The duel was scheduled to happen about half an hour after Joseph found Hera and Insomniac. People were already in the arena for a presentation for one of their classes, and the butler sent a message confirming that he had found Hera and Insomniac. Once he did, the professors also added that they would have that exhibition match. Hearing that, Frederick was very excited about this.
Especially when he saw Hera arriving. Her clothes covered in dirt, and the woman clearly needing a shower. Which was something that Hera herself understood. After all, she had just spent a few hours fighting the strongest man in the MAZE. Although calling it a fight wasn't being fair to Insomniac. She was pretty much being pushed around until it was time for them to leave.
Hera was far from being in peak condition right now. But that would be more than enough for what she had in mind for Frederick.
Just like Joseph said, she wasn't going to just simply fight the man. Well, she was. But not in an obvious way, attacking him with everything she had and forcing the kid to give up. She paused, realizing she had to stop thinking of him like a kid. According to Joseph, the man was 20.
And that was already old enough to understand the ramifications of one's actions. The Empress saw the blue-haired man on the other side of the arena. Joseph made it clear that he was the one who controlled the timing. So she could take as long as she wanted to start the fight.
Hera wanted to get this over with, but she needed to wait until one person arrived. Someone she asked Joseph to call. Once the person that was going to help her finally arrived, a couple of people started to announce the fight. They were the teachers who were in charge of the place and were already aware of the duel.
They started announcing both warriors. Speaking about Frederick and how he was one of the best students they ever had, and how this duel was a choice he made in order to prove that he did not fail his assignment. Something that, according to Joseph, was a line they used no matter what the reason for the duel was.
Despite the public nature of the challenge, the actual reasoning behind it was always kept private unless one of the fighters decided to announce it themselves. Which happened more often than not, but still, they kept following tradition.
Once the announcer finished introducing Frederick, he turned to Hera. But the Empress was already stepping into the arena. Yet, she wasn't alone. Instead, there were two other people helping her bring a table and a chair. She had them both placed in the center of the arena and walked up carrying a cup of tea in hand with her pinky raised before sitting down on the chair by the table. The announcers didn't really know what to say about this, so instead, the Empress spoke. Using a ring given to her by Joseph to help her carry her voice and speak to the entire crowd.
"Most of you should know Frederick. And you should know the type of person he is. But I believe that I need some introduction. I am Hera, the Ophidianite Empress, and the Aspirant Hero. The first person in centuries to receive this title," she took a small sip.
"I do not take that name lightly, and the only reason for me to have it was due to my efforts to stop the war. If any of you are wondering if it was real and the fight I had with Morgan really did happen, it did. And that was when I acquired a piece of the Azure Chain legacy," she paused, looking around to be sure everyone was listening.
"Unfortunately, Morgan had already absorbed most of it, leaving me with only a few scraps. That wasn't the first legacy he had, and he even stolen another from a friend of mine. In case you don't understand what that means, let me translate. The legacy was already gone the moment Morgan took it. And that's the reason why your clan is currently without its legacy."
"I'm not going to apologize for it, I wasn't the one who caused any problems. You had lost the legacy long before I stepped into the picture. And yet, some of you seem to think that my position wasn't earned, that the fact I am here and I have achieved everything I achieved is a lie, and that you were more deserving than I am. Despite never stepping foot out of this room."
Hera's words were full of venom, spitting out while making a point of not turning to Frederick. "So, very well. Let's see if those assumptions are correct. Frederick is still not even level 10. So instead, to make this fair, I will not be stepping out of this chair."
"As a matter of fact, I will be doing my best not to move at all, although I will be drinking some tea because, honestly I can't be bothered to just stay still while a child runs around me. If you want to prove that you are better than me, Frederick, if you want to prove to your clan that you deserve the legacy that you clearly already proved you don't deserve. Here is your opportunity."
The Empress summoned Oberon and placed it on top of her head in the feathered cap. "All you have to do is touch this hat. Make it move on my head. You can take it, you can use a spell to attack it, you can do whatever you want to do. I am not getting up from this chair, and I'm not leaving this table to stop you." Hera snapped her fingers, and all of her Court in their weapon forms appeared.
All but one. Nimbus was also in his weapon form together with Insomniac by the edge of the arena. No one was going to mind the presence of the strongest man in the MAZE with some weapon that no one had seen before, especially since people knew he liked to practice with different weapons just in case something were to happen with the tools he had on him.
Nimbus was there because Hera wasn't going to give Frederick, the chance of a lucky break. She was rigging the game against him. And she didn't feel bad about it. The man was an ass, and he really deserved what she was intending to put him through.
"Pick two of those weapons. Those are all part of my legacy. They can move as I command them. One of the weapons will be tasked with stopping you from getting close to me. One will be tasked with defending against any projectiles you might throw my way. Neither of them will do the job of the other unless you ask to switch them."
Frederick stood watching everything in silence. He was already red in the face, feeling not just angry but humiliated by the clear suggestion that Hera wasn't going to take this challenge seriously. It didn't matter to him that she was much stronger than him. The members of Clan Azure truly believed he could fight her on equal ground simply due to his upbringing. He was about to say something arguing against it when another man stepped forward, his face clearly covered in sweat.
"Of course, thank you for being so generous to my son," the man spoke up, giving a quick glance to Frederick. "He will pick the two weapons that will be part of this challenge, and then you can begin."
She ignored Frederick's father completely and just asked Frederick, "Do you accept my terms or are you going to say that this is unfair and that you can only fight against one of my weapons at a time?"
Frederick's father clearly was bothered by being dismissed, but he didn't say anything as he also noticed Matriarch Azure approaching and standing on the opposite end of the arena. He glanced back at his son and said, "Pick something that gives you a chance. If you lose here, you're going to have bigger problems than you might think." He barked those orders at his son before stepping away and leaving the man to fight the Empress.
Frederick looked around, still unsure why his father was so worried about this random snake woman, but an order had been given. And he was now supposed to follow it no matter what. He looked at the weapons that were floating in front of Hera, and quickly dismissed a couple.
The scythe looked too ominous. And the chain whip was too strange for him to fight. The glaive also gave him a strange feeling, but there were two weapons that caught his attention. The first, a sword. A sword with an electric blue handle. It was a similar shade that was present on his own hair, which likely meant this was a gift from the heavens. The other was just something that barely looked like a weapon at all.
"I pick those two. The sword to fight against me and that thing to protect you against my spells since you are so scared of them." He picked Storm to fight while Hoop was going to defend Hera.
Out of every single weapon she had shown him, Hoop was likely the worst possible choice for something that was going to be on the defensive. The Cyr wheel would be able to spin so fast around Hera that nothing would be able to get close enough to deliver a blow.
"Feel free to begin whenever. I really don't care," Hera took a sip of her tea, which signaled Frederick to start fighting. She had dismissed the rest of the Court as to not let them be threatening, and no one argued that she was going against the rules.
In addition, no one could say anything about Nimbus's interference. He was placing several mana barriers around Oberon. That way, even if Frederick hit it, the hat wouldn't move. And since the mana was coming from Hera herself, there was no way to tell this wasn't the way things were supposed to be.
After all, she never said that she wouldn't be doing anything to keep the hat on her head. All of these were things that she asked Joseph about, and he made it clear that her plan was very much on brand with what would happen in this type of duel.
The Empress didn't even care to look towards Frederick. Instead, she started analyzing the expressions of those watching the fight. Not that it made that much of a difference. Her court was making her aware of everything the man was trying to do. He first thought he could just run along and intercept Hera before Storm was even able to catch up.
His first attempt only resulted in his neck meeting the tip of the long sword's blade. Storm was being very careful not to hurt him, but she was also making sure Frederick couldn't move as he wanted. At all. He was jumping around the arena like a monkey, all in hopes of catching the slightest glimpse of an opportunity to move forward.
Hoop was currently spinning around Hera at such a high speed that it like a gust of wind was passing by. There was only this brief moment where people were able to see the weapon before it disappeared from their sight completely. Hera was very worried that the people watching the duel would be angry or upset at her reactions.
But, instead, they were all smiling and looking at her with awe. It seemed only a very small number of the students truly seemed bothered by anything. And those eyes were more focused on Frederick than anything else. Meaning that people here shouldn't be on his side either. Which wasn't really a surprise.
Eventually, Hera finished her cup of tea. And waved to someone in the crowd. "Let's change the rules a little bit. If you can make the maid that's about to step into the arena spill a single drop of tea, you also win," the Empress replied as the maid that she had asked Joseph to bring, Isabella, started walking towards them. This was the final layer of her plan.
She was going to first show her superiority, and then prove that he wouldn't able to do anything against her. Even if she wasn't the target. Even if it was someone considered absolutely weak, she could protect them with the same ease as she did herself. Because that's how much he mattered. That's how much his strength meant to her. It amounted to nothing.
He was an ant facing a giant serpent. Something that was so beyond him that no matter what he did the result would be the same. He was so small in comparison that he wasn't even able to mess with Hera's comfort.
Hera asked Isabella to speak for this test since she was the most level-headed maid Valera had. She was the type of person who wouldn't flinch even if she saw a spear being hurled in her direction. Isabella stepped into the arena and started to walk towards Hera, carrying with her a black teapot with an infusion of apple, cinnamon, orange and ginger. It was a bit unique on the flavor side, but Hera quite enjoyed that mixture.
Frederick jumped around trying his best to hit Hera and ignore Isabella. But when it became clear that he couldn't reach the Empress, he changed his aim towards the new option he had for victory. But even then, Storm didn't let him move.
The longsword was also making sure not to use any powerful abilities. Or abilities at all. The electricity that crackled around her was just that. She wasn't going to attack the man with it. It was equivalent to a butterfly opening its wings. Just a scare tactic to aid her performance. And since that worked, the more Frederick got close, the more lightning would crackle, which would spook him and cause him to jump backwards.
All the while, Hera was in the center of the arena talking with Isabella without a care in the world. They were discussing how to grow tea and the things that she could do to make a version of that particular blend when she was back home.
Completely unbothered by Frederick's presence. He even tried to use some of his most powerful abilities, but Hera couldn't even tell the difference between those and what he was actually doing so far. What he was already doing, so far.
The fight, which started with having everybody on edge and curious about the events, made everybody relax and now felt more like a circus. People were shouting and talking over each other, making jokes and laughing every time Frederick was being tossed back into the ground. Which was happening more and more often as Storm realized the way she could scare him into falling down, and that gave enough time for Hera to finish the entire teapot.
When she dismissed Isabella, and before the maid stepped out, the Empress spoke. "The moment Isabella leaves the arena, this will be over. I'm done with this charade."
"Wait!" Frederick protested.
"Yes?"
"Can we change the weapon that's defending?" he asked.
"Are you saying that you can't handle a sword and you're hoping that the other option would be easier?" Hera asked.
Frederick clenched his fists, but he didn't answer, although everybody could tell that this was exactly what he was thinking. Hera knew how wrong he was and that this would be even better for her intentions.
"Fine, Hoop. Swap with Storm."
"The name of that hula hoop is Hoop?" Frederick gasped. But Hera refused to answer.
This was yet one more thing she could do to try to hurt his pride, after all, people like him were the type to feel shame even by the names of the weapons they had. And hearing a silly name like Hoop, and knowing that Hoop was the one who was beating him, would probably drive the man mad. Which very much happened as he got even angrier.
When Storm started to move around, Frederick, giving up any idea of fighting Hera, jumped towards Isabella. If she wanted, Hera could simply not do anything when she saw him try to attack the maid. After all, the teapot was empty.
He wasn't going to be able to make her drop any tea when there was no tea. Yet, she didn't want to put Isabella in a dangerous position. As she walked out, Frederick tried to jump and, for the first time since this fight started, felt like his movements were unimpeded.
There was nothing stopping him from getting close to the maid. He opened a smile knowing that this time he had won, but suddenly he felt that giant ring with blades on the edges go around him, grab him by the waist and yank him backwards, causing him to fall to the ground and start coughing.
Hoop gave the man a chance to get up, but still she had to give it to him, Frederick tried again. Only to have the same thing happen five more times until Isabella was out of the arena. Hera still didn't get up, instead, she just turned backwards towards Valera and asked, "Is this enough?"
Valera didn't reply. Now she was the one using a spell to make her voice carry. "Since Frederick used this duel to attempt to be free of his punishment, but failed to do so in such a spectacular fashion, his entire family will be punished instead."
"They are no longer welcome in the main house and shall be taken to one of our satellite homes where people work with the construction of new facilities for our clan. All of his family members will join. Unless they wish to renounce their family branch."
Frederick's father was fuming, but not at Hera. His anger was directed at his son, who failed to complete his task. Frederick's father got up and left the chair, calling the rest of her Court members to help as a way to show everybody her true strength too, and how she could quite literally make real people.
Meaning that what they saw her do with Frederick was nothing more than her playing around. She still didn't feel that great about it, but giving that kind of humiliation to someone like Frederick was a nice feeling despite everything.
Hera was looking around the arena. Seeing the faces of all the people who were watching the fight. She thought about what Valera had asked and how she was supposed to talk to them about the adventure she had, but instead, she decided to do something a bit different. Snapping her fingers, she had her titled blades spread out, leaving some room between them and clapped her hands towards the crowd.
"So, who wants to spar with me or my court?"