Today's the day I hopefully get a new party member. I head over to North Point to begin my training with her. As we are warming up doing our daily morning exercises I decide now is a better time than ever to flat out ask Lilith to join my party. I should be subtle about the way I go about this so I'll edge my way into the topic.
"Hey Lilith, when we first met, why was your condition for training me for me to tell you about all my future adventures?" I ask curiously.
My sudden question catches her off guard and she almost trips over herself.
"That's because… That's because I'm jealous of adventurers; when I was younger, my father was an adventurer and he used to tell me about all the cool adventures he would go on. If I had a dream then it would be to go on an adventure myself," she says.
"If you're so jealous of adventurers, why not become one yourself?" I suggest.
"I can't. I… I guess I never told you, did I?"
"Never told me what?"
"The reason all the knights here protect me is because I'm the granddaughter of Lord Borin," Lilith claims.
"That still doesn't tell me why you can't go on an adventure. If it's your dream then you have to pursue it with everything you have," I argue.
"Well, one day, my father went on an adventure and never came back. Grandfather spent years looking for him, but no one ever found him. He's afraid if I become an adventurer too, that I might suffer the same fate," she states.
Lord Borin is restricting her because of something like that? That's not fair, she's so talented and way stronger than me. If anyone has the skill to pull off a successful adventure it's her.
"I hate it. Ever since that incident I've never been outside Colonus. I wish I could leave, but I can't defy grandfather," she says as she looks like she's about to cry.
I can't let this stand. She's worked so hard to become a good swordsman. I can't let that effort go to waste.
"Screw that! Lilith I want you to join my party. We'll think of something to convince your grandfather. I know we can!" I state as I begin to raise my voice.
"Will, just. . . just drop it already. There's no way we can defy the Lord. This is the way things are," she says with a defeated tone of voice.
No, I can't accept something like this. I have to think of something. I won't let her wallow in despair.
"Lilith! I challenge you to a real duel. If I win you have to promise that we'll at least try to convince Lord Borin. I'm sorry, but I can't let you give up this easily," I claim.
"Fine, just know you're wasting your time," she says as she picks up a steel longsword.
We walk into the large arena that's nearby and we both prepare ourselves for the upcoming fight. A bunch of imperial knights gather around us. They must be here to see my foolish duel with Lilith. I wonder why. Why come to see such a battle with a foregone conclusion? Perhaps they take pity on Lilith, seeing her strike down the one person trying to fight for her future. I know I'm not skilled enough to beat her, but I have to do it anyway.
The rules of our duel are as such; we will fight until one of us comes close to landing a fatal blow. Meaning we'd stop our strike right before landing a lethal hit. All other injuries are not counted. Thus anything and everything is allowed. Those are the rules we agreed upon. In battle all that matters is killing your opponent, even if other injuries are sustained. If you're still standing you are the victor. The imperial knight Marianne is overlooking our duel and will conclude the winner.
She speaks up and announces,
"We are here today to overlook the duel between Lilith and William. The duel ends when one cannot continue or if one is about to land a fatal blow. "
"Are you ready?" Lilith asks me.
"Yes, and I will win," responding with a tone of uncertainty.
I'm equipped with three daggers and my long celtic sword, enough weapons to make use of the specialization I developed. I don't have access to all of the sword abilities granted by my specialization, but I'll make do with what I have.
I begin the battle by charging right at her, both swords in hand. I slash with my right sword in a diagonal strike. It gets blocked as easily as ever. Lilith takes a step back to put enough distance between us, so her longsword is in effective range. She strikes with blinding speed.
I manage to parry her incoming strike with my left dagger, but the blow is heavy. She's stronger than she looks. If I wasn't using my aura to reinforce my body, that strike would have broken my left hand on impact. Up. Down. Left. Right.
She blocks all of my attacks on instinct. There's no hole in her defense, her technique is impeccable. I need to find a way to break through her defense or else I'll get nowhere. The ensuing clash of strikes is beginning to take its toll on me, yet I can sense it. Lilith is holding back and I'll make her regret that.
"I thought you said you wouldn't hold back against me. Are you really so sure that your future can't be changed?" I say as I parry the last few strikes heading my way.
"It doesn't matter what I do. It's already been decided. My fate was decided the moment I was born," she remarks.
So annoying. I hate people that give up so easily, we haven't even tried talking to her grandfather yet. How could she even know what the end response would be like? Damn cliches.
"So, it was all a lie then, wasn't it? How you said you wanted to go on a real adventure. What was it all for then, huh? Were you training out of self pity? No--some part of you believed that you would be free one day, that's why you worked so hard to become the best swordsman, right?!" I shout.
Apparently this remark gets to her as it throws off her balance. This is my chance. I close the distance and strike with my sword. She barely blocks it, but her grip weakens and one of her hands slips off the hilt of her blade. I attempt to end the battle here as I strike for her neck with my left dagger. Frantically she uses the hand that slipped off her blade and I see a fireball begin to form.
Damnit, I'll take serious damage if I take a hit from that at this range, that attack in and of itself looks big enough to end the fight if I get hit. I didn't even know she could use elemental attacks.
Where the heck was that when we were training? The ensuing magical attack forces me to quickly step back and cancel it out with a wind bullet. The two elemental attacks clash and set a small fire in the area around us. Ahhh, fuck! That was my chance. I doubt I can cause her to mess up with my words again.
"Fine, I understand now that I can't hold back against you," she responds solemnly.
She takes a different stance as she did from the beginning of our duel. She looks like she's about to take this seriously now.
We return to a stalemate now as the effects of the elemental attacks fade. As we begin to exchange blows again I start to feel the difference in our skill and strength. I'm starting to develop a series of small cuts and bruises every 9th blow or so. Lilith dashes over to me and takes up a stance I haven't seen before.
Suddenly she brings down her sword with the force of a sledgehammer. I attempt to parry the strike with my left dagger, but the force is too great. The dagger breaks and causes a fracture in my left hand. Ignoring the pain, I use my left hand to draw one of my remaining daggers and throw it at her in order to get her to back off. The girl in front of me blocks it and takes a few steps back.
She's completely unharmed, but her breathing is starting to sound ragged. At this point I have about 19 small cuts all over my body, my left hand is almost completely broken and I think my breathing may have stopped at some point in the duel.
There's little oxygen, if any, heading to my brain right now and I can't last long like this or I'll tire out from fatigue. I need an attack that will allow me temporarily daze or disarm her. I search through my head assessing every technique and ability I have available. I find one solution. If it fails I will lose the duel for sure.
"Just give up now, you look as if you could fall over at any moment," Lilith commands.
I respond with all my might,
"I can't do that. I haven't lost yet. I'm fighting for my ideals with everything I have. Can you say the same?"
Sword Technique: (Blow Like a Spark from a Stone):
If you are currently within a situation in which you and your opponent's swords are to clash, you must strike extremely hard without raising your sword to any extent.
I'm currently not experienced enough to use the following technique to its full potential, but it might be enough to give me an edge to open up her defense. I've analyzed the speed and strength of her blows. I'm waiting for her to put all of her weight behind one attack. I'll adjust the angle of her attack ever so slightly by manipulating space. It's pathetic, but so far the only usable progress I have with spatial manipulation is the ability to move objects slowly within a small radius to myself. Even so, it's enough for what I have planned. There it is, the blow I'm waiting for. Sorry Lilith, but I'm gonna cheat a little bit.
Lilith strikes with all her might and brings down her longsword in a diagonal slashing attack. I adjust the angle and speed of her blade by manipulating space enough so that I can strike at the hilt of her sword. I bring down my right sword as fast as I can without any upward movement and use the entire strength of my body to do so. The force of my attack causes my right arm to break completely and I drop my sword, but it also causes Lilith to drop her sword as well. Quickly I tackle Lilith to the floor and position my last dagger just before her neck.
"I win Lilith, it's over," I say, trying to catch my breath.
Shocked at what just transpired she admits,
"I can't believe it. . . I lost. . . completely."
My injuries causes me to cough up blood and some of it taint her armor.
After seeing how bruised and battered I am she starts to yell,
"You big idiot! Why would you go so far for someone like me?"
"Ironically, as cliche as it sounds, I can't stand it when people give up so easily. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. If you're willing to put so much time and effort towards something you want you can't give it up. And besides, I couldn't bear it to leave you alone when you looked like you were going to cry," I respond.
Hearing my answer causes her to look the other way.
"Ok, fine, you win, we'll go talk to grandfather. I had it stuck in my head that no matter what I did, I couldn't change--but, you're right I can't give up that easily," she says as she resigns herself to defeat.
Lilith looks as if she has no words at this moment as she closes her eyes as if she's resting. As the rest of the surrounding knights witness the end of our fight, the knight Marianne walks up.
"This duel is now over. The victor is William!" Marianne announces.
The knights start to clap out of respect for the winner and some of them look relieved to see that this was the outcome of the duel. How ironic, I'm the one covered in cuts and bruises yet I'm the victor. Unfortunately for me, I can't bask in the glory of this victory as the pain and fatigue comes back to me. I've been stifling all of it for the last few minutes, but the lack of blood and oxygen causes me to slowly lose consciousness as I fall to the ground next to Lilith and begin to bleed out.
The last thing I hear is her concerned voice, yelling,
"Quickly, someone take him to the infirmary!"
As I wake up I find myself covered in bandages and in a room with Nazuko sitting in a chair reading a book. Apparently I'm in the infirmary now as I see a nurse helping some of the other injured knights. My arms and hands don't feel broken, but I still feel minor pain all over my body. I guess I wasn't fully healed yet.
"Good morning, Master," Nazuko says as she notices me waking up.
"You've been asleep for the whole day so I got tired of snuggling with you. The doctors had to bring in a healer to fix you since your injuries were so severe. That girl you fought even ended up giving you a blood transfusion. Oh, and she left a note for you by the way."
I pick up the note and read it.
'Will, when you wake up, prepare yourself for a meeting with my grandfather. He can be kind of overprotective so keep that in mind. I left a suit on one of the chairs next to you, so I want you to wear that for the meeting. And one last thing, thank you for trying so hard to convince me I was wrong. I'll do whatever you want, if it all goes well tomorrow.'
I'm relieved that I was able to win against Lilith and change her conviction, but I have no idea how the hell we're going to convince her grandfather to let her go on this journey. I didn't think this far ahead. I guess I'll just wing it. What's the worst that could happen?