Just before the duel started, Hera opened Lurize's status to see what he could do. To her surprise, a whopping 350 attribute points were available to distribute. Weirded by the number, she turned to Daskka for answers.

'That's the number of points he got during the time he stayed with you. Every blade has that, but only when they get a title do we know what the number of points they would get is. It's supposed to be close to the number of points you got from your level-ups from then to now. Or at least, related to it. I know the math doesn't add up, but I honestly don't know how the system gives them. Maybe this is a way to bridge the gap between your stats and the blades?'

Hera nodded and let Lurize know about his attributes. He distributed them and then double-checked his status to be sure of everything he could do now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lurize of poison - Venom

Zweihander - Rhinoceros Beetle

Stats:329

Strength: 91 Endurance: 60

Agility: 49 Charisma: 43

Intelligence: 43 Luck: 43

Mana: 581 562/581 562

Available attribute points: 3

A two-handed sword that excels in duels thanks to its parrying hooks.

Weapon Scaling:

Empress attributes: 85

Strength x 11.6 [7.3(9.1) + 4.3] Endurance x 9.1[4.8(6) + 4.3] Agility x 8.2 [(3.9) + 4.3]

Charisma x 7.8 [3.5(4.3) + 4.3] Intelligence x 7.8 [3.5(4.3) + 4.3] Luck x 7.8 [3.5(4.3) + 4.3]

Skills:

Ancient Weapons Master

Being part of the court of blades, Lurize learned almost all simple combat styles of weapons that have been a part of the court before. He can teach the court members simple fighting styles at an accelerated rate. When teaching those who are not part of the court, he can only share his knowledge of weapons that were a part of the current court, not previous ones.

Venom Edict

When using a Venom spell or skill with this weapon, the effects are increased by 40%

When infused with mana, this weapon deals an additional 30% Venom damage with all its strikes.

All weapons wielded by Lurize will be under the effects of the Venom Edict.

Venom Blade

Lurize can create a cover for his Zweihander. The amount of mana used by this skill will dictate the increase in strength and range of the weapon.

Minimum mana cost: 10 000 mana.

Winged Boost

Using his wings, Lurize can move at high speeds for a dash.

Movement speed increase: 100%

Cooldown: 1 hour

Beetle Form

Lurize can become a small golden Rhinoceros Beetle. In that form, venom spells are 20% stronger. He is able to fly and increase his ability to move stealthily.

Rhinoceros Form

After a brief delay, Lurize can become the embodiment of a Rhinoceros Beetle while still keeping its bipedal form.

Attribute increase: 20%

Duration: 30 minutes

This effect can be increased by 1% by reducing the duration of the effect by 1 minute.

Maximum increase: 70% for a 1-second duration.

Cooldown: 24 hours.

Exoarmor

Lurize's body takes the benefits of an exoskeleton of the Rhinoceros Beetle. Half of his total weapon scaling is used to increase his defenses based on the attributes present in the weapon scaling.

Defense scaling: 26

Defense + 85%

Spirit Bound

When the Empress uses a Venom or Poison type spell, Lurize can pay half of the mana cost of the spell desired. Doing so will make him spend only a quarter of the total mana cost for the spell.

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After getting a good look at his skills, he felt comfortable with his new abilities to fight. Hera also wanted to see what her new titled blade could do. They all walked to the middle of the square in front of the house. Everyone already had created a few dancing lights to illuminate the area where the two would be fighting.

"Everyone is excited, hunh?" Hera smirked.

"Well... Yeah, this is the closest thing to TV we got," Blue said.

Hera just rolled her eyes and pulled her court members to the side, "Ok. I'm going to be the referee here. If I say stop, you stop. If I say move back, you move back. Understood?"

"Yes," Nimbus and Lurize replied, the Z sounds coming from the Royal Advisor as he finished the word.

"Ok, then. I want a clean fight. No dirty tricks, no spells. Only skills and your combat style. Nimbus, you can't fly beyond the houses. The arena is inside this square."

"Are we allowed to hit any part of the body?" Nimbus asked.

"Well… you two don't have genitals, right?" Hera looked at Lurize, who nodded in response, "Ok, so any part, except the eyes. I was going to say mouth too, but I don't know if you have one.

"I don't think I do. If I were to eat, I think I would need to place the food inside my armor," Lurize replied.

"Really? Well… we can check this later," Hera stepped back to be closer to her friends, "Are you ready?"

"Yes!" Nimbus pulled his tonfas.

"I am ready," Lurize leaned on his back leg and pulled the heavy two-handed sword up, keeping it steady on a horizontal position aimed at the Sentinel.

Hera looked to both sides and asked Daskka to be ready to heal, just in case. She could feel the tension rising, and even her friends were getting more and more excited. Nimbus was to her right, and Lurize to her left, both with eyes locked into each other. The rest of the court was also out so they could watch, but they were around the square, forming the arena where they would fight. After enjoying that expectation for a couple of moments, she yelled, "Fight!"

Unlike what happened in the movies, both of them moved right away. Nimbus dashed to the side, avoiding an attack as Lurize went in for a stab. With a follow-up, the Royal Tutor swung the weapon to the side, chasing after the Sentinel, who jumped, escaping the second blow. However, Lurize quickly stepped forward and grabbed Nimbus by the feet before slamming him into the ground. Just as he was about to hit the floor, a cloud of frozen ash covered him, reducing the damage he would take with the attack. RT wasn't about to let up, and he quickly brought down his sword. He knew that he would be at a disadvantage in a long fight. Nimbus' attributes were higher than his own, but the Sentinel was much lighter than the armored beetle. His weight could work to bridge part of that gap, especially if the griffon decided to fly.

Nimbus kicked the ground and moved to the side, using his wing to get up and rush back toward Lurize's back. He delivered a quick flurry of attacks, some of which sparked in fire, wind, and cold, but the armor was much sturdier than he expected. The Royal Tutor pretended to go for a new attack, causing Nimbus to step back to gain some distance, but that move was just a faint. Instead, he rushed towards the Sentinel with his sword behind him on an upward swing that left a mark on the floor. Nimbus had to block and use the momentum to vault over RT, which was much easier for him to do since he had wings to help him get some height. Before the Sentinel even hit the ground, Lurize spun around, making his weapon glow in a golden light as it became longer and sharper. Nimbus spun and used his tonfas to deflect the strike to the side together with his shield spell, but those moves happened dangerously close to those watching, and the zweihander was now going toward Helena's stomach.

Luckily, Hera noticed what would happen thanks to her [Attack Pathing] skill. She put a heavily fortified stone elemental armor around her body aAnd stepped into the sword's trajectory, ready to block the impact and push Helena out of the way. Nimbus and Lurize saw that happening in slow motion, and they tried their best to stop the attack, but it was too late. The momentum was too strong to stop the massive blade. However, just 5 centimeters before the weapon reached Hera, it stopped dead in its tracks as if it had just hit a wall.

Helena and Bonnie yelped in surprise, and Adriel just stared at Hera for a moment, "How did you do that?"

"Stopping it? I don't know," Hera replied.

"It's because they are part of your court, mum. They can't hurt you. If they try, they are stopped. Since it was an accident, the legacy just froze his attack," Daskka explained.

"Oh… does that mean it will keep going when I move?"

"No, no. Forgive me. It wazn't my intention," Lurize pulled the zweihander back, deactivating the [Venom Blade]

"That's ok. Just be careful. Actually, let's do it like this," Hera made a couple of dancing lights in a line in front of her, "Lurize, Nimbus, you cannot cross this line. To you, the area beyond these lights is an invisible wall that cannot be broken in any way until the end of the duel. This is an order," she turned to Helena to see if she was ok and if it was just a scare. The mage was already laughing about it.

"Thank you, and again. I apologize. I did not expect a move that would make my weapon bounce back this way," Lurize turned to Nimbus.

"I'm sorry too. I should've been more careful with my surroundings. I got excited with the fight and ended up being careless," the Sentinel walked towards the 'wall' Hera created and tried to pass through, but his hand was blocked by an invisible force. For anyone watching on the other side, it looked like Nimbus was pressing against a glass window. Satisfied with the result, he stepped back, getting ready to fight again.

"That's fine. No one got hurt. You guys can keep going if you still feel like it," Hera suggested.

"Yeah, we still don't have a winner," Blue nodded. Despite the scare, she was still hyped for the fight.

Nimbus and Lurize looked at each other and then walked back, getting ready to continue.

"I actually was asking how did you know that the attack was going to go there. You were by my side when the fight started," Adriel said in a low voice.

"Oh, I have a skill for that," Hera replied without looking back. If she had, she would've seen the confused expression on the elf's face, but since that wasn't the case, it remained unnoticed.

"Fight!" Hera yelled again and the duel restarted.

Nimbus had a smile on his face, but now he was the one on the offensive. He rushed at Lurize only to side step hitting RT in the back a couple of times. The Royal Tutor tried to catch the Sentinel, but he was too quick. Every time Lurize spun the sword, Nimbus was already on the other side. Having a body was weird. He couldn't move as he was used to, and it was harder to change his mind in the middle of a strike. Nimbus was too fast, and this matchup was terrible. To Lurize and everyone watching, it looked like the Sentinel was just toying with his opponent, making RT spin around aimlessly. Hera, on the other hand, could tell that this wasn't the case. This was a stalemate. Lurize couldn't hit Nimbus, but Nimbus wasn't able to deal enough damage to finish the fight since he could only hit the Royal Tutor's back, which seemed to be the sturdiest part of his body. That being said, everyone could tell that Lurize was getting angry. His movements were more and more reckless, and all that nobility he once had was slowly fading away.

"What's the matter, big guy? Am I too fast for you?" Nimbus taunted, trying to distract his opponent and reveal an opening for a strike in a different place.

"Quiet," Lurize replied, spinning in the opposite direction to try to catch the Sentinel, but he could only graze the side of his leg, which wasn't enough to trigger his venom.

"Can't talk and fight? C'mon, aren't you supposed to be an ancient being who knows how some moves? Show me what you got," Nimbus jumped on Lurize's back and kicked him forward to get some distance between the two, but that was just a faint.

The moment he pushed back, he transformed into his tonfa form and started attacking from two different sides. RT dropped his sword and grabbed both attacking weapons before slamming them against each other. He then tossed Nimbus away and pulled his sword again. The Sentinel returned to his biped shape with a smile, "Now we are talking. But you have to have something else hidden there. C'mon, bug boy."

Nimbus dashed forward while Lurize was still with his back turned to him, but the Royal Tutor's voice echoed in the square as he swung the zweihander back with a single hand, cutting the Sentinel's chest, "I am not a bug!"

Lurize turned around with rage in his eyes. His entire body glowed, becoming golden as a pair of two beetle wings appeared behind him. The horn on the top of his head grew, forming four large blades on the four tips it created.

"I AM MR. BEETLE!" RT roared and dashed at Lurize at such a high speed that the only way for the Sentinel to evade was to turn once again into a pair of tonfas who were kicked to the side by the massive metal body of Lurize. The Royal Tutor slammed his horn against the wall of a building, piercing it and getting stuck inside the structure.

"STOP!" Hera yelled, "That's it, duel's over."

"What? Why?" Blue gasped.

"We can still fight!" Lurize protested with his horn still stuck in a wall as he tried to remove it.

"Yeah. This isn't over," Nimbus returned to his biped form, nos with some bruised from the kick.

"I don't care. You break a house. You stop fighting. Period," Hera huffed. She had no idea what would happen if they continued fighting, and it was obvious that Lurize was no longer keeping his cool, "Nimbus, your taunts were a cheap shot. Now, come here. And Lurize you too, turn into a beetle and come here."

Both of them did as they were told. Hera asked Daskka to heal them both, even if they could still move around without any problems. After a couple of minutes, both titled blades were still arguing about who should be the winner of the fight. Annoyed by that, the Empress turned to them with a huff, "Now I have a quest for you. Both of you. Take some mana and run around the city. Go in different directions and come back in 30 minutes or when the mana is running out. I want to see how the mana interacts with the two of you in a quest. And take that time to cool off and stop arguing about the fight. You were both disqualified, so no one won."

"But Hera!"

"But Empress!"

"Say one more word, and I'm going to say Daskka was the winner, and she will never let you two forget that," Hera squinted at them. That threat worked exceptionally well, and both titled blades stopped arguing. The Empress could even feel the herald's satisfaction with the reaction, "Right, so, are you two up for this quest? It's ok if you are not, but you still have to cool off."

"I am," Lurize nodded, he wasn't injured, but some parts of his armor were charred, frozen, or bent. Still, Daskka's healing was fixing some of those defects.

"Me too," Nimbus looked a bit worse for wear. Some bruises around his body and a cut on his chest, but the healing worked really well too.

"Thanks, just run around a bit. You can even walk if you prefer. Avoid flying. If you see anything dangerous, get back and try not to go too far away. This is just a test," Hera let them kiss her hand to receive the mana, and after sending 250 thousand points to each, they both took off. Not sprinting but on a small jog.

When she walked back to the group, Bonnie and Shane were worried that there could be some bad blood between the two, but Hera was relaxed about it. She could sense the deep respect they had for each other, especially now after the fight. It seemed that those martial arts movies were right. The best way to form a bond was by fighting.