RD 3 Ch 24

Before I could crush Antonio's spirit any further, he exploded into an expanding mist that reformed twenty feet away. His sword was at the ready as he stared at me and drank a potion. "Who are you?" he asked, his gaze fixed on me down the edge of his rapier. 

Meanwhile, as he tried to inspect me, I brushed the inspect aside and got a quick look at his stats. The truth was, he was a smidge faster than me, while I was a fair bit stronger and tougher than he was. But it was fair to say, stat-wise, we were in the same league, if it wasn't for my monstrous spirit. 

I held my sword out in front of me. "I'm with them," I said, hooking a thumb at Simone and Gloria.

The two of them stood to the side, not interfering with the fight. Gloria and Merlin, however, were both concentrating on keeping the fire down. A swirling blizzard was already coming from the side, trying to quench the fire. Meanwhile, the flames seemed to be receding from the other direction. 

Antonio glanced at the three women behind me, his eyes opening wide as they landed on Merlin.

“It doesn’t matter who you are associated with. I will have my revenge.” He flashed forward, his rapier moving in an almost figure eight, as if he couldn't decide where exactly he was going to thrust. But in my experience with swordplay, it didn't matter.

My larger blade swept in from the side to brush aside all angles of attack, forcing him to withdraw his rapier.

It didn't stop him from stepping back and lunging as soon as my blade had passed. He grinned like he’d already won.

I let him pierce me straight through the ribs before I reached and grabbed his wrist with a free hand, exerting as much pressure as I could.

His wrist bones rearranged themselves, no doubt painfully. He exploded in the same mist as before and readied himself up for another round. 

I chuckled and swung my sword back and forth as the puncture wound from his rapier healed quickly with my Regeneration. Really the hit didn't actually do that much damage. Fighting against me with such a thin blade put him at a significant disadvantage. I could regenerate the small spot quite quickly.

He came in again and this time I held my sword out in front of me and fought more like a fencer, keeping him at range with light flicks of my wrist. Even if they were light, given my strength, I was able to bat his rapier aside easily.

Not that Antonio seemed to mind. From what I could tell he was reveling in a straight-up fight. 

He dodged to the side and grabbed his rapier with both hands, plunging it straight for my heart.

I twisted enough that he only pierced my shoulder and wiped my hand against where the first wound had been, collecting blood and slapping him hard across the jaw with my bloodied hand. 

He staggered back, pulling his sword out with him. He was definitely trained enough to never lose a grip on his weapon. "You slapped me," he said, wiping away at his cheek, only to see the blood that was on it. 

I smirked, snapping my fingers as the blood on his hand wrapped around his wrist with Blood Hex and I made an inscription of heavy. Hexes were really just a type of offensive inscription.

His eyes widened as his arm jerked down before he resisted it, though I could see his arm straining to stay up.

I snapped again, and the blood on his face wrapped around his neck, becoming a spiked choker that began to make him bleed. 

Antonio coughed and grabbed at his neck, trying to remove the curse with a pouch he’d pulled out of his spatial ring. But it wasn't going to be so easy. "You’re a witch," Antonio spat. 

"Well, that's harsh," I replied, standing in a more relaxed posture. The wound to my shoulder had already healed over, and my sword was out in front of me. "And here I thought you were a duelist. And just because I used my abilities in this, you insult me?"

"A duel is the test of the sword and nothing else," Antonio growled. He glared at me and activated an ability.

I knew it was coming, and I had baited it out with my Blood Hexes. He would not be the first duelist I had ever fought. 

Suddenly, the area around us seemed to solidify as if there was a pressure in the air. The two curses on him lost their vibrancy as they fell away. And it was as he said. Now we were locked in a duel, one in which we could only use swords to fight. 

"You don't seem surprised," Antonio observed.

I shrugged. "Your ability is not that unique. Since I was the one that started this fight, you get to choose the rules of the duel. And you've chosen swords only. You know both of the curses will come back as soon as the duel is over."

"I can get one of the members of my guild to remove curses," Antonio said. "However, within this duel, you can't use any more magic. Both of us will only take damage from our sword strike."

"If I punch you, you're still going to feel it," I said, smiling. "Like I said, your ability isn't unique, and you can't trick me."

Antonio scowled.

I've met more than one duelist in my past life. They all have the same ability. If you are actively engaged in fighting them they could declare that a duel can choose the weapons and the rules of the duel. I enjoyed watching him sweat though as I didn’t fall for his trick.

Antonio's limit to just swords wasn't unexpected. It would cut off all of my offensive magic. But I would keep all of my passive abilities like regeneration and my physique. Even blood boil right now was simmering off as my muscles cooled down and shrank to the normal size. 

Meanwhile, I noticed a giddy glee in Antonio's eyes as he shot forward again, his rapier even faster than before.

I stepped back with a wide sweep of my blade to keep Antonio off me for another moment.

He stepped back only to lunge forward even faster. His blade chased me as I back pedalled.

I snapped my elbow to the side, striking the flat of his sword and pushing it over my shoulder, earning me a cut, before my other elbow dropped in. I spun, clocking him in the side of the head with the hard part of my elbow. 

Antonio stumbled and my sword came for his neck, only for him to manage a parry. In the end, my blade only scratched his forearm as he managed to get out of the way. 

"You fight like a brute," Antonio said, squaring up again. 

I shrugged, putting my sword over my shoulder. "If you call me a brute, might as well act like one. Who knows, maybe I am one at heart. Personally, I don't put much stock in duels. I think they're a stupid farce."

Antonio's face dropped as I insulted the duel. "I cannot believe such an ignorant fool exists. The duel is the fairest way to settle any problem amongst nobility."

I laughed. "Your age is showing, Antonio. We're well past the age of duels and nobility. We're heading straight toward an age of battlefields and slaughter. Spoiler alert, being a brute is the best in that situation."

Even though I was standing there, the sword on my shoulder, there was no immediate opening for Antonio. He hesitated before lunging forward and trying to make one with a feint.

I could tell already his thrust didn't have enough strength behind it, and he barely pricked me before jumping back.

I didn't so much as flinch. The sword was still resting on my shoulder. I had called his feint, and he didn't dare follow up. 

"Well, if you're just going to poke me, I might as well get this moving." I took a lunging step forward, the sword coming off my shoulder in a chop filled with power.

Antonio didn't dare receive the hit. He jumped back as my sword crashed into the ground, cutting a deep groove even through the hard forest floor. 

I swept my blade to the side and around the block to counter his next thrust. He still grinned with glee as he managed to stab me in the bicep, only for me to step into his thrust and slam my forehead into his.

Antonio stumbled back, wiping blood away from his cracked skin. He blinked away the daze as I pressed forward.

My sword checked his own before I used an uppercut to click his jaw closed and snap his head back. I followed up with a knee to his gut and grabbed him by the back of the neck, smashing him into my knee several times until I felt his ribs crack. 

Antonio tried to squirm away, and I could tell he was shocked. His eyes opened wide.

"Mist not working?" I chuckled and smashed my knee into his chest again. "You see, normally you might be able to use that ability. However, with those hexes on you and the duel limited to swords, your little escape trick won't work anymore." I smashed another knee to his chest before throwing him back to his feet.

He stumbled, backing up on a stutter step before the flat of my blade smashed hard into his face as if I was swinging for a home run. With that, Antonio went down, several of his teeth missing as he sputtered blood onto the dried pine needles. 

"I think this duel is over, don't you?" I stabbed my sword through both of his wrists, pinning them over each other as I leaned down, bit my thumb, and wrote a quick inscription on his cheek. "With that, you won't be escaping again. Now, Antonio, do you remember how this conversation started?" I slammed down on him. "You attacked one of mine, and now you need to learn a lesson." 

I snapped my fingers and the latest curse sank into him. His eyes flared open wide as his whole body convulsed.

He didn't scream. I generally detested hearing people scream. It brought me no joy, no satisfaction, and it didn't mean I was doing a good job. 

I stood up, thinking about what to do with Antonio before I glanced over at the forest fire. It had been successfully contained by Merlin, who was wielding several blizzards, and Gloria, who was trying to press the flame out with her control of fire. 

Merlin had enough attention to glance down at Antonio. "What are you going to do with him?" she asked. 

"I'm not entirely sure. He did declare a duel with me, which means at the end of the duel, I should be able to get some compensation from him," I said, knowing how the rules generally worked. I also didn't necessarily want to kill all of Earth's strongest initiated before the Demon War. After all, Antonio could be useful. I just had to figure out how I was going to make use of him. 

"What do you know about him, Merlin? He seemed to know you," I said. 

"He's not bad," Merlin shrugged, "a bit of a pompous ass, but he has at least some qualifications for his attitude. I think he could be a useful servant, guarding whatever you need." 

I nodded along, stroking my chin.

Merlin continued. "He has people. There's a small guild he runs. Most of them are old enough. They don't particularly bother with the nominal world. Instead, they focus on trying to find instances and collect them from other FPA members so they can farm. They try to climb up amongst the ranks of those of us who have already awakened our powers." 

I stared down at the still convulsing Antonio. "So, he might have some uses after all. Great!" I grinned.