'It's fine, master-sama! We can beat that rude earth spirit!'

Aeris has confidence at least.

No, I need it as well, don't I?

I will win. That is all.

Compared to the minnow I was, I am now a veritable shark. Even staring down this other mighty shark, I cannot be afraid.

Kako is stood across from me, and has both of her bastard swords drawn, her eyes closed.

The palace duelling ground has been appropriated for this match. Personally, I'd say it’s not very good ground for me. It’s a flat square, coverless, and there is a mere 20-foot distance between me and Kako.

But it has stands for a peanut gallery on either side. Melody is on one side with a bunch of knights and even Kiku's father, and Aria and the other girls are on the other. It appears Kuro is on that side as well for some reason.

First of all, Kiku's conclusion from my week of training is at the forefront of my mind. "Do not fight any proper swordsman up front, Nii. You aren't even at a novice level even with that concentration power and your... um... body... they... um... are like, not bad on their own, but they're not meshed together."

I'm not the sum of my parts, in other words. Such is the danger of buying things with the skill tree, I guess. A real fighter would develop themselves in conjunction with their fighting skills.

Aeris. We'll be going with plan gamma.

'The fun one! Yay!'

I hold her in front of me, and brace into a posture that looks like I'm about to bound forwards.

"It looks like you're ready. Commence on the whistle." Says an old nobleman called Ross that I've never seen before. He appears to be adjudicating. Seria was cross that she was not considered trusted enough to adjudicate, but... I think I can see where they're coming from.

The whistle sounds.

I immediately jump from my posture into a diagonal forward roll, and clear my mind. Everything slows down.

It was a good idea after all. A sword sails over my head by just an inch. Even committed to her attack, she adjusted to that degree. Scary.

I spin up from the roll and swing Aeris wide at the legs near me. It shouldn't hit, but her length extends mid-swing and her tip grazes the edge of Kako's greaves with a resounding ting as she leaps backwards.

Here it is!

I let go of Aeris mid-swing in full momentum and a portal appears.

'Zoom!' Aeris giggles.

She comes flinging out spinning around from behind Kako.

Unfortunately, Kako doesn't land straight in the swords’ trajectory. Somehow, just her left foot sinks into the ground, tilting her entire body 20 degrees.

Aeris grazes the side of her neck-guard only, and I snatch her like a boomerang as she returns.

Just in time, as Kako's foot bursts out the earth with a bang, and she launches another strike outward. I'm forced to desperately parry. I stagger under the force of the blow that feels like catching a cannon to the face. Holy crap.

'Ow! Ow! Ow!' Aeris cries.

Focus! Now!

The blades spring with sparks. That's normal, right?

But where the metal touches this time, its suddenly more than that. A thunder-shock passes through the blades into Kako with a 'krakoom!' noise.

By reflex, she momentarily pulls back and I take the opportunity to get the hell out of dodge. The shock jitters her slightly, but it is grounded out by her Earth spirit.

I expected as much. Further thundershocks will be ineffectual. I leap backwards twice and almost lose my balance.

My eyes start to strain and my head starts to throb from all this concentration. This ability is starting to fray at the edges...

Shit! A banging warp noise scares me to attention. A flash step! I see Kako's figure dissolve like a wisp.

"Don't focus on the shadow! It always goes forwards!" More Kiku advice resounds in my head.

She's going to appear right in front of me at this rate. Nothing else to do but...

I let the balance I was previously correcting stop correcting itself and fall on my ass by my own accord. This is bad... no!

As I land with a clang on the back of my breastplate, the forward thrust is changed into a plunging strike as she comes out of flash. Crazy woman.

A bastard sword lands to both the left and right of my neck.

I let go of the concentration.

"It’s over!" The adjudicator roars. "In the duel of Ser Arnas vs. The Etranger, Ser Arnas is the wi..."

"It’s a draw." A low, resonant voice interrupts him.

It's... her father? He's sticking up for me? Melody looks shocked at him.

…

At least he noticed.

"My daughter could not land the strike without her own throat being slit. The etrangers blade is in the air before her."

Kako suddenly pulls up her swords, and steps back slightly, carefully. Her expression becomes a wry smile, and she nods.

A small trail of blood runs down her neck-guard as she turns to the stands. There is a sound of shock from them.

That's right... Aeris appears stabbed into the ground next to me, but her tip has emerged from another void portal right in the way of Kako's neck.

She reaches out her gauntlet and grabs the tip of the blade, barely visible, next to a shimmer in the air, as proof to those assembled.

'Hey! Hands off, buster!' Aeris whines, sending out sparks from her tip, but that only serves to prove the issue.

Kako snorts a laugh at this resistance, and let’s go.

"I agree with my father's ruling. This man is hardly a swordsman, but his variety of tricks caught me off guard several times. I apologise for shaming you, your majesty." Kako bows.

Wow, she really is knightly, huh?

"Yahoo! Pffft! Bleeeh!"

Suddenly, Aeris stops being a sword, and turns into her heavy metal girl form whilst presumably taunting Kako's spirit.

Unfortunately, she lands square on my chest and the shock of her huge weight knocks the wind out of me. And then I'm dogpiled by other running girls...

Urk. I survived... at least...?