Oria Versus Alexander

As Oria approaches Alex, whose sword has been unsheathed and pointed at her, he remarks on how brave Oria to comply to his demand.

"I applaud your boldness for not running away, Oria," to which Oria thanking him as she comes near him, "Thank you. I'm sorry if I have ever done anything to hurt your feelings." Hearing that, the tall kid is speechless, "…." he didn't expect her to apologize.

"If you want me to fight you, then, fine. Fear not, I will not run away," said Oria imitating Faruk's wise tone.

"O-Oria, does it have to go like this? A-Alex is a tough guy, you know?" Tili tried to persuade her to not fight him, but Oria turns at her smilingly, "It's okay, Tili. Thank you for being so considerate."

"Her bravery is admirable," Ayako shortly said to Kon, "but there's no way she can beat Alex. He's the oldest among the four of us, and he's the toughest, too," she faintly gives a smile, "though, to be honest, I'm interested in how this fight will go." Kon agrees with her, "Yeah… out of twenty mock battles, I've only won twice against him."

The blacksmith suddenly stops the silver-haired girl, standing in front of her, he says, "Oria. There's no need to fight him."

"Eh?"

"I am at fault for bringing the matter of your forged knife to the conversation. So please, step back," he then turns at the tall boy, "Alex, this is but a misunderstanding. Oria has proven herself to me that she's not any ordinary girl. That is why I permit her to get a weapon. She's—"

"Sir! Please. Please forgive me, but I can't accept this!" Alex begged in a raised voice. "I never saw her in this village before! Who is she? Why do you approve her, whereas we never got to the point of getting your trust?!" he nearly ran out of breath for raging like that.

Oria expects the blacksmith to reply in a volcanic way, but surprisingly, he keeps his cool, trying to calm the angry boy, "Alex. She has obtained—" but Oria stops the blacksmith, "It's okay, Mr. Marcus. I thank you for your kindness."

"Kiddo…"

"I don't want to trouble my master because of my wrongdoings to the people around me. That is what I promised to him. If he wants me to show why do I get your trust, then I will show it to him," Oria then goes to Kon and asks him for the wooden knife, "Can I borrow your knife?"

"O-Oh, can you use it?" he asked. Oria humbly answers, "I've trained a little bit in using a knife."

"I-Izzatso… okay, then. Just don't break it, okay?"

"Roooger," Oria shows her thumb as she accepts the wooden weapon. "Whoo! It's lighter than the ones I'm trained with, hehe…"

The blacksmith still insists that they don't have to fight, "Oria, Alex, please stop now. There's little merit in doing this!"

"I don't think so, Mr. Marcus," Oria replied disagreed. "I did encounter some hardships before, but I didn't show it to you, so I guess it's unfair to him. Isn't that right, Alex?" she smilingly looked at the boy.

"Y-Yeah… that's true. I want you to show me how hard you've trained yourself. Show me your determination and strength that made Mr. Marcus agreed to make you a weapon."

For Alexander and the rest of the children, being forged a weapon is like their lifelong goal. It is a seal of approval that the blacksmith and trainer Marcus acknowledges their strength. Seeing Oria being forged a weapon made Alex felt like all his pride, his hard training is being trampled. Oria doesn't really get him entirely, but she understands the situation.

"Okay, then. (I guess if I show the remaining magistones to him might cause an outcry. I guess… Faruk won't like it, so I think I'll just have to beat him.)"

Finally, the blacksmith surrenders and agrees to commence the mock battle. "Very well. But under one condition: none of you will hurt each other. Are we understood?"

Both Alex and Oria affirms, "Yes, sir."

Katze quickly bypasses Oria and confronts the hatred boy, yelling at him, "I will NOT tolerate you if you try and hurt her, you hear me? Just one scratch on her, I will smack your ass out till you're begging for your life!"

"E-Erk… I… I understand, Miss Katze."

"I pray to the both of you. Please, don't let anger get the best of you, Alex. A knight does not let his rage swallow him, please keep that in mind!" Rosine reminded the boy.

"Thank you, Miss Rosine." Alex then takes a deep breath, trying to cool his head. "(I've made a bold move to challenge a girl, whereas I shouldn't. People may dislike my actions, but still, I cannot just stand idly when seeing an outsider get what they want without doing anything. We've trained so long to get our own weapon. If she's really capable, then she must prove it to us!)"

"Oria, please be careful!" Tili cautioned her. She's worried of her safety.

"I will. Thank you, Tili!"

The two then stand facing each other. Oria looks up to the face of the tall boy, while Alex does the same to her.

"Listen up you two," the blacksmith stood between them. "This duel will only be one fight. You must knock out the opponent's weapon to win. But if you injure your opponent, you will lose. Is that clear?" the blacksmith emphasized his voice deeper to the boy rather than Oria.

Oria thinks about it, "(Not to injure him… how? Oh, now that I think about it, this is the first time I'm fighting a human opponent. I guess I can't really hurt him. All this time, I've been fighting and killing monsters… oh, right, can I use appraisal on him? I guess Faruk won't be mad if I use it now. I hope it doesn't show APPRAISAL BLOCKED again… Okay… here goes!)"

Oria decides to go against Faruk's rules and uses appraisal quietly to him. Whisperingly, she says the word, "Appraisal…" and thus the boy's status appears in front of her.

<ALEXANDER BASIL>

HP: 773/773

MP: 45/45

Desc: Second child of the Basil family. Aspires to be a knight in the future. A hard worker at best.

"(Uwaah… wait, what? His HP is that much? Well, it's still below me, though, but still! Is that his HP on level 1 or not…?)"

Something else bothers her. "(Huh… they didn't notice the status screen in front of me…? Faruk could see it just fine, though… maybe it only applies to someone like him?)"

The people around her, including Katze, Rosine, and Marcus—the adults—didn't know if Oria had used appraisal. It makes Oria even more curious of her surroundings. "(I wanna ask that to Faruk later.)"

Marcus referees the match. He orders the two to get ready. "Both sides ready?"

Oria nods, "Hm. I'm ready." The same said to Alex, "I'm ready, too, Mr. Marcus. Whenever you are."

"Very well, then. On your marks…" as Marcus said that Alex takes his stance quickly. Meanwhile, Oria didn't know about the cue, but since the boy in front of her takes a stance, she, too, gets ready.

"(What kind of stance is that…?)" Alex thought in his mind as he witnessed the girl's odd stance. "(Holding a knife like that, it's full of openings. Maybe she's just making a front to make herself look tough.)"

"Get set… FIGHT!"

And so, the battle begins.

Oria's once cute face turns serious. But she does not attack first, the same goes for Alex. Both are waiting for either side to come at them first. Noticing a same strategy that she does, the boy decides to attack her first.

"(I'll make this quick.) Haaah!" he boosts with one foot and charges at Oria. He lowers his sword, attempting to deliver an uppercut slash to knock Oria's knife. The girl, who he didn't know have a [Danger Perception] skill, evades him successfully.

"W-What?" what's more surprising is that Oria moves faster than his eyes can follow. "(S-She's fast…!)"

Meanwhile, Oria is learning his attack patterns before she herself began her attack. "(I must study his attacks first. That's what Faruk taught me when battling monsters. W-Well, Alex's not a monster, though…)" Even though the boy's HP and MP are below her, Oria does not let her guard down. Her experience from battling a few monsters taught her to not underestimate lower statistics like the Mollis monster.

Alex tries to catch up with Oria, who keeps her distance from him. "(Is she learning my moves…? If so, I must take her down before she can ever do any counterattacks!)"

The boy noticed her plan. Secretly, he's preparing to use a surprise attack to catch her off guard. Much to Oria's surprise, she senses an imminent and great danger approaching, but without the [Jeopardy Sensor] to detect where the attack is coming from, she can only rely with her instincts.

"Rrrraaaah!"

Alex sprints quickly to Oria and lands two consecutive slashes arching upwards. Mr. Marcus and Rosine notices this as an attempt to harm the little girl, but surprisingly, Oria rolls on the ground to sideway, avoiding all his attacks.

"(Gah... That's right… Alex's attacks are strangely aiming upwards all the time. If I just avoid it in the right time, I will be able to knock his weapon when he didn't know it!)"

"Oooh! That's a quick reflex!" Tili responded in amazement while Katze is sweating, "Oria… don't push yourself, baby…" she said quietly.

Alexander Basil grows restless because his attacks are dodged all the time. He slowly loses composure and begins to swing his sword rapidly at her. "(How's this…!?)"

Seeing a sudden change of attack, Oria backs off into a safe distance and begins to assess, but the angry kid does not allow her time to think and keeps the pressure on her. This time, Oria cannot avoid his sword. She's barely able to block it with her comparatively smaller weapon.

"Eeep… (He's stronger than I thought… I guess his level is quite high. Alright, then…)" Oria attempts to push his sword with her own stronger strength which surprises Alex. "(S-She's strong!)"

"(I must knock her weapon before she can do anything to mine!)" The boy pulls his sword and swings it in another upper arching slash. Seeing that move, Oria easily avoids it. "(This move again! Okay, then. This is my chance!)"

The girl tries to knock the sword off his hand while it's in the air, but his grip refuses to let go. "(Eeep! He's holding it so tightly!)"

Tili, Kon, and Ayako watch in amazement as Oria successfully reach his sword handle whereas most of them can barely do so.

"She's doing it!" Tili said in a praising voice. Kon, too, responds, "Maaan! This is very exciting!" meanwhile, Ayako remains silent as she continues to watch their duel.

Oria sends more power to her push desperately just to knock his sword away. However... this is the first time Oria fights a fellow human. Humans can be cunning and unexpected, and they're improving themselves all the time, unlike monsters that would only act in one or two behaviors and based on their wild instincts.

Oria is performing her moves based on as if Alex is a monster. That leads to some trouble for her because Alex refuses to be bested by her. He's improving himself, too. He now realizes that Oria is not any ordinary child that he can defeat easily, "(She's strong…! Stronger than Ayako. Stronger than Kon and Tili! I must not let her… or else…!)"

Ultimately…

Alex's anger and impatience have bested him. In a desperate move, he forces his sword in a sideway arch and grazes the unwary Oria's hands. Not only that, but he also attempts to swing his sword one more time. Seeing the girl keeping on evading him and parrying his attack made him out of his mind. His initial goal is clouded, now he aims to harm Oria.

In one final blow, he slashes downwards in one strong slash.

"Sword Art: Downing Cut!"

Oria, whose hands are bleeding, didn't have time to quickly evade the impending doom. "(He's… using an art…? Ah… I can't avoid it…)"

The wooden sword's sharp edge hits Oria's head, stunning her in place. Kon's wooden knife is shattered in two, falling off her hands afterwards. Silently, the girl falls to her knees and looks down to earth limply. Everyone is extremely shocked by the sudden art that Alex used. At the end of his attack, the tall boy instantly returns to his senses and realizes that he has done a horrible mistake.

In his eyes, he sees the girl gawking with her silver hair drenched in blood that flows endlessly.

"No… No, way… I'm s-sorry… I didn't… I didn't mean it…!"