Katy was exhausted. The prince had really put his money where his mouth is, and Serena had healed both of them several times before they were too tired to continue. Now the 3 of them sat together for what the prince had called a ‘light dinner.’ She would call it an extremely excessive amount of food. Azura had once commented on there being a reason most non-skilled nobles were fat. It took either a lot of exercise or great magic skill to not gain weight with the amount of food most nobles scarfed down. She had never eaten from one of those spreads though, either eating with Azura who ate a much more modest amount, or with other servants who weren’t allowed that kind of luxury either. “Your training has really been paying off Katy! I Didn’t expect you to match Xander at all. He’s super strong.” Serena practically had stars in her eyes as she excitedly complemented her… kind of.
“Ummm… Thanks? Kind of wish you had more faith in me to begin with, but I’m glad I’m stronger than you expected.” She knew Serena hadn’t meant anything malicious by it, but she still couldn’t help but feel a little insulted. The prince was undoubtedly strong, almost definitely stronger than her, but she didn’t think it would have been completely one-sided even before she had mastered her trump card.
“Oh no, sorry I didn’t mean it like that! It’s not a matter of me thinking you’re weak, Xander is just really strong. I mean you saw it yourself right, he took your new trump card head on and didn’t even flinch. His defense is extraordinary, and his tenacity when injured is frightening. Even Azura struggles when they spar.” She supposed that was fair. He had been injured by her light speed attack for sure, but he charged at her regardless, acting as if he wasn’t hurt at all. She could admit that it was perhaps a little frightening. Azura could fight through some serious pain too, but you could at least tell he could feel it. Xander acted like he wasn’t even injured.
“I don’t know about all that. I’m fairly strong, but frightening feels like a bit of an exaggeration. Besides saying Azura struggles feels disingenuous when he beats me every single time.” Azura wasn’t a very good person to use as a measuring stick, his power fluctuated so wildly based on what resources he had decided to use that losing to him in a close fight could range anywhere from slightly above average to unbelievably strong.
“Does he use his copies against you?” She was curious what Azura used to beat Xander. Against her he always pulled out the copies which led to her loss, against Lily he usually used his dragon scales or anti-magic, Luna he just kind of kept his distance and took her out from range except for the rare times she managed to get up her anti-magic field fast enough. The more she thought about it the more she realized he had a different fighting style against everybody he fought. His reasoning for his current training made a lot more sense after that little revelation. Petty tricks weren’t going to work on his father, so he needed a set style he could practice on his own to push it to its highest level.
“Sometimes. I have a lot of attacks with a higher range than people expect, so the copies usually aren’t too bad. He usually gets me with some sort of trap. The fact that he can fend me off normally while focusing on making a super complex magic circle has always been a little upsetting if I’m honest.” She winced, she definitely knew that pain. That was one of the reasons it aways kind of felt like Azura was toying with his opponent regardless of who they are.
“It’s called dual processing. I had to do it a little differently back then than I do now, but it was the same basic principle.” She jumped a little as Azura spoke up from right behind her. When had he gotten there? Serena and Xander looked just as surprised so he couldn’t have walked up normally.
“Oh? Explaining the trick? That’s not like you.” She had been so surprised by Azura’s sudden appearance she hadn’t noticed that the princess was with him. He must have touched up his short range teleportation spell quite a bit if he could do it without any warning, and bring someone with him. It used to create an obvious magical disturbance before he actually appeared.
“I don’t like to give my tricks away, but there is no reason to leave them with the misconception that I’m giving them less than my undivided intention in our spars. Dual processing is the method with which I can set up enchantments while focusing on general combat. Currently I can have spiritual copies that can process things for me which is much easier than my previous method. That being said, my previous method was a rather decent stopgap. Although it involved having certain spells completely memorized, to the point where My body could cast the spell even if my mind was shut down. It was much more limited, and involved much more intense training, but I’m still rather proud of the results, even if they are obsolete now.” She rolled her eyes, she had already known about his methods of course, but if she was being honest the knowledge didn’t help much. It was like trying to understand scale. You could be told how big the planet was, but actually comprehending the size was beyond most people.
“I see, well it’s certainly good to know that I’m not so much weaker than you, I can't even keep your attention.” It was Azura’s time to roll his eyes, but personally she didn’t think Xander’s jab was out of place. Azura never seemed to realize that most people didn’t care that some of the spells he used only worked in specific situations. The spells were still powerful, and were considered when estimating his strength. So what he called going all out, and what others considered as him going all out were 2 very different things.
“No need to be so dramatic, you’ve given me way too many injuries to pretend like you were completely outmatched.” Her eyes widened. Xander was skilled enough, but she hadn’t seen anything that should be able to pierce through Azura’s defenses, even if you’re ignoring the dragon aspect.
Xander smirked. “Well I’ll never match you 2 in wits, so I dedicated my time to training my brawn. If I wasn’t at least strong enough to make you work for it I’d cry in despair.” Her eyes narrowed. He had been holding back on her? That wasn’t acceptable. She’d have to force him into another spar, she refused to let something like that stand.
“Yes brother’s strength is quite impressive. If he was a knight rather than the prince he might very well be among the top 10.” She didn’t doubt that if she was honest. Azura himself could probably defeat rank 7-10 in 1 on 1s. She herself might be able to beat rank 10, but if she was honest it would be a coin toss, maybe slightly in her favor due to compatibility.
“I don’t know about that, battle experience is very important, and it’s something I rather lack. Perhaps in terms of strength I could match some of them, but they have many skills I lack.” Xander was surprisingly humbled considering he was a prince. It was obvious he was proud of his strength, but he was realistic about where that strength placed him in terms of the world around him. A surprisingly rare trait for mages of that level of skill, especially ones that aren’t humbled at the Grandforge academy.
“That’s true, but don’t forget you have skills that they lack as well. Also the major advantage of having ridiculous amounts of money.” She chuckled at Azura’s joke. She vaguely remembered him telling her that Delford was one of the richest kingdoms on the continent, so as its prince Xander certainly wasn’t ever going to be short on funds.
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Xander chuckled good naturedly. “I don’t think I can qualify that as a skill. I’m not sure how you train ‘having ridiculous amounts of money.’”
“Sure you can, you just practice by robbing a bunch of banks. Once you’ve robbed enough you’ll have mastered the skill.” She added her piece to the silly conversation. Everyone laughed, and Serena smiled at her. She imagined the girl was glad to see her letting loose a little. She had been incredibly stressed lately afterall. Thankfully Xander had helped her realize she didn’t have to compare herself to Azura to measure her worth. She had her own strengths, and she was proud of them.
***
Azura had mixed feelings about the end of their break. It wasn’t quite there yet, but december ws reaching its end, and classes for 2nd years and up started the day after new years. First years started their journey to the school around the same time, but their trials wouldn’t start for a couple of weeks, and then the trials themselves took a good chunk of time, so the first years didn’t really start until mid to late february.
On one hand he was definitely looking forward to going back to classes, but on the other hand the task force to deal with Genesis will be fully formed, and he dreaded that conflict. Normally if he’s outmatched in a fight he has the option to simply run away, but with the fate of the kingdom at stake he couldn’t use that as a backup, and after seeing the strength of Canis he was not looking forward to those fights. Still he’d do what he had to do.
A knock on his door took him from his thoughts. He reluctantly rolled himself out of bed and went to see who was visiting him this early in the morning. It was only 7 hours after midnight afterall. He was a little surprised to find Lux’s face staring back at him. “Can’t say I was expecting to see you this morning.” It wasn’t that he and the knight didn’t get along, but it also wasn’t like they hung out regularly.
Lux chuckled. “Understandable, I’m not usually one for early morning visits, but I have a favor to ask you.” That was even more unusual than the morning visit. He had never seen Lux ask anyone for a favor. The night was almost always at the side of the princess, and could usually be found following some random order from her.
“Well color me curious. What can I do for you Lux?” He figured it wouldn’t be anything too egregious, the knight was far too upstanding for that, Still that left him with a major blank on what Lux would go so far out of the way to ask him.
“I would like a chance to spar against you 1 on 1. Every time we’ve dueled it’s either been while you were out of control, or there have been multiple other people involved… or both.” He hummed in surprise. Lux wasn’t wrong per se, but there was a reason for that. Lux was a lot stronger than he was. The only time he had ever injured the man was when his copy had been in his dragon state before he had become 1 with it, and even then it was because his copy had started targeting the bystanders.
“I mean it’s true that we’ve never had a 1 on 1 duel, but is there any reason for us to? I have no shame admitting you are far stronger than me. Frankly even if I use the trump cards I’d rather keep hidden in the capital I still don’t think I’d win.” His grimoire was a powerful tool, but it wouldn’t be enough to fully stop someone that much stronger than him. The best he could hope for would be to impede them a little.
“I suppose if power is the only thing you look at then it’s true It's leagues above you, but in almost every other piece of combat you are without a doubt my superior. I’m hoping a spar will help me better hone in on the skills I lack, and which ones I should prioritize first.” He supposed that made some sense. He had always thought that Lux could improve a lot, but the man cared more about being the royal guard than he did increasing his strength as a mage would, and frankly he didn’t think the man’s defense could get much better.
“I see, well I suppose I owe you for helping out with my own training.” If he was honest he didn’t really want to help, but fair is fair. It would be a good chance to test his new skills, but a fight with Lux would most likely go nowhere. He lacked anywhere near enough power to break Lux’s guard, and Lux lacked the finishing power to really knock him out of the fight.
“Excellent, I have already prepared a training room for this bout. I have also ensured that no one else would enter, even the princess has given me her word she won’t try to take a look at our fight, and you will have mine that I won’t share anything I see with anyone else. So please give it your all, please use any trump cards you like. I will compensate you for any resources lost as well.” His eyes widened in surprise. It seemed he had underestimated Lux’s cleverness. Lux’s word as a knight was more solid than steel, and the princess wouldn’t dare risk Lux leaving her service by breaking hers.
“The opposite of our last bout then is it?” A smile crept onto his face. It had been a long while since he had been able to truly let loose. “Then perhaps I might do a better job keeping you entertained than I had anticipated.” Suddenly this fight had significant value for him as well. A chance to use all of his tricks to see where he really scaled to when he used every trick he had up his sleeves. Some of his more expensive skills had never even been used, but with the promise of recompense he could use them without worry.
“I look forward to it.” Lux smiled, clear excitement showing in his face.
***
Azura stood in a large training room once again, but this time his opponent was a knight in gleaming armor. Lux used 2 different spells that he knew about. 1 was barriers made of light, and the other was a spell similar to his transportation spell that allowed the knight to switch out his armaments depending on the circumstances. His copy had learned about that 2nd 1 in their last fight. He had shattered 1 shield, only to find his most powerful attack blocked by a different shield. It appeared Lux had skipped straight to the 2nd shield this time. The gleaming red and gold metal making the heater shield look quite noble. The gold formed a star in the middle that had thin lines going out from its point until it reached the thick gold outline of the shield. Of course there were no straight lines, all the gold was in waving cascading patterns.
“Starting straight with your best shield?” At least he hoped that was Lux’s best shield. In terms of sheer power output his strength honestly hadn’t increased that much since that time. He had gotten stronger in other ways, but he didn’t think his full power attack would look all that different. Well full power attack within reason. Technically he always had the option to turn a copy into a bomb of unknown scale. Even he didn’t know how much damage would be caused by releasing all his stored mana at once. He could hazard a guess that it would be a lot.
“I’d rather not have you breaking any of my equipment this time. I’m in stronger armor than back then too. It’s less comfortable so I try to avoid my adamantium armor when I can, but you broke my lighter set last time.” That explained the unnatural gleam the full plate armor gave off. If lux could afford a full set of adamantium armor like that then the knight could definitely afford to compensate him for any of his equipment that he used. Even better was that an equivalent value in terms of money would allow him to make even better equipment which would come in handy in the battles to come.
“Well I’ll give it my best shot. Father was able to break a shield equivalent to that with 1 attack, even if you yourself were more or less unscathed. I’ll just have to give it a few more tries.” That was his goal for this battle. He couldn’t win, and didn’t expect to. Still he could at least break Lux’s fancy equipment to make up for the long beating he’d inevitably endure once his stamina began running low.
Lux simply smirked at him and lowered into a ready stance. He slowly mimicked his opponent. This time he wouldn’t worry about what resources this fight was worth using. He’d throw anything and everything he could at his opponent. He was truly grateful for the opportunity.