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The more of you there are to fight the oncoming Venatori, the better, so you dash across the arena to free Neve as quickly as you can. Tarquin follows, guarding your back, while Ashur and Dorian attract the attention of the cultists around you.

Both of them are powerful mages, but it’s clear that they have different approaches to magic—or maybe just to providing a distraction. Dorian is flashy, showing off with every move he makes; his magic crackles around him, lighting the arena up with purple and green. Ashur is much more contained; his spells go exactly where he wants them to, but there’s not a scrap of wasted energy as he manipulates the Fade and uses it to fling the Venatori far and wide.

Your fingers are clumsy with adrenaline and haste but, eventually, you get Neves knots untied and pull the strip of cloth from her mouth.

“Thanks,” she says, and that’s the only fraction of a second she spares before leaping into action, her bolts of ice joining Dorian’s lightning and Ashur’s force.

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