Prepare To Duel

It seems wisest to nip this in the bud as early as possible.

Amelia nods at your decision and, after saying she would gather some more "tutors" to help, the two of you separate to finish out the rest of the classes for the day.

Once you return to Wyvern House you find yourself waved down by Amelia, who has gather Keira, Liam and, to your surprise, Vicki as well. You sit in the same chairs as the last time you gathered like this and you look over your shoulder for a moment to make sure Harmony is not approaching to deliver notes or something again.

"I've been in a few duels before," Liam says, Amelia having apparently explained the situation to him before you arrived, "And Keira's been my second for most of them. So we can certainly give you some pointers, dude."

"Don't think we've been in one that used the Law of Witness before though," Keira adds.

Liam frowns. "Well, no," he replies, "That's a step more serious than our Dueling League coach would allow."

Now you are the one frowning. If this Law of Witness is so serious, maybe you should let the teachers know? It sounds like something that students should not casually engage in, at the very least. When you voice your concerns Liam is the one to answer them as he explains, "It's not like it's more dangerous than a normal duel can be in terms of the actual fight. It's more in terms of... well... the terms."

Your frown grows, gaining more than a little note of confusion. Vicki is the one to speak up this time, not really looking at you as she says, "The Law of Witness is a very specific set-up for a duel. It involves a circle of six people around the two who will be dueling; two who are close to the Challenger, two who are close to the Challenged , and two both combatants know casually. Their purpose is to be there as a kind of contract to ensure whatever stakes the Challenger lays out are instantly obeyed by whoever loses."

"Let me guess," you say, "those stakes are generally a bit more severe than 'perform one thing I want you to do for me' or something like that?"

Vicki looks away from you even more overtly, making Amelia look back and forth between the two of you curiously as the stripe-haired girl grumbles, "She couldn't make you kill yourself or pull out your soul if she won since something at that level would need all six witnesses to be agreeable to it. But it probably would be some condition intended to be long lasting. Possibly even permanent."

Something long lasting or permanent. While the fact you would not be actually killed or have your soul stolen should you fail was at least a little comforting, you still did not like the sound of that. Why was Harmony going that far over what was relatively a small level of embarrassment? You have no intention of sharing the REALLY embarrassing details of what happened and, given the nature of the rumors going around, it sounds as if Amelia has kept her mouth shut about what she witnessed of the fallout.

Of course, Harmony has no way of knowing that. Maybe this was just a way to make absolutely sure you stayed quiet? But that seems quite a risk. Either she was so confident you had no chance of winning that she had not considered just that happening or there was another goal here you were not seeing as of yet.

"As I mentioned before," Vicki continues, "The Challenger is the one who will lay out the stakes of the duel. Both what she wants from you should she win and what price she is willing to pay should she fail. But you, as the Challenged, will get to pick the form of the duel."

"Form of the duel?" you ask.

"That's where we come in," Keira replies, "There's three major forms of dueling and you'll have to decide which one you want to face her with. So whichever you pick, we'll focus on that for your crash course."

She reaches across Liam, all but laying her torso on his lap for a moment as she grabs a small wooden box sitting next to him. The two share a smirk as she does so but then their faces grow serious again as Keira sits up, undoes the latches on the box and then lifts the top, exposing what is inside to you.

There sit three objects: a traditional looking magic wand, some sort of tiara-like headgear with a single white crystal in the center, and a deck of what look to be... playing cards?

"The wand is for the most classic form of dueling," Liam explains, "You each cast a shield spell on yourself to start and then whoever can shatter the others one first through the casting of attack spells is the winner. It's the easiest to learn of the three but I've heard Harmony's had a few duels under her belt already that way, so you'll be at a disadvantage no matter what. The headband is for a more mental and spiritual form of dueling, you both focus those powers into the shape of a warrior and they clash until one is dispelled."

At your confused look Amelia adds, "Y'know that TV show that's popular now that has the guys who can summon beefy guy spirits that punch really fast? Kinda like that."

You nod lightly in understanding.

"And given the rumors about what happened in that Psionics class, you'd probably be able to really match her there," Amelia continues, "So it seems your best choice."

Looking slightly annoyed at the interruption, Liam then continues with, "And the cards are for Summoning Battles. Basically, you and your opponents use cards to summon different spirit monsters to fight for you. The monsters each have different strengths and weaknesses you have to account for and each take a certain number of cards in your deck to summon. The winner is the one who can beat enough of the other player's monsters so that they run out of cards to summon with."

"Normally," Keira chimes in, "I'd recommend the wand or the tiara--"

"Headband," Liam interrupts, "It's only a tiara when it's on a girl's head."

"How sexist," Keira responds, lightly smacking him on the arm in a way that suggests this is an old joke between them more so than a serious argument, "But seriously, normally we'd say go with the wand or HEADBAND because both of those require a more general use of magical energy so Elementalist inclined users like us won't be handicapped by anything more than what **** we can hit with."

Keira taps the deck of cards with a forefinger as she continues, "But as Liam said, these guys tend to have different strengths and weaknesses and those differences usually come about based on what you can summon. General users can summon any type but Elementalists like us tend to be restricted to whatever creatures respond to the affinity we're tied to, which could easily be exploited by someone as powerful as Harmony is since all she'd have to do is summon monster types strong against whatever your Elements are."

"Yeah but Professor Aspecta said Void is kind of tied to all the Elements?" Amelia asks, "Wouldn't that mean he'd probably be able to summon anything too then?"

"Or he might only be able to summon weak things," Vicki adds, "Since a lot of people believe Void isn't really tied to anything he might lack the right kind of energy to call anything of any real power in."

"Amelia's point is why we're offering," Liam says, "You might be able to catch her off-guard with something unexpected this way. But yeah, Vicki might be right too and you could be really handicapping yourself even more if it doesn't work out."

"So basically," you say, pointing to the wand, the tiara/headband, and the cards in turn, "The middle of the road choice, the raw power choice, and the risky choice."

Liam and Keira share a look for a moment. "I suppose that's the simplest way to put it," Keira replies, "but you're going to have to pick one first before we can continue. Gotta know what we should focus on before getting into the nitty-gritty."

The four surrounding you look on with baited breath as you reach out your hand. You are not thinking particularly hard on which choice to make, letting your hand go in the direction it wants to, since that tends to be how these kinds of magical things work when you have to choose them, right?

Just have to let fate decide...