Roi Wulder, the most loyal of all the knights

To Isolt, each of the competitors was very much like the others. There were only two men among the competitors; Harvey could be a challenge, were he anything more than a human. Liam was so scrawny that Isolt figured he was probably somewhere in the bottom tier of fighters, including some of the slender girls. Were she a bit less cocky, she might reflect that she herself was a rather unimposing fighter, looking better suited for a beauty pageant than the battlefield. It was possible that the others were hiding tricks just as rude as her own, that being that she was concealing the strength of one of the demon army’s strongest fighters beneath her feminine exterior.

Instead, she was extremely cocky; she couldn’t conceive of anything these human opponents could have in store that would pose a significant threat to her. “Perhaps the standard of fighters has risen quite a bit since I was last in town, but humans have a hard limit to their capacity as warriors. Unless someone is harboring magic or hidden demon heritage, I have a hard time believing any of them would be a challenge,” she scoffed internally, marveling at the foolhardiness of warriors who would be so brash as to challenge the commander of the empire’s royal knights.

With all of this in her mind, she wasn’t overly concerned about how the brackets shook out. She read the results with only the faintest curiosity:

Harley Dustaine vs. Medelyn Rozen
Liam Baldwin vs. Alia Baldwin
Harvey Dustaine vs. Roi Wulder
Isolt vs. Ro Wulder

It seemed she’d been matched against one of the identical looking siblings; she wondered if they might be siblings, from how similar they appeared. Each of them was lanky, sadly lacking womanly assets in the chest, but each with a pretty enough face. The sullen one who’d complained earlier had the bad luck to be matched up against Harvey Dustaine. Isolt supposed the sister would probably get knocked right out of the brackets; a scant girl like that had no business fighting a huge guy like that, unless he was more chivalrous than his earlier, excited grin had implied. That self-sure smile hadn’t fallen from his face… the knights must be pretty equal-opportunity when it came to these kinds of things.

Her opponent was the more chipper and focused looking of the two sisters, with bobcut, blue-black hair and round, deep blue eyes. Something about her face made her look childish, even though, certainly, all knights must be at least eighteen years of age. The proud smile she wore did nothing to cause Isolt to reconsider her position; there was little to no chance that she had the tools to compete. Having set aside her training armor, Ro now wore just a red-brown tunic and short brown shorts, showing off her long, skinny legs and relative lack of muscle-tone. All the same, she placed her hands upon her narrow hips confidently.

“That’s a good face for a knight, young Ro,” Isolt complimented her opponent with no genuine emotion, smiling all the same. “A knight must always be proud.”

“That’s right! I’m the proudest knight there is,” Ro agreed, bobbing her bowl of hair with a wide smile. “Because I love Dyna more than anybody! You may be pretty and you may be strong, but you’ve drawn the worst lot, because nobody can beat the power of love. That’s right, everybody: I love the Captain! There! I said it!” she announced, placing both hands on her cheeks and wiggling back and forth as though she’d just said something really shocking. “Kyaaa!”

Her sister blinked a few times with an unamused frown. “You’ve got a giant stuffed toy of Dyna in your room, Sis. I don’t think anybody was doubting that you’re a huge fan of the captain.”

Ro giggled, then rubbed at her arm awkwardly. “That obvious? W-Well, it’s true! I’m in love with the captain and that makes me the most loyal knight of all of us! There’s no way I’m going to lose to a newcomer who wants to take me away from Dyna!” she continued, pointing an accusatory finger at Isolt with a fierce expression. “You’re going to see how far love can avail a fighter! Come at me however you will!”

Isolt couldn’t help but let an amused smile crack on her face. “Love? This human speaks to me of love! Oh, how satisfying it will be when all humans are beneath demon heels… What a joy it will be to reveal to her that the woman she so admired is an imp, of all things! At any rate, she may not realize it, but if love was ever a source of power, my love for my Lord is so much stronger than anything she’s experienced,” Isolt thought to herself. "Humans are livestock and their emotions are no more complex than those of beasts or cattle. They could never understand my fervent, ardent love for my Lord."

The other girl grew awkward at the other girl's smirking silence, then snapped her fingers a few times to restore Isolt’s attention. “You’re the kind of person who talks inside your head a lot, huh? The drill sergeant that’s over Liam’s class is a lot like that,” Ro pointed out. “Hey, Liam! How do we start the match anyway? Oh, we’re all fighting at once? So like, no judges or anything? Weird…”

Isolt did not like being taunted nor being ignored. With an increasingly scary expression, she approached Ro Wulder; the smile she wore barely hid her lightly tempered murderous intent. “I suppose that means we can start any time, my future recruit. Are you ready?”

Ro whirled around, putting on a critical frown. “Hey, who are you calling future recruit?! I just told you, I’ve got no intention of joining your forces! As pretty as you are, there's no way I'd ever turn my back on the Captain! As a fighter, she's strong and crafty, and as a woman, she was voted Best Booty in Merridan in underground polling!"

“You're proud of your loyalty, I see. That is a fine quality in a knight, however, imposing my will upon prideful warriors is one of my favorite pass-times,” the woman chuckled with a smile in her red eyes, but with no sportsmanlike hesitation left in her movements.