"Touya, look at this." = Normal speech.
'Touya, look at this.' = Thoughts/Telepathy.
(One hour later.) = Time skip.
~Yo, it's God.~ = Phone call.
"Come forth, fire!" = Chanting.
[Kingdom of Belfast] = Title/Place/Rank/Weapon Name.
{Gate} = Spell name.
=-=-=-=-=-X-=-=-=-=-=
(At the capital of [Mismede], [Berge], in the coliseum.)
Jamukha was first to reach his opponent and he was the first one to strike, swinging his sword in a wide arc, Touya momentarily stopped his motion and avoided the swing. When the blunt blade narrowly missed him, the young man could feel the wind generated by the swing.
Touya counted his lucky stars as the force behind that swing would've sent him flying if he tried to block it head on, he readjusted his footing and thrust his spear towards the Beastking, he blocked it with his shield and tried to once again swing his sword towards Touya. Reeling his spear back, he jumped away from the slash and tried to go for a blinding spell.
"Come forth, Sand! Obstructing dust storm: {Blind Sand}-" Touya chanted but before he could even use the spell, Jamukha was already upon him, his eyes widened in surprise but he quickly got over it and brought up his spear's handle to meet the sword's blade.
The resulting clash kicked off a large gust of wind, even those in the stands felt the aftermath of the impact. Touya grit his teeth, Jamukha was very much as strong as Sally is when it came to strength, something he wasn't going to try to compete with right now. Touya was the first to break off from the clash, pulling back and sending a flurry of spear stabs, he was going to try and use the longer reach of his polearm to keep the Beastking on his toes.
Unfortunately, the Beastking knew exactly what he was trying to do and kept lunging forwards, closing the gap and making it harder for Touya to use the natural advantage of his weapon, even when he sent a series of strikes towards the older man he was able to parry or evade them with relative ease.
'Of course he would know how to deal with this.' Touya clicked his tongue, he should've figured the Beastking was experienced enough to counteract this type of attack, 'In that case, how about this!'
Quickly, Touya switched the way he held his spear in order to make his swing have a lot more force into it, he swung it horizontally, Jamukha ceased his charge and brought up his shield, barely having enough time to react as the spear collided with his defensive weapon. The beastkin gave his all to push against the force of the swing, he was pleasantly surprised to find out this young man before him had comparable strength to him.
And that just made him more excited to fight!
Smirking, Jamukha pushed the spear away from his shield and thrust his sword forward, Touya evaded the attack but quickly jumped back as the stab turned into a slash, thankfully, due to his nimbleness he was able to avoid it. This kept happening, Jamukha would try to hit Touya only to find his attacks either evaded or parried, Likewise, every time Touya tried to take a chance to strike the Beastking, he either blocked it with his shield or parried it away.
Up at the stands the people were cheering, excited as the fight was steadily heating up, Some of them were even betting on who would win the match as many were openly cheering for their King to win but some, like Yumina and the girls along with Lyon and Garn cheered for Touya.
Touya reeled his spear back and avoided a thrust to his head by tilting his head to the left, he took this opportunity given to him and swung his spear, but with the awkward angle he swung from made the attack sloppy and easy to dodge for the Beastking. Touya backed off at the last second saving him from a sword slash from Jamukha's weapon.
The Beastking swung his sword and it connected with the handle of Touya's spear, the younger man pushed it away and spun his weapon before swinging it towards the Beastking who brought up his shield and blocked the incoming attack. Not wanting to waste his chance, Touya tried to kick Jamukha in the gut only to hit nothing but air as he dodged his attempt at kicking him.
The Beastking raised the hand that he held his sword and swung it down onto the adventurer, Touya was able to narrowly avoid the strike by reeling his leg back and rolling backwards away from the Beastking, he quickly got back up to his feet and avoided another sword swing from Jamukha, using the moment of his dodge, Touya sent another flurry of stabs towards his opponent who just raised his shield and blocked every single one flawlessly and lunge at Touya.
He jumped backwards to avoid a sword swing. Touya was able to create some distance between him and Jamukha but that wasn't going to last long, he took a quick breather to rethink his strategy, clearly using magic wasn't gonna cut it in a close quarters fight, so all he had was his experience with a spear and his sword, but that was the problem, compared to Jamukha's experience in combat, he was outmatched.
And it showed, when the Beastking expertly dodged his thrust and was already within his blindspot, Touya tried desperately to bring his spear back quickly to block the attack but it was already too late as Jamukha swung his sword and the blunt blade slammed into his stomach. The air was forced out of his lungs as the swing sent him hurtling towards the arena's walls. The people watching at the stands let out a collective gasp as they saw Touya get flung into a wall and cracking it. Jamukha swung his sword and aimed it towards the wall he sent towards.
"Is that all you have! Get up and fight!" The Beastking demanded, he knew that Touya was not finished and it wouldn't be enough to defeat the man that killed a dragon.
Up at the sidelines, Touya's party felt a mix of concern and worry, moreso Yumina as she never saw Touya take a hit like that before and wondered if he was alright, it looked like it hurt really bad, but before she could let her worries take over. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned her head to see Sally with a smile on her face.
No words were said and yet Yumina nodded, she needed to trust that Touya was alright, he is after all, the strongest man she knows. Smiling, the two of them went back to watching the match play out.
Touya let out a groan as he got himself out of the wall, that last attack really did a number on him and it reminded him of the time he fought Sally back at the [Eastern Forest], he never felt this much pain ever since. He let out a pained sigh, he was definitely outmatched in skill and strength, but he wasn't outmatched when it came to magic.
He quietly chanted {Heat Riser} and {Boost} along with {Multiple} to multiply the effects and quickly lunged, Jamukha barely had any time to react as Touya was already upon him without warning. He hastily tried to use his sword to parry a strike from the younger man but the awkward angle he had to swing from made it harder to counterattack.
Nevertheless, he was able to successfully parry the thrust.
Only for Touya to use the momentum made from the parry and use the other end of his spear to hit the shins of the Beastking, he let out a pained gasp which gave Touya ample time to strike the older man with multiple blows - Jamukha wasn't able to react to all of them and thus a few were able to slip through his defenses and strike true.
Touya knew that this window of opportunity wouldn't last long, so he leapt into the air, twisting his body and brought down his spear with an overhead swing. Jamukha raised his shield to meet the swing head on and the result was a loud ear-piercing clang and a large gust of wind. He tried to keep himself standing, but the hit to his shins and the force of the swing made him buckle his legs and kneel.
Touya tried to put more of his strength into the swing, if he was going to win, he needed to break this shield quick or else he'd lose eventually, he let out a mighty shout as he pushed forth, Jamukha scowled as he felt himself rapidly losing ground until it happened - His shield broke underneath the immense force of Touya's spear.
Jamukha was forced to jump back at the last second lest the spear would've flattened him. The previous spot he was at exploded as Touya's spear created a sizable crater, he brandished his spear and pointed it at the Beastking, he gave Jamukha no chance to recover and headed straight for him with the intent of finishing this fight now.
Touya thrust his spear towards Jamukha who dodged it, now without his shield he was forced to evade the attack or parry it with his sword. The Beastking frowned as he deflected a strike at him and used the parry to swing his sword at Touya, the adventurer blocked it with the handle of his spear and spun it, Jamukha had to leap away lest he gets flung around by the swing of Touya's weapon.
With the Beastking now at the backfoot, the people at the sidelines roared in excitement as Touya was now the one on the offensive, his party cheered loudly for him, saying praises as he kept the Beastking on his toes with his relentless onslaught of attacks. Meanwhile Jamukha's family yelled for him to stop fooling around and show the human why he was named the Beastking.
One particular spectator, the one Yumina was glancing at earlier during the match, was at the edge of her seat, she watched as Jamukha struggled to keep up with Touya's attacks, she came as fast as she could when she heard of the Beastking challenging the adventurer who slain a dragon, and while she was expecting many things from him, she never thought that he was so much more. Stars in her eyes as she continued to watch the match unfold.
Jamukha let out a pained gasp when Touya's foot connected with his stomach, forcing the air out of his lungs and a surge of pain shooting through his nerves, he barely had enough time to avoid a swing from Touya's spear.
'The boy has gotten faster…' Jamukha mused as he narrowly dodged a thrust before he decided to counterattack only to hit nothing but air as Touya was already behind him. The Beastking was able to avoid another thrust from his opponent and tried to make some room to breathe.
'And stronger too.' He observed as each strike he blocked or parried, a good amount of strength was put into them, something Jamukha clearly noticed as he was only able to compete with it thanks to his natural and refined strength.
Before he could continue to mull over his thoughts, Jamukha was forced to avoid an overhead slam from Touya's spear, the ground buckling beneath the impact and leaving a small crater behind. Jamukha brought up his arm to protect his eyes from the debris and once he saw Touya trying to get his spear out of the ground - The Beastking took this as his chance to lunge at the younger man, he positioned his swing to the left and aimed for Touya's right side.
However, his attempts at getting his spear out were a faint as he suddenly ripped his spear out of the ground, the dust that was picked up by the action temporarily blinded Jamukha as he fell for the ruse. He was only able to dodge out of harm's way thanks to his honed instincts and thus was able to roll away from the spear thrust Touya did.
Jamukha quickly rubbed his eyes to get rid of any dust and returned his attention to his opponent, so far he seemed to have the upperhand and the Beastking deducted that it was probably some stat boosting null spell that helped Touya achieve his sudden enhanced physical abilities. Smirking wildly, Jamukha let out a soft chuckle as he stood back up to his full height.
"You think you're the only one with boosting null spells?" Jamukha taunted, Touya frowned as he narrowed his eyes, just what was the Beastking planning here?
"Two can play that game, {Accel}." And just like that, the Beastking seemingly disappeared out of thin air. Everyone collectively let out a gasp as they saw Jamukha disappear before their very eyes without moving a muscle.
Touya's eyes widened and his instincts screamed at him to duck and he did, narrowly avoiding a swing to the head and rolled away from Jamukha's attack range, which didn't really help all that much as soon as Touya turned to face his opponent - Jamukha was already in front of him, without hesitation the adventurer brought up his spear to block a sword slash only to hastily block again as a second strike tried to hit his blind spot.
This went on for a few minutes as Jamukha kept the pressure on Touya, the huge boost in speed that the Beastking obtained made it all harder for him to react, barely having enough time to breathe as the tides were now turned to Jamukha's favor.
And it wasn't looking good for Touya as he was rapidly losing ground and pushed further back to a corner, he did his best to hold off and defend against Jamukha's speedy attacks but the sheer volume of them as well as the speed difference barely gave Touya a chance to even counterattack. He let out a surprised gasp as Jamukha appeared in front of him again and quickly brought up his spear to block the incoming attack.
Which was exactly what the Beastking wanted.
The blunt blade met the handle of Touya's spear and due to repeated strikes, the handle gave way, breaking upon the force of Jamukha's swing. Touya's eyes widened as he immediately dropped the broken weapon and backed off, creating some distance from the Beastking - Unfortunately Jamukha would not let him stray too far and lunged towards the young man with his sword pointed at his abdomen. Touya scrowled as he unsheathed the sword on his hips and met with the Beastking's blade.
The two became locked into a dreadlock, both fighters tried to use their respective strength to overpower the other but with their willingness to fight the match, neither gave in and was forced to back off from each other and once again meet with swords drawn. Jamukha raised his sword overhead and quickly brought down onto Touya, with no time to dodge out the way, he chose to meet the blade head on and block it.
Sparks flew, despite the swords being blunt, the sheer force of their swings when the metals clashed ignited the yellow sparkling effects, the two began a great and graceful sword dance as each strike, for each blow, was answered in kind. One not being able to overcome the other despite their clear size difference. And the fight began to hype up those in the sidelines, they cheered loudly as the two fighters were easily finding a stalemate within their clashes.
Touya brought his sword up, blocking a strike from Jamukha, now that he was able to adjust himself to the Beastking's speed he was now on the offensive, even with the speed boost, Touya was steadily gaining ground again, the young man smirked as the match was as good as his. Meanwhile, Jamukha clicked his tongue as he realized the longer he clashed swords with Touya the lesser his chances of winning - So he had to rely on the one last thing he knew he was better at.
Taking a step back he adjusted his aim before suddenly lunging, using {Accel} to help him get to Touya quicker, when Jamukha was in range he swung his sword all of his strength into this one last slash of his sword. Touya tried to meet the blade with his own, but the second the swords made contact, both weapons shattered.
The sheer force of the swing and the speed it had broke Jamukha's sword but at the same time, destroyed Touya's, his eyes widened again, as he watched another one of his weapon break before his eyes and just as he was going to jump back to safety, Jamukha immediately threw his right arm at him and clotheslined Touya square at his chest, the impact of the attack forced the air out of the adventurer's lungs - The loud thud echoed throughout the arena and the people watching, Garn especially, winced in pain, Touya's back met the ground as he felt the pain wash over him, but it was not over. Jamukha grabbed the younger man by the collar of his coat and threw a left hook to the face.
The wet sound of a fist meeting flesh rang across the arena as the Beastking proceeded to lay a smackdown on Touya who was helpless against the onslaught, he tried to pry the hand holding him but even with his boost in stats thanks to his null spells, it was but a lost cause and after a flurry of blows, Jamukha raised Touya up before body slamming him down to the ground.
Touya's party watched in silent horror as they saw him lay on the ground, almost as if he was dead, they never thought that he would be beaten to such a state before and was almost bursting in worry, the only thing stopping them from running down to the arena was Sally and Kohaku who told them to just wait and keep watching.
Silence took over the arena as Touya laid there motionless, Jamukha on the other hand looked exhausted as he breathed heavily, sweat falling down his brow as he take a moment to catch his breath, a hand fell on his stomach, that kick from earlier really did a number on him and if the boy did another one Jamukha knew he was done for, luckily with his quick thinking, he was able to overpower the adventurer before his mana could run out from overusing {Accel}.
"It seems as though the winner of this match is the Beastking!" Glatz announced as Jamukha stared into the onlookers and flashed a pained smile and just as he was about to raise his fist in the air.
Touya pounced.
'What-!?' Jamukha yelled in his head as he felt a fist on his face, it happened so quickly that his brain didn't even register what was happening until a second after the punch happened.
Touya's fist connected with the face of the Beastking and sent him flying, the beastkin was flung around like a ragdoll before his back met the arena's walls, destroying a portion of it, as for the one who sent him flying into it, Touya was looking worse for wear, he sustained a couple of injuries as well as some bruises from the smackdown he received the crimson liquid of blood gushing out of his forehead, yet he had a grin on his face, he moved his tongue to the side and tasted his own blood, chuckling as he cracked his fingers.
Glatz called out to Touya and asked him if he was alright, Touya nodded and told the chancellor that he was still able to fight despite the state he was in, Glatz sighed and reluctantly agreed to keep the match going but he will end it as soon as he sees either one on the ground for more than 5 seconds. Touya nodded and turned his attention to his opponent.
This fight was not over yet.
"That null spell was really something." Touya commented as Jamukha got himself out of the wall and faced his opponent.
"Indeed it is!" Jamukha laughed, trying to regain his breath from the punch he received, "It's my null spell, {Accel}, it's a spell that makes your body move faster than it usually can."
"How does that work?" Touya asked, Jamukha chuckled, there wasn't any danger of his move being used against him so he went on to explain what it did.
"When used, it creates a magical barrier around your body and assists your speed though it drains your mana like crazy which is why I don't use it too often, I can only use it in short bursts and even then it's taxing." Jamukha told Touya, then the beastkin grinned, "I gotta say, I didn't think you'd be able to react or at least keep up, so I gotta hand it to you, I haven't met anybody who could react to that speed yet."
"Well, it's all thanks to {Boost} and {Heat Riser}, if I didn't use those null spells when you sent me slamming into a wall, I would've lost the first time you used {Accel}." Touya shrugged casually, before he gave the Beastking a grin of his own, he slowly made his way towards the wall where he flung Jamukha to, "Which is why I gotta thank you for telling me about it, now it's my turn. {Accel}."
And just like Jamukha before when he first used the spell, Touya disappeared, everyone who didn't know Touya personally gasped as they saw him use the same spell as the Beastking - Jamukha's eyes widened as he realized that he was now facing his own spell and miraculously able to dodge a punch to the head by quickly moving to the right. Touya's fist smashed into the ruined wall of the arena, narrowly missing the Beastking.
"Well that was unfortunate." Touya quipped, ripping his gauntlet-clad hand out of the wall and faced his opponent.
"Wha- What the-!?" Jamukha gasped, shaken as he felt the close call of his dodge.
"It's surprisingly hard to control, but I should get the hang of it soon." Touya remarked, "Get ready, because this next one won't miss."
"Well then! Have at it!" Jamukha roared, he was not backing down from a challenge.
"{Accel}!" Both men chanted the same spell and vanished from the naked eye.
Whispers on the sidelines erupted as they couldn't see anything and only saw impacts at the arena, each one unleashing a large gust of wind that those at the stands felt. Even those who were veterans at combat couldn't grasp what was currently happening with only Sally and Kohaku being able to see what was going on.
"Sally, Kohaku, do you see anything?" Yumina asked, the rest of the party turning their heads to the residents servants of Touya.
"Yup, Master is doing just fine." Sally nodded as she saw Touya's fist connect with Jamukha's chest. At the same time, the Beastking grabbed Touya's arm and slammed him into the ground.
"He is, but he isn't going to last long with his injuries." Kohaku explained, even with his adrenaline spiking, Touya still took quite the beating from before and if he doesn't heal soon, he'll be the one to lose first.
Case in point as the two finally reappeared before the onlookers and saw Jamukha grab Touya by the arms and proceeded to flung him upwards, Touya could do nothing as the Beastking immediately leapt after him and locked his arms and legs before descending to the ground into an airborne suplex.
Everyone watched as the two collided with the ground in a mesmerizing display of a dust cloud appearing when the two met the ground, everyone at the stands thought that Touya was finished only to have their questions answered when Jamukha was flung out of the obstructing dust clouds and Touya came out of it not worse for wear, he was even smiling before he lunged at Jamukha once again and their fists meeting.
Their fight was absolutely destructive, parts of the arena was in ruin, so much so that Jamukha's advisors wept when they thought of the potential cost of repairing the arena afterwards, but the two men before them didn't care about such things and only focused on taking their opponent down. Both men threw their fists at each other and met blow for blow.
A loud series of thuds echoed as the two began to throw rapid punches at each other, each one faster and stronger than the last all the while yelling at the top of their lungs, the smiles on their faces showing just how much of a thrill they were getting out of the exchanges.
Yumina watched with hitched breath as she kept her eyes on her beloved, he was giving it his all for the match and she never would've imagined just how ferocious he could be in a fight, not even when he saved her from Benson did she see how into a fight Touya was. And her thoughts were shared with the rest of the party.
For as long as they could remember, Elze and Linze never saw just how much of a battle junkie Touya could be. The sheer ruthlessness he displayed when he ate a punch from Jamukha and responded with his own, for Elze she was pleasantly surprised to see Touya holding his own in a fist fight much less one against an opponent twice the height compared to him.
She had got to spar with him sometime, it wasn't fair Sally and Yae got to do it.
For Sally and Yae, they watched with excitement as they couldn't take their eyes off the match, cheering for Touya as he was rapidly meeting the punches of the Beastking blow for blow.
Meanwhile, Kohaku grinned, there was no way her master was gonna lose this one, but she still knew the possibility of such, despite that, Touya seemed determined to show Jamukha what he was made of.
The rapid punches of both fighters met with each other, though some did slip through and hit their mark, both Jamukha and Touya didn't care as they ate up the punches to the face and kept going regardless of the amount of blows they received.
The exchange of punches continued until both sent a right hook at each other and both connected with each other's faces, their heads forced back while they backed off from the whiplash of their punches, both men took a second to breathe as that last attack really racked their brains. Once they got over the initial shock, they went at each other again.
The ending was near and both men knew it.
The Beastking went for another clothesline hoping to down Touya quickly but the younger man simply evaded the attempt and sent a high kick the heel of his boot connected with Jamukha's chin and forced the Beastking's head backwards from the impact, Touya thought this was his chance to strike the killing blow, but Jamukha suddenly grabbed his ankles and used his leg as a lever to slam him into the ground.
Touya groaned but quickly rolled to his left side to avoid a stomp from Jamukha, he swept the Beastking's legs only for him to jump over the attempt and try to send a punch aimed at Touya's head, he dodged underneath the swing and went up behind Jamukha, the adventurer threw fast right jab and the Beastking was barely fast enough to bring up his right arm to block the punch.
Jamukha used {Accel} to quickly move out the way and sent a right hook towards Touya, yet he missed as the adventurer used the same spell to save himself, frowning, Jamukha brought up his arms to block another punch from his opponent, he then was forced to double over as Touya slammed his leg into Jamukha's stomach, the Beastking jumped back as he held his stomach with one hand.
That last blow was it, this was gonna be the end of him, but Jamukha still held on, this has been one of the most exhilarating fights he ever had in his life and he was not gonna back down without giving it his all!
'It's no good, I won't last against another hit like that.' Jamukha mused, his haggard breathing apparent, 'But neither is he.'
Despite him landing a good amount of winning blows, Touya's injuries from before as well as from the rapid exchange of blows have finally caught up to him, he was losing a lot of blood but he still held on and focused on controlling his breathing.
'Shit, that kick really took a lot out of me.' Touya bit back a groan as he felt the aftermath of his attack, his body was tired but his spirit remained strong, 'I need to finish this quick.'
Both men knew that their next attack would be the deciding factor on who would win this fight, and so they gave it their all.
Yelling at the top of their lungs, both of them lunged at each other, fist reeled back as they aimed their punch towards their opponent's head, everyone watched at the edge of their seats as the two fighters launched their last attack towards each other. This was anyone's win and only one would prevail!
And it seemed like one did.
Jamukha was the first to reach his target and threw his fist first aided by {Accel}, even if Touya used the same spell, at this range and at close proximity Jamukha would connect first there by giving him the win!
Unfortunately, he forgot one crucial detail. Touya had more than just {Accel} to fall back to.
'There's my chance!' Touya quickly used {Accel} alongside {Heat Riser} and {Boost} and the results spoke for themselves, with the three boosting null spells at work, Touya was able to dodge an otherwise impossible attack from close range, he ducked underneath the swing and swung his own fist towards Jamukha's face and connected.
A collective gasp echoed as they watched the Beastking miss his mark and was punished for it with a punch to the face and it looked like it hurt, really, really bad, Touya roared as he used all of his willpower and remaining strength to force back Jamukha and slammed him to the ground. He kept the Beastking pinned as he heard Glatz counting to 5, and once it was pass that, Touya knew that he won.
"THE WINNER IS TOUYA MOCHIZUKI!"
And with that Glatz called the match, declaring Touya the winner of the match. The crowd was at an uproar and many who bet on the Beastking cried out in frustration while those who betted on Touya cheered their hearts as they won with a large sum of money.
Touya's party jumped for joy as he won against a great warrior, each one of them was happy about the results ending in Touya's victory, they cheered and yelled out his name, soon enough it caught on and now the whole crowd was openly cheering for him. Hearing the crowd cheering for his name, Touya smiled and raised his fist, even with his face as bloody as it was, it didn't deter his smile nor did it stop him from feeling the joy about his victory.
He turned his head towards Jamukha who was taking in his loss, Touya shook his head and offered his hand and flashed a bloodied grin, the Beastking chuckled softly as he accepted his defeat with a smile on his face and accepted the hand with confidence, Touya pulled the older man up to his feet as they congratulated each other for a great fight.
"I must say, Touya! That was the greatest fight I had in a long while!" Jamukha crackled, his laughter was hindered by his injuries but he still powered through, "I didn't expect you to be able to use {Accel}!"
"Well, I probably wouldn't if you didn't tell me." Touya chuckled, scratching the back of his head before bowing his head in respect, "Still, you were the strongest opponent I ever faced, Your Beastiness."
"Hoho?" Jamukha smiled, not only was his opponent strong, but he was humble as well, the letter he read did not do justice to the adventurer standing before him, it seems like he found the perfect man he was trying to find for ages.
"Say, Touya, I have a request." Jamukha asked out of the blue.
"Sure, what is it?" Touya said, tilting his head.
"How would you feel about marrying one of my daughters!" At his command, the female beastkin that was sitting near Touya's party stood up and removed her cloak revealing a short beastkin with light blue colored hair and wolf ears. She smiled as her youthful face was there for all to see, the princess suddenly ran towards the railings of the stands and hopped over the rails and descended to the arena below.
She landed safely and ran towards the her father and Touya, once she reached them, she curtsied before introducing herself to her potential fiancee, "Greetings, I'm Setsuna Biau Mismede, the third daughter of Jamukha Biau Mismede, it's a pleasure to meet you, my dear husband."
That was not the type of request Touya was expecting.
"EeeeeeehhhH?" And it looks like the crowd didn't either as they exploded in an uproar.
And it seems like things just keep getting more and more complicated.
=-=-=-=-=-X-=-=-=-=-=
(At the capital of [Mismede], inside of the Royal Palace, [Berge].)
In the aftermath of the match and the subsequent marriage proposal between Touya and Setsuna, everything eventually died down and was able to finally return to normality, however for Touya, things just became more complicated.
After a lengthy conversation with Jamukha and Setsuna, and the reveal of his marriage to Yumina, the two parties was able to come to the same compromise Touya gave to the Belfatians and that Setsuna would have a two year window of getting him to fall in love with her or else the marriage was nulled, Touya desperately wanted Yumina to object to the proposal but after she used her Mystic Eyes on Setsuna she smiled and accepted her into the group.
With his last line of defense shattered, Touya tried find another excuse and turned to his party for help and hoped they would object but they didn't and instead followed with Yumina's decision, Touya then asked if it was really okay for the Third Princess to be out of her kingdom with someone like him and Jamukha laughed as he said that his daughter was more than capable of defending herself and he trusted Touya along with Yumina's judgment - He asked how old Setsuna was and she said she was at least 14 right now, so he couldn't say that she was too young, and even then, Yumina was just 2 years younger than her, so that was out of the question, so with a sigh, he reluctantly agreed.
And so, a large party was underway the following evening, thankfully as reluctant as he was, Jamukha agreed to keep his daughter's and Touya's engagement a secret for now - Touya still was on the fence about it but he would get around to accepting the proposal sooner or later, either way, now wasn't the time to think about that, it was time for him to enjoy the Beastking's hospitality.
Touya changed out of his adventuring gear and wore a Mismedian style of clothing, he found the clothes to remind him of Indian style wears and it did make him look like a noble, he smiled as he held a plate full of food provided by Jamukha's chefs and he wasn't gonna miss out on the Mismedian delicacy.
He took a bite out of a sandwich and hummed in approval, this was a good tasting sandwich.
"Hey there, Sir Touya, that suit looks good on you!" Lyon's voice caused Touya to turn to the direction of the Knight's voice and saw him approaching him.
"Oh hey, lookin' good Lyon." Touya gave him a thumbs up as the Knight too was wearing a suit, albeit the more European transitional one.
"By the way, have you seen Olga around?" Lyon asked, looking a little flustered at the mere mention of the female beastkin, Touya raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth.
"Nope, I haven't-"
"Touya!" Another voice interjected, both men turned their attention to the source of the voice and found Arma walking up to them, she was dressed in a beautiful party dress and along with her was an older man in a suit, he had the same hair color as Olga and the same beastkin ears.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Arma and Olga's father, Olba Strand." Olba introduced himself to the two men, shaking Touya's hand.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Mochizuki Touya, Touya is my given name and Mochizuki is my surname." Touya shook his hand back.
"Ho? So you're from [Eashen]?"
'Well that's a line I haven't heard in a while.' Touya smiled and nodded.
"I-I'm Lyon Blitz! A Knight in the First Order of the Kingdom of Belfast!" Lyon introduced himself, completely interjecting between Touya and Olba, Touya sweatdropped but he understood the reason why Lyon did what he did, he was meeting the father of the girl he was courting.
"You have my heart-felt thanks for protecting my daughters." Olba shook Lyon's hand, happily nodding.
"Pl-Please don't mention it! It is my duty after all!"
Touya shook his head before getting between the two, he was curious about Olga and Arma's father and what he did for a living, "What do you do for a living, Mr. Olba?"
"Oh, I'm a merchant!" Olba explained before he started listing off what he did with the job, "I deal in various high quality goods, some of which come from [Belfast]."
"Recently, I've been trying to get my hands on something called Shogi, I'd quite like to sell it here, I've heard it's similar to Chess, and I hear that the King of [Belfast] quite enjoys it as well." Olba said, humming as he was missing such a great business opportunity.
"I just happen to have one set of Shogi with me, would you like to have it?" Touya offered.
"Ooh? I'd be happy to! I always wanted to see it with my own eyes." Olba nodded, grateful for the offer.
"I'll deliver it tomorrow." Touya hummed before he looked over the corner of his eye and glanced at Lyon, "Though I have some business to do so… Lyon, could you bring it to Olba's place?"
"HUH!? ME!?" Lyon exclaimed, wondering why Touya put him in the position of delivery boy.
"Lyon's father is one of the King's right hands, General Leon Blitz." Touya explained to Olba, "I hear he's one of the best Shogi players as well."
"Ho! A son of General Leon? I heard so much about him!" Olba marveled, "I would be honored to have you visit my home! I have many things to ask you."
Smirking as he was able to get Lyon to meet with Olga's father, Touya was proud of himself for playing wingman for the Knight in love, he turned and left Lyon in the company of Arma and Olba, his job there done and now he was gonna celebrate with some more sandwiches on his plate.
Though, before he could, he turned his head to the right and was blessed with a sight he never would've imagined.
Standing before him were his party, plus Setsuna and Jamukha, the girls wearing transitional Mismedian dresses, some of the girls had their bellies fully exposed, each one was colored to the girls' tastes. Touya let out a gasp as he took in the sight before him, every single girl there was beautiful and sexy to say the least.
Touya saw Olga wearing a pretty dress and turned to Lyon who was flustered as seeing the one he loved be in such a beautiful outfit, he praised her and Olga smiled, blushing as she nodded, Touya smiled as he left the two lovebirds to their own devices and turned his attention back to the girls.
He blushed as he turned and saw Sally's dress. She wore very bold, very revealing clothes that exposed much of her skin, and it hugged her curves, especially her chest. Dare he say Sally looked like she had the biggest bust out of the girls there. Sally smirked, she seemed to follow where Touya was looking and tucked her arms underneath her chest, flaunting them a bit.
The other girls saw this and couldn't help but be jealous, especially those who were on the smaller side, but soon the animosity disappeared when Touya gazed at their direction and blushed as well.
"There you are, Touya!" Jamukha laughed, he was looking just fine after being healed by Touya, the scars and injuries of the match not even there like it never happened, "You're a natural in those clothes! If I didn't know who you were I would have mistaken you for a Mismedian noble!"
"He sure does look the part, father." Setsuna agreed, eyeing Touya from head to toe, the beastkin nodded as she approved.
"Yes, I quite agree." Yae nodded as well.
"You look great Touya, really wonderful." Yumina praised, a smile on her face as she held Kohaku in her arms.
"Yup, pretty spot on, isn't it?"
"...It does show a different kind of charm from the usual."
Both Elze and Linze, respectively, agreed.
"I'll say, he looks dashing," Sally smirked.
All the girls huddled up together as a group, and Touya thought it would be the perfect time to take a picture, so he reached into his pockets and pulled out his phone, he opened the camera app and aimed at the girls, a second later he snapped a picture and a flash appear, startling those who didn't know what happened, which included Jamukha and Setsuna.
"Ah, I should've warned about that, sorry." Touya apologized as he saw some of the guards readying their weapons, but thankfully, Jamukha held his hand and stopped them before anything could happen.
"What was that?" Jamukha asked, curious about the sudden flash of light.
"Sorry, that was me, this is one of my null spells, it's a thing that lets me take a picture of a scene." Touya explained and presented the photo to Jamukha and Setsuna, they were fascinated by the little device in his hands.
"Ho! A spell that draws a picture by itself you say? I've heard of someone with a similar spell over in the [Refreese Imperium]." Jamukha commented, recalling the tale he heard one time.
"Can you take this picture out?" Setsuna asked, wanting to see it out of the screen and in physical form.
"I can if I have a piece of paper or anything I can write on." Touya nodded, Jamukha nodded and snapped his fingers, after a second passed, a servant came bearing a stack of paper and laid them out on a table.
"{Drawing}" Touya chanted, the paper in front of him changed and took on the photo he just took of the girls, Jamukha's eyes widened as he grabbed the photo and let out a surprised gasp.
"This is amazing!" He exclaimed as he scanned the photo as well as his daughter in the picture, it was as life-like as it could be and it very much impressed him, "Touya, would it be too much trouble if I ask you to draw me as well?"
"Sure, it's not much of a problem at all." Touya nodded and took a picture of Jamukha and did the same thing.
"Uh- I-I would like a picture with Olga!" Lyon blurted out, and soon enough almost everyone at the party approached Touya for a picture, he sweatdropped as he was not a photographer of the party.
At least it wasn't boring, though in his haste to take pictures, he never got to eat some more of the party's sandwiches until he found out that they were already out…
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(At the capital of [Mismede], inside of the Royal Palace, [Berge].)
Soon after finishing everyone's request for a picture, Touya was able to slip past the party and enter a secluded hallway just out of the party's vicinity, he sighed and winced when he felt the cramps on his muscles, despite the fight being hours ago he still felt some of phantom pains of his injuries - He scanned the hallway for anything to sit on and found a nice comfy couch.
Shrugging, he approached the couch and sat on it, he let out a long winded sigh as the soft cushion of the couch was like heaven hugging his back.
"I can't believe I did four days straight of fighting, I'm tired as hell." Touya groaned, he prayed to God that he didn't have to fight any time soon, he was absolutely beat and felt like he was just about to collapse at any second.
And that he cursed his luck, now he has another girl he was engaged to! And he wasn't even sure about being married to Yumina yet! Still, Setsuna looked really cute and he was sure to get along with her all things considered.
He hummed, he just realized that his mind was clearer after the duel with Jamukha, did he really bottle up so much of his frustration and that Jamukha helped him burst it all out? In any case, he was thankful since now he could go back to his old self free from the worries that plagued his mind.
And just as he was about to continue mulling over his thoughts, he heard some squeaks coming from around the corner of the hallway, he turned his head to the direction of the sounds and soon enough saw a teddy bear walking, each of its steps was accompanied by a squeak.
It saw Touya staring at it and waved its cute little hand, paws? I mean it was a teddy bear after all. It then gestured for him to come closer, Touya raised an eyebrow in confusion and pointed at himself.
"Do you want me to follow you?" Touya asked, the teddy bear seemed to understand what he said as it nodded in response.
Seeing as there was no harm in doing so, Touya nodded and got up from his seat and walked close to the bear, he asked it where to go and the teddy bear began to walk with its stubby little legs.
It led him further into the hallways of the Royal Palace, and Touya was more and more curious at where this teddy bear was taking him, it stopped just short of a door and pointed at it.
Seeing what it wanted, Touya nodded and opened the door by turning the handle, he pushed forward and was greeted with the sight of a twin-tailed, short-looking lady sitting on a red chair, Touya noticed that she had almost translucent wings behind her.
"...Ara? You brought a strange guest this time, Paula." The lady observed, as the teddy bear, Paula saluted her, "And who might you be?"
This luck with women just keeps getting stranger and stranger…
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I cannot believe this fight chapter took me more than 5 days to finish, I meant for it to be more than 4.5k words but then it became 5.6k words, talk about exceeding expectations huh?
Btw, Sally is wearing Aisha's clothes but colored black and red, if you're wondering where she's from, she's from the same game as Sally, Metal Slug Attack.
Oh, and let's welcome the newest addition to Touya's harem! Setsuna from Redo of Healer! Why? Because I wanted to put some more focus on Mismede unlike in canon, so Setsuna will act as the Arc starter for almost everything Mismede related unless I decide to add in another Mismede girl to the group.
Speaking of which, how was the fight itself? Did you enjoy how I wrote Jamukha being more of a badass than he is in canon? I hope you do because this will serve as a lesson to Touya and a wake up call to have him stop relying on his magic and start taking his training more seriously. On that note, that's also one of the reasons why I added Setsuna since Elze is the only H2H combat specialist of the group so I figured to add in another who likes to use their hands to fight.
Next chapter is the end of the Mismede Arc and the start of whatever arc I decided to do before moving on and proceeding with Touya's first Babylon acquisition.
Until next time, this is V_KJ, signing out.