"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Such a brilliant proposal from the newly appointed Hero of Fire, this me here is excited. Hehe," said Lars as he claps his hand furiously like a lunatic while others are still stocked by Hatta's proposal.

"But I don't think it is necessary, the crystal of truth has already shown that this man has the element of darkness, it is already sufficient to prove that he is with the enemy, I believe the action we should take right now is to throw him the cell," argued by general Blake, the others were also nodding their head in agreement of his suggestion.

"What do you think, Pope Baton? Should we follow general Blake's suggestion? or gave this young man one chance to prove his innocence through combat?" asked the King to Pope Baton.

The crowd has grown restless while waiting for Pope Baton's answer, some were in the favor of general Blake, they think it's best to lock away any potential danger, while some were in the favor of Hatta's idea, for they wish to see the power of both the hero of Fire and the hero of darkness.

As for the fellow heroes, Mila Mila wish they would battle because it would be more fun in that way, Princess Leya want Xiao and Lars to be taken away so the event can proceed as planned. As for Prince Adolf, nobody knows what is he thinking as he didn't voice out his opinion, nor show his expression because of his helmet covering his face.

"Your majesty, after some consideration, I think we should give Xiao here a chance to prove himself, as the Supreme Pontiff of the Julian empire, I won't allow a person to be threatened like a suspect without going through a proper trial. So even if he was brought here by Lars Leo, the now exiled man, from a world so different from ours, as long as there's not enough evidence, Xiao will not be treated as our enemy," said Pope Baton as he finished considering.

Upon hearing what Pope Baton says, Xiao also cry his eyes out as Pope Baton might be the first one who defends his unjust judgment and says something that makes sense regarding this situation, he instantly felt safe and warm by every word that was from Pope Baton.

"Hmm, if you say so, I shall trust your judgment, Pope Baton, plus, I believe our newly appointed heroes and my elite guards won't let no harm come to us if they try something funny," said the King while playing his newly comb beard, he then proceeds to make an announcement:

"Alright, we have our conclusion, Hatta of the Fire Hero, we shall proceed with your proposal, and Hero of Darkness, Xiao, you shall duel with him to prove to us that you are not from the Demon God army, your display of power and strength shall be sufficient for us to make the judgment."

"ALRIGHT!"

Hatta was so excited that a burst of flame energy burst out from his fist in an instant.

"Oh my, oh my, it looks like the King wants to see something fighting too. Hehe, you lose, Mr. General. Hehe," said playfully by Lars as he teases general Blake, who's grinning his teeth in frustration.

"Lars Leo, I never thought you would return to us at the time like this, even bringing along an unrelated outsider from another world, although you had been exiled from this country, on behalf of your past achievement as the Lightning hero, I shall delay your judgment for your disrespectful action, for now," said coldly by the King without looking at Lars.

"Such kind words from the ruler of the Julian Empire, should I cry out my tears to be thankful for it? Hehe."

Not bothered by the attitude given by the King, Lars acted like his usual playful style and sarcastically replied to the King.

"Silence you imbecile! How dare you mock the King!", shouted general Blake angrily while gripping his sword handle as if he is ready to slice off Lars's head anytime.

Lars hide behind Xiao, pretending to be scared, Xiao expressed disgust by his act.

Pope Baton interrupted them as he cleared his throat, and continued with Hatta's proposal.

"Ahem, as we were saying, this duel will determine Xiao's innocence, we would like to thank our Hero of Fire, Hatta, for proposing such a brilliant idea, since we are short of time, we will start the duel immediately, do both parties agree?"

"RIGHT ON! No way I'm waiting for a fight!" said Hatta as he psyched himself up.

"Yup, my lord here says he can't wait any longer. Hehe," said Lars before Xiao even has the time to ponder and answer, Xiao was shocked and quickly shouted back at him.

"Hey!"

Xiao's voice was covered by the excited voices of the crowd as they were eager to see the fight between two newly appointed heroes.

"The duel will be at the center of this room, please move away and make space for the duel," ordered by Pope Baton, and everyone followed his order.

"Go on, my lord, everyone's waiting for you. Hehe."

Lars pushes Xiao to the center of the room as Hatta has already positioned himself there, readying himself as he was doing stretches.

Xiao was reluctant at first as all of this happened too fast for him to process, they began this duel without getting his permission for participation.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

(But if I don't agree with this stupid duel, they will surely lock me up, and it will be only a matter of time before I get sent to the gallows to be executed.)

"HEY! Move your arse already and let's get this thing started!" shouted Hatta at the distance as he was getting impatient.

(Goddamn it! Guess I have no choice but to follow the flow.)

Xiao took a deep breath before mustering his courage and moved to the center of the room, and came face to face with Hatta.

Pope Baton moved to their center and explained the rules of the duel.

"I will be in charge of moderating the duel, the rules are simple, both parties can use anyways they got to knock out their opponent, but please restrain using any wide-area spell and highly lethal skills as this is only a trial duel to prove Xiao's innocence. Any injury suffered in this duel will be treated by our royal priest. That's it for the rules, I trust both parties understand, right?"

Both Xiao and Hatta nodded their heads.

"Alright, duelers, ready your weapon!" announce Pope Baton.

(Weapon? Are you kidding me?! How the hell do I have a weapon?)

While Xiao was panicked by Pope Baton's announcement, Hatta held his arms in the air. In the next instance, the temperature of the air around them suddenly rises, hot energy gathers around Hatta.

"Blaze!" Hatta shouted.

Within a sec, a burst of flame burst out from both of Hatta's arms, the temperature of the room instantly rose up by the appearance of the flame as it was circling his arms. After a few more seconds, the flame snuffed out, leaving only a pair of a crimson red gauntlet with animal fur covered most part and a metal wolf sculpture built around the knuckle part.

Thunderous applause and cheering from the crowd, they were speaking out their mind as they admired Hatta's weapon.

"There it is! The Heavenly Wolf Gauntlet! Such a devastating flame power emitting from it, as expected of a legendary grade weapon."

"You bet it! It was forged using the material found in the deepest layer of the dungeon around Mount Ignis, they say Hatta and a few selected elite adventurers venture into that dungeon for a week to conquer it, can you believe that?! An S rank dungeon only took a week to conquer, with a party not more than 5 people!"

"The Heavenly Wolf Gauntlet, one of the few weapons that can materialize in spirit form and physically appear by the wielder's will. They say the fire element of this weapon was so high that it set anything to a flame if touched, only those who have full control of their fire element and immense power can use and control this dangerous weapon, any fools who wield it will end up getting burnt to a crisp in an instance."

Praises for Hatta popping out like flu from the crowd, people were talking about the past achievements of Hatta, how he rose to become one of the greatest adventurers at such a young age and his reputation as the Crimson Wolf.

Hatta didn't hide his prideful feeling when the crowd was singing his praise, he raised his hand to the crowd, and beckoned them to encourage them not to stop their praising.

"Alright, your turn, come on, bring out your weapon, I'm dying to dance with you!" said proudly by Hatta after the crowd settled down and waited in anticipation for Xiao's action.

Xiao was still stunned by the appearance of Hatta's weapon as it was such an impactful scene, consider Xiao never in his life, seen a magical weapon appear in such a powerful way. It was until the clapping and cheering from the crowd died out that Xiao realized everyone was waiting for him.

"Wel...Umm.... that, you know, I don't have such a thing....weapon that is...Haha," Xiao timidly said it while scratching his head as he looked down to the ground.

It was a moment of silence, from the crowd, Hatta, the others Heroes, Pope Baton and the King, except Lars, who's grinning disgusting as usual.

"YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME?!" Hatta finally shouted out in surprise, his loud voice made most people jump, Xiao especially got jumped by him the most.

"What do you mean by that? Do you mean you fight without a weapon? A fighting monk style from the eastern country?" Hatta questions relentlessly as he tries to figure out what kind of fighting style Xiao used.

(Forget the fighting monk style, I don't even learn any self-defense during my time at my world. Let's just be honest for now.)

"About that...I don't have a weapon because....well I don't do fighting."

Xiao awkwardly replied to Hatta, chuckled nervously to ease up the already tense atmosphere and to calm himself down.

Hatta was dumb-struck upon hearing Xiao's replies, and not just him, the crowd also went silent, their expectation of the hero of darkness turns out to be a person who not only didn't possess a weapon but also never been in a battle before.

"In that case, hey! give him some weapon to use," general Blake, still not convinced on how powerless and harmless Xiao is, ordered one of his men to bring out a variety of weapons for Xiao to choose as he was determined to find out the truth about Xiao's identity through combat.

One of the guards pushes a tray consisting of various kinds of weapon, sword, dagger, bow, halberd, spear and pike.

(They REALLY want me to fight so badly, even taking all these dangerous-looking weapons.)

Xiao was troubled by it, never once in his life hold any one of these weapons, and they are now asking him to pick out to fight with an elite adventurer who has a legendary grade weapon.

After pondering for a while, Xiao decided that no matter what he picks, he will surely lose the duel, he remembers the objective of this duel is to prove his innocence, so all he has to do is to prove how humanlike and powerless he is.

(Let's go with this one since it has a blunt side, no way I'm taking a human's life.)

Xiao picks a single edged short sword with a blunt-edged sword at the other side. The moment he tried to hold up the sword in straight, he quickly let down the sword which let it rest on the ground.

(Damn! This lump of iron sure has some weight in it, how the hell am I going to swing this thing if I can even hold this thing still? But what choice do I have, let's just get this over with.)

Xiao dragged the sword along the ground as he returned to his previous position, facing a still dumbstruck Hatta for what's happening in front of him.

"Alright, I'm ready," said Xiao while still having trouble making out a fighting stance.

"Are you ready?" asked Pope Baton to Hatta.

"Huh? Well, yeah," replied Hatta in a shocking state as he was stunned by Xiao's every action, it was unimaginable below Hatta's expectation of the legendary Hero of Darkness.

(Guess I have no choice, I'll just have to do it, I have to prove my innocence!)

Xiao psyche himself up, determined to give it his all to prove his innocence while Hatta was still shocked as he didn't even enter a fighting stance. With such a weird way of standby phase, Pope Baton pronounces the beginning of the duel.

"Begin!"