3 Duel
Axel and Lily were both eating breakfast together. Their father weren't there this time. They didn't really mind that. He was always rarely present in their life.
They were eating their food while occasionally talking.
"Don't forget that we will spar after."
Lily reminded him in case he forgot. She didn't want her father to throw a tantrum just for that.
"Oh...and please fight seriously. Don't you know that is the reason why he views you so unfavorably?"
Axel nodded his head while eating his food. It's not that he was going easy. All his fighting skills were honed from the battlefield.
If he used any of these, it would be deadly. He didn't want to hurt his little sister so he had to try another style of fighting.
When both of them finished eating, they headed towards the training field.
Many burly men were either wrestling, sword fighting or gun training.
When they saw the two siblings, they immediately stopped all their actions and performed a salute.
Just the sound of their fists pounding simultaneously on their chests sounded like a shotgun getting shot.
Axel looked coldly at all the soldiers. In his eyes, all these salutes were directed towards his little sister.
That could be easily seen. Their eyes were looking at her, their body were facing her and even it looked like the fist on their hands were pointing at her!
After performing the salute, they went away from the training field and formed a circle around it.
This would be the place where their spar would begin.
While Axel and Lily were stretching, Baston arrogantly walked out from a window of the mansion and looked at them. The mansion wasn't too far from them so everyone could hear and see his entry.
Lily finished her stretching. She smiled towards her father before taking a wooden sword and entered the circle.
Axel too was done but he didn't even glance at Baston at all. He immediately took his straining sword and headed in the circle.
They both looked at each other. The match had already started the moment he entered the ring.
Lily had no stance on at all. She just held her sword with a hand while pointing it towards the ground.
Axel held his sword with his two hands and slowly circled around Lily, waiting for an opening to appear.
The rules were simple, if you get hit, you lose. They had to act seriously because in a real sword fight, the same rules were applied. Just the effect of a small cut could affect the whole battle.
Lily stayed still while Axel slowly approached her.
If he were battling an enemy, he wouldn't even put on a decent stance. He would do everything to stay unpredictable.
Right now, he was circling around her in order to find an opening but if he were serious, it would be him the one who created the openings and weaknesses.
Axel slowly approached Lily step by step. When close enough, he leaped towards her and performed a horizontal slash aiming her shoulders.
She easily parried the hit while taking a step inwards. Lily didn't wait for Alfred to do any other actions and immediately sent the tip of her sword hanging under his neck.
"You lost. We still have nine matches to go."
Axel snorted and coldly brushed the wooden sword off his neck.
As usual, Lily's stance was just her standing there with her sword in one hand. She smiled at him and advanced in his direction.
This time, she was no longer in defensive. She casually walked to him as if she was going on stroll.
Alfred carefully held his sword with two hands in front of him. He looked at her and analyzed her every movement.
'From below'
He took a step backwards while parrying the fast sword slash below him. Her hand slightly shot backwards from the parry, leaving her chest and head while open
Alfred took this opportunity to step in and thrusted his swords straight to her stomach.
This was a close call but Lily sidestepped just in time and sent a kick right to his face.
Alfred got hit and painfully fell backwards. The girl didn't hold back at all!
He stood back up and wiped his nose that was bleeding with his sleeves.
Lily just smiled at him as if signaling him that he should start being serious or else...
"Oh dear brother! Why are nose bleeding? Do you enjoy getting hit? Such a pervert you are?!"
Not only that she also humiliates him by telling these sarcastic words.
'This girl...'
He put up his stance, with his sword raised above him, he coldly rushed to her while she was still mocking him.
Lily, as if she already anticipated his action dodged his downward slash.
She immediately caught Axel arm and threw him on the dusty training field's floor.
She let go off him and stepped on his head, burrowing his face deep into the dirty field.
"That's all you could do brother?!"
Axel put his hands on the ground in the way it looked like he was about to do a pushup.
He pushed with all his force, at the same time pushing off Lily's foot while taking her off balance.
He slowly stood up and wiped the dust obstructing his view.
When his view got restored, a punch was what he saw heading towards his neck!
Amazingly, he managed to catch it with his hand! It should be noted punch has a very high speed that even dodging it at close distance is hard. Don't even mention catching it!
Actually, this is the very first time he ever caught a punch in his whole entire life!
Lily didn't really give him much time to think of what happened earlier and launched her other fist.
Her eyes widened in shock seeing how he still managed to catch her other punch!
The shock in her eyes became anger and the anger became distain!
"You think you're strong!"
She used her Waves and attacked Axel's mind directly making him release her fist due to the pain in his head.
He quickly used his Waves to counter hers but only managed to slightly reduce the pain. It was obvious that Lily's Waves were superior in strength.
Axel was too distracted by the pain but he didn't notice Lily raising her knee in attempt to launch a front kick!
It was too late! She shot her foot with all her strength to his stomach!
The hit was so powerful that he flew two meters backwards!
Lily put her hands on her waists and smiled at the boy puking out his breakfast.
"I won again...brother!"
They continued on fighting until all the ten matches were done. Axel won none of them.
By the time they were done, Axel's clothes were full of dirt, his whole body was in pain and his mind still hurt him.
He still considered himself lucky that she didn't use her Waves to influence the real world or else she wouldn't even need to move to defeat him.
He patted his sleeves with his hands wanting to remove all the dirt from it.
It was a funny action because it is not only his sleeves that were dirty but rather his whole body!
The soldiers were laughing but they still tried to surprise it in respect of his rank. Nonetheless, it could still be heard.
Axel didn't mind at all and continued on emotionlessly patting his clothes.
Suddenly, all the laughters and mockery ended!
A powerful and rough voice resounded from the mansion. It was his dad Baston!
"Weak! You dare call yourself a Nightmare. Getting beaten by your little sister that is two years younger than you!"
"You expect yourself to be able to lead 20 men with such meagre skill! Lieutenant?! You should get demoted to a foot soldier!"
He went back inside the house but before completely disappearing, he turned around and talked to Lily.
"You were kind of good today girl. Take something for yourself in the armory."
After his words, he finally left leaving the two siblings staring at each other strangely like usual.
Lily scratched her head looking at her big brother, thinking she might have went to far.
Sometimes, there were moments were she couldn't control her emotions at all. Sometimes she just wanted to be like her brother...um...emotionless?
It doesn't really matter. At least he could control his.
That was atypical morning in the Nightmare family. The next thing to do was take a good refreshing bath and change in a new set of clean clothes.
Axel sat on the sofa while drying his hair with a towel. Lily walked in the room and sat next to him.
"How about I give you the reward in the armory?"
He took of the towel of his head, reveling his long silver hair reaching till his shoulders. His deep red eyes stared at hers making Lily slightly shiver.
The white hair and red eyes were the characteristics of the Nightmare family but Lily sometimes hated seeing Axel's eyes. Even though she too had similar eyes, his had a certain special strange feeling.
She then realized that she was daydreaming! She was always there looking into his eyes!
Axel didn't react nor respond or even shift his gaze away! He just stared at her with his usual cold face.
She regained conscious and asked her question again.
"So do you want to or not?"
Axel just shook his head, signaling that he didn't need it.
"So just tell me what you want! Please! My actions earlier were unforgivable! I was acting...just like 'him'!"
Hearing her, Axel silently thought about how she acted earlier.
She might not know it but her whole character changes when she is in battle mode. Maybe the fact of me catching her fist triggered her and caused her anger.
The Nightmares were famous for their furiousness in battle. He didn't really blame her.
Knowing her personality, Axel knew this would put a big burden on Lily's back if she doesn't repay him back.
He thought for a moment and looked at his ring.
"Do you still have some of that rare rock that helps you affects the real world? I'll really need it in my next mission tomorrow. Father used his connection to put me in a hard situation. Don't worry I'll pay for it."
Lily slightly frowned hearing his demand. She raised her eyebrow and asked him.
"Do you have any plans today?"
Axel shook his again. Of course, he had school today but he is a Lieutenant! Why still go to school?
The only reason he was sent there was to show that a young man like him was already more powerful than other youngsters.
He even still had to go to a mission the day after tomorrow and it's duration was still unknown!
She led him in the mansion's garage and entered a small spaceship. She activated the autopilot and typed the destination's coordinates.
"You don't EVER tell anyone what you will see nor what will happen!"
Axel looked at the young girl leisurely sitting down with her hands on her head. Sometimes she didn't sound like her age at all...neither did he.
The ship suddenly stopped somewhere in a deserted place. They were still within the Base A-2's perimeter but the conditions of living were so bad that it was deserted.
It slowly landed towards the sandy floor but while it was falling down, a mechanical voice resounded in the ship.
<<Identifying ship...Ship identified...Disarming security measures...You are free to enter>>
The sandy floor suddenly opened up, leaving an entrance that was big enough to fit the ship.
The ship automatically entered the gap sit slowly closed up, leaving the dessert there as if nothing happened at all.
