I neatly put my clothes in the three drawer dresser and hang my uniform on the closet rod while thinking to myself.
"I have no idea how strong Price is, so I better go all out and show him exactly what I'm capable of, even in this body."
I sigh and think to myself.
"I hope that he'll only want to check out my sword skills, and not test out my magical abilities, since the few spells I know, are only meant as emergencies and can easily backfire on me."
I grumble to myself.
"I really hate magic."
I shake my head.
"enough, there is no point in getting worked up about it, you need to stay focused and show them what your made of."
I regain my composure and leave my new bedroom, and make my way back to the backyard of the mansion, where everyone has already taken
their seats, so they can properly enjoy my fight against Price, I then approach him where he stares at me while holding two sparring swords.
"alright before we start, I want to set some ground rules."
he points at Amy.
"since she can heal, we will be able to go all out."
he tosses one at me and replies after I catch it.
"magic is allowed, but please refrain from using powerful ones that can kill me."
I get into the defensive stance, and reply.
"you won't have to worry about magic, since my skill level in magic is abysmal."
he smirks.
"then how do plan to defeat the Laconia brat?"
I ask.
"got any pointers that would prove useful?"
he answers.
"if she is anything like her siblings and cousins, then all you need to do is avoid magic spells."
I sigh.
"not exactly the enciteful information I was looking for but thanks for the warning anyways."
he replies.
"my bad I wish I could be more helpful, but not many individuals can stand up to the Laconia family."
he rushes me and swings his sword a couple times, and as I block them, I ask curiously since I've never run into anyone named Laconia before in my previous life.
"are they really powerful?"
I scold myself in my thoughts.
"you damned idiot, you should have tried to gather information from Halvine, instead of being so hostile and petty with her."
I throw a couple of swings at him and as he blocks them, I ask.
"I'm a bit ignorant when it comes to the noble houses, can you tell me what you know about the Laconia family."
whil we clash with the sparring swords he he responds.
"they are the special forces of the Makendon kingdom and are only used when situations are dire."
I think to myself.
"even then our spies should have been able to gather that type of information."
but then I remember that Mistress Isabelle is a complete manipulator.
"she may have known about them, but never disclosed it to any of us."
he backs away and said impressed with what I've shown him so far.
"how long have you've been training with a sword?"
I answer.
"a couple years."
he smiles.
"it shows, but there is something that you are lacking."
I ask.
"what am I lacking?"
he swings the sword with a lot of strength behind it, I block it even though I feel force shake my arm.
"you are still young and don't have the muscle to withstand raw physical strength."
I quickly step back and respond while thinking about my encounter with the frost trolls.
"yeah, I'm aware of my limitations."
I smirk and think to myself.
"but I'm quick on my feet and have more battle experience."
I approach him, stepping side to side, to try to throw him off from what direction I'll be closing in from, and as he focuses on the side that feign to attack, I do a quick misdirection and close in to perform a series of spinning upward slashes, and he struggles to block each strike but I don't let up and follow up with an additional series of downward slashes, but he doesn't allow himself to get caught up with my speedy attacks and kicks me away, catching his breath.
"holy shit kid, that is some serious skill."
everyone is cheering, hooting and hollering, by my speedy display, I then recompose myself.
"he has quick reflexes, but I could tell he was completely thrown off by my speed."
he sighs and smirks.
"it's my turn now, little cub."
he runs while shouting.
"Lion's Roar!"
a sudden burst of air hits me, almost causing me to lose my balance, he then jumps up in the air. and swings down at me, I manage to step to side while still trying to maintain a proper balance, I then think back to time when I was fighting Octavius and he used the exact spell during our fight, everyone bursts into excitement after witnessesing me dodge that attack, I chuckle and ask.
"were you trying to knock me out Price?"
he grins not trying deny it.
"can't blame me for trying to end this little sparring match a little early can you?"
I reply.
"not really, but I guess if we are going all out, then I better get serious."
with one hand I throw my sparring in curved trajectory, while sprinting at the opposite of it, I mumble on under my breath so he doesn't hear.
"boomerang throw."
I think to my self while changing directions and run straight at him.
"if he's smart he should keep his eye on the sword instead of me, since it is not a normal throw."
he shouts.
"throwing away your weapon is not a smart tactic Darius."
I reply to him in my mind,
"normally you would be right, but I've put in many countless hours of trial and error, in training and actual combat to get this attack combination."
he sees me rushing him without my sparring sword.
"are you insane, coming at an opponent without a weapon."
I chuckle.
"they always fall for it, and their over confidence usually increases when facing someone without weapon and it always leads them to attack with all they've got."
he starts to swings at me using all of his body weight in each one, but that only makes it easier for me to dodge and buy time for my sword to reach it's target, I then put my plan into action, I allow him to hit me with the sparring sword, and grab onto his arm, using my own arm on the moment that it makes contact on my ribs, I grit my teeth, holding back the pain from that hit, and just as he is about to break lose, the sword smacks him in the back of the head, accompanied with a loud thunk sound that echoed through the backyard, his eyes roll back and collapses down to the ground, I look over to Amy while whincing in pain.
"man down!"
her and Price's Fiancee Leslie come sprinting towards Price, Amy then places her hands on his head and closes her eyes, while mumbling to herself, causing her hand to glow green, I then think to myself while trying to nurse my ribs with my hand.
"it's a shame that I don't have any healing affinity, or I wouldn't have to worry so much when I head into battle."
Amy then stops and tries to comfort her while the others make their way towards Price.
"don't worry he'll be up and back to normal in few minutes."
Amy approaches me and places her hand on my
ribs, I whince.
"thank you."
she replies, as Octavius comes to us.
"no problem."
she asks completely astonished that I beat Price.
"who are you? Price is considered pretty strong even amongst other noble families that look down on us."
I respond not wanting to reveal who I once was.
"I'm a nobody that was abandoned by his parents, and grew up in orphanage."
she pulls her hands away.
"there you go, you will also be fine."
Octavius then buts in.
"holy crap Darius, I wasn't expecting you to beat my brother."
Amy pulls on his ear.
"don't interrupt people's conversations."
he laughs in pain.
"ha sorry cousin."
she shakes her head in embarrassment of Octavius and then said to me.
"well it doesn't matter to me where you grew up, you are now part of our family."
Octavius puts his hand on my shoulder.
"Price is strong and you did good, but he is not Laconia."
I reply.
"yeah, I get what you mean."
Price sits up, and Leslie wraps her arms around him.
"how are you feeling honey?"
he chuckles.
"I'm right as rain, my dear."
he stands up and then gives me a thumbs up accompanied with a grin.
"Darius, that was a good fight little cub."
I reply, feeling good that I was able to give him a glimpse of what I'm capable of.
"yeah, I had to adapt to your strenght advantage and rely on my speed."
he sighs.
"unfortunately, I don't think it will be enough to beat that Laconia brat."
I respond with confidence, since I can still resort to using bloodlust, and other emergency spells to have the battle end in my favor.
"believe it or not, but I'm still holding a couple of tricks up my sleeve."
he asks.
"so you were holding back on me?"
even though I've got my reasons why I didn't throw the kitchen sink at him, I choose not to reveal why and reply.
"yeah, I was holding back."
he approaches me and puts me in a headlock to give me a noogie, while laughing.
"you little rascal, Octavius found us little gem, that can elevate the Lionheart name."
he let's go and firmly shakes my hand.
"once again, I'd like to welcome you to the family, you've completely proven that you have the heart of a lion."
he then turns to everyone.
"alright, let's head on inside and I'll make us a celebratory dinner."
Octavius stops me, after everyone enters the house.
"Darius."
I ask.
"sup, you need something?"
he responds.
"if you end up losing against Halvine, would you actually leave the Lionheart family, after just joining us?"
I answer.
"I don't want to, but that is why I'll do my damndest to beat her, even if I have to resort to using my emergency spells."
he gets curious.
"can you tell me what they are?"
I shake my head.
"nope, you'll just have to wait and see for yourself if I end up using it on Saturday."
he pouts and wraps his arm around my shoulders.
"come on Darius, we are practically brothers now, you can share your secrets with me."
I reply.
"that won't work on me, so you can just give up on trying to get a sneak peek of what I might do."
he sighs.
"alright, well let's go inside and have a nice home cooked dinner from Price."
before entering, I ask him even though I'm well aware how strong he was when I faced him.
"so what about you, are you stronger than Price?"
he shakes his head and laughs.
"no, he can easily kick my ass."
I think to myself.
"I see, he still hasn't grown into the monster that I've come to know before."
he then grips his fist with his palm and said.
"I may be a weakling right now, but that won't stop me from working hard and do what I need to do to grow much stronger."
he then grins at me.
"I want to set an example to people that with hard work, you can overcome and break through your own limits."
in that moment a small glimpse of The Demon Eater come flashing through in his expression, I then reply with the chills running through my arms.
"I can't wait to see what you will do in the future."
he smiles.
"you really think that it's possible, no one seems to think so."
I reply knowing all too much about having to work hard to grow in strength.
"if you continue working hard, I don't see why not."
he sniffles.
"that means a lot to me, thank you."
he clear his throat and recomposes himself.
"alright come on, let's go eat, since you have a long day of classes tomorrow."
I follow him inside and eat with the Lionheart household and finally go to bed.