Sera's Third Dagger

"What conditions?" Sera hurriedly asked, struggling to rein in her excitement.

"First off, I want two Urum daggers instead of just one. I dual wield most times just like her" he said looking at Sera's sheathed blade. She frowned in response. He knew he decided against exploiting Linburn's hospitality, but he might die on his quest. He could always apologize to the old man, and return the dagger, he couldn't afford to go into battle unprepared.

Linburn chuckled, "your complexion is not the only thing that changed since you left us for the borderland." He glanced at his daughter and nodded, "for my Sera, that seems like a fair deal."

"Good. My second condition is that I want us to stick to only weapons, no magical attacks."

"That seems fair," Sera smirked. "We wouldn't want a magic knight to make a fool himself."

"Very funny" he laughed sarcastically. "Okay then, let's take this outside and get it over with already. I don't have all day" he opened the door and stepped out into the crowded street.

The streets were buzzing with people of different races, they wore cotton, silk, leather, and a few carried weapons as they haggled, sold, and talked. Even trinket merchants wore elaborate cotton shirts and dresses. A wave of prosperity and renewal swept over the middle ring during the five years he was gone, and up until that very moment, Seth was completely oblivious to the changes. "Since when can middle ring citizens silk, fine leathers, and enchanted weapons?" he muttered.

"Don't look so surprised, a lot of things changed while you were gone. The war fattened the purses of every single forge master, artisan, and weapons smith in the middle-ring. Things are a lot different now. But enough of that," she nudged. "So, you want to fight, or do you want to keep starring people passing by?"

"Where do we fight then? The streets are far too proper to start petty squabbles in now. I doubt the city guards will understand our disruption of order."

"The roof. Most duels happen on the rooftops now."

He crinkled his face and looked up, "the rooftop. What the hell happened while I was gone? Won't the roof just cave in?"

"Most merchants have reinforced the roofs of their buildings with arrays and earth hardening spells. It will take a lot of power to break them," she explained.

He stared at her, waiting for a more thorough explanation.

"The magical protection and reinforcements are to keep bandits and mages out," she explained.

"Makes sense," he shrugged. "Back to the duel." He looked up at the roof and searched for a set of stairs or ladders- something to help with the climb. She studied his confused face and rolled her eyes. She wondered if he was really a borderlander.

She took a deep squat, directed wind mana to her legs, and scaled the wall with a huge leap. She looked back at him mid-air with a smug smile just before she landed.

"That is one way to get there, I suppose," he chuckled. "Even without magic, I should be able to make that jump."

He stretched his leg muscles and drew a deep breath. He crouched low and shot off the ground with a loud swoosh, jumping several feet higher than he intended. He spread out both arms and landed several feet from where Sera stood.

Sera saw Seth's large deliberate jump for what it was- a psychological move from her battle-hardened opponent. 'The battle had already begun. The jump was a display of power.' she thought to herself.

"Now that you are done with all that, can we get down to business."

Seth got up from his knees and readied himself. He summoned his estoc and took a deep breath in. "I am ready." Though he appeared calm and collected on the outside, he was nervous about the whole fight. He was not particularly superstitious, but he knew that losing the fight at the beginning of a major mission could be a message of things to come.

Non-magical fights were not as intense as lethal as regular fights, but they still mattered. For the first two years of serving in the borderlands, he had to learn basic military martial arts, parkour, swordsmanship, spear play, dagger arts, and other types of non-magical combat fighting skills without any magical aid. They were the most grueling and frustrating two years of his life. He was glad to be done with it when they finally introduced battle magic in the third year of service.

As soon as he was introduced to holy magic proper, he abandoned almost every weapon art he learned, save for imperial swordsmanship of course. He practiced on and off with daggers when he was feeling nostalgic, but he never once took it too seriously. He wasn't quite sure how he would fare against a dagger-wielding opponent who had a long history of wiping the floor with him.

A bloody notification screen popped up at the corner of his eye.

[Self-assigned mission

Task: Defeat your rude old friend

Rank: F

Reward: Information about your blood core and tainted light magic, Spell acquisition tree, Powerpoints, blood siphon, and blood refinement.]

'Information about by blood core and tainted light magic? Does this mean I will find out how to restore my light magic?' he asked. No reply came. 'Fine, just fade away like you normally do. It's kind of distracting to fight with you just floating there.'

He drew his blade and assumed a fighting stance. "Alright shorty, come get me" he flashed a mocking smile.

His taunt worked better than he anticipated, but not in the way he hoped. Sera unsheathed both her daggers and charged, "here I come."

She dashed forward, her dagger drew a wide arc as her frame twirled through the air. Her blade slashed at his chest. Seth took stepped backward to dodge, but she followed him a thrust with her second blade. He easily sidestepped the thrust attack and followed with a right hook, aimed at her side. She dodged the attack by crouching low and counter-attacked with two slashes at his legs with both daggers. He jumped up, just barely dodging her crisscrossing low slashes, and looked down, plotting his next attack.

Sera grimaced, looked up at her opponent, and shot up from the ground towards him, not leaving him room to counterattack. Her body whirled and opened to a roundhouse kick. Seth grit his teeth and blocked. The attack bounced off the flat of his estoc and sent both of them sliding several feet back.

Seth steadied himself and flexed his fingers, marveling at his newfound strength. The attack barely stung. He looked up at his challenger and his lips curled. He gestured her to attack with his index and middle fingers.

Sera's hand tightened around her dagger 'This asshole,' her eyes flashed.

She hurled her dagger at him and dashed in the opposite direction. The blade whistled through the air and sped towards Seth's head. He smiled as he watched the blade slowly tumble towards him, and leisurely knocked it off course with his estoc.

At the corner of his eyes, he spied another blade closing in, it coaxed the very air as it made its way towards his left oblique. His eyes widened and he took a step backward, trying to escape the blade.

He felt a sharp piercing pain as Sera's dagger dug into his hamstring. She had circled around him when he was not looking and stabbed him from behind. He swung hard with his free hand, but no one was there. She deftly flipped over his shoulders as he lost his balance and fell to his knees. She had a confident grin plastered on her freckled face.

A system notification flashed before his pained face,

-50

320/500

"Don't worry my dad stocks up on healing potions, I will pay for your treatment hot-shot."

He raised one knee and leaned on his estoc. "Damn it, why can't I catch a break." He glared at her. He was angry that she used such an underhanded trick. He wanted to whine and complain, but then it hit him.

He knew nothing about his opponent. From the way she moved, to her pattern of attacks, it was all a mystery to him. He remembered nothing of their battles five years ago. He was fighting her for the first time again and he wasn't being cautious or analytical enough. He was careless and got a knife in the thigh for it.

His mind poured over the information he gleamed off her during their exchange. If he had to guess, he would say she trained her speed and senses to a high level. Before he became a higher human, he wouldn't have been a match for her. He also hesitated before she charged at him with an aerial attack. Why did he hesitate, was it about honor? No... that was naive and borderline suicidal.

In battle, there was no honor. There were only victors and the dead. He had to treat this spar like he was facing off with an opponent on the battlefield. If he let his battle senses dull, how would be able to reliably call on it when the time came. When he squares off against the blood mage, he knew he couldn't hesitate or second guess himself.

Taking what he learned, he decided to come up with a battle plan, that would effectively neutralize her. He was faster and stronger than her, but he was still losing. She clearly had more experience, so he had to take that out of the equation as well. He decided to play his strength and overpower her the first chance he got.

He stood up and pulled the dagger from his hamstring and dropped it a few feet to his side. His eyes burned with a renewed fire, "It's not over yet." He slung his blade on his shoulder. "I admit I underestimated you. Why don't you come closer and retrieve your dagger?"

Sera smiled, stretched her hands forward, and called her daggers. The blades whipped into the air and traveled back to Sera. Two landed in her outstretched hand while the other and flew into the sheath behind her back.

"A third sheath. A can't believe I fell for such an amateurish attack. It won't happen again."

Sera tightened her grip and bared her teeth, "Amateurish trick or not, you fell for it. The next attack won't be as simple. I hope you are ready borderlander, because here I come."

Her heel cracked the pavement as she rocketed forward, and her body flashed, she appeared in front of him. 'She definitely used a spell to retrieve her blade,' he thought as he dodged the flying kick aimed for his jaw. Mid-air, she twisted and attempting to transition to a spinning kick. He caught her blitzing leg, and let go of his sword, freeing his other hand to stop the third attack he knew was coming. She saw him motion to stop her, and she lashed out with both her fists, trying to overwhelm him.

He smirked and did the unexpected. He didn't attempt to dodge or catch. With a huge push forward, he flung her halfway across the rooftop before her punches connected.

She tumbled to the floor and sprang back up on instinct. Her body was only half prone when Seth's knee came into view. Through tremendous effort, she crossed her vambraced forehands, in preparation for the incoming knee.

She felt the joints of her elbow buckle and her bones creak as the blow connected. Her hands spread wide open as she fell back. She tried to get up a second time, but a blade lightly pierced her exposed solar plexus, pinning her to the floor without effort.

"It's over."

She winced in pain and massaged her forehands. She accepted his outstretched hand as soon as he offered and he pulled her to her feet with a swift move.

Although he was a man and he was supposed to be much stronger than she was, she still marveled at the easily he broke through her guard. Feeling awash with shame, she snuck a look at his bleeding thigh and she apologized.

"I think I took things a little too far."

"You think!" His nose flared.