"There is more to a fight with a ranking member of the Celestial Twelve than it would seem."

♣

CHAPTER ELEVEN  ♣ DUEL

When they arrived, Valeriana was surprised to see that they weren't the only ones present. Instead of the school faculty and the competitors only, people swarmed in the audience's area. A sword was strapped around her waist, and she was immediately sent down to the center of the arena where the fight would be held. Courtney was waiting, her own weapon in hand.

"I thought we were the only ones going to be here," she said.

A drop of sweat trickled down her forehead.

"They wouldn't miss it for the world!" Lord Aeron shouted from the royal box, waving his arm passionately in the air as though reading her thoughts.

"I hate you," Valeriana muttered.

Cheers wildly erupted from the crowd and Valeriana yanked her sword out of its sheath. Her grip on its hilt firmly tightened as she looked at Courtney's direction with unwavering determination.

What exactly was she doing?

Still, there was no turning back.

"It looks like Lord Aeron is asking the competitors to get ready! Fighters in place!"

Valeriana moved to a stance. "Remember the center point of gravity in your body. Pick a stance that's not easy to be thrown off balance." She planted her feet to the ground.

"The fight will start in three."

She held out her sword in front of her, making sure there weren't any available openings her opponent could use to attack. Courtney, however, seemed confident and remained nonchalant from where she was. The tip of her sword was kissing the sandy ground.

"Two!"

She wore the same clothes as Valeriana, making it appear that these garments were meant to be worn during a duel by the competing sides.

"One!"

A bright light sparked on the corner of the arena, but Valeriana chose to keep her eyes strictly on Courtney, who immediately ran forth and brought her blade up when the signal was fired.

Valeriana held her own weapon in front of her and blocked her first attack. It vibrated sharply as Courtney's sword clashed unto hers. The intensity of the force that Courtney used for her first assault was terrifying. If Valeriana hadn't followed Seraphina's advice, she would've been instantly pushed back.

Fortunately, she was able to block most of her attacks at the moment. It seemed that Seraphina's lectures were useful, but it didn't remove the fact that, with the current pace of their fight, she would have no chance in winning.

Lord Aeron did tell her she did not need to win.

Courtney aggressively drove her sword forward but Valeriana was able to dodge it—albeit clumsily. She stepped forward with a counterattack, forcing her sword to meet with Courtney's in hopes of pushing her back. Adrenalin rushed through her veins and, with all her might, she began to assault her opponent.

"Fight back!" She remembered Seraphina yelling. "You can't call it a fight when you're not attacking!"

"You're daring to even try and fight back." Courtney smirked at her.

"What do you expect me to do, then?"

"Oh, I don't know. Lose. Die, maybe. The latter would be better."

The audience got even wilder.

"Knock her down!"

"Kill her!"

Now, that was a bit harsh.

More cheers came from the students among the crowd. The obvious eagerness in their voice rang all throughout the arena, nearly discouraging Valeriana from the fight. It was painfully insulting.

"So that's the girl," a blue-eyed blonde said thoughtfully as he arranged the glasses that sat atop the bridge of his nose. "She thinks she can fight Courtney?"

"Well, she's doing a good job so far," a redhead replied with a snort, her blue eyes rolling as she slouched and leaned back leisurely.

"Stop that," the male blonde replied with a scolding look, disturbed by the sound she made. "Mind your manners."

"I should mind my manners when watching a fight? Really. I'll do whatever I want and minding my manners is the last thing on my list."

Corvan wanted to bang his head against the table at the ruckus being created by the Twelve, but that would be if he was not himself.

Lord Aeron watched the fight fervently, a loose smile hanging on his lips. His ankle was propped up to his knee and he was strangely relaxed in his seat while rubbing his chin. "A bit clumsy as expected, but she's faring well. Don't you agree, Lady Seraphina?"

"I did teach her."

"Mm-hmm. You taught her well, then. It's enough for her to hold up. To survive? I do wonder."

Seraphina had on a perplexed expression, but looking somehow proud with the effort the girl was putting into it.

Corvan, on the other hand, did not know whether to be impressed or amused. He watched her wave her sword around with conviction—sometimes faltering. Her skills seemed adequate enough to oppose all of her attacks. Still, there were a lot of flaws and openings. This girl was hopeless . . . the only thing that was keeping her from being scratched was moving back.

Valeriana, obviously, was having a hard time. She lacked the stamina needed for such a demanding physical exertion. Not to mention that she was inexperienced.

Courtney, on the other hand, radiated vigor. She slashed her sword forward repeatedly, her attacks varying in movements. This caused Valeriana to either dodge or respond in retaliation.

"I commend you." Courtney said with a mocking smile. "You're skilled enough to be able to dodge my attacks. It seems that I underestimated you."

"I . . . told you." She spoke in between breaths. She panted like a dog but the girl in front of her didn't even break a sweat. She wanted to curse so bad that her tongue hurt, but it was better to conserve energy.

Breathe.

Valeriana's pretentious opponent then began with her series of attack once more. Courtney came back stronger than before and the sweep of her sword became fiercer that it overwhelmed Valeriana to an extent where her wrists began to ache from countering all her assaults.

So tired.

"I won't lose," she whispered after being thrown back. She was already struggling to catch her breath.

The cadence of the fight intensified. Courtney gave no room for recovery, hinting that there would only be one survivor at the closing stages. She waved her sword with such frightening accuracy that Valeriana was barely able to dodge. She felt the cold metal of Courtney's sword cut through the skin on her left, upper arm, causing her to gasp as warm, red liquid soaked the sleeve of her top. Her face twisted in agony as her wound stung. She briefly glanced down at her top to see that her sleeve was half way to being cut off. It showed a nasty, deep cut on her skin that leaked a lot of blood.

"Shiznits . . . god." She hissed and backed away from Courtney as far as she could. She could see her malicious glare from the corner of her eyes and her own blood that stained the weapon she held. Valeriana pressed her lips into a thin line as she watched herself being slowly drenched in red.

She ripped off the sleeve from her arm, exposing her wound fully. She then wrapped the ripped-off cloth around her arm, tying it firmly around her wound by using her uninjured arm and clipping the cloth between her teeth. This would at least lessen the bleeding. She saw a lot of people rip a part of their clothes and use it as make-shift bandages when in the middle of war or something.

Courtney laughed. She slowly made her way to where Valeriana was.

"Don't be so confident. It's annoying," she stated, glaring at Courtney sharply. For just once, she was going to curse. "Bitch!"

God, that felt good.

Courtney's expression faltered and she seethed. She ran forward and attacked Valeriana with a critical swing.

Valeriana was barely able to hold up her sword properly before their blades clashed again. She made a pained noise in the back of throat. Her wound hurt like hell.

"Too bad for you," her opponent said. "You messed with the wrong person. It just had to be me."

"You can be Madonna for all I care," she said each word as hard as she could, moving her sword forward to block her attack. A sharp ring echoed as their blades crossed. Valeriana glowered at Courtney as they pressed more pressure onto their weapons, trying to overpower each other. "Taylor Swift or whatever. Selena Gomez if you'd like."

"What nonsense are you babbling about?"

"I'm saying whoever you are, because you're such a bitch, I'll still want to crush your face."

It seemed that this statement got on Courtney's nerves. Her opponent's eyes widened momentarily before she narrowed them and glared at her in irritation. This gave encouragement to Valeriana. At first, she felt frightened because her opponent was one of the best students. But, remembering her father's advices, it made all of her worries fade away. He was right. Whoever this girl was, she wasn't perfect. She had a weakness. She just had to find that weakness. After that, even if Courtney had the upper hand, she would have the chance to turn things around.

Seraphina did spoil her a bit of the information she needed. This girl was easily angered and, apparently, it was true.

Meanwhile from his seat, Lord Aeron was watching the show with creased brow.

"You shouldn't let yourself be provoked when fighting," he commented.

Courtney's one major flaw was that her moves became reckless when she was angered.

"I do admit Valeriana's attitude can be very infuriating," Corvan said to himself. "I found myself on the verge of reducing her to ashes the last few hours."

"My," Aeron said, chuckling. "You both just met and she already came so close to that already? How very impressive it is to see someone able to get under your skin so easily."

In the middle of the arena, the fight between the two girls started to heat up. The duel became more intense during the next few moments. Valeriana did not know what she was going to do and she was wearing herself out. It wasn't noon yet so it didn't feel hot. The air was cool and refreshing. Still, her skin was covered with a sheen of sweat and her back was already soaked wet. She could feel her muscles protesting with every move she made.

"You're an annoying imbecile!" Courtney yelled, striking down hard that it threw Valeriana back and sent her rolling away.

She groaned in pain as her weapon slipped from her grasp and skidded a few feet away from her. She gasped in shock and looked left and right for her sword. Courtney was just a few steps from her current position, and a victorious smile tugged on her lips.

"I'm telling you this now. You are no match for me and you will never be a part of this academy." Her opponent sauntered confidently towards her, dragging her sword while its tip grazed the ground. This left a trail behind her, which even made the scene look ominous.

Valeriana tried standing up, but it seemed that she injured her ankle when she fell. She cursed as the ache shot up from her feet. She couldn't even bring herself to stand back up. Her quivering knees protested, refusing to heed her commands.

"I-I can't stand up!" she whispered to herself. Her legs turned jelly and rock at the same time, barely even functioning.

This was what they called cramping, right? Well, shiznits.

"Agh! Not now!"

She started to crawl pathetically towards her weapon, hands trembling. The crowd was going wild in excitement as they watched the current events unfolding.

"Give up! You already know that you aren't going to win!" Courtney's discouraging words rang in her ears.

"No. Never." She emphasized each word under her breath and reached out to grab the hilt of the sword. But unfortunately, Courtney harshly stepped on her fingers then kicked her chest and stomped on her shoulder.

"Ouch!" she cried, gritting her teeth as Courtney intentionally pressed down more pressure on her hand. "Holy crap!"

"That's where you belong." Her eyes were wide and looked psychotic. "Dirt. Ground."

Gosh. Did this girl have anger issues? She clearly hadn't been called a bitch her entire life.

Feet on Valeriana's hand and shoulder, her opponent bent down and picked up the weapon that was almost within her reach. She waved it around playfully which irritated Valeriana even more. This girl was acting like one of those bullies back home when she still attended elementary school!

"Give that—" Valeriana glared up at Courtney, but was only answered by having the pressure from both her feet increased.

Back up at the royal box, Headmaster began suggesting, "This is getting out of hand. Maybe we should stop the fight right here."

"Let's give Valeriana a chance."

"But . . ."

"It'll be fine."

With the current position that she was in, Valeriana needed to be clever. She didn't have her weapon, so what exactly was she going to use to defend herself? She reached out with her free hand, patting the ground for any rock that she could use to throw towards Courtney.

Unfortunately, there was nothing but sand!

She immediately paused at the thought.

Sand! She mentally exclaimed.

With newfound hope, Valeriana grabbed a handful of the sand and threw it to Courtney's face. This action caused her challenger to stumble back with a loud gasp of shock. She instinctively dropped Valeriana's sword to the ground as her hands flew to her face.

Courtney screamed, rubbing the dirt out of her eyes.

As she took the sword back into her firm grip, Valeriana remembered all the things Seraphina shoved into her head. She listened to all the important points she told her about, and the needed skill to let her survive the fight.

Valeriana finally regained some strength in her lower body, so she forced herself to stand back up on her feet while using her sword for support. Her ankle still ached so much she wanted to slap herself.

"Now . . ." shewhispered. "What did Seraphina tell me?"