The Invitation (2)

"Ice Wall!" Axton shouted

As soon as he said that, a wall of ice formed around him, forcing the young lord back.

"Be careful whom you give power to, young lord," Axton said as the wall started to melt. "You could end up making your enemy stronger." He finished as he charged to the young lord

Axton prepared himself. Every time they battled, he made one rule: they could not use any magic until he activated his own magic. Now that he had used magic, this battle was about to get much harder, and sure enough, the young lord's scary smile proved him correct.

"Cas now." He said

Axton prepared himself as best as possible, but Callista appeared before him and slashed upward. Meeting the blade with his own was a mistake as her upward slash overpowered his parry, causing his sword arm to rise, knocking him off balance.

Quickly thinking, Axton leaned his left shoulder down and charged Callista, hoping to knock her out of the way, allowing him a chance to recover. Not expecting it, she was sent off to the side as he rolled to recollect himself only to hear….

"Liz, boost"

Shit, Axton thought to himself. It slipped his mind that lady Elizabeth had nature magic that could boost her allies.

He turned to where she was last seen, only to see the young lord standing there with that same scary smile.

"Too late," he said and rushed forward.

The feeling of danger from both front and back forced him to decide. Facing the young lord, he cast Angel's light around him, which caused a blinding light around him. Rushing forward, he met the young and punched him straight in the face knocking him to the ground.

Facing Callista, still blinded, he knocked her blade out of her hand, grabbed her, and put his sword to her throat.

"It's over." Axton calmly stated

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(Ciaran's POV)

Feeling dejected as I cleaned myself up after our spar with Mr. Lambert, I couldn't help but replay the battle in my mind.

After a minute, I realized where I had gone wrong. I had forgotten that his sword was the sword of mimicry, which lets him use any magic if he uses the correct mana stone.

"Knowing is half the battle," he told us after the battle

We all had fought for so long without the magic that it had slipped my mind what his sword could do, but that would change.

As he said, you must know your enemy, which is something I must do. If I ever feel like I will fight someone, I must know everything about them in the future. Everything.

After getting cleaned up, I received a summons from my father. Since that night in the tent, we haven't talked to each other, which suited me just fine.

"So, Cas, what do you think?" I asked her as we made our way to the grand hall

"I'm not sure." Was her response from behind me

"Liz?" I asked

"The only thing I can think of is the king is throwing a ball to honor your father for his actions two months ago." She responded after a moment

"Is that so? Well, congrats, father." I sarcastically said

Walking to my father's office, I entered after knocking three times and saw my father doing paperwork. He was always doing paperwork

"Father," I said

"The king is hosting a ball to honor our actions later this week, and you will attend." He said after a moment.

Did I want to attend? Nope. But after a moment, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to observe the protagonist and to see how he is fairing, and maybe I might be able to do something to hurt his reputation even more.

"Of course, father," I responded and slowly turned around to leave.

"How's the training going?" My father asked out of the blue

Without even pausing as I exited the door, I threw out…

"You have your spies watching for you, so ask them."

Later that evening, after training with Lucia, I was worn out and flopped onto my bed.

"So, we have a ball to attend to this week?" Cas asked after a moment

"Yep." Was my response

"You're going to have lady Elizabeth attend as your date?" She asked

"I have to, as she is my fiancé." Was my tired response

"You know about the rumors that you abuse her, don't you?" She asked again

"I don't care," I said as I started to doze off

If only I knew what was in store for me in the future, then maybe I would have taken this ball more seriously.

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(Somewhere) (?'s POV)

"Daughter, no matter what happens, you must become friends with that boy." An old man told his daughter

"Father, have you heard the rumors about him?" The daughter asked

"Of course, that's why I need you to get close to him. If you do that, then we will be able to destroy that whole family when the time comes." The man said

The daughter was furious, everything was fine this morning, but now her father was here telling her to become close to the heir of House Maxamus. She had already lost her best friend to him, and now she was being told to get close to him.

"This is stupid father, just make up something about his house and get rid of him." The daughter retorted

"There have been many attempts to do so, but the duke is clever and won't fall for anything. That's why we need you to get close to his son. Rumors are that his son is not as clever, and his father has shunned him. If you come to him as a friend or something more, then you would be able to gather what we need." The father replied to his daughter

"Father, if I do this, I want you to save Lizzie, no matter what." The daughter demanded from her father

"You have my word that as king, I will not allow anything to happen to your friend." The king replied to his daughter.