Apotheosis

After letting Sanakia calm down with a lengthy shower and dressing her in her usual armor we set out to find her lord.

Aiju was still fast asleep. And I certainly did not want to leave her alone again, as such I left the rest of the girls back in case Ojou-sama would try something.

Beatrice did point out that doing so would make myself a very easy target but I doubt they would try anything when I was accompanied by the squire of the golden knight.

Speaking off...

“Why exactly where you even doing...this in the first place?”, I asked Sanakia as the two of us made our way to the arena. “You know...l-laying in bed with me.”

“T...that is...”, the Sexy-Knight blushed. “You fainted and after we inspected your body...”

“You did WHAT?”

“W-we just stripped you bare so we could make sure you didn't have any injuries!”, she quickly defended herself. “And to check if you where properly developed for your age. That was your sisters idea!”

“My...sister?”

“The haughty girl with the black hair.”

“I see.” I made a mental note to punish Beatrice later.

“And then...that other girl...uh the tall intoxicated one suggested that you really needed two bodies to keep you warm and that I was the best suited for the task.” Sanakia’s face was turning crimson once again. “And then my body just reacted on its own.”

Add Cassandra to the naughty list as well.

“I see.” I let out a sigh. Seems like safety orders did not prevent these girls to play pranks like this on me.

We reached the waiting room just as Sylphid's battle came to a close. Apparently raiding a crime lords compound before breakfast merely served as a warm up for the martial artist.

“Surrender!” the martial artist demanded, as she mercilessly tickled her opponent.

“Never”, the cute, blonde giggling girl replied. “I’m not surrendering to someone who wears strawberry panties!”

Oh right, Sylphid was actually down to her underwear. And she did look at least somewhat worse for the wear. That was surprising.

“I...I told you I usually don’t wear this pair! Oh, that’s it! Take that! And that!”

Sylphid brutally tickled the poor girls feet. And that was apparently too much to handle. The blonde surrendered. Sylphid would join me in the finals, and sure enough with a full cast of slaves as well.

“How ludicrous”, the Sexy-Knight commented. “This goofy girl will be up for a rude arousal when she faces my lascivious Lord!”

Speaking of, the golden knight was up next and since Sanakia didn't want to disturb her lord, so shortly before his own fight we decided to broke the matter after the match.

It didn't take long for the combatants to enter. On one side was the golden knight Silvester Spartano d'artagan, sporting his trademark golden armor, as well as a huge, no let me rephrase that, GIGANTIC lance.

“That is the holy Lance of Jaivardhan”, Sanakia readily explained. “Blessed by the holy Pope Moulaloux it is capable of piercing a Dark Lord's invincibility shield.”

D'artagan stretched his lance towards the heavens and the power radiating from it was tremendous. It might honestly be on the level of Beatrice’s Black destruction beam. Only this wasn’t a one time move but an actual weapon.

“I don't see the shield...uh Exacalidong?”

“Excalibur, you cur!”, Sanakia scoffed. “Naturally, my Lord won't bother using two of his holy regalia against such an insignificant opponent! Only against the fiendish Dark Lord will he field both of them.”

Speaking of said insignificant opponent. That one was female, but it wasn't exactly easy to tell at a glance. The fighters body was a hulking mass of muscles, wielding an axe in each hand. Her most impressive feature however, was that unwavering confidence. This is someone deeply accustomed to winning.

This was Minerva Margaret, three times tournament Champion.

The audience loved her. While Sir d’artagan got a decent amount of applause, her entrance was almost deafening.

“Just look at that simpleton!”, Sanakia jeered. “My Lord will make short work of that buffoon.”

I remember her saying something similar about Sir Mueller just before he got kicked out of the tournament, but perhaps I better left that unsaid.

“Ho?”, the Champion sneered as she looked d’artagan up and down. “A fancy knight all the way from the holy island. But I wonder why? There are no little boys for you to diddle here with your big spear.”

The audience cheered as the champion stretched one of her axes up in the air in a gesture of imminent triumph. The golden knight remained stoic on that, while Sanakia looked like she was just about to suffocate from outrage.

Ben, seemingly seizing the moment began to announce the fighters. "Bracket E Finals The golden Knight Silvester spartano d'artagan vs. The Champion Minerva"

FIGHT!

The first attack belonged to the champion. Letting out a furious warcry she charged at the knight, swinging one of her axes with tremendous ferocity.

The golden knight however was ready and deflected the blow with his lance in an almost dismissive manner.

This wasn’t enough to let Minerva up on her attack. As soon as the first strike was parried, she brought her second axe around, in an attempt to hit d’artagan in his blindspot. However, with frightening speed the golden knight managed to avoid this blow completely

And now the knight was on the attack. Using the opportunity for a counter he rushed forward and thrust his huge lance with surprising speed towards Minerva.

To her credit, the champion did not flinch, but used both axe's as a shield to block the attack. A screeching sound erupted as metal clashed against metal and Minerva was pushed back.

D'artagan was not missing a beat, quickly bringing his lance around for another strike. This time Minerva tried to deflect the lance, and managed to get inside the knights guard. The maneuver looked successful at first, but d'artagan, contemptuously, swung his lance around again and Minerva could do nothing but duck and roll away.

“Make no mistake”, Sanakia explained. “Even the side of Jaivardhan is extremely dangerous. If the holy light finds purchase it will rend your flesh and sear your bones.”

After that last attempt, Minerva brought some distance between the two, evidently to catch her breath. “So, the little knight can fight a bit”, she smirked. “Looks like this won’t be a complete waste of my time after all!”

“That will be enough.”, d'artagan calmly replied. “I have seen the measure of you. Further fighting is futile. Yield, and on my honor as a knight, I will instantly free you from servitude.”

Upon hearing that, the champion broke out into laughter. “Oh, that’s funny! Really, funny! You choose the wrong career path, choirboy. Should have joined the circus!”

“How dare she mock my Lord!”, Sanakia exploded. “I give that indolent harlot thirty more seconds. And that’s generous!”

“As you will.” D'artagan charged again, putting Minerva squarely on the defensive. For what it was worth, she did try to retaliate every now and then, but every attempt was blocked seemingly effortlessly.

It was a splendid display of domination. The golden knight pretty much toyed with his opponent.

The only saving grace in this situation was that Minerva was slightly faster, due to her lack of protective clothing. D’artagan was in full plate armor after all.

But this was not enough to give her an advantage, or fight on even footing for that matter.

This clearly frustrated Minerva who became more and more agitated and opted for more and more savage blows. But because of that they also became more and more predictable.

In short, she fell into a rhythm.

“This is pointless”, I stated. “She should use her speed to her advantage and try to get him to exhaust himself, But all she is doing with these huge attacks is tire herself out.”

“She is a simpleton, that's why”, Sanakia gleefully pointed out. “But even if she did, it would make no difference. My Lord's stamina is limitless. He will not constipate from a mere one hour fight.”

After a particular fierce exchange the pair separated again. The cheers for Minerva had slowly died down at this point as bewilderment caught hold of the audience Clearly, nobody was expecting this fight to be so one sided.

The golden knight used that break in action to observe his weapon, not even deigning his opponent with his full attention anymore.

“You chipped my lance”, he remarked coolly. “A valiant accomplishment. Humbly accept it and let that be the end of it.”

Was the lance even damaged? With the way it was shimmering, it was impossible to tell. If anything Minerva's axes looked to be worse for the wear. The champion’s weapons where of course forged from Hirara ore, the strongest metal on the continent. That was the only reason they where able to routinely clash with a blessed lance. But even that had it’s limits.

Nobody had managed to draw blood yet, but while Minerva was breathing heavily, d’artagan looked as pristine as ever.

“Fuck you”, Minerva spat, now openly panting. “I am the fucking Champion. I’m not losing against some pansy ass knight!”

“Enough!”, d'artagan shouted, raising his voice for the first time. “It is unbecoming to fight a foe that is so clearly outmatched. Do not **** me to dishonor myself by injuring you. Yield now!”

“The fuck you think you are?” Minerva trembled as she squeezed her axes and then roared in rage. “I AM GOING TO FUCKING END YOU!”

The three times champion charged again. It was clear that she now put all of her power and strength into this final attack.

Meanwhile the golden knight readied himself.

Minerva brutally brought her axe down.

“DIEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!”

It happened in a flash.

The champion savagely brought her first axe down. D’artagan expertly avoided the strike. Roaring in frustration, Minerva followed up with her second axe, bringing it down with even more fury. The golden knight swung his lance around to block like he had done a dozen times before. But this time the axe whiffed above the lance and lodged itself into the knights right shoulder.

D'artagan grunted in pain and jumped backwards. A nasty gush of blood spewing forward from the gash.

Against all odds, the first draw of blood belonged to the underdog Minerva.

Sanakia stood there in utter shock, same as the rest of the arena.

But Minerva was not shocked. Instead, the champion pressed the attack. The power behind each strike was lower but the speed was increased manifold. Not only that, the attacks where significantly more precise and varied. Suddenly the golden knight was put squarely on the defensive and only managed to just barely deflect each blow in the nick of time.

“She conditioned him”, I blurted out in utter disbelief. “Gave him a false sense of security and exploited it at the most pivotal time.”

“N-nonsense! My Lord would never fall for such low trickery! This is just a flesh wound!”

No, this was bad. I could tell right away as Minerva pressed the advantage further. Even with his lance-arm injured, d'artagan still managed to defend himself, but that was all he did. This onslaught progressed for quite some time until...

It was Minerva who made a rapid jump backwards. “Heh”, she chuckled. “Got a bit carried away there. You are nowhere near done, eh?”

D'artagan wordlessly put the lance in his right hand.

“He is ambidextrous?”, I asked, mystified. Given my own weapon of choice I probably should not be that surprised. But Dirks are one thing, such a huge lance quite another.

“Naturally”, Sanakia confirmed, beaming with pride. “Losing one arm means nothing to my Lord!”

“An amusing attempt at trickery. But ultimately pointless.”, the golden knight proclaimed calmly. “I say it again, you can not best me.”

But now it was for Minerva to grin. Her former agitation completely washed away from her face. “What’s the matter, goldie? Getting tired after all?”

No, from what I could tell, the golden knight was decidedly not getting tired. On the contrary, Minerva was the one who was out of breath.

The golden knight was not provoked. “I admit, I underestimated you marginally. But it makes no matter, my victory is still...”

“Shut up.” Minerva spat and threw the more damaged of her axes to the ground. “Stop yapping and fight, you cunt.”

“As you wish.” D'artagan dashed forward. If the wound slowed him down there was no sign of it and now once more with an uninjured arm, his strikes rang just as true as at the start of the match.

And once again, Minerva was put on the defensive.

“How boorish of her”, Sanakia sniffed. “Her little scheme has failed and yet she still times my Lord's waste? Utterly deplorable.”

The fight continued just like that. The golden knight’s attack where slower then before. But this was not because he was out of stamina but due to caution. He would not be caught unaware again. In the end he would simply grind either her or her axes down.

D'artagan's mighty lance crashed against Minerva's axe, creating a nasty cracking sound in the process. “Yield.”, d'artagan demanded. The golden Knight changed his approach, this time the lance came from overhead. Minerva rolled away “Yield!”

This was a prime opportunity. D'artagan held his lance trained on Minerva and charged. He tried to repeatedly skewer her as the champion just barely managed to escape each thrust.

Then d’artagan abandoned his pursuit.

And for the first time in this tournament, the golden knight took a deep breath.

“W-what happened?”, Sanakia cried out in surprise. “My Lord shouldn't get tired!”

Poison? No. Blood loss! The wound Minerva inflicted upon him didn’t seem all that big due to his armor. But even if the wound was initial small, the knight was **** to jerk that arm around for quite a while to defend against her onslaught. Even now his right side was seeping blood constantly. And finally that was starting to affect him.

Minerva, panting heavily, managed to find her footing again. “Sturdy bastard. Took you long enough.”

D'artagan started to mumble something and his arm began to glow brightly, but Minerva was upon him in the fraction of a second. “Like hell you will!”

As expected, his opponent won't allow him to use his holy magic.

The golden knight defended himself and put once again some distance between the two. For a moment he merely regarded his opponent with cool eyes. “Splendid. You fought admirable, my lady. You have earned my respect.”

Minerva laughed. In terms of exhaustion, she was still in a worse position. And with d’artagan continuing to lose blood it made little sense for her to press the attack. “I take it that means you give up?”

“That will not do. I have not been bested yet. However, I will concede that if this battle continues the most likely outcome will be a draw.”

Minerva didn’t seem to agree with that statement but remained silent regardless.

“That is an outcome neither of us benefits from. As such I must ask you to commit the ultimate sacrifice.”

Minerva blinked a few times, seemingly genuinely confused. “You’re asking me to give up?”

D’artagan nodded. “It is the only way. Surely you agree that it is more beneficial if one advances instead of neither.”.

“And why would I have to be the one to give up?”, the champion asked unimpressed. “I’m not the one bleeding like a Banbera.”

D’artagan remained silent for a few seconds before he spoke again. “I have a dream.”

“Ha?”

The golden knight now spoke in a solemn voice. “I dream of a beautiful, peaceful continent. Free of the yoke and tyranny of Dark Lords. A continent on which humans don’t have to fear the night. It is this dream for why I joined the templar knights. It is why I honed my mind and body every waking minute and it is also why I entered this tournament. It is for this most sacred and noblest of purpose.”

The clouds burst for a moment and a bright ray of sunshine illuminated the knight, as if the goddess herself had heard his words and deemed them truth. “Dark Lord Ithere is the first step. I will slay him here in front of the eyes of thousands. Thus emboldening humanity and usher in a new age of vigor.” He smiled. “Do you see now? In order for me to achieve this dream I must not be allowed to fall here. No, I will not fall here. For the sake of my dream and all that is good and just, you must step aside.”

Minerva actually seemed at a loss for words for a couple of seconds. “Wow, yeah, nice speech and all but no. Feel free to hand over that spear though. Happy to do the slaying for you.”

The golden knight shook his head. “You do not understand. I am on a holy mission to slay the Dark Lord. I am the chosen one, favored by the Goddess herself. Only I am capable of such a feat. There is no other way. You must yield.”

“Nah.”

“Destiny itself demands it. This is the will of the holy Goddess herself. Yield.”

“Like I give a shit what that cunt wants.”

“Under orders of the holy, inviolable Pope Moulaloux the sole representative of the sacred Goddess on the continent, I hereby order you to yield!”

Minerva groaned.“Yield, Yield, Yield. Getting really tired of this shit. Anyways, thanks for the break. If it’s alright with you, I kill you now.”

“You...INSOLENT WENCH!”, letting out an enraged roar the golden knight suddenly charged at Minerva again. His attacks where fast and strong, but also clumsy. Minerva had no reason to engage, so she merely evaded.

“YOU WILL NOT STAND IN THE WAY OF MY DREAM!”

The infuriated knight screamed as he rushed Minerva over and over again.

“YOU WILL YIELD! YOU HEAR ME! YIELD! YIELD! YIELD! YOU BASEBORN CUR! HOW DARE YOU RESIST ME! ME! I AM SILVESTER SPARTANO D'ARTAGAN! YIIIIIIEEEEEEELLLD!!!!!!!!!!!”

“Shut the fuck up!”

This time the shout came not from Minerva but from the audience.

“Yeah! The fuck yer think ya are, ya gold prick?”

“How about you yield to my cock, asshole?”

Soon the entire Colosseum joined in a chorus of insults and jeers, all directed at the knight.

“SILENCE! YOU WILL BE SILENT!” d'artagan roared in an insane rage, swinging Jaivardhan in reckless abandon, the lance leaving brilliant trays of golden light with each swing. Minerva made sure to calmly keep her distance. The golden knight howled in impotent frustration as every single one of his swing missed the mark.

Finally, he jabbed the lance towards Ben. “You there! Referee! I have beaten this wench! Declare me the victor at...”

Jaivardhan fell. As well as the arm that carried it. The knights eyes bulged as his mind was seemingly incapable of conveying what just had happen. “My dream...”

“If you want to dream go to sleep.”

“Yiel…”

The golden knight, Silvester Spartano d’artagan was unable to finish the word before Minerva’s axe cleaved his head in.