Chapter 716 Let The Duel Begin!
Pushing open a large door, Ulrick entered a massive cave, with a domed ceiling that was slick, almost like it had not been carved, but shaped.
Inside the room, close to a hundred young men were currently training, be it sparring with blades, or target practice with magic, taking up most of the space.
All but a center ring was occupied.
And it was in this center ring that Ulrick was heading.
As he got closer, the ground started shifting in the center, a small platform rising, made of the same stone as the rest of the room. Ulrick walked directly to the platform, stopping before it.
Whispers started spreading amongst the young men as they watched the guardian of their family walk past them.
"Do my eyes deceive me? Why is Guardian Ulrick down in the training room?"
"No, I see him too. But he never comes down here."
"I wonder what brings him here. Has he come to choose a disciple? I thought his son was the next Guardian."
"Elias is there too. He looks out of it, though. Did something happen?"
But the old man ignored the empty words. He was not here to entertain all these kids.
What many people didn't know of the Lorhen family, is that since the Matriarch at its head was a polygamous woman, close to no outsider was ever admitted inside the family.
She would only ever bring in outsiders when she took a fancy to a man and decided to marry him.
This meant that all the Mana Knights of the Lorhen family held the Lorhen name. They were all children to the Matriarch, from one husband or another.
But Ulrick only ever had three kids. Rodney, Elias, and Mariah.
After giving the Matriarch and elder daughter, she had gone and picked out her next husband.
He wasn't sour about this, but he also couldn't care less about the kids of her other husbands.
Inputting a few commands into a magic display that appeared on the stone pedestal, Ulrick smiled as a portal opened. He turned to face Phoenix.
"Alright, I set the room parameters. I hope you don't mind if I set it so these young seeds can watch if they want?"
Phoenix looked around and imagined they would only be watching for him, rather than her, so she didn't care much. She shook her head to signal her response.
Ulrick smiled before passing into the portal. His daughter, Mariah, also followed closely behind.
Astaroth stopped Phoenix for a second, spinning her towards him.
"Are you sure about this? He seems a bit too excited about that spar. I feel like he has hidden intentions—"
Phoenix put her hand over his.
"I'm sure he does. But so do I. Fighting him lets us find out how strong the guardians of Themiscus are. That in itself is valuable information. Let's not waste the opportunity."
Astaroth sighed inwardly.
'What a very Phoenix thing to do. I guess I can always intervene if there is any foul play.'
Phoenix entered the portal, followed by Astaroth, Rodney, and the two servants still trying to snap Elias back to his senses. He was awake but still seemed in shock about his loss.
When they appeared on the other side of the portal, Phoenix realized the man had set up the room as an old coliseum-type arena, and she smiled. Her days of 'ToB' flashed in her mind.
She and Ulrick had been sent directly into the arena grounds, while Astaroth and Rodney were on one side of the bleachers, and the siblings, along with the servants, were on the other.
Phoenix could also feel an increasing amount of gazes on her back, a sign that the young ones outside the portal were starting to watch the spar.
"Thank you for accepting this duel, Queen Phoenix. It will be my honour to fight a woman of your status. But I do have to warn you. I will be going all out to see where you gain your confidence from. Do not resent me if you lose."
Phoenix giggled in response.
"Then I pay the same request to you. When I win this, I hope you don't feel sour about losing to such a younger girl."
Ulrick smiled even wider, liking her confidence.
"Then let us begin!"
As he said his words, his armour suddenly lit up, magic runes appearing all over it, as his hair changed colours from dark brown to golden blond. His eyes, which were a deep shade of blue, now shone in a crystalline white, radiating with power.
Astaroth, from the side, now understood why he felt so much power from the armour.
'It's an enhancement-type armament. And that is far stronger than a rare grade. I can't imagine how twelve of these would look like in a war…'
He was impressed, but Phoenix wasn't about to let herself get overshadowed.
Lighting both hands on fire, and pumping more and more mana into them, she turned the flames blue. Then, slamming both hands together, a bright flash of white exploded outward of her.
The next second, as the light faded, her fine robes were gone, replaced by an Amazonian-type armour, wreathing in blue fire. And in her hand, a glaive made of concentrated fire flickered.
Rodney gulped as he saw this.
"She's even faster to don that than the last time… You Abnormals grow so fast, it's terrifying…"
Astaroth chuckled at his words.
"You haven't seen the extent of it. She was always a force to reckon with. I feel like New Eden only made her more fearsome. Who knows how far she'll go…"
As they spoke, both contestants were gauging each other, looking for openings in their posture, or for slight movements, which could signal an attack.
Ulrick could stay like this for days, and his patience was renowned amongst the guardians. But, somehow, he could tell Phoenix wasn't able to maintain this for too long.
And out of honour and respect for women, he decided that he would keep the fight within the bounds of her maximum output.
Therefore, he charged at her, intent on keeping this fight as short as possible.
"Let's see how well you fare in close combat!" he hollered, reaching her in a single instant.
*Clang!*
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