The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 71: The Grudge - Part 2

Chapter 71: The Grudge - Part 2

Lugh was sitting on a bench, his friends adding a breastplate above his chainmail. A rack of weapons was set beside him, and a moment later, a pair of cadets placed a barrel of weapons next to Kir. He was reaching for one handle to inspect what he had available when one of the cadets who’d just delivered the barrel kicked it over, the weapons hitting the ground with a clatter.

"Oops," he sneered, chuckling to himself as he walked away.

Kir sighed and looked down. All the weapons looked dull and some were even rusty. The dullness made sense. They were here to learn, not kill each other. The rust however...

Kir shrugged and picked up a dagger and a sword with a hand-and-a-half handle. A bastard sword. He held the sword in his left and the knife in his right as he checked the latter’s balance, before realizing balance didn’t matter as long as he could throw it.

He had one idea for how to end the fight quickly, courtesy of Rain.

With his selection done, he took three steps closer to the center of the circle, waiting for Lugh as the latter fixed the straps of a shield to his gauntlet and donned his helmet.

Kir hadn’t been offered any armor and he didn’t need it, aside from his helmet. He could circulate his mana internally and, as he’d discovered more of a feel for after sparring all day, would have some of it drain whenever he received a blow. It was never enough to overcome his generation rate, nor could it mitigate all the damage he received, but it was better than nothing and he wanted speed.

"Not going to beg someone to borrow some armor?" Lugh taunted as he stood off his bench. "It’s like you’re asking me to hurt you."

"This is pointless," Kir replied. "But if it’ll get you off my back, I’d like to return to my conversation with Ann," he looked down on Lugh, staring him down through the slit in the man’s helmet. Off on the side he noticed Ann sitting at a small bench with her tray looking miserable even as a few cadets paid for her potions. He felt a twinge of regret at making her situation worse, but there would be time for apologies later. He returned his gaze to Lugh.

At the mention of Ann, Lugh glared red hot daggers at Kir.

Kir had about a head of height on the human, which meant he was the bigger target. Lugh clearly had bulk and the weight of his armor on his side, but Kir knew he was faster. After all, he’d learned the most important thing for a melee fighter to have. After mastering mana circulation that is.

The Knight Commander stood quietly behind Lugh’s side, but it was the Vice Commander who stepped forward to officiate the challenge.

"Challenge has been given," he raised his voice. "Who shall witness?"

"I!" Shouted every gathered cadet at once, stamping their feet or weapons at once.

Kir had expected to be informed of what the rules were, given how structured duels were in the Academy. When things quieted down he asked, "What are the rules?"

"Fight until you can not. Enhance as you can but no spells, be they magic or mavenry. The winner shall receive the right to decide the fate of the loser. That is all," the Vice Commander said, then caught himself. "Oh, one last thing, in light of the coming war, only death is banned. So try not to get too carried away," he looked pointedly at Kir and then Lugh, then turned and stepped back to the side of the circle. "Fighters, are you ready?"

"Aye!" Lugh shouted, slapping his breastplate with the guard of his sword. Behind him, the whoops and cries of his friends rose for a few moments.

Kir looked to the Vice Commander and nodded "I’m ready." His tail curled in anticipation.

To his surprise, he heard Ata shout "Go new guy!"

The Vice Commander took off his gauntlet and held it in his left hand. "At the drop, begin!" He let the gauntlet fall.

Kir dropped into a ready stance, keeping the bastard sword braced along his shoulders as he held the knife at ready.

Lugh approached at a steady pace before swinging his sword heavily. Kir dodged but did not go in for a strike, anticipating that it was a feint. His instinct proved correct when Lugh suddenly reversed the direction of his swing in an upward arc that would have caught Kir if he’d entered the man’s reach. Then, pushing off his back foot, he swung the sword down at Kir, parting a groove in the flagstone floor where there had been none.

He clearly wasn’t holding back.

Kir couldn’t help but notice Lugh’s openings. If only he could cast proper spells...

"What’s the matter, demon blood? Too scared of a real fight?" he challenged.

"I’m here, aren’t I?" He hopped backward as Lugh tried to rush him, his shield forward. "Maybe you should learn how to swing that thing."

"I’ll be swinging it through your neck soon enough!" Lugh countered.

Kir felt mana surging in his opponent and immediately threw himself to the side. He was lucky he did, as when he rolled back to a stand he saw that Lugh had somehow sped into the spot Kir had once occupied, causing some of the crowd to shrink back so as not to get caught in the fight.

Shit. He swore internally. If Lugh could pour on speed like that, then Kir’s plan might not fly. Sure, he’d dodged, but Lugh certainly didn’t look any more tired despite his armor and Kir was quickly losing momentum.

He needed to figure out what he was going to do, but Lugh rushed him again and it took all of his concentration to deflect his sword. Lugh followed up by bashing him with his shield, sending Kir stumbling back. He barely dodged the next swing and the next, the rush of adrenaline and his training keeping him barely ahead of Lugh.

For his part, Lugh seemed to slowly grow more conservative with his strikes as Kir began to figure out his patterns. Where before he’d clearly been going for a quick win, now he watched Kir with hateful wariness, throwing out taunts that Kir tried to simply ignore.

When he had time to think, Kir realized that if he’d actually hated Lugh, perhaps this would have been a chance to unlock his enhancement magic, but what he felt...

"That look..." Lugh snarled, reaching up with his shield arm to wipe some sweat from his mouth. "You think you’re better than me?" The act drew Kir’s attention to the strap of his helmet, which had become unsecured. "I’ll wipe that look off your face you piece of shit."

With a burst of speed, he appeared before Kir, striking for the head.

It was more instinct than anything else that made Kir drop his sword, stepping in and whipping up his hand to grab Lugh’s helmet and twisting, a near-ninety-degree turn that rendered Lugh completely blind.

Instead of striking Kir with the blade, Lugh only managed to slam the pommel into Kir’s shoulder, which made his left hand drop the knife as Kir felt the cracking of his left clavicle as a flash of intense pain. They both cried out, but Kir knew he would have the upper hand for only a moment.

Grabbing Lugh by the shoulder, at the same time he kicked his foot out from beneath him, putting him on his stomach. Then, mounting Lugh from behind, he reached under Lugh’s neck as the man tried to buck him off, tightening his elbow around Lugh’s throat while his left arm finished the sleeper hold.

Lugh started to panic, thrashing and continuing to try to stand, so Kir let his feet hit the ground and started pulling backward to "help" Lugh, knowing that every second wasted was another second he was pinching off the blood to the man’s brain.

The sounds coming from Lugh’s mouth were feral, and while he tried to wrench Kir’s elbow off of him, Kir held firm. After another moment Lugh’s flailing hands managed to reach backward, grabbing Kir by the part of his helmet designed to protect his horn. He pulled, and pulled, but Kir kept position, even as his helmet came off with the snapping of the leather chin strap.

Even though it was taking a while, Kir thought he was in the clear until with a sudden burst of strength, Lugh threw himself backward, crushing Kir against the ground with all the weight behind his armor.

Kir felt pain all over his body, and a popping sensation at the base of his tail, but he held on, and on... He didn’t want to lose. He needed to win because people like Lugh needed to be defeated. Through pain and desperation, he clung on. Lugh’s fortified body refused to yield to Kir’s hold. He needed more. He needed... he needed...

Suddenly he felt it. A welling of strength that ate at the edges of his mana. Mentally, he reached for it, enveloped it in his need for strength. To last just long enough to see things through. A surging feeling filled him, his arms finally began to finally dig against Lugh’s neck, pinching off the blood even as Kir’s body was crushed even more by Lugh’s thrashing.

Until at last...

"You... won’t..." whatever Lugh was about to say ended as he finally lost consciousness. Kir held on for a moment longer before releasing him, using his heels to push himself backward until he was free of Lugh’s weight.

Kir was panting when he finally managed to climb to his feet, but the looks on everyone’s faces were pure shock, in some cases mingled with anger. Ignoring them, he bent to check Lugh’s breathing, finding his opponent unconscious but alive.

"He’s alive," Kir reported as the Vice Commander approached him.

The man bent to check. After confirming that Kir had spoken the truth, he declared, "Lugh Thyestes is unable to fight. The challenge has been met. Kir Gale is victorious."

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