Kase versus Agnes

(Kase point of view)

I was seriously pissed when I saw Darx got that rank upgrade. That guy is pathetic! If it wasn’t for me, he would have died in the forest long before he ever got a rank. And then that Amelia bitch. Tss. I should have let them both die. Still, he got disqualified. At least that’s the next best thing. I do feel a lot better when Agnes and I approach the arena. I already knew that I am popular, but it still hits different when there is such a large crowd praising my name. As by the usual, even we have to hand over our adventurer cards to the judges. Then we enter the arena grounds. As soon as we enter though, Agnes has some words for me.

“Remember, as the future guild leader of Oblivion’s, it is important for you to get as much popularity as you can before I pass the torch on to you. So, this is your match to win.”

“Yes, I remember.” I reply while smiling to the crowd. “Don’t worry, I’ll make it a spectacle.”

“You better also put up an actual fight.” Agnes says sternly. “If I simply let you win, the crowd will know and this match will have the opposite effect. So, if you don’t put any effort into defeating me, I will humiliate you for all spectators.”

I turn to Agnes with a smile and say, “But that will make it harder for you to make me the next guild leader, wouldn’t it?”

After that I walk away from her to my starting position. There’s no way she will make me lose. I unsheathe my dagger and marvel at it. People say the last princess of [Zrephia], the princess of Calamity, used this weapon. I’m not sure if she really did, but I do believe this dagger is a Zrephian relic. All I need is a specific seal on my hand, and I can teleport this dagger to my hand whenever I want.

I look over to Agnes and watch her get her rifle from her shoulder. It’s got a leather strap attached to it so she can more easily carry it. It’s so silly, an archer wielding a rifle. That said, she has gone onto some difficult adventures with it and came back victorious. So, I guess it’s not impossible for it to work out.

We wait for the judges to give the signal and as soon as it is given, Agnes aims her rifle at me and seemingly needing no time, shoots a bullet right into my stomach. Fortunately, I have my armor keeping me safe. But this bullet smacked into my armor so hard that it feels like somebody just punched me without any armor between us. Agnes also immediately fires another bullet and another in quick succession. I bring my arms in front of my head to keep my face safe from any bullets. She only stops firing after six shots. They fortunately all hit my armor, but man do they hurt upon impact. I guess Agnes is serious about making this fight seem real. No worries, I can dominate her if she really wants me to.

After these 6 shots, Agnes pushes a cylinder out of her rifle to put some new bullets in. As she is reloading her rifle, she starts running towards a brazier. One of the many obstacles placed in this arena to spice it up. This gives me some time to close the distance. I rush towards her as fast as I can, but even now I can predict there is now way for me to get to her before she has finished reloading. I do have a good trick against her, though.

I keep chasing Agnes until she finishes reloading. When I see her stop running from me, I quickly use my [Mirage] skill. This is a skill which causes 1 person to see an illusion. More specifically, I make Agnes see an illusion of myself. Not like another Kase that is standing next to me, but an illusion of myself over myself. This way she can’t yet see the illusion is already there. Just as she raises her rifle at me, I use my [Silent ****] skill. This one makes me invisible and since my illusion, which was already on top of me, is the only thing that remains visible to Agnes. I then quickly jump to my right while the illusion continues charging Agnes. Agnes fires one shot at the illusion, which causes the illusion to disappear, and now she is left with no sign of me.

Being invisible to both Agnes and the spectators, I calmly walk up to my guild master. The is no longer a need for me to rush. I just have to think about something spectacular to make everyone be in awe of me. As I walk closer to her, Agnes looks to her right, then her left. Suddenly, I see her aim her rifle right at me. Did she see me? How did …? No time, I need to run. I rush to my right with Agnes starting to shoot at me again. Her bullets all miss, except for the last one. That one hit me in the side and even struck my armor with more **** than the last time. Enough to bring me out of balance and make me stumble. Is that because I am closer to her now?

As a result of me getting hit, the effect of [Silent ****] wears off and I am visible again for everyone. Shit, that skill takes 10 minutes until I can use it again. Agnes is already running to the brazier again while reloading her rifle. I underestimated those bullets. I need to find a way to get her to stop shooting. I throw my dagger towards Agnes and it manages to hit her in her right shoulder. It doesn’t hurt her though. She’s wearing scale mail crafted from the hard shells of ironclad beetles. That is pretty hard stuff. I do manage to get her to drop her bullets, though. This is my chance to strike.

I am closing the last bit of distance between Agnes and myself when she suddenly gets to a kneeling position and faces me, her rifle already aiming at my chest. She didn’t manage to get any bullets in it, what is she going to do. But then I see the flames of the brazier behind her die out while a thin stream or red light travels from the brazier into her rifle’s chamber. Fuck. I quickly dodge to my left, just in time for a stream of fire to mis me. I look behind and check to see the trail the shot makes. It travels across the entire arena and would have hit the spectators, if not for the magical barrier keeping our skills contained inside the arena. That should finally have been her last shot, right?

When I face Agnes again, she has somehow pulled out a dagger and is fixing it on top of her rifle. So, she wants to do dagger fighting but with range, ey? I can give her that. I stand up and walk towards Agnes, while using the magic of my dagger to teleport it back to my right hand. I throw my dagger to her and she deflects it with her rifle. I keep throwing my dagger to her while teleporting it back into my hand as I close the distance. Eventually, Agnes gets sick of it and advances towards me. I have been in knife fights before, like during training and on adventures. This will be easy.

I can easily dodge her bayonet or swat it aside with my dagger when she comes in for a stab. Then she surprises me by pulling it back and making a wide slash, like one would do with a spear. I manage to grab the barrel with my free hand and block her attack. Agnes reacted to that instantly by reversing her rifle and slamming the butt of it against my shoulder. Almost like she expected it to go like this. I of course end up letting go of the rifle, meaning she is free to use her weapon again. Damn it. Even without bullets she is still a nuisance. I need to disarm her somehow.

I take a few steps back and throw my dagger at Agnes again. This way I both **** her into a defensive position, while also freeing both my hands. I then lunge for her and grab her rifle with both hands. I start to wrestle the rifle from her and after a good kick to Agnes’ stomach I manage to pull it out of her hands. I throw her rifle somewhere behind me and teleport my dagger back into my hand. Though as I move in to claim my victory, Agnes suddenly pulls out a smaller firearm and instantly fires it. I use my left arm to block the bullet. This time the ball of metal pierces my metal vambrace and digs into my flesh. That bitch!

I attack Agnes in rage and frustration, but she dodges while aiming that pistol at me. I make another slash at the hand with which she is holding the pistol, but she uses her free hand to swat my hand aside while continuing to aim her pistol at me. No matter how I attack her, no matter how weird her angle, she keeps readjusting that pistol so it is aiming at me, but she has already fired it. It couldn’t hold a cylinder with 6 bullets like the rifle. This one only has one bullet and the already wasted that shot. There is also no more fire nearby that she can use as ammunition.

Agnes is like an eel in close combat. She keeps on dodging and deflecting up until she jumps back and gets into a kneeling position. She aims her pistol at me, with her other arm below so her pistol hand can rest on it. Then Agnes simply says “Dodge.” Without thinking, I do as she says. She is planning to make me win, even if she’s being a hard-ass about it. The second I dodge Agnes fires the pistol and a thick white beam shoots from the barrel. Like the fire shot from before, it travels all the way to the barrier surrounding the arena, where it finally gets stopped. Right, so that was for the spectacle.

I reply by grabbing the hand with which she holds the pistol and giving it a good twist. When I do, I have the feeling like something crunches in my grip. I sense that I might have underestimated my strength. But hey, Agnes wanted me to make it seem realistic. I’m just doing what she told me.

At any rate, I manage to get the pistol out of her hand, and also get behind her so I can get my dagger onto her throat. She is defeated. Despite being in pain, Agnes smirks and says, “Good job.” Then she yells to the crowd that she yields.

When the judges signify me as victor the crowd cheers at me, as they should. I release Agnes and shake her hand. It never hurts to show some sportsmanship. As we walk back to the judges, I make sure to revel in the adoration of the spectators. The people gathered here represent the population of the capital city. Their jubilation is a sign that the commoners here adore me. I am sure all this cheering will affect the nobility at the royal section. They have come from across the kingdom to watch me be victorious. Surely, this will convince them to invest into Oblivion. Imagine I could be the guild master who opens a chapter for Oblivion in every major town.

I stop a little before the judges while Agnes walks out of the Arena. As the S rank champion, it is my turn to be addressed by the queen herself and receive her invitation. I have been to these tournaments in previous years so I have seen it all before.

A member of the royal guard approaches the queen. Probably an A-rank caster who has access to fire, air and light magic. Those can combine those three into sound magic. He is there to cast [Empowered Voice] on the queen. That way she can adress the entire audience without needing a megaphone.

“Congratulations, Kase." Queen Zara says as she starts her speech. "I have seen Agnes fight in these duels many times and she has always impressed me. So, for you to be able to defeat her can only be a sign of your skills. You have truly earned your victory against her.”

If only she knew I was always meant to win. Yet, while Agnes merely wants my victory here to provide prestige for her guild, I have an extra goal. Winning a private audience with the queen and princess is incredibly useful. Normally people make use of this to bring some policies to the royal’s attention. As for me, I wouldn’t mind to use the special skill I got from the goddess on our dear princess. Imagine I could use that skill to marry into royalty and become king. Wouldn’t that be amazing.

“Now, usually this would be the point where I present you with your award.” The queen continues. “However, before your duel with Agnes started, I was approached by Aelbrecht. He informed me that he has changed his mind about his usual participation, once every 10 years, and wishes to change it to once every 5 years, starting now.”

“Wait … what?” I whisper.

“I know that it is unusual for someone to join the tournament this late, but since Aelbrecht has made the request before your duel with Agnes started, and I personally would love to see him participate more, I have accepted his request.”

No! She can’t do this!! This isn’t fair!!!

“You will be granted 10 minutes to rest. Get your wounds healed and regain your energy. I am looking forward to seeing you and Aelbrecht present us with an amazing spectacle.”

I stomp my way to Agnes, who is still at the edge of the arena. But before I can say anything, she glares at me and says, “What did you do.”

“Nothing! This is nothing more than Aelbrecht trying to cuck me!”

Agnes presses her right index finger onto my chest and says, “That is what you would do, Kase. Do not dare to presume Aelbrecht is just like you. The two of you are nothing alike.”

“Then what else could it be?”

“I don’t know.” Agnes sighs. “I have never been able to read that guy. I might be news to you, but a skinless skull doesn’t exactly telegraph a lot of expression.”

Agnes turns back and looks up to the Dark Dragon guild master as he slowly walks down towards the arena.

“Can’t we just tell the judges this is not fair?” I ask her.

Agnes looks at me condescendingly and says, “First off, the queen outranks the judges. They don’t have the authority to speak out against her. Second, if the queen goes blatantly against the rules, it will harm her reputation. She is smart enough not to do that. The only reason she can get away with this is because everybody actually wants to see Aelbrecht in a duel. He always draws a crowd. And third, for us to complain and demand this duel be canceled whill make everyone perceive you to be afraid of him. Then you will be known as ‘Kase the coward’.”

This sucks! I am sure Darx told his guild master about the silence charm. That little rat. Now Aelbrecht must feel like teaching me a lesson or something. Fuck! I am happy I didn’t join that loser guild.

“Kase.” Agnes says, interrupting my thoughts. “This duel is going to be nothing like the one you fought against me. There is a reason why Aelbrecht has not been defeated in decades, and no it is not because he fought only once per decade. You better get yourself healed up and for the love of the goddess, keep your mind clear.”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of this pile of bones.”