***On Planet Gieă, In the Outskirts of the Continent 'Eclipse of the Oceans'. Chingford's Academy Swordsmanship training grounds..
"I demand a Death Duel!..".
!!! (*???*) !!!
Stunned silence echoes through-out the training grounds at the implications behind those deep words.
Questions raced through countless minds as they stared at the two people involved while trying to comprehend what could have provoked those cruel yet desperate words.
What could the distant and wierd twelve year old kid have done to deserve those words being spoken?!..
What's the connection between the two people locked in this conversation?!.
Is the Academy going to have a death duel again when they have barely recovered from the unjust and ruthless one from the last Martial term?.
With these thoughts racing through onlookers minds, they focused their eyes on the duo who looks to be having a staring contest with one of them being enraged and red eyed and the other being obnoxiously calm faced with a brow raised.
'This.. is new.', Navi says internally with a silent sigh escaping his nostrils.
Finally, the long awaited annoyance sips into his mood alongside a string of possibilities on what could have led to this current situation.
With a pyramid elimination of possibilities, Navi is able to narrow the possible causes of this situation down to two main possibilities.
One, karma is taking a wild swing at him and this red-eyed person is somehow related to the long dead and buried attempted murders and invaders of his house.
This possibility most likely mean that evidence has been gathered and Navi might have no way out of this.
The second main possibility is that all of this is nothing but a big misunderstanding and is completely unrelated to him.
Life has been boorish for a while now and this set-up is getting a bit interesting. Although the first possibility is more likely to be a web of dangerous, it would honestly be quite a shame if it ends up being the second possibility.
With these thoughts and many others wiring through Navi's mind all at once, Navi gives the calmest response he can afford to at the moment.
"OK.", Navi says calmly with his response shocking the already silent crowd even more speechless.
Even the enraged figure in front of Navi couldn't help but lightly tighten his expression to give a small frown of confusion.
Navi's seemingly casual response at the proposed death duel isn't one of those on-the-moment type of responses nor is it an emotional one born of the desire to spice up his monotonous life - instead, it is a logical and well thought of response that would give the chain reaction Navi wants in order to take control of future events to be related to this sudden moment.
The disciple in front of Navi right now has his mind completely taken over by rage and the intent to kill. One stare into his bloodshot eyes makes it absolutely clear to Navi that he would stop at absolutely nothing to ensure of Navi's brutal demise.
Navi may not have a lot of actual experience dealing with people but he have observed others enough to realise that people like this who are driven by intense emotions are very odd variables.
With or without evidence to the first or second possible reasons for a death duel, there is a high chance that the blindly enraged guy is going to attempt something absolutely crazy against Navi. By accepting the Death duel Navi has cancelled the most probabilities for a sudden attack from an opponent whom he currently knows absolutely nothing about.
Navi has effectively set a scenario where the other party can 'nobly' achieve his goals of destroying Navi and so, there is little chance that he would do anything outside the box as of this moment.
Another reason why Navi had carelessly accepted the death duel is because he sees something the currently enraged other party doesn't see. The acceptance and decline of something like a death Duel has absolutely nothing to do with either of their opinions!.
Regardless of weather Navi accepts or declines, the martial board up there would still carry out their own investigations and they would be the ones giving the verdict of approvals or declination of any death duel matches.
The board would obviously need time to investigate and even more time to prepare for a death duel(if it turns out to be necessary) and this wasted time by the board is precious enough for Navi to gain enough information about the bloodshot eyed nuisance standing in front of him.
It's a bit funny. Saying something as simple as an 'OK' can bring him so much benefits so.. why not?.
Still staring into the other party's eyes, Navi watches as the guy shows slight confusion from his response. This confusion soon turns into confirmation and then a dark and trembling cold rage.
"So you do admit to killing her?!.", The disciple in front of Navi says slowly and darkly with saliva bubbling between his teeth. He says these dark words after a couple seconds of processing Navi's casual 'OK' response to his challenge.
"Killing who?.", Navi asks calmly_saying his third word since the beginning of this conversation though this time, there is true confusion on his face as he truly doesn't know who is being spoken about.
Barely finishing his question, Navi's disciple vest is harshly and boldly grabbed by the terrifyingly firm grip of the other disciple who then steps towards him slowly and boldly.
A sudden and terrifying calm descends into Navi's mind at the instant of this sudden move that squeezed roughly through the collars of his layered robes and hits his chest with more than a bit of a slap.
He doesn't get pushed or pulled a single step backwards or forward but a wave of calm and dark emotions makes him squints his eyes coldly as he feels a shadow taking a steady step into his personal space.
The shadow of his opposition has taken a step closer and Navi can now feel the guy's steamy and shaky breath spilling onto his forehead and face as the other guy looks down at him due to being taller.
Instead of beating faster, Navi's heart seemed to slow down at that moment with a bit of rage now stirring into his usual indifference. His palms didn't clench, his breath didn't hitch, his brows didn't raise or drop but something changed very quickly about how he views the other party.
Calmly tilting his head up, Navi coldly meets the rage filled gaze of the other party once more though this time, his orange iris somehow seems colder and deadlier.
The silently watching crowd seems to feel the shift in the air as they stir in tension while watching the duo locked in a very tense stare and position.
"Don't play with me, you killed her didn't you?!.", The enraged other party says very slowly with his facial muscles shivering in rage and his hand still clenching harshly on Navi's vests.
Not making any attempt to shake off the grip, Navi keeps calmly staring into the other party's eyes with his breaths even and his mouth shut for seconds and just as he is about to speak, a powerful and firm voice cuts through the tense air.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!!..".
This loud voice shakes both the intrigued audience and the duo out of their moods as they are forced to turn atleast some of their attention to the person approaching them.
A peak level Rank One master!.
The man has obviously heard about what's going on and have decided to do what teachers are best known for – Ruining the moment for all involved –.
With a short beard, a rugger face and a straight posture that demands respect, the martial master looks at the duo for a few tense seconds with a less-than-happy look on his face and then he speaks coldly.
"Follow me."..
With these two word that were undeniably commands, the master angrily turns around and starts to leave the Swordsman's training ground while obviously expecting instant obedience.
Slowly and unwilling, Navi's collar is released and the other party gulps slowly as if using all of his willpower. Taking a deep breath, the guy then turns away and follows after the departing master.
Navi adjusts his robes with an unusual coldness still in his eyes and then he also follows after the departing master.
...
...
***On Planet Gieă. In the Outskirts of the Continent 'Eclipse of the Oceans', Chingford's Academy's Master Hall..
With the Master leading them, Navi and the still unknown other party follows through a long walk through the martial grounds.
Maybe it's because of the stale mood in the air but nobody seems to have registered the walk as long as they soon find themselves walking through the heavy doors of the multi-floored Master's Halls.
The most notable thing Navi sees as soon as he enters the Martial hall are the four receptionist desks in the recieving hall.
These four receptionist arranged at the center of the room_ gives a bow at the walking master with their hands tucked to their torsos and their waist bent forward.
Completely ignoring the bowing receptionist, the master walks across the hall then leads them to a wide set of stairs that leads to the Martial halls upper floors.
After walking up a couple short flights of stairs, the two disciples and master soon find themselves walking through a wide Hallway with doors on both sides but then the master leading them stops in front of one if the traditional sliding doors.
Illuminated by the lanterns hanging in the hallways, a handful of guards in straight stature-like positions were distributed across the hallways but these guards make zero movements as the Martial master slides open his door before finally looking back at the two disciples following him.
It's Navi's first time in the Academy's Martial hall and although he looks indifferent, he is noting down as much information as he possibly can.
Under the slightly pissed off stare from the master in front of him, Navi keeps his calm while the banner atop the traditional Sliding doors gives away some information about the master in front of him.
'Swordsmanship Master Gifren Chen.'.
"Come in..", The thick voice of the Master in question pulls Navi's attention to the traditional office behind the open sliding door as he takes steps into its embrace right after the other disciple.
Shutting the sliding wooden doors, the Master the moves into the office space. With a slower pace than when they had been outside, the master walks across the room before siting down on a pillow behind a short wooden table.
Books were on themselves in an orderly manner were placed on the table alongside a spread piece of paper half-written upon. A black quill, an open Ink bottle and two paper weights that holds down both ends of the paper lies neatly on the table alongside a sand-clock.
A lantern hangs off a bronze stand placed beside the table and the rest of the space in the medium traditional office were filled with orderly books, swords, scrolls and shelves.
An unknown beast skull with multiple horns hangs like a trophy on one side of the wall with a lantern in its open mouth.
In total, although not too big the Martial office looks clean, orderly and definitely has the fine marks of an elite sword's master in its design.
A netty curtain silently falls while separating the sword's master behind the table from Navi and the other disciple who are now taking their seats on seating pillows with their backs straight and their ankles crossed.
They two disciples sit and look forward at the now vague image of the master and his work table that's now sitting behind the netty veil.
Navi has been able to pick up a few things about the master's personality from his office design and he has also seen a glimpse of double door on the walls behind the currently sitting master.
Those door most likely leads to the master's personal space but it's not like this information matters much to Navi anyway.
"Now, would you both explain yourselves?.", The Master asks with a thick voice and a calm yet gruff attitude.
"..". Silence ensures for a few seconds but then the other guy just couldn't take it anymore as he burst out with a voice as calm as he could bear to pull given his still turbulent emotions.
"He killed my sister, he killed my..", The other disciple begins to speak but is soon cut off by the sharp tone of the Swords Master.
"Start with your name.", The master coldly says from behind the netty veil but the disciple he's speaking to could feel the master's piercing glare that makes him swallow a bit of saliva before speaking again.
"This disciple's name is Marien Lee and the commotion began because I learnt that the other disciple sitting next to me had taken my sister's life.", Marien Lee says calmly while pointing towards Navi without looking at him.