Samrelda Tetellisford had always resented bullies.

Even back on Santrscwine she had found the antics of her fellow nobles and even some of the aristocrats to be annoying. Not distasteful or uncouth, or any of the fancy words she was expected to use and know, but annoying. The code of conduct nobles were supposed to follow always seemed to have an asterisk attached to it, some kind of additional feature that allowed people to act crappy to the people they wanted to treat badly. There was no honor, only asterisks.

And unluckily for them, she wasn’t going to let it fly.

Ever since she arrived in the dueling circle she had seen a lot of annoying behavior. They had let her in without question, given the patch on her uniform that designated her as “one of them”. Ameea, the second year who thought she was super important and decided she needed to mentor all of the noble underclassmen. The green-haired girl wasn’t the first to be threatened, but she was the first to stand up for herself.

When they challenged her to a four-on-one duel she just couldn’t take it anymore. These nobles were exactly like the ones who cried to mommy and daddy after Rel reminded them that there were consequences to their actions.

She cracked her neck, “So, greenie, you got a name?”

“Uh… Miieie.”

“Cool.” The taller girl remarked, “I’m Rel. You ready to dance?”

The green-haired girl nodded as Rel cracked her neck before taking sights on their four enemies.

“And begin!” The girl officiating the sham duel shouted, as her arm fell down Rel took her first step forward into the fray.

Her steps were quick despite her taller frame, almost lumbering toward the girl with blue hair at breakneck speeds. It was safe to say her speed caught them off guard. The other girl, Miieie, took a more defensive stance as the girl with twin-tails rushed her as the queen bee herself stood back, analyzing both of them. For the time being it was more of a one-on-one and a two-on-one situation, which was probably for the better. Rel didn’t know how many fights the other girl had been in, so a lot of it was making her opponents less confident and more guarded.

A tactic that isn’t very hard to do when they weren’t expecting you to participate in the duel in the first place!

Rel grabbed the girl’s arm as she stopped on a dime. Before the pink-haired girl could rush to her side she was flat on the ground wincing in pain.

In a fight with weapons it would’ve probably been a lot harder, since she would’ve had to gauge styles a bit further. But for someone who was cocky and had expected to beat down on one person it was a pretty expected conclusion. But after this she couldn’t expect the pink-haired girl or even Ameea to be caught off-guard by her speed or quick reflexes. It was all going to be about technique going forward.

“Why can’t I hit you?!” The twin-tailed girl screamed from the other side of the circle; it sounded like Miieie was at least quick on her feet.

“You’ve made a big mistake.” The pink-haired girl commented as she held out her hands, moving in a circular arc around her.

Rel didn’t keep her eyes on her as she did so.

“Pretty confident for someone who can’t fight fair.”

“That is beside the point!”

The pink-haired girl charged. Rel heard it. She dodged, tilting her shoulder and moving her feet to dodge the other noble’s attack at the exact right timing. As the girl turned, Rel rose her knee into her stomach, her smile growing on impact.

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“Your timing sucks.” Rel moved forward, grabbing the girl's arm to only have her attempt to grapple smacked away. “Techniques not bad, though.”

“Augh! You’re so annoying!”

Rel’s eye peered to her left, checking on Ameea’s position. Still umoving. Still arms crossed. Almost like it wasn’t so much about ego anymore and how the three other nobles were doing in a bonafide handicap match. The red-haired girl didn’t know much about her upperclassmen, so she only could guess why she wasn’t intervening between either of the one-on-one fights going on to her left and right.

“Got you!” The pink-haired girl screamed as she moved forward, grabbing hold of her arm.

She wasn’t very strong. Not comparatively, anyway. If there was one thing Rel was excellent at it was this–fighting, dueling, brawling. From that lifestyle came a broader frame than others. Her shoulders were wider, her body more conditioned; the girl who grappled her had likely overestimated her abilities in the fight. As she tried to force Rel over her shoulders in one motion, Rel pushed back and grabbed her arm with her second arm.

“Heh.”

The girl’s eyes widened and before she knew it she was twirling in mid-air. When she landed on her feet Rel was almost impressed.

The rules of informal duels like these were pretty much in “anything goes” territory, though Rel realized one thing as the two clashed once again. She wasn’t in any rush to finish the fight, but nobles… especially nobles like these had a thing about being attacked in certain ways. Rel, however, had no aversions to such attacks. Her fingers curled into fists and she began swerving around the pink-haired girl’s more elegant strikes, however one move made her react like a baby deer in the shadow of a predator.

Rel’s fist came flying for her face.

She stumbled backward, landing flat on her butt. Avoiding the strike completely, but also… well, losing her portion of the duel.

“Ahh! That’s cheating!” She cried, “You can’t go for the face! It’s unladylike!”

It was also unladylike to gang up on someone four-to-one, but Rel had to admit, it was a pretty dirty trick. It had worked a few times in the school she attended before, so she had a feeling it would make this sham of a duel end exactly how it should. Quickly.

“Don’t worry. You’ll get used to it.”

She glared back at her. “I won’t forget this! You’ve made an enemy for life!”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”

As Rel turned to face Ameea, who was still several feet away, another thump could be heard. The twin-tailed girl was screaming in annoyance. It seemed her dance partner was good enough. The thought that she couldn’t have seen much of her fight almost made the red-haired noble frown. Almost.

“So, looks like it's your turn, Ameea-senpai.”

Ameea sighed as Miieie joined Rel’s side. She was very much not expecting this. It didn’t take a mind reader to know that.

“What a bother.” She turned to the girl who was officiating the duel, who seemed shocked at the results. “I’m bored of this, anyway. I’m leaving.”

As fast as the duel started, it seemed like the dueling circle emptied.