Assault Wolf

Gaurav settled back down on his chair as the fight between the dire wolf and gytrash began. He wasn't even really paying attention to the fight, he just glared across the room at the people in animal masks. There was no doubt that they were the most guarded out of everyone here and that alone was enough cause for suspicion. Not that they were even trying all that hard to blend in. They were practically challenging him to try and identify them.

Gaurav smirked. He had done his research. He knew the small group of friends that Roko would adventure with. And with no sight of the black knight, Varis, there would naturally be no Corissa around, leaving five people to expect and here there were five masks. The one in the owl mask seemed to be the leader which one would naturally assume was Roko. From there, if he had to guess, the snake mask was Kaguya and the lion mask was Mikado. Which left the beetle masked one as Helena and the wrestling mask as Roland.

Gaurav sneered, But they made one mistake. The owl mask didn't turn on their voice changer at the entrance, leaking their voice to Anna who Gaurav managed to extract information from. The owl mask was Kaguya. Which meant they were definitely trying to play mind games with him which throws off what each of the masks could be. If Roko was trying to hide, he could be any of those masks given how crafty he was. If Gaurav went off his guts, he would guess that Roko was the snake mask. That left Kaguya and Mikado underneath either the lion or kabuto mask. The wrestling mask was definitely Roland though.

All that said, it would be foolish to think that one mistake was just that. Leaking one of their identities might just be a mislead. For one, it would be a very simple trick for Roko to fake that one line to throw him off. If there were any more identifying factors, Gaurav could narrow it down. Some more skin or if he could spot one of their pets maybe? So long as they don't do anything however, Gaurav wouldn't need to do anything. He could have them detained but without any solid proof, he couldn't just recklessly corner them like that. That meant waiting for them to expose themselves but that also meant they get to make the first move. He could just run his event with no trouble but they couldn't have come here to do nothing. Something was up. He just needed to watch.

Akagami ducked under the rearing hooves of the gytrash and jumped up, slicing into the horse's underside. The gytrash whinnied and landed back on all fours, trotting forward a little. Akagami continued to dart around the large creature, landing slashes around the black equine's thin legs. The gytrash scrambled about, trying to find the small dog but he kept running around, landing hit after hit on it, never letting the gytrash face him properly. Eventually the gytrash stood up on its hind legs and slammed them down in front of it, scattering dust around the front of him but Akagami was already dashing around to the horse's back. But the moment he crossed the horse's legs, they kicked up and suddenly slammed into the wolf, kicking him across the ring and into the benches.

"Akagami!" Momo cried.

A short ruff assured everyone that Akagami was fine as it stumbled out of the dust. That was the first hit it has took this night but it was a powerful one that left the dog limping ever so slightly as it returned to the ring.

"Akagami, are you okay?!" Momo gulped.

Akagami ruffed and glared daggers at the smug gytrash. The black horse sneered back at the dog before it suddenly enveloped itself in shadows. Its entire frame was hidden by wisps of shadows and when they cleared, the gytrash had turned into a big black hound. The audience gasped and murmured at the sight as Akagami glared at the rival dog in front of him. The hound barked condescendingly, his attitude coming across even more clearly to Akagami now that their species were more similar. Akagami began to react in a more primal manner, snarling and growling with his wooden sword in his mouth.

"Akagami, calm down." Momo called.

Momo's words seemed to bring some sense back to the wolf though he still appeared to be agitated. The gytrash lowered its body in preparation of battle and Akagami shot forth to meet his foe. Akagami tried to slash the gytrash but it was caught in the hound's mouth. The larger dog pulled Akagami's body up as he tried to tried to retrieve his weapon. The gytrash pulled the wolf around before throwing him to the side. Akagami's sword fell from his mouth as he slid across the ground. The gytrash bared its fangs and ran towards the injured animal. Akagami, seeing this attack, turned his body around, letting the black hound bite into his hairy back instead of his soft underside. Taking this movement to reach out with his mouth, Akagami bit onto the handle of his sword again and twisted his body again, stabbing the sword into the body of the hound. The hound released the wolf as they scrambled away from each other, panting in exhaustion and pain. The audience watching waited on baited breath for their next skirmish.

In an instant, the canines descended on each other in a frantic melee. The gytrash roaring as it bared its fangs in a frenzy at Akagami. Akagami's eyes shone with wild intent as it darted around the gytrash. With his weapon, Akagami was able to easily repel any attempt the gytrash made to try and bite him, slashing the monster's head away from him but the gytrash seemed to barrel towards him regardless, relentlessly attacking him. Akagami tried his best to keep track of his surroundings, making quick turns to avoid getting cornered while the gytrash didn't seem concerned with defending himself, attacking with little regard for tactics. Until The gytrash suddenly flipped its body forward, trying to smash Akagami with its rear end. Akagami simply maneuvered himself to the side to avoid the attack. With the gytrash now lying on its back, Akagami moved to slash the gyrash, slashing down the gytrash's exposed stomach. But the gytrash simply took the blow as it pulled its head forward and bit into Akagami's leg. With a pull the hound toppled the wolf, dragging him to the ground as he himself stood up. Akagami tried to swipe at the hound's head to get it to let go of his leg but the hound just took his weak hits with a sneer on his face. Though the gytrash did let go, he immediately began to assault the fallen canine with his own claws, batting and scratching the wolf in the face. Akagami whimpered and whined as he did his best to brave the attacks, not quite able to muster the energy to escape. When it was clear Akagami wasn't able to move properly, the gytrash bared its fangs and moved to bite into Akagami's neck. Akagami reacted by swinging his sword in front of the mouth and shoving it into the monster's throat. But the gytrash was able to chomp down on the wooden blade before it could enter its throat. With its new grip, the gytrash pulled Akagami up and threw him to the side, ripping the wooden sword out of the wolf's mouth. The black dog spat the wooden sword to the side as Akagami slammed into the ground. The gytrash walked over to the wounded wolf and laid a paw on top of the wolf's stomach, keeping him in place as it used its other paw to continue to batter the poor animal's head. Akagami whimpered as he struggled to find some way to escape. Until something in the wolf snapped and Akagami lunged up, ignoring his injured leg to bite right into the gytrash's throat. The gytrash stumbled back, trying to dislodge Akagami as quick as it could but the wolf held on with all his strength, sinking his teeth deeper and deeper into the monsters throat as blood began to pout out of the wound.

"Akagami!" Momo cried, horrified as she ran into the ring and grabbed her pet, gently dragging him away from the monster.

Akagami continued to struggle in Momo's arms, biting and snarling at the gytrash with bloody fangs as the monster laid there choking on its own blood. Gaurav stood up,

"The wolf wins!" He declared.

"We give up!" Momo cried as she did her best to calm her feral dog, "We're retiring!"

"Are you sure?" Gaurav raised an eyebrow, "Alright then."

Momo stepped out of the ring with a slightly calmer wolf and joined the owl mask's group, sitting down next to them.

"Next contender!"

As a new participant stepped onto the field with a white liger, Momo was wiping the blood off the teeth of Akagami while feeding him a small treat.

"I'm surprised you just gave up after that." The owl mask said.

"Well, it was getting kind of dangerous." Momo said as she brought out a new handkerchief and tied it over the bite wound on Akagami's leg, "Akagami was starting to go a bit feral there and abandoned anything I taught him."

"Is that a problem?"

"...It's not a problem per say." Momo replied as she softly stroked a now sleeping Akagami on her lap, "I just...don't like seeing him like that."

"He is a wild animal. We might be taking care of them but they will returned to the forest eventually."

"I know. I know..." Momo muttered as the staff brought in a kamaitachi to fight the liger, "Well...hopefully I made enough of a distraction that the plan still went smoothly."

Gaurav barely paid attention to the fight in front of him. He had let himself get enthralled in Momo's fights when he should have been keeping an eye on the masked group in front of him. Thankfully, they didn't seem to have moved all that much in the meantime. Gaurav didn't know what exactly their plan could be but he couldn't afford to let his guard down. That Roko was a tricky one from what he heard and can be particularly ruthless against his enemies. Gaurav didn't expect Roko would take the challenge back in the forest and he definitely didn't expect him to actually win. And so handily at that. Even Gaurav expected he would have some difficulty fighting a bear and a griffin even with his sword. But they didn't seem to have done anything nor were they preparing to do anything. Maybe he was being paranoid but they couldn't be here for no reason.

As Gaurav was thinking, a casino staff nervously approached him from behind the stands and caught his attention. Leaning towards him, the staffer whispered to Gaurav.

"The room where the beasts we were keeping for the event has been locked?!" Gaurav said, barely able to keep his voice down.

"Y-Yes!" The casino staff nervously reported, "We don't understand, there was suddenly this new lock over the doors. We don't know where it came from and nothing we do seems to unlock it."

"How could you let this happen?! Weren't there guards?!"

"T-The guards, they were knocked out for a few moments but they don't remember seeing anything before they were unconscious."

"Useless." Gaurav scowled, "Absolutely useless."

He waved the staffer away as he turned his attention back to the ring and the audience. Gaurav glared past the ring at the owl mask who seemed to be staring back at him. Mocking him. Even when he couldn't see their face, he knew they were mocking him. He tried his best to keep his anger under control but his agitation was clear.

"Gaurav?" Amathea said, concerned.

"No...no, I can't let this deter me." Gaurav said to himself, "I must find some way to continue the event. Otherwise..."

Amathea watched Gaurav as he desperately tried to think of some way out. He couldn't let them win.

"Very well." He mumbled, "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself."

Just in time, the kamaitachi fell to the ground and the white liger roared victoriously. Gaurav stood up and clapped, drawing everyone's attention,

"Well fought." Gaurav declared, "I have to admit, I've been impressed by all the matches that I've seen today. These fights have stirred a bit of battlelust in me, I must admit. I've been left with a great desire to join in myself. So how about it, challengers? Are any of you brave enough to challenge me tonight?"

The audience began talking loudly and excitedly but the current challenger and his white liger looked at each other unsure. Gaurav's questing beast lifted its head, sensing the chance for it to head into battle. The liger and his owner took one look at it and immediately conceded, quickly hurrying off the field.

"Well, that's disappointing." Gaurav chuckled, "Perhaps a prize would be incentive enough for one of you to approach. There is not much I can offer aside from the current pool of money. But if there is anything else I could do for the victor, I promise to do what I can to make your wish come true."

The chatter grew even louder as people began discussing this twist though despite this tempting prize, nobody came forward to try and attempt to claim it. Not yet anyway. Gaurav watched with a smug smile as even the owl mask and their group began talking among each other. It was a simple bait. None of the other participants probably knew what they would even want with this prize but for Roko and his group, it would be a golden opportunity to shut down his operation right here and now. The question was whenever or not they were bold enough to take the bait.

In a few moments, someone stood up. The person in the snake mask stepped down from the benches and into the ring. Gaurav grinned, "I see someone's brave enough to indulge my whims."

"I'm not quite sure what I'd wish for." The person in the snake mask replied, their voice still distorted by magic, "But I'm sure I can come up with something."

"Indeed." Gaurav nodded, "But where is your pet? Or do you intend on fighting my monster alone?"

"I'll defeat whatever you want." The snake mask said as they drew their sword, "You're the one who's going to be paying out anyway."

"Is that so?" Gaurav smirked.

The questing beast raised its head as it looked down on the snake masked person. But Gaurav raised a hand and the questing beast settled back down.

"It would be unfair for me to fight you with a beast when you don't seem to have one yourself." Gaurav said as he drew the sword at his side, "I'll fight you myself then."

"Well, aren't you gallant."

The two stared down each other as the crowd settled in to watch the match. The person in the snake mask didn't remove their mask or even their cloak, continuing to keep their identity secret. But all these precautions were also sure to affect their movement. Did they really plan on fighting with such a heavy cloak on? Gaurav scoffed. Suit themselves. That would only make it easier for him.

Gaurav charged at the snake mask, slashing at their side. The snake mask blocked the attack and closed the distance between them, aiming to smash the bottom of his sword into Gaurav's head. Gaurav leaned back, letting the pummel and blade soar over his head. The snake mask continued with his forward momentum, sliding his body past Gaurav and out of range of his sword. And in the moment it took for Gaurav to straighten his body once again, the snake mask had turned around, raised their sword and swung at him. Gaurav's sword flew up and blocked the snake's attack, Gaurav pushing against the strength of his masked opponent. Gaurav slammed the guard of his sword into the side of the opposing blade, throwing his opponent's arm to the side as he made another swing at the defenseless snake mask. The masked person stepped to the side, dodging the attack and slashing back. The two traded attack after attack, each trying to land a hit and each defending perfectly at a constant pace, neither landing a solid hit on the other. The two were seemingly evenly matched, even as small cuts and openings were slashed into the snake mask's cloak and clothes. But without being able to land a solid hit, Gaurav wasn't any closer to finding out the identity of this snake. At the very least, he can rule out any of the princesses. And given that he spoke, it probably wasn't Varis. That left either Roland, Mikado or Roko. And it could honestly be any one of them. He wasn't particularly familiar with any of their fighting styles except for Roko who didn't have a sword when he was fighting the animals back in the forest. If this was Roko, Gaurav expected him to be more mouthy but this masked man hasn't said anything since. But he could be trying to keep up the deception by being quiet. All the same, the only way to expose him is to knock that mask off.

Gaurav charged in, tilting his head to the side to avoid the snake mask's jab. Swinging his own sword back, Gaurav slashed up and knocked both swords upwards. With their sword arms suspended in the air, Gaurav swung his leg around and aimed a kick at the snake mask's face. The masked man was able to bring his other arm up to block the attack. The snake mask held strong against the kick, stopping Gaurav's leg as he drew his sword back down and aimed to stab the knight in his exposed body. Gaurav however, jumped up with his remaining leg, twisting his body to throw even more power into his to stopped kick. Gaurav's attack broke through the masked man's defenses, knocking the man backwards as the kick smashed into his face. Gaurav landed on the ground with a sneer, having made the first substantial blow. He turned to the masked man now, expecting to have knocked the snake head clean off but whoever it was was clutching the mask with his hand, keeping it firmly in place and his identity still a mystery. He must have gave up on his block to shift his arm to protect the mask.

"Still trying to keep your secret?" Gaurav sneered, "How about I beat it out of you?"

Gaurav charged and swung his sword down. The masked man barely had the time to bring his sword up to block as he continued to try and fix his mask. Gaurav gripped his sword with both hands and swung as hard as he could, breaking through the snake mask's defenses and staggering him back with each blow. Even as he regained his composure enough to draw his free hand away from the mask and back to the fight, Gaurav kept sending attack after attack to keep the masked man in defense. Gleefully enjoying his advantage, Gaurav didn't notice as the snake mask's arm reached behind his back.

CLANG!

Gaurav stumbled back as his sword met with something extremely hard. Hard enough to knock him back. In front of him, the snake mask held up a shell. A turtle shell whose legs had wrapped around the masked man's arm, acting like a small shield.

"A turtle?" Gaurav scowled, "Then you're Mikado."

"Who did you think I was?" Snake mask said as the turtle unwrapped itself from his arm and trotted away, "But this is supposed to be a fight between people isn't it? I'll send the turtle off for now. I can say that won't happen again."

Gaurav scoffed as the snake mask stood up and pointed his sword at him once more. With the battle reset, the two were back to staring each other across the ring. Each stood there waiting to react to the slightest hint of an attack from the other. Except Gaurav's mind began to crowd itself with doubt. This is Mikado right? The turtle was his pet. But then why has he not removed his mask? Not even turn off the voice changer? He could just be trying to bluff his way out of his discovery but could it actually be another trick? Could he have them detained now? Was there enough proof? No, his grounds were still shaky and even if he was sure of their identity, they haven't done anything to warrant capturing them. Everything was still going according to his plan. There was the lock which was definitely their doing but there wasn't any way to trace that back to them was there?

Gaurav gritted his teeth. It was pointless to try and get into their head. It didn't matter what they were doing if he won in the end. And to do that, he'll beat them and rip off their masks. He'll win and he'll keep on winning. That was what he always did. That's what's going to happen now.

The snake mask struggled to defend against Gaurav's new attacks. Something seemed to have strengthened him, making his sword swings just as heavy as before but now they came at strategic angles, forcing an awkward block before flowing right into the next. The masked man reacted to every attack in time to block them but was slowly losing ground, unable to find a way to strike back.

"Tch. I knew I wouldn't be able to beat him like this." Snake mask said disdainfully, "Hey! Do it!"

The snake mask turned around, sliding his blade across his back and letting Gaurav's sword glance past him as the masked man reached out towards the audience. Seeing this, Gaurav quickly stumbled back to withdraw his sword as the snake mask unwound his body and launched an attack with his sword. Gaurav easily blocked it but another blade suddenly pressed against his exposed abdomen. With no chance to react, the snake mask pulled past Gaurav and landed a powerful slash into Gaurav's armor. The crowd gasped in shock as they witnessed the sudden turn in the battle. Gaurav clutched his stomach, not harmed but stunned as his mind tried to comprehend what happened.

"Two swords..." Gaurav gasped, "Then...you're..."

The snake mask stood up and removed his mask, revealing a smirking Roland, "How was it? Did we manage to trick you?"

"Sir!" A casino employee suddenly ran into the room, "There's a group of mercenaries outside claiming they're here to arrest us all!"

"What?!" Gaurav cried, "When did they...how did they..."

Gaurav's eyes turned towards the person in the owl mask. They seemed to have stood up after throwing the second sword to Roland. And this time, he could see what seemed to be an egg tied to the back of their belt.

"YOU!" Gaurav yelled.

The owl masked noticed his gaze and took the egg out into their hands.

"So it was you!" Gaurav roared in anger as he charged at the owl mask but Roland quickly moved behind him to hold him back, "I'll kill you!"

"Come now, I expected better from you." The owl mask reached up and pulled off their mask, "Surely you've heard my voice."

Gaurav's face paled as Kaguya revealed herself from behind the owl mask, "But...but then you're..."

Gaurav turned to the remaining masked members who all took off their masks as well, the lion mask revealing themselves as Helena and the wrestling mask revealing themselves to be Mikado.

"But...then who..." Gaurav face fell as he realized, "...Where's the kabuto mask?"

"If you knew Roko better, then you'd know." Kaguya smiled as she dusted off her mask, "He always leaves the most difficult parts for himself."