The group were currently in the training grounds behind the palace itself.
Since the palace was surrounded by giant walls in the first place, it was difficult to ascertain what exactly the entire structure of the palace grounds was. As such, it honestly wasn't that surprising when Lunaria and Kaze found out about the existence of the training ground later on.
The training ground itself was pretty simple. While it was much smaller than the ones they had in school because there wasn't a reason for there to be one just as big within the palace area, it was still suitable for a duel. Plus, there were knights and mages standing around the area right now to ensure that in the events of an overkill attack happening or a fatal attack took place, they would be able to assist both the King and Kaze.
Kaze, who was currently standing in the area of the fight itself, was facing against the King. He held a sword that he had chosen from the palace's armoury in one hand, something that he wasn't too satisfied with but worked for the time being as a substitute to his usual sword. It was unfortunate but they couldn't find a sword similar to what Kaze had possessed before, once again emphasizing on the unique shape it had. Since this duel was decided rather sudden, Kaze had to get changed out of his outfit to ensure the minimum safety of himself
The King had a huge contrast in both aura and the current outfit Kaze wore. Wearing what that was normally training armour for the knights in general, it was still lavish enough to be considered something that had high impenetrable defence. The thing that threw Kaze off the most was how the giant sword compared to Chris when Chris used it. In the hands of an expert, it would even make a person cower in fear just based off the aura that Ethan had.
"Are you fine with us continuing, Kaze?" Ethan asked Kaze solemnly once more with his giant sword stuck into the ground next to him. "I know that you only recently recovered, so I don't want to force you to push yourself."
"Yes, Sir Ethan," Kaze pushed aside the fear that had begun to accumulate within and made a smile that showed he was certain of his decision. "As long as Your Majesty does not take the fight overboard."
"Don't worry, I will go easy on you," Ethan laughed aloud and picked up his giant sword with a single hand. "Oh right, you can use pure magic if you want to. My mages will be able to heal us if necessary."
Taking stance while Ethan stood there casually, sweat had already started to form on Kaze's forehead. The pressure that he felt was actually insane, and Ethan hadn't even begun to get serious yet. Right now, they were only duelling for the sake of analysing Kaze's fighting ability but Kaze was already taking this seriously. It didn't help that his friends were here to watch too, with the exception of the rest back at their house. They would probably die to watch a match like this: with Kaze against the King of the nation.
Unfortunately for Kaze, Lunaria had already anticipated something like this to happen and was using a magic device to display the scene before them. It connected to those back at home and they were able to watch the fight as well. Unknowingly, Kaze had more eyes than expected watching him. Lunaria didn't let Kaze know about this because there was a chance it would affect his performance, wanting him to go all out against Ethan.
Taking a deep breath, Kaze decided to test the waters first since he wasn't used to his sword. Plus, Ethan acting relaxed was also a sign that Kaze wasn't being taken seriously yet. This was the right time for him to strike first, considering that it might catch Ethan off-guard.
"Hmm, not attacking first?" Ethan broke Kaze's train of thoughts. "Then, please excuse me."
Throwing his giant sword lightly into the air, Ethan jumped up and kicked it right at Kaze.
"What?!" Kaze managed to barely avoid the attack by rolling aside, considering how fast it went flying right at him.
"Dodging my Titan is only the start; the real attack starts from here out."
Ethan had already reached Kaze's side before he knew it. Grabbing Titan, the giant sword, out of the ground from that single kick, he quickly brought it over his head and down where Kaze was. The sword struck solid ground and created such a huge impact that it sent Kaze flying backwards. As if that weren't enough, Ethan used his fingers to create five fire element magic balls and shot it at Kaze, demonstrating the insane control for magic he possessed as well.
"Tch, White Flash!" Kaze grunted and quickly activated his pure magic skill.
Since he was able to predict where the fire magic would hit, Kaze was able to absorb three out of five of the hits and converted it into his own attack. Two others missed, but it was intentional. Ethan deflected the fire attack sent forth by Kaze with Titan and continued the pursue through the training grounds at an alarming speed. It was like the weight of Titan itself didn't matter.
When Ethan got close enough to strike again, Kaze turned around and raised his sword. He waited for the right moment just as Titan was brought down from above to make the first strike. Instead of a diagonal slash, Kaze threw forth a horizontal swing that would reach Ethan first before Titan could crush him. It was a desperate attempt at best, since Kaze had been pushed back so much that he was unable to take stance and properly fight.
Instead, his attack got blocked by Ethan's left arm. Since he was wearing armour, he took Kaze's attack with the radius part of his arm while still swinging down Titan onto Kaze. Kaze allowed the impact against the armour to bounce himself away, barely avoiding Titan by a hair's breadth. This time, he was finally able to get a better grip on himself since he wasn't running away.
"Was that supposed to be Body Enhancement?" Kaze made a nervous smile at Ethan. "I was certain that my strike could easily break through that level of armour."
"It was my Body Fortification, kind of like a higher-level version of Enhancement," Ethan replied. "Well then, come!"
Kaze knew that Ethan had a lot of power in his attacks after just two strikes alone. It wasn't enough to tell if he was serious or not, but from the looks of it at least he was willing to take Kaze's attacks properly.
"Sword Skill: Phantom Rush," Kaze muttered softly and coated the sword in pure magic once more.
Seeing the effects of mana being condensed and gathering around the sword, Ethan's look changed and he retightened his grip on Titan. Even though he hadn't taken on an attack of pure magic before, he could still tell that it was bad news. It seemed like Yuuji and Lunaria weren't lying when they said Kaze had very high control over condensing mana into pure magic. Although it was lacking in certain areas since Kaze had low magic perception, it was still dangerous enough that Ethan needed to consider methods to counter Kaze.
When Kaze was ready, he dashed forward at Ethan instead, changing their positions from earlier when Ethan suddenly charged at him. Kaze focused all his attention onto the weak spots of Titan that Ethan was not able to block against properly, raising his sword and bringing it down on him.
Since giant swords were huge, they blocked one's view more than a normal sword user would. This was one of the harder weak points that giant sword owners had to guard against.
Kaze's attacks rained down on Ethan swiftly while he continued to block with Titan. Each attack itself was just as heavy and concentrated on spots that would normally prove fatal if Ethan was just any giant sword user. Still, that didn't mean Kaze was weak. It was commendable that he was able to identify where Ethan would potentially make it hard to guard against and began pushing forward. With the sword he was using, it was also difficult to apply pressure on a giant sword user since the user itself has to hone their physical strength in order to wield a giant sword in the first place. For Kaze to even be pushing back against Ethan was something that Ethan would consider rare.
"…. Hm?" Ethan noticed that his defence was being broken down by something invisible as he continued to defend against Kaze's strikes. "… My Body Fortification is… Ah, that's because of the pure magic. It seems like I can't wait for his stamina to end."
Straining his arm muscle, Ethan ended Kaze's barrage of attack with a single diagonal slash upwards, creating another gust of wind that pushed him away. Kaze was calm this time, quickly shifting his body's centre of gravity such that he landed on one hand on the floor behind him and got back on his feet with another backflip.
Holding Titan above his head again, this time Ethan used two hands to grip the hilt. A surge of mana came pouring into the sword as a result, causing a rapid torrent to swirl around Ethan. This was one of the more Advanced level of sword skill that incorporate high amounts of mana into the attack, something that went against Kaze's normal means of defending against it. Even though Kaze managed to somehow survive a high-density magic attack like the centipede's beam with White Flash, that was only out of pure luck that he was able to hold his ground for that long before the centipede gave up. If it had gone on a second or two longer, Kaze would have died.
Similarly, Kaze was not going to accept that he couldn't do anything against it. Even if it meant that he had to charge right into such a monstrous attack, he wasn't going to give up so easily. He began infusing mana into his blade once again, preparing for another Phantom Rush attack. This time, instead of even distributing his mana gathered over a number of attacks, he was going to put everything he had into that single strike.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," Ethan smiled confidently at Kaze. "This attack took a while to conjure."
"Am I supposed to assume that it is because it is your strongest attack?" Kaze asked, feeling his arms trembling from how much mana he was gathering.
"No way. Any attack stronger than this is enough to break all the bones in your arm upon impact," Ethan shook his head. "But I won't deny that this was my strongest attack back when I was your age. Show me where you stand right now, Kaze."
With both of them remaining still, they charged at each other at the same time, Kaze swinging his sword forward at Ethan. Similarly, Ethan brought his giant sword down right on Kaze at the right moment.
"Sword Skill… Overhaul."
The collision of both their swords sent a huge explosion in all direction, such that the mages at the side moved for the first time. They quickly casted a barrier around the explosion to contain it and prevent it from destroying the surroundings. In the first place, they had already expected something like this to happen since they were royal mages who were very experienced fighters. What they hadn't expected was that Kaze was willing to face such an attack head-on with pure magic. Even as experienced mages, they were unable to tell what would happen from such a collision.
Once the rumbling had stopped and the dust had settled, the barrier dropped along with the silence that filled the air. The group were able to make out the figure of Ethan towering over Kaze, both of them still holding the stance they had after their sword collided.
Right behind Kaze's foot, the ground had split in two and extended all the way until where the barrier was constructed around them. Kaze's shirt was already torn from the attack he received due to not using the proper armour or enchantment. To be exact, it was blown away. On the other hand, Ethan looked perfectly fine, even if his armour was a bit damaged.
"Ho… you managed to block that in the end huh?" Ethan smirked.
The group of friends who sat by and watched all widened their eyes in surprise when it was made apparent that Kaze was still in the midst of a fight with the King. Their swords were pushed up against each other, the obvious trembling coming from both of them due to how hard they were exerting their force into their sword.
At this point, it looked like the King was bullying Kaze instead due to the difference in their appearance. Kaze's borrowed sword was also on the edge of shattering from all the cracks that had formed on the iron blade. Even so, Kaze's face showed no signs of backing down, even if it meant fighting with his fists.
Ethan noticed this as well and decided that it was best to end it when it was obvious what the outcome would be if the fight continued. Parrying aside Kaze's sword, Ethan fell forward and he brought down the edge of his hilt against the back of Kaze's head. The forward momentum from suddenly being parried made Kaze unable to react in time, causing him to be knocked out by Ethan.
In short, an overwhelming loss.
"Kaze!" Lunaria was first to jump into the grounds right after Kaze had become unconscious.
"Take care of him," Ethan nodded to the mages, who rushed over to check on their King as well as to repair the training grounds.
Even though there were already experts standing by to tend to the injuries Kaze suffered from the King's Overhaul, Lunaria still rushed over to his side. Holding him in her arms, she applied Advanced-level healing magic that rivalled those of the royal mages. Some of the mages who saw this were left a little speechless before moving over to repairing the grounds instead. It was clear that Lunaria was still superior in the magic field.
"I think you went a little overboard there, father," Yuuji approached Ethan with a small frown. "You didn't have to go so hard on Kaze."
"Sorry, I got a little excited," Ethan let out a huge laughter of satisfaction. "It has been a while since I managed to get so excited. This is the first time I have fought against such a sword skill and different technique after all. Who knew that pure magic was able to take on Overhaul?!"
Taking a good look at the effects of Titan after receiving a forward attack from Kaze, Ethan's eyes widened a little when he realized something off with the edge of his sword. There was a small chip mark, something that wasn't present before this fight. Titan was made and refined with a mixture of different elements of metal, making it as hard as it could possibly be among the type of metals used to make a giant sword. In addition, Ethan maintained his sword most of the time so it was in no bad condition in the case of an emergency.
This could only mean that Kaze was able to chip his sword with his final attack.
"… Hm, this is probably the best feeling I had all week," Ethan smirked and walked off first. "Yuuji, bring Kaze to the shower later after he has woken up. All your friends are invited to join us for lunch."
- - - - -
When Kaze came to, the first thing he could feel was the soft feeling of something under his head. It was so comfortable and amazing that Kaze almost believed he was back on his bed.
It wasn't until he opened his eyes that he realized he was staring right at Lunaria's face. His entire body ached, even though it had already healed.
"Ah, Kaze!" Lunaria also realized that he had woken up. "Are you feeling alright? I already used magic to heal you, but I don't know if it would make you feel any better."
"Urgh… Lunaria…" Kaze groaned. "What happened…?"
"You lost," she simply stated. "The King, he was too powerful for you to take him on the way you are right now. We all could tell that he must have been someone with commendable power back in the day before he became King that he could fight so well. Plus, I think it was unfair that he purposely chose a magic attack to make the final blow. He knew that you were weak in receiving such high-level magic and decided to fight with pure sword skills from the start, but the suddenly resorted to using magic instead."
"… Lunaria…"
"And what was worse was that he didn't even feel guilty or remorse of beating up someone obviously weaker than him! He just laughed it off and walked away like it was nothing. I swear…"
"L-Lunaria… what am I lying on?"
"Hm? Oh, um… my thighs?"
A moment of silence passed between the two of them before Kaze registered her words. An obvious look of embarrassment was reflected on her face the moment she realized what she had done too.
Kaze could only heaved a sigh as his mind became blank once again.
As if what he had accidentally seen this morning wasn't enough, he was now enjoying the sensation of lying on her thighs. It was like some sort of emotional damage on his part, for he never thought he would be able to experience something as surreal as that.
"Ah… I can ascend to heaven already…"
Moments later, Lunaria brought Kaze back into the palace after he was able to walk again. Whatever Overhaul was, it certainly stunned Kaze's entire body enough that even though he wasn't heavily injured, the impact disabled the motor functions all over him.
Yuuji showed him the place to shower after seeing the two, allowing Kaze to wash off all the sweat and dirt off his body before changing back into his normal attire from the morning. The entire experience was a little traumatizing, considering that there were always maids accompanying him to make sure he wouldn't get lost or run into any problems. They even followed him into the bathroom when he was naked, something he hoped to never experience again.
After the shower, he made his way to the dining hall. It took another 5 minutes of walking from one end to the other inside of the palace to reach the area. Thankfully, the maids were there to guide him once again.
"Oh, Kaze's here," Mitsui was the first to notice Kaze's arrival at the hall.
Turning around to greet him, everyone who was present all showed smiles of relief as he seemed to be fine in appearance. The fact he was able to walk around properly was a good sign that the King did indeed hold back after all. It was quite concerning for all of them when they saw Kaze's state from receiving the attack head-on.
"Come, we all waited for you before we began," Ethan, sitting at the very front of the table, gestured for Kaze to take his seat.
Once Kaze saw the amount of food that was available on the table, his hunger hit all of a sudden. His previous worries of the aftermath of the battle became a secondary priority now as his goal was to fill his stomach. The meals in the palace were extravagant, even when compared with Lunaria's own cooking. It was probably because she wasn't able to demonstrate her best, but it smelled so divine that Kaze couldn't resist the temptation to take a bite of everything.
"Alright then, let us begin eating," Ethan declared, allowing everyone to start. "My wife will be joining us shortly, but she gave us permission to eat first."
"How are you feeling, Kaze?" Yuuji asked. "I hope the fight wasn't too concerning."
"Um… I broke the sword… again. But other than that, I'm fine," Kaze made a meek smile at his question. "Will I be forced to pay a certain compensation for it?"
"Pay? No way I will make you pay for something as petty as that," Ethan waved his hand to disregard the issue. "If anything, I must thank you for giving me the opportunity to fight with you. Even though you lost in the end, you should be proud of yourself Kaze."
At his words, Lunaria began glaring coldly at the King. He had reminded her that he won due to an unfair advantage. Even if it was true that Kaze was not good at magic and all was fair in love and war, the main point of the fight was to judge Kaze from a technical aspect more than how practical it was to fight against him. From that perspective, Kaze should have won but overall, he lost the fight.
"Ahaha… ha…. Lunaria-hime… um, can you please stop that? It is really hard for me to eat my lunch if you keep glaring at me that way…" Ethan shuddered and began pleading for Lunaria to stop her signature glare.
"… Hmph," Lunaria gave in to his pleads and began eating as well. "If you really said you are going to make Kaze pay for the sword, I would have asked father and mother to cut ties with Czech."
"Lunaria, you are really protective of Kaze as of late," Mitsui decided to further add fuel to the fire with a light smirk on her face. "What's up with that?"
"Nothing," Lunaria, in a similar manner, coldly shut down Mitsui's teasing with a huff. "Is it wrong that I can't take it if people treated Kaze unfairly?"
"But… even so, I can't help but get the feeling that you are indeed giving special treatment to Kaze," Yuuji sweatdropped, trying to stay out of the fight. "If possible, can you two take this someplace else? We really don't want to try to ruin everyone's lunch…"
"I'm enjoying it, if anything," Mia giggled. "I rarely get so many friends, so any form of drama like this is fun. I can't wait to be able to go to school soon."
"Oh? How old will you be, Mia?" Kaze asked Yuuji's fiancé with great interest. "You don't look any younger or older from Yuuji."
"I'm actually two years younger, but I will be attending the same school as Yuuji is in next year," Mia answered politely. "I was deemed to be fully capable of skipping a grade or two."
"Mia is really talented too," Yuuji added, feeling proud of his fiancé. "While she might have inherited a thing or two from her noble family bloodline, I would say her effort to improve is really amazing."
"Only second to you, Yuuji," Mia purred softly, blushing as she admitted so. "I can only work this hard despite being home-schooled is because I want to be with you~"
At her words, Yuuji's face started to heat up as well. Due to embarrassment, he looked away from her but his hand reached over to her side and patted her on the head. Mia accepted his kind gesture and giggled, happy that her beloved was treating her so well despite being the prince.
"You are still as in love with Yuuji as ever, Mia," Noel giggled at their interaction. "Please excuse these two, Kaze and Lunaria. They are always like this from time to time that even the maids have a bit of difficulty around them."
"I say it's a good sign," Ethan raised both his hands. "An absolute win! Yuuji chose someone who is guaranteed to be loyal to him based on action alone."
"Hm~? Are you saying that I am someone who wouldn't be loyal to you if I don't show it through my daily actions with you? A. Na. Ta?"
At the cold words that were directed at him from behind, Ethan slowly turned around to find his wife, the Queen of Czech, standing there with her arms folded across her chest. Even though she was smiling ever so kindly at him, it was clear that whatever emotions inside of her was anything but happy.
"D-Dear… you know I don't mean it like that."
"Anata, seiza."
"Y-Yes!!"
In a very comical manner, the King himself immediately got onto floor on his knees and began receiving a lecture from his wife. It was something that baffled even Lunaria, who thought that this could not get any weirder. Meanwhile, Yuuji, Mitsui and Noel could only sigh in exasperation while Kaze chose to pretend like he couldn't see or hear any of their familial affairs. It really did make them question who was the one truly in power.
"Ahem… sorry for that embarrassing display."
Once their lecture was over, the Queen sat at her spot and began introducing herself to the rest with a smile that did not reflect her previous emotions when scolding her husband. Even Ethan could not do anything at the way his wife reacted, because he knew the way he phrased it deserved such a scolding. Plus, he was too in love with his wife to do anything too.
"Allow me to formally introduce myself. As the wife to the King of Czech, I am the Queen of Czech, Kathia Inst Uruquay, from the noble Uruquay family. Please, call me Kathy. I am very thankful of everyone to be friends with our Yuuji," Kathy politely addressed herself and bowed at them.
"Thank you, Lady Kathy, but we really didn't do anything," Lunaria smiled in return. "Yuuji was the one who got close to us, so we are thankful he chose to be our friends too."
"My, the princess of Aravel sure is polite," Kathy giggled at this and turned to Kaze. "How about you? I don't think I have seen you before."
"Um, my humble name is Kaze, Lady Kathy," Kaze fumbled with his words as he addressed the Queen. "I am Yuuji's friend."
"Oh, so you are Kaze," Kathy clapped her hands together and turned to her husband. "Anata, why didn't you let me know they would be coming over?"
"I told Yuuji to bring them over whenever they are free. Seeing that school is free for the next few days or so due to the incident, they came over on a whim," Ethan smiled at this. "I treated them well, don't worry."
Much like Ethan, Kathy was a very elegant person. From her refined appearance alone, Kaze knew that she was also brought up like one of the nobles. Her actions and manner of speech was enough to determine that she was the one and only Queen, without needing him to confirm it for himself. One of the things that stood out about Kathy was her silver hair. Much like Lunaria, both of them had similar hair colour that easily caught the eyes of anyone who had their sights set on them. There were little differences to the tone of their hair colour, but one visible difference was the few streaks of pink that came running down from Kathy's fringe.
"I heard the training ground was destroyed though?" Kathy creakily turned back to her husband. "May I know what your definition of 'treating them well' meant…?"
"L-Lady Kathy," Kaze quickly added before Ethan received another lecture from his wife. "With all due respect, I accepted the duel. His Majesty wanted to test out my fighting prowess and it was a mutual consent. Plus, I was borrowed a sword and some protective equipment…"
"… That His Majesty smashed to pieces and blew apart…" Lunaria muttered coldly, only loud enough to for everyone to hear.
"… But we were fine," Kaze shivered, but continued to speak for the King. "No one was injured…"
"… but Kaze fainted…" Lunaria continued.
"… But His Majesty gave us great hospitality. He allowed me to use the bathroom to wash up."
"… Only because you were plummeted to the ground mercilessly, when the fight itself wasn't supposed to involve magic."
At this point, the room's temperature had gotten so cold that everyone was shivering. The coldness emitted by the two female royalty was simply unbearable, even though they were having curry for lunch. It was almost as though they could spot ice cubes floating along with their curry chicken.
Needless to say, lunch ended with a fairly amusing view of Ethan being lectured by his wife yet again.
- - - -
"Kaze, Lunaria, thank you very much for coming," Kathy gave each a light hug. "Please, when time allows it, do come over for lunch or dinner."
"We would love to," Lunaria beamed, her anger subsiding after the events of the afternoon. "I will give mother my regards too."
"Y-Yes, if time permits…" Kaze gulped, giving the Queen his gratitude weakly.
"Kaze, good luck," Yuuji tapped his shoulder from the side. "I hope you don't die during your next spar with my father."
"Why is it my fault?!"
Should the others be present at the time of such an amusing event, it was likely that everyone would have agreed with Yuuji. At this point, no one could refute that Lunaria treated Kaze differently from everyone else. The reason for it was something that wouldn't be answered until later on.
As further compensation for Kaze, he was given both a proper outfit and a sword of his choice. This time, it was something similar to what he had before with slightly different weight and length to it. The outfit he was given wasn't anything special, but it was something that was suitable for a swordsman like him. With the durable fabric that was capable of withstanding high-level magic blasts, it also could be enchanted with magic like Body Enhancement.
"I look forward to our next meeting," Ethan shook Kaze's hand firmly. "Until then, please train hard. Don't disappoint me."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Kaze smiled confidently at the King. "I will defeat you next time. So, please don't hold back."
Following this, the five of them departed back to their dorm once more. Mia was a little reluctant to see her beloved Yuuji leaving, but she had already discussed this issue with him previously. He would return to the palace when possible and meet with his family on a weekly basis, depending on the day he was free. Still, it was something that was needed to be done to ensure that Mia would not get over-reliant on Yuuji. She was home-schooled after all, so she needed to learn how to become more independent for herself.
"Um… Yuuji, is your family going to be alright?" Kaze asked him nervously once they left the gates of the palace. "Your mother seems pretty mad…"
"They are always like this," Yuuji sighed. "Forget about it. They will probably make up by tonight and 'settle' in bed."
"Ehh, are the King and Queen like that too?" Lunaria smiled at Yuuji's statement. "Mother and Father are very passionate of each other as well, so it is common for them to be holed up in the bedroom when they are free."
"Right? No one understands that they can get stressed too, so I am glad I have someone to relate to," Yuuji sighed in relief when Lunaria gave a similar response. "Thankfully, they make it subtle."
With the conversation taking a different turn than expected, the group made their way back. They only split from Noel when they passed a certain junction. It was a shame that Noel rejected their proposal for her to live with them as well, seemingly having her own concerns.
Once they were back, Kaze quickly found himself with overloaded of questions about the fight by all of his friends. It later took an entire afternoon to answer everything they had to ask and the whole of dinner to repeat the events of the palace to their friends.