Across the lands close to the borders of Tristania, a group of people were seen waiting below a huge tree. They were bandits, gathering together for lunch while discussing their later plans to hijack anyone passing by on the road.
"Isn't it a little too risky, boss?" One bandit asked, scuffing down some bread.
"We can always target the highway next to the main road. There is less surveillance there," another confirmed the question.
"I feel like it would be better to do it at the main area. Not many pass by that highway," a third argued against the first two.
"They say more important carriages use the side road though…"
"No, think about it, with our numbers-"
Among their large group, only one person remained silent throughout. Sporting a slightly gruffier and more muscular look than the rest, he spat out a part of the meat that was overcooked from his mouth. He was the group's leader, acting as the main bandit head.
"Business' tougher than usual, must be the city tightening up security after receiving multiple reports," one of them complained. "Should we move location?"
"As if we have a choice…"
"Why fear? Take cover close to the woods,"
"Enough," their boss grunted, tossing aside a bone.
One word was enough to gain the attention of the entire group. Everyone stopped talking and turned to face him, waiting for his orders.
"First, we-"
"Iyaa~~ nice weather we have today?"
The sudden interruption of their boss's words came from two individuals who have suddenly appeared out of nowhere. When they saw them, the entire bandit group got to their feet and held their weapons.
"Oh, please don't mind us, continue," the first person, dressed in a huge dark overcoat, beckoned for the boss to continue speaking. "We are here to listen."
"Ho~ who do we have ourselves here~" Some of the bandits smirked and taunted the two, thinking they were dumb to show up here.
"You, cough up what you have," one of the bandits poked the first guy with his sword. "If you and your friend do, maybe we will let you go."
"Hm, I wonder?" The first person sighed, shrugging as he removed his hands from his pocket. "I don't have anything with me though?"
The entire bandit group hollered with laughter at how casually the first took their words. It was like they had no sense of danger at all. Meanwhile, the second just stood behind the first silently, his hat keeping his facial expressions from being read.
The leader of the bandit group, the boss, got to his feet while dragging his battle axe behind him. Even he, someone who lived off robbing others, knew that the two weren't simply here to cause trouble or take them down. The aura the two exerted… was something no normal person would have.
"Boss?"
"… Everyone, step back," he muttered. "I will deal with them."
Realizing the shift in their boss's tone, the group silently moved away from him. It was clear that the situation was different than they had expected.
"Oh~ you must be the leader," the first didn't seem alarmed that a guy over 190 centimetres was approaching him with a battle axe. "Nice to meet you."
"… What do you want?" The boss narrowed his eyes at the first figure, ignoring the second for now. "If you are here to harass us, leave."
"Oh no, I'm here to employ you, your group, that is," the first smirked at the boss. "I will reward each one of you handsomely."
"Hmph, you think we are like those adventurers?" The boss scoffed. "Don't make fun of us."
"Why~? The job I have is rather… tricky. No normal adventurer would want to accept it," the first sighed, scratching the side of his cheek. "Won't you consider hearing out the details first?"
"We are bandits. Whether you like it or not, we take pride in what we do and have our own pride as well," the boss grunted, lifting his battle axe slightly. "Last chance: leave."
"Hmm, I really do suggest that we have a negotiation first. You might like the job itself-"
Before he could finish speaking, the battle axe was already being swung right at him. The boss got tired of waiting and decided to get rid of him with a single swing.
Instead…
"… Haa, you fools."
"Hm?!"
What that happened was the battle axe only struck the first's side, but didn't budge beyond that. There wasn't even a cut on his clothes, as though he had struck his axe against the ground or something hard. The impact from the swing caused a huge rustle in the air, but nothing further.
The first tilted his head upwards to meet the boss's eyes. A red flash of light could be seen reflected in the eyes of the first, temporarily exposing his true identity. The boss knew then, that no matter how hard he fought, he would instantly lose against this individual.
"… Who are you?"
"Hm~ I can't reveal that even if I'm going to be your employer, but maybe I will let you know after you finish the job," the first chuckled, raising one finger. "What do you say?"
Slowly withdrawing his battle axe, a cold sweat ran down the boss's face. It was like he was staring at the face of death itself, making it quite the terrifying near-death experience for the boss. From a single swing alone, he knew it be better to accept the offer than to reject it.
"You don't seem very convinced~ Fine, initial payment of 5 gold coins per person. I will raise it by commission after you finish the task. How about that?"
At his words, the entire bandit gang began discussing among themselves. 5 gold per person was going to make them instantly rich, far more than they would ever get from a few days' worth of robbery. In fact, they could live lavishly for the rest of the month.
It was a very tempting offer, to say the least.
While the others were down to accept it, their boss seemed less than impressed.
"Offering such a high sum… the job itself isn't going to be easy, is it?"
"With my help, I can assure you that it will be easy."
"What do you need?"
"You will be helping me and my companion with the kidnapping of a person."
"Do it yourself then. With your skill level, I doubt it's going to be hard."
"No, no. You see, I can't let myself be exposed. Hence, why I need the help of your men. With my brains and your brawns, we can succeed without being discovered."
"… 20 gold."
"You have a deal! Now, the target."
The second person passe over a paper to the boss. It contained a rough drawing of the appearance of the person that they wanted to be kidnapped along with a name for the identity itself.
When the boss saw it, he widened his eyes and looked at the first as though he was insane. Instead, he was greeted with a huge grin, further proving his insanity.
"… You must be crazy, we're out."
"Woah, not so fast. Even though we can't be directly involved, that doesn't mean I won't help."
"I don't know what help you are trying to offer, but I don't intend to accept it. Get lost. Find someone else crazy enough to help you."
"Trust me, you're going to like it."
With a flick of his finger, all of the bandits suddenly collapsed. The boss stopped in his tracks, his jaw dropping at the sight before him. There was no sign of magic casted, yet his entire group all fell like they just got decimated without him knowing.
The first walked up to the boss from behind and lightly patted his back. A red glow could be seen transmitting from his body over to the boss before getting absorbed. Realizing that something was implanted in him, the boss was about to counterattack when he was suddenly hit with waves of pain coming from inside him.
"Don't worry, this is my 'help' to you and your group," the first grinned, watching the boss dropping to his knees and crying out in anguish.
The paper that the boss held fluttered aside, revealing the face of the one and only dragonkin princess.
- - - - -
Kaze and Lunaria stood together in silent, watching the fight that was going on in front of them. Right now, they were the only two left who were not called, meaning that the next one was going to be either one of them.
"Nervous yet?" Lunaria asked Kaze with a light giggle.
"Hell yeah," Kaze gulped, glancing at her. "You look super calm."
"It's alright, you get used to it," Lunaria made a light sigh before turning back to the battlefield. "If you don't have anything to worry about, that is…"
"… Frey still hasn't appeared yet," Kaze muttered. "Do you think she's going to be facing you or me?"
"I'm fine with either, but I want to try fighting her too," Lunaria shrugged. "She's pretty strong, for someone who doesn't look the part."
"Oh… if you are the one saying that, then I have every reason to fear her," Kaze shuddered.
"Hehe, don't take my word for it," Lunaria smiled at him. "After this, let's go for lunch."
"You have the mood to think of lunch?" Kaze sighed. "I'm speechless."
"If you manage to win against your opponent, then it's my treat~"
"I don't see how that is supposed to motivate me."
"Aw, don't be like that. Have confidence in yourself."
"… Then… may I make one request?"
"Hm? What is it?"
"It's about lunch… if I win."
"Yes?"
"I want you… to be my meal."
"!!!!"
At his sly words, Lunaria's face blushed immediately. She certainly hadn't expected him to be so tactless, such that he would tease her just to see her getting all flustered. A cheeky smirk appeared on his face when she started blushing, causing Lunaria to look away quickly.
"M-Mou… if I was any other girl, I would have pounded you to the ground for being so rude…"
"Sorry. It was worth it just to see you getting flustered."
Kaze made a few light chuckles as Lunaria hit his side repeatedly. The blush seemed to have a permanent effect on her, because her heart kept thumping loudly even as time passed from his last words. It was like he had charmed her for real.
"Hmph, no more lunch for you," Lunaria pouted, unable to believe she would fall for such a trick. "If I let my sisters hear about this, I doubt they will allow you to continue living."
"H-Hey, no, please Lunaria," Kaze turned blue at her statement and began begging her. "I'm sorry, it was just a joke."
Getting on both his knees and holding her hand loosely, he tried to get her to look at him while she just turned the other way. Lunaria, on the other hand, felt a lot better seeing him grovelling like that at the mention of her sisters. It seemed like their first encounter did leave such a scary impression of themselves in Kaze's head. Making a mental note to lecture her sisters about their attitude once more, she giggled and patted Kaze's head.
"There, there, good boy."
"Hey! I said I would apologise, but not act like your… pet or something."
Kaze shot back up and groaned at Lunaria, realizing his plan had backfired tremendously.
The sound of swords clanking to the ground was heard, signalling the end of the round. Following the emcee's words, Lunaria smiled at him and picked up her sword.
"Well, my turn. See you later," Lunaria gave him a light wave, walking out of the tunnel.
"Damn it, I was hoping for you to go last," Kaze sighed helplessly as the previous opponent limped past him to the medic zone. "Good luck out there, whoever you are going to face."
When Lunaria emerged from the tunnel, the entire crowd began to cheer their loudest yet. It seemed like everyone was aware of the dragonkin princess herself. After the past few months' worth of events, there was no way that no one in the school didn't know who she was. Lunaria had created a name of her own unintentionally, hers rivalling that of the top 10s and Yuuji's. In fact, Yuuji kept an even lower profile than Lunaria did.
It wasn't like Yuuji and Lunaria intended to flaunt of their abilities, but the centipede event was one of the few things that made Lunaria's face and name known. The ranking system only helped to further boost it.
"It's Lunaria-nee!" Lunatea cheered, waving her hands excitedly at her sister's appearance.
"Ohh, so the second last round is going to go to Lunaria, huh?" Reginsleif smiled widely at his eldest daughter. "Wish her luck girls."
"I can't wait to see what sort of performance she is going to put on," Ethan added on. "I haven't seen Lunaria in action before, but even I can tell she is super strong."
As Lunaria walked to the centre, she noticed the supposedly ranked 1 of the school walking towards her. She couldn't help but inwardly sigh while observing his outfit and manner of walking, knowing that she was going to have to hold back to not throw the face of the number 1 in the school.
"Pleased to meet you," Lunaria gave a courteous bow when the number 1 was in front of her. "This is the first we meet, I believe."
"Hime-sama, the pleasure is mine," he tipped his straw hat and made a loose smile. "The name's Yu Quan, Lim Yu Quan."
"A foreign name?" Lunaria raised an eyebrow at his name. "Where were you from?"
"Far east," Yu Quan shrugged and shook Lunaria's hand. "I look forward to a match with you."
"…. Likewise," Lunaria grinned, retracting her hand.
The two jumped backwards, distancing themselves from each other.
From Yu Quan's back, he took out what seemed to be a closed umbrella. The choice of weapon was undoubtedly weird, but Lunaria wasn't going to question it since he was the number 1 person.
"You don't seem all that surprised," Yu Quan asked Lunaria, swinging the umbrella in circles lightly. "People who tried to challenge me all seem shocked at my weapon."
"I have seen weirder things, like what Frey has," Lunaria answered, removing her sword from her back as well. "She hasn't shown it to me, but I could guess what it is."
"Ah, indeed. Frey has quite the troublesome weapon too," Yu Quan smiled wryly and plopped the tip of his umbrella on the floor to rest on it. "You may start first."
Nodding at the kind words from Yu Quan, Lunaria held her sword by her side and raised it slightly. In the blink of an eye. Her entire figure disappeared and reappeared in front of Yu Quan. Swinging it right where his neck was at supersonic speed, Yu Quan merely tilted his back backwards, narrowing avoiding the sword from slicing off his nose.
Yu Quan followed up with a backflip since he was already arching his back. Lunaria continued the swing with a huge twist of her body, swinging the sword a full circle round back where Yu Quan was.
Lifting his umbrella from the floor, Yu Quan changed the trajectory of Lunaria's attack with a single swipe where the flat part of her blade was.
"Go easy on me, Hime-sama," Yu Quan smiled, fending off the rest of the attacks from Lunaria with the umbrella alone. "I'm afraid I can't keep up with such a high pace attack."
"I'm already going easy on you," Lunaria commented, throwing in a high kick.
Her kick sent Yu Quan flying backwards, since he used the palm of his fist to intercept the attack from splitting his umbrella in half. Still, he calmly took stance again, stabbing his umbrella into the ground and positioning himself to receive another attack from Lunaria.
Throwing in middle-class spells at Yu Quan, Lunaria aimed a barrage of them without reserve. She could certainly do more, but she wanted to see how he could defend against her attacks that numbered in the dozens.
Yu Quan opened his umbrella and spun it right where the attacks came at him, dispersing all of them easily. Lunaria took this chance to zoom right to his side, swinging her sword in a vertical slice upwards. Yu Quan was barely able to avoid it once again, using his opened umbrella to redirect her sword trajectory.
Closing the umbrella upon receiving all of the spells, Yu Quan began fighting her blade with it once more. Despite Lunaria's sharp slices and stabs, Yu Quan was able to skilfully counter all of them while dodging some at the same time. Lunaria increased the intensity of her attacks, knowing it was alright to let loose a little more.
Taking in some stabbing attacks now instead of slashing, Yu Quan backed off even more since his umbrella did not have the far reach potential like a sword did. What's more, Lunaria wasn't taking him lightly either after acknowledging his skills from their short exchange.
Sheathing her sword mid-attack, she threw up her fists and began taking this to close combat. If she wanted to truly gauge his potential of why he was the number 1, she was going to take it personally. Yu Quan widened his eyes a little when she took a fighter's stance mid-fight, Yu Quan decided to play along with Lunaria.
Exchanging a few jabs with him, Lunaria and Yu Quan both intercepted each other's attacks while sneaking in a few leg attacks.
Lunaria's style was very complex and unpredictable. This was because she had taken the combination of military hand-to-hand combat of the Aravelean army and mixed it in with a few of her own that she picked up here and there. With each attack being capable of suddenly changing and deadly, it was hard to counter Lunaria.
Meanwhile, Yu Quan made use of his flexibility and response time to put up with Lunaria. Blocking and redirecting, he only attacked when he felt like there was a chance to break through. What's more, he still had the umbrella with him while Lunaria had full switched to hand-to-hand.
Each of their attacks were heavy and fast, something that no ordinary person would have been able to withstand. There was a slight aftershock with each punch, leading to the effect of the air cracking. This effect was further amplified with the speed of their attacks and counters, one moment fighting with their fists and the other with their legs.
Yu Quan's straw hat came undone and fell to the floor when one of Lunaria's fist barely brushed past his ear, leaving a cut from the speed of her punch. It was enough to severe the string that kept his hat on, causing Yu Quan to click his tongue in frustration.
Despite Lunaria's clothing, it was clear that she was very comfortable with fighting close combat. From how it was, Yu Quan was going to have to take things up a notch if he wanted a chance at winning. Even now, he already had to focus entirely on Lunaria's arms and legs.
The sound of their limbs hitting each other continued to explode throughout the ring. This was combined with Lunaria blocking his umbrella attacks. With each empty attack that hit the air instead, the sound of the explosion followed at the shockwave of a single punch.
Somewhere along the line, Lunaria had also incorporated her sword into her close combat. Dropping her sword under her as she threw in a punch, she caught the sword with the other hand and attempted a side swipe. Even if that failed, she twisted her arm and brought it back down. Stepping forward once more, she swiped left and feigned right.
Yu Quan reacted similarly. Opening and closing his umbrella according to her attacks, he did a palm strike before following up with a side block with the tip of his umbrella. Opening it to blind Lunaria, he jumped into their and tried to land an axe kick.
From the audience point of view, it was like watching two martial arts masters fighting together. There wasn't a single moment of magic incorporated into their combat other than the first time Lunaria rained it down on Yu Quan. The atmosphere between the two were so tense that even if they made a single mistake, it was game over.
The atmosphere had affected the entire arena. Now fully silent and watching intensely, everyone was at the edge of their seat and clutching their fists tightly. They were so concentrated into the fight they forgot to catch their breath or swallow their saliva from watching. This was a fight of the top against the top.
The two royal families were no exception. Despite being experienced fighters themselves, they couldn't help but fell silent in awe of the fight before them. Even though it was simplistic without the use of magic or any fancy moves, the skills displayed were enough to mesmerize them.
Even though this could be said to be a duel between two nations, with a dragonkin facing a human, no one felt anything from that. Only a chill ran down their spine while thinking of the level of attention and effort needed to achieve such power. No matter who won from this, they would be happy.
"Lunaria-nee…" Lunatea muttered softly, watching her sister fighting.
"Lunaria…" Kaze gulped, his heart pounding in excitement at the beauty of the fight before him.
Like two parts of a fire dancing into each other, they crackled with such animosity while exhibiting their own captivity. The image that reflected in anyone's eyes was enough to take their breath away.
Finally, the trance of their battle was broken with a huge roundhouse kick from Lunaria.
Sending Yu Quan backwards, she pursued and left a small crater where her foot was in the ground. No matter how quickly Yu Quan reacted, he was unable to block what came next. Lunaria threw her sword forward before swiping him off his feet due to the distraction gained.
Momentarily and within microseconds of space, Lunaria seized control of the scene and pinned Yu Quan to the ground.
"… I give up," Yu Quan broke into a wry smile and raised his other hand. "You win."
"Already?" Lunaria widened her eyes in surprise at his declaration. "We haven't even fought with magic yet."
"Nope. I know I would lose, so I rather take a humble defeat than trying to reign my place," Yu Quan shook his head, standing up with help from her. "It was a good fight. I lost."
Even as the two shook hands and walked away back to their own tunnel, the crowd and the emcee remained silent. They still hadn't broken out from the spell of their fight that ended already. It showed just how powerful their demonstration was without needing to rely on magic or anything flashy. It was just a pure display of skill.
"Kaze?" Lunaria bopped his forehead lightly when he kept staring at her even as she stood in front of him.
"H-Huh?? Oh…" Kaze snapped back and shook Lunaria's hand. "C-Congratulations…"
"Thank you," she simply giggled and accepted the praise. "It was nothing much. I'm pretty sure that the crowd would be satisfied with such a defeat since we competed on skill alone."
"You mean… with you defeating the number 1?"
"Yes. Yu Quan was truly formidable."
"Oh… I suppose that is true. Even if the number 1 lost to you, it still showed enough of why he was worthy of being the number one based on pure speed, reaction and power."
"You're next. You should know by now who is your opponent."
At her words, Kaze felt nervous once again. He was going to have to go up against Frey.
"E-Erm… that concludes the fight… we shall take a short break for the mages to clean up the grounds before we go with the last fight of the event…" the emcee rambled pointlessly, still trying to wake up from the display of raw power. "Phew, sir… that was…"
"… I have no words," Aldwolf agreed, slumping into his chair. "Both have done well."
"Fufu~ you lost?" Frey giggled at Yu Quan as he walked past her. "You shouldn't have admitted defeat so early on, you know?"
"Don't be silly. There was no way I could have won against Lunaria," Yu Quan laughed, examining his umbrella. "You saw how strong she was."
"But… you could have dragged on the fight longer," Frey pouted and knocked him on the back of his head. "Sheesh, now I'm going to have to fight against Kaze with such a high expectation from the crowd."
"Ah, the other person left was Kaze?" Yu Quan grinned at her words. "I would love to fight him too."
"Tch, get lost," Frey pushed him away. "It's my turn~"
Unravelling her concealed weapon, which was the same length as her height when put upright, Frey walked out of the tunnel to greet Kaze on the opposing end.