Yel munched the bread down while Varvei watched her and asked
"is it good?"
Yel got embarra.s.sed and slowed down her eating speed while Varvei gave a grin, just as she did Yel began choking on the bread and so Varvei handed her a water skin to clench her thirst, after Yel finished drinking from the water skin did she ask Varvei
"...do you know if Mars spoke the truth? about his mission being closing the portal I mean?"
"well, as far as I know his mission is to close the portal, nothing more, nothing less"
"....not to wipe us off the continent?"
"he asked about that but Information said no, his mission is only to close the portal"
"I see..."
Yel feel into thought Varvei took this as her cue to leave the room, which she did leaving Yel alone in the dim room...
"oh you"re already awake"
Mars was surprised to find Yel awake when he walked into the small room, not only was she awake she was also sitting on the chair she originally had been bound to looking like she had waited for his arrival with a serious expression on her face, Mars walked over and took a seat on the chair in front of her and waited for her to speak up which she did a few moments later
"I want to challenge you to a duel"
Mars gave a nod
"sure"
"wait are you going to agree just like that!?"
Yel stood up from her chair and yelled at Mars continuing
"a duel is a very serious affair in my culture and you just agree like that?"
"well I didn"t know that..."
"oh... sorry"
Yel got red in the face from embarra.s.sment and sat down on her chair again, then Mars asked a question
"so what are the stakes of this duel?"
"life and death"
"...you know I have no intentions of killing you right?"
"it"s not death like that, the winner gets the losers life, to act as a servant for life or to take after the duel in my culture this is a very serious event"
"I see, so basically you are asking me to make you my servant? but why?"
Yel thought for a moment on how best to explain but then she asked a question
"your objective is to close the portal right?"
Mars gave a nod
"that"s right"
"then my survival is none of your concern right?"
"well you are both pretty and a strong woman so that"s not quite true..."
"eh...?"
Yel processed what Mars had just said and went completely red in the face before she averted eye contact and muttered
"...you and your smooth words"
Mars gave a grin and watched Yel for a while until she cleared her throat and spoke again
"well that aside... I will help you close the portal"
Mars narrowed his eyes, all traces of his earlier playfulness and smooth words gone as he simply asked
"...why?"
"because my race was the first to evacuate and have are already all here in this world, besides we we"re not the ones that ruined our old world..."
Mars kept silent clearly he was not convinced yet so Yel kept speaking
"with me as your servant it will be easier for you to move through the sky people territory as the master of a servant is a member of our people even if he or she is from another race""...so you want to tie me to your s.h.i.+p?"
Yel gave a nod and admitted it
"basically"
Mars crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned back in his chair
"I see... I still don"t get what I get out of it"
Yel bit her lip and with a flushed face she pushed up her plentiful b.r.e.a.s.t.s trying her best to look seductive as she spoke with a slightly shaky voice
"you get me... and my eternal grat.i.tude..."
Mars bilked twice before he burst out laughing
"hahahahahaha! I see your "eternal grat.i.tude" HAHAHAHA!"
Yel became even more red in the face, but this time it was not from embarra.s.sment but fury as she rose from her chair and slapped Mars on the face, or at least she tried to as Mars caught her hand and stopped laughing, afraid he would slap her back Yel closed her eyes but instead of a slap she felt her cheek get pinched and open her eyes and saw Mars with a warm smile on his face
"well it certainly sounds interesting so why not?"
this time Yel got even more angry and yelled
"what do you mean "why not"!? this is a sacred tradition going back to our forefathers!"
Mars suppressed a laugh which caused Yel to stomp on the floor out of anger until Mars asked
"so when are we doing it, I mean the duel?"
Yel blanked for a moment before she said while still being blank in the face
"...right now?"
"sure, wait here"
Mars left the room with fast steeps meanwhile Yel collapsed down on her chair exhausted while she muttered
"....I did not think that would actually work"
while Yel was dazed time pa.s.sed and Mars returned along with 4 women which Mars quickly introduced as his girlfriends
"this is Chloe and Mary, Varvei and Elsa you know"
the girls smiled at Yel but remained silent as Mars handed Yel her armor and spear before reached out and removed the mana sealing collar on her neck
"so where are we having our duel?"
Yel gave a smile and pointed up as she asked
"where else but the sky?"
"I see, makes sense...."
Mars turned to the girls and smiled
"I"ll be right back"
Then he walked out the room followed by Yel before both of them swiftly took off and flew into the sky, after flying above the clouds Mars stopped and waited for Yel who arrived a few seconds later and floated without moving her wings, Mars briefly activated his [Energy: sense] and looked at Yel"s wings and noticed that the mana flow was complex almost like her wings were very complex magic formations covered in runes
"...Mars?"
"it"s nothing, let"s begin"
Mars drew his bone sword and took a defensive stance as he floated mid air right before Yel shot forwards with a mighty flap of her two sets of wings and with a loud clang as the two weapons collided, Yel pulled back slightly before she let out a flurry of stabs with her spear which Mars parried effortlessly before he "sidestepped" the last stab and closed the distance sending out a slash with his sword which Yel blocked with her spear, while they had locked weapons Mars asked
"so how"s the victor deiced in this?"
"well if you can disarm me I"ll probably surrender"
"I see, well then I guess I"ll get a little serious"
as Mars activated [Half-awaken] Yel felt the pressure she felt from Mars tipple in a few breaths of time and widened her eyes slightly
"here I come Yel!"
Mars temporarily disappeared from view before he reappeared right in front of Yel and sent out a slash, Yel raised her spear to defend as she had no time to dodge and then a deafening clang sounded out as Yel"s spear was sent flying while spinning in the air as it flew, red blood dripped from Yel"s hands as she stared at Mars with wonder in her eyes as Mars slowly raised his sword to her neck and asked
"do you surrender?"
"....I do"
"good..."
Mars breathed out as he deactivated [half-awaken] right before he activated [Instant movement] and retrieved Yel"s spear and handed it to her before he took her hands and healed them as the two of them slowly descended to the ground and landed in front of the small room where Yel had been imprisoned, as soon as they landed Yel kneeled down in front of him and asked
"master, my life is now yours, what is your command?"
Mars thought for a moment before he grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her up
"for now no more kneeling"
"but---"
Mars narrowed his eyes and asked
"are you disobeying your master?"
"no, but our sacred traditions state that---"
"...are you disobeying your master?"
"... are you perhaps a bully master?"
"yup that I am"
while Mars and Yel were talking the girls approached Mary walked over and grabbed Yel"s hand, Mars looked on and gave a small wave as Mary dragged Yel away into the small room, the other three followed after while giving smiles to Mars
"guess I should leave them alone..."
Mars gave a sigh and walked off
"now to handle the annoying stuff..."
Mars walked off towards the port and soon arrived at one of the surviving s.h.i.+ps and walked aboard before he walked over to the captain"s cabin and knocked on the door and soon heard a voice
"come in"
Mars opened the door and walked in, the inside of the cabin was small but luxuriously decorated and behind a desk sat a man in the prime of his life, he was Dan, the general a.s.signed to reconquering the port city they were currently in