On the final and third day before the Battle Festival, Avryn reviewed the last couple sparring sessions he had with Rinna. He analyzed what he did right and wrong. They decided to spar in the school courtyard this time around, with the orange skyline of dusk setting the mood.

  Avryn decided to up the pressure this time around. He took a more aggressive and direct approach, using his gunblade techniques to gain the upper hand. Rinna was surprised and turtled up her defenses, but no matter what she did, Avryn seemed to be one step ahead. A small smile formed on Rinna’s face. She was having fun this time around.

  She busted out some new moves that dazzled Avryn. They danced across the courtyard. The clashing of their steel attracted some eyes, but they could not care less. Avryn paused for a moment and realized Rinna was having fun fighting him. For a moment, he saw a slight smile from her. She capitalized on it and regained the control of the fight.

  “She looked cute for a moment there,” he thought.

  He switched gears and took on a more acrobatic form with his gunblade making use of the gunblade’s recoil. He went into a different dance. The recoil brute forced its way through Rinna’s attacks. It would not be denied. Rinna’s smile slowly turned into a look of rage, it was time to switch up for her. She too, switched to a similar style that Avryn had. She used the halberd-gun’s recoil to twirl around him and poke through holes in his defense. Bullet casings slowly littered the courtyard.

  Their audience grew, some from the seniors, and many more were from the freshmen. They looked ever onwards seeing these two sophomores go at it. Avryn took notice and once again let his guard down. As soon as Rinna entered his space, Avryn trapped her halberd with his gunblade. Shock took form and she instinctively tried to pull away. He threw a haymaker at her, punching to the side of her temple. Rinna responded in kind, flipping away and threw kicks at his face.

  The two stumbled back away from each other and regrouped. Avryn checked on himself, part of his lip was busted and bleeding.

  “Man, this is my kind of date,” he chuckled.

  He switched back to his serious face and prepared to charge. Rinna met him first. They dodged each other’s blows, punches, kicks, slashes, you name it. None of them wanted to give the other any ground. Avryn trapped her halberd again. He saw it as a sign of her defense slipping if she gave up that easily, perhaps that in itself was a trap. He pulled her close and headbutted her before she could act. He used the gunblade’s recoil to force her to be disarmed, and she was.

  Rinna was not one to lose advantage that quickly and she climbed onto Avryn and flipped him into an armbar. The gunblade was set loose as they both landed on the ground. Avryn quickly stood up and regained his footing. They were forced into hand-to-hand now. This was Avryn’s domain. He quickly wrestled her to the ground unknowingly near her halberd.

  She grabbed and used it to leverage her back up. Avryn rolled and picked his gunblade back up. They were both sweating and panting hard. This would be the deciding attack. Avryn fell back and let Rinna charge through. He disarmed her one last time, grabbed, turned her and pointed the gunblade at her neck, finishing their deadly dance. His grip prevented her from falling to the ground. There was a moment of silence between them. An understanding. Victory finally gained.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “Well done,” she regained her balance.

  Avryn let her go and they reflected on the fight. Only in this time, they realized they had attracted an audience. Much of the girls almost swooned over them because of that last sequence. There were a couple of students clapping for the display of skill.

  “You are ready as you can be,” she praised him.

  And how ready was Avryn? Ready enough to breeze through his side of the bracket. He inherited her poise in fighting. He had a rematch against Vyktria in the first round. The two lived up to their expectations. Now it all hinged on Harver to deliver on the big stage. Against his brother, no less.

  The focus switched to bracket B. The semifinal fight between the brothers were heavily advertised. Avryn was walking to the tunnel when he saw Harver. The two shared a momentary glance. That was all they needed. Harver unsheathed his sword and knelt in front of it.

  “I hope you’re watching, Rietta,” he prayed.

  “And now,” the announcer started. “Coming from the first tunnel…”

  It was Harver’s cue to enter. He walked with pride in his stride. His blue brigandine armor shone at just the right angle, his ponytail was tied extremely tight, his heart was beating a thousand times per minute.

  “Harver Olesin!” the announcer introduced.

  Applause was loud for the third ever freshman semifinalist. He knelt to grab some dirt to rub on his hands. He looked up to the other tunnel and saw his parents, Karrus and Maira. Karrus was looking down, awaiting his first son. Ulver made his entrance and Karrus became extremely animated, cheering him on. Maira remained indifferent. Harver looked away,

  “Of course he does.”

  “Let’s go Harver!” a voice was singled out.

  It was from Avryn. His friends followed suit, cheering him on. Harver smiled and nodded.

  “Ulver Olesin!” the announcer gestured to him.

  The audience cheered. Some made their bets on him and were looking to see him succeed. The man basked in his own glory. He loved the ovation he was receiving. The two readied themselves, and then whistle sounded.

  Harver was the faster of the two, and met Ulver first. He tried to find a way through Ulver’s defenses, but it was to no avail.

  “I thought you trained hard for this? Surely you can do better,” Ulver mocked.

  He rammed his shield onto Harver and taunted him some more. That was more of a playful strike. Harver feinted low and used the recoil to try to throw Ulver off balance. His blade finally made it through but it was sandwiched between Ulver and his shield. He realized this and retreated, He raised his sword for an upwards slash and managed to graze Ulver as he successfully retreated.

  Ulver looked on his chest. Harver’s slash was true and its mark was left on his armor. It was time to step it up. He forced the advantage back to him, using the threat of his war pick as he twirled and baited for Harver’s attack. They had an exchange of glancing blows until Harver countered with a parry. He used the opportunity to disarm Ulver from his shield and sent it flying across the arena. The advantage swung right back to him.

  His charge was short-lived as Ulver headbutted him hard. Harver was not backing down and disarmed Ulver’s war pick. The latter was stubborn as ever as he switched to grappling the estoc away from Harver. They both fell to the ground. Ulver mounted on top of Harver and rained down a barrage of punches.

  “GIVE UP!” he screamed at him.

  Harver grinned as he kept his guard up.

  “Make me,” he stood defiant.

  The crowd’s cheers slowly dissipated and were replaced by silence. The punches seemed to echo throughout louder and louder. Harver’s face was bloodied, his arms almost broken, but his stare still in defiance of his older brother. Instructor Fergus, referee of the match, got close,

  “If you don’t defend yourself, I’m calling the match,” he announced.

  “I’m fine, you don’t have to--”

  One punch later, he was knocked out. Ulver wanted to continue on. This was an insult to him.

  “Nobody defies me!” he punched after every word.

  Avryn jumped from the stands and tackled Ulver off of Harver. Fergus separated them both. Avryn demanded why it seemed he and his own family resented Harver. Ulver maniacally laughed.

  “Oh, so that’s why?” he chuckled. “Are you sure you want to know?”

  The two exchanged stares.