The last day for Allen's training with Rose had finally arrived. The next day, he would be having his duel against Nathaniel Rivertide.
The three weeks of his training and being in class flew by very quickly. Although it felt short, Allen feels like he has learned a lot in these past few weeks.
He's learned how to better use his mana, so that way he doesn't run out as quickly as before. He doesn't have a lot of mana to use, so this is very important. He's also learned different ways to fight with his sword, as Rose has her own sword techniques. Running fifty laps every day has also improved his physical endurance. So now, he has improved with endurance both mentally and physically.
But since the final day had arrived, it was time for Allen to face Rose one more time in a practice duel before his duel with Nathaniel Rivertide.
"You ready?," Rose said while drawing her rapier from its sheath.
"Of course," Allen responded as he also in turn drew his sword.
"Then let the duel begin!," she said and immediately began to rush towards Allen.
No breathing room, huh?, Allen rolled his eyes as he prepared himself for Rose's first attack.
In the past three weeks Rose has been training Allen; every single training day she does a practice duel with Allen to improve his dueling techniques. Allen is about evenly matched to Rose when it comes to the sword, the only key difference is Rose has been practicing and using her sword a few years longer than Allen, and has dueled several difficult opponents using her blade.
During the past three weeks Allen has been practice dueling against Rose, he has never managed to beat her - not even once. Rose has primarily dueled with him using just her sword for the first week, then transitioned to using her sword and her magic starting the second week.
Apart from the endurance training and the practice duels, Rose also has had Allen train dodging and blocking magic-based attacks. She would repetitively launch magic at him, in which he had to either dodge it, or cut through it. Most of the time Allen had managed to dodge or cut through it, but there were a few times where he got hit by her magic and flew backwards landing on the training room floor a few times.
Now that their final duel has finally started, Allen was ready to try to win this one. After all, if he can't beat Rose, how would he be able to beat Nathaniel?
With Rose charging straight at him, he took the few seconds he had in that moment to analyze his situation. While she was charging in, he could tell that she would be easily able to block if he striked first, and then she would most likely counterattack. His best option was most likely a dodge, but she was probably expecting something like that. He could also try to block her first attack, but due to the nature of her rapier, she can fire a flurry of attacks in which if he blocked the first one he would simply get hit by the next few that came in.
Just as she was about to land a strike on him, he veered to the left of her whilst blocking her attack. He pushed her sword back with enough force to prevent her from quickly turning her sword around and striking him.
"Oh? Nice," Rose said, surprised. She probably wasn't expecting Allen to take several movements at once.
Rose was about to quickly turn around and strike him, but before that could happen Allen put a little distance between them. Realizing this, Rose proceeded to rush in again, giving Allen no time to fully prepare for her next attack.
Just as she was about to strike, Allen managed to turn the situation around and put her on the defensive, even for a moment. Instead of trying to defend, he proceeded to strike at her as she came in. It was a bit of a gamble, but it worked out. Rose proceeded to quickly switch from offensive to defensive as she blocked his attack. Right as his attack was defended, Allen proceeded to quickly begin to strike at her several times. Rose then quickly defended each one.
"You're really trying to go on the offensive now, huh?," Rose commented as she blocked each of his attacks. However since Allen's sword is a bit heavier and stronger, Rose's sword has a little trouble defending each attack. The stronger the attack, the harder to block with her lighter sword. Her sword is made for quick, precise attacks, and is not suited for blocking or heavy attacks.
"I'm going to win this one," Allen declared as Rose blocked each of his attacks.
"We'll see about that," she grinned as she kept up.
For what seemed like awhile, Allen kept trying to strike her. Rose managed to block each and every single one, but it was only a matter of time before she couldn't keep blocking. She managed to push his sword back a little with that last block, and then proceeded to summon a magic circle of decent size.
"Shoot," Allen managed to say before Rose summoned a blast of water at Allen. He quickly sliced through the water blast using his sword, dissipating the attack.
In order to keep up with Rose's speed, Allen had been slowly using his mana reserves in his legs in order to move as quickly as she could. Luckily, it wasn't that much, just enough to be able to keep up with the speed for a decent amount of time. However, he could only do this for so long.
The moment Allen had sliced through her water magic, she proceeded to rush him again. This time, she was striking him on the offensive, and Allen was trying to block each attack. Because of the quickness of her blade, it was harder for him to block her attacks than for her to block his.
"You sure you're going to win this one?," Rose said while smirking. She began to attack much quicker, and Allen was starting to have difficulty keeping up.
Allen was starting to run out of ideas on how to keep this up. Eventually, she would defeat him if it kept up like this. He would once again have to push the distance between them. But how would he exactly do that?
He found an opening a second after Rose had tried to strike him again. The moment she went for it, he quickly dodged it and went for the opening. Realizing this, Rose quickly summoned an elemental circle to prevent him from attacking. Allen had to quickly switch gears and cut through the magic, and then quickly moved a bit away from Rose.
"Trying to gain some distance, huh?," Rose said as she noticed him trying to move a bit further away. "Unfortunately for you, I still have plenty of magic!". She began to once again summon more water magic, and began to cast the magic at him. Each attack was immediately cut through before it reached Allen.
Wait, Allen thought. I have an idea how to gain a bit more distance. Then I can win this.
"Not enough for you? Very well, get ready for this one!," Rose said as she created a much larger elemental circle. Allen knew that this one would hit harder and faster than the previous attacks. He was waiting for this. He began to rush towards Rose the second she began casting the magic, to hopefully throw her off a little.
"Oh no you don't!," she said as she began to focus more on summoning the water magic. "Take this!," She said as she finally released her magic, which began to make its way towards Allen, who wasn't that far away from the magical circle in which the magic was summoned.
The water magic began to hurl towards Allen at almost an insane speed. She wasn't an A rank and the student council president for nothing. Allen knew that if he tried to cut through the magic, he would barely cut any of it and get directly hit from it. The spell would knock him further than the first day he got hit by one of her spells. But this is exactly what he wanted.
"I've said this before and I will say it again: I'm going to win this Rose!," Allen said as he prepared himself for the spell to hit him within seconds. Instead of trying to cut through it, he turned the flat of his blade towards the spell and used his open hand to support the flat of the blade. He was just in time, as the spell just reached him. The spell hit his sword, which caused Allen to be pushed back pretty far back with minimal damage to Allen. He was now at a pretty far back distance between Rose, which is what he planned.
"What? How did you-," Rose said as she just realized what Allen did. He had used her spell to his advantage, and had done no damage to Allen. She had used a good amount of her magic reserves in that spell, hoping to take down Allen.
"I told you I was going to win this Rose," Allen grinned. It was now or never. He began to use the small time he had at this distance to prepare his mana. He closed his eyes and began to will any and all of the mana inside of him to his legs, preparing a full-on assault on Rose to win.
"I won't let you!," Rose said as she began to rush him again. She realized what he was doing, so she had to close the distance between them as fast as possible, so there was less time for Allen to prepare. She didn't want to waste any more mana reserves than she already did, so she began to rush him one more time. This final bout would most likely determine the winner.
In the few moments he had, Allen concentrated hard on the mana inside of him. He could feel it moving around, almost like a river inside of his body. There wasn't that much of it, so it was easy to control. He just had to be mindful of his fire mana, which could prevent the movement of his air mana. But he knew Rose would try to prevent him from having enough time, so he had to be quick.
"I've got you!," Rose said as she went in to attack Allen with her sword. Allen quickly opened his eyes and blocked her attack.
"You've lost now," she said as she began to quickly strike at him, without enough time for Allen to block her next attack.
The second before she could possibly be close to landing a blow, he used the mana that had been moved to his legs to quickly move all the way around Rose so he was behind her. Without enough time to react, Rose realized the predicament Allen had just created on her. Allen quickly swiped his leg to make her fall so she couldn't turn around and block his next attack. Rose wasn't expecting Allen to make her lose her footing and she quickly fell down and accidentally let go of her rapier.
"I think I've won this one," Allen said as he pointed his sword down at Rose.
"I- I believe you have," Rose laughed as she turned around and noticed Allen pointing his sword at her.
After Allen had finally beat her in a duel, he helped her back up and she put her rapier back into her sheath. She fixed her hair and patted down her skirt from any dust that had gotten on it.
"Well you've finally beaten me, congratulations!," Rose said as she gave him a high five.
"Thanks," Allen said as he returned the high five.
Allen has finally come a long way in just three weeks. While Rose wasn't going all out fully in the duel, it was still major progress for him. As far back as he could remember, he could never beat William, even when William was going easy on him.
"Well, this was our last day practicing together; do you feel ready for your duel tomorrow?," Rose asked.
"Oh yeah, it is tomorrow," Allen recalled. It honestly did not feel like it was tomorrow for him. The time had gone by so fast.
"Of course you'd forget," Rose laughed.
"Well, there's a lot I've learned in these past three weeks, and I have you to thank for that. So thank you very much Rose!," Allen grinned.
"Idiot…," Rose mumbled.
"What?," Allen asked, as he didn't hear her.
"Nothing," Rose said, a little flustered. Then she got a bit serious. "Are you sure you are ready for the duel tomorrow? Nathaniel is quite-"
"Yeah, I think I am," Allen interrupted. "I know what you may be thinking, but I don't intend to lose. I intend to give it my all"
"Good, then I look forward to watching the duel," Rose said as she smiled.
"Wait, you're going to be watching the duel?," Allen asked.
"Of course. Official duels are public to the entire academy. Any of the students or faculty can come and watch. This is also to ensure no foul play can happen, as an unbiased audience can see what happens if anything does happen," Rose explained.
"So my friends could watch the duel then?," Allen asked.
"Yes. As I just said, anyone can. Doesn't mean you'll get a lot of people other than your friends and I to watch you. The rest of the people who will be there will probably be Nathaniel's gang, and maybe a few curious students," Rose explained.
"Yeah, that's how it will probably be," Allen agreed as he thought about tomorrow. "How many showed up to your duel when you dueled Nathaniel if I may ask?"
"A rather large portion of the academy, actually," she said, but in a tone like she didn't like recalling it. "Since I was also the student council president last year, many would come to watch my duels, no matter who I faced. Many like to watch duels of those ranked A and B, as they can possibly learn a thing or two from them, but there are plenty of students who are arrogant enough who don't think there's anything to be gained from watching others duel"
"I've noticed things like that," Allen explained. "It seems a lot of the students here that are of higher ranks care nothing more than their own power and how better they are than others. I've never understood it"
"Exactly. It's something I have been aiming to change in my years at this academy, and my second and final year as the student council president," Rose explained.
"You're starting to sound a little like William. He too talks about some of the things he wishes to change at this academy, not that it's a bad thing to think that way," Allen laughed.
"True. You're not wrong in that. In fact, William has been a part of the reason I see things the way that I do," Rose said as they started to leave the training room. "He's taught me a lot so far"
"Sounds a lot like him," Allen laughed as he recalled the amount of things he had learned from William as well. William has taught him a lot, and one day Allen hopes to be as strong as him.
"So, when do we meet up with William?," Allen asked as Rose was locking the training room door. "I don't suppose we are going to see him this late"
"You're right, we aren't going to meet up with him tonight," Rose said as they began to walk down the hall. "We're going to meet up with him during classes tomorrow, since your duel takes place not too long after classes end tomorrow. Although, I'm not quite happy with missing class yet again"
"Does he do that often? Like, talk to you during class hours?," Allen asked.
"Unfortunately, yes," Rose sighed. "He has a tendency to want to get out of his office the moment academy hours are over. That jerk, I'm going to kill him…"
"Well, as much as he likes being the head director, I'm sure the paperwork he does isn't quite something he enjoys working on," Allen laughed.
"I swear. One of these days I am going to personally throw all his finished paperwork out of the window so he has to start all over!," Rose raised her hands in the air as if to emphasize her point.
"Well that's how William is, I suppose," Allen laughed.
"Yeah, and just how he is, is going to get me to murder him one of these days. I swear, if he makes me miss class one more time…"
"Well, aside from that, I think it's time we went back to our dorms," Allen started to say before Rose could start mumbling to herself.
"Right. I'll see you tomorrow then", Rose waved at him before she started to head out.
"See you tomorrow," Allen waved back before heading back to his dorm as well.
In the past week or so, word had finally been traveling around that Nathaniel and Allen would be dueling. It first started very small, as only a few students knew about it. But it finally got more attention the closer the duel was.
What probably helped it get the most attention so quickly was the fact that Nathaniel is regarded as "The Infamous C Ranker", and Allen is regarded as "The Weakest Mage". With a talented mage who purposely stays at C rank and the mage who has super low mana, yet can beat a Rivertide are going to face off, of course it will be getting a lot of attention.
Allen only recently just discovered how fast it had been going around the academy. He mostly just brushed it off and didn't think about it, as all he cared about was his own class and his friends. He wanted to stay focused so he could keep learning and eventually reach D rank.
However, that didn't stop the word being spread all around the academy, even reaching Thomas and Cecily's ears. While they were aware that Allen was going to be dueling Nathaniel, they didn't expect it to be getting around the academy so quickly.
"I suppose word is getting around about you and Nathaniel," Thomas said to Allen before their class started.
"Yeah, so I've heard," Allen said while he was trying to read something on his desk.
"Isn't your duel today? You think you're ready?," Thomas asked.
"I think so," Allen said while his head fell into the book.
"Do you think so? Are you tired or something?," Thomas asked as Allen lifted his head up from the book.
"I didn't get too much sleep last night because all I could think about was today," Allen admitted.
"Are you sure you're going to be okay for the duel then?," Thomas asked, concerned. "If not, you could always-"
"Nah I'll be fine," Allen interrupted. "Just let me have one time to relax in class before the duel"
"Alright then," Thomas said as he looked at Allen for a moment. Allen proceeded to fall asleep.
"You sure he's going to be good?," Thomas asked Cecily, who had just noticed Allen. Cecily just shrugged and went back to reading.
Normally, if one of them tried to doze off in class or not pay attention, Cecily would normally threaten to hit their heads with one of her textbooks. Usually she'd end up hitting Thomas' head, but never actually hit Allen. Seeing how she didn't really react to Allen falling asleep either meant she knew he needed the sleep, or her mind was elsewhere. Most likely both for today.
After class had ended, Allen managed to wake up. He stretched for a second and then got out of his chair. It was time for him to head over to meet Rose and William at William's office.
"I'll see you guys later," Allen waved Cecily and Thomas off.
"We'll see you for your duel, good luck!," Thomas said as they both waved him back.
Allen headed over to William's office, where he could already hear Rose and William talking inside.
"Come in," William's voice rang from inside. No surprise that William knew he was outside his office.
"Coming in," Allen responded as he walked in and closed the door behind him.
As per usual, William was sitting at his desk with various paperwork lying about on his desk. Whether or not the paperwork has been started yet, is a good question to ask. Rose was sitting in the right chair next to William's desk, with the left chair empty.
"Take a seat, like usual," William motioned to the chair.
Allen went to sit down in the chair, and waited for William to start talking. They sat there for almost half a minute, no one saying anything.
"William," Rose started to say, "aren't we going to-"
"Hold it," William said, as he concentrated.
"What do you mean, hol-"
"Good, everyone's here," William leaned forward and had a smirk on his face.
"What do you mean, 'everyone's here'?," Allen asked.
"You two can come in," William said out loud.
Both Allen and Rose looked back towards the door, but no one seemed to open it. In fact, it was dead silent in the room, and they didn't hear anything outside the room.
"Well, if you two aren't going to come in yourselves, then I'll open the door for you," William announced as he snapped his fingers.
Suddenly, the door swung open, with both Thomas and Cecily falling down inside the room. It seemed like they were leaning against the office door, trying to listen inside. However, it seemed they didn't quite realize William was talking to them, as they probably didn't expect William to notice their presence outside the door.
"Tom? Lily? What're you two doing here?," Allen said with a surprised look on his face.
"H-Hey," Thomas awkwardly said as both he and Cecily were on the ground, looking up at the three.