A/N: So I was seeing this request on reddit since like forever. Since it was almost 3 months of u/advocator271 requesting for this, I thought, "Fine, I'll do it myself." More notes at the end. More notes at the end.

Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap

"I fucked up…", he murmured to himself, wiping off a single drop of sweat from his brow.

Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap

"Shit…"

If someone walked near the waiting room of the Royal Castle, they would hear a distinct tapping voice.

Tap Tap Tap Tap Tap

He kept tapping on the floor with one leg, chin placed on one hand, deep in thought.

Natsuki Subaru was sitting in the waiting room, remembering what had happened in the selection after he left. After he was thrown out, to be precise…

The other worldly shut-in, with the curse to traverse the boundaries of time itself upon meeting his own demise, found himself in deep trouble. Mixed feelings of wrath and regret clouded his thinking. Not long ago, he had made a fool of himself by declaring himself the knight of a royal candidate. He did it for the silver haired half-elf, Emilia – the woman he had feelings for. And he couldn't have done it in a worse way. Not only did he made himself look like an utter fool in front of the nobility of the entire country, but also mocked the battalion of white knights that had stood in front of him, calling out his behaviour.

But that wasn't even the worst part…

Soon after, the three knights whom he had interacted with the most had come to check on him. The Sword Saint, Reinhard Van Astrea; the blue, Felix Argyle; and the egoistic bitch, Julius Jukkulius. They informed him about what had happened and soon after that, Julius challenged him for a duel in front of all the knights.

And he accepted it like the prideful idiot he was…

"Huh… What am I gonna do now…", Subaru thought to himself while holding his forehead in his hands.

Suddenly, something rang up his mind. He fiddled around with his hair for a moment, then got up and walked around, and then smirked.

"That's it!" He exclaimed with a grin.

"Julius you should stop this. It isn't like you." The expression on the red haired knight's face was not one of haste or anger, but pure concern for Subaru's well-being. He continued, "I accept it was a petty thing for him to say, but it's nothing that couldn't be settled with retraction. Normally, you would judge as much yourself, no?"

"That is precisely it, my good Reinhard. Normally, I would."

Julius was removing his ceremonial clothes and handing them over to Reinhard.

"That fool decided to make a mockery of all the honorable knights of our kingdom in front of every noble that has dwelled on this land. And not only did he try to sully our name, but also failed to apologize while heaping additional insults. Such an action is not something I can simply ignore."

He turned his head away from Reinhard, ignoring his plea, as his eyes focused on the raven-haired lad who walked on the duel ground.

"I shall now chastise the ruffian who has besmirched my knightly honor."

"Oh, you're already here? I thought you might take the chance and run away while you still can…", Subaru tried to mock Julius while ignoring the sweat forming on his own forehead.

Julius merely ignored his words and said, "As promised, since the duel is proposed by me, the method will be proposed by you. I am fairly confident in my upbringing and learnings till date compared to you, which will ensure victory is mine regardless of the way of the contest."

Subaru focused on Julius' eyes and pondered for a moment. Then he continued, "So you promise not to back off no matter what I challenge you to?" He took a leap of faith. This was the only one way he could see himself winning.

"As the representative of all the knights present here and in accordance with my title of a spirit arts user itself, my promise is absolute. As long as your scheme of the duel is within the realms of sanity and befitting of something a knight can perform, I will not decline it", Julius explained himself.

He then raised his sword and pointed it towards Subaru. "Now then, if you have made a decision, please go and tell it to my good friend Reinhard over there, who will act as a fair judge of this duel."

Subaru took a deep breath and then ran up to Reinhard who had a worried expression painted all over his face.

"Subaru, you don't really have to do this. Please, you can still apologize right now and we all can end the misunderstanding", he tried to stop Subaru from doing something reckless.

"I can't back off now Reinhard. My pride won't let me. Now gimme your ear", Subaru said with a glum look.

Reinhard sighed brought his ear close to Subaru. But when he heard the challenge, his expression perked up.

"Subaru… you can't be serious… Are you really…?" He looked at Subaru with a confused expression.

Subaru said nothing but smirked and winked.

"… Very well then", Reinhard said as he rubbed the back of his head and walked up to Julius. Subaru could see him explaining everything to Julius from far away. For a moment, shock took over Julius' face, but he calmed down before anyone could notice. After giving it a thought, he finally nodded towards Reinhard and then walked back to his original position.

"Quite a peculiar challenge you have made… Nevertheless, as promised, I am going to comply and defeat you", Julius said, loud and clear.

With that both Subaru and Julius took their position. Reinhard walked up to the side of the field and coughed once to gain everyone's attention.

"Dear members of the audience. With the agreement of both the parties, the duel between Natsuki Subaru and Julius Jukkulius is about to begin. And the method of the duel will be-"

"LADY ANASTASIA!" a guard screamed as he ran inside the main hall of the royal castle ignoring the eyes of all the nobles that were focused on him.

"What is it?" The purple haired merchant lady asked with disinterest. She was trying to make some acquaintances and wanted not to be bothered.

"It's… It's really bad… Natuski Subaru and your knight, Sir Julius Jukkulius are having a duel in the parade square!"

"Eh? Subaru?" The silver haired half elf shouted, the attention of the people shifting towards her for a moment and then back towards Anastasia.

"Why would he do such a thing…", Emilia whispered to herself in a voice filled with pain as her eyes glistened.

"May I know who started it?" Anastasia asked, her eyes having a glint of interest.

"The duel was requested by Sir Julius Jukkulius and suggested by Natsuki Subaru. Suffice to say it was quite… peculiar…"

"I… I need to go and stop whatever is happening", Emilia couldn't hide her worry at this point. She rushed outside the main hall, ignoring Roswaal who called for her.

"Well, this sounds interesting. Might as well go and check it out", Anastasia hummed to herself and found the other three candidates in agreement as they also displayed the urge to see what was happening.

"Let us to the parade – I command it."

The sound of music traversed throughout the duel grounds. Drums, harmoniums, harps, banjos, flutes and other instruments played in harmony in accordance with the requests made by the two competitors. And in the middle of the ground, two people could be found with their eyes focused on each other as their butts shook towards the opposite side. With a punching like stance towards each other, the shook their behinds vigorously.

Subaru took the first chance and jumped back. Raising his legs, one at a time and moving his hands accordingly. He raised a finger towards the sky, spun his arm around and then pointed it towards Julius, declaring his turn.

Taking the hint, Julius placed his hand on his forehead elegantly, as his legs moved backwards. Then stopping in one place, he positioned his other hand on his hip, as he shook it forwards and backwards.

"A moon walk, eh?", Subaru thought to himself as he spun around with the support of a hand on the ground giving the medieval world a taste of break dance. Much too his surprise, he was actually getting a lot of cheers from the audience.

Julius stared at him for a moment in awe, then continued his own. Taking quick steps fixated around a singular point in complete synergy with the beat of the drums, he presented his moves as what one would call a variation of tap dance, gathering cheers from all around. He carried a confident smirk around his face which clashed with Subaru's sarcastic grin.

As the duel continued, one could see the Sword Saint walking around in the sitting area with a ballot box. He was rather enjoying the duel and was rooting for Subaru. "Please vote for Mr. Natsuki", he requested with a smile as he presented the ballot box to the guy in front of him. The sword saint had his priorities fixed. "Aren't you like supposed to be a… fair judge?", the guy wanted to ask, but then again who would question the antics of the sword saint? He ended up voting for Julius anyways, but everyone around him voted for Subaru instead. "Damn, that kid got the moves!" they cheered on.

Subaru was wearing something similar to a cap and hopped around with a circular motion of his arms in resonance with the tune which was similar to a hip hop beat.

Julius, on the other hand, wore a hat and could easily remind people of good ol' Michael with his moves. He also employed a wooden sword as a pole in between and danced with its assistance.

Subaru was fairly confident in himself. But there was a problem. He was getting tired, partially because of his broken gate and partially because of how much anxious he was prior to the duel. He needed to end the duel and end it quick.

Julius one the other hand was not even sweating. He was probably maintaining his stamina by applying mana. "Is that all you can do?" he called out to Subaru after taking a spin and shaking his waist. He could hear the audience cheering for Subaru and was getting a bit anxious.

Subaru moved his legs forward and backwards while doing diagonal movements with his arms and then spiralling then around. Getting frustrated from his lack off stamina, he clicked his tongue. It was time to use his final card.

Suddenly there was scream from the entrance area above, "SUBARU!" It was Emilia who had ran up all the way to the duel grounds.

Subaru had his eyes set on victory and as such ignored everyone else. He took a deep breath and screamed, "SHAMACK!"

Dark mist spread all around. Subaru spread his arms out and took a leap while spinning in the air. He landed perfectly while maintaining his form and got standing applause from the entire audience.

"YAY! Go Subaru!", Reinhard cheered from the audience area while wearing his Subaru fan club hat and carrying the giant Subaru flag he made in the meantime which was twice his size.

Although they missed most of the duel, Subaru's final move made Anastasia's jaw drop to the ground.

"Quite an entertainment he proves to be", the crimson eyed princess of Vollachia expressed her thought, while the little blonde princess near her screamed and cheered. Crusch was in the same boat as Emilia wondering what the fuck was happening.

"So, this is your secret move?" Julius exclaimed.

"Quite impressive, but such a low-level magic will only work on unintelligent beasts." Saying so he called out his six spirits. Soon, with the darkness provided by shamack, the six sprits shone brightly in the sky with different colours like a disco ball as Julius danced around. He made his final stance with his sword, thus ending his performance and took a bow.

There was a mixed cheer from the audience. It was hard to tell who had won. Reinhard was counting the votes while blowing his 'Subaru whistle'. Soon the counting was finished.

Suddenly, Subaru felt a thrust in his chest as if everything was going dark. He had overworked himself.

Reinhard walked up to the middle of the field. Julius smirked to himself already knowing that he might not have won. He had still enjoyed the duel and his opinion regarding Subaru had changed quite a bit.

"And the winner is…"

Subaru started to fall down as Reinhard announced, "NATSUKI SUBARU!"

And as the entire arena was filled with the sounds off applause, cheers and worried screams for the raven-haired boy, Natsuki Subaru lost his consciousness.

Well, it's quite late and I am really sleepy right now. I feel like I could have made it a bit bigger but I treated it like crack and kept it short. Now I might disappear for few months again... but I will finish my other fics... eventually... probably...

Anyways leave a review and have a nice day/afternoon/evening/night!