Hello and welcome to chapter 14! Sorry I didn't upload on Sunday, I was busy with family and stuff for most of the weekend. But now I'm ready to write tons of story, so I hope your all ready!

Now then, its time for what most of you have been waiting for. Its time... for Hiato VS Wardes!

Let the chapter commence!

Also sorry if I suck at writing fights.

Disclaimer: I Do not own FOZ

It had been decided that the duel would take place once they had reached Albion. Wardes had wanted to get it over and done with as soon as possible, but Hiato had managed to convince Wales to postpone the duel until they reached Albion. Wardes had grumbled about it, but accepted. Now Hiato and Wardes were standing in a large chamber inside the castle of Londinium, Albion's capital city. The chamber was large with an arching roof and glass windows along the walls. It was one of the few parts of the castle still intact, and was mostly used for training drills for the remainder of Albion's royal army.

Wales had given the letters to Louise, yet still refused to return to Tristain with them, despite her best efforts to convince him. After talking to Hiato about it, as well as the soldiers in the castle, she had come up with a plan to get Wales out of Albion alive, but they would only be able to put it in place after the duel was over. Louise was confident Hiato could beat Wardes, but he had done something that had confused everyone, except for Wardes.

He had asked that they fight only using swords, no magic or other similar abilities, and if such were used, the person who uses them forfeits the duel.

Louise, Kirche, Tabitha and Guiche were still trying to figure out why Hiato had asked such a rule be in place as they stood in the hall where the 2 would be fighting. Wardes had agreed to the rule instantly, since he knew his skills with a sword were unmatched. He had also used it to fire some insults at Hiato.

"Afraid of my magic, dragon boy?" He said as they stood opposite each other, weapons drawn. "Not really." Hiato responded, holding Derf with one hand. "I just want to see how good you are without your magic, or rather if you can even fight without it." He smirked. Wardes just laughed "Fool, I can beat you without my magic without any difficulty." He said

"Well we'll see about that." Hiato responded. Wales would act as judge for the duel, while the rest of Hiato's friends were merely spectators.

"Gentlemen" the prince said "please keep it civil."

"My apologies your highness."

"Sorry."

Louise looked at Hiato who just grinned at her. She just shook her head.

"Very well then, you may begin." Wales declared.

Hiato and Wardes charged at each other, Derf meeting Wardes's rapier, the impact knocking them both back a few inches. Immediately Hiato swung Derf towards Wardes's chest, which he parried and tried stabbing at Hiato's chest. He dodged and then jumped backwards, creating some distance between the 2 fighters.

"Not bad." Wardes said. "You may actually stand a chance."

"Why thank you, good to know my enemy's always underestimate me." Hiato responded before charging forwards again. The duel would only be over once either of them surrendered, and Hiato had no intention of going easy on Wardes, dragon powers or not.

He swung diagonally at Wardes, who blocked the blow, locking the 2 in a struggle. Wardes was able to hold his own at first, but Hiato's strength proved superior, as he managed to push Wardes backwards and leave him vulnerable. Hiato jumped forwards and hit Wardes in the face with the butt of Derf, before cutting him across the chest, leaving a thin bleeding line diagonally across his upper chest. Wardes's clothing was tougher than it looked, but Hiato had still managed to cut through it.

"Not bad." Wardes panted out, sounding more frustrated now. "But remember this, you will still lose. I'm only just warming up."

"Well hurry up old man, I don't have all day." Hiato said mockingly. The look of annoyance on Wardes's face grew, and he lunged at Hiato, suddenly stabbing at him with his rapier rapidly. Hiato was now forced to just dodged the assault, since trying to counter attack could result in him being hit. Suddenly the rapier grazed Hiato's cheek, and he grunted as he felt both the pain and the blood running down the side of his face. Wardes assault was relentless, but Hiato could already see a way to counter it.

As Wardes stabbed towards his head, time slowed down for Hiato. As the rapier was about to hit him square in the face, he dodged to the right before he launched himself forward, elbowing Wardes in the face. He then spun around to the left before whacking him in the side of the head with the flat of Derf's blade, whom was greatly enjoying the fight.

"That's the way partner! Show 'em what you got!" The talking sword said cheerily. "Got it partner." Hiato responded. Wardes got up, blood now running down the left of his face from a cut above his eye. On the sidelines Louise, who was happy and worried, had finally figured out why Hiato had asked for it to be just a sword battle. Even though Hiato wasn't using his dragon powers, he still had enhanced strength and speed, even without his familiar runes, which gave him an advantage over Wardes. Hiato knew this, meaning that he had basically won the duel the moment Wardes had agreed to fight without magic. She was worried that Wardes might try something, so she kept her wand at the ready.

Wardes was furious. He was losing to some pathetic little familiar in a duel that should never have even happened. His marriage to Louise would have gone off flawlessly if not for this little brat, and now his mission was in danger. He needed to kill the prince and retrieve the letters, as well as get Louise under his control, but Hiato had possibly made all 3 objectives impossible to complete. He gritted his teeth and charged forward once more towards Hiato.

The two clashed again, sparks exploding outwards from the impacts of their weapons. Hiato ducked under a stab from Wardes and swung upwards, managing to cut Wardes across the stomach vertically. Wardes swung downwards, anger now taking the place of reason. Hiato jumped to the right, kicking Wardes in the gut in the process, causing the man to cough up some spit. Hiato landed and jumped back towards Wardes, who had decided enough was enough.

"TIME TO DIE YOU LITTLE BRAT!" he roared. He pointed his rapier at Hiato and unleashed a massive wind attack, which hit Hiato and sent him flying backwards through the air. Smirking Wardes started charging electricity, before firing a massive lighting bolt straight at Hiato, who was completely defenceless. Damn, should have been more careful he thought. On the sidelines, everyone was completely shocked (ha ha ha) that Wardes had just broken the rules. He might have been a bit forceful with Louise, and his dislike of Hiato obvious, but none of them, except for Louise, had expected him to break the rules.

Despite being ready for Wardes to do something, Louise had been too slow to try and stop him.

"HIATO!" she screamed as the lighting bolt approached her familiar. Everything went into slow motion. Hiato, who was still flying backwards, grunted before moving Derf in the path of the incoming attack. He knew he was in trouble, and while he had expected Wardes to try something, he had still been caught off guard. This is gonna hurt like hell if it doesn't kill me Hiato thought as he braced himself for the incoming attack. As it got closer he closed his eyes and waited for it.

And nothing happened.

Instead of the intense pain that he expected would have been coursing through his body, he just felt pain in his back as he hit the floor. He opened his eyes, surprised to see his body still intact, before looking at the blade in his hand, which caused him to go wide eyed.

Derf had changed, the hilt now gold, and the blade was now shining as though it was good as new. One thing that Hiato noticed that was strange was that a small green gem was visible in the hilt, and the backside of the blade almost seemed to be a dark red colour rather than black. On top of that, the sword was glowing, emitting a small aura.

"OH YEAH! That feels great!" The talking sword yelled. "Man I haven't felt this good in a long, long time."

"Derf what happened?" Hiato asked, completely confused as to how he hadn't been shocked to death.

"My old abilities just unlocked partner. I can absorb magical attacks! Of course bigger ones take longer but..."

"I'll take it as it is, sounds really useful." Hiato said, standing up and smirking. Wardes had just recovered from the shock of seeing his attack being absorbed by the sword.

"That's impossible! That attack should have killed you!" He yelled. Hiato's smirk got bigger.

"Well it didn't, thanks to my partner. Anyway I guess it's about time I got serious..." Flame exploded out from Hiato, enveloping him completely. It cleared away, revealing his arms and legs were transformed into their dragon forms, as well as his wings bursting from his back. Fire surrounded him, bellowing up all around.

"... and turned up the heat." he added.

(CUE EPIC MUSIC (I RECOMMEND NATSU'S THEME))

Hiato charged forwards, fire flowing out from behind him. He sheathed Derf in fire and swung at Wardes, who barely managed to counter, his own weapon sheathed in wind. The two broke apart, Wardes quickly firing a point blank wind blast at Hiato, which he dodged before hurling a ball of fire at Wardes, which exploded on impact and sent him flying a few meters, causing him to land on his back. Wardes scrambled to his feet quickly after impact, and glared at Hiato, who had fire burning all around him.

On the sidelines, Louise, Kirche and Guiche let out sighs of relief. Tabitha merely looked relived. Wales however was furious.

"Viscount! You have broken the rules of this duel by using magic, and have thus forfeited the duel! Stand down at once!" He commanded. Wardes glanced at the prince, and laughed.

"My apologies your highness, but that won't be happening." he said before sending a lightning bolt at Wales. Unable to react, the prince watched in horror as the bolt shot through the air towards him. Before it could hit him however, Hiato jumped in the way and used Derf to absorb the blast.

"Leave them out of it." He said, his voice threatening. "This is between me and you, don't involve anyone else." A wall of fire appeared behind Hiato, preventing the spectators from getting involved but still allowing them to watch. Wardes chuckled. "Very well then, but I hope you know, regardless of rules I am still taking Louise as my wife after this fight." Wardes boasted.

"Not if your dead." Hiato shot back, the flames around him getting more intense, and his face a look of anger. He glanced towards the spectators "Don't get involved, this is my fight." He braced himself on the ground before hurling himself straight at Wardes, flapping his wings to increase his speed. Wardes managed to lift his weapon in time to block. As the weapons collided, Hiato merely grunted before pushing and sending Wardes flying across the room. Using his wind magic, he managed to stop himself, before firing off a barrage of lightning bolts at Hiato. Hiato dodged the first few, before launching fireballs which collided with several of the lightning bolts.

Wardes ceased the barrage only to charge up a much more powerful attack. "THUNDER STRIKE!" He roared as he fired the attack at Hiato. It was a massive lightning bolt that was discharging lightning all over the room violently. As it was about to reach Hiato he quickly raised Derf and gripped the handle with both hands, and braced for the attack. As it struck him, he was knocked back several feet, but still managed to stay standing. Digging his feet into the ground, he started trying to push the attack back, fire swirling up all around him.

Those on the sidelines were quietly cheering for Hiato, but not interfering as he had asked. They were however worried about his ability to deal with the attack that he was currently handling, as well as his overall ability to win the fight.

Hiato was struggling to hold back the attack, which was discharging bolts of lightning that were blowing holes in the floor and walls. Wardes laughed like a maniac. "You cannot win now, this is my strongest attack, there is no way you can survive it!"

Hiato smirked. "Really? This is the best you got? Not very impressive." He taunted, before he started to roar. The fire around him was getting more intense. He started to roar even louder, the fires getting even more intense and beating back the lightning. He could feel Wardes pouring more power into it, so Hiato did the same. He felt the heat of his flames rise as he poured more power into them, and pushed them against the lightning. He managed to take a step forwards, the pressure of the lightning attack starting to lessen. He simply poured more and more power into it, pushing harder with Derf, who too had joined in on yelling.

Wardes, having grown tired of the struggle they were locked in, simply detonated the lightning bolt. The spectators had to shield themselves from the explosion, and once they looked where Hiato was there was now a smoking crater. Louise's heart sank, while Wardes let out a laugh.

"Ha! I knew it. He was all talk, he couldn't even stand up to my best att-" Wardes started before he was suddenly cut off.

"DRAGON FIST!"

Wardes suddenly found himself being hit in the face with what felt like a full speed, train on fire, but in reality was just Hiato's fist. The attack sent him flying across the room and also created a rather large impact crater when he landed. He now had a large bruise on his right cheek and some of his facial hair was singed off. He got up and looked towards his attacker.

Hiato was fine, only now he had a few singe marks on his clothes, a scratch on his face, as well as a smirk. Wardes started shaking from anger. "Why won't you just die!?" He demanded. "Why must you be so persistent? You've ruined all my plans you little brat!"

"Your plans? What plans?" Wales demanded. "Tell me Viscount, why would you attempt to kill me?"

"Hey that's my line!" Hiato complained, causing everyone except Wales and Wardes to either sweat drop or roll their eyes.

Wardes looked at the prince before laughing "Because your 'highness', I am part of the Reconquista, as well as a member of the Order of the grand hunt." He looked back at Hiato "I was never directly ordered to kill you, but since I have orders to kill anyone who gets in my way, I guess it counts."

Hiato raised an eyebrow "So you mean the Reconquista and the Order are working together?" He asked

Wardes just laughed again "No, they are the same thing, only with different names and purposes. The Reconquista's goal is to conquer Albion, while the Order's is to eliminate any pesky dragons outside of this country, as well as serving as executioners for the dragons once we are done with conquering the rest of the lands, and I will be the leader of them."

Hiato started to shake, the ground cracking around him. "D-Did you just say... you're going to kill the dragons... once your done using them...?" He said, his voice thick with anger. Suddenly his flames formed a large circle around him and Wardes, preventing escape. "Anyone... who wants... to kill dragons... DOESN'T DESERVE TO LIVE!"

(CUE THE EPIC MUSIC AGAIN)

Hiato roared before charging at Wardes again, Derf and his wings engulfed in fire. Wardes blasted a wind attack at him, which blew away most of the fire Hiato had gathered around him. Wardes's eyes lit up in realization and he started laughing "I can just blow your flames away, that'll make you helpless!" He hurled another bunch of wind blasts and Hiato, and the occasional lightning bolt, all of which Hiato just dodged. Unfortunately Wardes's plan was partially working, as Hiato was unable to get close enough to land a hit without being blasted away.

After dodging another lightning bolt, Hiato landed on the ground and snarled at Wardes. "That's it, NOW I'm getting serious." Suddenly fire engulfed Hiato's whole body again, and when it cleared he had changed again. His head was now just like it was in his dragon form, elongated, small wing protrusions instead of ears, his sharper teeth, and the golden horn in-between his eyes. He smirked "Let me show you what I can do now!"

Hiato took a deep breath, his chest swelling before he suddenly unleashed a massive torrent of fire from his mouth aimed straight at Wardes. The flames moved quickly and Wardes was barely able to erect a barrier before they reached him. While he was busy keeping the flames at bay, Hiato started to glow red.

"As much as I'd like to take my time and beat the hell out of you, I need to get going, so I'll end this quickly." Hiato rose his head upwards and roared again, his flames appearing even brighter and bigger than before and swelling around him. Wardes looked towards him, and Hiato lowered his head to look at Wardes. "You showed me your strongest attack, so it's only fair I do the same." The ground started cracking around him as he powered up. The flames around Wardes died away, but he didn't even notice it. Then he felt anger building up, anger about the fact that this boy, no familiar, believed he could win, that he could beat the mighty Viscount De Wardes.

"I agree you fool. Let us end this!" Wardes surrounded himself in wind and lightning, preparing to meet Hiato head on. Once he felt he had enough power, he launched his combined attack of wind and lightning towards Hiato, whom gripped Derf with both hands and hurled himself head first at the attack.

The two forces collided, one with Hiato at the centre, one with Wardes at the back. Hiato was grunting as he was trying to push Wardes's attack back. "Derf, I need you to absorb as much magic from his attack as you can!" Hiato yelled at his sword over the howling wind of Wardes's attack. On the sidelines, everyone was anxious at the outcome of this struggle, as it would determine the fate of everyone in the room. Hiato felt himself getting pushed back, and he received no reply from his sword.

"Derf!?" Hiato yelled again, trying to get some kind of reply. The sword still didn't answer, and when Hiato was about to yell at it for the third time, his runes started glowing even brighter. He suddenly felt a surge of energy coming from it, and he looked down at his right hand. However his surprise didn't last long, and he immediately started pouring the power he was getting into his flames, which were starting to die due to the wind. Then the energy he was getting suddenly increased, and he heard laughter.

"I did it partner!" Derf exclaimed.

"Did what!?" Hiato asked, yelling.

"I figured out how to transfer magical energy I absorb to ya so you can use it for ya fire stuff!" he exclaimed with great joy. That was when Hiato noticed it. He could feel Wardes's attack slowly weakening, and Hiato grinned.

"Great one Derf!" Hiato yelled. He could feel Wardes pouring more power into the attack to compensate for the power Hiato was absorbing, and the sudden increase nearly knocked Hiato over, which would have been fatal. He could feel his power rising, and so he slammed his flames against Wardes's attack with renewed vigour.

Outside the struggle, everyone suddenly noticed Hiato slowly taking back the advantage. This caused hope to surge within all of them, as Louise yelled "Come on Hiato, you can do it!" She didn't think he could hear her, but it was the thought that counts. The flames Hiato had put up earlier were still there, so interfering was still out of the question, for now.

Hiato however DID hear her, and that's when he decided it was time to finish this off. He roared at the top of his lungs, and then started to concentrate some of his power in on himself. The red aura he had now grew larger and brighter, and then he spoke, and when he did, it sounded like 2 people speaking at once. Hiato's voice and a much deeper, older voice.

"BOOSTED DRAGON!" He roared, his power suddenly spiking massively. His flame blared, growing at least 5 times in size and intensity. He pushed forwards through Wardes's attack which was weakening each second. Wardes's started to panic, but there was nothing he could do. Suddenly, with one final push, Wardes's attack dissipated, and Hiato charged towards him with his sword engulfed in flame and his green eyes gleaming. All Wardes could do was raise his weapon for one final defence, but as Hiato's sword impacted his, he felt a massive wave of heat engulf him, and his weapon snapped in two.

The last thing Viscount Wardes felt was heat. Overwhelmingly intense heat, before all went black.

Hiato was breathing heavily. He had given everything in the fight in order to beat Wardes, and he had managed to win. Wardes was dead now, burned to ashes by the intensity of Hiato's attack. His rapier lay several feet away, snapped in half and slightly melted and completely black. He reverted to normal form, and collapsed onto his back. He heard footsteps as his friends approached and turned and smiled as Louise ran up to him and gave him a huge hug.

"You were amazing Hiato." She said, smiling at him. "Thanks." he said. He looked at the rest of his friends. "Hey Kirche, mind giving me a refuel? I kinda used all my power in that fight, so I'm a little flat."

"Sure thing." The red head replied. She pulled out her wand and motioned for Louise to get away. She then used a simple fire spell on Hiato which just continually sprayed him with fire.

"That feels great." He said, smiling. Wales walked over and stood just out of reach of the flames. "Well Hiato... is that your name?" He nodded "I declare you winner of the duel, and thus by extension, you are now engaged to Louise."

Louise beamed at Wales before she turned to look at Hiato. "Well, do you 2 wish to be wed before you leave? I may conduct the ceremony if you wish." Wales asked with a smile.

Louise blinked, before blushing and shaking her head rapidly. "No no no no no, you highness it's too soon, but thank you for the off-"

"Hey Louise?" Hiato asked. She turned to look at him. "Yeah?" She asked.

"I'm cancelling our engagement."

Oh cliffhangers, how I love you so. Anyway before you all start trying to lynch me, no Hiato is not breaking up with Louise. And also you guys only have to wait till friday for the next chapter (since I'm doing 3-4 a week now) so the suspense will not be so long. Anyway, what Hiato just said may cause a very hilarious scene in the next chapter. (well at least I hope it will be hilarious). Also I'm going to be very evil with my cliffhangers since I am publishing so often for the next few weeks, so have fun with that! (mwahahaha). I hope you enjoyed the fight and it lived up to your expectations, and am as glad as I am Wardes is dead. Anyway, please leave a review, thanks for reading and I will see you, in the next chapter.

Cyanara! (I probably spelled that wrong)