FIGHT: HAYAO VS BELL!

"Agreed." Hayao nodded without even batting an eyelid at the word "harem."

Fine. The both of you can just go kill each other!

No, of course, I didn't mean that! T.T I'm just so... arugggghhhh.... why can't we just talk this over? Normally, this would be what Mum said TO ME, but it turned out I wasn't as impulsive or hot-headed as I was led to believe. I mean, look at these two stoopids.

"Don't worry, princess." Hayao patted the top of my head, "When you are my princess, NO ONE would ever speak this way to you again. I will protect your gentle heart from monsters like him."

I politely ducked away from his hand.

Grrrr...

But this time, it wasn't me. Bell was again spewing the curse fumes, "Don't touch what's mine."

Unlike the older tygers (safely cocooned behind Gareth's spirit shield to watch the drama unfold), Bell's power was wild and unchecked. It was scary, but pretty awesome too. It might be a bad time to stop and admire him, but too late.

Boo purred appreciatively at my Mate's killing intent. Bell's power had hit another new peak. He was getting stronger at a terrifying speed, it was like every time I see him, his power would have broken through another realm.

I know it wasn't a competition, but it felt like Bell had once again surpassed me. How was I supposed to protect him (and the world from him) if he kept doing that?

"The brightest star of the Hami lineage reduced to a concubine in the plains?" Bell smirked, "You would be your family's greatest fallen star."

"I am confident in my abilities. Do not think your petty spite would dissuade me, your majesty." Hayao answered, "If it is to protect my princess from the likes of you, I would gladly lay down my very life."

"Good answer." Bell was similarly confident, "Don't regret it."

It would be a healer's duel. The older tygers became much more helpful when this was settled. Haku brought us to their indoor training ground which was the size of a stadium with a large grassy pitch punctuated with small twisted shrubs.

It even had a raised viewing deck.

"Stay with my father on the viewing deck, princess." Hayao told me, "You will be safe there."

I think Hayao should have worried more for his own safety.

"Gareth, guard your alpha." Bell ordered, "I do not have to remind you of the consequences of failure."

Why did my mate have to sound so villainous?

"Understood, luna." Gareth bowed.

Anna smiled brightly at me, "Come, alpha. We will be able to watch the duel better from the deck."

"How exciting." Heller nodded agreeably as we made our way up the few steps, "I haven't watched an S-level healers duel since Haruno's time."

"Please be careful of the steps, alpha." Anna felt she should warn me.

Why? Would the stairs jump up and kill me? Why did these healers feel like I was incapable of using stairs?

"This duel is likely to be prolonged." Haku predicted, "Both wolves are capable of self-resurrection. Haku's casts are on top in efficiency and speed, but his Majesty's power is beyond measure."

"His flame alone is terrifying." Heller agreed, "But his control is non-existent. Great power without control is a recipe to self-destruction."

Which was a common lycan legend theme, along with evil never triumphs. Bell was two strikes in.

"Why, Garry?" Heller raised a brow at Gareth's expression, "You disagree?"

Gareth's mouth was pressed in a firm line, "It's hard to say, but I do not think my luna's control is as lacking as he makes it appear."

"Interesting..." Heller rubbed his chin as he considered this.

"It would be a good opportunity for Hayao." Haku nodded his satisfaction, "I've often felt my son is too careful."

"What? Could it be?" Heller teased, "I never thought I ever hear mummer a negative word against your precious Hayao."

Well, if the worst thing about Hayao was being too careful, I couldn't think of any real reason to complain either. Okay, so his logical sequence was loop da loopy, BUT he was as far as I could tell, noble and earnest, very much like the typical young lycan legend hero.

"It's not that he doesn't have potential or that he lacks diligence, quite the opposite, in fact." Haku gave us his analysis of his son, "I've always felt the gap between Hayao and greatness was the opportunity to take the risk."

"There is no real gain without risk." Haku elaborated, "If Hayao never sticks his neck out, he would never experience fighting to his last breath."

I don't think that was an experience a normal parent would hope for his son.

"Thank you, blue alpha." Haku smiled at me, "For giving Hayao a reason to fight."

Oh, don't mention it. No really. Just don't. I don't want to be dragged into your lycan healer melodramas.

"What are they doing?" I asked. Yes, you caught me, I was trying to change to subject.

"They're preparing their ground, Alpha." Anna said.

I looked out at Bell and Hayao where they stood on either side of the field. I had no idea what they were casting, but Hayao's casts were rapid and certain. It was like he had memorized and practiced this one hundred casts for battlefields every day for the off chance he ended up in a healer's duel.

On the other side, Bell was fuming. He was also casting something, but it was erratic, and each cast was hugely boosted with pure power. It was almost unstable, and I when I watched him, my eyes inadvertently checked the ground around him, just in case it cracked or broke up from the pressure.

"That's the 86 Battlefield Technique." Haku nodded proudly, "He has mastered it."

So it wasn't a hundred casts, just 86... Bet that robe was going to feel lighter after this.

"What's his majesty doing?" Heller wanted to know.

Haku squinted and shook his head, "I don't recognize half the spells..."

"In a normal fight, Hayao would be at a great disadvantage, but in a healer's duel... it looks like this is going to be Hayao's win." Haku concluded.

Don't just decide like that!

"They haven't even started yet!" I argued.

"Usually, the result is obvious even before the battle starts." Haku told me.

So healers weren't the best fighters, many of them didn't even carry weapons. Still, it was undeniable that with their healing abilities, they were some of the best survivors. When two healers duel, they didn't just stand in a circle and slap each other silly. No, it was very complicated.

There were two segments to this duel. The first was preparation. Each healer had 10 minutes to prep the battlefield, which was an actual field. They were allowed to bring in their own seeds and plant parts - I wonder if you could see where this was going?

The second part was the battle parts, but this wasn't the time to slap each other either. In fact, most healer duels end without even throwing a punch or drawing a weapon. It was biological warfare combined with the manipulation of the living things (i.e. plants) available.

Historically, there were duels where slaves and animals may be used, but since Haruno's time, the cruel practice was limited to plants.

"Time." Haku suddenly called out.

Hayao bowed because he followed the tradition of his forefathers.

Bell shrugged because he didn't.

"Begin!"

Immediately, the ground closest to Hayao burst into bloom, the flowers stretched out and opened like some fairy tale opening. The blooms blazed a path straight at Bell.

"Garry, put up a shield for us please." Heller requested, "I have a bad feeling about those flowers."

"It is the Field of a Thousand Deaths." Haku explained. Apparently, it was a thousand breeds of wildflowers, each with a different poison. It was Hajime's signature battle move. This Hajime guy really liked to use flowers to poison people. It wasn't easy to prepare the ground for but was easily incorporated if you got the 86 Battlefield Technique down pat. And of course, it was important for the healer to have trained his immunity to counter all one thousand poisons before he could cast it.

"I thought that was it." Heller remembered, "I really nearly died the last time I was on the field."

"I told you not to bother Hajime." Haku smiled.

Bell, of course, knew not to let the flowers blossom near him. He cast something and like some kind of horrible curse, the grass surrounding him shriveled up into a dry brown dead patch.

"Oh..." Heller made an ouch face, "That's going to cost you to grow back."

"He overdid it again." Haku agreed with a sigh, "Too much power, not just the grass, he has drained the ground of life."

The spell was so powerful that it expelled the water from the ground and filled the air with a cloud of ominous fog.

"Ah... I've told him he had to work on his control." Haku sighed again, "Too much power applied."

But wouldn't the water help Bell? I kept quiet though. I don't think Heller or Haku knew the cost of Bell's healing power. I guess it's not something a healer would announce - especially if you had a lot of enemies (like Bell).

We were all squinting into the fog now.

"The fog is poisonous," Heller noted. It was pretty obvious from its dirty grey yellow hue.

Hayao was fine though. His casts were quick and efficient, stopping the effect of the poison and then identifying the right antidote spell to cast.

Meanwhile, Bell was suffering a bit more. The complexity of a thousand types of poisons wasn't helping, not that he was trying to isolate and counter each one, he had resorted to casting a hugely power-draining full heal at regular intervals.

Actually, except for the unabating power expenditure, Bell's situation looked dire. On Hayao's side was a lush field with every color of wildflower. On Bell's side was a hard, dried, and cracked ground with an overhanging poisonous smog.

"He's not going to last." Haku shook his head, "He's already killed off half his soldiers."

What soldiers?

Hayao's next cast was ready. The small shrubs extended to huge trees, one of them lifting Hayao up, away from the flowers, and the others blocking him from Bell's sight.

Oh, THOSE soldiers. The plants were like their army. Okay, that made sense in a chess game way. I told you healer duels were more complicated.

"Unless you have a soul connection to the healer, he would have to be able to see you to land a cast on you." Haku explained. Haku's explanations were very educational. In fact, I had learned more tonight from hanging out with Haku and Hayao than all the lycan literature I had ever read in my life. No wonder Bell had come here to learn.

But Bell's healing techniques were too crude compared to Hayao's. Plus Haku had only taught Bell some foundation so far. Meanwhile, Hayao had been mastering moves with fancy names like the 86 Battlefields Technique and Field of a Thousand Deaths. If Bell wanted to win, he'd need something more than smog.

I hated to admit it, but things were looking bad for Bell.