THAT DAY I BECAME A STAR

"So, let me get this straight. You guys want to organize a duel that will involve the romantic relationship you are having?"

Somehow, we have ended up in Smith's office. Not only did we wake him up so roughly he still looks drowsy, but he doesn't even seem interested in the subject we are presenting to him right now. I don't even know how we thought he could possibly accept.

"Yes, that's it." Germinia is in front of him, she is standing with such charisma I don't even think he can see us behind her.

"Huh…Do I have to attend?" Wait. No way…

"No, we only need your approval."

"Okay, then. Oh, yes, Kevin, don't forget to come later.."

And there he goes, sleeping back like nothing even just happened. This guy is definitively not normal. Let's not think about the fact that we fought just this morning and he lost, how can he let students fight without a care in the world like that?

"And there you have it." Germinia advances to us, with her fist raised at the level of her chest.

"That's why I love teacher Smith." Even Lanuvel is happy? Am I the only one finding this weird?

***

"Isn't this going a bit overboard?"

We are now all back to the training grounds after less than three hours. Lanuvel and Germinia are both wearing their armors. They are getting ready to fight as if their lives depend on it. Germinia seems especially serious. Her armor looks really heavy since it made of metal plates all over. The design isn't really fancy either. Moreover, she is putting a chainmail below it. Her trousers seem to be made of hard leather. The parts around her thighs look thicker. When she finishes putting her armor on, she grabs a crossbow and a…

"What is that?" I ask Cordel who is also looking at that weapon. 

"It's a whip-sword."

"A whip-sword?"

"Yeah." Indeed, what Germinia has in hand right now has the handle of a sword, the length, and flexibility of a whip, and there are blades' parts attached regularly to the small and black whip.

"Is that really dangerous?" It doesn't really look practical to use. 

"If you know how to use it, it can be pretty destructive. The range is good as well. Though, you would need great strength to instantly kill somebody with it. It is more appropriate to torture your opponent as you will tear off his skin and flesh slowly."

"Right. " I hope Lanuvel won't let herself being torn apart then.

She looks determined and calm. Her eyes are watching Germinia with great concentration as they both get on the stage. Esteressa is the referee of the dual. Since there are no teachers, we didn't go to the podium and are all staying beside the stage.

" 'Kay. You both ready?"

"Yes."

"Yes, I am."

"Then, FIGHT!"

Esteressa lowers her hand and immediately, Germinia makes the first move as she shoots a bolt. The bolt is aimed straight at Lanuvel' s face but she blocks it fairly easily. Though on the other side, Germinia moves like the wind, taking advantage of the split second when Lanuvel's vision was reduced and gets close to her.

Right as Lanuvel brings her shield down, Germinia slashes with her whip. That thing is aimed with such precision it passes right above the shield.

"She really knows how to fight." This is not instinct alone. She has trained, for an awfully long time.

Thankfully, Lanuvel knocks back the whip which blade was going straight for her eyes.

"You must be faster!" Germinia shouts to Lanuvel as she throws another slash. Lanuvel defends against it as well but her timing is really short. Just a bit more and she would have been bleeding on the forehead for sure. Why did she not wear her helmet?

"It is not enough!"

"Shut up!" Lanuvel dodges an attack but her hair are slightly cut. Still, since she moved forward, she uses that momentum to pounce on Germinia.

"It's a trap." As Cordel finishes speaking, Germinia aims her crossbow and shoots.

Lanuvel blocks it with her shield but because she is too focused on that, she doesn't hear or see the whip which comes from the side like a snake, undulating in the air. It strikes her stomach and she falls to the side, rolls down then jumps back up swiftly.

Her armor has a hole now. I am impressed to see that a single attack made a hole in her armor. But I am even more impressed by Germinia's fighting style. She was speaking rudely but I guess she really is strong enough to back it up.

"Are you sure you don't want to give up? The result should be pretty clear by now." Germinia relaxes herself completely, waves her hands around, and even cracks her neck twice.

"You are really confident. Or just arrogant, maybe."

"I am not. I prefer to state facts. You haven't covered enough distance to hit me and I have already landed a hit on you. If I was using Angas, you wouldn't be able to stand right now."

"Then let's kick it up a notch, shall we?!"

They both release their aura and the pressure changes. The air becomes slightly more darker.

"You must win this, girl." Why do I even care? I don't know why but I don't want her to lose.

***

"Orah!!"

In less than two minutes, the duel has taken a whole different turn. Germinia is using earth Angas, infusing it in her whip-sword that she used to lash everything around now. Every time it hits the ground, the tiles of the stage explode and fly off everywhere. Her crossbow is imbued with Wind Angas and the bolts are faster than before.

On the other side, Lanuvel is fully using her water and wind aura. Shining blue and green, she escapes from almost all of Germinia's attacks. Sadly, she can't get closer and is forced to dance to Germinia's rhythm. If she doesn't break it, she won't be able to win.

"This is going to be Lanuvel's loss." Cordel looks at me a bit sad.

"Why?"

"She can't break free from Germinia's barrage. And even if she uses QUEEN OF ICE. She will at most surprises her but that will be it. Germinia will certainly adapt to it and she will react."

"There are times when being rational won't work. If I thought rationally every time I fought. I wouldn't be here. Same goes for when I was fighting you. I would have never won if I thought rationally."

"That's true. The only problem is whether Lanuvel can cross that bridge."

"AHH!! STOP MOVING AND BE MINE ALREADY!!"

"Argh!!"

Suddenly, the whip-sword strikes the shield and as it goes away, it tears it to bits. Lanuvel doesn't have any viable protection now.

"DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?! AS LONG AS YOU ARE STRONG, YOU CAN DO ANYTHING! SO I WILL ACQUIRE YOU! BECAUSE YOU ARE WEAK!"

Germinia then aims at Lanuvel with her crossbow, Lanuvel is broken from having her shield destroyed. Her shield arm is still raised from the impact. She has lost.

Germinia shoots her bolt and flies off to Lanuvel's chest. I get a glimpse of Germinia's smile as the bolt goes. My eyes follow it but when it reaches Lanuvel, the girl simply arched her back violently.

"What?!!"

We are all astonished by what she just did. Not only did she do manage to think in a split seconds, she even has enough flexibility to curve her back like this with her armor on. That's really incredible. But I am sure it must have hurt.

"It's not finished!" Germinia slashes again with her whip. "There is more where that came from!"

Lanuvel jumps backwards, spinning around in the air, and evades the whip. As soon as she lands, she jumps forward this time and goes straight to Germinia.

"Finally, you have decided to cross it."

"She has been cornered after all." Cordel and I both agree, seeing her eyes. Lanuvel has decided to stop thinking.

"You are mine now!"

"Shut it already!"

Right as Germinia shoots a bolt while her whip is coming downward on Lanuvel's head, the air becomes chilly. She is about to use the queen of ice. But before that, she proves her flexibility once again, evading the bolt to the side, then spinning again after kicking the ground with her foot, breaking a tile in the process. The whip-sword passes right next to her and cuts a huge part of her hair as it does. Still, she is unhurt.

"QUEEN OF ICE!" Right after that, Lanuvel uses her script and everything turns to ice, her sword even more so.

"RAHH!" I thought she would make a last jump but throws her sword at Germinia instead.

"No!! What a mistake!!" Cordel immediately reacts. Throwing her sword like this, even if Germinia doesn't evade it, as long as it doesn't hit her too hard, she will lose. But I don't think Lanuvel plans on losing. Those eyes aren't the eyes of a loser.

"Ahahahaha!" Germinia throws her crossbow away and extends her hand in front of her. "HIGHLANDER WHIPS!!"

Three whips of fire appear behind Germinia, just like the Longinus prince we fought. They all slash through the air in the same direction and clash with Lanuvel's sword. The impact is really great, there is even a shockwave that raises our hair as Lanuvel's sword is knocked away.

"And now-"

"You are mine." Lanuvel, moving with the speed of an angel, got right on Germinia's side during the time she was focused on her sword.

"She paid her back, after all." She did the exact same thing Germinia did to her at the beginning. Lanuvel's fist are clad in ice. "ORAHH!!" She punches Germinia's ribs with great precision.

"Argh!!" The first punch makes Germinia releases her whip-sword. The second makes her stagger. A thin layer of ice appears on the armor as it curves inwards.

"Highlander whips!" Once again, the whips appear and all come to Lanuvel while Germinia is trying to get away. They mercilessly hit her chest and back as she gets past them.

"It's my win." With part of her hair burning, she punches Germinia's face this time, and implants it violently on the ground, cracking the tiles of the stage. A small area around her head gets covered in ice after that.