The Duel(or a try of duel)

— Hey, did you see that the general is going to open recruiting this week?—The end of the semester had arrived and we were in the cafeteria because we attended some classes during the week just to fulfill school hours, there were already few students, The cafeteria was quite empty and Junjoumaru and Victoria were discussing an excuse to take me to Junjoumaru’s parents' house during the holiday period, but he remembered just about something he talked to one of the teachers early in the morning — Hasn't he given up on that idea yet?— Victoria was more withdrawn from the beginning of the semester, perhaps she is already accustomed to the people around her because six months is enough to meet most of the people who live in the institution, so this bogeyman of her kind of thinned out through the days.

— I've now found out that it's true, this looks like it's going to open just to allocate the vacancies for new recruits

— No, it's true, those who will be called up for the vacancies will be hired, but being "interns" than becoming common soldiers, only disciplines that involve the battlefield with mechanics or crisis management, but I don't recommend you to learn directly in the battlefield, as any mistake could be fatal— Berna became Victoria’s best friend, whenever I or Junjoumaru would meet one of the two, the other was together, so much so that once Berna was late for class, because they had exchanged contacts the day before and both were talking the whole night, at least that’s what Victoria said the day after that event, as this was the eve of summer vacation, much of the teachers were wearing comfortable clothes during the final classes, as most of the students were approved, but Berna was wearing the standard Holdfighter uniform, as she was prepared for the important mission, which surprised us because among the teachers she had a reputation for being more sloppy with her clothes; She said goodbye to us and soon went on the way of the board, I am see her wearing the uniform I soon remembered my sister, I imagined her fighting several Stray Dogs, then came a memory of that night and this is sparked my desire.

—I, I will join this project.— I surprised everyone with my decision, they did not expect it, after all this subject had died at the beginning of the semester, had occurred several others during that period since it was Junjoumaru woke up late and he went to the pajama class, but let’s never think about it until today.— What? since when did you have this idea?

— You know very well that this decision is very important, don't you want to think a little more before saying yes?— Victoria took my right arm and looked into my eyes as if she begged me not to do the one that could be the stupidest thing in my life, but she quickly understood my look, however, she held me with all her might while Junjoumaru tried to seek arguments to revoke my decision—I see you've finally made a decision of your own, I'm glad you've finally taken a step into adulthood, your sister must be happy to see your dear little brother wear the uniform of order.— Since I entered the Academy, I never saw General Hostviner in person, I only heard reports with his voice, but seeing him again in the flesh just occurred today, he was dressed in his wine-colored uniform with the decoration of the golden leaves, He was accompanied with some other people wearing uniforms similar to his and both surrounded with other Holdfighters in standard uniforms but holding some file folders.

— So that boy is ready to do a mission, make sure he won't lose control— Apparently, they already expected to expedite my entry into Operation Blue Rose, after all, when Berna heard this she looked at me as the first reaction, and when she realized that I heard soon looked at that person with a disagreeable face, scaring him.— Well ladies and gentlemen I'll be waiting for you next week, I already have the list, just need their statement to pass it on to you.— As a good host, the general quickly said goodbye to his guests by showing everyone the way out, they looked at me with multiple faces, be it curiosity for me or even fear of my right arm, but they all showed something when they saw me, it is parallel generated me a curiosity that apparently was contagious.

— Little brother, why were these generals looking at you with a worried face?— Junjoumaru managed to concatenate his feeling and his cousin concerning the generals, but my impression of sharing their doubt kind of healed this question, I could not allow them to be tied to this project that I thought was more operative, After all, since I joined the Academy I had not received any information about the progress of the operation by Berna, much less by the general, but he called me to the corridor while Berna went to talk with Junjoumaru and Victoria.

— Sorry for leaving you without information for so long, it was necessary for us to watch you during this first semester and we were surprised how much you didn't regress during these six months of training, of course, you had the case during the Acaderium and it was a great learning experience for us, however, I wanted to see if you would still present this status within the battlefield.

— Sir, this is an extremely hasty measure, we don't know if he could pilots an HF Armor, all I taught him was just the technical part, he didn't have the opportunity to define if he would be a body or mental user— Berna quickly came to meet us and revealed what she had done over the past six months, making the general furious, probably he acted superbly in the meeting he had with the other generals, he talking about my performance within the Academy, then he looked at me with that hunter look and said:

— So he will use this month of vacation to take practical lessons with you and me, Lieutenant Colonel Berna.

—Wait a minute, he's going with us to my parents' house, he's just like us so of course, he needs to rest — Junjoumaru, along with his cousin, quickly put himself in front of the general in an equally superb action of the general, to try to save me from this "inhuman" training that the general was providing me, upon seeing the daring of this young man, Hostviner soon laughed loudly, so loud that most likely the center of the City heard his bothersome laugh, but respected his courage.

— Young man, the last time a student tried to interrupt me, his family had to move to the Capital City to be able to treat him, as he was very well punished by me, but I see he is a man of integrity, so I challenge him to a duel If I win, you and your cousin should get your things and leave the Academy.

— But what if I win?—When Junjoumaru said his phrase, the general returned with his diabolical laugh— If this singularity happens, I will respond to any wish of your— This response surprised everyone, while Junjoumaru and Victoria celebrated with this statement of the general, while Berna seemed bewildered by it, but our joy soon ceased when Hostviner opened his mouth to set the time and place—This late afternoon at the stadium, I hope you don't run away.

The tension was in the environment, Victoria and I tried to convince Junjoumaru to give up, but Berna managed to synthesize our concern and managed to cheer everyone up— He's not invincible, Lauriceia managed to defeat him three times, even though he's a Saber user who uses the foil to battle, but you must be faster than him, or withstand a lot of his strong attacks— He soon ran away from us, perhaps to prepare for the confrontation, that was the thought of Victoria before saying goodbye to us to run after his cousin, I took advantage that was alone with Berna, I asked her how is the Operation Blue Rose.

— We are stagnant, but we have not had any casualties since joining, good news, but those soldiers we are undergoing treatment have not improved, many are still in a vegetative state, but with the data obtained from you, we can at least treat light victims

— Why didn't you ask for my help, could we go through several issues and figure out how to solve problems that would arise in the future?

— The general is a man who honors his commitments, so he didn't hinder you in your studies, but your stay here at the Academy was very fruitful for us, but I don't think you should be field-tested, after all, any mistake can be fatal, but as the general is haughty and strong enough to sustain that arrogance, I hope your friend survives this duel.

So she said goodbye to me and headed towards the principal’s office while I decided to go straight to the mechanics room, after all I’d like to see again these steel giants, see the complexity of these humanoids that look like simple metal cones on the outside, but that inside had complex interfaces to facilitate the battles, between the units that were in the garage there was one that was complete and functional, so much so that it seemed that someone was using this unit until moments before my arrival at the site, however the vehicle connected generated me curiosity to enter then, when I entered it the memory of that night returned, the cockpit automatically closed, the system automatically started and my right arm became dust and entered in all the gaps of the interface, however soon after dissolving the system seemed this in my domain, but I could not do anything, because the student who was tampering with the HF Armor hit the outside of the armor to enter, at the same moment the particles of my arm regrouped and the system opened the door for the student to enter, by the color of the tie he was my third year veteran who gave me a scolding, but passed his hand on my head as a consolation for not being able to move the armor.

After that incident, I went running after Berna to report to her about this incident, but as I ran through the empty hallways, was arriving in the main hall connecting all wings of the Academy when I ended up bumping into Junjoumaru who was going to the school storeroom to get his battle towel, so much so that he carried a request for use in his hand. — Man, what happened to you with this pale face, did you have a scare?— Victoria is behind him also carrying a request in her hand, apparently, she wanted to fight with him, I spoke to both of them that it was nothing and decided to accompany them up to the school secretariat, there is usually made the request to use the Field Tools, but since the prohibition of duels between students outside the discipline, this request only served to bring a copy in case the original was broken during the Acaderium, however, the staff of the secretariat had already been informed by the general about our decisive confrontation.

— Are you sure you want to do this? the general rarely changes his word, especially when he states his point of view in front of everyone.— Even though I was trying to get them to change their mind about fighting together, but both of them showed irreducible, of course, this duel would have ended their lives at the academy, but I felt guilty that they were going into the fight, but I took advantage of the fact that they were going to the principal’s office, because maybe Berna was there, when we knocked on his door, the door automatically opened and the first scene we see is he’s unsheathing his foil and practicing before he realizes the presence of us—Look who's arrived, hope you are holding your resignation letter, after all, I wouldn't want to tarnish my reputation by hitting unprepared boys like you.

—I would like to join this duel—When Victoria proposed this initiative she surprised the general himself, after all the student who is known as the future Holdfighter Holy Maiden, much because she does not stand out so much in relation to her grades, most likely he would forgive the "insolence" of Junjoumaru because of her, but upon realizing the request in her hand, quickly understood the meeting of us. —You know very well that I won't allow you two to fight together against me, I only accepted your cousin's duel just to make him an example to all who dare challenge me, so you can't hold your breath because I won't accept your request

—But this battle would decide my fate at the Academy, so it would be obvious that I must fight it.— She demonstrated that she wouldn't abdicate of its statement, General seeing this decided to think about how to solve this impasse, but Berna quickly entered the room.

— Why are yours here, shouldn't you be getting ready for the duel in a little while?—We soon explained the case, but she demonstrated the same thought of the general, however, she took the risk of expelling Victoria, however, this act still aggravated the punishment of Junjoumaru, because he could be arrested for breaking orders of a superior, of course, it would not be capital punishment, but it would be something that would tarnish any career, so she took us off-site, gave the same tips to Junjoumaru himself as we took to the warehouse when Junjoumaru took his Field Tool and along with his cousin said goodbye to go to the Academy Stadium, taking advantage that we were alone I told what happened in the garage.

—This event is new in our operation, after all, none of the members had any uniqueness similar to yours, but this will be of paramount importance for our initiative, I hope this can rekindle a new round of research and I hope you are available to help answer possible upcoming questions.

After this conversation we separated, while I went to the stadium she moved to the live room, most likely to report this discovery, when I met with Junjoumaru and Victoria, both were training to warm up for the duel, I also helped and this process took the rest of the afternoon, before the duel we went to the locker room for him to take a bath before the final duel.— I'm sorry to involve you in this, this was my question then...—When I said that they both put their hands on my shoulders and saw their angry faces before my speech, how I might have been ignorant, they were fighting for me, maybe that event in the garage affected me not to reason correctly about this situation, I should remember how stubborn they get when they have a goal in their target when we left the locker room all the places in the small stadium were busy, it seemed like all the students came back from their vacation just to see this duel, on the side where the stadium entrance to the wings of the Academy was the General Hostviner, with his foil sheathed next to the Berna, because she held the sheath when Hostviner showed his foil to the public, everyone kept it, We stayed behind Junjoumaru who soon activated his towel at the beginning of the fight, Berna would be the judge of the duel, along with two other teachers who would see the limits of the battlefield.

It’s been a long time since a duel took place within the City’s own perimeter, so Berna passed the rules, within a 60-meter rectangle, the fighters stay inside that rectangle and aim to prevent their opponent from standing inside that rectangle, you can knock him out, incapacitate him momentarily, that means you can hurt him, but you can’t dismember him, even throw your opponent off the field and if that opponent doesn’t return to that field within ten seconds, you will be deemed disqualified, as it is a duel that has official character is set a time limit, in the case of this duel is thirty minutes, because this period of time between the Sirius set and all the floodlights of the stadium are lit, the fight would begin just when Berna gave the permission for the beginning of the fight.

Hostviner was already defying his classic pride by waving to all present while Junjoumaru sounded the pressure of fighting a general famous for laurels of battles against numerous hordes of Ghosts, both went to the center of the rectangle, they shook hands with both left hands and when Berna signaled for the beginning of the fight the most awaited act happened: in the second following of the beginning of the battle, Hostviner attacked with a wave of swords, but all were overwhelmed by the resistance of the towel of Junjoumaru, after this wave of attack Hostviner took three steps back to breathe and expect any offensive from his student, but Junjoumaru stayed on the defensive and that was the dynamics of the duel until just minutes before the floodlights ignited that in another wave of attacks from Hostviner, Junjoumaru quickly attacked the support foot and almost knocked out the general, but he ended up being the victim of a volley of attacks, but he remained standing and those final minutes became exciting as both were tired, but defended their pride were eloquent, so eloquent that they both came out tied.

— Congratulations, it's been a while since someone tired me in a duel, your name is Junjoumaru correct, well your place here at the Academy is guaranteed, but I will want you in the phoenix operation.—When he reached out his hand to Junjoumaru, all who were there began to clap to celebrate this fight which showed the example that this duel showed, both raised their hands to greet the public, we entered the battlefield to help Junjoumaru, because soon after he released the hand of the general, he fell to the ground, he was quite bloody, with the help of the general himself we took him to the infirmary of the Academy, the tension was in the air and Victoria seemed to show a cry, but the doctor-chief of the place soon calmed down to all, since apparently, the general didn’t aim at Junjoumaru’s vital points, but he’ll still need a week to recover, so the general called us out of the room— I'm sorry to take you to a hospital bed, but it's been a long time since I have fought so hard with anyone, Victoria, you have a struggling cousin.

— But sir, are you going to put my cousin on that operation with him in this condition?—Victoria seemed concerned about her cousin’s future.

— Of course, I couldn't lose a soldier as tough as he is, of course, I will delay the start of the operation for him to start with everyone I will indicate, this is listening to the little blue guy—He ended his sentence by looking at me, but he returned to look directly at her with much gratification at her desire— So, could you put my name in this operation?

He could not deny this wish and with a positive nod, that was the initial milestone of our entry into the Holdfight order, but during the week we visited Junjoumaru a lot, He was surprised by this and this surprise was for the parents who knew everything and gave a scolding to all those involved in the duel but showed to wish luck to us that we would finally leave the City.