“Milo?” Mallory seemed bemused by his appearance as well. “You want to-”

“It is my right!” Milo declared,

The old man nodded. “Indeed. We hail from the Royal Altarian library in Allura. As the prince of the library, he has the right to declare his challenge in the Period of Power.”

He turned to a table with a whole bunch of people in brown robes. “I assume this is fine with the Bravarian family.”

The table of people quickly nodded their heads with no contest.

“No, wait!” Hector stood up. “You can’t come here! Mallory! Tell him!”

Mallory turned. “I dunno Hector, he-”

“Shut up, boy!” Luther yelled at Hector. He turned to Milo and the old man.

“Kirsich, was it?” Luther asked the old man. “Are you sure?”

“Of course.” The old man nodded. “But you should be asking him.”

He tapped Milo in the back with his stick.

Luther turned to him. “Are you sure? Milo?”

“He’s not even old enough!” Hector yelled. “He’s like… 8!”

“Hector, you realized it’s been a few years,” Mallory responded. “The last time you saw him was-”

“Go home, Milo!” Hector called out. “This isn’t the place for you!”

“Silence!” Milos yelled. “I’ve come to take the hand of my bride! Isn’t that right, Mercy Bison-Killer-”

Mercy covered her face.

“Shut up!” Hector waved him away.

“You shut up!” Luther yelled.

He looked at Mallory. “Is what he says true?”

“The Royal Library family is considered Royal, and the family agrees to it…” Mallory shrugged. “I think they do.”

Meanwhile, Hector was making his discontent known to Mercy.

“How the hell do you know him?” Hector asked.

“Allura is the closest nation to the clans that isn’t Volta,” Mercy explained meekly. “So, my father and I have passed through enough to where we’re recognizable by the family. The Royal Library hosts us usually when we pass through, so I know Milo-”

“What did you promise him?” Hector said curtly.

“I didn’t promise him anything!” Mercy sat up. Her embarrassment had been replaced with scorn. “Are you kidding me?”

“Hector!” Luther called out to Hector before the argument could go on. “Fight the boy!”

“What!” Hector swiveled on his heel, his cape flowing behind him as he turned. “I’m not-”

“Fight him! Or this tournament is over by forfeit!” Luther yelled.

“Hector…” Mercy’s scorn disappeared, and her shame returned. “Please…”

Hector groaned. “Fine!”

He unhooked his cape and it fell on the floor behind him, revealing his smaller cape that he had worn the days before.

Jon had to give credit to Hector’s strong back muscles.

Hector walked up to the circle.

“You’re causing trouble for no reason!” Hector said, stepping into the ring without a thought. “I don’t think you get-”

“I get it completely!” Milo said, walking into the circle opposite Hector. “You underestimate my power!”

“Power?” Hector began to shake. “Then it’s obvious you don’t really understand what’s at stake-”

“3!”

Hector looked at Mallory, who met him back with his eyes.

Jon saw that there was a silent conversation being had, ending when Hector rolled his eyes and turn away, putting his attention back on Milo, who raised his staff in anticipation.

“2!”

Jon was mildly excited to see Hector fight, but he could also feel his discontent. Hector definitely seemed like he had more of an aversion to fighting than the girls did. Jon found that pretty ironic, considering Hector wore armor all the time.

He didn’t think Hector would lose, but he was still tense at the edge of the seat. Or as far as his dull legs would let him go.

“Jon…”

Jon looked at Mercy.

“No matter what happens,” Mercy said, her eyes still glued to the circle, “promise me you’ll take fighting for others seriously. Not like Lester or even Hector at times. Okay?”

Jon nodded with a grimace. Even if Mercy didn’t show it, he understood that she had understood him. He turned back to the circle.

“1… Start!”

Hector punched forward a column of flame.

Milo used his staff to catch the column of flame, guiding it in a circle around him before sending it back at Hector.

Ah… Jon was excited to see what the staff could do. He remembered Mallory telling him about the different ways people could cast mana. He waited to see what Hector would do in response.

Hector slapped the fire away with the back of his hand and it sailed into the edge of the circle, extinguishing itself.

“Stop before you get hurt!” Hector said, not bothered at all by the redirection of his own attack.

“Is he… taking it easy?” Mercy whispered to herself. She stood up.

“Hector, fight him!” She yelled.

Jon wondered what Mercy meant. Hector seemed to be engaged in the battle to him at least.

“That’s not all!” Milo yelled, holding up his staff to follow up. “Ultimate attack!”

“Ultimate attack?” Hector was puzzled. “Why are you saying the name of your move-”

“Super Fire Thunder Dragon Attack!” Milo slammed the ground with the staff.

From the point of contact where the staff met the ground, a large yellow mana dragon lighting and fire orbiting from its body erupted from the ground.

Whoa… It reminded Jon of the dragon that he and Tallow had to evade back at the port town.

“Is that a dragon?” Mercy asked, clearly taken aback. “When did he learn that?”

“Two elements!” Mallory called out. Jon looked at the mage, who met him with his gaze. Mallory pointed to the dragons while still looking at Jon in awe. “Two elements!”

Jon turned back to the ring. The dragon dived towards Hector.

It didn’t have much longer of a scene, as Hector sliced at it with his sword and it dispersed with ease.

“Stop it!” Hector said, his demeanor slightly more stressed but not by much. “Seriously.”

Jon was impressed by how easily Hector dealt with the attack, especially after what happened in the port town. He wondered if Hector had learned from his experience.

Milo, however, showed no signs of slowing down.

“Ultimate attack!” Milo yelled as he twirled his staff in the air. ‘Triple Fire Dragon attack!”

“You can’t have two ultimate moves,” Hector bemoaned. “Ultimate means-”

Milo hit the ground again.

This time, three dragons erupted from the staff, splitting in different directions. Jon noticed that they all stayed within range of the circle, so they had to work not to crash into each other as they maneuvered through the space.

“Three?” Mallory looked at Hector. “Hector! You gotta-”

“Don’t overstep your job!” Luther yelled at Mallory, “or I’ll choose someone else!”

Mallory shut his mouth promptly.

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All three of the dragons dove at Hector at once.

Jon trembled in anticipation and fear. Last time, Hector got carried off by a dragon into another part of town. If that happened here, he would definitely lose immediately.

Hector still didn’t seem very concerned by his circumstances.

As soon as the first dragon reached Hector, he caught it with both of his hands, barely moving an inch.

Whoa.

Hector raised the dragon over his head and dunked it into the ground, extinguishing it.

The other two dragons came at him from either side.

Hector drew in his arms before throwing them out to the side.

“Ha!” Fire exploded from his hands, dispersing the two dragons before they even touched him.

Milo, undeterred, tapped the ground again. There was a whirring sound, and he began to levitate from the floor.

He raised the staff over his head and swung it down so that it pointed at an angle.

White energy hit the ground and traveled to Hector’s position.

“Ha!” With another loud grunt, Hector ran up and kicked the magic away with fire, careening it into the magical barrier as well.

Milo tried to fly higher into the air, but Hector leaped up and caught him by the cape.

“Let go of me!” Milo yelled, trying to fly away. He shot more mana lighting at Hector.

Hector covered his face with his arm, not even seeming to be affected by the mana. He pulled on the cape hard, bringing Milo closer.

He then reached up and grabbed Milo by the leg, holding him in the air.

“Go… home!” Hector tossed Milo over his head.

Milo flew towards the edge of the circle and just barely caught himself with his levitation before exiting the ring.

However, he wasn’t ready for Hector’s next approach.

Hector yelled as he punched the air in front of Milo in close proximity.

Milo covered his face in anticipation, but all that came of it was a flash of fire that didn’t even harm him.

Hector grabbed Milo out of the air with his abdomen, and chucked him down at an angle, casting him out at an angle and sending him into the ground.

Milo crashed into the floor with a nasty crunch that made Jon squirm in his chair.

Other than that, Milo seemed fine, just barely groaning from the pain.

“Young master!” The old man ran to Milo’s side.

“That’s it, folks!” Mallory said to the crowd. “Hector won!”

There was barely any fanfare this time. Hector swiveled away again and walked back to his chair. Jon could already see him muttering things in his breath.

“Acknowledge me, you coward!”

Hector stopped and turned to Milo, who was trying to stand himself up. Jon saw that there was a ring of white powder around his body.

“Don’t just walk away!” Milo called out.

“It’s over,” Hector said. “Just get out of here.”

“Coward!” Milo yelled again.

Jon saw that Hector’s mouth tremble at the phrase, but for whatever reason, Hector didn’t lash out or even responded.

In fact, he looked a little sad as he came back to his throne.

“There, you don’t have to marry the wizard child,” Hector muttered, plopping in his chair without even bothering to put his large cape back on. “Happy now?”

Mercy sighed. “Fine. I’ve never done this before. Jon, can you-”

Jon was already nodding.

Mercy stood up and grabbed Jon’s chair, pushing him over to Milo.

“Shouldn’t you be with your husband?” Milo asked her, with a hint of vexation.

“Hi, Milo,” Mercy said. “I’m gonna ignore the fact that you’re being dumb and tell you to get help for your back.”

“I don’t need help!” Milo said, giving Mallory a dirty glare as he approached. “I can-”

“You’re a jerk for trying to get me to marry you,” Mercy interrupted, “but, I can see you’ve grown stronger, and have even incorporated the clan’s attacks into your moveset.”

She crossed her arms. “Get stronger, and I might even acknowledge you one day. But until then, get fixed up.”

Jon could see Milo’s face turn red as he turned away from Mercy.

“Fine… Milo conceded. “ I’ll get treatment for my mild back injury…I-”

“And find a girl that likes you!” Mercy’s yell shook everyone in the area.

“...Yes… milady…” One of the nurses beckoned Milo over, and he and the old man followed her through the side door.

“That was not a mild back injury,” Mallory said as he left. “That man’s gonna be like Jon in a day.”

He looked at Jon. “No offense, Jon.”

Jon nodded. He knew it was fine.

Mallory put his attention on Mercy. “That was sweet of you.”

Mercy grimaced. Jon never thought he would see Mercy make a face like that.

“Yeah. I hated it.”

She sighed again. “Well. He worked hard at least…”

She got behind Jon and began to push him back to the chairs.

“Alright!” Mallory had put his announcing voice back on and scurried to the front of the circle. “Who’s next on the list of contestants. Does anyone submit their challenge to the bride for this round?”

“Why were you so hard on him?” Mercy asked as took her side next to Hector again.

“Wait, weren’t you getting on me for taking it too easy?” Hector asked. “You just said-”

“You were supposed to take him seriously,” Mercy said. “This is serious!”

“You’re treating it like it’s a game!” Hector responded. “And I’m the one not taking it seriously? You saw what happened to Tallow-”

“That’s your father talking!” Mercy said. “Stop it!”

Hector grumbled. Jon wondered what she meant by that.

“That’s it!” A yell from the tables drew everyone’s head.

Robert stood up from his family table.

“Why are we letting this family-run this country!” Robert yelled. “I can’t take it anymore.”

A man with a crown and a large beard sitting next to Robert was quickly shaking his head left in right.

“Robert,” Mallory said. “I appreciate your concern and-”

“He’s gotten off easy without any fights!” Robert continued. “A whole realm of families and the only one with enough guts to challenge him is a little kid!”

He turned to Cecil. “Really?”

Cecil turned away.

“Fine, I’ll do it myself!” Robert yelled. “Just give me the challenge!”

“I…” Mallory looked at Luther.

“Give him what he wants,” Luther said, shrugging. “Might as well.”

Mallory looked at Harris.

“Why are you looking at me?” Harris asked. “He’s in charge.”

Mallory quickly rolled his eyes and turned back to Robert.

“Fine,” Mallory said. “We’ll skip the princess’s turn for your sake, but you do realize that since Hector went already, and Mercy used a substitute, you’ll have to fight a substitute in his place.”

The man next to Robert immediately stopped shaking his head and began nodding profusely.

“I accept!” Robert yelled. “Bring on your finest warrior!”

“Me! Me! Me!” Avery broke from his ranks and ran up to Hector. “I can take him on for you! I’ll give him a wallop!”

Mercy and Jon looked at Hector for his response. Hector seemed to be too tired to even care.

“Jon,” Hector said simply. “How are you doing?”

“I can move my toes,” Jon said.

“Jon will fight for me,” Hector waved towards the ring. “It’ll be quick.’

“Jon!” Mercy looked between both of the men. “But-”

“Okay.” Jon nodded. He would do his best. It would be a ton of pressure, but like Mercy said, he needed to take it seriously, even if he wasn’t at full fighting ability.

“I’ll take care of you mate!” Avery said. He grabbed Jon’s chair and pushed him up to the circle.

“A… a cripple?” Robert was dumb-struck by his opponent. “I’m fighting… a cripple?”

There was some laughter from the tables.

“Someone better place bets!” someone else yelled.

There was a second wave of loud laughter.

Jon saw that Liz hadn’t laughed. She had a look of concern on her face. The rest of her table ceased to laugh as well, instead of waiting patiently for everything else.

Next to her, Lester was watching Jon very carefully. He gave Jon a good nod, before walking over to a nearby table and whispering in somebody’s ear.

“You better watch yourself, Robert!” Avery said. “Or you’ll get a chair shoved up your ass if you’re not paying attention.”

“Get’em, boy,” Avery added while he tapped Jon on the chair and went back to his station.

Jon caught Mallory’s glance again.

“...Uhh…” Mallory looked as if he wanted to say something else, but stayed at his job. “Jon Thurmond Armstrong is fighting Robert-”

“Everyone knows who I am!” Robert yelled, stepping into the ring opposite of Jon. He had equipped a pair of brass knuckles on each of his hands.

Punching. The brass knuckles made Jon more nervous than anything. Getting punched by Raglace without any brass knuckles was tough as it was, let alone Jon not being able to move a lot in the wheelchair. Then again, Jon could move. He just couldn’t walk.

“Ready!” Mallory said. “3-”

“Stop it!” Another person yelled. “We’re placing bets!”

There was murmuring as people were moving to the back of the room.

“Hurry up!” Luther yelled. “And just so you know, you’re getting taxed for it!”

“Right, right!” Harris nodded. “Taxed heavily indeed.”

Eventually, the mummers stopped and everyone returned to the tables.

“Alright.” Mallory raised his hand. “3… 2…”

Jon gripped his gun.

“1… start!”

Jon immediately fired his gun.

Robert punched the blast out of the air.

With just a moment of pause to take in the situation, Jon fired three more blasts.

Each of the blasts were taken out by a punch.

“Gonna need better than that, you one-trick pony!” Robert yelled. He charged towards Jon.

Don’t be scared.

Jon fired at the ground, pushing himself out of the chair and tumbling past Robert before turning and landing on his belly with his gun pointed at Robert’s back.

Jon fired again, shooting Robert with a wave of energy.

This time it caught Robert unawares, knocking him forward so that his head derailed into the seat of the wheelchair, where he landed.

Jon fired one more time. The chair rolled out of the arena with Robert in tow.

There was dead silence as the chair continued outside of the circle and flipped over, tossing Robert out of it.

“...I’m rich!” Lester, who was watching intently from a crouch, stood up and tossed his arms high above his head. “I”m rich! Rich! Rich!”

He walked out of the front of the castle while still yelling.

“Well, you saw it there folks,” Mallory announced. “Jon wins!”

Jon wanted to see his friends, but the first person he saw as he looked up was Luther.

Jon’s chest filled with dread.

He didn’t know why he cared so much about what Luther said, and he prepped himself for yelling.

Instead, Luther gave a small nod. Jon didn’t even know if Luther was looking at him or just his general direction.

A pair of feet appeared in his vision, blocking his view.

He recognized the pair of black boots, looking up to see Macy. She had his chair next to her.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi…” he responded.

She pulled him so that he was in the chair again.

“Roberts with the nurses for his broken pride,” she said. “You did a good job kicking his ass.”

Jon saw that Macy’s demeanor was calmer than before. He was actually feeling worried.

“Are you-”

“Jon!” Mercy finally caught up to Jon. “That was amazing!’

She turned to Macy. “What are you doing?”

“Just congratulating him,” Macy said. “I know me and you aren’t a pair, but everyone likes Jon. Even you know that.”

She patted Jon on his arm then walked away.

“...I’m proud of you, Jon,” Mercy said, still watching Macy walk away.

She grabbed Jon’s chair and pushed it back to Hector.

“Why would you put that on him?” Mercy yelled.

“He did fine,” Hector said. “Right Jon.”

Hector raised his hand lazily on the arm of the throne and Jon high-fived it.

“What was this about taking it seriously?” Mercy scoffed and sat in her chair.

“Alright,” Mallory said after coming back from the side door. Jon hadn’t even known he left.

“It’s time to see if there’s anyone who wants to contend for the hand of the-”

Someone stood up from Liz’s table. A woman with a slim lavish white dress and an even more lavish updo.

“The Lumen family would like to send a candidate up for the hand of the bride,” she spoke with an icy tone that made Jon shiver.

Further along in the table, in response to the declaration, Liz stood up.

“I, Lizbeth-”

“No…” Hector said sharply, under his breath.

“-Sherman Clearwater, will fight for the hand of the groom…”

She choked up a bit.

“In his hand for marriage…”

“No!” Hector stood up this time. “You can’t do this!”

He moved from his seat quickly.

“Liz-”

“Stop right there, boy!” Luther yelled, pointing his finger at him. “This is how it happens. You wanted to start something, well, here it is!”

Luther pulled his finger back. “I just hope your girlfriend doesn’t get as messed up as your friend back there, or-”

Hector had drawn back his hand when Mercy grabbed it just in time to stop him from throwing something at his father.

“Hector, this is how it works,” she said.

“Well, it’s wrong!” Hector turned around to her, throwing her hand away. “You shouldn’t be fighting! Especially after-”

“Give her more respect than that!” Mercy yelled as she pushed him in the shoulder.

Hector opened his mouth, but couldn’t say anything. He just looked away in shame.

“Go sit down,” she added, before walking up into the circle.

She didn’t seem to notice Mallory as she walked into the circle across from Liz.

Liz bowed. “Mercy… You must understand… I must do my hardest.”

“I understand,” Mercy responded. She drew her sword. “Me too.”

Mallory looked at Luther with a sad look, receiving a growl in return.

Mallory turned back to the ring and held up his hand.

“3…” he started, his voice in a much more dour mood than usual. “2…”

Jon didn’t like watching this. For the first time, he was starting to understand how Hector was feeling. His stomach was beginning to curl. He wanted to be excited, but he also felt scared. Something felt different.

“1… Start!”