Chapter 53.

Amber wasn’t all that interested in dueling ‘Charles’ as Aurelia had called her personal guard, but at the same time, she did want to test her sword against someone stronger than the Training Dolls. There was also the fact that Aurelia could potentially be useful to befriend. So all in all, even though Amber wasn’t all that keen on that request, she made her decision to accept.

“Sure, I’ll duel your bodyguard.”

Aurelia clapped her hands. “Great!” 

Amber was planning on ending this duel quickly. Though, of course, she wouldn’t be cursing the man to death or even using curses on him given it was a duel and a friendly one at that. 

“Oh, I’ll also give you two-hundred gold for your troubles,” Aurelia added. 

Amber nodded at that. It was a nice bonus and motivator. Though, there was also the fact that⁠— She turned seeing the already somewhat ruined field of grass. 

I don’t want to damage the surroundings much more. 

She had half-expected for the duel to occur somewhere else, but Charles, Aurelia’s knight, immediately walked over to the grass and unsheathed his sword. Looking at her, he nodded and began to speak.

“It is an honor to have a duel with you Amber.”

“Oh, and don’t worry about the garden, we can have the mages of the palace fix it anyway,” Aurelia said from behind. 

Amber sighed and got up from the chair, then picked up the Cursewelder. Even though the sword was massive, with her current Strength stat, it was no different from picking up a normal sword⁠— except that it of course, had multiple times the weight of a normal one. The personal knight looked at her and nodded approvingly.

“I’ve heard tales of the Cursewelder all my life and this is my first time seeing it with my own eyes,” he stated. “Let us have a good duel, Princess Aurelia will be the one to announce its start, but before that, let’s establish some rules.” 

Amber arrived in front of him as he continued to speak. 

“First rule: either of us can call for the duel to stop. Second rule...” He tilted his head. “The second rule is: we aren’t trying to kill each other.” 

She nodded at him in that, and Amber decided to not use curses⁠— it was a duel after all, not a fight for the death. Plus, burning the princess’ personal knight is a bad idea, she added in her mind. 

“Third rule: if either of us leave the grass field, we automatically lose.” He gestured. 

And Amber looked around, it was about the size of half of a football field⁠— which was wide enough for her needs. So, she had no complaint about that. 

“And the fourth rule is…” He trailed off and nodded. “To have fun.” 

She raised her brow at that but smiled a moment later. Even though the armor made the knight look collected and serious, it seemed that he was someone quite likeable. His tone of voice at no point indicated displeasure or boredom, and at the same time, he seemed quite excited for it all. 

Unfortunately, I’ll have to crush his dreams. 

Amber wasn’t planning to spend too long on this after all. She sensed Aurelia approaching through Crimson Sense⁠— once more. Did the skill just sense blood regardless if it was spilled or not? Amber pondered for a moment before Aurelia spoke. 

“The duel will begin in: three…” 

Amber gripped at her sword and the knight went on guard. 

“Two…”

She readied to use the 3rd Rank of Quick Step. 

“One…”

Amber’s gaze focused as she bit her tongue, drawing blood. 

“Fight!” 

And she disappeared from her spot. She immediately appeared above the knight, swinging with the blunt side of Cursewelder. His back was wide open. It happened in a blink, and there was no way for him to react, even if he had sensory skills to aid him. 

Amber smiled as her sword encroached⁠.

I won⁠— 

And he blocked. It happened in an instant, Amber hadn’t even been able to see him turn. From one moment to the other, he changed positions without motion inbetween⁠— 

Dirt exploded and the knight’s boots dug into the ground from the strength of the hit. Though, Amber couldn’t help but frown⁠— his strength was similar to hers, if not slightly higher. 

Cursed Supreme Momentum immediately kicked in as she landed and then⁠— Amber crouched and did a sweeping hit that was deflected at inhuman speeds. Amber frowned at that as she was forced to back off. 

The knight raised his sword. “Accelerate.”

Danger⁠— 

Amber increased the momentum to the max and blocked⁠— the sword of the knight hit at the same time. Her boots gritted through the grass, and once more she found herself surprised. If it hadn’t been for Sharp Instincts that attack would’ve well dug into her throat in a fraction of a second. 

The knight, Charles, didn’t chase, instead stood there on guard, and Amber found herself smiling. Her heart had just skipped a beat just now. 

I guess I should take this seriously. Amber raised her sword. Turns out, the princess wasn’t joking about wanting to see me giving it my all. 

Of course, Amber still wasn’t going to use curses⁠, but she was most definitely going to use everything else at her disposal. 

 

* * * 

 

Ave had just finished gathering the group of Royal Knights she was meant to train for the day when she heard shocking news. News that she almost couldn’t believe. 

Amber was fighting Charles. 

Charles was the personal knight of the princess, and aside from those that worked directly under the king he was most definitely the strongest Royal Knight around in spite of his level. Needless to say the news ⁠— that were brought by a worried butler who hoped the duel would stop before anybody got hurt ⁠— caused an uproar. 

Needless to say that nobody planned to stop the duel, instead everyone had practically begged her to go see⁠ ⁠— given that they would be heavily reprimanded without permission if they went ⁠— Ave was left to make the decision. 

The very obvious decision to go watch. 

Not only did she want to see it, it would probably be a very enlightening experience for the Royal Knights. While normally she dreaded being the captain in charge of training when it was her turn, today she was delighted. 

They were all rushing through the castle halls to arrive at the training camp, and it wasn’t a brisk walk rushing⁠— it was a full sprint to see this unexpected event. It had taken one whole minute to arrive from the barracks all the way to the garden. And when they did⁠— an explosion of dirt ocurred. 

Multiple knights gasped and Ave too was shocked. Amber had the Cursewelder⁠— they had only heard rumors of its existence, but multiple people had recognized it immediately based on descriptions. A massive sword⁠— one that had carvings and looked unassuming yet made the people in its presence fear. 

Was that the reward the king had given her? 

Ave didn’t know, but regardless, the shock wore off a moment later as Amber disappeared and attacked Charles, it happened in a blink and yet the knight was able to fend it without problems⁠— well if no problems meant the ground splitting open from the sheer strength of the attack. 

Their ferocious exchange continued, and even though Amber was relentless and a good fighter, Charles was just faster⁠— he sliced her cheek open, causing her to grit her teeth. And then, touching her own blood she⁠— evaporated it? It nearly combusted into flames as the wound closed, and Ave couldn’t help but blink.

Wasn’t she supposed to be a Cursebearer? No⁠— Amber did something similar during her fight with the demon. 

Which meant⁠—

Amber vanished and swung upon Charles, then with a different hit she swung upwards and⁠— a large flaming sword manifested cleaving through the knight’s shoulder. He grunted before he deflected the weapon away and when he did, it turned to dust absorbed by the Cursewelder. It was the exact same sword she had used against the demon. 

And of course, everyone gasped⁠— not at the fact that she pulled out a sword out of thin air but at the fact that she had hit him and injured him. 

“Well done!” 

“I don’t need your praise,” Amber snapped and appeared behind him, kicking. 

Her boot dug into his chest and sent him flying, and a laugh echoed in the air as the knights couldn’t believe what they were seeing. She was beating him. Sure, to Ave it shouldn’t have been surprising, but Amber wasn’t using curses out of respect to the fact it was a duel, which meant⁠— 

These were the best conditions for Charles given he can go all out. 

After all, just like Amber, he had a rare class and a Legacy Branch. 

 

* * * 

 

Amber wanted to end this, and she was serious, she was using all of the skills she could use to the fullest. To allowing herself to be hit so she could store more rage in order to make her next attack much stronger, to using Quick Dash’s 3rd Rank on demand. She even took out the Flamecursed Sword for a second to injure the man she was fighting. Cursed Supreme Momentum and Crimson Fervor had long peaked. 

But in spite of all her attempts she couldn’t truly overwhelm him, sure he was getting injured but⁠— 

Amber had her shoulder clipped by his sword, it happened in a blink and she hadn’t been fast enough to defend it. And this wasn’t the only time it happened, it had happened multiple times before that. Yet for some reason, the knight had been on the defensive so far. 

I can just use Curse Manipulation to negate the curse so⁠— She stomped. 

The knight was discombobulated as she smiled and then, she appeared in front of him swinging with the backside of her sword. She hit his chest and made an enormous dent as he spat blood and was sent flying, but Amber didn’t stop there, the hit hadn’t been enough to throw him out of the arena. 

So, she rushed with two Quick Steps and arrived in front of him and punched⁠— an uppercut hit the knight across the chin as blood splattered from his visor. At that, everyone gasped, but Amber wasn’t going to have any mercy instead, she used the fact that the knight was thrown off to do a wide swing that would throw him away once in for all. 

And it hit⁠— the knight, Charles, didn’t so much as move as blood came from underneath his helmet. Amber paused at that before she felt sudden danger, but it was too late. In a single blink, he appeared in front of her and⁠— headbutted. 

Amber’s world spun, she was suddenly in a tremendous amount of pain, which didn’t make sense to her. It was as if her entire body was destroyed in a single blink, multiple bones were fractured, but it didn’t stop there. 

Charles swung his sword and even though Amber blocked it, her chest was still somehow dented⁠— multiple ribs broke as she was sent flying across the arena. And it didn’t stop there, he kicked and even though it shouldn’t have been a painful kick. It made Amber vomit a mouthful of blood before she was grabbed and thrown away at a ridiculous strength⁠—

In a single moment she landed into the flowers, destroying the beautiful garden and leaving a trail of blood behind her. And Amber, even though she was injured, she couldn’t understand what the fuck had happened. 

What the hell is that⁠— and she broke into a coughing fit as her bones rearranged back into position. The spectating knights, meanwhile had lost their minds. 

She turned only to see Charles walking towards her, except he was limping and she could hear his ragged breaths, clearly it hadn’t been an easy fight for him either. But, Amber nonetheless, was confused. 

She had had the edge the entire time, and from one moment to another, she was annihilated and thrown away like a trashbag to the curve. Not only that, but she had received grievous injuries in nothing short of a mere breath. 

The knight arrived in front of her, and Amber was still pretty damn injured, so she couldn’t help but ask. 

“Can you let me touch the blood on your helmet?”

 

* * * 

 

“As expected of Charles, there is no way he could lose!” 

“What are you saying, that is Amber we are talking about, I’m surprised she lost! I heard she cleared ten dungeons in a single night, you know?”

“That’s right, did you not see her fight that huge demon?! It was damn bloodied!” 

Ave shook her head at the knights, they were all fervently discussing if it was a righteous victory or not. Thankfully, it seemed that the overwhelming majority think Amber should have won. She wasn’t the hero of the kingdom for no reason. 

“Captain Ave, what do you think of that fight?” 

Ave turned only to see Captain Lars, the captain that had spearheaded the interrogation of the Risnar and Starkell houses and the captain she had initially started the raid on the demon headquarters with. 

“It was an excellent fight.” She nodded. 

“Indeed,” he agreed immediately. “Amber is someone that doesn’t cease to surprise me, I saw her fight twenty cultists at once and come out on top with ease.”

Ave chuckled at that. “Should’ve seen fight that level 140 curse mage. Not only did he summon demons in desperation, which Amber torched immediately. He also demonified himself and got his arm chopped off in a moment.”

“Oh, tell me about that,” Lars seemed greatly interested. 

“Well, he unleashed a blast that could easily kill a level 150 with curses and Amber took it head on, apparently not even a normal Cursebearer would be able to survive that.” Ave shrugged. “Or so the mage said, and Amber said it felt as if she had taken the best nap of her life.”

At that, her fellow captain broke out in a bellowing laughter. 

“Interesting! She is truly one of a kind, no wonder she befriended the Primordial Spirit and made Oracle that damn angry.”

“Oh, she did make him fucking furious.” Ave nodded in agreement.

Then, the two watched as Amber touched Charles’ helmet, evaporating the blood on it. It was a nice gesture all things considered, and she couldn’t help but overhear the knights. 

“What a fight! I’m fired up now!” 

“We have to spar with them!”

“Let’s ask the Captain!”

At that, Lars turned to her. “Well, looks like you’ll be busy, so I’ll take my leave.”

Ave nodded, and then, she was faced with a barrage of twenty enthusiastic knights. 

 

* * * 

 

Amber combusted Charles’ blood and immediately saw a great increase in her healing. In just a couple of seconds she’d be back to new, though⁠— the knight offered his hand to help her stand. Amber took it, and she couldn’t help but ask. 

“Why were you holding back the entire time?”

At that the knight chuckled. “Holding back, what?” 

Amber fully stood up as she watched Charles shake his head. 

“There was no holding back, the only reason I won is because you didn’t use curses, otherwise I most certainly would have died in a serious battle,” he stated. “Which I appreciate.” 

She raised her brow. “But you broke every bone in my body in a blink?”

“Yes, because the entire duel I was accumulating the damage you did to me, its part of my special class⁠— in fact, I can accumulate the damage I deal to others too, and can also take the damage of others,” he explained. “Then I can unleash it.”

“So you moving fast is…” Amber wasn’t too sure about saying it outloud so she whispered. “Your Legacy Branch, not your class.”

“So you figured I have one?” he said, glee in his voice. 

“It’s not that hard to guess,” she snorted.

Charles ignored Amber’s comment and nodded. “It’s called, Flash Swordsmanship, and it allows me to remove the time between sword-techniques to zero, but at the cost of great stamina. That’s the simplified version of it.”

“Huh…”

“So, what’s yours called⁠—”

And clapping entered both of their ears. They turned to see the princess walking up to them, or more specifically Amber. 

“That was amazing, thank you!” She was clearly happy. “I appreciate you honoring my request.”

“Oh, yeah.” Amber had forgotten all about that already. “You’re welcome.”

“And here is your gold,” she said handing over a bag.

Amber accepted it, and then threw it into her ring; which took a minuscule amount of space in it. And then, when she thought she was done, she was approached by multiple knights, all asking the same thing.

“Amber, I want to spar with you!”

“Please hear me out!” 

“Our captain has given us permission to duel, let’s do it!” 

All at once, she was faced with a over half of all the knights asking her to duel⁠— while the rest were asking Charles for a duel. And just when she was about to decline, Charles spoke.

“Now, now. If we do it like this, it will take all day.” He shook his head. “So instead, how about we spar you all at once.”

Amber blinked at that. 

“Me and Amber, versus all of you.” 

At that, there was an uproar, then Charles turned to her. 

“Unless you don’t want to.”

However, contrary to his expectations, Amber immediately nodded. 

“Let’s do it, sounds damn fun.”

After her spar, she was itching for more, and fighting twenty level 140 knights at once just sounded like her cup of tea. At her response, Charles turned towards the crowd. 

“Alright, bring the healers!” 

 

* * *

 

It had taken a few minutes for the duel to start, if it could even be called a duel; it was a two versus twenty. During the waiting time, Amber got to see Charles’ face since he removed his helmet, and he looked to be in his late twenties with a rather good appearance. He had black hair and black eyes as well as a rather well defined jaw-line. Ave stared at him for quite a while, which made Amber raise a brow, but she didn’t question it.

No one did, everyone was waiting for the healers to arrive so that the duel could begin. It was the entire reason as to why there was an atmosphere of excitement and anticipation all around. 

And by the time they arrived everyone was ready to fight, and Aurelia, the princess, announced the start of the duel mere seconds after. 

“Fight!” 

And all of the knights rushed at her. 

“Do not disappoint me, Amber,” Charles said, grinning. 

“Given your classes, I should be the one saying that to you,” Amber retorted before smiling. “I can fight for weeks after all.”

Charles chuckled at that, and the first knight arrived in front of Amber. 

“Got you!” 

He swiped and Amber dodged to the side before kicking him away. The air was knocked out if his lungs as he was thrown away, rolling on the ground. And it didn’t stop there as Amber was attacked by three knights at once. 

She swiped her sword and two blocked, one was disarmed and pushed away. One of the other two gritted his teeth.

“I’ll take you seriously then, vanish!” 

He swung in a blink and Amber was actually forced to take a step back, but it didn’t end there as she saw a knight mage aiming his staff at her and shouted⁠—

“Blast!”

Amber barely dodged it with Quick Step only to run straight into a blade. It pierced through her shoulder as the knight stabbing grinned.

“Admit defeat!” 

As much as Amber wished it was an easy duel, it wasn’t. Fighting so many people at once without full use of her arsenal was hard⁠. Though at this point, she considered not using curses as part of training herself, but she most certainly wasn’t going to give up because it was damn fun.

“No!”

And she headbutted the man. He screamed as he let go of the sword, and Amber removed the sword and used it to parry a different blade before throwing it at a mage who was forced to dodge. 

Then she turned as three knights were thrown away by Charles, all of them exiting the arena and immediately losing out the duel. 

Oh⁠— Amber had entirely forgotten that she was meant to win. 

She ducked beneath a sword swing and then threw the Cursewelder into her ring before grabbing him by the arms and doing a spinning throw⁠— the knight went flying and was caught by someone else to prevent them from exiting the arena. 

And at that sight, Amber couldn’t help but laugh. 

She dodged more attacks and attacked back⁠—

This is fun! 

And just like that, she enjoyed the first of many duels.