In the house, Dusteria moved quickly through the halls, her frustration growing with each empty corridor.
She had been searching for Crest for a while now, and there was still no sign of him. As she turned a corner, she nearly ran into a group of maids carrying linens.
The mont they saw her, they froze, their faces paling.
She frowned.
"Ah, sorry. Hm... could you tell where is Crest?"
The maids exchanged nervous glances, shifting awkwardly before one stamred.
"M-Milady... Shouldn't you be on the courtyard?"
Dusteria's eyes narrowed.
"The courtyard ? For what? Is he there?"
The maids hesitated, their hands tightening around the linens. Then, one of them blurted out.
"There's a duel happening! Between Sir Will and..."
In the courtyard, Bel and Will stood face to face, surrounded by a circle of knights. The air was electric, the clamor of voices rising as the onlookers cheered, jeered, and placed their bets on the outco.
Sienna stood between the two, her arms stretched out in a last-ditch effort to stop the inevitable.
"Will, this is ridiculous. You don't have to prove anything! This is not how friendship works!"
Will barely acknowledged her, his grin never fading.
"I don't back down from a challenge, Sienna. Besides, it's just a test match, no one will die."
Sienna groaned, rubbing her temples.
"You're impossible." She turned to Bel, her expression pleading. "Bel, don't go along with this. There's nothing in it for you."
Bel smirked.
"I disagree. I'm winning, no matter the result of this ga. This kid was unexpected but very welcod."
The knights erupted into laughter, so clapping their hands, others shaking their heads in amusent.
Will, unfazed, grinned even wider.
"Alright then. Since we're making this official, we should use skills too. Just don't go too hard."
Bel raised a brow, tilting his head.
"Skills?"
Will blinked, montarily thrown off by the question.
"Yeah, skills. You know, actual techniques? Moves that trained knights use? Wait... don't tell you don't have any?"
The knights chuckled again.
"What kind of knight doesn't have skills? Who brought this joke here?" one of them mocked.
Will crossed his arms.
"You've been fighting monsters, but have you ever trained properly? Skills are what make a knight deadly. If you don't have any, you'll see the difference real soon... I'll show you."
Bel shrugged.
"Fine, whatever."
Will's confidence never wavered.
"And if you lose, you give up your place as Dusteria's knight."
Bel barely looked at him.
"Sure. Let's start."
The two of them took their positions, each ard with a wooden sword. The knights hollered in excitent, eager to witness the fight.
Sienna sighed, already facepalming. This was going to be a disaster.
The circle around them tightened. The Duke and Crest watched from above.
The wooden swords were raised.
The mont the duel began, Will lunged forward, his wooden sword cutting through the air with precise, wide arc.
Bel barely had ti to raise his own sword before the first strike ca. Then another. And another.
Will moved with skill and speed, his attacks relentless. His blade struck from every direction, forcing Bel to block and parry with growing urgency.
The knights watching erupted into cheers, clapping and laughing as Will unleashed his maelstrom of attacks. The sound of wood clashing against wood filled the courtyard.
"Co on, boy! Where's all that training now?" soone jeered.
Bel's eyes had widened at first. He kept defending, blocking every attack but never countering.
So knights began to murmur among themselves.
"Maybe he's just trying to tire Will out?"
"Or maybe he's all talk?"
Will, noticing the shift in energy, decided to put on a show. He struck faster, twirling his sword in grand gestures to further entertain the crowd.
Bel, however, remained silent, his eyes narrowing slightly as he continued to parry.
Then, as Will went for a vertical slash, his wooden sword t Bel's in a sharp rebound.
Will grinned.
"What's wrong? Scared to attack?"
Bel lowered his sword slightly, tilting his head.
"I was just wondering... do I really need to..."
Then, as if realizing sothing, he cut himself off and raised an eyebrow.
"You're not mocking ? Are you fighting seriously now?"
Will blinked, briefly caught off guard by the question. Then, with a smirk, he chuckled.
"Of course not. You said you couldn't use magic, so I'm keeping things fair. Wouldn't want to bully you."
Bel rubbed his thumb along the edge of his wooden sword, his voice calm.
"You should use it."
Will scoffed.
"What?"
Bel glanced at him, his expression as calm as ever.
"Because if this is your best, then
this isn't a fair fight."
The knights burst into laughter, amused by what they saw as arrogance. Sienna, however, frowned. She knew Will well enough to recognize the consequences of these words.
Will threw back his head and laughed, making a show of it.
"Oh? You think you can handle at full power? That's rich."
Then, his grin sharpened.
"But there's no rit for , beating a beginner at full power. You want my full power? You'll have to deserve it."
Bel lowered his sword, giving him a tired gaze.
"At your risk and peril."
Will lunged forward again. The clash of wood echoed across the courtyard as Bel t his attack with a smooth, effortless parry.
Will gritted his teeth, pressing forward with relentless strikes, trying to break through Bel's guard.
The crowd roared with excitent, the knights cheering for Will, entertained by his aggressive offense. To them, the fight seed one-sided. Bel hadn't attacked once. He simply blocked, dodged, and deflected, his wooden sword moving just enough to keep Will at bay.
But inside Bel's mind, it was an entirely different battle.
Too slow...
Bel's brow furrowed slightly as he observed Will's movents. Every strike was painfully obvious. The shift of his weight, the tightening of his grip, the motion of his shoulders, it all scread his next attack before it even happened.
Is this really it?
He wasn't sure whether he had grown stronger or if Will was just that weak.
Bel shifted slightly, letting Will's blade glance off his own before stepping to the side.
He caught Will's gaze for the briefest second before dodging another attack with a subtle tilt of his body.
Will's expression flickered with confusion. He attacked again, this ti with a powerful downward slash, but Bel's sword t it at the perfect angle, knocking it aside with ease.
Again. And again.
Will's swings grew wilder, frustration creeping into his movents. He was putting on a show, yet Bel wasn't reacting the way he wanted. The knights' cheers began to shift into murmurs, their excitent diminishing as they realized sothing was wrong.
"Wait..."
"Why isn't he struggling?"
Sienna frowned, arms crossed. The longer the battle dragged on, the clearer a fact beca, Bel wasn't losing; he wasn't even trying.
Will clenched his jaw, shaking off the nagging doubt creeping into his mind. He forced a smirk, trying to regain control of the crowd's perception.
"What's wrong? Afraid to hit back?" he taunted. "Or do you just not have it in you?"
Bel exhaled through his nose, then his wooden sword flicked forward like a whip, smacking directly into Will's fingers.
A sharp yelp escaped Will as he instinctively recoiled, his hand jerking back. A wave of pain shot through his fingers, leaving them stinging. He stumbled, shaking his hand, eyes wide in shock.
The crowd gasped.
Then, before Will could process what had happened.
A sharp impact slamd into his stomach.
His breath vanished. His body curled forward as the tip of the sword crashed into him. His legs buckled beneath him, and he dropped to his knees, arms wrapping tightly around his torso.
The courtyard fell silent.
Bel stood over him, resting his sword casually over his shoulder.
Then, in a low, ominous tone, he spoke.
"I don't know if you understand this, boy, but when I asked you to go all out..." He tilted his head slightly. "It wasn't for you; it was for ."
He let the sword drop slightly, its tip resting against the ground as his shadow lood over Will.
"So... do you feel like stopping the talking and playing like a kid now?"
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