At noon of the next day, I stood at one end of one of Rosewood City’s stone plazas. Standing across from me was Xavier, Lord Bertrand’s bodyguard. He was a skinny man, who wore a set of leather armor reinforced with metal plates. That surprised me. I expected him to wear metal armor, since he was a Metal wizard. Then again, his armor was enchanted.
He carried a massive sword that was also enchanted. However, there was something strange about the sword. It seemed…segmented, as if it wasn’t one single blade but a dozen.
Xavier sneered at me as I sized him up, a smug smile on his face.
I would enjoy watching as that smile disappeared.
As was typical during this season, it was a clear and sunny day. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. A crowd of people surrounded the plaza, kept at bay by a ring of House Rosewood’s guards. Voices filled the air as the crowd chatted among themselves. A few enterprising souls walked around selling drinks and snacks, hawking their wares. Several people made bets on who would win the duel, and I saw coins exchange hands.
Everyone was talking about the duel. On one side was Lord Bertrand, the son of their Lady, and the heir to House Rosewood. On the other side was me, an unknown lord. The only ones who knew anything about me were the adventurers and guards from Icefall City, who were also a part of the crowd.
Unlike everyone else, however, they didn’t shit talk me. When everyone saw the match up, a First Circle wizard with one thread versus a Second Circle wizard with one thread, many people threw insults my way. Others shook their heads at my stupidity. A rare few expressed sympathy for my situation.
While no one knew why this duel was taking place, everyone thought that Lord Bertrand must have done something so egregious that someone as weak as me felt compelled to challenge him, despite knowing the dangers.
I smirked when I heard this.
At first, when I negotiated the terms of the duel with Lady Rosewood and Lord Bertrand, I had wanted to keep this affair private. However, Lord Bertrand insisted on having it take place in a public area. Lady Rosewood didn’t care about who found out about the duel itself, as long as the reason behind it and the events leading up to it didn’t become public knowledge.
She didn’t think I would win, so it didn’t matter to her where I lost. If anything, having it occur in a public space would only make things worse for me and my House, as far as Lady Rosewood and Lord Bertrand were concerned. I would lose, shaming myself and my House further, or so they thought.
Since Lord Bertrand kept getting on my nerves about it, I acquiesced. In the end, it didn’t matter to me where the duel took place. My reputation wouldn’t suffer because of it. I wasn’t going to lose.
Annabelle expressed dissatisfaction about the whole affair, though she had no say in any of it because this was ultimately a matter between me and House Rosewood.
A priest from the Church of the Sun stood off to the side of the plaza, acting as the officiate for this duel. This was standard for duels among House scions, since the Church of the Sun was a neutral third party. However, during the negotiations, I also insisted that a priest or priestess from the local temple to Terra observe the duel.
While the Church of the Sun was supposed to be neutral when it came to House affairs, it didn’t hurt to have someone else keep an eye on things. Since I was doing this for the sake of Terra’s Chosen, I figured that Terra’s people would be more on my side than House Rosewood’s, even if Lorelei hadn’t revealed her status as Terra’s Chosen yet.
Lady Rosewood found this request strange, but agreed in the end.
The priest of Terra, a salt of the earth looking fellow named Halsey, stood opposite from the priest from the Church of the Sun. He wore a set of simple brown robes, and observed the proceedings with a stoic expression on his face.
As part of the terms for this particular duel, each participant could bring two magic items into the arena with them. These items could be anything. Weapons, armor, potions, etc. It didn’t matter, but each participant could only have two. Xavier had his enchanted armor and his sword, I had one of my magic daggers and a Ghostfire Sealing Talisman.
That was all I needed to kill Xavier, and I would kill him. He would not leave this place alive. This was a duel to the death after all.
When it came to the Houses, there were three kinds of duels, each with differing win conditions.
The first kind was a duel to first blood, where the first person to wound their opponent was the winner. They didn’t need to make their opponent literally bleed. As long as they injured their opponent, they won. Each participant could also forfeit the match. People fought these kinds of duels over minor matters, usually to avenge an insult or something similar.
The second kind was a duel to forfeit, where each participant fought until they either killed their opponent, or their opponent forfeited. People fought these kinds of duels when they had a serious dispute with someone, but didn’t necessarily want to kill their opponent or die trying.
The third kind was a duel to the death, where the participants fought to the death. Neither one was allowed to forfeit. People fought these kinds of duels when they just wanted their opponent to die, straight up, and were willing to risk their lives to make it happen.
During the negotiations, I argued for the third kind. I faced a lot of resistance from Lady Rosewood about this, as well as Annabelle of all people. The former made sense. My death would cause complications for House Rosewood. Since there was no way I would agree to the first kind of duel, she wanted to settle for the second kind. At least then, my death wasn’t guaranteed.
I didn’t know why Annabelle cared. Yeah, we were on much better terms now than we were before, but that didn’t make us friends. The only reason why we were working together was because both of us wanted to make Lord Bertrand pay. She had no reason to care about me, or Lord Gabriel rather. Maybe it was because I still owed her a favor.
Lord Bertrand liked the idea of a duel to the death; to an disturbing degree if I was being honest. The way he looked at me, as if I were already a dead man walking, had me wondering if there was something fucked with his head.
Together, the two of us managed to convince Lady Rosewood to agree to a duel to the death, though she wasn’t happy about it. Neither was Annabelle, who stormed out at this point.
After that, Lady Rosewood and I discussed what would happen after the duel.
If Xavier won, as everyone else seemed to think would happen, House Sturm would apologize for the affair and pay recompense to House Rosewood. If I won, which I knew would happen, I would get everything I had demanded.
Both Lady Rosewood and Lord Bertrand agreed to this because neither expected me to win. They expected me to die.
Oh, this was going to be fun.
“You should be ashamed of yourself,” I heard Annabelle say.
My people stood in a group behind me, representing my supporters in this whole affair, including Lorelei. She looked gaunt and wan, but otherwise seemed fine. Corie stood at Lorelei’s side, arm around her waist, supporting her.
House Rosewood occupied the area behind Xavier. They sat underneath a canopy tent, with servants waiting on them. There was Lady Rosewood, who sat next to a foppish looking man who I assumed was her husband, Lord Rosewood. Lord Bertrand sat in a chair between them.
Lord Eric and Lady Violet, Lady Rosewood’s younger children, were nowhere to be seen. I assumed it was because Lady Rosewood didn’t want them to see death at such a young age.
For some reason, Annabelle and her bodyguard, Avianna, didn’t sit with House Rosewood. Instead, they stood on my side.
“Why is that, Lady Annabelle?” Leroy asked.
“You’re Lord Gabriel’s bodyguard,” Annabelle said, her voice savage. “Your job is to keep him alive. Instead, you’re letting him get himself killed.”
“I believe in the young master.”
Annabelle let out a frustrated growl.
“What about you two?” she asked. “Are you really fine with this? Why aren’t either of you stopping him?”
Corie let out a snort.
“Why should we?” she asked. “The young master has got this.”
“Yes,” Lorelei said, her voice quieter than usual. “Lord Gabriel will be fine.”
“What is wrong with you people?” Annabelle asked. “Am I the only one who gives a damn about what happens to Lord Gabriel?”
If you had told her the truth, Aurora said. Annabelle wouldn’t be this worried about you. She might not like you as Lord Gabriel, but she seems to care about your wellbeing.
I let out an internal sigh.
‘You know why I can’t do that,’ I replied.
I heard your excuses, yes, Aurora said. But I’ll stop bringing it up. Instead, I’m going to put a pin in this. That way, when she inevitably finds out the truth and realizes that you kept it from her, I can say “I told you so”. Aurora let out a chuckle. That’s going to be fun.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
‘Aren’t you supposed to be on my side?’ I asked.
Through our bond, Aurora gave me the mental equivalent of a hug. I felt her love and concern for me.
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I am on your side, she said in a soft voice. Always. That’s why I’m giving you such a hard time about this. By keeping the truth from Annabelle, you’re hurting the both of you.
I returned the mental embrace.
‘Thank you,’ I said. “But I’ll be fine.”
I felt Aurora’s skepticism, but she remained quiet.
The priest from the Church of the Sun walked forward, until he was in the center of the plaza. It looked like the duel was about to begin.
“We are here to witness a duel between Lord Gabriel Sturm,” the man said, pitching his voice to carry to the crowd. “And Xavier, who represents Lord Bertrand Rosewood. Both parties wished to keep the reasons behind this duel private.”
The crowd was unhappy about this, and I heard angry muttering. They sounded like a bunch of old women who were denied the chance to hear some juicy gossip.
“This is a duel to the death. The first to slay their opponent will be the winner.”
The crowd perked up at this. More money exchanged hands.
Humans were a contradictory species. We valued peace, but we also enjoyed violence. This amused me.
“Now then,” the priest continued. “I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t ask both sides to reconsider other options in order to settle this dispute. No one needs to die. This is your last chance. After this, there will be no going back.”
The priest looked at me after he said this. It was clear he was giving me a way out. While I was grateful for his concern and consideration, it was unnecessary.
“No need,” I said. “I’m not going to change my mind.”
The priest looked disappointed, and a bit sad, before turning to Lady Rosewood.
“We won’t change our minds either,” she said. “Let’s just get this over with.”
The priest looked even more disappointed by this. I felt a bit bad for the man. It seemed he genuinely didn’t want this duel to happen. He wanted us to pursue more peaceful options.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen.
“Very well,” the priest said. “I shall activate the protective magic circle. After that, on my signal, you may begin.”
Earlier that day, a team of priests and priestesses had drawn a magic circle around the entire plaza. Once activated, it would erect a barrier that would prevent our attacks from spilling out and injuring any bystanders. It would also prevent anyone from interfering with the duel.
The priest reached the edge of the plaza and used his Holy magic to activate the protective magic circle. A barrier made of golden light flared to life, cutting off Xavier and I from the rest of the world. We could still see and hear them, and vice versa, but neither side could interfere with the other.
The tension in the air was palpable. The crowd was eager to see what would come next, Xavier looked confident that he had this duel in the bag, and I could feel the worry radiating off of Annabelle.
In contrast, I felt cool and collected. The tension that everyone else felt had no effect on me. That wasn’t to say that I was calm. I wasn’t. The icy rage inside me hadn’t diminished at all. However, I already knew how this fight would end. It was just a matter of seeing it through.
“Ready,” the priest said, with reluctance. “Begin!”
----------------------------------------
“Don’t worry, Lord Gabriel,” Xavier said with a smirk. “I’ll make this quick and painless for you.”
I didn’t reply. Instead, I closed my eyes and evened out my breathing. Soon, I fell into a meditative trance. Despite that, I remained aware of my surroundings thanks to my divine sense. In fact, without any visual distractions, I was even more in tune with the world around me than usual. I could feel the ebb and flow of the wind and mana in the area.
“That’s right. Close your eyes. It will all be over soon.”
I felt a surge of mana come from Xavier, and his sword broke apart. The massive blade split apart into a dozen smaller blades that flew in the air around him. Xavier controlled the flyings blades with his magic, directing them with his mind.
Hmm, interesting. It looked like a cruder version of Lotus Blade Dance. Xavier was too weak to pull something like this off on his own. He had too few threads for that. That was why he needed the enchanted sword. It was a crutch.
That didn’t mean I should underestimate these blades. Enhanced by Metal magic, they were quite powerful. Any one of them could tear through me with ease.
“Die!”
Xavier sent half of the flying blades my way, while keeping the rest floating around him, in case I tried anything. The flying blades were fast, thanks to Xavier’s Metal magic, but I could handle them. The Wind Blade barrage the Air wizard sent my way, during the fight with the Black Wolf Gang, had been much faster than this.
Then again, when it came to speed, few could match an Air wizard.
I waited until the blades had almost reached me, before I made my move.
“Gabriel!” I heard Annabelle cry out.
[Mist Arts: Dancing Mist]
At the same time, I also enhanced my body with mana.
Following a rhythm only I could hear, I dodged out of the way of the flying blades. All of them had been aimed at my body, but I managed to move and contort my body so that they all missed. My movements were swift and smooth. The blades all slammed into the protective barrier behind me.
The crowd fell silent, and I could feel their stunned stares. Instead of dying right away, I managed to avoid getting hit at all. Xavier stared at me, dumbfounded. Not quite the easy victory he envisioned.
While Lightning Flash was my preferred movement technique when it came to raw speed, it wasn’t the only one I knew. In fact, I knew a lot of movement techniques.
As the name implied, Dancing Mist allowed one to move like mist dancing on the wind; agile, nimble, and elusive. It combined the speed of Air with the fluid movement of Water. It was perfect for dodging attacks coming from multiple directions.
If the flying blades had been faster, I would have had to resort to Lightning Flash to end the fight quickly. As it was, I didn’t need to. Since that was the case, I would put on a show.
I stepped forward, continuing to move with the wind. Xavier shook himself free from his shock, and attacked me again. The blades that had missed me earlier came at me from behind. However, as before, I dodged them all.
“How the fuck is he moving like that?” I heard Annabelle say.
Her words broke the silence that fell over the crowd. They started to chatter again, even louder than before.
I continued to move forward as Xavier attacked me with the flying blades, but I continued to dodge them with ease. Thanks to my divine sense, I could predict exactly where they would go.
The blades started to go faster, but they were still too slow to hit me. Xavier tried to attack my legs, but I jumped and pushed myself off one of the blades, before landing on the ground again.
The crowd let out a cheer when they saw this.
When I was a quarter of the way towards him, Xavier snarled and sent the other flying blades my way. He now used all of them to attack me. Okay, things were starting to get more serious.
Instead of all of them coming at me from one direction, the blades now attacked me from all sides. It was like being attacked by a swarm of large metal bees. This made it impossible to dodge all of them, even for me. The blades started to hit me. Enhanced by Xavier’s magic, they were quite sharp.
None of the wounds were serious. A nick here, a graze there. The cuts stung, but that was it. Individually, the wounds were small and insignificant. However, they all bled. If this went on, Xavier didn’t need to land a killing blow. At this rate, I would bleed out; death by a thousand cuts.
Two blades came at me at once. I dodged one, and used my enchanted dagger to deflect the other. While I wasn’t powerful enough to stop one of these blades outright, even with sword intent, I could redirect them.
A clang rang out as my dagger hit the flying blade, knocking it off course. The crowd let out another cheer at this. Xavier gritted his teeth, and his attacks sped up even further.
I moved faster as well, following the rhythm of our dance. And it was a dance. Xavier made his moves, and I made mine. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t the one leading this dance. I was.
I continued towards Xavier, dodging his flying blades all the way. No matter how hard he tried, he could never land a serious blow. Even when he attacked with all of his blades at the same time, each one coming at me from a different angle. I got hit four times when he did that, but I either dodged or deflected the rest.
Soon, I reached a point where there was nothing between me and Xavier, except a dozen feet of empty air. I opened my eyes and dashed forward.
Xavier took a step back and sent all of his blades to attack me, but I would reach him before they reached me. He used a shield spell to protect himself, but that made no difference.
When I reached Xavier, I slapped the Ghostfire Sealing Talisman on him. For a single, precious second, the talisman sealed his ability to use mana. The flying blades faltered and his shield spell failed.
In that second, I slit his throat with my enchanted dagger. Coated in my sword intent, the dagger sliced through his neck with ease, nearly taking his head off.
Xavier stood there for a moment, an expression of complete disbelief on his face, before he toppled to the ground. Blood gushed from his neck, forming a pool on the ground. His flying blades all clattered to the ground. Without Xavier’s magic, they were now just inert pieces of enchanted metal.
Silence fell over the plaza as I stood there, panting. Lady Rosewood and her husband gaped at me open-mouthed, while Lord Bertrand stared in disbelief.
My body ached all over from using Dancing Mist, and I was covered in blood from the many wounds I received stung, but none of that mattered to me. A dark satisfaction filled me as I stared down at Xavier’s cooling corpse.
While it wasn’t as good as killing Lord Bertrand himself, at least I killed the man who stabbed my apprentice.
I turned to look back at Lorelei and grinned. However, she didn’t look as happy as I expected her to be. In fact, she looked frantic. What was wrong?
A wave of dizziness washed over me and I swayed on my feet. What the hell?
That was when I noticed the trail of blood I had left behind. There was a lot more than I had expected. I examined my wounds.
Oh fuck.
The flying blades had been sharper than I realized. So sharp in fact, that the wounds they gave me didn’t hurt as much as they should have. They cut me deeper than I had thought. I had been so focused on dodging them and reaching Xavier that I hadn’t noticed. The minor cuts weren’t so minor after all. I was minutes away from bleeding out.
At the same time that I saw this, the crowd let out a deafening cheer. It felt like they were celebrating my imminent death.
The protective barrier came down, and both priests rushed towards me. My friends ran towards me as well, though Lorelei and Corie fell behind since Lorelei was still recovering.
Annabelle sprinted in my direction, followed by Avianna.
I stood there, not moving. The priests would reach me soon enough. With their Holy magic, healing me wouldn’t be a problem.
That was when Lord Bertrand made his move. In his hands, he held a thorny whip and swung it in my direction.
“Watch out!” Annabelle yelled out.
She needn’t have bothered. I saw the attack coming before I heard her warning. However, I didn’t bother trying to defend myself. That was because someone else made their move right after Lord Bertrand made his.
Lady Rosewood reached out with one hand and the thorny whip froze in place. It then reversed course and headed towards Lord Bertrand. In moments, the thorny whip wrapped around his body and bound him in place. He fell to the ground, letting out a cry as the thorns pierced his skin.
“Mother!” Lord Bertrand cried out. “What are you doing? Let me go!”
“Take my son back home,” Lady Rosewood commanded in a cold voice. “I’ll deal with him later.”
Several nearby guards leapt to obey her command. They picked up Lord Bertrand, even as he struggled to free himself. Lord Rosewood stood up and joined them.
“I’ll go with them, dear,” he said. “Just in case Bertie tries anything.”
“Thank you, Richie,” Lady Rosewood said.
By this point the priests had reached me, and I could no longer stay on my feet. Terra’s priest caught me before I hit the ground.
“Easy there, lad,” the man said. “I’ve got you.”
Holy magic containing a hint of Earth washed over me, healing my wounds. The priest from the Church of the Sun joined in with his own Holy magic; it felt like the light of the Sun filled me. Together, they dealt with the worst of my injuries.
I remained quiet as they worked, as not to distract them, even as their healing taxed my body.
“Let’s bring him to the House of Healing,” the priest from the Church of the Sun said when they finished.
Terra’s priest nodded.
Together, they lifted me up and put me on a stretcher that someone else had brought. Once I was on the stretcher, I was carted off towards the Church of the Sun.