Chapter 17: Duels At The Divine Arena

     Everyone held their breath as I squared up with Mavis in the arena. A lot was riding on this fight, if I lose, Harriette loses her son, he will become a threat to the kingdom, Aldous may not try to kill him himself, but Biff won't be protected from others who wish to do him harm, especially after his heritage is revealed. Not only that, but my best friend would lose the chance to marry the love of her life.

The countdown began, I gripped my knife, tensing up my muscles, I knew that Mavis would come at me first, she would hit fast and hit hard, but if I can hold out during her initial flurry of attacks, I should be able to get in a decent amount of damage on her. One...zero. As of predicted Mavis smoothly sprinted towards me, she was unarmed, so she went for a kick to my face. I blocked the kick with my knife, I didn't cut her, but the ghostly aura from it did give her some proximity damage.

Mavis spun around as she went to my left, she punched, I couldn't block in time, when she went around behind me, I was ready for the attack on the right. I blocked with my knife and with a sweep of my leg, Mavis fell to the ground. I went to takle her, but she did a reverse somersault and evaded my attack. She kicked me in the jaw, I stabbed her leg in return. With my knife lodged in her, I used all my might to flip her over myself and slammed her into the ground. I got on top of her and slashed at her throat, if she was mortal this should have killed her, even if she was, none can die in the arena. I lifted my knife up to stab, then she threw me off.

I slid across the ground. Without a moment's notice she was charging at me, while I was still knelt down, she kicked me in the head. When I landed I rolled, spinning myself onto my feet. I threw my knife it rammed into Mavis' chest. As she looked down we were teleported next to the control panel. 'Winner: Amice' was written on the screen.

"Already?" I looked to Mavis for an answer.

She handed me back my knife. "It had to be a fair fight. My win conditions were higher than yours."

"Oh, you didn't need to handicap yourself." I told her.

“Still, you won. You can have full access to the controls, I still believe this all is a mistake, but I cannot control your actions.” Mavis said her peace and walked over to the stands and sat down, staring out into the cloudy sea that surrounded the arena.

“So, you can change the settings of this place?” Aldous asked as he approached me.

“Yes, you can change the win conditions for each person in the battle. Usually, the win condition is getting your opponent down to ten percent of their HP. For the engagement duel of the Ofenjen clan, the proposer must get their partner’s health down to twenty-five precent in order for them to become fully engaged, but if the one that was proposed to get’s the proposer’s HP down to twenty-five precent first, the engagement is called off.” I explained.

“Can you change Harriette’s win conditions?” Aldous requested.

I began to set up the arena for their duel. “Only if see agrees, what do you suggest?”

“For her to win, she only has to get me down to fifty percent HP. My stats are quite higher then her’s, I want this to be fair, last time we fought I didn’t have to strain myself that much.” He then looked to Harriette, who thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

“Alright then.” I set the conditions on the screen.

“You’ve fought before?” Mavis asked.

“Yeah, of course we did, the day of the siege. Hold up, why are you asking?” Harriette asked a follow up question.

“There are rumors that you surrendered.” Mavis stated.

“I assure you, she most definitely did not.” Aldous defended Harriette’s reputation.

“Those two stab a lot!” Ignatius exclaimed.

Harriette and I dashed up to her. “We want names!” We demanded in unison.

“I do not have names, have you tried Trockalon?” Mavis suggested.

“He was only released from the dungeons fifteen minutes before we left. Unless he started them before he broke in." Narcissus pondered.

Mavis shook her head. "I am unsure of when they started."

Harriette clapped her hands together. "Well, it doesn't change the truth, and we came here to for our engagement duel, not to gossip, so let's fight."

"Right, let's do this." Aldous nodded.

Without anymore chatter Aldous and Harriette were in the arena, staring at each other as the timer counted down. It hit zero and Harriette took the offensive. She dashed forward, while leaping in the air she took a few swings at Aldous, who was able to block most of them. Harriette then cast a spell, summoning a fireball at the end of her blade, with a mighty war cry and a swing over her head, she launched the fireball at him. Aldous just barely dodged, raising his sword to the sky, without clouds overhead, rain began to pour. "Let's see you be so nimble now." He snarled.

Aldous then began to attack. He slammed his sword into to ground, trying to squash Harriette like a bug. Each time he swung she dodged. He changed his strategy, he swung to his left, catching Harriette with his blade, sending her flying. She stood up and Aldous hadn't moved, he raised his hand, he shot out an demonic energy ball. Harriette was grazed, she grabbed the arm it hit, then she saw then next one coming at her and dodged. Fear settled into Harriette’s mind, she needed to buckle down, she ran towards Aldous, dodging several demonic energy balls on the way, then a slight error, she slipped on the water. She fell onto her back, she opened her eyes to see Aldous’ blade coming down. She braced herself, the attack hurt, but she was still in the running. She flipped up and began to cast some spells of her own with every swing of her sword, magic slashes that extended her reach. Aldous took a few hits, nothing substantial, he couldn’t find an opportunity to counter attack as the light from Harriette’s spells made it almost impossible to pin point where she would be moving next.

Harriette followed on of her magic attacks, Aldous was able to nullify the magic, but once he noticed that Harriette was there, it was too late for him to do anything. She landed a hit on his face, sending blood splattering onto the arena floor. Aldous made have taken the hit, still he was able to grab Harriette by the neck.

“Gah!” Harriette dropped her sword; she clawed at his hand as she began to choke.

Aldous then raised her higher in the air before slamming her into the ground. He raised his sword with glee, then he hesitated, the woman he was about to strike was the woman he loved. His smile faded, then Harriette kicked his foot causing him to slip, as he went down he dropped his sword, it landed blade down into Harriette’s torso. Aldous gasped in horror, the next thing he knew, he was teleported next to me, Harriette at his side, completely fine. “That… was…” Aldous thought about his emotions. “Both fun and scary.”

Harriette took his hand in hers. “You won; we are getting married!” She exclaimed.

“I feel terrible about stabbing you.” He looked at her face. He ran his hand over her scar. “What have I done to you?” He then cried.

Mavis came up to me. “That is Aldous, correct? Not a doppelganger?”

“Yes, that is my son, fearsome reputation, really just a big softie.” Cloelia was the one to answer her.

“Shut up, mom.” Aldous whimpered.

“Oh it is not me you should worry about. Just you wait until I tell your sisters about today.” Cloelia smiled maliciously.

Aldous snapped his head to stare at her. “Don’t you dare!”

“I have no reason to fear you.” Cloelia continued to grin. “They will find out soon enough, enjoy your peace my son.”

Aldous sighed in defeat. “Well, let’s go home before the timer on your collars run out.”

Everyone began to make their way towards the stairs aside from Ignatius, when I noticed he was still standing there, watching Mavis, I came back. He noticed me, but ignored my presence and approached Mavis. “All this time,” Ignatius began, “you have just been up here, doing nothing.” He growled. “I have been sealed for centuries, hoping to one day have freedom to do anything, and you had what I longed for and did nothing with it. You what, watched over this place? Hm?”

“I guide Prince Ronald when the time is right.” She stated, still looking out over the sky.

“Yeah, well, what are you going to do now that he isn’t coming back?” Ignatius yelled at her.

“What do you mean?” Mavis turned to face him.

“My master has killed all of the royal family, there is no way for the legendary prince and princess to return.” Ignatius explained with a wicked grin.

“What are you-“ Mavis then noticed the face I was making from behind Ignatius. She then realised that Ignatius didn’t know. “Oh, he has? Is that why I feel so empty?” She then turned back towards the sky. “I shall stand vigil here then.”

Ignatius rolled his eyes. “Wow, you are so upset right now.” He crossed his arms. He tapped his foot a few times before giving up. “Whatever, I’m leaving, your lucky that my master doesn’t find you worth while to capture. Honestly, I’m starting to think he is right, you don’t seem to have any goals or ambitions. Without orders you do nothing, I don’t know why I was ever scared of you.” He then went to catch up with the others.

I lingered behind for a moment. “Good save.” I muttered to her.

“Who knows, I thought it was common knowledge?” Mavis didn’t bother to look at me.

“Up until recently, only I knew. Now, Harriette, Aldous and Cloelia know.” I got closer to her so I could whisper, ensuring no one else could here if they came back up the stairs searching for me.

“He knows?” Mavis finally took her eyes off the sky and inspected my expression.

“Yes. Then he proposed, well, after he tired to have me killed so no one could fine out, but we are good now. Well,” I tapped the collar on my neck. “For the most part.” I began to walk away. “Goodbye Mavis, see you around.” I waved as I hurried to catch up with the others before they grew too suspicious.

The next days were fairly mundane, anticipation grew as the date for Aldous sisters’ arrival grew closer. I don’t tend to sleep in, but I do prefer to have a full eight hours of sleep, something I did not get the day they arrived. I was startled awake by what I assumed was a bomb going off, turns out it was the middle sister, Veronica setting off fireworks to announce her and her sisters’ arrival, I should have known. I got dressed, I never realised how much I enjoyed the luxury of choosing an outfit for the day. I wore a dark blue dress with subtle orange cuffs. A part of me wished I had earrings to put in for today, but I never even got them pierced in this life. Maybe I should, it might be fun. I waited patiently for my curfew to end, the moment it did, I was out of there.

I made my way down the stairs, maids were already dragging luggage up them. Harriette met me at the bottom of the stairs. “Do you think they will like?” She quickly asked.

“What’s not to like?” I responded just as swiftly. We then hurried to meet the five princesses.

We made it to the throne room, where Aldous was chatting, or perhaps being bullied by sisters. Victoria was the first to notice that Harriette had entered the room, who smacked Viviana on the shoulder. All five of them hushed as they synchronized. They sized her up as they slowly approached like hungry wolves. “Well, well, well, there is the bride to be.” Vivana sneered.

“She is way too muscular to be some pompous brat.” Victoria mimicked her older sister’s tone. “What do you think, Violante?”

“From what I hear she is quite the warrior. A brilliant strategist, yes, she will make a fine addition to the family.” The second youngest snarled.

“She has a nice smell, but its not too overwhelming, she is good.” Viatrix cooed.

Four of them looked to the middle sister. “Yes. She is brave and strongminded.” Veronica agreed.

All five turned to their big brother. “We like her!” They grinned.

“I’m glad I passed the test.” Harriette smiled as she exhaled.

“We can still change our minds.” Vivana smirked. “Now, someone tell us where our soon to be nephew and niece are?” She demanded.

Harriette answered. “They will still be in bed for a while, they tend to not go to sleep at their bedtime.”

“I see.” Viviana nodded. Then I caught her eye. “Wait a minute, weren’t you a maid last time I was here?”

“I was.” I gave a slight bow. “There is much to catch you up on.”

“Hmm, a lot can change in so much time. I’m sure we can discuss it later.” She turned her head away, but her playful eye still watched me.

“What’s for breakfast?” Viatrix whined.

“It’s a surprise, and you have to wait an hour, you all arrived earlier then expected.” Aldous sighed as he slummed in his throne.

“We missed you big bro.” Veronica pouted.

“There is something we need to know immediately.” Violante approached the throne, then looked down at Harriette when she stood next to her brother. “When is the wedding?” She snapped her head to her brother, awaiting his answer.

Aldous silently double checked with Harriette before he announced his answer. “In six months.”

The room erupted in gasps. “That is barely enough time to get ready.” Viviana declared. “But it is do-able.”

Victoria pointed to Harriette. “Tonight at six, we meet in your room to start designing your dress, make sure all your friends are there.” She commanded. Harriette and I exchanged a look. This was going to be interesting.