so she sprinted towards it and at the last second she dropped to her knees and slid between its legs. Wasting no time, Kari leaped onto the creatures back and scrambled up to its head. Grasping the giant’s neck with one arm, she drove the sword in between its shoulder blades with the other, causing it to collapse with a great crash, splatters of blood sprayed across her legs.