“What did you even tell him?”

  Elle looked at Dee, who was resting right beside him. His skill was already ready, which meant that they could leave as soon as they needed to. Once Vil got done trying to sort himself out, it wouldn’t take very long for them to get out of this universe once and for all. Arcadia was bound to be angry by now, considering how long they had been here already.

  “Exactly what he needed to know.” Dee replied, “It can be pretty easy to convince people if you tell them what they want to hear.”

  “You’re telling me that he wanted to hear that he needs to make Celia angry? I mean, come on, the moment she wakes up and sees what these fucking idiots are up to, she’s gonna ask for a ride back home. Then you’re the one taking her all the way over there.”

  The dragon sighed, “I never said I told him what he needed to hear. I just told him what he wanted to hear. What you need to hear is often not what is going to move you forward, you know.”

  “Ugh, shut up.” He leaned against the dragon to look at both of them. Arthur was standing with the katana in his hand to the left, and Vil had his knight’s sword ready on the right. They had been standing like that for about five minutes straight now. He wasn’t sure how and when it was supposed to begin, but he couldn’t wait for it to be over.

  Every once in a while, he took a quick look at Celia, who was leaning against the tree and snoring. If they could just get done with all of this before she stood up and walked over here, it would be the greatest gift he had gotten in recent memory. In no way did he want to deal with her wrath right now. Not for the sake of these two.

  Dee nudged him, “Stop sulking. You’re just angry that he did not agree to the duel when you asked him, aren’t you?”

  Elle slowly looked up at him and frowned, “You really needed to verbalize that, didn’t you?”

  “What you need to hear is…often now what is going to move you forward.”

  “Shut up.”

  “Logically, it would be better if I kept quiet and didn’t say anything. Celia will be angry, and you’ll have nothing to do with any of this. But you know as well as I that you’re just happy about Vil getting a chance. He’s been miserable ever since he joined, and now there’s a chance he gets better.”

  “Wah, wah. Shut up, will you?” Elle smacked the dragon across the face and groaned, “I…just don’t want to get thrashed by Celia, that’s it. She can be a pain, you know. Like, all angry all the time, especially at me. I mean, I’m not the one who decided to be team leader, you know? She’s the one too lazy to get off her ass.”

  “Fine, I’ll take responsibility. Just watch them for now. Maybe five minutes from now, Vil will be a changed man.”

  “Or maybe five minutes from now, they’ll actually start swinging their swo-”

  Vil moved first. Sword up, armor shining in the moon, aimed straight at Arthur, he ran forward. But his opponent stood his ground. Without moving an inch, he raised the katana and waited for the sword to strike. Right as the knight got close to him, he stepped to the left and redirected the sword away. The very next second, Arthur hopped forward, looked back, and got ready to attack.

  Too bad for him, Vil had already swung once more. Elle stood up, hoping that they weren’t aiming to actually wound each other. This slash was going for the ankles, but Arthur jumped up and back. Bad move. If he hadn’t moved back, he would have been able to take advantage of the opening. But now, before he could gather himself again and try to attack, Vil’s sword had been angled to attack already.

  This time, though, Arthur parried. This might have been the first time that Elle had seen him parry, but it worked. Striking Vil’s sword, he created enough of an opening for him to slash through, but all he managed to hit was the man’s chest plate. Vil laughed and moved back. Both of them were at their starting positions once more. The knight twirled his sword around and pointed it at Arthur.

  “Not bad, Arthur Cross. But do not complain when I start taking this seriously.”

  “This guy, is he for real?” Elle groaned, “Is he trying to look cool? Is that it? Haven’t even started fighting seriously? I mean, could he be more cliched?”

  “Elle, shut up and watch.”

  Despite the warning, he stood up and shouted, “Hey, just a reminder, but you aren’t allowed to use your abilities. So, like, I don’t know what you mean by being serious, but you cannot use Voice of the World, got it?”

  Vil pointed his sword at the man and replied confidently, “I don’t need to use such cowardly tactics against this man. You will witness an honourable duel, and that is it. Do not interfere beyond that with your trite commentary, Elle.”

  “Fine, whatever. Go on. Keep slashing!”

  Elle sat back down and leaned against Dee once more, who slightly growled to warn him not to do that again. He punched the dragon once, and Dee stopped. He got the point. There was no need to be so angry at him all the time. Everyone was just angry at him all the time. Arcadia, especially. Elle shook his head and waved the thought off. He couldn’t keep thinking about what would happen when he got back.

  Dee was right. This was not his moment. This was theirs. He didn’t need to make it about himself.

  The two started fighting once more. Much faster than before, though. Vil attacked, and Arthur defended. It was a classic trade moving at speed that even Elle would consider difficult for himself. He wasn’t very talented with a sword, mainly because he had no reason to ever use it himself, but Arthur had managed to get quite good in the limited amount of time he had been using one.

  Slowly, as the fight got more intense, Elle stopped thinking altogether. One second, Vil had the advantage, and the next, it was Arthur. The knight had often told him that he had been born with natural talent with the sword. Of course, that could have been another one of his arrogant bluffs, but there was certainly some truth to it. And if those inherent skills could be found in other Arthurs, maybe the new one had some in him, too. Otherwise, it was difficult to think someone was able to match the knight in his swordsmanship for so long.

  Or, well, Vil was being completely honest, and he hadn’t started fighting in earnest yet.

  “What the hell are they doing?”

  A voice to his left interrupted his concentration. And so, without thinking much about it, he spoke up.

  “Ah, I think Arthur’s losing right now. Come on, sit down. He keeps switching edges, though. He might actually win.”

  “Are you all being serious?”

  Then, as Dee hit him with his tail once more, Elle finally came to his senses and broke out of the viewing trance. Standing up in an instant, he met Celia’s eyes and then looked at the ongoing duel.

  “Sorry, hey, I can explain. Come on.”

  “I’m gonna make them stop.”

  She started to walk, but Elle stepped up and made her stop. Hand on her shoulders, he stopped and looked the woman in her eyes. As expected, all he saw in return was anger. Way too much anger. An amount that he really did not want to handle.

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Yet, as the swords clanged in the back, he could not stop himself from trying. He didn’t know the new Arthur well enough. He did not know anything about his relationship with Celia. But he had been around them enough to know that they cared about each other. That no matter what, she probably wouldn’t stay mad at him for too long. That was why he needed to stop her.

  For Vil’s sake.

  Because Arthur would be fine. He had convinced himself that she was going to hate him, but he would ultimately be fine.

  “Stop, Celia. Please.”

  He tried his best to put every emotion he could in his eyes. His stupid suit was too tight for him to maintain it for very long, but he tried.

  “This is not about you, Elle. It is about me. Just move aside. I am not going to let them-”

  “I know, I know!” He nodded, “They’re treating your love like a trophy, and you hate it. I know. But just listen to me!”

  She raised her arms, “Fine. Get your hands off.”

  Elle sighed, looked back at the men, who were still fighting without a care in the world, and cursed his luck, “I mean, you know already, but Vil’s Celia is dead. She died way before any of this started. Nothing to do with the multiverse. She was just…killed. And I apologize for him, I really do. He’s a prick sometimes and doesn’t understand other people’s feelings. But…you don’t need to be rude, right? He’s like a brother to me, and I…”

  “You are a brother to yourself, yes. Great analogy. But I don’t care, got it? I don’t care how sad his life has been, and I don’t care what he is feeling like right now. It gives him absolutely no right to treat me like this. I am unrelated to the man in every way possible, and he’s making a scene out of it.”

  “I know!” Elle screamed.

  For a second, Vil and Arthur stopped fighting. The latter looked up and noticed Celia. As soon as he did, his heartbeat quickened. But Vil didn’t let him stay for long. Before they could lose their momentum, the knight started fighting once more – one swing at a time.

  “I know very well.” Elle knew this was it. He needed to pour everything in. Dee was right. Celia didn’t need someone to tell her all this right now. She didn’t need another man pushing his opinions on her. But he believed that she wanted to understand things. That she wanted to know what was going on and was just confused about why she had become so involved in this fight.

  “Vil is a pain in the ass, alright? And you are correct. He has no right to treat you like he did, and it’s…an ongoing issue. We’re working on making it better. But…he can’t help it. He can’t. He knows he’s never going to see her again, Celia. He knows very well that he isn’t going to meet her ever again. She’s dead and gone, and cannot be brought back.”

  She gave no rebuttal. This was good.

  “But he can’t convince himself of that! I mean, could you? You must have someone, too, right? Someone you can’t let go of. Someone who, if you got the chance to talk to them once more, you’d give anything to get it. Say things you never did. Take back things you shouldn’t have said. You must have someone, too, right?”

  Celia looked at the two as their fight continued. An owl hooted in the background as the grunts coming from both of them got intense. Right then, Elle noticed it. Just the slightest twitch in her eye as it moistened.

  “I…have someone too, Celia. Someone I want to talk to. But I don’t think about her. I really, really try not to. If I can avoid it, then that’s for the better. And that makes me weak. It makes me so, so weak. But Vil is not like that. He doesn’t accept it. He knows he misses her, and he lives with it every moment of his life. Just…let him have this. Please. Just let him finish this and get over it.”

  “He wins and then what? He gets to flirt with me for the rest of his life, even though I don’t want it?”

  “No.” Elle shook his head, “If he wins, then you nicely tell him that you’re not interested and he moves on. He doesn’t always meet another Celia Ingram in every universe he goes to. Hell, he hasn’t even been to that many. You’re, like, the second. The first kicked him in his nuts.”

  Celia stifled a laugh and wiped a tear that was forming in her eye, “Deserved.”

  “Yeah, yeah, very deserved.” Elle couldn’t help but chuckle along as he remembered the exact scene in his head, “But when this all ends, he will be stronger than he was this morning. And I’ll be just as weak as I was three months ago. Please. I know I am being forceful, but…I mean, he’s me. Can’t get more personal than that.”

  “Fine.” She pushed his hand aside, “But he will never come after me again.”

  “Oh, promise. Let’s be fair, none of us will ever come after you again. Not until we have psycho assassins chasing us across the damn multiverse.”

  Celia raised her eyes, “That too.”

  Elle groaned with relief and started walking back to Dee, who had been keeping an eye on them the entire time. As he lightly laughed and mouthed a ‘good job’, Elle brushed him off and sat back down. His entire body felt heavy. Looking at the ground, he bit his tongue to punish himself once. He thought about her again. He had promised that he wouldn’t keep thinking about her. It wasn’t fair.

  “Celia!”

  Both the duellists shouted out at once.

  Elle looked up in a hurry to notice what had happened. Arthur was standing right next to Vil and had somehow managed to break the knight’s sword clean in two. The bad news was that the broken piece was now flying towards her. And all she did was stand there. It was way too common. You would think that dodging a life-threatening object from so far away would be easy, but the body stopped processing at top speeds when death was an actual chance.

  He closed his eyes and quickly counted as the blade got closer to her. It wasn’t that complicated this time around. One. Two. Three.

  Skill Activated

  Sin

  Skill Activated

  Object Reversal

  Skill Activated

  Wormhole

  “The fuck?” He shouted out loud. Then, it all happened at once.

  A barrier of dirt rose from the ground right in front of her and covered her entire body. The piece of the sword reappeared on the knight’s hilt and made it whole again. Finally, a wormhole formed right in front of the barrier that Elle had created, waiting to swallow the sharp edge before it could make its way to her.

  Once everyone calmed down, though. Celia sighed and sat down. The portal vanished, and the barrier collapsed. Vil looked at his sword and swung once more, but Arthur threw his katana on the ground and raised his hands.

  “I used my skill, I’m sorry.”

  “Dee, you really had to open the fucking portal? Are you serious, like…?” Elle raised his arms in the air out of frustration. Now, they would have to wait for a bit more for him to get his skill back. An hour, at the very least.

  “Very well, then.”

  Ignoring it all, Vil raised his remade sword and pushed it straight towards Arthur’s chest, stopping right as the point touched his skin and started to dig through.

  “To the death, as we promised.”

  “To the death.”

  Arthur nodded, looking at him with all earnestness.

  “Wait, what?” Elle started walking forward, but Arthur raised his hand and gestured at him to stop.

  “I promised him, that’s it. A duel is to the death. Those are the rules.”

  “Arthur, you cannot be serious,” Celia spoke up, too, stepping up right beside Elle.

  “We’re not here to kill each other.” The dragon finally joined in.

  “Celia…”

  Arthur looked at her with meaningful eyes. Elle felt a pang in his heart, as if he knew exactly what was about to happen. But it would mean nothing like this. It would have no weight if Arthur didn’t die, and Elle knew that he wasn’t going to die. They were going to stop Vil somehow. Most probably, Vil would not have the courage to go through with it anyway.

  “Arthur, step back.” She warned him.

  “Celia, I…”

  “Don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say it,” Elle whispered to himself and looked at Dee, who was just as surprised as he was.

  “What?” She asked.

  “Celia…I love you.”

  A silence spread across the entire clearing.

  “He went, and fucking said it.”