“Well, that could have gone better.” Zare said, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. She, like much of the audience, had watched Rexir’s transformation from man to sword with bated breath.

Adding to that, although she would make sure it was struck from the official record, she had watched mesmerized as Leresa performed a complete dismantling of her brother, and sent him to gods know where through the ground. To her eyes, it looked as though he just fell out of existence.

When all was said and done, Leresa and the giant golden sword she wielded turned to face Zare, sending a chill down the Golden Princess’ spine. “Well, that strategy could have gone better.” Zare sighed and shook her head.

“Honestly, how could we have predicted that we’d fight a two-on-one, and not an even matchup. You threw our entire game plan off.” She complained to Leresa, while moving and gripping her sword with her left hand.

“Don’t be too ashamed, Zare.” Zare’s eyes widened upon hearing the two voices of Leresa and Rexir overlapped. “It’s only natural, your big brother is unbeatable, after all.”

Zare clicked her tongue, and took a stance. “Shut up, you hussy! You should just take your seductive ways and return my brother to me!”

Leresa stuck out her tongue at Zare, and said, in only her voice, “Like hell! You’re just mad he chose me over his family!”

Zare couldn’t respond rationally, so she opted for taking a fighting stance instead. Leresa smiled, and said, “Fine. Out of respect for you, I’ll fight you in a straight up duel. No underhanded or sneaky tactics.”

There! Zare slashed her blade in a wide arc behind her, where she had felt Leresa’s mana converge. She felt her blade cut through magic, but couldn’t tell what it was since the mana had been invisible.

“Quite fitting for Rexir’s baby sister! I’d expect no less from you!” Zare’s nostrils flared as she forced herself to turn around, and intercept the blade headed right for her shoulder.

She caught it with her own blow, but her eyes widened in shock as she was still sent flying halfway across the battlefield. This damned amazon! Zare was still reeling as she stood back up, and placed her sword in the ground to help her regain her balance.

Light Magic: Sanctuary of the Gods! Zare clasped both hands around the hilt of her sword, and a large, golden magic circle spread out from where the blade had pierced the ground.

“Like you said before, nothing underhanded!” Zare yelled at Leresa, and a grin crept across her face as she felt her weariness and soreness vanish with each passing second. “Of course, magic should be allowed in a fight between spellswords, right?”

Instead of responding with her words, Leresa pointed her sword at Zare, and a small, pitch-black sphere coalesced at the tip of it.

Oh no you don’t! Zare gripped her sword tighter, and exhaled. Light Magic: Deft Counter of the Gods! Although light and dark magic were both extraordinarily effective on one another, Zare was confident that her counter would buy her enough time to use her bodily enchantments. Thus, she began to activate the spell immediately.

Light Magic: Blessing of the Gods! The pale pink color of Zare’s armor was replaced by a golden hue, and the Golden Princess smiled to herself.

A smile which immediately disappeared when she saw the expression of joy on the face of Leresa. “I knew you wouldn’t disappoint us!” She shouted, her words cutting right through the cheers of the crowd.

“Do your best Zare, because I’m going to all out from here on!” Sweat dripped down Zare’s back as she registered the threat.

Leresa finished gathering energy on her blade, and it shot out in a solid beam towards Zare’s body. It was at this moment that the trap Zare had laid down activated, creating a floating golden mirror in front of the Golden Princess.

Zare’s smile returned as the beam looked to make contact with the mirror at blinding speeds. “What do you think about that!? Your move was-!”

Zare’s thoughts were cut short as a beam of dark magic impacted her from behind. It wasn’t strong enough to go clean through her armor, thanks to the enchantments, but left a large crater in her left shoulder piece.

Zare shuddered as she realized what would have happened to her if she hadn’t placed the blessing on, and she looked back towards the smiling Leresa. How did she manage to shoot me from behind? Was the first an illusion? No, it couldn’t have been. There was only one mana signature… then-

“How nice you must have it, to be able to think during a fight.” Zare shuddered again, and she again put up another instance of her counterspell. Leresa smiled, in a way that induced Zare’s fears about war.

“Are you sure you want to do that again? It didn’t work the first time you know.” Three bullets, equivalent in size and speed to the first dark spell, shot out to attack Zare again. The counter activated again, and like before, it didn’t matter.

Zare’s arms, legs, and body all suffered blows, with the one to her left forearm being particularly nasty. Although the Sanctuary of the Gods spell could heal her physical wounds, they couldn’t help Zare recover what she lost in mental fortitude.

“Surrender.” Leresa said as she stood over the kneeling form of Princess Zare Minami. She lowered her golden blade, resting it’s tip on something above the ground that Zare couldn’t see.

Is this invisible substance a new form of magic!? How the hell am I supposed to beat something like that!? Leresa was all smiles, up until the point she realized that Zare was crying.

It started out as sniffles, and then grew into stifled hiccups, with the young princess unable to contain her rage and frustration at how unfair she thought the situation had gone. A collective, ‘aw,’ echoed from the crowd.

Leresa sighed and knelt down, and Rexir returned to human form, with both of them hugging the sniffling Zare. “Sorry.” Leresa said, hugging the girl tighter. “With how mature you acted about this duel, I forgot that you’re still just a child.”

The announcer was one of the first to stop being distracted by the spectacle, as he spoke, “Winners of the bout: Princess Leresa and Prince Rexir!”