-14-

The cloaked hound enters the shopping mall, the plaza was as vibrant as the rest of the city with of beige, grey, and red concrete walls, red pillars, golden trims and reaching up to about three stories in height, consisting of several attraction and stores. As the hound ponders to herself as she walks across the massive halls of the mall, Where should I first?

I can go shopping, get on a ride, play at the arcade, watch a movie, maybe do a duel or I can go to the casino and watch a show.

Milla decides to enter the casino which had several entrances, two of those entrances led to Zao's Shopping Mall. The casino main hall consisted of rows slot machines and jade colored walls and several potted plants; at the intersection of the main hall were two sets of stairs adjacent to four pillars of a similar hue to the walls. The hound observes several people using these slot machine however enjoyment would be quickly replaced with disappointment whenever someone would lose, Milla knew better not to gamble with those machine unless she absolutely knew she could win. After climbing up the stairs Milla reaches the second floor of the casino which had several billiard tables and roulettes, the lone hound also notices some people playing either blackjack or poker, later finding the entrance to the auditorium.

After buying a ticket, the hound enters the casino's auditorium and sees hundreds of people watching a magician's latest performance, "excuse me… pardon me… sorry" Milla politely whispers as she passes through the spectators and takes her seat.

"Now for my latest trick, I will now put my assistant in this coffin!" The magician opens the rectangular metallic box revealing spikes at the side of the door, the crowd gasps in horror, "Do not fear, I will save this woman with my mystical powers!" the magician reassures in a commanding voice.

Milla watches in interest however disappointed, She's just going to go through a secret entrance at the back of the coffin, likely when some kind of smokescreen happens…

It feels weird when you've seen actual magic and then see this, I still find it fun to watch, it's just isn't the same…

I wonder how Pliny is doing, I remember when at one point she told me about all sorts of tricks and illusions,

Granted she did try to kill me when we first met, though like me-

Milla's thoughts were interrupted by sudden cheering among the crowd, she sees the magician and his assistants bowing, assuming the show ended the hound began to get up and leave, "Hey! where you're going?" one person asks in response to Milla's planned departure.

"Isn't the show over?" The hound explains.

"Not quite, I think there's one more act."

"Is there?!", Milla sits back down and waits for the next performance. After waiting about ten minutes all of the lights are immediately turned off which causes confusion among the audience.

"What's going on?"

"Guys, I'm scared!"

"What happened to the lights?!"

"Ladies and Gentlemen!"

Music began to play as three spotlights converge at the center of the stage, the audience becomes silent. To Milla's surprise the spotlights reveals a fox boy with orange fur, black and white markings with white hair; he wore a white cargo jacket with orange outlines, long sleeves however short torso, underneath was a close-fit black t-shirt; he wore beige cargo pants and brown shoes; the boy's whole attire were quite whimsical but something about him was very charming, especially to the girls among the audience.

"Allow me to introduce myself!" The vulpine successfully amplifies his voice, he was calm yet dramatic, "I am Avalice's greatest swordsman and entertainer, Chan Fokkusu!" the fox self proclaims with much optimism.

Milla remains skeptical however the eccentric vulpine have caught her attention, ...greatest swordsman…

Chan makes a brief cough as the lights are turned back on, "Alright, so for my first performance I will be fighting three people at once, in thirty seconds!" he explains, now speaking in normal volume as he draws his sword, which was a large, possibly heavy buster sword with a steel blade and black handle.

"Is that even possible?!" One observer says at Milla's left.

"I doubt it." Another responds, who sat at Milla's right.

Both spectators notices the katana peaking out of Milla's cloak, the person on the right begins to speak, "Hey girl, I couldn't help but noticed that you know a thing or two about swordplay. Do you think what this boy is claiming is possible?"

"Well, I've seen people do it." Milla answers as she scratches her head in a mixture of flattery and naivety.

"Psh, maybe if he was a Dragon." The other person retorts.

Three other swordsmen surrounds and attacks Chan, who immediately pulls out a small black orb in between his index and middle finger and throws it against the floor producing a strangely colorful smoke and confusing the opposing swordsmen, in an instant the fox was gone. The audience was captivated by the fox's disappearance, then in a acrobatic fashion Chan falls from the scaffolding throwing two more smoke bombs, one from each hand and with one strike with his sword the fox subdues his opponents just five seconds before the time limit.

Everyone were flabberghasted by the fox's skilful use of evasion and swordplay, Chan gestures with a bow of courtesy towards the audience, as the crowd cheer and clap the fox made a smile in return, "The show have only just begun!" Chan explains "Today I want to try something new! Who wants to fight in a duel against me, just a friendly duel, no hurting each other, 'kay?"

The spectators spoke among each other, they knew they were no match for him. Milla thought over the situation, I want to, but then I'll be getting into other's business, I know Kai and Norah wouldn't want that…

One little duel though, what could go wrong… right?

Milla stands up and responds, "I'll volunteer!" she announces with much determination catching the audience completely off guard, Chan however retains his smile.

"Well then mysterious young lady, would you care to introduce yourself to the audience?" Chan kindly asks as the basset hound climbs up to the stage with her cloak on.

"Um-" Milla didn't want to say her real name, so she makes up one for herself, "M-Melia."

"Well Melia, what do you plan to fight with?"

Milla draws her katana in response, "I'm going to use my sword." she answers with a determined and focused face, an expression that Chan read with familiarity.

"Short Sword… interesting choice, normally one would use such a katana if they possess another weapon, sense it's such a light tool… light but still strong."

"Thank you." Milla retorts.

Both the hound and fox prepare their swords and lunge at each other, the blades colliding with each other with much force however Chan was stronger. Struggling to keep up with the opposing fox's strength, Milla steps back and attempts to flank the vulpine, however the fox catches on to Milla's stratagem and quickly uses a smoke bomb, the canine coughs as some of the smoke hits her face. Chan appears behind the seemingly unsuspecting hound, however she responds with a faint smile, Milla quickly turns around and blocks the fox's assault.

"Impressive, how did you know I was behind you?" Chan questions, his thoughts began to go full circle, "You're a hound aren't you?"

"Yeah…" Milla answers with a reluctant tone.

Milla and Chan break away from each other, they were surprisingly evenly matched. The fox examines the hound's stance, Something about this girl is familiar…

It can't be… she is…

Chan makes a small smirk, he immediately dashes towards the hound, Milla prepared to block the vulpine's strike again however in at the last minute the fox changes the position of his sword successfully disarming the her with a powerful attack, then swings his sword at the hound without intentions of hurting the girl. Out of reflex Milla creates an energy shield which blocks the fox's attack then she follows with a shield burst, the powerful counter attack recoils both youths away from each other, the recoil removes the hood from the basset hound's head, revealing her face. The audience are shocked to discover the identity of the girl standing before them; Milla looks around and sees the frozen faces of the audience, with a nervous laugh she responds, "Ehehe, hi…"