Chapter 9 Part 3

Heddwyn's presence re-emerges, his face glazed with tears. "Is that how you truly feel?"

Haider slowly walks up to his father and looks him dead in the eyes. He gets really close and plunges an ice dagger into Heddwyn's shoulder. Haider's expression changes from anger to mischievous. "It was very convincing wasn't it. I should probably think about having a career in the performing arts. The angry face, the tears. I knew that me, Heather, and Christopher are your biggest weakness. You're so overprotective. Even the star himself couldn't figure that out."

Heddwyn starts to laugh and grabs the dagger in his shoulder, pulling it out. "That was ruthless. That really hurt. And thanks to that devastating jab to my subconscious. You managed to get your first ever hit on me. Well done indeed. But please, don't do that again."

"Can't promise anything. Seeing as it worked so well this time." Haider laughs.

They both make a closed eye smile and Haider aims for a stab in the stomach this time, but Heddwyn catches the blade. "You fucked up by not finishing this while you had the chance."

"Did I? Hmm, I was under the impression this was a diversion?" Haider replies, taking a large step backwards.

Before Heddwyn could let out a confused what. He becomes enveloped in Hayle's core barrier. "Son of a bitch!"

"I may be completely unaffected by it, but if you touch the barrier you'll be frozen instantly." Haider boasts.

"Yeah, well. It's a shame I made Christopher give me his bracelet then huh?" Heddwyn says, casually walking out of the barrier.

Haider quickly spins around to Hayle. "Ok, that means any attacks we make that inflict cold are out. Which only leaves melee. And a few projectiles. Which my father is more proficient in. Any ideas?"

Heddwyn abruptly materialises, an arm wrapped around Haider's shoulders. "Do you really have the time to talk strategy when you're fighting me?" Haider tries to break free but feels a pinch in his side. "Fast acting paralysis poison. I won." Heddwyn says.

Shortly after, Haider falls limp onto the floor, Hayle stands there, not sure what to do. "Wasn't your job to prevent this? What if I was an assassin, or bandit. Do you think you could protect my son?" Heddwyn scolds.

"There we have it folks! Heddwyn wins by TKO! The referee has declared that Haider can no longer fight due to a potent paralysis poison."

"I-I uh. I have no idea if what Haider said was true or not." Christopher says.

"Yeah, don't ask me. That's tougher to discern than it is to find the mountain's heart." Ibun says.

"The Dwarves are still looking for that old legend? Why?" Christopher asks.

"I dunno. But most of us are raised to dream of finding it one day. It's said that if it's found. It can grant a single wish." Ibun says.

Heddwyn walks in with Hayle following behind, a paralysed Haider over his shoulder.

"0 and 35 bitches!" Heddwyn exclaims.

Over the projector the announcer says, "We are going to take a 3 hour break folks! We have arranged for some side fights while we make sure both of our finalists are in tip top shape to fight one another."

"Looks like we got some time. I had Zoey prepare a bunch of bento boxes for lunch. I'll go grab those and I'll meet you all in the infirmary." Heddwyn says. Swaggering out of the cathedral.

We pick up again when Heddwyn bursts into the infirmary carrying seven bento boxes containing rice, salmon, pork, a boiled egg, fried mushrooms, tofu, blanched broccoli, grapes, and sliced apples seasoned with salt and separated into their own sections. With the rice taking up half of the box with the salmon resting on the top. The rest split between the meat and egg, the veg and tofu, and finally the fruit.

"Lunch is here everyone!" Heddwyn says.

"You got one for me too?" Ibun asks.

"Of course! You're part of our group now. At least the cubs in any case." Heddwyn smiles and hands her a bento.

"Cheers da. Haiders still paralysed." Christopher says, taking a box.

"He should be moving soon. Give him this." Heddwyn says, handing Christopher a small glass vile.

As Christopher feeds Haider the, what I presume is an antidote, Heather sits up on her infirmary bed and opens her bento box. Everyone else, which includes Relov and Beluf, follows close behind.

"So, how was your fight?" Beluf asks Heddwyn, his mouth filled to the brim with pork.

"Haider has definitely gotten stronger. He's more strategic than he was too. Thanks to first hand experience with real danger, these tournament matches have helped too." Heddwyn says, Eating some rice.

Christopher joins into the conversation after giving Haider the 'antidote'. "What about me and Heather?"

"I would say that Heather has gotten better at using more of her power at one time. But you Christopher? I'm not sure I see as much of an improvement. Yes, you have a great strategist mindset, but your output of ability is lagging." Heddwyn says bluntly.

"Do you have any advice?" Christopher asks, opening his lunch.

"In my opinion, I think your problem is mental." Heddwyn adds.

"You think I'm holding myself back mentally?" Christopher asks.

"I think it's been an unfortunate series of circumstances. With Hilda, and the issue in the capital, also your mental instability after those. I feel that you just need time. Ya know, to, figure things out." Heddwyn says.

...

"So Heather, are you gonna be good to fight later? Or do you need to stay here?" Ibun asks.

"They healed my head, I had a mild concussion, nothing some holy magic couldn't fix. I'm just here for observation right now. I heard you beat Haider again. He can't be feeling very festive right now."

"He is still conscious, you know. It's not like he was knocked out." Christopher adds.

"I'M FINE WITH IT!" Haider yells into Christopher's ear. Scaring him half to death and almost dropping his lunch. Haider staggers back, holding his chest as he crackles.

"You fucker! I've had a heart attack recently, be careful." Christopher says seriously.

"You're 13, I'm sure you'll be fine." Haider says.

"There has been research linking intense emotions and heart attacks with those who have had previous issues. Especially since my heart attack was a few days ago." Christopher expresses.

"I'll be careful, what does that mean after the tournament?" Haider says.

"What do you mean?" Christopher asks.

"Like, do you have to wait to do another adventurer quest?" Haider asks.

"I would advise against it. For now." Relov adds.

"Keep working on building your mana, use your personal dimension to meditate and train. It may also be useful to train how long you can keep it open. For any special occasions such as, rescuing slaves or making a farm, heck you can do whatever you want in there. There's no limits, except the size." Heddwyn says.

"That's true. I've managed to expand the area to two kilometres³." Christopher says.

"Heck, if you're sick of the world. You could literally just build a house there, it would save a ton of space." Heather says.

"I feel that your magic was intended more as that anyway. Combat never seemed to suit you. Even though you're good at it n all." Haider says.

"I agree, I always felt you were better suited to support magic, like your portal spell, and the extensive amount of knowledge about holy magic. Work on that stuff for now while you figure stuff out." Heddwyn continues, finishing his lunch.

...

"Alright. I guess I could do that while you guys get more combat experience." Christopher says, eating the last spoonful of rice from his bento box.

"But for right now, I wanna know how you two feel about having to fight later." Ibun taunts.

"It'll be the first time we go up against one another, so I don't honestly know." Heather says.

"The fight will be fairly even, she has attacks way more destructive than any of you have seen. She even obliterated my inter dimensional training hall. It took weeks for the spatial mages to fix it." Heddwyn shivers as he remembers how much it cost.

"That must have been expensive to repair." Beluf says.

"You have no idea." Heddwyn sniffles at the memory.

...

"So we're in for a good final then?" Beluf asks.

"I've noticed something about you. Why ain't you working anymore?" Heather asks.

"oh that? That a kind of tick when I'm bored. Since meeting your father I haven't had a moment where I've felt that way." Beluf smiles.

Heddwyn smiles back, placing a hand of Beluf's thigh.