Although neither of the girls intended for it, the news about the impromptu duel spread through the Academy and gathered quite an audience for them, despite it being the eve of the end of the year exams.
Of course, the word was that it was only a friendly skirmish as the genius Young Lady of the Valllhall family wished to test her skills against the rising star of the Royal Academy.
Brice Hervolst was the teacher who would be the judge of the special duel. Teacher Hervolst looked pale and honestly quite miserable. She never quite recovered from teacher Karlasth ditching the Academy and her, and disappeared at the end of the last school year. Still, she continued her duties, was promoted from an assistant to a full-time teacher, and did not refuse when asked to oversee the duel when asked.
"Will you be using your faes?"
"No."
"It's only fair if we really want this test to be an accurate representation of our personal skills and capabilities."
The teacher inquired, and both opponents nodded at each other in agreement about letting their faes sit it through.
"Teacher, if you don't mind, I would like to propose a change to the loss by bleeding rule."
"...and that is…?"
Saria, who was a lot more talkative than her opponent, spoke up, making the woman raise her brow and look at her.
"Bleeding from the nose shouldn't count. It's too easy to make one have a nosebleed, even by accident. If we're having a proper test of skills, it should be done the right way."
Saria declared, squinting her golden eyes as she glared at the stoic Blanid in her disguise.
"You are aware that being struck in the nose makes one's fighting spirit diminish significantly?"
"Of course. I still want the nosebleed to be an exception from the loss by bleeding rule."
Teacher Hervolst pointed out, very clear about her opinion, but Saria insisted regardless.
"Student Justin, the decision is yours."
"I agree, as long as Young Lady Vallhall is aware that it goes both ways. The duel will not be stopped regardless of WHO gets the nosebleed."
"Hmph~!"
Teacher Hervolst turned to Blanid indifferently, and the disguised girl nodded with a strict face, causing Saria to snort and smirk mockingly.
"Oh, I am well aware. Even if it won't happen to me~"
"..."
"As you wish. Both opponents agreed to a change to the loss by bleeding rule! Nosebleeds will not count and won't stop the duel!"
Saria added in a nasty voice dripping with condescendence, but Justin did not engage any further, and teacher Hervolst berated out, acknowledging the decision before loudly announcing it to the audience.
A murmur of confusion spread amongst the students. Suddenly, the friendly skirmish claim stopped being convincing.
"Get in place."
Teacher Hervolst didn't acknowledge those reactions, though, and simply said, sending off both opponents to their sides.
"Spite, remember to not interfere!"
"Nmmm…"
Saria took the stance proper for the Vallhall swordsmanship's aggressive style and called at her contracted fae. Spite, donning its fluffy sheep costume, was already standing in the front row of spectators, let out an unenthusiastic groan of acknowledgement. Nothing outside the expectations.
"...Polaris, you too stay back..."
"Nrao!"
On the other hand Blanid took a low stance she had never before presented during any of the public duels, putting her wooden sword close to her side just as if she was holding it in a sheath and merely muttering her contracted fae's name. The adorable golden bear cub appeared beside Spite in a flash of soft golden light and let out a happy growl, cheering its master on.
"...Polaris, there's no reason for you to interfere in a duel in any way. Even if that sheep would try to do something, do not stop it. I'll be fine."
"Nraaao!"
Blanid tilted her head and called to fae, making the bear cub let out a growl of complaint while glaring at Saria's fae with suspicion.
With that out of the way, the contestants continued their preparation.
Both had their bodies start shining with white light of swordsmanship, only that, in Blanid's case, hers was a slightly different shade thanks to the additional layer of the internal magic augmenting her body.
"BEGIN!"
"..."
The teacher called out, waving her hand, and Blanid made the first move.
*whoosh*
"...!?"
Acting as if she was unsheathing her weapon from the imaginary sheath, she made her opponent think she was going for a swing when, in reality, the bottom of the handle, where a pommel would be in the properly forged sword, ended up shooting out a sphere of white light!
*TWACK*
"Guagh…!"
A sphere that shot out much faster than either Saria or her contracted fae anticipated, resulting in the silver-haired girl being struck right in the nose, jolting her head back and making her stumble.
*drip*
In the absolute silence of the audience that expected anything but what actually happened, two trails of crimson liquid leaked out of the wide-eyed Saria's nostrils, crossed her lips, and gathered on her chin from where they would start dripping…
"...!"
Saria was in the middle of reaching to her face to confirm why her nose was burning, but ended up jumping back in panic instead because Blanid wasn't just standing in the same spot and enjoying the view…
"HAA!"
"Aack!"
Instead, she closed the distance between them with a mad dash and was already swinging her sword upwards, causing an unintentional fearful yelp to escape Saria's lips!
The thing was, just the swing alone wasn't why Saria couldn't keep her cool…
The actual reason for that was five ephemeral swords hovering over Blanid's head!
*CLANG*
Saria regained enough composure to block the swing, but the attack was too heavy, and she couldn't deflect it properly. Still, she gained enough time to conjure her own ephemeral swords.
Only that she, even as a genius and the self-proclaimed youngest Sword Grandmaster, could properly maintain and control only four of them…!
"You…! You need a lot more of those to beat quality with quanti-GUAGH!"
Saria gritted her teeth and snarled as she sent out her swordsmanship spells, but the next moment, the only thing coming out of her mouth was a cry of pain!
As it turned out, Saria and Blanid's swords were equally matched, which left one of Blanid's free, and that one dived right past Saria's nonexistent guard, did a half-spin through the air, and struck Saria's nose with its pommel.
"GHHHH!"
The silver-haired girl wheezed through her teeth, while the nosebleed that had almost run dry was renewed, and actually focused on the fight.
Her golden eyes widened… her ephemeral swords weren't equally matched with Blanid's at all! Hers were barely hanging on!
"SPITE! Ptuey! GRAB THAT TRASH! SNOWBALL!"
That's why, while backing off as she desperately defends herself from the fifth's ephemeral sword's constant harassment, Saria called out, spitting out blood that got into her mouth, and, while blatantly ingoring the rules she herself agreed on in public, she chanted.
"Nmmm!"
In response, her contracted fae let out a groan, and its zipper pulled back enough for a condensed shadow to spill out. That shadow turned into a pair of shadowy arms that shot out towards Blanid…
*TWACK*
…who used the wide part of the blade to smack Saria's spell to the side instead of attempting to cut it!
For a second, it looked like Blanid was defenseless, completely exposing her back to Spite's attack, but then…!
*SHING*
"NMMM!?
"WHAT!?"
A sixth ephemeral blade materialized over Blanid's head, and sliced off the palms of the shadowy hands reaching towards its caster, causing both Spite and Saria to shout in utter disbelief!
"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT, HUH~!?"
*whoosh* *TWACK*
*GACK! U-uungh..,!"
Blanid's face cracked with a rather sinister grin, completely unfit for the future hero! She roared while sending out another sphere of Swordsmanship energy, for the third time striking Saria's nose, this time strong enough to make tears show up in the corners of the silver-haired girl's golden eyes.
"NNRAAOO!"
*WHOOOOOOOM*
As if parroting its master, the silent until that point golden cub sitting beside the other fae, let out a feisty growl, and the next moment a mirrored golden circle spread out beneath and above Spite, with their soft glow suddenly intensified enough to be blinging!
"NMMMPHPH…!"
"?!?!"
It wasn't just a lightshow and distraction, though, Spite suddenly buckled down under pressure, its costume flattening enough for the outline of its actual body starting to show!
Although it was expected, the costume was actually mostly fluff, and what was beneath was far skinnier, almost to an uncomfortable degree… but barely anyone was paying attention to that!
"Do…! DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE VALLHALL'S SWORDSMANSHIP, COMMONER!"
Saria roared and actually recalled two of her ephemeral swords and fused them into the wooden one she wielded directly. Despite theoretically putting herself in a disadvantageous position, she switched to the offensive.