Chapter 162: A Duel Among Villains
Alex did not bother going to class, or even the MMA gym after officially agreeing to Chad’s duel request. Instead, he spent the next week training at a local HEMA club in the art of the rapier. Due to his skill [Retention] Alex was quickly able to master the basics of sword fighting, specifically traditional fencing with a rapier. He was even loaned a practice sword from the club and spent quite a bit of time sparring with much more advanced opponents.
By the end of the week, Alex had some form of understanding of the art of sword fighting. And if he were to use the system from an old RPG, he used to play in his past life. Then, on the scale of Novice < Apprentice < Journeyman < Expert < Master, Alex was what one might consider an apprentice. While Chad was undoubtedly a novice, at best.
In fact, Chad had not actually spent the week training in sword fighting. Despite the fact that he chose the weapon specifically because he knew it would put him and Alex on an equal playing field. Instead, he spent the entire week partying, as if it were his last week on earth.
Booze, drugs, whores, you name it. The man clearly was not taking this duel seriously, or perhaps he had a death wish. After all, even if he won, he would be facing 30 years in prison + whatever charges he got for murdering Alex.
—
The time of the duel had finally arrived. Alex had received the shipment of swords, and after inspecting the goods to make sure there were no mishaps with the delivery. Alex texted Chad a picture of himself dressed in a Victorian style tailcoat tuxedo along with the two blades, while telling the man to meet him at the medieval themed casino that his mother owned.
Ironically enough, the two of them would have their renaissance themed duel at a medieval themed casino/resort. Or more specifically, at its jousting arena, which Alex had ordered to be the private venue of his duel to the death with Chad.
Alex obviously arrived earlier than Chad, as the Casino was actually not far from its Egyptian themed counterpart that Alex lived at. He waltzed through the door with a duffel bag that concealed the two blades and the scabbards he had ordered for them before arriving at the dueling grounds.
“You look like an absolute fucking tool…”
Standing in the seating section of the arena, which was entirely vacant aside from the man himself. Was none other than Chad Whitmore. But judging by the way he was dressed, and the fact that he appeared to be coming off of a week of partying. Alex frowned at the man. Clearly, he overestimated Chad’s dedication to the aristocratic tradition of dueling.
Chad was dressed like a frat boy on spring break. And was clearly hungover. The man stepped down into the dueling arena, where Alex withdrew the spare sword from the duffel bag and tossed it to the man. Luckily, it was encased in its scabbard, or Chad may have lost a finger or two prior to the beginning of the duel.
The man smirked as he withdrew the blade from its sheath, in a manner which showed he was a complete and utter novice. Like Alex had suspected, Chad did not spend the last week training in the art of the sword. But rather wasting his valuable time doing fuck all. Alex merely shook his head and clicked his tongue before expressing his disgust at his opponent.
“It is such a pity… A part of me really hoped you would have taken this duel seriously. After all, this is an honorable tradition, once practiced by our ancestors for centuries. And yet here you are… Dressed like a fool, and half intoxicated. Does your honor really mean so little to you?”
Chad scowled when he heard Alex’s remark, before responding to the man’s insult.
“Honor? You think you have honor? Just because you decided to dress up for the evening doesn’t make you any more honorable than me. You’re a thief, a scoundrel, and a villain! You have stolen everything from me these last few months, and it’s about time I return the favor!”
As a man who loved to make references to movies, tv shows, video games, and pretty much every other form of entertainment. Most of which nobody but himself understood. Alex simply shook his head as he raised his blade to the ready position while making a remark from one of his favorite movies.
“So uncivilized… Well, if those are your last words, then so be it…. En garde!
Chad rushed towards Alex while wielding the elegant rapier as if he were a caveman who had just discovered what a club was. He hacked, and he slashed at Alex’s figure, missing the man entirely while Alex adeptly moved away from his opponent’s attacks, parrying those blows that were close enough to do so. Alex then swiftly tripped Chad to the floor, where he shook his head and mocked the man.
“What are you, a neanderthal? This isn’t a club, you moron! It’s a sword. If you had actually spent the last week training like I have, this would be far more of a competition! Are you trying to make my first duel an embarrassment?”
Chad gritted his teeth as he tossed sand towards Alex’s face, which the man nimbly dodged, as if he were light on his feet, before parrying another one of Chad’s wild slashes. Alex then smirked as he saw an opportunity to draw blood without going for the kill. After parrying the attack, he used a reverse slash that cut Chad’s face, spilling blood from the cheek.
Naturally, Chad felt the sting of the cold steel as it cut through his flesh as if it were mere butter. Yet it was not a lethal blow, nor painful enough to stop the man’s assault who kept hacking and slashing at Alex as if he did not understand the weapon he was wielding was designed primarily with thrusts in mind.
After dancing around his opponent, and cutting a minor wounds onto his flesh. Alex grew entirely sick of this farcical excuse for a duel. Thus, he sighed heavily before quickly disarming Chad with a graceful riposte, having just parried another of the man’s attacks.
Chad felt his opponent’s blade stick into his hand, causing him to yelp in pain as he dropped his own sword to the wayside. Alex then kicked the man in the chest with a powerful rear teep kick, dropping his opponent to the floor and on his backside. Before Chad could grab hold of his blade. Alex held his own blade to the man’s neck, with a wicked smirk on his face, before declaring himself victorious.
“It’s over Chad…”
—
For quite some time, Emily had been living with Alex. After all, her own parents were living in another country while on business. And after everything that Emily had been through, she now only felt safe around Alex. Which was why she had begun scurrying around the penthouse like a rat, in search of her protector.
Ultimately, after not being able to find the man, she confronted the boy’s mother and aunt, who were in the middle of receiving a message from two of Diana’s female employees. Emily walked into the room, as if she owned the place, and demanded to know where Alex was.
“Hey… Diana… Shannon… Where’s Alex?”
Diana did not know the answer to this, and simply shrugged. She was too busy enjoying the message she was currently receiving. Meanwhile, Shannon was also so engrossed with the activity that she accidentally blurted out Alex’s location.
“Alex? Oh, I think he’s at the Excalibur Casino having a duel to the death with Chad…”
Emily and Diana both gawked at Shannon, but for different reasons. While Emily was horrified at the idea of the two idiots trying to kill one another. Diana was far more relaxed about it, and was instead worried about other matters.
“Oh, great… Way to go Shannon. Now Alex is going to punish us…”
Shannon merely scoffed as she looked over at her younger sister with a curious expression on her face.
“Punish us? Don’t you mean me?”
A slightly guilty expression appeared on Diana’s face as she spoke up in her defense.
“Well… I didn’t stop you, now did I!?!”
This only caused the mature blonde haired beauty’s older sister to become even more confused as she further tore apart Diana’s reasoning.
“What do you mean? How could you have stopped me from telling the truth? You didn’t even know about the duel in the first place!”
It was only then that Diana made an incredibly shameful remark. Which caused an argument of epic proportions to break out between herself and her older sister.
“I don’t care! I want to be punished by Alex!”
Emily did not have time for the bickering between the two milfs. Instead, immediately upon learning that Alex had left the penthouse, so that he could go fight a duel to the death with Chad. Emily immediately bolted out of the door and stole one of the man’s super cars so that she could hopefully arrive at the medieval themed casino in time to stop Alex and Chad from killing one another.
The girl sped through the streets of Las Vegas as if she were mimicking Alex’s reckless driving. Whereupon arriving at the aforementioned casino, she burst through its doors and sprinted towards the jousting arena.
The dark blue-haired beauty arrived just in time to see Chad be disarmed by Alex while being kicked into the dirt. Though she could not see Alex’s expression or hear what the man was saying, Emily called out to Alex in the desperate hope that she could prevent the man from making the enormous mistake of murdering Chad in cold blood.
“Alex stop! He’s not worth it! Please, I love you!”
—
Alex held his blade to Chad’s throat. He had every intention of sticking the man like a pig, and ending his worthless life here, in his mother’s casino. But… Just when he was about to finish the job, he heard Emily’s voice call out to him from the stands, begging him not to murder Chad. Not because she was worried about the man’s worthless life, but because she did not want Alex to go to prison.
However, it was the woman’s words “I love you’ that forced Alex to show Chad mercy. Once more referencing another one of his favorite forms of entertainment, Alex quoted an old sci fi tv series that had a scene similar to the one that was currently playing out in front of him.
“Mercy is the mark of a great man…”
Alex then stabbed Chad in the gut, who grunted in agony. The wound was not deep enough to cause permanent or even lethal damage. But enough to inflict pain, and suffering. He then shrugged and continued to quote the tv series he was referencing.
“I guess I’m just a good man…”
After saying this, Alex stabbed Chad in the gut again in similar fashion, before tossing his sword aside so that neither he or Chad could easily get ahold of it. It was then that he finished the reference.
“Well… I’m alright…”
Alex then began to walk away from Chad, who was lying in a pit of dirt, and bleeding from multiple wounds. The man was absolutely outraged that Alex hadn’t killed him. And immediately called him a coward.
“You fucking coward! You don’t have the guts to finish me! I should have known… Mercy… You’re not the badass you think you are… Mercy is a weakness! Sooner or later I will have my revenge!”
Alex then stopped in his tracks, and turned around, where he gazed upon Chad’s pitiful form before speaking in a cold and chilling voice, almost as if he had suddenly become possessed by a demon.
“You think that it is mercy that I am showing you? I have taken your women, ruined your future, and ensured that you will spend the next thirty years of your miserable life in a prison cell where your fate is to be raped and abused by the other inmates… Would you call that mercy? After today’s events, I wouldn’t be surprised if they locked you up in gen pop for life and threw away the key…
I may have said that I was showing you mercy, but you and I both know that what I have done is ensured that your life from this day forward will be one of nothing but pain and suffering. While you rot away in prison, you will do so knowing that I am out here as a free man, screwing your girls, and living my best life.
All while I achieve the levels of fame and fortune that you have always dreamt of. You have nothing left Chad… Nothing but suffering. Had I claimed your life just now, that would have been the true act of mercy. Good luck Chad… After attempting to murder me just now, you can expect that to be added to your sentence along with the violation of your bail.”
With this said, Alex walked into the stands to greet Emily, where he grabbed hold of the woman, and kissed her before she could even say another word. The only thought in her mind was whether or not Alex was safe, and luckily for her there was not a single wound on his body. Of course, Emily had not heard a word that Alex had said to Chad, which was reflected by the message that the system gave the man.
[Emily is disgusted by the fact that Chad tried to murder you and now considers your rival to be dead to her! She has officially given up on her childhood crush once and for all!]
[-100 Affection from Emily to Chad!]
[Emily’s Affection to Chad: -100/100]
[Emily is thankful that you are unharmed]
{+10 Affection from Emily!]
[Emily’s Affection: 85/100]
[Emily is thankful that you showed mercy to Chad!]
[+15 Affection from Emily!]
[Emily’s Affection: 100/100]
[Congratulations you have Conquered Emily’s Heart!]
Alex simply chuckled as he wrapped his arm around Emily’s shoulder, before escorting her out of the dueling arena.
“Why don’t we go get something to eat, after all of this, I’m actually quite hungry…”
The young woman simply smiled, and nodded her head, as she leaned in close to Alex, which was now the only place she felt safe. All while Chad watched from below while bleeding all over the sand pit.
“Sure, that sounds nice!”