Er… I don’t know how this happened but Hisei had requested a duel with me for some reason.
“A duel? Why?” I asked.
She poked her fingers together, “I… I think Mistress Aster already knows… But my family is not a normal one…”
“A family of assassins, am I right?”
“Ye… Yes… I was sold because of a failed mission and my family needed to pay back the client money that we did not have… Thus they decided the youngest child… Me… Should be sold to cover the losses…”
I tilted my head at her, already kind of guessing where this was going, “And for you to serve someone else is actually unacceptable?”
She nodded, “I… I was planning to kill you when Mistress Linette releases me to pass over the ownership to you and then to make my escape. But… I… I know I’m not strong enough to even hurt Mistress Aster…”
“So you wish to duel me and perish with honour instead of being forced into my service?”
“I… I… Yes.”
Yeah, she’s lying… Still… I’ll humour her for now.
“I see… So you have chosen death.”
I turned to Linette who was just a short distance away from us.
She quickly bowed her head, “I apologise, Lady Aster. I was unaware of her origins, much less her intentions. I will arrange to have a suitable alternative as payment for your services rendered.”
“It’s fine,” I assured her. “Just one thing. If Hisei were to be able to kill me, let her free. I will let you handle my belongings however you wish.”
“I… I understand.”
Naturally, the possibility of me losing to Hisei was pretty much null. She can’t even use much of her Umbramancy since it’s in the middle of the day either and with her magic stats, she wouldn’t be able to use much of her Pyromancy anyway.
I turned back to Hisei before pulling out my dagger, “Very well, I shall grant your duel. Are you ready?”
Hisei reached under her rags and pulled out a knife from nowhere, “Yes, Mistress.”
Where was she keeping that?
Right then, a choir began to sing in the background and…
Is… Is that Latin? No, wait… It sounds more like a mix of several languages mixed together to create some kind of chaotic language. I also get the feeling like I’m fighting some kind of giant, skyscraper sized robot with a name very similar to ‘angel’ for some reason.
What’s surprising was that Hisei could hear it too and she seemed quite unsettled and was even looking around for the source of the music.
With such a set up, I just had to make it even more dramatic…
“Hisei… Prepare to die.”
I rushed forward with my dagger poised to stab against her throat.
As she had wanted to die with ‘honour’, she was going to at least try to defend herself. Thus, I wasn’t surprised when she ducked underneath my strike and tried to counter with a stab of her own aimed at my side.
I switched my grip on my dagger and parried her blow, forcing her to back away before I could slice open her neck when I swung my blade at her.
She charged again, this time trying a stab on my other side as a feint before going to kick me in the shins.
I let her kick connect which barely did any damage to me just so that I could deliver a palm strike to her chest, blowing her a few metres back.
She recovered quickly and settled into her stance again, just in time to sidestep my overhead slash.
Spinning around me, she aimed her knife at my back, only to get smacked in her chest by my tail that sent her rolling away.
She kept her grip on her knife and flipped herself back on her feet, her arms held in a cross at the last moment to block the punch I sent towards her.
Her strength was not enough to completely block it so she tilted her body to the side, allowing my punch to swing past her.
She twirled her knife into an underhand grip, putting it in the perfect location to slice at my exposed neck.
I slammed my tail into the ground and the force was enough to push me away from her, letting her slash to hit nothing but air.
Shifting my grip on my knife again, I charged in with a stab aimed at her abdomen.
Hisei immediately brought her knife down, parrying the blow away but also opening herself up for my other hand to grab her throat.
To her credit, she reacted quickly by grabbing onto my wrist with her other hand and swinging herself up to wrap her legs around my arm while pushing her feet against my neck.
If she were to pull, she could break my arm in this position… If I were a normal Mahun that is.
Regardless, I responded by slamming her into the ground, forcing the air out of her lungs and her grip to loosen.
She gasped out in pain and her eyes widened as I raised my dagger over my head, intent on bringing it down on her face.
She quickly let go of me and twisted herself out of my grip, rolling away right as my dagger stabbed into the ground where her head had been moments before.
Hisei snapped a kick at my head even while she was still on the ground, only for her attack to be blocked by my tail.
She seemed to be aiming for that moment when my attention was fixated on her foot as flames ignited from her palm, the inugami aiming to let loose a blast of fire towards me.
My free hand quickly smacked her wrist to point it at the sky, allowing her fireblast to be launched into the air harmlessly instead.
Her eyes widened as I tried to stab her again, barely raising her own knife in time to deflect my stab away from her stomach.
Hisei quickly rolled away from me instead of continuing to press her attack, giving me an opportunity to recover as well.
Barely a few minutes had passed and she was already noticeably winded, most likely never having had to fight for her life so desperately before.
Our fight began anew with her initiating the charge this time.
Hisei tried to feint another attack before spinning away to get behind me.
This time she was ready for my tail that struck towards her, proving that was another feint by her as she ducked underneath the blow.
She tried to stab me in the back, only to have my wings explode out from my back to smack her away from me.
Without giving her time to recover, I flapped my wings and leapt into the air, buffeting her with a gust of wind.
While the Inugami’s vision was impaired by the wind, I did the same thing as her where I slipped myself behind her with my knife poised to stab.
Either by pure instinct or some other sense of hers, she knew I was coming and spun herself around, her knife slashing towards my cheek.
I wasn’t going to let her cut my face so I tilted my head back, an action she capitalised on as it also revealed my neck.
Her fist sailed towards the centre of my throat, her knuckle stopping mere inches away as I caught her wrist in time.
Without wasting time, I casted [Static Shock], watching as her entire body spasm as my magic paralysed her temporarily.
I swiped at her dagger and the weapon was flung away, embedding itself to a nearby mound in the earth.
I continued by pulling at her wrist so that she was right in front of me, making sure she saw the dagger in my hand before I plunged it right into her abdomen.
Hisei gasped as her strength left her body, slumping herself against me weakly.
“W… Why?” She sobbed after a while.
I pulled the dagger away, revealing that I had hit her with the handle instead of the blade.
“Why? Tell me honestly, Hisei, do you really want to die that much?”
She stayed silent and refused to meet my eyes.
Obviously she didn’t but I’m guessing she must have been guided by some stupid moral code or something that required her to do this. I was also holding back in the fight too and if I really wanted her dead, she wouldn’t even be able to deflect my punch.
I sighed, “You obviously didn’t choose this life for yourself and killing a child like you leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”
Again, no response, though her grip on me tightened.
I patted her head, “If you are not against the idea, then allow me to provide you a solution. The Hisei that was raised by your family as an assassin before being abandoned is now dead. The Hisei that serves me is now born anew, how about that?
She finally lifted her head to look at me, “You… Why would Mistress Aster do that for me?”
“Hmm, don’t be mistaken, I am not doing it for you. I need someone to help do my hair and also bake sweets for me in the future after all~ There’s no way am I doing that on my own so you have your work cut out for you!”
Hisei sniffled once, twice, before straight up bawling her eyes out while clinging onto me.
Obviously I know something like this wouldn’t be solved so easily but I suppose it’s a start.
I already learned first hand that offering a home to someone who had been abandoned was something that could save someone from the depths of despair.
…
Also… I can have someone make me sweets aside from Mother now!