Alex's eyes widened and Rose gasped, covering her mouth. "Master," Rose whispered, looking at him. Alex looked at her and could tell that she was tempted to ask him to take it, though she remembered her place as his slave. "Why...did you kill them? What do you earn for killing and ending an entire family of the Dark Elves?" he asked.
"That," Arkurus said. "Is a personal matter. Suffice to say, I regret it and am collecting ever survivor that I find...though she is the first and probably only one." Tiff felt as though her heart had been stabbed all the way through with an icicle. "My...family..." She suddenly went limp and fell to her knees, her eyes completely glazed over and unconscious, even as they wept.
Arkurus shook his head and turned back to Axle. "So what do you say? You know its more than worth it, I may very well regret this deal later, but right now I NEED that woman. I am giving you more than any slave anywhere is worth, I suggest you-" He was suddenly cut off as he drew his sword and block a lamp that was flung at him. Suddenly the room seemed to explode into action.
As soon as he blocked the lamp, Tiff was there, ducking low and punching up towards his face. Barely dodging, Arkurus smashed the back of her head with the hilt of his blade, causing her to bleed and fall over. But Tiff only got back up. The fact that she was not unconscious was insane after how hard that blow to her head had been, and still she kept fighting, jabbing and punching, kicking and biting, and Arkurus, not wanting to damage her worse than he had, dropped his sword and took her up on hand to hand combat.
Tiff was skilled, but Arkurus had single-handedly killed her entire family. After the initial shock of the attack wore off, he had beat back her assault with speed and strength he hid deceptively in his mortal form. In a matter of seconds he had her in a lock and yelled "Call her off now Axle or she will die to!" Only then would Axle be able to see that she was, in fact, unconscious. She had been since she fell to her knees next to the bed. She was fighting in her sleep off sheer hatred for the man that now held her.
"Tiff! Tiff, it's Master! Listen to your Master's voice! Calm down, Tiff, stop fighting for Master! Do as he tells you to!" Alex ordered. If Tiff did calm down, the mage looked up at Arkurus. "Am I to believe you? Do you really regret your actions and are trying to help Tiff? Or will just kill her as soon as I am not looking?" the mage asked, looking into his eyes.
Tiff groaned and went limp, falling to the ground. Lillia timidly took her away to mend her wound can keep her out of trouble as her master and old trainer talked.
"If I wanted to Kill her then I would have done so already. I could have sliced her head off in self defense not five seconds ago." Arkurus said stiffly. "I am offering you more than what you have. I am offering you nearly half my wealth for the last survivor of a dead clan. Even if I was to kill her you will have enough money to have her resurrected as a human or even dragon. Please, simply agree so I can draft the contract and leave this place. Forgive me but I am an aquatic creature after all."
"And I am known as the Master of Magic. I can summon water for you if you need. Salt or fresh?" Alex chuckled as two cups of water appeared, floating in the air. "Why cannot you just leave her here if you want to protect her? Or why can we not atleast come with you? I would prefer to stay with my dear Tiff, and I can cast spells on each of my slaves to allow us to breath water," he said. "I need to know more, my friend, before I allow this beauty to leave me...I put a lot of work in having her."
Arkurus growled and cleared his throat, taking the fresh water glass and pouring it onto his face. His skin absorbed all the water before it even reached his chin. "I want to collect her, not protect her. Being in my collection is protection in its own right but what I want is to own this last piece of the Ro's Lithin house. Can you understand this?"
"I...understand. Still, the girl holds great personal value to me. Besides, she thinks of me as a god. Seperating her from me will cause her great pain and sadness," Axel said. Regardless of what Arukurus said next Axel requested a moment between he and his other slaves, creating more glasses of fresh water from the mighty warrior. "Rose, Lillia," he asked, walking up to the girls, casting a spell to mute their words to Arkurus. "What do you think I should do?"
"...With all due respect, Master...I...." Rose looked at Alex, wondering if she should give her honest opinion, before sighing. "Do whatever you choose, my Lord."
Lillia looked back at Arkurus and then at her master and trembled a little. "I-I...I can not speak ill of my old trainer. As you have seen, he has trained me to be who I am today. Tiff...Tiff is not worth a mansion in the shining city fully stocked with servants and slaves. Any of my masters would have sold me a million times for even a quarter of the that deal."
Alex sighed and looked at Arkurus, and brought down his spells. "If I were to do something, foolish, say...refusing your offer, what would you do? Kill me? Torture me? Kidnap Tiff?" the mage asked.
Arkurus's clenched his jaw. "I would do whatever it took." He growled at last. "That is all I will say on the matter. Will you settle for the offer?" Tiff was lying quiet on the bed, a bandage around her head. "I will not take her now, I will give you time to say goodbye. But Axle, I need you to understand that I MUST have her!"