Another chapter down. Damn, what's this? Me making an update to both of my stories in quick succession? Must be back when I first started XD

Anyway, you might've noticed something weird with the first chapter, the Prologue. I'll explain down at the bottom. Enjoy.

Chapter 9

A Simple Mistake

The Elite Disciple Dorms were right next to the lunch hall, with the trainee ones another building along. It didn't take long for us to get there. Lilith was ranked seventh out of a possible twelve, so her room was on the ground floor. She was sharing with the rank eight, but he was never really there except to sleep.

Kimiko knocked on the door and soon Lilith answered. "Come on in."

I headed inside and saw a large piece of meat, gammon if I wasn't mistaken, sat in the centre of the table, with bowls containing a variety of side dishes, sauces and seasonings. I was stunned by the amount there, but judging by Kimiko's calm expression, this was standard. "She's a real glutton…" She muttered under her breath.

"Well, at least your mentor has an appetite for food rather than wine." I sighed, remembering the amount of glass bottles I've thrown away.

"And you both have an appetite for battle." Lilith pushed us both towards the sofas. We sat on opposite sides, Lilith and Kimiko on one side and me on the other. "Sit down and eat. It's better than the stuff in the lunch hall."

I took one of the plates from the pile. I had a hard time picking things because there was so much, and I was distracted by Lilith just piling one of everything onto her plate. Kimiko was right, she was a glutton.

"So…um…thanks for inviting me up." I finished grabbing food and leaned back on the sofa.

"No problem." Lilith shrugged. "The dining hall was extremely busy this time of year when I was a page. And I know you both enjoy each other's company."

That was bad timing. Both me and Kimiko had food in our mouths, and were both off guard. I felt the gammon get stuck in my throat and I coughed it back up. Lilith was laughing as she patted Kimiko on the back, who was punching her chest, a pained look on her face. "Mentor, please don't joke like that while eating…" Kimiko strained to speak.

"Who said I was joking?" Lilith smiled. "Am I?"

Ah, I see why she invited me here now. She's having some fun. Well, it was a good opportunity to embarrass Kimiko. "Yeah, Kimiko's great to hang out with."

As expected, Kimiko went bright red. "I…I think he's…nice…"

I felt my cheeks getting a little warm. "A-anyway, um…"

Lilith burst out laughing again. "You two are adorable. So then Light, Kimiko says you have…amnesia, was it?" Kimiko nodded. "So my question is how does someone that can't remember anything beat Kimiko in a fight. She's gotten close to besting me at times."

Like everyone else who asked me about my skills, I had no definite answers. "Well, I'm not exactly sure myself. But it feels so familiar to pick up a sword and fight."

"Still doesn't explain how you know my style of swordsmanship." Kimiko frowned.

"Believe me, I wish I knew too."

Lilith clapped her hands together. "I know exactly what it is."

Kimiko rolled her eyes. "Oh here we go…"

"It's simple. You can use a sword because it's engrained into your muscle memory. It's something you'll know no matter how many times you forget your past." Lilith took a bite before continuing. "Like how you've forgotten everything, but can still speak just fine."

I shrugged. "Lord Grant thinks that I haven't forgotten everything, and that it's just waiting to come back."

"Well, why hasn't it then?"

I leaned back, staring at the ceiling. "I don't know…"

"Grant has a lot of strange ideas." Lilith rolled her eyes. "Like he once told me that my stance was weak. He's a good fighter, but he's too focused on his opponent rather than himself."

"He's a good teacher. Just a little too heavy on the drink. But I've improved thanks to him." I shrugged.

Kimiko cleared her throat. "God, you two could talk for ages."

Lilith wrapped her arm around Kimiko's neck. "Aw, is Kimmy feeling neglected?"

"Mentor!" Kimiko blushed.

Soon enough, the table was cleared, the majority of it being in Lilith's stomach. She was flat out, mouth hanging open and snoring.

"I should probably head off. Lord Grant will be needing me for cleaning." I kind of felt guilty for leaving Kimiko to deal with this mass of plates.

Kimiko began stacking the plates, yawning as she did. "Don't worry, if I take these down to the kitchen, they'll clean them for me."

"You don't need help carrying them?"

"I've never needed help before."

"If you're sure…" I still felt slightly guilty for leaving her to do all this on her own. "Tell Elite Disciple Jade I said thanks."

"Will do."

"Thanks Kimmy."

"You call me that ever again, I'll put you on the ground before you can utter the entire name."

I laughed before walking out of the room, closing the door behind me. I turned to leave, when I saw Diaz standing outside his own mentor's room. "Well, well. Light, a page, being in a woman's room. Tongues could wag you know?" I sighed before turning away. "What's wrong? Did you actually do something in there? Should I write to that girl currently staying at the inn in Centoria, tell her that you're taken?"

I immediately halted, drawing my sword and pointing it at his throat. He seemed surprised by the action, but his sly smile remained on his face. "You dare try and hurt her in any way, and I'll-"

"You'll what? Kill me?" He scoffed. "You're willing to break the Taboo Index over a girl you clearly view as a side thing if you're willing to-"

A wave of fury washed over me, and it clearly showed in his eyes. "You want to find out."

His smile shook, but held firm. "Because of the disrespect you just showed me, I'm using my status as a fourth ranked noble to impose judicial authority over you."

I froze. Lord Grant had mentioned this to me before. Judicial authority was something that fourth ranking nobles and above had, and if they had reason to impose it, you were forced by the Taboo Index to obey.

I bit the inside of my cheek. "Alright then. What do you intend?"

"A duel, tomorrow morning when the sun hits its peak. Considering it's a day of rest, you should be free to stay in the infirmary for the rest of the day." He pointed to the Night Shadow Blade still in my hand. "And if I win, I want that sword."

I gripped it tight. I wasn't able to decline the duel, but this seemed overkill. But from what I've heard about nobles, overkill was the norm. I took a deep breath, a small smile appearing on my face. "You just made sure you've lost."

I fought for this sword. I broke my first gift for it, I defeated my friend for it, and someone died giving it to me. I wasn't about to lose it.

"Hmm…this is troubling." Lord Grant rubbed his chin.

I looked confused as I picked up the third bottle that had rolled under the sofa. "Why's that?"

"If he really wanted the sword, there's nothing stopping him from just asking for it. Yet he wants a duel for ownership of the blade." He leaned back against the sofa, lifting it slightly so I could pull another bottle away. "He's not looking to duel you for the sword. It's just a bonus. He just wants an excuse to hurt you without consequence."

I shrugged. "If he can. I'm pretty sure I can take him."

"If you've been holding out on me, maybe." Lord Grant raised an eyebrow. "Have you?"

I smiled slightly. "Kind of."

My style of fighting was very physical. Against an opponent of my size and weight, I could use that, but Lord Grant was taller and bigger than me, so I could hardly throw him around.

A wide grin spread across Lord Grant's face. "Well now, that's very interesting. So when I tell you to go all out on me, you were actually holding back?"

"No sir, I just simply can't when facing you." I didn't know how to explain it without sounding rude.

Lord Grant yawned spreading his arms across the back of the sofa. "Oh well. At least I get to see you go full out tomorrow when you beat that smug prick." He suddenly began snoring, dropping off to sleep in an instant.

I shook my head at him, picking up all the bottles and heading down to the kitchen to drop them off. There was always an instance of a glass smashing at least once a week, so they liked to have as much glass as possible to repurpose it.

It was still a while before I had to be back in the dorms, so I headed outside to practise some Sacred Arts. The gardens were quiet around his time of evening. I headed towards the fountain and sat down on the edge.

"Pssst!"

I looked around, not seeing anyone. "Must've been my imagination…" I looked forward and took a deep breath. "System Call…no, that doesn't sound right…"

Despite saying it exactly like everyone else, for some reason, I could not say the words 'System Call' like they do, or anything after that. Everyone then asks me why I say it strangely and I have no answer for them. It was being to worry me, because a large part of the Advancement Exam was Sacred Arts, and I couldn't perform a single one. And what was weirder, I could think the words perfectly fine, just that I couldn't say them.

"System Call…System Call…System Call…"

"Pssst!"

I looked around again and there was nothing. "Who's there?" I asked into the bushes.

"It's Myne."

"Myne? Where are you?" I identified the source of her voice, which was behind a hedge.

"Well, I can't exactly enter the grounds, so this'll have to do." I could almost hear her eye roll. "I just wanted to talk to you before heading back to Vetal."

I was confused, as it was only a few days since we met. But I guess she had been here for a while before we met up. "Ah, is it that time already?"

"Yeah." She sounded reluctant, which I couldn't blame her for. "Are you still coming back afterwards?"

"Of course. I wouldn't break a promise to you." I smiled.

She laughed. "Yeah, I should've guessed." I heard a rustling behind the hedge. "Hey, I spoke to Kimiko the other day. She's doing well despite-" I heard her clasp a hand over her mouth. "She's doing well."

"Yeah, but what were you saying?" I was confused, and a pit began to grow in my stomach.

"Sorry, was thinking of someone else."

That wasn't convincing at all, but decided to let it slide. It wasn't my business if Kimiko didn't want to tell me something. "Okay then. Well, I'll be seeing you in a year."

"Yeah. You'd be my knight in shining armour, literally."

A silly smile passed over my face. "Oh come on…"

Myne giggled. "Well, my carriage will be waiting for me early in the morning, so I need to go and get some sleep."

"No problem. I would come to see you off, but this noble has forced me to duel him."

"Noble problems seem to be rather common nowadays."

I nodded, laughing under my breath. "I'll talk to you later. Hopefully it won't be a long wait."

"I'll tell Killian you said hi." Her footsteps began to fade away.

A wave of sadness washed over me, knowing I wouldn't see her for an entire year. I wish we could've seen each other for longer. And knowing she would be spending that year with Karma made me feel sick.

At least I get to take all this out on Diaz tomorrow.

So this will be fun, doing another duel. It's been 5 chapters since the last one, so it'll be nice to have some action going.

With the Prologue, I originally wrote it back when I first had the idea for the project. I thought I would end it with a climatic duel with Light and Kirito going all out on each other. Unfortunately, that isn't going to work out with the direction I'm taking the story. I have the ending fully planned out now, and so both of them won't duel with nothing to lose anymore. They might duel in a friendly way though ;) Either way, I suggest you go back and read it, as it's been overhauled, being an actual prologue this time.

This week has been rather productive though. I've been making progress on writing a lot, and hopefully that motivation continues...but most likely not. Either way, thanks for reading.

And as always, Stay Cool.