The silence that preceded Seth's reply was the kind you don't hear but feel. A vacuum between heartbeats. The anticipation in the bones of those present.
Seth turned Kharizan's axes slowly in his hands. The runes glowed briefly at the touch of his aura, as if awakened by an ancient whisper. He crossed them in front of his chest.
'For now, I'm going to have to learn how to handle these axes.' Seth thought as he sighed, "I don't usually hit women." A slightly cynical smile curved his lips.
"But considering you're a boss who wants to fight... I think I can make an exception." He said, a little arrogantly.
The hall reacted like a living organism. One of the shamans fell to his knees, muttering prayers to the ancient spirits. A veteran warrior - scars covering half his face - backed away slowly, wide-eyed.
But Urog stood up and just walked forward.
His step was heavy, deliberate, rhythmic like a war drum. The fossilized wood beneath his feet vibrated with each step. There was no hurry in it. There was no hesitation. Only certainty.
"I don't want your respect, Outsider." She said, smiling as she shook her tightly braided hair, "I want your truth."
She stopped a few steps away from Seth. Now, face to face, the contrast was almost comical. Seth, strong but small, with skinned clothes and the eyes of someone who had slept badly for months. Urog, a wall of muscle, adorned with bones, raw power and a primal gleam in her eye.
The leader of the Kahragorn raised a closed fist. "In the Deep Root tradition... before we recognize blood, we recognize strength."
She then held out an open hand.
"No deaths. No stolen honor. A fight until the body gives out." She smiled, confident, arrogant, and then asked him, "Do you accept?"
Seth took a deep breath. He looked around, analyzing the gazes hungry for conflict, for proof, for legend. And then... he smiled.
"I do."
At that moment, the totems around him lit up in bright green. The whole structure reverberated with a guttural sound - a chant of the dead, perhaps. The floor moved away beneath them, magically receding in slabs to form a ritual circle in the center of the hall. The "holy field" of Clan Kahragorn.
From above, a spiral of black smoke descended - taking the form of a spectral serpent that circled the two as if tracing the boundaries of the duel.
[Mission Activated: Rites of Reconnaissance - Defeat Kerissa Urog in combat]
[Rewards: Respect of the Kahragorn | +1 Tribal Title | ???]
Seth stepped forward.
Urog came like an earthquake.
Her fist flew straight at Seth's face, enveloped in a flaming aura. A blow that would have cracked stone.
Seth raised his arms in a cross, blocking with his axes - the impact exploded like thunder, the ground sinking two toes under his feet.
She wasn't kidding.
But neither was he.
With a sudden twist, Seth slid under her arm and struck sideways, the blade slicing through the air with a deafening hiss - but Urog turned, parrying with his forearm, and pushed him away with a headbutt that broke the sound.
Seth flew a few meters, landing with both feet on the ground.
He wiped a trickle of blood from his lip.
And smiled. "Okay..."
"You're better than my algebra teacher."
Urog cracked his neck. "You haven't even seen my anger yet."
The duel had begun.
The combat circle seemed like a world apart, cut off from everything other than instinct and raw strength. With each blow from Urog, the ground shook as if the earth itself was trying to escape. Seth, for his part, danced through the chaos with a fierce weariness - not the kind that slowed him down, but the kind that stripped away any filter, any hesitation.
He was complete. He was dangerous.
Urog advanced again, this time with both fists wrapped in tribal energy - the essence of the Deep Root - and unleashed a devastating combo. Seth blocked two blows, parried a third with the handle of his axes, but the fourth got through his defense.
CRACK!
The impact threw him backwards, sliding until he hit one of the fossilized columns. A trickle of blood ran from his mouth.
And then his eyes closed.
And they opened again.
Not physically - but inside.
[Sovereign's Gaze - Active Passive]
The world around him shattered into layers.
Layers of intentions, weaknesses, lies, hidden patterns and flows.
Urog, seen through the Sovereign's lens, glowed with an ancient, pulsating, red aura - but there, on his left shoulder, a tense, fractured point revealed itself as a previous, poorly healed impact point. On his right hip, a micro hesitation between blows - a reflection of an old injury. And above all, in his mind... the need to prove something. An insecurity masquerading as dominance.
Seth raised his head and spoke softly, almost pitifully: "You're scared."
Urog stopped for a second. It was an instant. But it was enough.
Seth spun the axes and drove them into the ground.
[Touch of Mastery - Activated]
With a wave of his hand, the very stones beneath Urog's feet rose up like spears. The earth shook and snaked around her, trying to grab her ankles. Urog snarled, taking a step back, destroying the ground with one punch.
But Seth had already moved.
His body disappeared in a flash.
He rose above her - not flying, but controlled by the grip of gravity around the weapons embedded in the ground. Like a marionette of physics, he fell hard, fist clenched.
"Flame of the Void."
[Flame of Emptiness - Activated]
The flame wasn't red. Nor blue. It was black. A fire that didn't glow - it consumed light.
The flames wrapped around Seth's fist like a liquid eclipse, and when it hit Urog's shoulder, the world seemed to fall silent.
SSHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRAAAAHHH.
A wet, dissonant sound, like something being corroded to its very idea. Urog's spiritual armor shattered, and the warrior screamed for the first time.
She fell to her knees. The skin where the flame had touched him trembled, as if the existence of that part was being rewritten in real time.
But she smiled. Even so. Even in pain.
And then she shouted:
"TRIBE! LISTEN!"
The voice reverberated. A tribal order. A rite.
She rose with an effort. One knee still on the ground, her eyes like embers.
"He's not an outsider. He's not an enemy."
"He... He would certainly kill Khaziran."
Everyone fell silent. The totems lit up in a spiral. Gor'Magh trembled.
The system glowed:
[You defeated "Kerissa Urog" without Killing her]
[You obtained a bonus reward]
[You started a Quest Chain]