Luxen von Haven

The reason I was so focused on my first adversary was because they were the sibling of Anabelle. His name was Luxen. He was Anabelle's twin, that much was obvious by their appearances and names. All I can hope in this battle is that Anabelle didn't tell him anything about our fight.

Luxen looked literally identical to Anabelle, except he simply had shorter hair. He was a cute boy and from the way he carried himself he seemed a little shy. He stood opposite me as we got into our positions.

We technically hadn't been called to the field but I was attempting to escape Tanya, and since he seemed to know me, he followed. There was no one out to over see the fight, since they weren't expecting this so we stood in silence for a moment.

"Your, Alice the one who beat my sister correct?" He asked his voice was not loud but projected enough so that I could hear it at least.

I nodded "It was fun."

He seemed to have decided something as he drew his sword. It was a rapier with a slightly wider blade. "I see, so that means that your strong. I wont hold back, I have to defeat you" His declaration battle wasn't like the loud threatening war cry that his sister had, but it had a resolute force that carried arguably more meaning.

" I look forward to it." I smiled and got my knives ready.

Since I couldn't use magic or have access to my inventory I decided to just bring a sword, two daggers, and a collection of throwing knives. This was to help in my constantly shifting battle style I had developed. Each weapon had a range, a field of attack that would be effective, too close or far and the attack wouldn't work. My solution was to use multiple weapons to cover for that, and because of the nature of my magic it was pretty easy to seamlessly shift between them. I don't typically have to do this, but I couldn't use magic in this so I had to pull out all the stops to win, especially if he is anything like his sister.

" Good luck." I heard Luxen say

" Same to you." I replied with a smile. He grounded himself and looked away.

'cute'

"The match between Alice and Luxen von Haven will now begin. The rules are simple, the first to incapacitate or land a fatal strike on your opponent wins. Both participants prepare yourselves." The ref interrupted our little conversation.

"Begin."

Luxen got deeper into his stance and took a deep breath, before his hands and feet ignited similar to his sister, and he charged forward. He was freaking fast, that in conjunction with the fact I thought the dome around the arena prevented the use of magic took me off guard.. He appeared before me and he slashed toward my neck. I barely ducked under his attack, he continued his assault and I gracefully dodged them buy a hair length each time. He was faster than me but I had some of the most utterly absurd instincts, reaction times, and a passive ability to cover the rest, that even at a disadvantage in speed I could at least keep up. I couldn't counter attack though. It took a while but I managed to dodge his assault until he slipped up, paused or hesitated. I threw an attack but he managed to slip into a stance, block and counter attack.

He would attack for my throat I would pivot myself sideways to dodge. He attacked my shins, I would step back, if he attacked my chest I would dodge to the opposite side. Any attack that managed to almost hit me I would block with my knives, or my sword, whichever was the most optimal at the time. He occasionally would use a sword art called triple strike. Simple in definition it was three really fast strikes in quick succession and I had a very hard time blocking that attack. I couldn't dodge so, I had to use my daggers and a throwing knife that I grabbed with my tail to barely being able to make it out unscathed every time. When a strike would hit the knife my tail was holding a small shock would travel through it and it felt really uncomfortable, but from experience, being stabbed hurt worse so I had to push through it.

The annoying part about the fight was the only sword art he could use that put me in a pickle was one that didn't cost all that much. He could fire it off frequently, but he realized I could block it so he only used it when I was in a bad spot for it. Though I wasn't any better. He attacked me with more skills than I attacked him, but my combinations were annoying too. I would Attack with the sword, abandon the attack spin around him and attack his unguarded, sides and back with my knives, and retreat. I had my tail so I could retrieve my sword once I let go. He still managed to avoid or block every strike

This followed the same pattern until we were both panting. I had managed to dodge or deflect everything he threw at me with with minimal movement and he continued to attack with extreme speed. Every time he faltered in some way I could press forward, disorient him, and counter attack, for a second before he blocked it, and the game of cat and mouse continued again. It got to the point where a winner practically couldn't be decided. He couldn't hit me and I couldn't hit him no matter what technique was used no matter what tactic or weapon was used we couldn't touch each other.

The match had been going on for a while, and while it was getting harder to dodge, he was getting slower and more fatigued too, making his strikes easier to dodge, looping back to not changing how the fight progressed at all. Finally I managed to knock him off balance, and this strike was a last ditch effort. We actually hadn't tried everything. Arts use stamina, some take a lot others take little. If we used the wrong ones the match would have been over earlier, and whoever threw the attack would have lost. I was getting tired, and I couldn't keep dodging, he was much the same. If it fails I lose, if it works I win.

The art was called boulder split and it was a vertical strike that took a lot of stamina but it hit hard and fast. My sword started glowing a gold color and it shifted to white as the strike was readied over my head. That wasn't supposed to happen.

The attack was launched at a far faster speed than any of my other attacks previously. luxen had initially anticipated to block it, but he then felt extreme danger and tried to bail completely on the notion of blocking. He managed to get out of range of the direct hit of my attack, but he was still knocked back by the shockwaves the followed. Both of our weapons were shattered by the attack, we were only left with shards of metal on the ground, and two practically useless guards.

I was shocked but realized he had no way to defend himself so thinking quickly I chase after him. I manage to trip him as he got up and tried to make some distance. We wrestled on the ground until I was sitting on his chest and had pinned his shoulders on the ground. I pressed a knife that I had grabbed with my tail against his throat putting just enough pressure to lightly draw blood.

" Winner Alice!" I heard call from somewhere behind me. As soon as I heard those words I fell forward onto my opponent, my chest hitting him in the face and I rolled off to my side. I had seriously underestimated this competition.

I gazed aimlessly at the sky as my body was aching from the fight, it was annoying that this was the first fight. I looked over at my opponent, and he too was panting heavily as we both just laid sprawled out on the ground. We laid there until we were forced to get off the ring. As we were parting he looked totally defeated, not like he had lost a simple battle more like he just realized he was bound to lose a war he was fighting. Our eyes met and I gave him a small tired smile. He seemed surprised, and replied in kind.

The tiredness immediately left as I stepped out of the barrier and felt my hair stand on end. I looked to my destination to see everyone smiling at me. One of which was a wolf in sheeps clothing. I remembered Tanya's rage from before my match and decided it would be wise to not return, so I turned to follow Luxen instead.

Since I was finally out of the barrier that prevented the use of magic, I used moonlight magic to help myself recover more quickly. It won't be perfect but I should be fine for my next round, as long as it doesn't end up the same way my first one did. I walked around arena to the section where Luxen was waiting with the rest of the people from haven.

"How pitiful, someone from the Royal family got knocked out of the competition in his first match." I heard one of the other people in his group snark. Luxen's face visibly sank.

A hand full of laughts rose around them.

"Shut up. You couldn't do better even of you tried." I yelled at the guy who said that " and you, Anebelle why wont you defend you brother?"

" What are you talking about my brother wasn't in any danger?" She seemed completely oblivious to the blatantly obvious stab at her brother.

" Wow ... Your an awful sister you know that. I thought you were a decent person, guess I was wrong." I was more than a little irritated at Anabelle's actions. I may have said a little more than I meant, but what kind of person doesn't stand up for their family? Yes he wasn't in physical danger but That doesn't mean he won't be hurt.

" A-Alice what are you doing? Why are you over here?" Luxen stuttered and his shy temperament seemed to take over. He wasn't nearly this reserved as he was trying to take my head off.

"You damn Demi-human, your good for nothings that are meant to be nothing more than servants and playthings." The same boy who verbally attacked Luxen then lashed out at me.

" I highly recommend that you stop talking before I seriously hurt you." I said in an impassive voice.

"Yah right you barely beat the royal failure. You would lose so fast." The guy retorted

"Roland shut up." Anabelle finally intervened, half heartedly, she seemed lost in deep thought.

"B-but ... " He seemed shocked. He wanted to say something else but his better judgement told him not to disobey her.

"You couldn't beat my brother in a real fight, were not allowed to use Lions Mantle against our allies, so of course you've beaten my brother. She not only managed to keep up with him with it partially activated, but I've fought her once. And I lost horribly. You wouldn't last a second. Wasn't she the one who knocked you out in the preliminaries anyways?" Anabelle's statement seemed, to draw everyone's attention.

" You beat Anabelle?" The boy's resolve seemed to be crushed even further

"Yah, I beat her. It wasn't that hard to be honest." I yawned a bit, The moonlight magic was making me a little sleepy. Might have to tone it down a bit.

"Though I wont deny that, you could have been a little more tactful couldn't you?" She asked a little hurt.

" How did you beat her? I'm sure you must have cheated somehow." The boy yelled

" No she didn't cheat. She's a mage, her physical ability is completely abnormal for one though." Anabelle replied " I am curious, why were you so much slower in that battle than in our bout?"

" I wasn't allowed to use magic."

"But I thought you used Moonlight magic like Finny?" Anabelle asked intrigued.

" Who said that was it?" I asked

" You can use more?!" Anabelle seemed surprised.

" Can't say." I yawned again. I could really use a power nap.

" Hey, Luxen." I called, as he sat down

" Can I sleep on your lap? Thanks. Be sure to wake me up when it's my time to fight again." I laid my head on his lap, and passed out.

"Come on you've got to tell me what else you can do. I didn't get to see anything else from our fight." Anabelle's words fell on deaf ears, or rather asleep ears.

" Alice, don't ignore me."

" Sister, she's asleep."

"Asleep? How could she have fallen asleep that fast?!"

" How am I supposed to know I'm not a girl." Luxen's words earned him a glare from his sister.

" How dare you, You've gotten quite the lip from that girl. Your still a disgrace to the royal family." Anabelle's face turned into a sneer. While Luxen flinched at the quick personality turn of his sister.

" I'm not a mistake!" Luxen muttered.

" What was that you pathetic excuse for a brother?" She mocked

Luxen voice then boomed drowning the sound of the entire arena. An entire arena full of thousands of people yelling and cheering drowned by the voice of one lone boy. In a loud roar Luxen shouted at his sister " I said, I am not a mistake! Just because your my twin and you were gifted the full power of Lions Mantle, doesn't mean I'm a mistake nor does it mean that I'm any less than you are! I'm tired of always living in your shadow, While I'm out training your gossiping with the other useless nobles, While I'm studying tactics while your playing with the thousands of toys you don't even have a use for. Everything that I have to work for you are given, anything I have to train for you have the natural talent to achieve with little effort, You have everything that I have ever wanted. Popularity, Power, the approval of our parents the love of our siblings. Everything that was supposed to be shared between us the moment we were born twins. All the fun times we had together before then, everything I held dear was taken away from me and given to you. And now you walk all over me, like I'm nothing more than a tool. No even less than that, you treat your slaves better than you treat your own brother. It's sickening."

The boom of his voice had caught the attention of the whole crowd, even the fighters in the ring had stopped fighting, and looked towards the commotion. The one who was most in shock was Anabelle. She was shaking, writhing with rage.

I had actually waken up when Anabelle had shouted about me being asleep, rather ironic. I had just now pieced together something, Anabelle's kindness was a farce. Not, just to me but to everyone, but the ones she held close to her. That's why everyone who knew her seemed scared of her, and that's why she was being so nice. That's also why her friends seemed surprised when she scolded them. And that also explained the things I heard from the townsfolk.

I didn't mention it because I saw it not important to discuss but during my time with nothing to do I wandered. I listened. People would often tell of the magnificent Anabelle Haven. The second princess of the royal family and how refined and righteous she is. I also heard about people starting a petition to have her named the heir of the royal family. listening around I heard a lot of such comments. things like she's the perfect candidate, and that her eldest brother is too uncaring to lead the country.

I initially thought that it was cool that she was well known but the amount that she was brought up was starting to be a little suspicious to me. I don't know how royalty works or if they're hot topics but Anabelle in particular was a citizen favorite.

Now I think I understand what was going on though. I think I remember reading about people like her. They hide their true colors from public to keep appearances and seem like an absolute angle and an advocate of justice, so that it wouldn't be their word against the person they wronged it would be her and everyone that has seen her, or heard of her, or in this case, convince the general public she is an angle so that she would be named the new heir to the throne. Either way it was the definition of a two-faced bitch.

Her plan was actually pretty smart. If she convinced the public that she was a perfect human being, and played to the general unrest that her older brother has caused, then they will want her, a child of royal decent to be their next ruler. Though this kingdoms is a monarchy, the king is obligated in a certain sense to appease his subjects. If he tries to force all of his people into submission there will be a revolt, and in worse case a rebellion. Therefore, he would have to relent because there is no reason for him to decline their request. Even if he knew of her true nature, his testimony wont be able to snuff out the lie that had been rooted in the people for all that time. They will just think he's playing favorites and that would only further solidify their want for it. All she would need to do nothing but look pretty, say some pretty bull shit every once in a while and keep her actions in check and she'd be fine. No hard work involved.

However her plans didn't account for her twin brother growing a pair in the span of a few seconds. This was a complete shell shock to her and because this newfound confidence in her brother was completely foreign, she was afraid of it. She would be something she needed to crush immediately. I could feel a smile crawl onto my face growing wider and wider as I continued my act of sleeping. I hate people who lie to me. Especially the malicious ones. Her façade was about to come to an end and I was going to enjoy every second of it.