Well, here it is, since pretty much all the reviews up to now have just been hype for the fight, I think I'll skip out on most of them however I will respond to these two:

. : That is due to my writing style. I don't write in 3rd person omniscient anymore so you only see what a single character notices/focuses on and since the character in question was Matilda and she was still gobsmacked at the damage the spell did she only noticed the exceptions to the reaction as opposed to every reaction.

Kolarthecool: actually, they knew exactly why they traveled to the academy... it was because they were invited to watch The Heavy Wind in a duel. The announcement about Mott was something added on because Minato wanted to show everyone that he was not to be messed with.

Anyway, let's get on with the show.

Louise didn't know what to think as she stared at the confrontation between Minato and her mother.

She had never expected her familiar to be capable of anything even remotely similar to what he had just displayed… the problem was that he was facing his mother after using such an insanely powerful summoning.

And it was clear to her that the boy hadn't done the summoning without effort, he was clearly a bit more tired than he was before using it so it had clearly taken its toll on him.

Of course the fact that she could tell was enough to let her know that her mother would notice it quite easily.

What she wasn't so sure of was if her mother had noticed the change in his runes, no longer showing XX but XVI.

She didn't know for certain what it meant but she had a feeling that it was important.

She just hoped that he knew what he was doing.

XXX XXX XXX

Pope Vittorio Serevare had to admit, he had not expected a show like this when he had arrived in Tristain.

He like many others had been invited to witness The Heavy Wind duel a newcomer and he had been ecstatic at the prospect of seeing the single most feared soldier in the past hundred years fighting in a duel.

And then the announcement of the murder had been made and he found his previous excitement growing even greater than before.

To think that this unknown boy was a familiar of the Void… that meant that one of the students in the Tristain Academy was definitely a Void Mage and he could hopefully gain their assistance in his plans… whether they realised they were helping him or not was of no consequence.

And then the boy had shown his power.

He had been left speechless for the first few seconds before he had managed to regain his composure… though if he was honest, it was only having witnessed the power of the Founder himself that had allowed him to recover from the display as quickly as he had.

He just knew that this boy was what he needed to ensure the survival of Halkeginia.

Now, it was just a question of how easy he would be to be manipulated…

XXX XXX XXX

Princess Henrietta of Tristain wanted to stop this duel.

She wanted to stop it so badly right now.

The fact was that this teen had just displayed the power to annihilate an army and he was visibly drained from the attack, even if he was still clearly standing strong.

But he was facing the Heavy Wind herself and she knew that the Duchess wouldn't pull her punches.

She prayed he would survive.

He was exactly what she was looking for after all… someone with the power to save the man that meant more to her than anything else.

And it wasn't like she was upset about Motts death… if anything she welcomed it, the man was far too sleazy and pompous for her to ever like but she needed to present a strong image while in front of so many dignitaries otherwise no one would take her seriously when she finally took the crown.

The problem was that these dignitaries had all come to watch the Heavy Wind duel, so the match had to occur, otherwise there would be far too many disappointed nobles and leaders for her to deal with.

However, while she couldn't stop it, there was one thing she could do that could make the situation slightly better for the boy.

"Are you certain you wouldn't like a rest before the duel?" she decided to ask him calmly before continuing, "after all, everyone here came with the intention of witnessing the Heavy Wind fighting an opponent her equal… if you are tired then the show may not be up to an acceptable standard."

The murmurs that spread through the crowd at that question were mixed, clearly there were those that thought the boy should simply be killed and others that wanted to see the Heavy Wind fight at her full potential.

"Yes, I'll be fine," the sheer confidence in his tone was enough to tell her that he was either extremely arrogant… or that he knew something they didn't.

Honestly she hoped it was the latter.

XXX XXX XXX

Karin wouldn't admit it but she wasn't sure what to think right now.

On one hand the boy before her was perverting the course of justice however on the other hand, his point about the killers actions saving lives seemed like it was true… internally she found herself agreeing with the boy but in the end, the Rule Of Steel dictated that she punish him for his actions.

The only complication was the Princess.

Her youngest daughter had been Henrietta's playmate when they were but children and as such, she knew how to read the girl better than most of the people in Tristain… and she could tell the girl was concerned for some reason and given how she was trying to give her opponent a chance to rest, it was clear the worry was directed towards what would happen to him.

She didn't understand why.

What did it matter if she killed someone that was trying to protect a criminal, someone who had essentially just stated he was prepared to annihilate entire armies if they tried to subdue him?

Beyond that, the boy was clearly arrogant, deciding that he didn't need to be at his full power to defeat her.

She wasn't arrogant enough to think his opinion was unfounded, however it didn't change the fact that she wouldn't uselessly waste her strength before a battle with an Elf and she was one of the few humans that could fight an Elf… full stop.

Certainly fighting an Elf would take her full strength and even then it would be a close call but in the end, she had defeated Elves before and that alone spoke volumes for her battle prowess.

And this boy thought she wasn't worth facing his full strength?

That was enough to tell her that the boy didn't know what he was up against.

"So you believe you can defeat me in a sub-optimal state… how foolish," and with that she unleashed the spell she was famous for before noting how the markings on the boy's hand changed from XVI to simply XV.

And then the impossible happened.

Her wind spell that revolved around rotating wind in several layers to enhance its piercing power struck the boy head on… and broke apart without laying so much as a scratch on the teen's clothes.

That… that was impossible.

There was no way her spell could've failed so horrifically, it had been capable of piercing even an Elves defences before and they were famous for their nearly impenetrable barriers.

But the easy way he dismissed her attack was enough to tell her it wasn't a fluke.

"Well, I've gotta admit partner, I sure wasn't expecting ya to be capable of taking such an attack without dying," did that sword just talk?

"Shut up Derflinger," the boy stated bluntly before drawing the single sided sword from his hip and holding it in a relaxed grip.

And then he shot towards her at speeds she rarely encountered, clearly the boy had not simply been arrogant if he could ignore her magic and move at such speeds… however it didn't change a single fact.

She was faster.

Within the time her opponent had crossed the distance between them she had already prepared herself and dodged his swing and launched her own counter attack.

Only for her eyes to widen in shock as he blocked the strike with one finger.

She had initially expected this boy to be nothing more than an arrogant idiot that thought he was better than everyone else due to his ability to summon those things like he had, but she now understood why he was so confident in his ability to defeat her.

Her strongest magic was powerless against him and her wand sword wasn't capable of so much as moving his finger, she honestly found herself growing incredibly nervous now that she understood the reason for her opponent's confidence in his chances of victory.

However she wasn't going to simply give up, she had pulled victory from the jaws of defeat plenty of times when she was younger, less powerful and less experienced… she wasn't going to simply let this newcomer walk all over her.

And so she dodged another slash from the teen before unleashing her wind in a blunt thrust in order to knock herself away from the boy and give her some time to think.

XXX XXX XXX

Minato had to admit, he had hoped he would get a little longer with Chi You equipped before having to switch over to Beelzebub but in the end it didn't really matter, his opponent couldn't hurt him so getting a short burst of [invigorate 3] wasn't really that important.

That was the advantage of facing an opponent with a wand sword instead of a regular sword, the wand swords were kept cylindrical in order to maximise the similarities to a want and prevent the weapon from distorting the spell they were trying to use, so he was capable of nullifying all of her attacks, just as he expected.

However the fact that she was increasing her speed with her wind and even used a burst of it to increase the distance between them was proof that she wasn't an amateur in any way, shape or form.

Which was more than could be said for him.

Despite his skill in combat and his natural talent at using pretty much all forms of weaponry, it didn't change the fact that the only formal instruction he had ever gotten was during Kendo club and the odd lesson from Akihiko in boxing, outside of that it was all instinct and trial and error correcting his movements from his runs through Tartarus.

Certainly that experience wasn't worthless, anything but, however it didn't change the fact that he was still an amateur with his sword… a very good amateur certainly, but an amateur none the less.

Thankfully his personae also gave his body some advantages outside of the elemental strengths and weaknesses, namely an increase in his strength, speed and durability, though that last one was a most point as his opponent couldn't harm him anyway.

And so he gave chase, idly glancing at the looks of absolute disbelief that graced the faces of those that were watching the fight as he continued his assault.

XXX XXX XXX

For once the Pope found himself just as shocked as everyone else in the crowd.

Due to the Founders Round Mirror had certainly seem Brimir dispel an attack with an incantation, but not even Brimir had simply ignored a magical attack as if it didn't even exist in the first place, let alone stop a weapon with a single finger.

The fact that there was a groove in the ground leading up to the boy from where the spear of wind had been was proof that it really was a full powered magical attack and not just an attempt at showmanship or overplaying the boy's power.

Plus, despite the heavy armour protecting the woman, he could tell from her body language that she was just as shocked as everyone else that her attacks were so completely useless against this stranger.

Which only made his role even more obvious, someone immune to damage was worth more than anything else against the elves.

This boy, this new Void Familiar was worth so much in allowing the survival of Halkeginia that there was no way he could let the boy slip his grasp.

Now, it was just a matter of waiting for the fight to end.

XXX XXX XXX

Louise couldn't breathe.

Her mind was frozen on one single fact.

Minato could take her mother's strongest attack head on without so much as taking a scratch.

That mere thought was impossible, there was no way anyone could so much as survive her mother's strongest spell, let alone completely ignore it…

But he had.

He had done the impossible, it was almost as if…

Her eyes widened as she remembered how his flesh didn't so much as vibrate when she struck him with her riding crop back when she was still trying to force him to obey her… was this like that time?

Was he immune to all forms of damage?

If so then it was no wonder he was so confident in his ability to defeat her mother… and it made her suddenly understand just how annoying she must have been for him to have to listen to complaining all the time.

She had severely underestimated the power he possessed.

Which in turn simply made her initial displeasure of summoning him seem even more foolish than hearing the Pope himself admit to having summoned a human familiar.

That fact also plagued her.

What did summoning a human familiar really mean? Did the Pope have any idea and if so, would he be willing to tell her the truth?

However, for now she pushed those thoughts out of her mind and focused on the simple fact that her mother was being pushed back by the unstoppable force that was her familiar.

XXX XXX XXX

This was bad.

Karin had never faced off against an enemy that her attacks couldn't harm, the very fact was that her strongest spell was capable of crashing through fortress walls with ease and this boy didn't so much as get a scratch from it.

It was as if he had some sort of inherent resistance to all of her attacks, as if his body simply negated their existence when they crashed into him… it was honestly the single most terrifying situation she had ever been in and she couldn't think of any way to truly get past his defence.

If he had some sort of barrier up that could block her spells then she could simply work on breaking it down or powering through it but that clearly wouldn't work here, the boy didn't even defend himself from her attacks, simply weathering them like the very air he was running through.

At least he wasn't summoning those things he had before the fight, if he had then she knew she would die before she could do anything.

For once she curse the Rule Of Steel, of having to continue to fight despite the fact that she was clearly outclassed… but she would not give in to the temptation to discard it, she had given up too much to throw it away for anything.

If she gave it up then all her effort would have been for naught.

But once again he was upon her before she could think of a way to bypass his defence, honestly she knew she was being a fool, her strongest attack didn't even rip the boy's clothes, let alone harm him enough for her to win but she refused to give in to anything… if she had to die because of that determination, then so be it.

Ever since she found out the boy was going to protect a criminal, she knew this would be a fight to the death, she had just assumed that it would be his death not her own.

But now, now she was prepared, she was prepared to die to uphold the laws of her country but she swore that she wouldn't go without a fight.

The problem was figuring out how to make it hard for him, he wasn't giving her enough time to gather her thoughts so she did something she hoped would work, hopefully if she could use a distraction then she could hopefully get herself into a position outside of her visual range and gain at least a few seconds of thinking time.

And so she used a spell she almost never used.

A low powered basic fireball.

XXX XXX XXX

Minato found himself falling back in pain as he received a small fireball to the face.

That was not something he had been expecting, not at all.

He had thought that the woman before him would use purely wind based magic, magic that Beelzebub was capable of shrugging off without so much as flinching.

However, the Lord of the Flies lived up to his name and was incredibly easy to burn.

He only noticed the strike that hit the side of his head because of the sound it made, however the damage was already done.

His apparent invincibility had been exposed.

Recovering from the attack he soon found himself facing another ball of fire, this one much larger and more powerful, still nowhere near Colbert's own flame… in fact it wasn't as powerful as Kirche's fireball but the fact remained, he needed to switch his persona… and so he switched out to the first persona he thought of.

Almost immediately he noted that his previous burns were healed as his body absorbed and used the fire to repair the damage previously caused to his face before it cleared to reveal a shocked crowd.

"I have to admit," he started to say, "I wasn't expecting you to use fire against me."

He was greeted by silence before he focused back inside and chose the next Persona to use now that he was back at full health.

And so he switched from Surt, the top of the Magician Arcana and towards one of the mid-tier Sun Personae and charged, his mind focused on ensuring he was no longer hit by the woman's blunt sword.

He wasn't surprised when the woman threw out another wind spell at him but he simply ignored it as his body absorbed the attack before releasing the power that had no purpose in him anymore… honestly he would be happier if he could absorb the magic behind the attack and give himself more power to work with, as it stood he was having to face the woman on a nearly empty battery and he unfortunately didn't have the luxury of using a persona strong against her attacks with Invigorate 3… honestly he missed some of his set ups.

But that was neither here nor there, what mattered was that he was no longer fighting a foe that couldn't scratch him, but one that now knew they could catch him off guard with varying elements… honestly there were only really two personae he had which could cover most weaknesses, Orpheus Telos and the persona he had the closest connection to, Messiah… and neither of them made him immune to anything, just resistant to most attacks.

So he was going to have to be frugal with any spell he decided to cast… since he was pretty certain he would only get one shot at it.

He prepared himself to block if he needed to as he neared his foe, ready for if she struck out at him with her wand sword before finding himself nearly frying upon the woman striking him with a short blast of electricity.

Dammit! Once again the woman had managed to exploit the weakness of his persona and he was beginning to think that her luck was horribly immense as she kept nearly crippling him with those attacks.

This time however he was faced with the woman pressing the attack, using a second electric spell against him before he consciously switched to yet another persona and found himself struck once more.

And once again, he found himself healing from the previous injuries inflicted on him by his opponent as Jataya was dismissed and one of his most useful personae due to its inherent Enduring Soul skill… the Hindu God Of Destruction, Shiva.

Getting up he found himself once again facing an attack that he was not prepared for… this time in the form of a full powered version of the spell she opened with.

He almost cried out in pain as he felt it rip into his body, grinding at his organs and forcing a hole straight through his chest… his mind managed to make out the shocked gasps and the horrified screams of the girl that had summoned him as they watched him take a fatal wound without the protection of elements.

XXX XXX XXX

Karin released a silent sigh of relief upon seeing the form of her opponent fall with a gaping hole in his chest.

She hadn't expected to defeat him but once she analysed his abilities it became clear to her… he wasn't immune to everything, only certain types of damage based on what those runes on the back of his left had read.

She noted the horrified screams of her youngest daughter and that green haired woman as she turned around only to hear an unfamiliar shattering behind her.

So she turned, wondering what had happened before her eyes widened in disbelief and horror.

How?

How was he getting back up?

How could he possibly still be alive?

How could he possibly revive himself from the dead?

She began to feel terror at the sight before her, that the boy she had just torn a hole in the chest of was now back up and looking no worse for wear was something she had never expected, she had never expected to see someone rise from the dead and then face her with a serious expression.

"H-hey? Partner? A-are you alive?" the sword held in his hand asked with just as much disbelief as everyone else in the clearing.

"Per-" he started to say after she noted his runes change once more, "so-na."

And with that she found herself facing something she had never expected to.

It looked similar to the boy that had summoned it, with bone white hair, strangely proportioned legs, massive white wings and a chain of what looked like coffins hanging from its left arm.

But it was the presence of the being before her that said more about it than anything else… despite it being her enemy, despite it clearly possessing the power to crush her like a bug… it made her feel safe.

"God's Hand," and with those two words, she knew she knew she had to move.

So she once again used the wind to move as far from her last position as she could.

The giant, spectral hand that slammed into the space she had previously occupied made her swallow nervously.

If that had hit…

She honestly did not want to think about what would've happened to her if that had happened.

Her mind raced as she thought about the current situation… in the end she was facing an opponent that could absorb her strongest attacks and use them to heal himself… and even if he failed to do so he could actually come back from the dead and continue fighting her…

But could he?

Her eyes narrowed at that thought.

If he could rise himself from the dead then why did he try to defend himself from her instead of just take her every attack and continuing?

Was it a fluke that he had managed to recover from her attack or was there something more, something she was ignorant of.

"I see…" his voice rang out across the clearing as she kept her eyes focused on him, "I thought my aptitude with them had been reset back to its starting point."

What was he saying?

"But this one is different," he seemed awfully amused by his own statement and she suddenly felt far less significant than before, "it looks like my connection to this one is simply too strong to be reset."

He raised that sword in front of him in a far less careless stance than before, clearly he hadn't been taking her seriously up till this point.

"Partner, what the hell is going on?" the sword seemed just as ignorant of the situation they were in as she was, however in the end the boy simply didn't answer.

"Be quiet Derflinger," the boy commanded calmly before looking at her again, "I will admit, from reading up on you I never expected you to use anything but wind and swordsmanship… but now I know better, you are far more versatile than I thought."

He was stating it all so calmly that she found herself simply standing and listening despite how foolish it seemed.

"So far I've been fighting you as a specialist and you've been picking out my weaknesses," his voice was far calmer than she thought it would be, "so now, now I will show you what happens when I get serious and stop allowing myself weaknesses to exploit."

She found herself growing concerned at that claim and decided that it was time for her to strike again.

Her strongest attack flew straight at the boy she was facing and in response, he simply placed his sword in position to block the strike, showing that the weapon itself was capable of diminishing the effect of her spell… that was when she noticed that the weapon was doing something more than weakening her attack, it was absorbing it.

She quickly cut the power behind her spell, she didn't know if she would be capable of breaking through his defences but she didn't want to risk the sword draining more of her power than necessary.

"Derflinger, can you pass the magic you absorbed to me?" her mind froze at that question as she realised just how dangerous the situation could be.

"Sure thing partner, just explain everything to me later okay?" and with that she could see the glow of magic as it flowed into the boy.

So she charged at him, hoping to strike him before he could summon whatever he planned on calling forth.

The smirk on his face told her all she needed to know.

She was too late.

"Messiah," and with that one word, she found herself closing her eyes as a bright light consumed her.

XXX XXX XXX

Minato found himself frowning as he watched his opponent get consumed by a Megidolaon… honestly he was berating himself for not seeing if Derflinger could act as a storage device for his power until just that moment… if he had then the fight wouldn't have lasted anywhere near as long as it had.

And he wouldn't have had such a hard time either.

He was just so used to wielding weapons that had abilities completely unrelated to his pool of power… something that he could tell was ever so slightly different to the 'willpower' they used for their spells in this world, but similar enough that they could be used interchangeably… albeit, at an increased cost, if it took eighty five points of his normal power to use Megidolaon, then it took about one hundred points of 'willpower' to use it.

That didn't really matter in the end, his opponent had given him enough to use the attack when she struck Derflinger and that was the end of that.

He silently hoped that his attack hadn't actually killed the Heavy Wind but she had taken the attack head on and was mostly human.

So he waited for the dust to clear and see the results of his last attack.

XXX XXX XXX

Henrietta could not believe the fight she had just witnessed.

She also couldn't believe the fact that it was apparently over.

There was no way anyone could've taken an attack like that and come out still ready to fight.

There was simply no way.

It was impossible.

And yet she fully expected to see just that.

Karin Désirée de La Vallière was the closest thing to a monster a human could ever be… or at least she had initially thought so but this battle had proven that her opponent was clearly something beyond even her and it had only been his carelessness that had resulted in him nearly dying.

Or had he actually died?

She wasn't sure, all she knew was that when he took that hole in his chest some strange blue skinned man with four arms appeared and did something that resulted in the boy getting back up without a single scratch on him.

It was honestly terrifying.

But she knew that he was her best bet for saving Wales and stopped the uprising in Albion.

And despite her initial shock at the thought that someone she knew since she was a young child being killed in front of her, she could acknowledge that Karin was the one that took the fight up to a lethal level first.

Finally the smoke cleared and she was greeted by a sight she never thought she would ever see.

Karin The Heavy Wind lay face down on the ground, her clothes completely destroyed in the attack, her skin burnt horrifically and she was even missing patches of flesh all over her clearly defeated body.

Almost immediately someone rushed over to her still form and performed a water spell she could recognise as a charm to diagnose a victim.

All was silent as the mages face paled horrifically before calling out to the crowd.

"S-she's dead."

XXX XXX XXX

Minato found himself frowning in dissatisfaction upon hearing the call.

He hadn't wanted to kill her but in the end, the outcome of the fight had always been that only one of them would survive ever since he revealed his decision to protect a criminal that had tried to protect him.

Louise's mother was too determined and loyal to her country's laws to ever accept a defeat from someone that was fighting against the laws of her home.

He bit back a grimace upon hearing Louise's cries of horror… he hated the fact that she had watched both her familiar fight to the death… and witness both die at the hands of the other, even if his death had only been temporary due to Enduring Soul.

In the end though the simple fact remained that he had killed her mother.

He had no intention of justifying himself to the girl… he had ended Karin the Heavy Winds life in front of countless nobles through the use of an exceptionally dangerous spell that had left the body essentially unrecognisable.

So he took a deep breath before turning to face the clearly shocked faces of the onlookers and saying the first thing that came to his mind.

"Anyone else what a shot?" he almost cringed at how flat his tone was and the fact that everyone else backed away only made it clear just how much of an impact his duel had had on the people watching, "thought not."

And with that he started walking towards them before turning to see how much damage had been done to the area behind him and he almost cringed.

The sheer number of injuries the ground was sporting from his opponents attacks proved to him that had they had their positions swapped, countless nobles would've been caught in the Heavy Winds attacks.

Then his eye caught sight of something that made his brow furrow.

How had that black butterfly survived everything that had struck the area?

He didn't know what it meant but he was now certain that something was going on…

After all, only aspects of existence had survived Armageddon.

So the question was, what was watching him this time and more importantly…

What were its intentions.

And that is all for now.

I know most people were expecting a curbstomp, however they need to remember, Minato does not have the omnipotent orb so he is restricted to what his personae can block... and they've almost all had their move pools and levels reset to their basic states, meaning no inherited skills or even skills gained from leveling up... with the single exception of Messiah due to how it is essentially the true state of his mind. Orpheus Telos is the representation of his bonds and obtaining his full power but Messiah is his true persona.

And then there is another point, despite what most people seem to think, a mage in ZnT isn't limited to a single element (with the exception of void due to its unique nature), and even if Karin specializes in wind, it doesn't mean she can't use other elements... though Elec actually falls under the ZnT classification of Wind magic so that doesn't even count as a separate element in her profile. However I would like to point out that Karin's strongest fire spell is significantly weaker than even Kirche's medium strength fire magic, but when dealing with a persona's elemental weaknesses, it doesn't matter how strong the attack is, it will still cause the individual to fall down.

Lastly, the fate of Karin in this fic was unplanned. Initially I was intending on having her survive but it just wrote itself like that and then I thought 'you know, I can't recall a single fic I've read where the familiar actually kills Karin'... and so that and the thought of how it will affect Louise and her mental state made me decide to go with that spur of the moment idea.

Anyway, I suppose that is all for now and I hope you enjoyed the chapter even if the fight isn't as epic as I wanted it to be.

So until next time...

Shadow out.