I was inside a darkened chamber, surrounded by weapons of all sorts. Tempting me, perhaps? I wasn't sure, but they were very shiny, making me wonder if any of them had seen use in the morning's action. Probably not, which was a shame. The city had escaped relatively unscathed, but not all of the countryside around it had. They probably could have been useful to spread around a bit.

"The first duel shall be between the Hero of the Bow and the Hero of the Sword!" came a muffled voice from outside. It didn't sound like the King, but I figured he'd be watching. Everyone else too. All the parties, and some of the nobles. My own were…mixed in their feelings on this. Lucia was mostly on the side of, she hoped I kicked Ren's ass, and then maybe punched the King, which was sounding nice right now.

The three brothers though? They had apparently thought I liked them being sealed to me. I had to tell them I hadn't asked how to remove the things merely because timing was an issue whenever it might have come up, and the things WERE useful…for making sure no one questioned their presence, but if the King was going to make a big deal about it, I wanted them gone, and if they chose to leave after that, I would understand.

They had reassured me, seal or no, they wanted to be here now. They'd helped end a Wave, and had grown strong enough that when they returned to their home, they would be able to protect it from anyone who dared to threaten it. But while they were by my side, they could protect the whole of the world, and until it was safe, they wanted to continue to be there to support me.

That had been a nice boost to the old ego, and I'd even flipped off the red haired bitch who was needling Naofumi, who had continued to argue about this, even threatened to break himself and Raphtalia out, before the guards had drawn their swords. Idiot. The girl clearly liked him. She wasn't going to leave…well unless he HAD given her a command to love him or something…not sure if he had mind.

That had me thinking on how complex the orders you could give via the seal were, and made me wonder if you could encourage something like thought or genius through it. It would be interesting…though my train of thought was cut off as I heard the voices from outside rise up, and heard Naofumi's name briefly, making me sigh and shake my head at his idiocy as the voice continued.

"The Duel will continue until one opponent is pinned, or they admit defeat and surrender," he says, and then the door at the far end of the room opened, allowing me to see out into a small corridor, leading to an open air arena beyond. Along the walls, knights stood at attention, save the two who had opened the doors. The others had their swords pointed straight up, in either a salute, or a reminder that I had to do this.

Stepping down the corridor, my sandals slapping against the stone, I exited into a dirt floor courtyard. Not the one in front of the keep, but off to the side, with raised areas looking down, and even a 'royal box', nicely appointed, for the King and his guests. He had Raphtalia up there with him, obviously being held by a guard behind her. That was not cool for a good king, but I tried to ignore it, instead going out with my head held high.

I smiled, waved and even threw a kiss to the crowd as I exited the chamber, which seemed to annoy Ren, and I could see the King was grinding his teeth. He had expected me to object or something to this duel, apparently, and my lack of taking it seriously was really crimping the good vibes he'd apparently been expecting from this. Like I'd give him the satisfaction of it. Besides, the crowd ate it up.

"This duel will take place in the presence of King Melromarc and the Pope," said a robed guy, a minister probably, but that last made me start, as I looked towards a fancy box on the opposite wall and saw a guy in a funny hat, eyes closed, smiling down at me. That was…I hadn't even known their holy dude was present, and given the weapons were holy icons of some kind, I had to admit I was surprised that he was allowing this to go on without any objections.

"It is thus legitimate, and official!" he shouted, and I had to wonder what an illegitimate and unofficial battle would look like. Was I not allowed to bite him or something? It sounded seriously stupid to me. Regardless, I came to the center of the floor, the flickering torches along the walls causing us to cast really weird shadows along the dirt as we stared each other down, and I hefted my weapon up.

"Yo Way Yo, Home Vah Ray. Yo Way Yo, Ja-Ruum Brunnen-G! Long live the fighters!" I sang the song of the Brunnen-G, which felt appropriate, and then shouted the motto of the Fremen…I was mixing two scifi franchises there, first Lexx and then Dune, but something about them felt right, and it certainly caught Ren off guard, as I smiled at him, and then surged forward, making the swordsman's stance falter.

What he only noticed now was I had a few pieces of gear on me that were different. For one, I was wearing the sandals that Fast had been wearing, leaving the fox footloose and fancy free, but also doubling my movement score, allowing me to literally surge past him, and then slide to a stop, as he spun around, and drew his blade back, as if expecting me to attack him directly.

Instead, I literally dove to the side, and then leaned back against one of the pillars, smirking at him as he first seemed shocked, and then his lips pulled back, exposing his teeth. Apparently, he realized I was mocking him, as he drove after me, with my (Insight) telling me my Movement score was the only one where I was currently beating him, allowing me to dive forward just as he reached me.

"Stand still and fight me!" he shouted as he drove his blade into the dirt, kicking up a dust storm, but I didn't give him the satisfaction of a response, instead moving around him. To be fair, it was harder than I wanted it to be, even with my reaction time being twice what his was, as at our level, that was still only a fraction of a second, but my bow was currently giving me a small boost to that as well, being in its (Stage 2) form that I'd gotten from the boss.

He kept on coming after me for the next minute or so, as I deftly danced around him, diving and rolling in ways that I knew really should hurt, given how out of shape I'd been at home, but my gear made it more tolerable, and after a while, Ren seemed to grow supremely annoyed with me, as he drew back his sword, and let loose a shout of something that probably was a skill name, but sounded more like enraged babble.

Whatever it was, his sword shone with green energy for a moment, and a literal wall of wind surged from his strike forward. It was a good move, next to impossible to dodge in the arena we were in as it kicked up a small cloud of dust, and then sent it towards me, forcing me backwards, and even doing some damage. Better, while my SP took a minute to recharge, he was already doing so.

That must have been how his weapon worked, surges of power, rather than sustained like my own, which required longer charge times between uses. Well, it didn't matter to me as I was knocked backwards, and then slammed into a wall hard enough to knock the wind from my lungs in a harsh, painful wheeze. It seemed, for a moment, that Ren thought the fight was decided by that one blow, but as I picked myself up off the ground, I leaned back against it and began to whistle.

"Wha, gah," he said, like a confused child, and then his face once more went into teeth grinding mode as he crouched down, ready to spring forward.

"Take this seriously!" he shouted at me, as he moved towards me, sword pointed forward like he intended to impale me with it. I let him get close enough to literally see the whites of my eyes, before I dove to the side, landing painfully on my back, as I pointed my weapon right at him. In the corner of my vision, I activated multiple skills, the circles representing them overlaying, as my weapon began to shine.

"Tactical Friendship Laser!" I shouted, and felt the crackle of energy as the bolt, or rather bolts, in my crossbow began to shine with power, each one a different color, and each one humming a different tune. Ren, for his part, was stuck, his weapon half buried in the wall in front of him, preventing him from moving for the moment, as I smiled at him, and gave him a sarcastic wink as I lay there on the ground, my arm pointed at him

"Tactical WHAT?!" he shouted in response, before I loosed my power, and he was blown away by it. Eight bolts, each one shining a different color to represent the different elements, flew between us, and just like I'd hoped, it looked briefly like a rainbow connecting us, before he was thrown back, his blade coming with him sadly, rather than leaving him disarmed, as he landed heavily on his side, rolling slowly to a stop across the arena.

The attacks, thanks to my rather low in comparison attack scores, did little damage on their own, even with the ring I was borrowing from Lucia. However, elemental attacks inflicted status effects. From Drenched and Shocked(Water and Electricity), to Dazed and Debilitated(Light and Dark), they worked together to increase that damage they did, resulting in Ren literally shaking as he tried to haul himself up off the floor, his body sparking, slightly smoldering, and even dripping, from all the effects.

To be fair, it did a fair bit of damage, almost a quarter of his HP was gone, and it even nulled whatever health regeneration ability he seemed to have, leaving him staggering as he climbed to his feet, using his sword like a cane. Sadly, he did indeed get to his feet, leaving me laying on the floor, my SP completely emptied, and my body feeling like it was made of bricks, as he stared at me, rage, grief, and even respect warring in his eyes.

"That move…was impressive," he said at last, through a few gulps of air, and I nodded.

"Back at you, wasn't expecting wind from you, given what I'd seen…but for now I think this duel is over," I told him, forcing myself to rise as well, leaning heavily against the wall, and he nodded towards me, and looked for a moment like he was going to pull out some attack to finish me, but I shook my head, and held up a hand.

"In my place as Bow Hero, I formally acknowledge the strength and skill of the Sword Hero. You have won this duel. Feel proud warrior," I told him, and then I fell forward, my emptied SP pool causing a status effect apparently, one called exhaustion, that sent me to pass out as Ren, seeing me collapse, surged towards me, catching me in his arms…and pathetically, he could actually hold my weight. Seriously?! I had the better of him by at least fifty kilos, probably more. Gods people in this world cheat when it comes to weight lifting. Regardless, that thought took me into sleep, as I closed my eyes.