"…you really are the prince of the Amazerian Empire."I grimaced when I saw Roland Rothwell standing outside his gigantic hovercraft and waiting for me with his bodyguards. They still bristled at what they perceived at my complete lack of deference and respect, but he waved them back.
"Yeah. Sorry to wake you up at 6am in the morning." Amazingly, Roland was still cheerful despite the unG.o.dly hour. "As I said, I need you to fight in a match for me."
I narrowed my eyes. "No, you don"t." gesturing at his group of bodyguards, I snorted. "You have plenty of people to fight for you. Why ask me, of all people?"
"Oh, perhaps you misunderstand something. I don"t want you to fight for me as my representative or something. I"m asking you to fight against my bodyguards. Well, just one of them."
That caught my attention, and I reluctantly followed the prince and his bodyguards as we boarded the hovercraft.
"Why?"
"Question not his Excellency!" one of the older bodyguards snapped, but Roland silenced him with a glare. He turned back to me with a smile.
"I want to see something more interesting. I came all the way here, it wouldn"t be fun if I go home without being able to see the best of what the Global Federation has to offer."
"You do know that I"m not among the best, right?" I reminded him. Roland"s grin widened.
"That"s fine. I"m more interested in seeing what a mage capable of casting a Strategic-scale spell can do."
"I see."
I understood what was going on. Roland wasn"t just here to negotiate trade deals with the Stuart family or the Global Federation. He was also here to figure out our strengths. Our military power and combat prowess. He wanted to see just how strong the Global Federation was when compared to his finest warriors.
a.s.suming his bodyguards were among the finest warriors in the Amazerian Empire. It was highly likely they were – who in their right mind would a.s.sign mediocre warriors to protect the crown prince when he wandered overseas?
Considering the various possibilities, I decided to play along even though I was pretty sleep deprived. Suppressing a yawn, I nodded even as I briefly shut my eyes. I was also interested in how powerful the Amazerian Empire was. If they wanted to squeeze information regarding our combat power out from us, then I was going to obtain intelligence on them too. This was going to be a two-way information exchange, not just one-way.
The flight to Southampton City took less than fifteen minutes, what with the hovercraft moving at incredible speeds and all. I swear, they must be using warp drive technology or at least a teleportation spell. The d.a.m.ned thing was moving close to light speed! How did we get there without colliding into anything!?
"All right, we"re here."
We reached the destination even before I could doze off. That was one h.e.l.l of a hovercraft. I was so exhausted that I could feel myself drifting off, but even before I could allow sleep to embrace my mind, the hovering vehicle pulled to a sudden stop and I reluctantly rose from my seat.
I got off the hovercraft, just behind Roland and his bodyguards, only to catch sight of several familiar faces.
"Brother Richard! You really came!"
Adrian barreled toward me, and I waved at him in a friendly manner. It was some time since I had last seen him, and he didn"t look as if he had changed.
"I"m glad you survived the invasion of Jing Tian City! We were pretty worried when we heard the news!"
"Yeah, it was quite the calamity," I agreed wearily, still trying to rub the sleep out of my eyes. "It was unfortunate that many more people were unable to make it."
"Ah, you are right." Adrian nodded sympathetically. "I"m sorry to hear that. Sister Alicia…she didn"t make it, did she?"
"…yeah. I shouldn"t have let down my guard." I balled my hands into fists, remembering that fateful moment when the Deceivum a.s.sa.s.sin revealed her true colors.
"That wasn"t your fault." This time it was Cecilia Stuart. She stepped forward and offered me a hand. I shook it, though from her expression I realized I was supposed to kneel and kiss it. Whatever. I wasn"t one for all that fancy knight stuff. She was lucky I didn"t ignore her hand and bow instead. "We also heard that you made vital contributions into saving countless civilians, as well as major members of the city council."
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Maybe, but what did that all matter when I failed to save the single person most important to me?
Sacha also nodded toward me, and we all proceeded toward the courtyard. The sun was slowly rising over the horizon by now, its brilliant rays trickling over the garden and dying the sky red. We stopped in the middle of the courtyard.
"Shall we begin then?" Roland Rothwell asked as he took his seat at some garden veranda. He glanced at me apologetically. "Sorry for waking you up again, but I really look forward to seeing you fight. After all, even in the Amazerian Empire, we heard quite a bit about you."
"It"s 6 b.l.o.o.d.y am!" I growled. "Couldn"t you arrange this duel at a later time?"
"Yeah, sorry about that. In return, I"ll treat you to breakfast. All you can eat. Everything is on me."
"Oh, really?" that brightened me up and I straightened. "That will be great."
"Hey!" a guy who was about the same height as me, and wearing the same suit as Roland"s other bodyguards, blurted out. "What about me? Don"t I get anything to eat?!"
"I"ll treat both of you to lunch," Roland amended as he placed his hand on the guy"s shoulder. "So work hard, Elem."
"Gotcha!"
I watched Elem, my instincts automatically warning me that there was something off about this guy. That he was extremely dangerous. Even though he didn"t seem that much older than me, and his frame was on the skinny side rather than bulky, his movements were lithe and graceful. I could almost sense the power in his coiled muscles, as if he was always on the prowl at any moment, ready to spring forward and hunt his prey.
"I surrender," I immediately said.
"Oh, come on!" Roland complained. "At least indulge me in this, okay? Don"t forget, I"ll be treating you to lunch later."
"…fine." the idea of having a free lunch won out and I nodded. "All I can eat, right?"
"Yup. As long as you partic.i.p.ate in this duel."
"…okay." Taking a deep breath, I nodded and stepped forward. "Let"s do this then."
Elem and I took our places on the opposite side of a s.p.a.ce marked out in the courtyard as an arena. I waited as Elem drew his slender sword, and I did the same, unsheathing both Gan Jiang and Mo Ye.
"Dual sword user?" Elem asked, a grin spreading over his face. I shrugged.
"I look like one, don"t I?"
The whistle went off, and Elem immediately lunged at me. He didn"t wait for me to attack, especially when he detected that I had gone into a defensive posture instead. Laughing wildly, he swung his sword at me.
However, I struck him back with both swords. Elem flipped in midair and landed on both feet, and then he instantly bounced back with another slash. I deflected his sword, but his foot lashed out at my head, almost grazing my cheek. I countered with my other sword, but he stopped it by ramming his elbow against my forearm to prevent the blade from reaching him. Spinning around, he swept his leg below my waist in an attempt to trip me, but I raised my knee to parry his foot before bringing down Gan Jiang. Elem dropped to the ground, landing on one hand while using his other hand to parry Gan Jiang. I then sliced at him with Mo Ye from the other side, but he dodged it by a hair"s breadth, rolling on the ground and widening the distance between us.
I didn"t pursue him, knowing that he had a trick or two in his sleeve. Looking disappointed when he saw that I wasn"t going to fall for his deception, Elem then jumped back several paces and clicked his tongue.
"Since you don"t want to engage me in close combat, then…!"
Golden mana flared to life, transforming into a gigantic pillar of destructive energy that seared the heavens. For some reason, I was reminded of a certain Servant with blond hair and usually wore silver and blue (or white and blue).
"Seriously?"
I retreated, but I realized that I had nowhere to run. As Elem finished casting his spell, he unleashed the ma.s.sive torrent of devastating energy on me. Diving desperately to the ground, I tried to evade the colossal blast but I couldn"t escape. I could only watch the tremendous tsunami of golden energy roll inexorably toward me.
Boom!
The entire courtyard vanished as Elem"s "Excalibur" (I don"t know what else to call it, honestly) engulfed it.
"Is that it?" Roland asked, disappointed.
"No. not yet."
Elem was grinning savagely as he watched the blazing ground, a molten crater craved into the courtyard in the aftermath of his devastating attack.
"It"s only just beginning."
"How?" Cecilia demanded. "There"s no way he could have…"
"Plot armor," I cut her off. Everyone"s jaws dropped when they saw the smoke clear, only for me to be standing behind Black Tortoise"s s.h.i.+mmering water barrier. My Celestial Guardian stood behind me determinedly, his beady eyes focused on my opponent.
"Oho!" Roland was grinning. "Yes! This is what I want to see!"
"We"ll see how long that barrier of yours can hold!" Elem snarled as he began casting his gigantic Excalibur spell again. Golden torrents of mana swirled around his sleek blade.
I just smiled as I pushed my gla.s.ses up my nose and returned his stare.
"!!"
Taurus suddenly descended from behind Elem, cras.h.i.+ng into him and interrupting his spell. The short bodyguard spun around in reflex, swinging his glowing sword to knock the gigantic bull away. Taurus skidded backward with a grunt, his armor vibrating violently after Elem"s vicious counterattack, but his maw yawned and flames washed out over Elem.
Aldebaran.
"You…!"
Elem desperately defended himself with his sword, cleaving through the flames as quickly as he could. Unable to handle the pressure, he prematurely unleashed his Excalibur, which disintegrated poor Taurus.
And then Aries rammed into him from behind, knocking him onto the ground. Elem tried to spin around, but the huge ram trampled him onto the ground. Rolling on the ravaged gra.s.s, Elem tried to escape Aries"s relentless rampage, but he found himself cornered on both sides.
Then a golden blast of light erupted and annihilated Aries from material existence.
"Huff…"
Wiping his mouth, Elem slowly rose to his feet and glared at me. Then he grinned excitedly.
"That"s more like it!" he exclaimed. "Bring more of your Soul Beasts! Bring all of them!"
"Soon," I a.s.sured him as I worked on completing my next summoning spell. "Real soon."