Chapter 18: Day of the spar

"I know, just don't get too mad at me when you lose," Arthur "Arrogantly" declared as the trio now stormed their way through the intricate twists and turns of the Zepars estate's many corridors, their destination very obvious, the training grounds.

'To be honest, if I had to rate my chances of beating Iris, I'd say it would be about 60-40 in my favour, not great odds, but it could have been worse. After all, I'm still only getting used to this technique,' Arthur shakily commented, his gaze shifting to the palm of his hand where he envisioned two rapidly expanding pulses of invisible energy. 'I just have to hope that this one technique is good enough to surpass her talent and skill and give me a fair shot at beating her,'

"Huh, shouldn't I be the one saying that? I haven't seen you even train once with Rono throughout the entire month," Iris quickly refuted. "All you've been doing is building up your body, which, to be honest, hasn't improved at all," Iris venomously spat.

'Is she doing this on purpose? Why the hell would she admit to spying on me throughout the entire month,' Arthur dumbly commented, "Oh, and how would you know what I've been doing throughout the month when I explicitly asked for permission to use the training grounds when no one should have been there?" Arthur quickly teased, a broad smirk on his childish face as iris's dainty cheeks burst into a bright, almost blood red crimson hue.

"Unless…You've been spying on me," Arthur commented, piercing Iris's body with an invisible arrow of shame.

{+1 Love (Iris Zepar)}

{+100 Affection points}

"N-no, why would I need to spy on a loser like you? I-I just got all this information from Rono. Yeah, that's right. Maybe you shouldn't ask for help from some loose lipped butler next time!" In a flustered frenzy, Iris retorted, not realising that what she said, even if it was true (which it was not), would also technically count as some form of spying.

'Is she actually an idiot?' Arthur inwardly commented, "Hmm, is that so?" Arthur hummed a response which Iris quickly latched onto as though his words were her saving grace.

"Yep, that's precisely what happened! Rono told me everything, and if I have to form an assumption from his words, I'd say that you haven't improved at all! Are you sure you just don't want to lose!" Iris quickly fumed, sensing the opportunity to strike back at the teasing child. A very poor choice in hindsight, as the very moment Iris finished this mocking monologue, she was immediately assaulted by what could only be considered the killing intent of her very own sister as Charlotte's glare that was previously only focused on Arthur quickly shifted over to her direction, her intentions very clear, she wanted blood, she wanted to kill her very own sister for the very petty reason of her berating her beloved.

'How dare she speak to my Arthur like that!' Charlotte fumed, her eyes momentarily becoming scary as they morphed from their usual beautiful emerald shade into the form of two swirling black holes. 'No, how dare she speak to my Arthur at all! Does she not know who he belongs to? Arthur's mine!'

'Cha-Charlotte, ' Iris inwardly gasped, she had never felt such hostility before, let alone from her sister, and it terrified her, 'Did I do something wrong? Why is Charlotte acting like this?' Iris quickly questioned her mind recounting every action she had taken since she woke up this day to try and pinpoint the cause of Charlotte's sudden hostility. Yet, no matter how much Iris looked, she couldn't figure out what could have been the catalyst for her sister's impulsive aggression.

"Hey, Charlotte, are you ok?" Arthur quickly called. He had picked up on the girl's sudden burst of hostility and promptly deduced the reason for it. However, he would have rather not, considering that the answer he stumbled upon would only act as more evidence towards the system's rather blunt suggestion of the girl's true nature.

And as though a switch had been flipped, all hostility in the air immediately disappeared, instead being replaced with an aura of radiant happiness as Charlotte beamed a smile at the "Concerned" boy. "Yes, Hon-Arthur, I'm fine," Charlotte smiled, making sure to have an "accidental" slip of the tongue in a relatively poor attempt to make the boy accustomed to his new pet name.

'Scary,' Both Arthur and Iris unanimously thought as they marvelled at the girl's sudden flip in personality. And as though struck by a bolt of lightning, Iris realised why Charlotte had been acting so aggressive to her not only seconds prior. 'Is this because I insulted Arthur?! No, there's no way that's the reason. He's just a peasant. There's no way Charlotte is attached to him enough for her to get angry on his part, but… then again, they are pretty close. And Arthur did wager his position here at the Zepar household just to get an apology out of me…argh, this is so confusing,' Iris concluded, still unable to form a proper answer in her mind as she denied the main piece of evidence that would be needed to make this claim work, and that was that Charlotte loved, or at least held some semblance of affection for the boy named Arthur.

'Please don't be a Yandere, please don't be a yandere. Sure I liked them through my playthrough of the Gate to Avalon, but that was only because they weren't real! You can still just be a very aggressive dere-dere girl, right, Charlotte? Please just be dere-dere, please,' Arthur inwardly prayed, still trying to turn a blind eye to the truth of the world, a truth he would be forced to accept mere hours from now. 'If you're a yandere, then I'm fucked. How am I meant to force you into a harem when I know you'll just kill all the girls!? Or rather, how am I meant to form a harem after you piss off some super powered Phoenix and get yourself killed' Arthur paused, his mind becoming a whirl of thought before a sudden, almost brilliant idea shone through the bleak whirlpool like a guiding light '…Wait system…if the heroines were to just suddenly die…what would happen to me?' Arthur questioned, a sly sense of hope squirming its way into his inner voice.

{If any of the main heroines or any of the host's captured girls were to die, the host would also be killed}

The system bluntly answered, eliminating all hope from Arthur's mind as he realised just how much of an insurmountable task the gods had forced upon him. 'Fuck, well, there goes that idea…should I just start digging my grave now?'

And with that thought, the group finally arrived at the now familiar door of Rono's classroom that they barged open, meandering their way through the barren classroom to the other side of the space and pushing open the following door that barred the entrance to the training room where a stern faced white haired butler stood his brows furrowed as he glared at the new arrivals, Rono had been very adamant in his attempts to convince Arthur to not go through with his agreement with Iris, his reasons unknown.

Was it for Iris's safety, or was it for his genuine concern for Arthur, wishing for him to not have to return to his old life on the street after finally being given a warm home he could live in, or maybe it was a mixture of these two concerns that lead him to be so determined to stop the fight from happening none the less the two pre teens denied the old man's plea, the stakes between them were just too high for either side to simply back down.

For Arthur, this was his one and only chance to break the girl's pride and start his descent down the Iris route, and for the girl in question, this was her one chance to prove that she was better than this so-called prodigious peasant.

"Are you sure you two still want to go through with this duel, you know you can both still turn back, and we can all pretend that this never happened," Rono appealed, a genuine caring smile plastered on his face.

Both Arthur's and Iris's hearts momentarily shook. Both their reasons for this were very different. For Arthur, this was the first time in his life that someone he could almost deem a parental figure showed him genuine compassion and care for his well being…and it made him feel weird, 'I don't like this icky feeling. It's making me feel weird,' Arthur reluctantly grumbled as a slight smile appeared on his face unknowingly. But as quickly as this smile appeared, it soon dissipated as two faint illusory figures appeared behind the kindly old man, one male and one female, both of which shared a striking amount of similarities to the young boy, with their dirty brown hair and dark brown eyes, their faces both sharing at least one or two properties of the young child, such as Arthur's surprisingly long almost feminine eyelashes, worn by the woman, and the seemingly average height of the man that still towered over the form of Rono.

But aside from these physical features, the two shared nothing in common with the young boy as they looked at him with upturned noses as though they didn't recognise him as their own, and he was merely a worm that just so happened to look like them.

'Mom, dad,' Arthur somberly remarked, his previously icky mood now nowhere to be found. The only thing that remained was his increased drive to win the fight with Iris and be done with the whole ordeal.

"No," Arthur sternly answered Rono's plea, his eyes as cold as the stones that outlined the dirt filled training area.

'Eh,' Iris stupidly stuttered. She was willing to back down if Arthur begged her, she had been rash when she declared the duel, and throughout the month, Iris had come to sympathise with Charlotte's pain, so why? Why was Arthur now so adamant about going through the unnecessary process that was a duel, even though he was pretty much guaranteed to lose and be dispelled from the Zepar house.

'He really is serious about this, about protecting Charlotte, ' Iris commented. Her heart unknowingly skipped a beat as she found her gaze drawn to the almost valiant figure of the determined child.

'Arthur~~' Charlotte dreamily sighed, her heart once again captivated by the stern-faced boy.

{+3 Love (Iris Zepar)}

{+300 Affection points}

{The host has reached 50,000 stock piled Affection points}

{The host has earned the title: (Lesser) Point hoarder}

{Title: (Lesser) Point hoarder}

{Grade: Rare}

{Effect: Receive double the amount of affection points. The title is permanent and will not disappear even if the host's stockpiled affection points were to dip below 50,000}

{+1 Love (Charlotte Zepar)}

{+2000 Affection points}

'Well, that's op,' Arthur inwardly celebrated though he made sure to keep his outwardly stern facade. 'With this, Charlotte's even more of a viable point farm than she was before…but then again, I kind of need to stop increasing Charlotte's affection meter,' Arthur quickly denied his own economic brain. His life was worth more to him than some fictional points that he had little use for.

"Are you sure, Arthur…I'm doing this for your good as much as Iris's," Rono whispered, to which Arthur only gave the old man a kind nod before distancing himself from the group and took a position opposite to a marked circle where Iris would soon appear, a slight depressive aura exuding from her otherwise prideful stature.

Iris didn't want to do this anymore. She didn't want to fight Arthur. She didn't want to take away the only person that Charlotte could really be herself with, but what was she to do? The boy was surprisingly stern when it came to this fight, even refusing Rono's plea, all for the sake of what, pride? No, this wasn't pride. This was selflessness. In the eyes of everyone here, Arthur was acting as the very definition of a selfless hero, willing to put his life or, in this scenario, the only place he could call home on the line, for what, an apology, just how dumb could one person be.

'I'm sorry, Charlotte, but there's no turning back now. If you have to blame someone, you should blame Arthur for being too stubborn to back away from a losing fight,' Iris sighed. In her mind, the fight was as good as hers. Arthur had not trained once throughout the entire month. It was like he was trying to get kicked out of the family. Or at least that's what Iris thought, or rather knew, as unknown to almost everyone present, Arthur had indeed been training, just not through spars or anything of the sort. No, Arthur had spent the entire month practising and refining one technique and one technique alone, a technique that could hopefully surmount that wall of talent and ability giving him at least a chance to beat this snobby heiress.

'I really am sorry, Charlotte,' Iris sighed, picking up an earthen sword that had just sprouted from the ground underneath, courtesy of Rono and turning her gaze toward her younger sister, who she expected to be in tears by now. However, what greeted her view was not the tearful visage of a crying Charlotte but rather the prideful form of an all-knowing girl who looked on proudly at the still barehanded Arthur. 'Is she not sad? She does know that this fight's as good as mine, right? Arthur agreed to suppress his power and not even use his magic in this fight! He's as good as helpless!' Iris fumed, 'So why? Why do you look like you know something I don't? Haven't I been the one who watched him push himself throughout the month in an attempt to build a body capable of taking me down? Wasn't it me who would follow him around, tracking his every movement throughout the building in an attempt to find out his strategy? There should be nothing that I don't know about him, yet…why do I feel so anxious,' Iris monologued, her eyes turning down to her sword only to see her shaking palms. And when her gaze finally turned up to meet her opponent, she did not see the same anxious form on Arthur's appearance but rather a confident smile. A smile that Arthur had forced himself to perform.

'I suppose I should pick up a weapon,' Arthur sighed, reaching towards the nearest earthen creation and picking it up. 'Though it's not like I'm going to use it anyway, Afterall I don't want to ruin the potential of my future self by learning some lackadaisical technique now when I know I can learn some good techniques in the future…that is if I can live to see that future' Arthur smugly commented the same bad trait of only thinking about his future self making its appearance known once again as he sent out an invisible pulse of energy to {scan} the earthen weapon that just so happened to be a dirt spear.

{Dirt Spear}

{Item Grade: Common}

{Description: A poorly made Earthen spear}

'I suppose this is what happens when a knight decides to make a hastily made weapon,' Arthur commented. He would have scanned Iris's weapon, too, had he not already known that it would only reach the same outcome. There is a rarity system of weapons and items in this world, and it follows as such.

Common

Uncommon

Rare

Ultra Rare

Super Rare

Epic (Peak of the lower realm)

And though it stopped here that was just for the peak of the lower realm, there are many realms above this where many of the higher beings reside, but Arthur didn't need to bother himself with these for the moment though he knew they existed simply for the fact that he was too weak to wield them. One such example of a weapon he'd be too weak to wield and that surpassed the ranks shown on the list would be the protagonist's unique rank weapon Ifrit.

"Are both sides ready!" Rono boomingly called from the side. He had initially tried to console Charlotte to no avail as the girl skittishly ran to the other end of the arena to distance herself from the kindly old man and get closer to her coping mechanism Aka Arthur.

'Wait, how the fuck do I suppress my power?' It was only then that Arthur realised just how little time he spent even practising the basic usages of mana. He had given up on himself after discovering just how fucked his mana core was, or rather he had been too preoccupied with learning this new technique to even have a spare second to learn how to reduce his strength. In Arthur's eyes, it was a relatively pointless technique that he would probably use once and only once, so he hadn't even given the promise the time of day.

'System! Can you do something about this!' Arthur pleadingly begged. He didn't want his incompetence with mana control to be revealed so early on in his stay at the Zepar family lest he wishes to be kicked out by an overly eager William.

{Once, and only once, will I do this for you ok,}

The system quickly replied, its voice strangely less mechanical and more…human than usual. Yet, this change went undetected from the relieved Arthur, who was too focused on trying to sense the change going on in his body in an attempt to possibly recreate the technique at a later date to be bothered with such a minor detail.

'I hate this feeling. I feel so….weak,' Arthur drearily commented upon the system announcement of the completion of his request. It was as if the air around him weighed ten times more than usual. His body felt icky and exhausted all over. Even his breathing felt more laboured than usual. 'Hey, system, this change isn't permanent, right!?'

{No, the suppression of the host's power is only temporary and will be lifted after the completion of the spar}

The system announced, relieving the boy of his unwarranted paranoia as he shifted his gaze back to the eagerly waiting Iris. It was clear that she wanted to get this fight over with as quickly as possible, as much for Arthur's and Charlotte's sake as it was for hers. For a moment, Arthur felt anxious.

Arthur was basically betting his life on the line here for what? Access to one heroine's route when he already had access to two others, surely by any means of the word this, was a stupid decision, but Arthur didn't care if this decision was dumb. He wanted to do this. Arthur wanted to have Iris. He didn't want to let anyone else have any of the heroines. They were his and his alone.

'You'll be fine, Arthur. Remember, you're strong,' He serenaded himself. 'You didn't spend that month sitting on a bed for nothing, now did you? So come on, let's show this arrogant girl her place in the world,' Arthur sang, his mind almost…manic as thoughts of his sure victory repeatedly played in his mind. Sure, Iris may be overconfident, yet strangely, Arthur seemed to match the girl's assurance in herself as he sent a broad grin over to the waiting Rono.

"I'm Ready," "I'm Ready", The two harmoniously called as their locked on one another, vivid determination burning in one and cold, repressed emotion smouldering in the other.

"Then, on the count of three."

"One"

"Two"

Iris took a stance. She was going to end this in one swift move.

"Three, GO!" Rono screamed, and immediately Iris vanished from her position 20 meters away from Arthur as she appeared right before him, sword mid-motion, its target, his neck.

'I win,' Iris smugly commented. She was fast, too fast, so much so that she knew that Arthur's suppressed senses wouldn't be able to pick up on her attack until the moment it collided with his body. 'Sorry, Charlotte, but it just had to be this way. I'll apologise on my own will after this fight is over,'

'He was so young,' Rono sighed, averting his gaze from where he could only assume he would soon find the incapacitated body of Arthur to the young Charlotte, whom Rono assumed would be in tears after witnessing the scene of the defeated visage of Arthur, however, what he saw stunned him, Charlotte was not in tears, far from it as adoring her face was a deep-set prideful grin. Surprised, Rono quickly shifted his gaze back to the fight, where the scene of Iris bringing her sword of judgement upon the young Arthur was still playing out.

Yet what would happen next would stun not only Iris but almost everyone present as from the palm of Arthur's hand shot out two invisible, untraceable sonar pulses, both of which seemed to scan the entire area before dissipating into thin air as Arthur's body began to move and he…ducked. He dodged Iris's attack, which sailed through the empty air and collided with the compressed dirt ground uplifting a cloud of brown dust.

'WHAT!!' Rono and Iris unanimously stuttered. 'How…How did Arthur dodge my attack!' Iris inwardly screamed, her cold gaze remaining focused on the visage of the crouched boy who simply spared the girl a cocky grin. 'What's going on!' Iris raged, 'A fluke, it must have been a fluke. There's no way it can happen again!' She continued as her figure vanished, reappearing behind the still crouched Arthur, when another two pulses of scan burst forth from the palms of his clenched palms, capturing the girl's body in its entirety and reporting their findings back to their user.

'Dodge this!' Iris inwardly screamed as she performed a vertical slash that would surely crack Arthur's skull. Yet, no such damage happened as at the very moment Iris dedicated herself to the attack, Arthur managed to shift his weight to the side, rolling out of the way of danger. It was as if he could predict the future.

'It's working', Both Arthur and Charlotte gleefully thought in unknown unison. The technique that Arthur had been working on was finally seeing the spotlight. '(Pseudo) Mana sense,' Arthur inwardly grinned. Through the use of two perfectly timed scans, Arthur could get feedback from the technique in the form of a sort of echolocation. Arthur could sense the attacks before his human senses could even pick up on them. 'After finding out that I couldn't use normal mana, I was kinda depressed. I mean, 90% of the super early game Op techniques I could have taught myself relied on that ability, mana sense just being one of them as it's usually something you only learn how to perform at the beginner stage of both paths, but when I attained the scan skill that depression went out the window, all I had to do was remember the fundamental of the technique where knights and mages alike would emit pulses of mana like a bat to be able to sense their entire their surroundings before their eyes and ears could even pick up on a threat. Though I have to say, using scan was much more finicky than I expected at first, and the use of this technique drains a lot more mana than the usual form of the technique but, with this, I can surely overcome the wall of skill that separates me from 90% of the world,' Arthur grinned as he finally regained his posture, standing tall against the stunned Iris,

'And I suppose I also have Charlotte to thank. She didn't even question me when I asked her to start throwing random shit at me from all over the room, which helped me increase my understanding of the technique even more than needed.' Arthur smiled as he moved his body forward, his spear outstretched, targeting the right side of Iris's body.

Still stunned by Arthur's earlier evasion, Iris had a little difficulty responding to the boy's sudden attack. Her pupils shrank as she analysed the best action to take, resulting in her coating the earthen blade in a layer of mana. She was going to take the attack head on and destroy Arthur's only weapon, "his only hope" of beating Iris in this spar.

'Your senses may be good, but as long as you can't coat your weapon in mana, this fight is my win,' Iris monologued, the two blades colliding as Iris's blade split the earthen spear down the middle like a knife through hot butter. Yet, for some reason, despite destroying Arthur's spear…Iris' felt…afraid, and sure enough, from the corner of her eyes, she spotted the reason for her angst as the balled fist of Arthur began to rapidly approach her never before hit face.

'He's going to stop, right!' Iris panicked. Her sword was still currently in the midst of splitting Arthur's now discarded spear that was still being propelled through the air towards her blade, leaving her vulnerable, unable to defend against the hurtling punch. 'Stop, stop, stop, stop, STOP!!' Iris begged. Yet no matter how much Iris pleaded, Arthur's fist remained on course, its destination painfully apparent to all who could track it…Iris's face.

'Eat shit,' Arthur snidely remarked though he outwardly remained in character. This was all for Charlotte, right~ none of this was for his own personal gain. He was the pinnacle of selflessness.

Like a horrific train crash, everyone present couldn't help but be entranced by Arthur's punch as it collided with Iris's never before tainted flesh, their eyes widening in horror and ears shrinking in fear as they waited for the thunder of Arthur's lightning punch. *Booom* The sound of the collision reverberated around the arena as Iris's body flew through the air like an elegant ragdoll before colliding with the solid ground underneath.

For the first time in her life, Iris had been hit.

Even when Iris sparred with Rono, the worst injury she would acquire would be a light graze or two from a few misplaced sword swings but never before had she been…hit. He would always pull his punches or, in this case, swings, so why, or rather how…How did Arthur, of all people, manage to hit her? Wasn't she better than him in every way? Wasn't he just some incompetent peasant that had mysteriously managed to gain a strength unbefitting his talent? The boy couldn't even enchant his weapon with mana. He shouldn't have even posed a threat to Iris, so how? HOW DID HE HIT HER!

'What's happening?' Iris dazedly questioned, raising a palm to her injured cheek only to be horrified by the searing…pain that racked her brain the moment her dainty fingers collided with her soft cheek. 'OWW, OW, he hit me! Arthur really hit me!' Iris inwardly whined, her tear ducts running in full motion as two soft pearls began to run down her cheeks.

But that wasn't all. Plastered upon Iris's now retracted hand was a thick red liquid, something that Iris had seen many times before excreting from other people's open wounds. Yet it was something Iris never expected to witness leave her body. "Blood, I-I'm bleeding", Iris stuttered, her vision momentarily becoming cloudy as more and more tears began to uncontrollably flow from her eyes.

However, despite witnessing the almost depressive scene of a young girl discovering that she was, in fact, human and could be harmed, Arthur felt nothing for Iris. Hadn't she been going all out in an attempt to beat him? He had seen or rather felt the pressure and severity of the attacks she was launching against him, and he doubted she possessed the sportsmanship to stop the attack the moment of collision, and if she did…well, then she'd be a better person than Arthur could ever be.

"Get up," Arthur called, his previously passionate gaze now cold as he looked at the childishly screaming figure of Iris.

"W-w-what," Iris cried, clenching her wounded cheek as she sent a hateful glare at the boy, hadn't he won already? He had hit her, and Rono would always call the match whenever he was about to hit her, but that's just the thing that was Rono. He used an item in which it makes sense for the wielder to call the match with the moment they have it pressed against the opposition's neck, and Arthur, well, he didn't use a weapon now, did he, the only thing on his possession right now were his two fists that he had readily raised at the squirming girl.

"I said get up. The match hasn't been called now, has it," Arthur declared, taking step after step toward the panicking girl.

"B-but you hit me!" Iris yelled.

"So what? This is a fight, isn't it?" He retaliated, taking the final step and finally catching up to the sprawled out girl, who had only managed to feebly pull herself up and back onto her knees in the time it took Arthur to get there.

"But-"

"I said get up!" Arthur childishly yelled, cutting off the panicking girl mid excuse. "You either get up now…Or I'll hit you right here right now, it's your choice, but either way, I'm still going to punch you," Arthur leered. Right now, in the eyes of all who witnessed the fight, he was no longer a pure and innocent hero but rather a little walking demon.

'This is going too far!' Rono inwardly screamed, taking a step towards the ring. He wanted to stop the fight right now before anyone got seriously hurt, but he froze before he could even finish placing his foot on the ground. As directed at him from the opposite side of the arena was an aura of pure, unfiltered killing intent.

'Ch-Charlotte,' Rono gulped as his gaze fixed upon the angered little girl who stared at him from the opposite side of the arena, her gaze telling him the clear message that if he were to step in and interrupt the fight right now…she, would kill him. This little girl he had seen as something akin to a granddaughter would claim his life. How? He didn't know, but the primal instincts within Rono's body screamed at him that Charlotte, in this very moment, Charlotte was infinitely more dangerous than any opponent he had ever fought throughout his entire 600 years of life. And who was he to not obey his instincts? As Rono's foot began to subconsciously return to its former position, the killing intent that grasped at his body was quickly dispelled. The visage of the eerily angry Charlotte was no more, replaced with the smiling figure of the beautiful girl.

'Scary', Rono shivered, his gaze returning to the match where he could see a feebly trembling Iris slowly bring herself back onto her feet, her sword acting as a crutch as she hoisted herself up to her full height, in which she towered over her seven-year-old opponent.

"Good," Arthur appraised. 'Ah shit, I should probably act like a hero here now, right?' "This fight doesn't end until I get an apology, ok," Arthur leered, 'Well I've been acting like a hero the whole time, just that only Charlotte will really see it that way, but then again, that's all that really matters, I'm sure that once the fight ends Iris will begin to see where my comments were coming from,'

"I-I'll kill you," Iris seethed, her rage fueled by the newfound pain that reverberated through her body like a bell, finally reaching a breaking point as she leered at the perpetrator for all of this…Arthur.

{+1 Love (Iris Zepar)}

{+200 Love points}

'Huh,' Arthur dumbly commented upon seeing the sudden message from the system, 'Why is her love for me increasing? decreasing I'd understand, but why is it going up, not down?! System, are you sure you're not bugged? I won't be mad if you tell me the truth,' Arthur sputtered out a question.

{The system is not bugged at all. As for why Iris's love for you is increasing, it's probably because you've managed to imprint yourself upon her in some way or another,}

The system replied with a half assed guess of an answer. 'Yeah, but Iris literally just said she'd kill me! That's not something you say to someone you have a crush on now, is it?!' Arthur continued as from the corner of his eyes, he spotted the moving figure of Iris as subconsciously, two more pulses of energy emitted themselves from Arthur's clenched fists.

'From the left,' Arthur recounted, moving his body to the right and managing to narrowly avoid another of Iris's wild swings. 'She's gotten faster! Why has she gotten faster!' Arthur screamed in a panic. He never had to deal with adrenaline when he played through the Gate to Avlon, so he was still pretty unaware of the power of a human's fight or flight instincts, especially the fight or flight instincts of a human race that had to compete with other humanoid races, all of which were stronger than them.

'Right,' Ducking Arthur avoided another one of Iris's vicious swipes. 'Shit, I don't have any room for a counterattack! Maybe I should have just beat the shit out of her when she was still down…even if it is scummy, It'd at least be a certain victory.' Compared to earlier, these ones could definitely claim his life if they were to cleanly collide with any of his major organs.

Pulse after pulse of scan shot out of Arthur's body as he managed to narrowly avoid slash after slash from iris's attacks. Still, as the fight dragged on, it became very apparent that Arthur was starting to get tired. Sure he had trained for a month, but by no means he possessed a level of physical fitness comparable to that of his opponent.

'Now,' Arthur declared, spotting an opportunity for a counterattack as his fist wormed its way through a narrow gap between Iris's sword and her neck. *Booom* The sound of flesh meeting flesh once again echoed throughout the empty echelons of the arena as Iris's body once again went ragdolling through the air. Arthur had hit her again. 'How! How am I losing to this kid!' Iris whined, yet unlike before, her body didn't collapse limply to the ground as at the very moment she was about to make contact with the ground, Iris forced her left hand against the compressed dirt flooring, enhanced it with mana, and used it as a springboard to propel herself back into an upright position.

*Gasp, gasp* 'Can't…breathe,' Iris gasped, attempting to regain her breath from Arthur's rather scummy attack.

'I can't let this opportunity go!' Arthur inwardly roared, dashing towards his opponent, arms raised. He launched his very first punch of the match that wasn't a counterattack.

*Boom!* Arthur's fist collided neatly with Iris's exposed chest winding the girl even more as her feet scraped against the ground, falling back a couple of meters. 'Shit, that wasn't good enough,' Arthur fumed, dashing towards Iris once again in hopes of performing a follow-up attack to his last punch. Yet, the moment he got within range of the girl, he was alerted to two distinct messages from the reports of his scan.

'Head on and to the right…huh,' Arthur hesitated. He was so used to only dealing with one direction that he had neglected to practice coping with pincer attacks even in his training with Charlotte. 'Let's just duck!' Arthur hurriedly confirmed as he crouched under Iris's quick sword thrust, one that would have easily managed to skewer his heart had he not made the right decision. 'She's really trying to kill me! Holy shit! Rono, call the fight off! I don't want to die!' Arthur inwardly screamed the relief that momentarily flowed through his body from dodging a potentially life threatening attack causing him to neglect the other alert his mana sense had foretold as, sure enough, Iris's mana coated leg came barreling towards him and nailed the unguarded boy squarely in the ribs, sending him sprawling across the ground for another couple of meters before he came to an abrupt halt.

"ARTHUR!!" Charlotte screamed from the sidelines. If not for the fact that Rono was still watching over the fight, she would have surely dashed over to the injured boy, swept him up within her arms as she cradled him like a princess, all the while she defeated her sister, or at least that's what Charlotte delusionally imagined would happen.

'OWWW, Fuck, that hurts!' Arthur cursed, struggling to get back up to his feet, 'How come she can use mana to enhance her legs too! That's so unfair. Why can't I have my mana veins be as unclogged as hers!' Arthur fumed his rage more akin to a child throwing a jealous tantrum rather than a man experiencing genuine anger. Sure he envied the real prodigies of the world, those blessed with actual talent as opposed to him, but that didn't mean he'd go so far as to bitch about his issues to something like the system. No, Arthur knew what he had, and even though it was frightening little, it was still something Arthur could work with, it was his fault that he was hungry for power and drank the potion without asking if there would be consequences, and Arthur knew it, but given a chance to redo that decision again, Arthur wouldn't have changed a thing, Arthur knew the hacks of the world, and in the future, he would use every piece of knowledge he has to break this world and become it's one true god. But for now, he'd at least like to act a little jealous of those more blessed than him.

'Above!' Arthur quickly commented, rolling out of the way of Iris's quick downwards thrust, creating a small crater in the place his head had been not even seconds earlier. 'Hey, system, do you think I'd be able to get away with drinking a potion without getting caught or Nah,'

{No,}

'Thought as much,' Arthur sighed, pushing himself back up onto his feet as he avoided another one of Iris's sudden swings, one that thankfully left her open again to another counterattack, straight to the nose.

*Bang*

Arthur's fist squarely collided with the centre of Iris's nose, emitting a satisfying crunch as the girl once again slid back a couple of meters, blood now coating her face as she hatefully glared at the perpetrator for all the damage that had been forced upon her.

"Sniff, why *gasp* won't you just DIE!" Iris fumed, launching herself towards Arthur, her sword now dropped firmly to the ground. She wanted to meet him head on, fist upon fist, reason upon reason.

'Is she an idiot? Why the hell would she drop her weapon now!' Nonetheless, Arthur didn't back down from Iris's rather abrupt challenge as he dashed towards the girl, whose sprawling brown hair spread out from behind like an open fan, reflecting the rays of the brilliant sun off of the stands into the form of a beautiful half rainbow.

And just as they were about to collide, two invisible pulses of scan shot out from Arthur's clenched palms, a decision Arthur would come to regret, as this was the breaking point of his mana usage. He hadn't reached his natural limit but rather a self-imposed one that he had created out of fear that it would never return to him if he were to use it all. A childish, idiotic fear to be sure, yet one that felt oddly natural to Arthur, someone who hadn't legitimately gained his own mana nor formed his own mana core. His head felt strangely light, while his body felt oddly exhausted, a weird dichotomy of sensations that sent the young Arthur through a mental loop that lasted no longer than a second, yet…a second is all it took for Iris to appear within arms reach of the short child, her fist outstretched and mid action as it barreled straight towards Arthur's exposed face.

And at this moment, Arthur felt true despair or at least a portion of true despair. The technique he had worked so hard to attain over the past month had failed him in the one moment when it really mattered. Was all his effort for nought was he really going to lose at the very end of this bout? Arthur could see it. Iris was just as exhausted, if not more than him. Iris had used less mana than him. At least that much was true; however, one could not underestimate the sheer effort it took to make attack after attack like Iris was doing.

And yet even though such an opportunity had presented itself to him, Arthur's mana sense or rather his fear of preserving mana just had to come in and be his Achilles heel at this very moment, 'Fuck, why, why did this have to happen now, I can't lose! I don't want to lose. If I lose now, then all of this is fucked. I'm such an idiot. Why do I always place all my chips on an event I have no fucking control over,' Arthur screamed, blaming the gods for his self imposed weakness rather than his own cowardice to jump the shark and use all his mana.

'Fuck it, I've been relying on my mana sense too much anyway! I'll just have to dodge this by myself!' Arthur screamed, still refusing to just give in and use what little mana he has left to help him dodge the already outstretched punch of the older girl. His pupils shrank as they focused their all on the fist that was not even ten centimetres away from his head, Iris had the advantage of reach over Arthur, and he knew that, even if Arthur were to attempt to tank the attack head on, his reach wouldn't be great enough to land another solid blow in an attempt to at least end the match in a draw. No, Arthur needed to dodge the attack and somehow worm his way into Iris's front to land a solid blow against her. Or did he? Couldn't he just deflect the attack and have Iris do all the work for him? Sure his arm might shatter, but that wouldn't exactly be anything new to him. In fact, he'd welcome such pain if it meant he could win the fight.

And just as Iris's fist was about to collide with Arthur's face, he moved, slightly shifting his head to the right and raising his left arm in an attempt to both block the punch and knock it off course.

*Boom!* *Shatter* *Crunch* Iris's mana coated fist collided with Arthur's arm forcing the limb back and wholly shattering it. The sound of loose bone could be heard sliding around in amongst the veins and severed muscles that made up the appendage, but it worked. With the collision, Arthur had managed to slightly skew the trajectory of the fist, knocking it off the predetermined course that led to his face and managing to make it narrowly glance across his cheek, leaving a rather deep gash that quickly coated the girl's hand with blood, but at least he was safe.

'NOW!' Arthur inwardly screamed, willing his body to ignore the throbbing pain that spread throughout his body like the plague. Everything felt hot, and his undamaged right arm suddenly felt at least ten times heavier than it usually was, but Arthur wouldn't let these issues deter him. He had to punch Iris. Arthur had to hit the girl and knock her to the ground. Even if it won't knock her out, he at least knew she'd be too exhausted to get back up, and then and only then would he be able to relax, oh and he'd of course, have to say some cheesy line relating to Charlotte but the thought of dealing with whatever cringe he'd inevitably have to say seemed so mild in comparison to his current pain that he'd even say it would be pleasant.

Arthur's right fist raised slowly to the air, it lacked all force, but none of that mattered. If he couldn't tense his arm, then he just had to use his legs to generate the necessary force. Iris's pupils momentarily shrank in fear as she realised what was to come, though as stated, this fear was only momentarily as the moment her beautiful emerald eyes fell upon the determined bloody face of Arthur, they began to dilate, a gentle caring smile plastered upon her face, one singular question present in her mind.

'Would you fight this hard for me too?'

{+10 Love (Iris Zepar)}

{+2000 Affection points}

*Booom!* Arthur twisted his hips, forcing his body to generate as much force as possible. The speed of his fist began to increase in tandem with Arthur's momentum, going from a slow crawl to a beautiful glide before, *Booom!* It finally crashed into the side of Iris's still elegantly smiling face; although its force was nothing compared to that of his earlier punches, it still sent the girl falling to her knees, her gaze down trodden, a beautiful bloody smile plastered upon her graceful face shielded by a curtain of her still shining brown hair.

Arthur had one, and now to seal the deal and truly set himself down the Iris route, he had to give a few counterintuitive words.

"I won-won't die, *gasp* not un-until you apologise to *gasp* Charlotte," Arthur panted. 'God, that's still cringe…did I do that right? I'm not seeing a wall of text,' Arthur anxiously thought. Just standing up right was so painful and exhausting that he thought he might die. Yet not even a second later did the beaten girl speak.

"I see, that's nice," Iris hushedly whispered, her diluted gaze peering through her curtain of her and landing upon the young Arthur, a mild blush now dancing on her face. "You win," Iris sighed as she "Collapsed" onto the compressed ground underneath, "defeated."

"ARTHUR!!!" Charlotte's high-pitched voice resonated from behind the worn and torn Arthur, alerting the boy of just how truly fucked he may be, as accompanying her was a torrent of system messages.