Ch. 61: Adrian Vs. The Gryphons

Adrian was pleading to the Gryphons, trying to tell them that their centuries of pride were meaningless in this coming age. They needed to grow... to change... and he wasn't going to settle until that happened, even if he had to tear down every single conviction that those old fools had.

Naturally, this wasn't well-received by the gryphons.

"You've got a lot of nerve, boy." The Archgryphon glared at Adrian, trying to get him to lose his nerve. Unfortunately for the Archgryphon, Adrian was used to Rosy glaring at him. Someone weaker and less intimidating, whose opinion meant less to him wasn't going to scare him at all. He stared back, unblinking. "Alright. I'll listen to you." The Archgryphon finally conceded after a long staring contest.

"Sir Archgryphon!?" Quite a few of the gryphons exclaimed in shock. The Archgryphon conceding even a little bit to this random boy? Unthinkable for these other gryphons. Even Reese was surprised. 

"I'll concede that we may be in danger... if you win." Maximus told Adrian. Adrian had expected this, so he didn't hesitate to jump on the bait.

"Win?" He asked. 

"That's right. If you can prove that my men and weapons can be overpowered, then I'll admit that what you're saying may be correct. As a result, I'll do whatever that is within my power to help you and the Resistance on your quest. You'll get access to the full Gryvus arsenal. Our information network... our weapons, too. All of it." The Archgryphon told Adrian with a confident voice. 

"But... you don't think I'll be able to do it?" Adrian raised an eyebrow.

"Bart and Hal will be your opponents. They'll carry our newest weapon, the bayonet. They'll only be fighting you, not the Princess. That freak of nature shouldn't be compared to a human, after all." Maximus set his terms. Adrian versus two trained Gryphons, both carrying guns that have blades attached to their tips. Honestly, it wasn't a fair fight at all... but...

"That's fine. I accept." Adrian accepted the duel without thinking twice about it. 'Rosy, switch me.' He thought, trading swords with Rosy. While his Whiteblood sword was impressive in a fight against mages, it vastly lowered Adrian's own already abysmal magical abilities. While that was fine in a battle against mages like Jasper, or normal soldiers enhancing their strength by a small margin, magically, it wouldn't do him much good against guns, since they didn't use magic. That being the case, it would benefit him more to bolster his magic with Rosy's Darkreina. 

Without hesitating, Rosy pulled Darkreina out of its sheath and tossed it to Adrian as he stood up. In response, Adrian passed his Whiteblood sword to her for safekeeping. While it would probably be useful to have it on hand while he was fighting, having it on his waist might end up getting in his way when he began to actually fight. It was better to leave it with Rosy. He wouldn't lose this battle, anyways, he knew. 

"You're being a little too cocky, boy." Hal told Adrian, standing up along with Bart. 

"But it's the deal, right? I pound you two into the ground, and you agree to aid the Resistance. Then, Rosy and I can be on our way." Adrian said.

"Kid, don't get ahead of yourself. This is going to be a fight, not a game. Just back out now, before the guns come out. It's entirely possible that we'll end up killing you by mistake." Bart agreed with Hal's estimate.

"Don't underestimate me! I'm the crown prince of Uriah, and my combat skills are more than adequate for dealing with the likes of you." Adrian shouted, causing the room's atmosphere to instantly change. Everyone went silent. It may have seemed like he lost his temper, but something in his voice demanded to be taken seriously. 

"Huh..." Johnny Tyler muttered, interested. 'Maybe this will be fun to watch.' He thought, as a few staff members on standby came and removed the table from the room, handing Hal and Bart their weapons. These guns were the newest, top of the line. The bayonets were far beyond the guns that Adrian and Rosy had seen in the production district. Accurate up to ten feet, with blades at the end for close combat. Honestly, it would be incredibly difficult for Adrian to win this fight, since their guns could accurately shoot him the moment that the duel started. But Adrian was still confident. He'd been trained by the best, after all.

'Are you sure about this?' Rosy asked Adrian through their bond. On the outside, she simply followed his lead, but she was secretly biting her lip. She'd been the one to personally train Adrian, and his swordcraft honestly hadn't improved by any extreme margins since they'd begun training. They'd been working on his basic motions, instead, and she wasn't confident that his reflexes would be capable of dodging bullets.

'It has to be me. They already know how abnormal your fighting prowess is. If you beat them down, they won't compare it to the average soldier. I can do this, Rosy. Just send me energy if I need to use too much magic.' Adrian reassured her. He couldn't allow her to jump in and fight in his place. Her insane strength was too well known. The entire point of this fight was to show the gryphons how weak they were, and losing against someone with legendary strength wouldn't get that point across nearly as well. Even if he wasn't able to seemingly break the laws of physics with his movements, Adrian needed to be the one to do this. 

"I won't hear any excuses if you lose, prince. Are you certain that you want to continue?" The Archgryphon asked Adrian, using the word 'prince' instead of 'boy' for the first time. 

"Just start the battle." Adrian gripped his sword with trepidation, staring down the two well-muscled gryphons across the room from him, who were already pointing their bayonets at him, waiting for the moment that the fight started to fill him with holes.