32 Duel

Back Garden, Border Town.

The garden was full of people, from the Witch Union like Anna and Nightingale to some important people like Chief Knight Carter Lannis.

All the people were staring at Ashes, she was in the middle of the garden calmly waiting.

Sensing so many witches, Ashes was slightly surprised.

Suddenly, footsteps sounded and Roland appeared.

"Thank you everyone for taking your time to come here." Roland said to everyone, turned to Ashes and continued, "My guest here is a friend of my sister, Tilly Wimbledon. She came here under Calista suggestion."

"Calista? She came back?" Cara asked impatiently.

"No. She said to Ashes, my guest here, to come to Border Town." Roland responded and continued, "So, Ashes, why did Calista send you here?"

"... She said something about the world changing and to come here to check." Ashes responded calmly, "I came to see if the witches here were content but... looks like i didn't need to."

"Indeed. There is noone here that wants to go away." Nightingale said to Ashes.

"... I see... Calista said to me to come here with Tilly, but i need to be sure that it's absolutely safe." Ashes said to Roland and continued, "I don't trust you, Roland Wimbledon."

"What!!" Everyone said at the same time but Roland raised his hand and silenced everyone.

"What can i do so you can trust me?" Roland asked curiously.

"... A duel. If there is someone that can at least injury me and she trust you, so i will." Ashes responded.

"i see. So if someone wins against you, you trust their strength." Roland said.

"... Indeed." Ashes confirmed.

"What if someone that isn't a witch, win against you?" Roland asked curiously.

"... Are you making fun of me? Do you really think a normal person can win against me?" Ashes said frowning.

"Not only win. They can kill you easily." Roland said smirking.

"Tch..." Ashes responded annoyed.

"The duel will be in 5 days!" Roland said to everyone.

...

While walking in the castle, Ashes saw the same person making different works. 'Strange... Is she teleporting? or are they clones?' she thought curiously.

Suddenly, she encountered another witch, she was in the meeting earlier but didn't said anything.

"Hello, you're Ashes, right? I'm Wendy." Wendy said smiling to Ashes.

"... Hi." Ashes responded.

"You don't need to be preoccupied. Our reaction earlier was normal. After all, what if someone said to Tilly that they don't trust her. You would certainly be slightly offended, right?" Wendy said to Ashes while putting her hand on Ashes's shoulder.

"So, you will apologize, right?" Wendy said to Ashes.

"..." Feeling a strange pressure, Ashes was confused.

"Right?" Wendy asked again.

"... Sorry." Ashes said still confused.

"Good." Wendy said while leaving.

'What the...' Ashes thought while glaring the door.

...

5 days later, Back Garden, Border Town.

The back garden was full again, with Ashes and Chief Knight Carter glaring each other.

On Carter's hands, there were new weapons, 2 Revolvers.

Carter's attire was no longer like the heavy knight armor he wore in the past, rather he now wore leather clothes which were easy to move in. He even had a custom-made holsters at his waist, giving him the opportunity to insert a revolver on both the left and right sides separately.

In addition there was also a knife fitted horizontal on his back, which could be used in the case of an emergency. But Roland knew, if Carter had to fall back to using the knife during the fight with an extraordinary, it would be better to just throw in the towel.

Ashes was still wearing the same dress as usual, a black robe covered her whole body while her black hair was tied into a ponytail, which was falling naturally down behind her. Seemingly completely ignoring that this would create an extra weakness for herself. The only difference with now was, that the clothes wrapped around her great sword had been uncovered, showing her dark brown blade, which reflected almost no light.

When the two stepped on to the stage, Carter constantly adjusted their position, until they had a distance of around 15 meters between each other. At this distance, during his training he would have a more than 80% firing accuracy. Taking the two pistols out of his holsters, Carter checked for the last time whether there were any issues with the bullets or the barrel.

Seeing the weapons on his hands, Carter started to remember the training he had for 5 days.

...

( FLASHBACK )

After receiving the request by Roland, Carter arrived at the back garden once more.

"I'm supposed to be fighting against a witch?" Carter had been startled when he heard about the duel. "Can I wear a God's Stone of Retaliation?"

"Certainly," Roland smiled. "But unfortunately, you will be facing off against a unique type of witch who won't be affected by it, her method of fighting is also similar to that of a knight - she will even be using a greatsword."

"You mean to tell me, she's a witch that is a master at melee fighting?" Carter asked

"More or less. But because her ability is of the self-strengthening type, regardless of whether it is her strength or her speed, they will all be far beyond that of an ordinary human." Roland continued.

"You have to be mentally prepared. Her control over her body and her power is several times greater than yourself."

"Several times greater… Your Royal Highness, do you know what this means?" Carter was shocked and continued, "I will most probably be unable to keep up with her reaction speed, even if I'm carefully observing her movements. If she is as powerful as you say she is, I am afraid I won't be able to beat her."

"Theoretically speaking, your chance of winning is actually zero," the Prince confirmed, but he then handed him a strange firearm, "but by using this weapon, your chances of winning should increase dramatically."

"This is… a new gun?" Carter grabbed the weapon with both hands. Because the trigger and the barrel parts were very similar to that of a flintlock, the knight was also able to determine that it should belong to the same type of weapon. Even though its size wasn't as big as the former, after he held it in his hand it was still heavier than the former flintlock. Particularly noteworthy to him was that, with the exception of the handle, which was made out of wood, all the rest of the weapon was made out of metal. With its smooth lines and its sharp corners, as well as its light white metallic luster, the weapon was a thing of unspeakable beauty.

It was the first time he saw such a weapon, and he immediately fell in love with it.

"It is called a Revolver," Roland said, pulled out another weapon with the same shape, and let the beehive-like-wheel pop out to its left, "Now let me instruct you on how to use it."

Carter soon found out that its operation was simpler than that of the flintlock gun. The projectile and gunpowder had already been integrated into one unit, and as long as the cylinder was loaded it would be ready to fire. There were five holes in the cylinder, which meant that each cylinder could be filled with up to five rounds of ammunition. This was probably also the reason why it was classed as a revolver.

There was a hole where the revolver's hammer met the cylinder, if the hammer hit the hole, a spark would be created and a loud friction sound would then be heard.

'Maybe there is flint hidden inside it' Carter thought and continued, 'But this bullet's design really is much too incredible, this light-yellow shell is made out of a thin copper plate, and the body appears to be perfectly round but also totally smooth at the same time. I can't even see any cracks or gaps in the outer shell. The bullet's front is slender while its rear is as thick as my index finger. It fits very accurately into the holes in the cylinder. So beautiful.'

The distance to the target was ten meters, but apart from the issue with the distance, there was also the problem that the human- mark was only the size of one's hand. Carter took on a shooting stance in accordance with the teachings of His Highness. He then held the gun in both hands, leaned his body slightly forwards, aligned the barrel in line with the center of the target, and then pulled the trigger.

Sparks and gas were ejected from both sides of the wheel, and a loud noise hurt his ears. It felt like someone had shoved him backward, and his arms were also unconsciously pushed upwards. When the smoke finally cleared, the target still seemed to be intact.

"Go on," said Roland.

Carter took a deep breath, and then fired the remaining four bullets. However, the result was still the same, no bullet had hit the target.

"This…" Carter was shaken, but when he looked to His Royal Highness, he discovered that the latter didn't seem to care.

"With its shorter barrel, the pistol's accuracy and range aren't as good as the rifle's, so it's entirely reasonable for you to miss. Plus, the bullet's diameter is close to twelve millimeters. With the diameter to be nearly twelve millimeters, the recoil also has to be much larger than from the flintlock." The Prince began to explain, but Carter couldn't understand what he wanted to say to him. "All in all, you only have to follow my instructions and keep on practice a lot. If one day, before the duel, you are able to hit the target with all the five bullets, you will really a chance to win. Oh, and that's right… don't forget to collect the bullet casings, they can be reloaded and used more than once."

(END FLASHBACK)

...

Seeing Ashes and Carter in position, Roland said to everyone, "This duel isn't only to demonstrate to Ashes our trust but to demonstrate the power that everyone can have. No one is weak."

Roland had Echo mimic and amplify his voice, "The rules of the duel are simple:

-You are not allowed to move before the starting signal!

-You can always throw in the towel!

– As long as one of you do not receive an instant-kill, our healers healing abilities will be able to soon restored you to your original state!

Are there any questions left?"

After waiting for a moment and seeing that neither of them had anything to say, Roland went on and said, "When the bell rings, the duel will begin!"

'That strange weapon... It looks like a long-ranged weapon.' Ashes silently sized up her opponent.

Her opponent this time was the Prince's Chief Knight, but contrary to his rank, he didn't bear the common sword and shield, or spear equipment, he wasn't even dressed in his usual armor. The weapons in his hands looked very strange, but according to its shape, it obviously couldn't be regarded as a dagger or any other weapon related to the close fighting category. That meant that there was only one possibility left, it had to be similar to hand crossbows, which was a long-range striking weapon.

Against an extraordinary, crossbows were no threat at all, at least this was what she had learned on her own during a lot of fights. As long as it was a hand crossbows, she could even catch the flying arrows empty-handed. But when she looked at the Prince's confident expression, she knew that the weapons in her opponent's hands were more than likely not as simple a thing as an ordinary crossbow.

'I need to close our distance as soon as possible.' Ashes thought.

Her instincts told her, that she should close in to the knight as soon as possible, rather than waiting for the other side to release his external attack. Because of this plan, before the duel even started, Ashes thrust her sword into the ground, taking a pose that gave off no threat, but this was actually the most effective way for her to deal with an opponent using a crossbow.

At this moment, the crisp sound of a bell ringing could be heard coming from the direction of the wall.

Almost at the same time, Ashes firmly grasped the sword handle, putting all of her power into moving it forward. Throwing soil, grass, and even gravel into the sky with the wide side of her blade, letting it splash in the direction of the knight and forming a wall of sand between them.

The Chief Knight's reaction was also very fast, releasing a burst of flame from the arms in his hands, accompanied by a huge roar. But Ashes didn't see any arrows flying out of them, which means that he had either forgotten to install them or that they were coming too fast for her to see. Compared with the first option that would be considered an idiot mistake, Ashes thought that the latter option was much more likely.

Under the cover of the sand screen, Ashes started her sprint. Within the blink of an eye, the distance between the two of them was narrowed to half while the sand screen had still not yet completely landed on the ground. Most people would subconsciously try to avoid being covered by the flying dirt, so as long as she could interrupt the other side from continuing to shoot, Ashes has most likely already won.

But Carter did not move from his position, he completely disregarded the sand hitting his face, squinting his eyes together while constantly following the movement of the extraordinary with his weapons, once again pulling the triggers of his weapons and sending out another burst of flames and a roar. On a conditional reflex Ashes stepped to the side, but until now she had still not seen any arrows or any other projectiles coming at her, while the knight also didn't show any movement of pulling any strings or having to prepare the next arrow.

'This new weapon could probably be launched continuously, but since the first two consecutive shot have missed, the outcome has already been decid-!' Ashes thought but stopped mid-away.

Feeling pain on her stomach, Ashes lowered her head and saw 2 holes on her stomach; Seeing more and more blood coming out, she knew that she can't wait anymore.

Putting all of her power into moving it forward again, she saw again two burst of flames and roars, with more pain in her stomach.

Lowering her head again, she saw 2 new holes.

'... Looks like... i can't win...' Ashes thought while falling to the side.

"... Cara!... Nana!..." On her unconscious state, Ashes could hear Roland's voice.

"... i lost, huh.' Ashes thought and continued, 'Not bad... Not bad at all.'