Lumine and Kaeya were now standing in the middle of the training grounds and faced opposite directions. Jean stood by the side, ready to referee the match.
"The winner of the match will be whoever drops their blade first. If both opponents are still fighting after five minutes, the match will be a draw." Jean announced.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Lumine? I won't go easy on you. This will be your last chance to back out." Kaeya asked delicately.
"I'm as ready as you are, Kaeya."
As soon as her words left her lips, Jean fired the pistol into the air, indicating the start of the battle.
Lumine dashed and hurtled herself towards Kaeya, leaving him no space to move away. He managed to raise the hilt of his blade at the last moment, parrying Lumine successfully. She ducked down, her stomach dropping to the ground as she twisted her hips to kick Kaeya's legs. Kaeya thrust his dark-blue sword into the ground as he pushed his entire force on his blade, neutralizing Lumine's deadly kick. She winced in pain as her lower leg scraped the sword and jumped back into her feet.
'He's strong enough to block my kick and strategic enough to use the blade to counteract me,' Lumine thought to herself, 'my only real advantage is my speed.'
"You're not bad, Lumine. But you'll need a lot more to beat me." Kaeya smirked, his hand gripping strongly on his sword.
Lumine, panting heavily, ignored his comment and swung her blade at him once again. As expected, her opponent easily deflected her swing and tried to hit her right shoulder. She gritted her teeth as she received the full blow of his sword with the flat of her blade. During that moment, she titled the edge of her blade and his movement sailed past her body. She attempted to cleave through his legs and wounded his left leg successfully.
Kaeya growled as a fresh burst of pain hit him. Dark red blood gushed out of his leg as he regained his stance once more, analyzing the girl in front of him. She moved too fast and her blows were too accurate. His only weapon left was his vision.
This time, Kaeya charged forward and shifted all of his weight on his left leg while his arms swung fiercely towards his opponent. He summoned his vision and his blade glowed white as sharp chunks of ice began swirling around it. Lumine's breath stopped as she witnessed the now white, glowing sword heading for her sword. Ice? Where did that come from? Her moment of hesitance proved to be fatal; her grip faltered and the icy sword struck her right hand instead.
Lumine screamed out as blood began gushing out of her impaled hand. Kaeya gasped, noticing the wound he inflicted on her hand, and immediately pulled his blade back to his hips. Without a second to waste, Lumine ignored the pain in her right hand and brought it towards Kaeya's chest. Her eyes full of determination, she squeezed out the remaining energy she had left into her final strike.
Within a split second, she felt the surrounding wind currents gather in the middle of her palm. Pushing her hand outwards, Lumine grasped the wind into her hand and released a vacuum of air onto her opponent. Kaeya could not believe his eyes when Lumine cast the wind against him; the wind pushed him down and as he fell to the ground, his sword clanged and fell out of his grasp. The duo both gasped for air as one stood above and one sat on the ground.
There was a shared moment of silence in the audience as they stood gaping at the scene in front of them. Jean steadied herself as she announced the winner of the match.
"Lumine is the winner of this match. As of now, she is an official Knight of Favonius. Lumine and Kaeya, follow me after you patch yourselves up."
Lumine beamed happily at her words and offered her hand to her friend on the floor. Kaeya smiled back at her and accepted her help.
"I'm sorry for wounding you, Lumine." Kaeya panted. It was clear that he was still tired from the battle.
"It's okay! I know I screamed really loudly, but it was just a way for me to distract you." Lumine responded.
Kaeya, now up to his feet, shook his head sideways. He grasped Lumine's right hand tenderly and led her to the medical center. Without a word, he knelt down and tended to her hand gently, bandaging it up so that it would relieve her pain. His eyes were full of sadness as he ran his hand over his friend's injured one.
"I'm sorry," Kaeya repeated, "I promise I didn't mean to hurt you."
Lumine giggled.
"Kaeya, it's honestly okay! I appreciate your apology though."
Kaeya sighed a breath of relief after seeing how adamant Lumine was to his apologies. A sudden idea popped in his head and he acted on it.
"Well, congratulations on becoming an official Knight of Favonius! Do you want to celebrate over dinner tonight?"
"I'd love to! Where will we be dining at?"
"The tavern! It has the best wine and food in Teyvat!" Kaeya answered happily.
He couldn't resist ruffling her hair once more and he enjoyed watching her face glow pink again. He wanted this moment between them to last forever.