Suara walked with a bounce in her step. Every thing she did helped open the game up for more fun.

The Resting Place was still crowded. A musician was playing a catchy tune she almost recognized under the large tree, and the players gathered to listen and dance were making it even worse. Then the people began to scatter, making room for a party marching through. It was a group of five, and they were heavily armoured. They marched in a wide formation that left little room for everyone else, and the clanging of their greaves on the cobblestone was distractingly loud.

Their apparent leader was at least six feet tall, though Suara was bad at measuring with her eyes. The woman wore a polished breastplate and armoured skirt that allowed a little of her muscular midriff to be seen. The fabric portions of her outfit were white.

Xander hopped behind the fence at the side of the road to get out of their way. Suara shuffled towards him and stood with her back to the fence.

When Suara expected the part to pass, they instead stopped. Their leader glared down at her. “You’re that weak little noob that pushed me, called me ‘mister’, and ran off.” Her voice was unexpectedly deep for how handsome her face and feminine her figure looked. Her silver hair settled on her shoulders with a slight curl at the bottom.

“Oh sorry,” Suara said. “I was in a hurry, I didn’t even see you.”

“A bad excuse for insulting me. I don’t take that kind of crap lying down.” The armoured woman squeezed her hand shut and drew her cards.

Suara looked longingly at the Adventurer’s Guild, and nearly started daydreaming about all the quests she would rather be taking. A dinging pop-up interrupted her daydream.

DUEL REQUEST vs. Celeste de l'Ouest DECLINE ACCEPT

“Huh?” she squeaked.

“Fight me, coward. I’ll let you get the first hit so you can really absorb how much trouble you’re in.”

“That’s silly,” Suara said. “I apologised to you already. I can’t help that I made a mistake any more than you can help being upset, but you can choose not to bully me.” She selected [ACCEPT] on the duel, but an error popped up.

Failed to initiate duel. Insufficient cards.

Celeste shook her head and drew a sword from her hand. “It isn’t bullying. People who make fun of me for my voice are the bullies!” She charged forward and slashed Suara across the chest. [133 Slashing Damage]. “I don’t stand for that kind of abuse anymore.”

Suara clenched her teeth as she stumbled back, and opened her hand to draw. “Why would they do that?” She had every card but the Winged Rabbit in her hand. There was no way that she knew of to tell how strong this woman was, but if she was going to try and kill her duel or not, she might as well try to get the one-time EXP for winning. “You don’t even pick your voice!”

She played the Iron Dagger and danced around another slash to stab her twice in her exposed midriff for a total of only twelve damage. That was nowhere near enough. The tiny number sapped her confidence.

Celeste brought her arm down and Suara swung up her dagger to block, but the stronger blow knocked the dagger from her grip and stung her hand. Sweat beaded on her forehead. This was worse than the hobgoblin.

“Of course not!” Celeste slashed wide, but it was the same as the first and Suara was able to step aside this time. “That doesn't stop them, and it didn’t stop you!” Her next slash was just as predictable.

Suara cast her bow and fired an arrow into her assailant’s stomach while she was stuck in the animation of her third slash. It dealt a measly 7 damage. It was like Xander said; the weapon had basic moves. As long as Celeste kept using them instead of fighting on her own, Suara could predict her attacks.

She kept dancing around the obvious attacks, taking advantange of the woman's reliance on basic attacks, and looked for openings in her combo. The most obvious was after her third swing, and soon she'd spent all her arrows. The armoured woman paused to tear the arrows out and toss them aside. Her blood dripped over the cobblestones but the pathetic 80 or so total damage Suara had dealt so far didn’t even make her flinch.

“Why are you so annoying?” Suara said, dodging another slash, “Just leave me alone!” She knew if she used her javelin she would have to be careful, or Celeste would cut right through it.

Instead, she waited for the third slash, and then ran forward with her bow. She threaded Celeste’s arm through, and then twisted the string around her wrist. With a sharp tug the bowstring snapped and the weapon vanished. Celeste grunted with surprise and the sword fell with a clatter to the ground as she released it.

Suara grabbed it. The game told her nothing of the sword’s power, but when the vitriolic woman reached for a new card she took the opening and impaled her on her own blade. [57 Piercing Damage]. It finally earned a proper wince from the woman.

Suara smiled. That was better.

She dodged back as Celeste played a card that spawned a whip of flame. It lashed out and slashed her across the arm. [80 Fire Damage].

The wound stung. She pushed the pain to the back of her mind and jabbed through the white fabric of her opponent’s armoured skirt. The shout of pain and damage message told her she found her mark. [56 Piercing Damage]

Suara’s cards flickered as if waking from a slumber. She had seen that before. Celeste wasn’t going to give her time to think about it though; the woman drew another sword.

Celeste swung her sword down and Suara took a step back to avoid it. Then she darted forward and her blade met the taller woman's with a loud clang. This secondn weapon's attacks were slightly different, so she waited to see the arc of the third swing before rolling behind her and jabbing her in the back.[57 Piercing Damage].

Celeste spun around with a growl. Suara circled her with the stolen sword held up defensively until he back was no longer facing the woman's allies. As their blades continued to clash Suara noticed a crowd beginning to form. The spectators voiced a mixture of amusement and confusion.

The slower weapon afforded her fewer opportunities to strike than the dagger, but the belligerent woman relied too heavily on her sword’s basic attacks. She whittled her down with jabs to her limbs and stomach, but patience was a weakness of hers and she took another blow that brought her in killing range. [HP: 5/320 {|_____________}]

She backed away. The distance gave Celeste the opportunity to take another card. The woman pressed her finger to her palm and a new light appeared on it. Suara tried the same, pressing her index finger to her palm, and it drew her Winged Rabbit. They cast simultaneously. The rabbit leaped into the air, and a bolt of lightning arced from Celeste’s hand, blowing it to smithereens.

Suara cast her Javelin and hurled it as a distraction. While Celeste committed to blocking the attack, she closed the distance. The taller woman’s sword split the javelin in two and Suara plunged the captured blade into her stomach. [56 Piercingn Damage]. Suara's hands shook as she pulled the blade out. All this… almost every card Suara had and even though she landed five times the hits, Celeste was only down a third of her hit points.

Two of Celeste's companions stepped forward wearing looks of concern. They drew cards and ran forward to force Suara back. She knew Celeste had tons of HP. She knew she had tons of defence. But what about magic defence? Her last card would hit whichever was lower. If it wasn’t enough… either way the fight was over.

Celeste tried to wave her allies back. “I can teach this brat a lesson on my own,” she spat confidently. As her friends hesitated at her side, she took hold of a card and cast another spell. A dark pulse struck Suara and her head filled with a loud ticking. Her knees wobbled.

[Effect: Slow: -6 AGI]

She backed up, but her limbs moved sluggishly as though she were burdened by water. She realised she would never dodge anything with zero agility. Celeste knew it, and taunted her with a prideful grin. Her friends cheered her on.

Suara cast Fluffy Pastry and stuffed it into her mouth. Her body lightened as her agility was restored. Celeste furrowed her brow.

She held her Gloved hand at her waist with her thumb out. “How about this lesson?” she said. She took hold of the red light on her thumb and cast Sword of the Stranger. “Don’t pick on strangers!” She dashed forward and drew the shining blade from its sheath. It flashed across Celeste and her friends, and their bodies sprayed blood across the street. The companions collapsed in dismembered heaps.

[1560 Magic Damage]

Celeste staggered as her HP rolled down to zero. “H… how?” she muttered as her body crumpled into a pool of blood.

EXP Received

7896

Level Achieved

5-9

SP Received

4

To Next

1098

Suara smiled to herself as the new card entered her inventory. The battle wasn’t done, though. Celeste’s last two allies had drawn their cards, but she didn’t care. She overcame a difficult challenge, and it was fun because she got to use all her cards. If she wanted to survive fighting the last two, she would have to rely on Sword of the Stranger to end it before they could hit her. There would be no fun in that, even if she could.

So she smiled as they ganged up on her and ran her through. The crowd was undecided between amusement and disappointment.