"What's happening here?" Boarstaff’s voice carried the weight of authority despite its measured tone.
"Something long overdue." Thornmaker never took his eyes off Sebastian. "A test of our guest's true nature."
"A challenge," Sebastian clarified, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "He wants to see what I'll do when provoked." He stepped into the ring, metal gleaming beneath his skin in the morning light. "Though I suspect he already has his conclusions firmly in mind."
"This isn't necessary," Boarstaff began, but Thornmaker cut him off.
"It's absolutely necessary." The spearmaster's scarred face hardened. "You've given him freedom within our territory. Access to our healing house. Our training grounds." His fingers tightened on his weapon. "Yet we know nothing of what he truly is. What he becomes when threatened."
A crowd had begun to gather, warriors and villagers forming a loose circle around the training ring. Sebastian sensed their conflicted emotions, curiosity warring with ingrained suspicion, interest battling against generations of justified hatred.
"I accepted," Sebastian said before Boarstaff could intervene again. He took another step forward, the movement deliberately fluid and predatory. "Your terms. Your weapons." His smile widened. "Or are you afraid I might break more than just your spear?"
Surprise flickered across Thornmaker's face. "You'll face me unarmed?"
Sebastian gestured to his body, where metal flowed beneath his skin like liquid. "I'm never truly unarmed." He cocked his head, appraising the warrior with predator's assessment. "But I'll use nothing beyond what I already am. Unless, of course, you'd prefer to reconsider this... unwise challenge?"
Boarstaff stepped between them, his expression troubled. "This solves nothing."
"It solves everything," Thornmaker countered. "Our people deserve to see what happens when he's challenged. When pretty words give way to instinct."
"Let this happen," Sebastian told Boarstaff quietly, though his eyes remained fixed on Thornmaker with a gleam that made the watching warriors shift uneasily. "Your spearmaster needs this lesson. More than he realizes."
After a moment's hesitation, Boarstaff stepped back, though his posture remained tense with readiness. "No permanent harm." His voice swept out to the gathered crowd. "This ends when I say it ends."
Thornmaker nodded once, then dropped into a fighting stance, spear balanced perfectly in scarred hands.
Sebastian moved into the ring with fluid grace; each step deliberate as he circled his opponent.
"Your move," Sebastian offered, making no defensive preparations. "Unless you'd prefer I accommodate your advanced age with a handicap?" The taunt was delivered with aristocratic precision, the formal cadence of his noble upbringing making the insult all the more cutting.
It worked. The spear struck with blinding speed, a thrust that would have pinned a normal opponent through the chest. Sebastian moved easily, his body flowing around the attack effortlessly.
"Too predictable," Sebastian commented, deliberately turning his back as he circled. The gesture was both tactical and symbolic, a noble's dismissal of someone he considered beneath his concern. "I could’ve counted your heartbeats before that attack. One... two... thrust." He smiled over his shoulder. "Is this the legendary skill of the orc spearmaster I've heard so much about?"
Thornmaker's face darkened, his next attack coming faster, a sweeping strike meant to catch Sebastian's legs. Again, Sebastian evaded with casual grace, this time adding a flourish that brought him unnecessarily close to the spear's edge.
"Closer," he acknowledged with a mocking nod. "Though still lacking... something. Innovation, perhaps? Or is it simple courage?"
The onlookers murmured as Sebastian continued to evade while offering no attacks of his own. His movements seemed almost playful, a predator toying with prey rather than fighting for survival. The metal at his collar shifted with each motion, components responding to his will with fluid precision that made the orcs shift uneasily.
"Fight back!" Thornmaker demanded, frustration edging his voice as another perfectly executed combination failed to land. His attacks grew increasingly aggressive, abandoning calculated precision for raw power.
"Is that what you want?" Sebastian asked, ducking beneath a horizontal sweep. "For me to stop holding back? To show what I truly am?" He caught the shaft mid-swing, holding it still with apparent ease despite Thornmaker's full strength behind the blow. "Be careful what you wish for, spearmaster."
Their eyes met across the weapon, challenge and response. Sebastian released the spear suddenly, causing Thornmaker to stumble back. The vampire followed, closing distance with startling speed that made the watching warriors gasp.
"I could have taken your head just then," Sebastian observed conversationally, circling again. "When you overextended. Such a simple mistake for one so... experienced."
Thornmaker attacked again, a series of precisely calculated strikes that should have found their mark. But Sebastian eluded each one, his movements becoming increasingly elaborate, almost dance-like in their unnecessary complexity.
"Shall I demonstrate?" Sebastian offered, mockery clear in his tone. "What a true predator could do against such... pedestrian technique?"
The taunt hit its mark. Thornmaker committed fully to his next attack, putting his entire warrior's strength behind a thrust aimed at Sebastian's heart. The move was technically flawless… except for the opponent it faced.
Sebastian moved with preternatural speed, sidestepping the spear tip and catching the shaft with one hand. The wood splintered in his grip, not from excessive force, but from precisely applied pressure at the weapon's structural weak point. Before Thornmaker could recover, Sebastian was behind him, one hand closing gently around the warrior's throat.
"You're dead," Sebastian whispered, fingers resting against vital points with surgical precision. "Three full heartbeats ago."
