Book 3, Chapter 12

12. A Duel of Honor

The barracks arena was one of six official dueling grounds in Zhesa City, although most Travelers who wished to settle their differences in combat, or simply test their mettle against each other, did so in the corners and back allies of the city, or outside its gates.  Only official challenges were resolved in official duels, as the results would be witnessed.  And if they were story related, then they would be canon.

Losing a sanctioned duel could negatively impact a Traveler for months afterwards, as the word would spread among the natives, affecting their credibility and their selection of quests.  Thus these duels were avoided by Travelers unless they were confident in winning.

When we arrived, the audience was already streaming in.  Grives had promised two hundred witnesses, but it looked to be a fair number more than that.  Fifteen minutes passed, and a young man with Captain’s bars on his chest came into the arena with Grives and a grizzled old man who would be the judge.  To my surprise, Captain Keithan looked at me with a measure of open hostility, and I wondered as to its source.  I mean, yes I was challenging him, but it was a friendly and, potentially, profitable duel of honor.

Had I offended him somehow without realizing it?

The judge and Grives came forward, and I instructed Corinth and Thena to do the same.  Words were exchanged; declaring their intention to proceed with the duel as scheduled and informing us that the wager on the outcome was acceptable to all parties involved. My allies echoed the sentiments somewhat more awkwardly.

Grives motioned for Corinth to follow him to select the weapons we would use.

“Choose the Rapier for me, Corinth,” I whispered into Party Chat.

“They’re all junky, level 1, damage rating F weapons,” he complained back.

“That’s normal.  Pick the rapier,” I reiterated.  Corinth put on a show of examining each of the finely crafted, but very weak, blades, before selecting the one I had instructed him to. He brought it to me, and I placed my [Mooncrest Ancestral Sword] in my inventory and Equipped the [Dueling Rapier] in its place.  It had no stats, just a low damage rating, but it was not enchanted to do only one damage as a practice sword would have been.

My damage output would have fallen by somewhere around eighty percent compared to my C+ ranked weapon, but so would Keithan’s.  The purpose was to extend the duel, allow us to actually display our skills, and also make it safer by giving the healers more time to intervene when the duel was won, in case the combatants did not realize that the safety threshold had been crossed and continued fighting.

The judge said some formal words, but I wasn’t really listening as I moved into position.  I knew the rules for formal duels, and I knew the words that the man was speaking.  I just didn’t feel like listening to them.  Not until it was time for us to speak to each other directly.

I saluted Captain Keithan Selmy.  “Captain.  I wish to reaffirm to all of the witnesses present that this is a duel of honor, but I have perceived no slight or offense from your side.  Rather, I challenge you for the express purpose of raising my own standing in the eyes of the court, because I find you to be an honorable man and a talented duelist.  I thank you for this opportunity to prove myself against a worthy opponent before witnesses.”

Keithan was silent for a moment, and then he spat on the ground.  “Perhaps you have no reason to take offense, Bastard, but I do.  You have insulted me twice that I know of.  To the man who raised me, you have insinuated that my position in the army is due only as an insult to him.  It is not, as I will demonstrate shortly.  And to the man who loved my mother, you have named him a philanderer.  Normally I would hold myself back, but you have earned my ire, and I will show you exactly how out of your depth you are to have challenged me!”

Oh.  I haddone those things, I realized.  I had anticipated dueling an honorable opponent whose only stakes were his personal amusement and a fair amount of gold, not one who had a legitimate reason to fight me.  I wanted to apologize for the unintended slights, but I had just challenged him to a duel.  To apologize now would be seen as a sign of weakness, or a further attempt at humiliating him.

Instead I took my stance, imbued my sword with lightning, and prepared for the judge to announce the beginning of the match.

“The terms of the match are swords, with offensive magic permitted,” the judge pronounced.  “I ask now for Thedum to restrict the skills of the involved parties which do not fall into those categories.”

From the sky came a rumble, and I felt a power ripple through me, which I realized was Thedum doing as the judge had requested.  I glanced at my skill list and cursed as I saw more than a few had been grayed out.  I inwardly cursed as one of my plans to ‘cheese’ this duel was off the table.  [Polymorph], [Slow], and my flashbang combo spells [Concussive Sound] and [Dazzling Lights] were among the skills grayed out.  As was [Befuddle], but Keithan wasn’t a mage, so I’d never planned to use that against him in the first place.

I found it interesting that [Create Traps] remained, but I doubted I would find the time to cast that skill.  I couldn’t cast it before the duel and have it count, as I had once done against a level 19 boar when I had been a level 10 child.  The judge made sure of that, as he cast a powerful dispelling magic which affected me, my opponent, the entire arena, and most of the witnesses as well.

“Begin!” the judge declared.

Keithan drew his longsword and faced me.  I was forced to reimbue my sword, as the lightning had been dispelled by the magic, but the cost was negligible.  I took my stance and waited for his [Charge].  Then, when he didn’t immediately dash in to close the gap, I decided to force him to come to me with a [Swiftcast] [Lightning Bolt].  This was a mistake, I learned, as immediately after the cast finished, Keithan rippledas he activated an ability that was much like Tarisha’s [Wind Walk].  Not a charge.  Closer to a mage’s [Blink].

The lightning bolt missed completely, and Keithan reemerged from his ability behind me, his blade posed to strike.  I got my block up in time and tried to turn it into a [Riposte], but Keithan skillfully avoided the blow.  After a brief exchange, he took the first hit, although it was a light scratch dealing little more than one hundred damage, which at this stage equated to 0.5% of my maximum health.

However, the honor of first blood was his, and the judge dutifully announced it.

With the first blow out of the way, we settled into truly tearing each other apart.  With the F ranked damage of our weapons, we were dealing only a few hundred damage per blow, despite our levels and our otherwise high stats.  It was a contest of straight skill.  I used my melee skills [Thrust], [Slash], [Feint], and [Riposte], to the limit of my ability.  I scored hit after hit.

It wasn’t enough.  Keithan was better.

He saw through my [Feint].  That had happened before when I’d tried to use it against players during the Battle for Mooncrest Manor.  I had since assumed that the skill would be simply useless against Travelers, but when I discussed it with Tarisha she assured me that the opposite was true.

Feint was, according to her, an action cancel.  I could begin a [Thrust], turn it into a [Feint] without triggering the brief cooldown on thrust, and then redo the [Thrust] immediately.  I hadn’t quite managed to perfect the technique yet, however.

Perfecting that skill would have been very useful against Keithan, because he fought more like a Traveler than a Native.  Which both caught me by surprise, and caused me dismay.  Because he was better than me in a straight up fight.

Maybe if I could slow him, but …

I switched my sword from [Imbue Sword: Lightning] to [Imbue Sword: Ice].  Ice did less bonus damage than lightning, especially since my skill in it was only 20, while my lightning skills had been maxed out by Thedum when I had become his worldboss.  However, just as Arcane Weapon had a secondary effect, the cold damage applied by my ice-imbued sword could apply a stacking debuff which would, eventually, build into a 40% slow.

5% at a time.

Keithan immediately saw what I was up to and [Backflipped] out of range.  He actually [Backflipped] like an Archer!  Two overpowered movement abilities in one build was overpowered!

“You’re actually not bad,” Keithan concluded.  He was at eighty-six percent health.  I was at seventy-nine.  “Let’s call this a draw and walk away.  I will forgive you your slights against me, and you may say that you challenged me to a duel of honor and came away with your pride intact.”

A generous offer, considering that I had been losing, but now I saw an opening.  I began chanting.  [Swiftcast] [Iceblast], for the 30% slow that it applied.  Once more Keithan rippled and avoided the spell, but I met his blade with mine and turned it into a successful [Riposte].

Once the slow was in full affect, Keithan’s movements were still challenging to match, but he was no longer my superior, but an equal.  But I had only just begun to pull out my hidden cards.

I switched over to [Aqua Blade].  It was my least used imbue, for it had the lowest damage coefficient.  However, it made the opponent … wet.  Once I had scored a few blows, I switched back to cold damage, and the slow effect reached sixty percent instead of forty.

Slowly, I was catching up to the gaps between our health deficits.  I switched back to [Aqua Blade] one more time, and then after I had applied [Wetness], I switched once more to lightning.  The multi-technique mechanics amplified the lightning damage I was causing significantly, and I began to pull ahead.

Keithan [Backflipped] again.  I began chanting [Lighning Bolt].

“Cheap tricks,” he said.  “I have a few of those of my own.”

His sword began to glow orange, and I realized that, like me, he wasn’t limited to melee range.  I debated whether to dodge his blow or to simply stand still and perform a tactical exchange, counting on my magic to end the duel faster than his ranged techniques.  I compromised, finishing the cast on my spell before [Dashing] five feet to the left to avoid the incoming slash of red energy.

Unfortunately, five feet wasn’t enough, and I took fifteen percent damage in one blow.  Keithan took a similar amount from my lightning bolt.  I was at 40%, he was at 39%.  The next blow would decide it, and I immediately began casting.  He began charging his ability.

The magical shield went up around both of us at the same time as Thena intervened in the match.  The judge stepped forward.

“I pronounce this match a draw,” the old man proclaimed.  “Let both parties be satisfied with the outcome.  They have both fought honorably and with merit.  The wager on the outcome between them, however, is null.”