Her gait is slow and deliberate, she is in no rush. Her warchord rests upon her shoulder as she approaches me. Meanwhile, I am on high alert. I have yet to see any of the effects of the soft humming which permeates the air. I am certain that she is playing her [melody] but I fail to understand what it is that she is doing. With each step she moves closer towards me. Her body nears mine, and the distance between us shortens with each passing moment. I observe her, unable to understand her demeanor. My gaze is fixed on her as she puts one foot in front of the other to reach my location. A few thoughts invade my mind as this happens,

‘She really is magnificent…’

My hands tremble, I let go of my instrument, and it hits the ground with a large thud. I do not pick it up. Fragmented whispers which I do not understand plague my mind.

‘Why… Do I even want to fight her…?’

My arms, which are still raised, as if holding a sharpsong, start to slowly go limp. They go lower, and lower, until they’re resting against my sides, devoid of any strength. The whispers remain difficult to hear, but I understand their meaning, it’s simple: I need to let it go, all of it.

‘Right… you’re right… I don’t need to do this. I can just… let it go…’

I can no longer hear the humming, but it does not matter. That is an issue which no longer concerns me. I do not want to fight anymore. All I want is to rest, in her arms. Nothing else matters at this moment. The whispers have opened my eyes, what is the point of this meaningless struggle? All I need to do is let Sylvia handle all of my worries.

As Sylvia’s figure gets even closer, the whispers become stronger, rather than simply conveying a meaning, I can now clearly hear what they say.

‘Embrace her…Worship her… Become hers…’

I could not ask for anything better. Their suggestions echo in my head, and I see no reason not to follow them. She is so beautiful, so divine, there would be no greater honor than to become one of her possessions. This must be what I was born in this world for. That must be why I’m here today.

‘I can’t even remember who I am anymore. Do I need to remember? All that matters is what I will be from now on… I’ll be hers…yes, that’s enough…’

A scene flashes through my mind.

‘Hm?’

It is the image of a mighty wolf fending off a horde of dark, sinister specters. It fights with great agility and precision. Skillfully evading every attack thrown at it while subjecting its attackers to dreadful strikes of its own. It makes use of its sharp fangs and its long claws to tear through the apparitions while still maintaining an air of grace and elegance. The battle proceeds in its favor for a considerable amount of time, until one of the dark beings catches it off guard and rams its body into the noble wolf, sending it flying. That, however, does not keep it down for long. It lands on its hind legs, and jumps forward with incredible speed, tearing right through the one which had sent it flying previously.

‘What is that…?’

As its battle rages on, the awe-inspiring creature briefly turns to me and intensely meets my gaze. What felt like an eternity, but may well have been a second, elapses and it lets out a powerful howl. The sound of it halts the specters in their movements, forcing them to remain still. However, that howl was not an attack directed towards them, it was meant for me. Pain travels through my entire body and I let out a blood curling stream.

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I open my eyes… or had they already been open the entire time? Either way, what I see before me is the posterior surface of my aegis, while on the other side Sylvia stands, her warchord resting against it. I look down, and have a difficult time acknowledging my situation. I have fallen to my knees, saliva dripping from the corner of my mouth and a deep wound stretches from one end of my chest to the other. I look back up and do not waste much more time assessing my situation, what matters is that I have not yet lost. I pick up my sharpsong, raise to my feet and immediately step back. I raise it in front of me and return to my battle stance. Looking once more at the wound on my chest, I think to myself.

‘... She is seriously trying to kill me!! Maybe pushing her this far was a bad idea?!’

She wears a genuine look of amazement.

“To think you’d instinctively dodge my first attack and even block the second. You’re… you’re amazing Alden!”

Cold sweat drips from my forehead.

“Thanks, but what the hell was that?!”

She stares at me, confused.

“... It’s my [melody], I’ll remind you you’re the one who wished for me to use it. You cannot complain now.”

‘I should just shut up next time…’

While I have regained most of my sense, the effects of her previous attack, if it can even be called as such, have yet to wear off. The humming has stopped, but my mind is still in shambles. The memory of when I succumbed to it is still extremely vivid, it was as if I was slowly becoming a completely different person. My hands still tremble, unable to exert their true strength. Cold sweat drips from every pore in my body and I am very apprehensive at the idea of pursuing the duel, but I will nonetheless.

As I have no information about her [melody], all I can do is learn more about it through fighting Sylvia. I summon my shield, strike it, and augment my physical capabilities to a level that almost matches Sylvia. My body, unhappy with this enhancement, screams in protest, but I pay it no mind.

‘Crescendo’

As opposed to our previous exchanges, I rush towards the beautiful young woman with my strength nearly doubled. Unsurprisingly, she matches me. My every strike is parried by her warchord and countered efficiently. Our physical stats are not quite equal, she still stands above me. When she finds an opening, she counters my onslaught, inflicting terrible pain upon me or a shallow wound. As she launches a punch with her right hand towards my cranium, my shield stands in its path. It resonates and the same song plays once more, but much stronger.

‘Crescendo, triple amplitude!’

My strength and speed are now triple what they were initially, my body is nearly falling apart, but it does not matter. My attacks are nowhere near what they were in the beginning of the fight. I perform strike after strike and Sylvia finally seems to be struggling. We are still matched, but I sense that I have finally pushed her to use the real extent of her physical might. Our clashes make the earth tremble. The air splits in half as our instruments pass through it, and craters form under the impact of our blows.

It bothers me that she has yet to play her [melody] for a second time, but I do not let it weigh on my mind too heavily. I simply keep attacking. My shield gives me an edge. Every time her fist or her warchord comes into contact with it, I play the sound of idleness, momentarily rendering her immobile. Although the duration shortens as I repeat this tactic, that short instance is enough to get clean hits in. Her refined battle style surpasses mine without a doubt, but by making use of my aegis to cover my blind spots and immobilize her, I can call myself her opponent when our physical abilities are equal. The state of the battle is mostly even, but the scales tip in my favor.

‘I can win…!!’

As that thought crosses my mind, Sylvia executes a wide, open swing of her warchord towards my shoulder blade with both of her hands. It comes down with incredible speed. I plan to summon my shield in its path to block it, but she must already know that. When it manifests itself, she strikes it with as much strength as she can muster. As a result, visible cracks have begun forming on it. Following that pattern, she has directed a ridiculous amount of pureflow into her current strike, she must be intending to break right through it. She must know how much it can endure by now

Her plan is logical, and would have worked if I didn’t know of it and if I had been honest during our spars. All this time, I’ve been pretending that my shield must break for me to summon a pristine one, a tremendous flaw in my ability which she has made use of in the past. However, that was never the case. Although it is essentially a waste of flow, I can create a new one without the previous one breaking, returning it to peak condition at a moment’s notice. Sylvia’s strike will be met with an immovable wall. As such, I direct my sharpsong towards her throat. Of course, I do not intend to kill her, I will stop right in time, but that will be the end of the duel.

Her warchord follows the intended path and I prepare to summon my shield and win this duel. That is when the humming resumes, a soft song tickles my ear, and the aegis refuses to manifest itself, as if heeding the orders of another master. Unhindered, her strike heads directly towards me. With the little time I have left to react, I exert myself and force my sharpsong to stand in the way of her instrument. Upon impact, it shatters, and I am launched away.

I tumble on the floor for a few meters. When the world finally stops spinning, I open my eyes and look up. There she stands, her warchord a mere inch from my throat. She is bloodied and battered, but she smiles and exclaims,

“I’ve won!”