“My amazin’ self’s gotta ask, what are you three doin’ here, and who’s the gal with the strikingly accurate Ram impression? It’s remindin’ amazin’ me of the twin stars of Esserus. And, that ain’t a good thing.”

As expected, Garfiel noticed our approach and cut us off before we reached the village.

“Garfiel,” Ram spoke up, “This is my little sister, Rem.”

“Wait a minute— surely my amazin’ self’d remember if ya had a sister?”

“My sister’s name got eaten by Gluttony.”

“Ah, that’d do it, I suppose.”

That easy!?

“Well then, I assume that clown idiot called you folks down here, then? Let my amazin’ self just say somethin’— I don’t plan on lettin’ anyone leave sanctuary. I’mma just get that out now so there’s no miscommunications.”

“That’s fine. If you want to stay in sanctuary with anyone else who wants to stay, be my guest. But I’m breaking the barrier.” I stated with authority.

“Oi, Ram, this idiot’s awful close to your sister, you realize?”

Ram rolled her eyes and palmed her face. “I am... aware.”

“And whoever said anythin’ bout lettin’ you strike down the barrier, huh?”

“How about this? You and I will fight. Whoever wins gets to lay down the law. Surely you’ve heard of, ‘might makes right’, no?” I proposed.

“Just a fair warnin’, if you’re gonna take that route. My amazin’ self’s the strongest, ya know? I ain’t fixin’ to lose.”

“You want to throw down right here?” I asked challengingly.

“You really think your scrawny self can beat amazin’ ol’ me?” He challenged right back. “Alright then, let’s do this.”

I hopped off of Patrasche, almost expecting Rem, or even Ram, to worryingly call a halt to the duel. But to my surprise, neither of them did.

I could summon Beako for this, I’m sure she’d absolutely demolish Garfiel. But, I suspected if I beat him with a spirit proxy, he wouldn’t accept the loss. This was going to require a little bit of Dragon.

“Fair warning. I’m a dragon.” I said into the clearing. Ram and Rem were already moving out of the way.

“Sure ya are, and I’m a lion. Now let’s do this.”

I didn’t bother with pretenses. I partially transformed, scales covering my hands and feet, and draconic muscles bulging underneath my skin. I didn’t let it move up to my face though, so from Garfiel’s perspective I barely changed at all.

Seeing my threat for what it was, and not one to underestimate an opponent, Garfiel quickly began to change himself. Not into his full lion form, but a more moderate bulging of muscles and baring of claws.

I allowed him to rush at me first. Any spare moment of observation would give me an advantage here. I had absolutely no doubt Garfiel was the better technical fighter, but Martial Talent would start closing the gap pretty quickly against a tier-six martial artist like Garfiel. After all, the better the combatant, the faster Martial Talent improved my skills in turn.

He hit me in the shoulder, only managing to raise my arm up enough to block barely in time. The hit almost knocked me off my feet, and the aftershocks from the hit traveled all the way through my torso and rattled my lungs. For a moment, it felt like my heart would jump out of my throat. Then, I skidded to a halt, barely managing to keep my footing.

“An amateur fighter like you ain’t gonna be able to beat my amazin’ self, just warnin’ ya.” Garfiel quipped.

I put my guard back up, waiting for him to rush me again. My best option for this fight was to rely on my superhuman durability and strength.

He quirked an eyebrow up at me, but he soon rushed back into the fight. I took a few glancing blows on my arms, but he managed to get another good punch in on the right side of my ribs.

It stung, but nothing was broken that I could tell. He paused again for a moment.

“Are ya sure ya wantin’ to be doin’ this?”

“Don’t question a man’s pride.”

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Garfiel smiled, “Well alright then! You asked for it.”

He rushed in a third time, but I was starting to get a handle on his style, Martial Talent downloading his moves directly into my brain. I managed to keep up slightly better this time, tanking a few hits on my ribs but also managing to block every single punch or kick aimed for my face.

“Hey, you ain’t holdin’ back on me, are ya?”

I could see why he might think that. The rapid growth from Martial Talent might look that way. In all honesty, I’d never get as good as Garfiel from leeching off of him with Martial Talent in this way— not if he kept improving himself. That didn’t mean it didn’t help close the gap a bit.

I’d identified a small weakness; whenever Garfiel moved in for a jab on my left side, he always left his right side slightly open in turn.

I lifted my elbow slightly, purposefully messing up my guard just a hair, trying to bait him. He threw out a few more blows, each one aimed to incapacitate me, but I managed to hold on and block all of it.

Then came the left jab I’d been waiting for. He threw his punch, his arm halfway to the contact point.

I twisted my hips and roared, tiny bits of purple-void mist escaping from my jaws unintentionally. I threw my entire body into the swing.

Garfiel hit me first, but I’d expected that. I tanked his blow, knowing it’d be enough to knock the wind out of my lungs but not enough to stop my determination.

The wind parted before my left fist, and I crashed it into his left side, right on the floating rib. The force of the blow likely carried through to his kidneys. I watched as his cheeks comically puffed up with the forced outrushing of air while he doubled over. The blow took him off his feet, and he want crashing through a number of trees. I couldn’t even see where he’d come to a stop.

“As expected of my Subaru-kun,” Rem cheered from the sidelines.

Ram looked at her sister, slightly panicked. “Barusu, it’s not over!” She practically screamed at me.

I turned my attention back to the trees and saw a giant lion-sized problem with bloodthirsty red eyes glaring at me.

“That’s not good.”

I hesitated for a moment, worried that going full dragon here would out me to the villagers.

But, I could already see Rem running toward me. If I didn’t act in the next second, Rem would act for me. I couldn’t let that happen.

With a flicker of will, I went full dragon, the transformation happening at the speed of thought. I couldn’t see any fear in Garfiel’s giant lion eyes, only rage. That was a huge mistake since I easily outweighed him ten to one like this.

He rushed me, his lion’s paws gouging out huge paw prints into the earth.

“Mine are bigger.”

The second he reached me, I swung my paw at his face. He tried to bite me, but his teeth did absolutely nothing to my scales. I flipped him over onto his back, exposing his belly.

Then I stomped on him, pinning him back first into the earth. He roared in pain and anger, wildly lashing out at me with all four sets of claws.

It reminded me of a little kitty cat kicking at you with its paws while lying back first.

I loomed over him, his claws failing to hurt my scales. “Submit.”

Another roar, so I pressed down on his body with a little bit more weight. I couldn’t feel any of his bones breaking under me, yet. “Submit.”

He continued to struggle, though I was starting to see just the tiniest bit of recognition in his eyes. He’d never been prey before, I’d bet.

I brought my face closer to his and weighed down on him just enough to cause his bones to creak without breaking. “Submit!” I shouted into his face, void mist escaping from my mouth.

Finally, his eyes lost their blood-red hue, and I saw proper recognition in his eyes.

He stopped moving, and slowly began to transform back into his human-likeness. I made sure he was fully committed and then began to un-dragon at the same time.

I stood in the dirt with both feet, just a pace away from him. He’d lost his clothing somewhere along the way, awkwardly exposing him to the elements. He just lay there in the dirt, gasping and staring up at the sky. I could already see his chest starting to bruise.

“Alright, Barusu, that’s enough bullying the kitty.” Ram walked over and draped a blanket over Garfiel.

I raised my brow at her for a moment, confused both by where she suddenly got a blanket from and because of her words.

“You know he started it, right?” I pointed toward Garfiel with my thumb.

“No,” Rem interjected, “Subaru-kun challenged Garfiel to a duel if I remember.”

I exaggeratedly clutched at my chest, “Betrayed by my own lover!?” After receiving no response, I dropped the act, “Alright, I’ll quit bullying the kitty.”

“You weren’t,” Garfiel gasped.

“Don’t try to talk, Garf. I’ll heal you in a second,” Ram said.

Garfiel shook his head, “You weren’t lyin’ bout bein’ a dragon,” He said with an undertone of shock— though at first it almost sounded like an observation.

“Don’t talk,” Ram reprimanded him again and knelt over the boy. Her hands began to glow.

“Oi, Ram, when’d you... get your, horn back? Or, horns?” Garfiel got out between gasps.

Ram lightly flicked his forehead. “I told you not to talk.”

“So, feel free to just shake your head, but no more talk about fighting me over the barrier, yeah?” I asked

“I still won’t let ya.” Garfiel managed to turn his head toward me as he stubbornly replied.

Ram flicked him again, forcing him to relax back down, “Don’t be stubborn and listen to Subaru. Or do you want him to kick you into the dirt again?”

“This an’ that.. Are two, different things.” He gasped.

“In a way, I respect your determination, but I’m also gonna have to ask you to keep your promise from our duel.”

“Ya didn’t beat me, not properly anyhow.” His words started to come easier, Ram’s healing must have been helping.

“You got in a cheap shot, even though my amazin’ self’s obviously a better fighter.”

“Yeah, but then you went full lion rampage instead of coming back at me properly.”

“Tha’s true, I messed up an’ lost my cool. But, still, if ya want to be getting the barrier taken down, yer gonna havta beat me fair n square.”

“Stubborn cat.”

“I ain’t a cat, ya dragon.”

I snorted. “Fine, but can you promise you won’t bother me so long as I’m not trying to break the barrier? I promise I’ll give you a proper rematch and face you like a man before I try anything.”

“I cannae promise that neither. I’m also a man after all, and you’re gonna havta show me a few pointers.” He smirked, fangs showing. “Ya expectin’ me to just leave ya alone after you showed me that?” Garfiel groaned as he forced himself to sit up. “Naw, they gonna be callin’ me a dragonslayer by the end of the week.”