Kiru arrived with a friendly smile. He searched Armad with his eyes for a moment before he turned to Inara.

"Do you have a brother?" He asked.

Armad smiled and turned to look at Inara who had an awkward smile on his face. "No, he's a friend."

Kiru paused for a couple of seconds and then turned to look at the field behind them. "I practice there, would you like to spar?"

Armad caressed the hilt of his sword. "Yeah, I would like that."

The servants quickly formed a small ring at the center of the field and surrounded it with nets. Then on the floor, something smooth and soft was introduced to reduce impact.

The two young men climbed onto the ring to fight. But before they began, prince Hasanu walked out of the three houses smiling. He recalled the last duel between them when they wanted to kill Armad. It had been four years already. He wondered how things would have turned out if they'd succeeded in killing him. Perhaps, there was some logic in what his sister did back then. The prince sighed and pushed the thoughts out of his mind. He was there to enjoy a duel, not to dwell on the fast.

Armad looked at Kiru as he cleaned his sword with a handkerchief. "I haven't used a sword since the tournament. I think you just might win against me."

"Because you are my guest, I will fight you with my eyes closed. If you win, I will give you my horse," Kiru said.

Armad sighed. He didn't expect to have a better horse than Ubbaru but he nodded nonetheless. In response, he put his sword back in its sheath. "I can't be rude to my host. If you wish to close your eyes then the least I can do is not to use my sword at all. You'll win if you force me to use it, or if I leave the ring even once."

Everyone was bragging about their strength. But who would win in the end? Kiru closed his eyes and Armad returned his sword to its sheath.

The prince lunged forward. He slashed at Armad from the right side but Armad dodge easily. Kiru slashed again and he dodged it. The prince attacked ten times in a brief moment. His moves seemed so accurate and right to the point that they seemed effortless. Yet, Armad had no trouble evading all of it.

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Then the white blade glowed. The sword was nicknamed lightning-explosion-dust, LED. It was called lightning because of the flashes, explosion because it blew things up like a bomb, and dust because it reduced things to mere smithereens. It didn't help that all of these were three years ago. Kiru must have grown stronger by now.

As if proving his point, wind as bright as the clouds appeared around the white blade. It seemed to be charging some kind of pol and getting bigger.

Smiling, Armad looked at the sword. "Uh oh, I didn't know you can imbue pol into your sword. You haven't used it the last time we fought."

Kiru smiled back. "You haven't seen much yet. Although, I must say this is all thanks to you. You were charging pol into your sword when we fought. I couldn't help but wonder what would happen to my sword if I were to do the same."

Unbeknown to Armad, Hasanu and Inara weren't the only ones watching the fighting. Even King Bihanzin was sitting on his throne and watching everything unfold through a magical mirror. The King knew his son's strength. If anyone was going to inherit his perpetual damage, it was him. Especially since his elder brother had already chosen to pursue djinns and their pol.

Besides Bihanzin, Nostalgia was also watching the contest through her window.

The wind blew Armad's clothes. When Kiru slashed again, the wind turned into seven statues, each holding an ethereal sword. They surrounded Armad and attacked from every direction. Armad couldn't even feel their pol which meant they could easily sneak upon him. He was lucky he didn't choose to close his eyes.

He disappeared from his position and reappeared behind Kiru, whose eyes were still closed.

If the young prince was surprised, he didn't show it. He stayed there unmoving.

Armad placed his hand on his neck. "You would have kissed the sand if this was a battlefield."

"If this was a battlefield," Kiru said. "I would have won."

Armad didn't realize there was a problem until now. He could feel a whirlwind behind him and he could see none of the seven statues where he'd left them.

He barely jumped away just as the statues slashed the ring where he'd been standing. The ground beneath the ring exploded and the statues appeared around him again.

Armad fled again using photon jump but the statues followed him. They were fast enough to compete with the jump and they obviously wouldn't respond to ordinary attacks since they didn't have a physical body. He would have just slashed through them with pol if he'd his sword, but he didn't. And he didn't want to use Sikai either.

Even as he thought about it, the statues began to glow. All seven of them exploded with him at the center. In addition, Kiru sent a flying sword at him. It seemed to carry the full power of the white blade, which also meant Kiru could go all out since he wouldn't be close to the explosion.