Chapter 5

The Duel

"I greet Lord Jonas Ruxlyn," Cedric said, bowing to him in salute. "Please make yourself comfortable in my Manor. It may not be much, but I sincerely hope that it's enough to suit your fancies."

Jonas strode straight past him and put himself in Cedric's seat, before looking around and snorting.

"Below average," he said, mockingly. "The reason I'm here is to ask just how long you are planning to put off your daughter's marriage."
"Lord Ruxlyn," Cedric said, seating himself down at the table, opposite Jonas. "I believe such things should be decided by the opinions of the children themselves, we shouldn't force them…"
"HA!" Jonas boomed, banging his fist on the table and making Cedric flinch. "Such nonsense!! To think that you are such a weak father that you cannot even decide your own daughter's marriage for her!"

"I cannot force my daughter to marry someone she will not be happy with," Cedric pleaded.

"Hmph, I see," Jonas snarled, leaning forwards. "So all we need to is make it so that she wants to marry our Marco, is that what your saying."
"No," he replied. "Alicia will marry who she wants to marry."

"I see," Jonas said, looking mildly amused, as though Cedric were some pest doing antics. "Then, what if we were to declare a House war on Gilsend, and take her by force?"

"…are you threatening us?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Jonas lied, shrugging. "It's just a joke, haha. Of course, we would never do that, am I right?"

"…right."

"Now, on to the payment of debt…"

"Your Manor is quite unsightly," Marco scoffed, chomping on biscuits and sipping tea, as he lounged on one of the sofas of the guest room. "Ours is much grander and prettier, with servant that can come to us at even a mere flick of a finger."
"House Gilsend isn't House Ruxlyn," Alicia said coldly.

He fingers gripped her the fabric of her dress tightly, and she sat on the edge of the seat opposite Marco, unable to control the slight trembling of her hands. "So I'm afraid you won't be able to enjoy those pleasures here."

"Of course," Marco snorted matter-of-factly. "Gilsend is much lower in standing than our house."

Alicia felt like she wanted to punch him and then freeze him to death slowly as an ice sculpture, but she kept her cool. Her father, Jax and even Trillian were enduring.

"That being said," Marco said, sitting up. "When are you going to marriage me?"

He stood up from his seat and leaned in so close to her she could feel his breath on her cheek.

"You know, there's no use continuing to reject and put up this futile resistance. After all, your whole family could be eradicated because of you," he sneered horridly. "There's no one better than me here. I'm the eldest son of Ruxlyn, and a peak five star warrior at that. Who else but me?"
"If I were to marry you in a political marriage," Alicia replied icily, "then wouldn't House Gilsend and House Ruxlyn stand shoulder to shoulder?"

"Of course not!" Marco laughed, spreading his arms wide, before reaching in and grabbing a hold of her wrist. "We would trample on this poor House either way, so just give in and leave this dump behind. I promise you'll be treated much better at-"

He was cut short by a thumping outside, and his screaming younger brother came exploding through the window and slamming straight into him, sending them both crashing into the wall in a pile of dust and a fountain of glass.

"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Marco screamed exploding out of the debris and looking around wildly.

Then his eyes fell on his younger brother, who was limp across his lap, with the imprint of a fist in the middle of his face.

“…Rodrick…?”

His eyes went wide with shock, and his face first turned a sickly green, then white as a sheet. Alicia was staring at them in shock, the flying Rodrick having just barely missed her, still processing what she had just seen.

 ….is that… Rodrick Ruxlyn…?

Marco kept staring down at his brother, then his face contorted with rage, veins crackling on his forehead as it did so. 

"Who did that!?" He demanded, before catching sight of a figure standing in the ragged hole his brother had made. "You…!"
"Jaxin…?" Alicia asked.

Jax wiped Rodrick's blood off his hand, and Alicia saw Trillian standing behind him trying to look horrified but unable to hide his ecstasy.

I think I know what happened…

"YOU DAMNNNNNNNNNNNN BASTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARD!!!!!!!!!" Marco screamed, his hand flinging to his sword, ready to slice Jax apart. "How dare you do that to my brother!?"

At that moment, Jonas and Cedric burst into the room, their weapons raised.

"What's happening!?" Jonas demanded, before he caught sight of the destruction and the unconscious Rodrick, along with Jax with blood dripping off his fist, Marco with his sword drawn and murderous intent dripping from him, and Alicia watching, a mixture of emotions on her face.

"You…! What is the meaning of this!?" he roared, whirling around and facing Cedric.

Cedric was silent, his eyes filled with shock, swivelling from Rodrick to Jax to Alicia to Jonas.

"I-I…"

"He was disrespecting the Gilsend name," Jax interrupted.

"SILENCE, BOY!!!" Jonas shouted, his body reeking of bloodlust. "I would tear you apart right now if I did not desire the complete destruction of the Gilsend House!"
"I apologize, Lord Jonas," Jax replied, folding his arms across his chest. "But according to the Ministry's Twelfth Law, the House receiving guests is to have higher authority, the visitors are to respect the receivers, and it is considered a blasphemy against the King to treat another noble as one's servant. Am I right?"

"You… who do you think you're talking to!?" Jonas demanded. "I-"

"Could it be that you're disrespecting the Ministry?" Jax continued, looking him straight in the eye, unflinchingly. “Blatantly ignoring the rules set?”

“You son of a bitch!” Marco screamed, brandishing his weapon. “I’ll cut out your tongue so you can’t talk nonsense anymore! Uncle, just give me the word!!”

“…you damn brat," Jonas mutterd, still staring daggers at Jax. "You'll regret this, I promise you."

However, he gripped turned on his heel and strode away, after snapping at Marco to bring his brother. Just before he slunk after his uncle, Marco turned and snarled at Jax,

"Don't think for even a minute this is over," he hissed, spittle flying out of his mouth like a snake spitting venom. "You'd better look forward to the duel. I'll make it so that you'll wish you were never born."

"Yeah, yeah~" Jax replied dismissively, waving a hand. "Do you worst."

After the Ruxlyns had left, the Gilsend Estate was left in an eerie silence.

"Jaxin..."

"Yes?"

"Do you have any idea, what you have just done…?” Cedric groaned, rubbing his forehead with one hand as he collapsed into an armchair, sending a cloud of fine dust drifting into the air.

“We have incurred the full wrath of Ruxlyn…”

Cedric mumbled on about the ‘dark future’ and ‘impending doom’ of House Gilsend, and Alicia remained standing in the centre of the destroyed room, surrounded by shards of glass and overturned furniture, silent and unmoving, as though frozen in shock. Outside, Trillian stood, breathing heavily, trying to hide his obvious excitement with a mask of disapproval and failing miserably.

"Don't be so uptight," Jax shrugged, picking up an overturned chair and putting it the right way up. "All we need to do is win."

"Easier said than done," Cedric sighed, looking up at him with tired eyes. "House Ruxlyn many strong warriors over 4 stars in strength, and the three warriors participating in the fight are the best out of all of those. I don’t doubt you guys' strength, but it's just..."

"Don't worry, Lord Gilsend," Jax replied, smiling confidently. "Just sit back and watch. This year, House Gilsend will finally trample under Ruxlyn again."

Cedric sighed doubtfully.

"Don’t overstep your boundaries, Jax," he said. "If Ruxlyn finds out that you are a commoner, House Gilsend's reputation will fall even lower."

Jax swung the heavy wooden sword again. He was practising with a gigantic wooden greatsword, weighed down by metal weights, bare-chested, the beads of sweat on his body glistening in the moonlight as he swung it for the thousandth time.

"Is it really necessary to do such crude strength training, Master?" Quix asked. "You are the proud Dark Sovereign, and should be able to use great strength."

"You keep forgetting that I'm no longer the proud and strong Dark Sovereign you once knew," Jax replied, raising the sword and swinging it down again. "I was able to preserve a minimal fraction of my past physical abilities, but I still need to recover and develop my strength even further to hold a stronger Ena core."
"What are you yapping about whilst training?" came a voice from behind him, making him jump violently.

Jax whirled around to see Trillian standing behind him, holding a wooden sword at his side.

"It was satisfying to watch you beat up Rodrick and face down Jonas," he continued. "But do you have the skills to back it up? Duel me, Jaxin Zhang. Without holding back."

 "A duel? I'm a commoner, you know. Did the Lord approve of this?"

"A commoner? You should've thought of that before you punched that little shit from Ruxlyn," Trillian scoffed, before he paused for a second.  "I did want to do it myself but… forget it. You claimed you would defeat Ruxlyn. Then, shouldn't you be able to beat me?"

Trillian pulled of his tunic and threw it on the ground behind him.

"A test?"

"Come on."

Jax exhaled, but in the next moment he slashed the air a few times with his blade held in one hand, and pointed it at Trillian.

"Fine, let’s go," Jax said. "A duel before the moon."

"I don't like that relaxed posture!!" Trillian growled, and he rushed towards Jax, parting the air with a whoosh.

Jax shifted his feet and lowered his centre of gravity, then, the second before Trillian hit him, he stepped forwards, and their wooden swords clashed with a sickening thud. Splinters of wood tumbled through the air in all directions as Trillian spun around and sliced at Jax's side, but Jax pushed his foot off the ground and jumped over both Trillian's attack and Trillian himself, before aiming a thrust at his back. Trillian ducked under and whisked around again, this time scoring a glancing blow to the back of Jax's knees and knocking him off balance before following through with a hit to the chest. Jax jumped back out of range of Trillian's sword.

"Is that all you got?" he asked.

…not bad. He's definitely talented, and has the potential to grow into a brilliant warrior.

 The duel went on into the night, with both sides sustaining many hits and bruises, their sweat mingling with the shards and splinters of wood sprayed across the ground. Trillian, who was on the verge of exhaustion, leaned on his sword as he breathed heavily, taking a break from the fighting, and Jax did the same. They both looked at each other from across the arena, and they both knew the next time they clashed would be the last.

Jaxin… just where did someone like you come from…?

Trillian looked at his sword, which was almost in two halves, still held together by a few splinters of wood. Then, he clenched both his hands on the hilt pulled back his left leg, and he charged straight at his opponent.

A frontal charge. When you rush forwards with all your strength and speed, aiming to overwhelm the opponent before they can react fully. It's a bad move, especially when exhausted.

Trillian unleashed a hail of attacks upon Jax, who dodged and parried most of them, but he missed the last one and it hit him on the shoulder. Seizing the opportunity, Trillian lunged forwards, but Jax was ready. Shifting his weight, Jax kicked out at Trillian's ankle, knocking him off balance, and then struck his sword at right angle, snapping it.

"Wha-"

Jax kicked off the ground, rolled in midair and slammed his wooden blade into the side of Trillian's head, sending a few drops of blood flying. He tumbled across the ground before falling down with a thud.

"It’s my win," Jax said, and stood over Trillian, who turned himself over onto his back with a grunt.

Trillian stared up at Jax with his hazy, unfocused vision.

…throughout the duel, I was giving it my all as a 1 star swordsman, and even a year older than him… we were definitely both getting tired… or that's what it seemed like. He's sweating, breathing hard… but his facial expression barely changed at all. He still wasn’t giving his all... I want to know what else he can do.

Jax stretched out a hand to help him up.

If it's him then…

"Yeah,"  Trillian muttered. "Jaxin Zhang… let's be friends."

He grabbed ahold of his hand.

***

"Jack Keynes?" Trillian asked. "Yeah, we know him. He's one stage higher than Marco Ruxlyn, at Raw 6 Star, and he's one hell of a difficult fighter to beat."

"…aside from how he fights," Jax said. "Do you know anything else about him? Like where he lives, where he spends his time, and all that."

"…well, a little," Trillian said. "I've sent my personal guard out several times before to find him."

"Your personal guard?"

"Yeah, Aaron Prince. Well… uh… he's actually Edith's personal guard but… uh…"

"Trillian?"

"Hey, he's a peak five star swordsman and the strongest fighter in House Gilsend except from my parents. Edith doesn't even take him out anywhere, and the whole family pretty much knows that he's more my guard."

"Yeah, and what about how Edith almost got sold off?"

"Well, you were there, so it’s fine." Trillian fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Forget it."

The two taking a break after training all morning since before the break of dawn. It had been two weeks since their duel before the moon, and both of them were training as hard as they could all day long. Edith sometimes watched for a little, but usually got bored and wandered off herself, and Alicia was constantly in mediation, trying to break through to the next stage. 

"So, any info on Jack Keynes?"

"Yeah, he spends a lot of his free time in a pub, and Aaron says that every time he sees him, Keynes is drinking and looks like he's brooding about something, other times his face and eyes just look blank, as though his memory got wiped or something."

"Hmmm… surprising Ruxlyn doesn't keep on a tight leash."

"That's 'cos if they tried to fight him, half of Ruxlyn would end up dead."

"Fair. Do you know if he ever did anything worth noting?"

"No, not really," Trillian said. "A couple times some thugs got on the wrong side of him and ended up with their lives cut short."

"Alright, I get it," Jax said, standing up and wiping the last beads of sweat of his brow. "Also, what's Ruxlyn's fighters?"

"There are four fights in total, and Ruxlyn's lineup is essentially Jack Keynes, Harold Ruxlyn Marco and another Raw 6 Star mercenary called Vulnis."
"Another one?"

"Yeah," Trillian nodded. "It's called the power of money. Where are you going?"

Jax was packing up his training things as he listened to Trillian, before clamping it shut and slinging it over his shoulder.

"To pay a visit."