The courtyard outside the dining hall still held a blanket of untouched snow that Andrew and the magic instructor trudged through so they would be far enough away to not hit any bystanders. There was still some time before the duel started but students were already gathering to watch the show. On one side of the courtyard was the dining hall which was already packed with bystanders, and on the opposite side was the library with the balcony facing the courtyard. Students crammed themselves atop the balcony to get the best view as they eagerly awaited the duel between the next archmage and the Butcher of Toldrin. Andrew checked over his orange robe to make sure there wasn't a single wrinkle so that he looked his best while representing the wizards, and he proudly planted his magic staff in the snow. The magic instructor tightened his blue robe around his body as a gust of cold wind blew across the snow and he mumbled, "Crazy kids."
Cassandra scanned the crowd before idly saying, "I made sure the news spread as fast as possible, everyone in the academy knows about this duel."
Olivia nervously laughed, "You seem more excited about this than Lucina."
"Because those wizards need to be taught a lesson!" Cassandra reasoned as she adjusted her scarf to hide her mouth. "They always act so high and mighty, even to us nobles. They're nothing but thieves wearing stolen crowns."
"…" Olivia turned her gaze to Andrew and the instructor as they idly chatted in the yard while waiting for Lucina who left saying she had to go get something before the duel started.
Then, Lucina's voice called out from behind Olivia, "Sorry, I'm late."
"Luci-!?!" Before Olivia even had a chance to turn around, her nose was assaulted by the foulest stench she'd ever experienced. Cassandra and the other nearby students also visibly recoiled and held their noses in shock and horror. It was an unmistakable smell that no one, especially not Olivia, could ever forget. The air was filled with the stench of rotting iron.
"I just had to change into something more appropriate," Lucina explained as she walked past Olivia and Cassandra while wearing her old wizard's robe that was over her uniform, though she took off the skirt and opted to wear a pair of thick pants. The wind caught her robe that she left untied at the front making it flutter and flow behind her like a cape. A tattered and blood-drenched cape whose crimson color never seemed to fade.
"I-I heard stories from my father…" The students anxiously whispered.
"Then, my family's knights were telling the truth!"
"That smell…it's so awful!"
"A Hellhound wrapped in blood."
"…" Olivia's nails apprehensively dug into the sleeve of her coat as she watched Lucina march through the snow; a speck of blood against an otherwise white canvas.
Andrew scrunched up his nose as Lucina made her way into the courtyard and asked, "What are you wearing?"
"Do your eyes also not work?" Lucina playfully responded. "An archmage should be able to tell their fellow wizards by their robes, no?"
"…Why are you wearing that?"
"To insult you," Lucina answered truthfully while adding, "You kept calling me Butcher so I figured I'd oblige your request." Lucina extended her arms out and looked over her robe that finally almost fit her because of how much she'd grown over the years since she last wore it. "Luckily, this old thing still fits. Could you give my thanks to your father for giving me such an oversized robe? I'd do it myself but that would require me to go to the tower and I'd rather go to war than step foot there."
"Do you talk more when you get nervous?" Andrew mocked to try and distract himself from the stench.
"No, I just like hearing my own voice." Lucina smiled warmly as she stared at Andrew. "It's much more pleasant than yours."
"Ahem!" the magic instructor cleared his throat to stop the bickering. "As this is a magic duel, you will only be allowed to fight with magic. No physical weapons of any kind are allowed aside from a Wizard's staff. Medical staff are on standby, and remember that you are not allowed to kill each other. Before we begin, are there any special rules either participant wishes to include?"
Lucina answered first, "I'd like this to be a 'best of three' duel."
"I'm fine thrashing you two times," Andrew confidently said and gave his approval. "I have nothing to add."
"Then, this will be the first of today's duels." The instructor waited for Andrew and Lucina to walk an appropriate distance away from each other before calling out, "Are both participants ready?"
"I'm ready," Andrew confidently declared.
"Yes," Lucina casually answered.
"Then I announce that this duel…" The instructor raised his hand into the air before swiftly bringing it down. "Begin!"
Andrew held out his staff to start conjuring fire around the crystal head and taunted, "Now, let's put you in your-!?!" Only for his staff to be yanked out of his hand as Lucina used her gravity magic to set the staff's point of gravity to the metal ring in her glove and intensified it so it would fly into her grasp.
"I win," Lucina happily called as she held Andrew's staff in her hand.
"…?" All the gathered students were dumbstruck and the courtyard was filled with silence. They started looking at each other with confused expressions as no one quite knew what to say, or what just happened. Since wizards needed their staff or orb to cast magic, then taking those tools away made them powerless. Normal gravity magic would've been too weak to disarm someone, but Lucina didn't wield normal gravity magic. So long as she knew they were there, a wizard could never beat Lucina.
"…Pfft!" The first to break the silence was Cassandra who couldn't contain her laugh. "That's it?"
"…That's it?" Olivia breathlessly repeated. She'd seen Andrew fight in-game and he was a powerhouse when leveled properly, so to see him instantly lose was stunning.
"Wh-? Y-You-?" Andrew was still wrapping his head around how quickly it happened that he was stuttering his words. He looked down at his empty hand as if to find an answer.
"Instructor," Lucina called out. "Please announce the results."
"…" The instructor, a wizard, was reluctant to do so.
"We're only allowed to use magic in this duel," Lucina pressed her point as she held an innocent smile while glaring at the instructor. "Since my opponent is no longer able to cast magic and doesn't have his staff to use as a weapon, I win by default."
"Tha-!?! That's not fair!" Andrew shouted.
"Fair?" Lucina tilted her head to the side and curiously asked, "I used gravity magic, a type of magic, to take away your staff. You had your chance to set a rule excluding gravity magic but didn't take it, so how's it not fair?"
"…She's right." The whispers started, again. "Gravity magic's a universal magic for Magisters, and even wizards can freely use it."
"He looked so confident, but now he's whining since he lost?"
"Even I know about the Countess' gravity magic. Did he not know something so basic before accepting the duel?"
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"He probably ignored it since he thinks he's above her, despite him not holding a noble title."
Cassandra smiled beneath her scarf and repeated her earlier words, "Nothing but thieves wearing stolen crowns."
"…The first duel has concluded!" The instructor finally spoke up once the students all began voicing their opinions, "The winner is Countess Sanguine!"
"Don't worry, little stripeless," Lucina spoke loudly so that her words echoed across the courtyard. "For our next duel, I won't use gravity magic. What do you say?" She gave him an insult that was impossible to avoid: accept and admit he can't beat her normally, or deny and get humiliated in an instant again.
"…I accept that term." Andrew took the former as he could at least have a chance at claiming a victory.
"Good." Lucina used her gravity magic to send Andrew's staff flying back to him as she set its point of gravity to a spot at his feet. The staff fell into and was covered in snow. "Oops, I guess I didn't aim high enough."
"…" Andrew silently picked up his staff and used fire magic to melt the snow off. He took a deep breath to center himself and blocked out all the nobles whispering around him.
"Are both participants ready?" the instructor called.
"Ready," Lucina once more calmly answered.
"…I'm ready," Andrew held a sharp edge in his voice as he prepared himself to regain some dignity.
"I announce that the second duel…" The instructor once more raised his hand before bringing it down and shouted, "Begin!"
"…!" Without hesitation, Andrew extended his staff toward Lucina and conjured a jet of fire that leaped toward her with an almost starved vigor.
"…" Lucina flicked her hand up and conjured an angled wall of stone that split the stream of fire in two. The flames licked around the rock as they shot past and threatened to engulf her but never reached far enough.
"Now!" Andrew twirled and yanked his staff back causing the two split streams of fire to turn and double back toward Lucina around her stone wall.
"Hm?" Lucina outstretched her hand toward the flames and conjured a wall of water. Steam hissed and burned the air as the flames continued to assail the water wall into a raging boil. This time, the fire refused to die down and instead completely trapped Lucina in a sphere of flames as Andrew poured more magic into his attack. The sphere acted like a dome and engulfed Lucina but didn't shrink at all as Andrew had a different plan of attack.
Olivia started getting nervous, "…He's trying to burn all the air around her away."
"She'll die without air!" Cassandra yelled at the instructor but was ignored as they silently watched the sphere of fire continue to swirl and burn.
"…" Inside the flames, Lucina was starting to feel an odd, yet familiar sensation. She wanted to counter Andrew's flames but found herself unable to move as her mind was lurched from reality. It was hard to breathe as the air grew thin and her vision distorted from the heat haze. Her robe felt heavy and the flames only accentuated the stench of iron and burned it into her nostrils. Through the flames that surrounded her, Lucina swore she could see shapes dancing in the colors. Knights on horseback galloping past to impale one another. Swords clashing against shields in a brawl of bodies. Men and women being cut down only to get trampled on by comrades and foes alike. Within the royal academy and after two years of a relatively peaceful life, the flames of war found Lucina once more. Her mind, so suddenly assaulted by all the false stimuli, acted accordingly.
"Now do you see, Butcher!?" Andrew shouted as he kept pouring more and more magic into the flames so they wouldn't die down. The intense heat melted all the snow around the ball and students were forced to retreat so as not to get burned. "Without your precious abomination's blessing, you're nothing, just like the rest of us! That's the only reason you're not dead yet, monster!" Something moved within the ball of fire. "You're-!?!" Andrew's words cut out as a tornado of wind ripped apart the flames of his magic. Fire, snow, and dirt were thrown into the air and a few students screamed as they ran for cover from the falling debris. The tornado dispersed just as quickly as it appeared leaving the courtyard free of Andrew's flames.
"…!" Lucina sprinted toward Andrew with an almost animal-like obsession; a hunter closing in on its prey. Despite her state, the rule to not use her gravity magic still found footing which caused Lucina's panicking mind to go for a different strategy. Using all her experience fighting in the frigid winters of Peltaira, Lucina was effortlessly running through the snow as if it weren't there and closing the distance. While Peltaira didn't employ many wizards or Magisters in their army, that didn't mean they didn't exist. Auristers were best dealt with at range, but wizards and Magisters were at their weakest when in melee and flustered.
"Stay back!" Andrew shot a fireball at Lucina to try and stop her, but a pillar of earth shot up under Lucina's feet allowing her to jump over the attack. The fireball exploded against the stone pillar Lucina jumped from and the shockwave sent her further through the air.
"…" Lucina rolled in the snow and landed on her feet to continue her sprint, and she shot her own fireball to distract Andrew.
"You dare!?!" Andrew used his fire magic to shoot another fireball to snuff out Lucina's flames and negate her attack. The opposing fireballs collided and fused together before exploding into a flurry of embers. "My specialty is fire! Don't think you can-!?" But it served its purpose and distracted Andrew's attention long enough that he momentarily lost where Lucina was in the confusion as the embers fell around him.
"…!" Lucina closed the gap, drew the dagger that was hidden in her sleeve, and tackled Andrew to the ground with the dagger raised in the air ready to strike.
"Enough!" the instructor yelled which caused Lucina to flinch and miss her attack right before she was about to impale her dagger through Andrew's eye. "This is a magic duel! Countess Sanguine is disqualified from the second duel for using a dagger! The winner of the second duel is Andrew Mystyr!"
"…" Andrew was lying motionless beneath Lucina as the dagger was stabbed in the snow and dirt barely a hair's length away from his ear. But Andrew wasn't looking at the dagger that almost took his sight, he was staring up at Lucina's broken eyes that looked down at him from the darkness that engulfed her. Lucina's long hair spilled over her and draped itself around Andrew to seemingly block out the world and cast a hungry shadow. All he could see were Lucina's eyes filled with killing intent staring at him out of the dark. The monster hidden in the briar.
"I said you were disqualified, Sanguine!" The instructor once more tried to use words to get the situation under control. "Return to your starting position or I will forfeit you from the final duel!"
"…" Lucina retracted her dagger and put it back in the sheathe beneath her sleeve. Her sense of reason and calm was returning as the high from her bitter memories started to leave her. She looked down at Andrew who was just starting to pick himself up and mentioned, "I've killed you twice, now." A stoic coldness plastered her face as she turned away and walked back to her original starting point.
"…" Andrew clasped a hand to his chest as he finally realized how hard his heart was beating. He swallowed the lump that was blocking his throat and stood up, but his stance was noticeably more timid with both his hands holding his staff. When Lucina turned around to face him, Andrew had to divert his gaze or else he felt like he couldn't breathe.
"…Are both participants ready?" Even the instructor could feel the shift in the air as Andrew looked like he held no confidence to continue the duels while Lucina stood tall with an imposing coldness to her gaze.
"Yes," Lucina curtly answered.
"…I…I'm ready." Andrew wasn't sure he was but he still answered.
"Then I announce the final duel…" The instructor looked to Andrew one last time to see if he wanted out, but when Andrew didn't respond the instructor brought his hand down and declared, "Begin!"
"…I-!?!" Andrew tried to say something but his words halted in his throat as a stone spike erupted from the earth and grazed his cheek. Blood started trickling down his face from the scratch and Andrew lost all feeling in his legs from the shock and he fell to his knees. All the students were quiet once more as an oppressive atmosphere smothered out their voices.
"…" Lucina slowly walked across the courtyard and stood directly in front of Andrew. She watched him tremble as he finally met her shattered gaze. Reaching down, Lucina grabbed and yanked Andrew's staff from his hands and tossed it aside before turning to the instructor and declaring, "I win." The eyes of the students dug into Lucina with looks of curiosity and fear.
"…The final duel, and this contest, is concluded," the instructor sheepishly said as he was also afraid to look Lucina in the eyes. "The winner is Countess Sanguine."
"…" There was no fanfare for Lucina's victory, gossip for Andrew's defeat, or even discourse over the whole ordeal. Only silence prevailed at the end of the duels. Lucina left Andrew kneeling in the snow as his blood dripped off his face to dye the white snow canvas a deep crimson; as deep as Lucina's robe.
"I'll head back first," Lucina quickly brushed past Cassandra and Olivia as she hurriedly made her way away from the courtyard, away from the silent stares. She didn't mean to lose control like that and still felt her heart racing in her chest while her mind refused to fully calm down.
"L-Lucina?" Olivia felt stunned by the duel, and the rotting stench of iron filled her with the same fear as the day Lucina first returned from the war. She watched Lucina hurry away from her, from everyone, but refused to let her fear hurt her friend anymore. "Lucina!" Olivia chased after her with Cassandra close behind.
"…" Andrew was left kneeling in the snow while his mind still reeled from what had just happened, and how close to death he had come. Had this not been a duel overseen by an academy instructor, he would have died three times over.
"Andrew!?" until Beatrice's cries brought him out of his stupor. She rushed across the courtyard with her green hair dancing behind her as she ran and her sunset eyes glistening against the white canvas of the world.
"…Saintess?" Andrew watched Beatrice rush to his side and her kneel down in the snow with him.
"You're hurt!? What happened to you!?" Beatrice asked despite having watched the duels and deliberately waited for Lucina and Olivia to leave before making her appearance.
"…It's nothing." Andrew felt oddly embarrassed by letting Beatrice see him like this, though he didn't quite understand why. "You shouldn't concern yourself with us Wizards, Saintess."
"How could you say that!?" Beatrice cried as she brought her hand up to his bleeding cheek. A soft yellow and white light danced across Andrew's cheek as his wound was healed to not even leave a scar behind. "Just because you're a wizard doesn't mean you're not a person first and foremost!"
"…" The certainty and kindness in Beatrice's voice battled against Andrew's perceived prejudice against those faithful to the gods. A calming warmth spread through his body and eased his heart. "It's just a minor scratch." He refused the feelings stirring in his heart, for now.
"Even a minor scratch can be painful," Beatrice reasoned while giving him a friendly smile. "…Oh!?" Beatrice 'suddenly' realized she was still holding his cheek in her hand and quickly pulled her hand away. "I-I'm sorry about touching your face without asking for your permission!" She bowed her head and squirmed awkwardly in the snow.
"…As long as you know." Andrew couldn't bring himself to be too harsh, so he let it slide.
(Event: A Wizard's Pride)
(Cleared!)
(Andrew Mystyr Affection: +5)
(You are no longer Disliked by the Capture Target and may now passively trigger conversation events around the academy to further increase affection.)
***
"I need to change." Lucina picked up her pace through the halls as she tried to escape Olivia.
"Wait!" Olivia kept up.
"I'm not clean… It's not fair…" Lucina started digging into her arm with her fingers.
"Lucina!" Olivia grabbed her friend by the arm and yanked her to turn around. Lucina's cheeks were flushed from the cold and her eyes held little focus while her face was filled with distraught and bitterness.
"…It's not fair." Lucina couldn't bear to look Olivia in the eyes and averted her gaze.
"…" Olivia didn't know what to say, so instead of saying something that might make things worse she decided to silently stay by Lucina's side and give her a shoulder to lean on. Cassandra stayed a short distance back to give the two some time and made sure that no one was around so they could have some privacy.
"I did…my time," Lucina reasoned against her anxiety. "Why do they get to dig it back up like it's nothing?" The images she saw in the flames danced behind her eyes and her lungs still felt clogged with the soot that had infected the air just like it did on the battlefields of Peltaira years ago.
"…" Olivia loosened her grip on Lucina's arm and brought her hand up to Lucina's ice-cold cheek.
"I fought…I bled!" Having Olivia's warmth against her face was making Lucina lax with her guard and she let out her inner frustrations, "Just so people like him could dismiss what I did? What we did!?" Countless unmarked graves dotted Peltaira where the worthless bodies of the Hellhound knights were buried since there was no one waiting for them back home who would want them. "It's not…" Lucina always laughed away being called a monster or brushed it off since it never bothered her that much, but that attitude could only extend so far. It had been a long time since she'd experienced one of her battlefield hallucinations, her self-perceived disgusting flaw and weakness, but for it to happen in front of Olivia and almost cost her the contest? "It's not fair!"
"…" Olivia gently brought Lucina into a hug while making sure to let go if Lucina tried to get away in case she didn't want it. But she never did. Lucina wrapped her arms around Olivia and accepted the overwhelming warmth and comfort greedily as she softly trembled in Olivia's embrace. Lucina allowed herself this moment of weakness as it would probably be the last she believed she'd get in the days to come. And time, as always, marched forward without a care as the months quickly started to pass them by toward their inevitable destiny.