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and I hop-scotched over intricate chalk lines in the dimly
lit, smoke-filled room. Lashing out with a foot I caught my
assailant in the side, crashing him to the ground. He was up in
an instant, and rushed me. I took a stance, and felt the power
flow up from the earth into me, filling me strangely, rushing
into every hollow drained by the High Mass. The fight became a
dance, and my opponent could not touch me; every time I struck
him, his power exploded out as if he were a powder puff, entering
me. His steps grew weaker, and I drained him dry, leaving him
lifeless upon the floor.
I felt an exaltation. I had, through skill, taken another's
power, strength, and life for my own. I was the conqueror. I
stepped into a larger circle, delirious with my new power, and
confronted another man, wearing no clothes as I did but his face
covered by a monkey's mask. His fighting was clever and power-
ful, canny, but mine was tactical and graceful, control and
skill. I left him unconscious and made his power my own as well.
Next, I fought a man with the horns of a stag, in a larger cir-
cle
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