Best Friend

Not only was he a boy of incredible promise, but born to the royal family and honoured with the great expectations of being the heir of the Empire. His life was filled with constant reminders of his position and each day he put in work for the sake of the words someone declared upon him. His power was great, but his motivation was non-existent.

The character of Roses and Gold I declared with a special nickname deserving for someone of his power and fate. Heartless Rogue, Chris Rosenheart.

A warrior with incredible power searching for something he could yearn for rather than have something be passed and given to him. In terms of pure combat and strength, I would say he rivals his sister and he could be much higher than the hero at the start of the game, but his unwilling heart and his conflicted mind restrained his strength. He settled for mediocrity and later in the game abdicated from the Empire to marry a poor girl out of love.

"So what are you wiling to offer up to me if you lose?" I asked again, his face blankly staring at me.

His eyebrow then rose, almost confused, but then a smile lit up his features. "Naturally. I'll serve you one request as long as it doesn't go above me." He replied, offering his hand to mine.

"Hmmm~. An offer from the prince of the Empire does sound nice. Sure, I'll entertain you." I grabbed his hand firmly and turned away from him, taking the required distance.

"You make the call, Chris." I offered.

"But won't I get an advantage then? I think we should get someone else to do it."

"It's fine Chris. You'll need every little advantage you can get if you want to make me even bat an eye. Now start." I insisted once more.

He then took his stance and his fingers slipped around to grip the obsidian hilt. His sword loosened from its scabbard as the marron blade clattered against it, a blinding shimmer illuminating the sword.

His blue eyes focused on my figure and his stance dropped, his legs firmly printed into the stone ground.

"And~...fight!" He shouted as his feet burst from the platform he stood on, a cloud of opaque dust left in his wake.

The ground tremored beneath his step as he quickly drew his sword and slashed upwards from the left to the right of my torso. I briskly stepped to the left to pass his blow, but only to encounter his already conjured erecting spike hurling towards me.

My enhanced fist slimly clad in a skin of mana pulled the spike from the ground and deflected Chris's oncoming second blow, his body still facing in the direction I was, before slyly pirouetting beneath the pronounced make-shift bat and driving his left hand into my sternum.

"Hmmmm. Not bad at all, Chrisy. You think well on your feet." I applauded him, grasping his fist in my palm and looking down at him.

"You think too highly of me." He insisted, kicking my grip around his hand and creating distance. He stood from the ground and wiped the dirt of his body. "Let's pick this up another gear!" A challenged smile slowly slipped onto his face.

Then, erupting from the ground around me abruptly, streams of highly pressurised water encircled me leaving me with only a brief exit focused in the direction of Chris's rising hand.

His hands jutted like a tigers claws as fire enraptured his hand and burned brightly. The spell at his hand released towards me swallowed the grounds at incredible speeds and slipped through the only opening viable to me.

I quickly leaned backwards and allowed a controlled gust of wind to spiral around my hand as I dismissed his attempt at harming me.

"Your spells are to easy to counter for someone like me from this distance. Take the initiative, Prince." Compliantly, his grin continued to widen and his fingers trailed across his sword, sparking motes of blue and red to spiral and flash at the bone of his obsidian weapon.

Soon the blade was consumed in a gyre of a dual elemental application. "Impressive..." I acknowledged, but I had not enough time to simply gawk. His ravishing strides soon burst through the aperture in the water spell and his sword swung down at my body with great power.

"In kind, I shall return!"

Amethyst swarmed my palm as I moved my hand to meet his sword in a titan's clash.

His sword shattered upon impact and he was left weapon less.

"Do you intend to continue?" I asked

"Of course!" He firmly replied, a burning ember cooked beneath his cool iris.

Soon, a visible nimbus of hoarding flames sizzled like wings at his side, protruding with regal presence as his gaze sharpened.

"I haven't seen in this in the game." I mused to myself, before I manifested an updraft of wind to tunnel around me.

We once again dashed at each other into the centre as grime and dirt caked the both of our uniforms, but we didn't care in the slightest.

This battle was different than what seemed like. Chris, just like in the game, is simply following what his family would want. He's trying to climb the rankings to grow in strength and become a suitable heir, but suppressing what he wants to do at heart.

My goal in this fight isn't to humiliate him nor to try and somehow convert his inner desires to coincide with his families. I simply want to earn his trust as well as his comradeship. Being friends with the prince will have more than a few perks.

It's shallow...but fuck do I care about morals!? I'm not here to be some incredible fucking human! I'm here to steal everything for myself!

As my goals realigned themselves with my actions again, my mind truly felt weightless as my actions justified themselves.

With his wings of flame scratching at me in the centre, I quickly dropped my centre of gravity and slid beneath the small aperture between their defence, swiftly delivering a stinging jab to his jaw and following up with a driven elbow into his sternum as I choke him on the floor.

His hand only tapped three times as he coughed in agony.

Drool fell from his mouth as he brushed past his mouth, his eyes looked at me with no emotion. No contempt, no nothing.

He's perfect!

"As for our little agreement," I smirked at him and offered my hand, "become my best friend. How about that?" I slightly reddened as I smiled at him.

Oi. What the fuck am I blushing for? Snap the fuck out of it! Don't tell me that zesty hero affected me?