Cyrus left the guild with a house key from the guild master. He was pleasantly surprised at its price as any new adventurer could afford a cheap one. Looking at the number engraved on the key, he searched for the house that matched his number and found a simple little building near the edge of town. Entering inside, Cyrus noticed it was a large bedroom. It could fit two beds and had a spot in the center for a fire.
Cyrus walked over to the bed, as it was pretty much the only thing in the house. Everything else had to be bought by the adventurer. He set down his sword and stripped off his tunic, looking down at the brown and green patchwork that had bloodstains on it. He couldn't continue adventuring like this, as being an all-powerful demon, he deserved better.
Cyrus attempted to get some sleep, finding the bed nice and comfy, but couldn't get any sleep. Demons are naturally nocturnal, and stronger ones could go days without rest. The only thing he can do is waste time until the duel.
When it was almost sunrise, Cyrus made his way to the guild and waited for Angela so they may begin the duel. He expected a crowd to duel in front of so the church could try and show off their authority, but there was no one here, as the streets were empty.
"Cyrus!" Angela called out.
He could barely see her in the distance but recognized her voice. "Angela, there you are. Is it just the two of us for our duel?" Cyrus gave a confused look as he asked.
"No, the duel is at the church. I came to get you since I figured you'd be here or still asleep. We gotta hurry; the sun is almost up," Angela explained.
Cyrus and Angela booked it, and as they ran, he noticed how Angela was moving faster than last time. Activating detect magic, Cyrus found someone cast multiple enhancement spells on her and a veil spell that attempted to conceal them.
He had to applaud this multilayered scheme, as it covered almost everything. The support spells were weak, only increasing her abilities by a small amount. The slight difference would make it unnoticeable to most people. Even if someone noticed, the veil hid the spells making any accusations unfounded. It also served as a check, Cyrus could destroy the veil spell with a mere snap of his fingers, but the caster would be aware of it. The one thing it didn't cover was crushing her in a duel head-on.
"We're here!" Cyrus announced as they both arrived right when the sun's rays hit the church. The two of them stood at the base of the hill as guards and adventurers had gathered to watch.
A girl around the same age as Angela but was a few inches shorter and having brown hair tied in pigtails approached her. "Why did you go find that, Demi? You would've won by default, and the town could've ridden itself of him for defying the church!" The girl yelled.
She carried a metal rod that functioned as a spear and a rod, where the spear's crossguard had a crystal to assist in her spells. Wearing a blue robe with white trimmings and the symbol of the church embroidered on her chest.
"Calm down, Ezra. It's our fault for not putting the location of the duel in the note," Angela disputed.
"Friend of yours?" Cyrus asked.
"Sorta, we got taken in by the church around the same time. This is-"
"Don't introduce me!" Ezra snapped, cutting off Angela.
"I was being polite, not like he didn't just hear me call your name a few moments ago," Angela pointed out as she sighed.
"Now, this is what I expected when we first met. Slurs and outrage at my very existence," Cyrus smirked, causing Ezra to glare at him.
"Enough," A man walked out of the church wearing a white robe with gold trimmings and an embroidered symbol of the church on the back.
As the man appeared, members of the church took a knee, and the adventurers lowered their heads.
"I am Father Maxwell, the one who will be presiding over this duel. Accused Cyrus and Sword Maiden Angela, please step back from each other as we will begin the duel shortly."
"Wait, he doesn't have any armour. How would this be considered fair?" Angela protested, but what she meant was she felt guilty being forced to use the enhancement magic and preferred a fair fight. She couldn't say it since she couldn't go against the church.
"Don't worry about it. I won't need armour since you'll never hit me," Cyrus proclaimed.
"Never mind, if he doesn't need it, then let's begin," Angela stated. Her feelings changed from guilt to irritation, wanting to break his arrogance and bring him down a peg.
As everyone backed away onto the hill to observe, Cyrus and Angela backed away from each other. "Along with not telling me the location, you never told me the rules to the duel," Cyrus pointed out.
"The duel will continue until one of you yield. If you both understand, then you may begin," Maxwell proclaimed.
"I'm feeling a bit tired since my demon blood kept me up all night, so how about you come to me," Cyrus goaded Angela.
"Fine then," Angela charged forward as her arm glowed red, activating a skill called flurry, where one thrust of her blade would become several.
Angela meant for the attack to be a warning, showing she had more skills than what he's seen. However, none of this meant anything to Cyrus, one of his innate demon skills called premonition activated, causing him to give a depressed sigh.
When witnessing an attack directed at him, his eyes would perceive everything in slow motion. To Cyrus, Angela was already moving slowly compared to the heroes. Now it felt like an eternity for her to reach him. When she finally did, he side-stepped her attack at the last second and turned to her side, raising his blade in the air.
When her skill ended, Angela attempted to block the incoming attack. She noticed Cyrus had no practical skills with a blade and knew she could counter his strike.
"Don't block it!" Ezra's voice desperately cried out from the crowd.
Angela's body instinctively jerked and was thrown off balance as the blade came down, narrowly avoiding his sword.
"Getting help from the crowd now, is that even allowed?" Cyrus mocked as he looked down at the sword. He had increased its sharpness before the attack, hoping to end this duel in one strike. Having enhanced his blade's sharpness to shatter Angela's blade
Despite his plan not working, Cyrus found it odd only Ezra intervened using her voice. He expected Maxwell or someone else to have intervened by now.
Angela managed to recover her balance and used the blitz skill to increase her speed, leaving red afterimages. Pretending to go for a frontal strike, she maneuvered behind him and struck from behind.
Cyrus' innate skill activated again, but with Angela having used blitz, she was almost moving at a regular speed. Following the sword with his eyes, Cyrus saw the feint, and as she turned to strike from behind, he lowered his sword behind him and blocked the attack effortlessly.
"Anything else?" Cyrus asked as Angela was out of breath.
"One other thing," She backed up as her whole body began to glow yellow.
Angela burst forward, leaving golden after images and struck at Cyrus, but he effortlessly halts the attack. Rushing past him, Angeal turned at an angle and attacked from behind, only to be blocked again. Moving past him, Angela turned and slashed from the side, but Cyrus just stood there and deflected the attack once again. The fourth time proved no different than the other three, but a cracking sound echoed when their swords connected. In the fifth and final strike, all the light went to her arms as she stabbed forward.
Cyrus knew this move, as it was a trump card for newer church members. It combines the skills blitz and surge, then follows with a flurry strike. It's called star-strike for striking five times from multiple angles. However, the final strike couldn't do anything as Cyrus had broken Angela's sword.
Throughout the duel, Angela's blade was breaking every time it connected against Cyrus' magically enhanced blade. She was so focused on her offence that she didn't realize what was happening until her sword broke off.
"You've lost. You were so focused on me that you weren't paying attention," Cyrus stated as his sword pushed up against her neck.
"I yield."