.
The spring night air had a definite chill to it, and this skimpy outfit offered nothing to fend it off. I was trying and very much failing to not think about the number of eyes that were seeing me wear it, too. The moon was bright, and my pale skin was doing an superb job of reflecting its light through the sheer material of the scarf top ‘mail’.
The chatter in the stands sounded quite bloodthirsty, too. Some of them were here to see a duel, but many were clearly here to watch a monster get slaughtered.
We had already moved to our starting posts, and it was time for Serera to retreat to her place in the stands. She stayed long enough for a few final words to me.
“It’s obvious that those two were working together, just like the prince suggested,” she griped.
“Why didn’t she just challenge me in the first place?” I wondered. “Why go through that farce?”
“A woman nearly a thousand years old challenging a fifteen-year-old child? If she had done so directly, the difference in seniority would have been too great. I could have insisted she send the challenge to your clan. Obviously, she doesn’t want to challenge the royal clan. Feraen is only somewhat older than you, so she could get away with challenging you.”
“We can’t protest it now?” I wondered, although I had no actual desire to do so. I had heard ‘monster’ so many times from those two, I was ready to do this.
Serera shook her head. “It’s gone too far at this point. Everyone present is here to see a fight. I don’t dare object now. But if you can hold up long enough to satisfy them, I shall ask the prince to stop the fight and declare a winner without requiring first blood. Mára probably believes he won’t grant it, but I think she’s wrong.”
I frowned. Serera didn’t think I could win? Of course, common sense was on her side in that respect, so I kept quiet.
“I would tell you to simply concede right now, but that would ruin you as a knight, and possibly as a princess. I hope your mother understands that, when she comes to vent her frustrations on me.”
I pressed my lips together, then said. “Mother will do no such thing. She won’t need to, because I’m going to win.”
Serera looked for a moment like she would argue, then just cocked her eyebrow. “I would be insulting your honor as a knight if I disagreed, right?”
“That should be obvious.”
She stared at me a bit longer, then let out a conceding sigh. “Just… promise me to stay down if she knocks you down. Don’t fight if there’s no hope. I can legitimately enter the arena to shield you if you aren’t getting up.”
I was annoyed, and didn’t respond.
After she departed the floor, Durandal noted, She doesn’t know you have me, My Lady. Together, you and I will teach that irritating woman a lesson…
I looked down so nobody could read my lips and answered, as quietly as possible, “No.”
What?
“The audience has fairy sight. They can see mana flows. It will look like someone is secretly helping me if the shields just happen on their own without me doing anything. I need to handle things without using you.”
From across the arena, Mâra’s mocking voice asked, “Trying to draw some sympathy, little monster? Don’t waste your time! Just look up at me, so we can begin!”
My Lady, that woman is carrying multiple magic treasures. She intends to overwhelm you. I have to at least shield you. I cannot let that woman kill my niece. Call out my shields, then.”
I wanted to say no, but I realized that anyone with decent fairy sight would see the shields were coming from the sword in response to my verbal signals. The crown prince already recognized Durandal as a ‘magic sword’, so it would just look like the sword’s magic was voice-controlled.
“Alright. Tell me what to say,” I muttered.
After a pause, Durandal answered, [Wall of Eurybia]… too long, so just call out “[Wall]”. It’s a third-level, omnidirectional upgrade of [Wind wall]. Only use it for Earth and Water attacks, because it’s less effective against other attacks. [Shield of Oranos] is my Aether shield. It’s strongest, but only blocks one direction. Call it as “[Shield]”. The Earth bubble that protects in all directions is [Fortress of Gaia]. Say “[Fortress]”.
Mára jeered, “Maybe you’re too afraid to face me, now that your protector has left the floor? Is the so-called knight just a frightened little monster brat?”
I raised my head and met her gaze. Her eyebrow raised, but her smirk didn’t waver.
Prince Gelon asked, “Are the combatants ready?”
“I am ready, Your Highness,” I answered calmly, with a small bow of the head toward him
“I’ve been ready to punish this trash for quite a long time, Your Highness,” Mára declared while not taking her eyes off me.
“Raise the barriers!” Tenre ordered.
A magic screen made of multiple elements dropped in around us, protecting the audience. It also screened the stone structure that formed the arena wall, and arched over the audience’s heads to protect the outside of the ring as well. At the density of mana I could detect, I didn’t think that anything I could throw would even dent it.
At first, neither of us moved. We just stared at each other. Mára’s smirk had continued without a break.
“If you fall to your knees and beg me, I might allow you to concede,” she suggested. “But you’ll have to apologize to everyone here for pretending to be a princess and pretending to be a fairy knight, and promise to cease your falsehoods forever. You’ll also have to beg my forgiveness for daring to hurt my granddaughter, not to mention polluting my air with your monstrous breath.”
I fully stocked my core with mana reserves before I arrived. I left those where they were and began pulling every element from outside, filling my mana pathways. At night, on top of a mountain, water and light were in short supply, but I was able to pull them with considerable effort from the moonlight and the ground under our feet. The rest came much more readily.
Mára’s mana was also ramping up, of course.
Keeping my face as stony as I could, my chin high, I muttered “[Body Fortification]” with a dose of Earth mana, then demanded, “Old hag, I demand that you apologize to my king this second!”
“What did you call me?!”
“Apologize for your filthy insult, or I shall have my satisfaction with your blood! For questioning my knighthood, you shall apologize to the king whom I serve, who made me his knight! Apologize to my mother, Princess Deharè, who says I am a legitimate fairy knight. Apologize to all the mortal knights I’ve proudly trained with and served with!”
Her laughter rang out, harsh and merry. “Apologize to blind fools? I will do nothing of the sort!”
“Blind?” I grew a smirk. “You’re the blind one! Or perhaps you don’t own a mirror? Old hag who dresses like a silly little teenager, you are such a pathetic sight, trying to look young in that childish armor…”
I mean, she’d even accessorized. She had a belly chain, a gaudy bracelet, and an even gaudier ankle bracelet.
Okay, fine. She’s a fairy. She looks like a teenager anyway, so it doesn’t actually look weird. So what? If a woman is pushing a thousand years old, I say she should have some dignity and dress like an adult!
Mára’s eyes grew wide and her sword finally whipped out of her scabbard. She leapt into the air toward me. I drew Durandal while coating him with Earth and poured extra Wind mana into my flight as I met her sword in the center of the arena.
We were barely two paces off the ground. The shockwave from my Earth meeting her Wind exploded into the ground below, rebounding in a cloud of dust that lifted us both upward. We broke apart, then met again in the air a half-dozen paces higher to trade multiple blows with neither of us gaining any advantage while the barriers around the arena pulsed fluorescent glows from the energies they were deflecting.
She ended that series with a wave of her hand, sending out a [Magic Lightning] attack without a word.
It was fortunate I had used [Fortification]. The electricity played across my body without penetrating, but the surprise of the chantless magic drove me to open up some distance with her.
Chantless magic is an innate fairy skill, but only fairies with advanced skills can do it. I’ve seen Mother use it many times, and I had seen others, recently, like Serera and Möemnen. But this little surprise, learning that my opponent also had the capability, meant I couldn’t stand and trade blows. I needed to dogfight.
I went to a one-handed grip and pulled out the jade writing brush with my free hand. Mára was similarly equipping herself, pulling her black turtleshell comb from her hair, although her long sword was going to be a bit less suited for fighting florentine than my bastard sword. Yes, she had a longer reach, but that made it less suited for single-handed use thanks to leverage.
But I wasn’t fooling myself. She had just shown me a lot more physical strength than her granddaughter or niece had, and a lot more blade handling skill. She would be able to use her longsword one-handed just fine. My ‘advantage’ was more like a reduction in disadvantage.
I began circling and she did likewise to keep me from getting a speed advantage on her. Then she sent out a stream of [Wind Bullets] by pointing the end of her comb at me as our velocities increased.
“Fortress!” I called out, and Durandal put it up.
“Drop it when I swing,” I muttered to him as I turned to make a dash at her while the bullets pelted his Earth barrier. Her eyes grew as she realized her attack wasn’t even close to penetrating.
“So weak!” I mocked as we met. Based upon what my fairy sight was telling me, those bullets were anything but weak, but the head game was on. She had to stop firing to meet my blade as I blasted past her with my Earth loaded blade.
Then a searing blaze hit my body, like I was on fire from head to toe.
