The princess glanced at the pale scion of the Legendary Xi Clan. Her black hair fell to her shoulders, layered flat, and bangs covered her forehead in a pristine wolf cut.
Her grey eyes contrasted with her color of hair, they bore a strange sight within them, a swirling storm… raging one moment and calm the other.
The princess's eyebrows furrowed a little bit,
"They don't lie about the Xi… 'their eyes bear the storms of humanity's past'… well it's my first time meeting one… since y'all have been dead for long. So it's not a myth huh…"
Xi Evira's expression was calm, a little even stoic… unbothered by the second princess's words.
"Should we start the duel… Amyris."
The princess pursed her lips a little. Not many people dared to call her by name.
"I'm honestly confused. I'm thinking of retiring from the duel. Wouldn't want the ancient Xi to end here once and for all."
Xi Evira's eyes matched the princess's golden eyes. They shone with the brilliance of the sun, reminiscent of it… almost as if there was truly a blazing fireball embedded within each of her eye sockets.
Her hair in conjunction with her eyes was reminiscent of them, golden and almost charred black at the ends while tied in a high ponytail.
The princess's body… though covered in majestic armor, did nothing to hide the curves that followed, revealing which to men and women would probably blind them much like looking at the naked sun.
True the armor did not reveal skin but from the face and neck it was apparent that the princess's skin was sun-kissed with a petite nose following along.
Xi Evira smirked nonchalantly. Her unnatural pink lips revealing a set of white teeth and a pink tongue from the glimpses.
"The storms of humanity's past… heh. Amyris you should know better. Xi is the storm. We change the landscape. So I'd worry much more about yourself."
Amyris narrowed her eyes… something about the Xi Clan's last scion irked her.
'What is it…? Disregard? Her casualness?'
Whatever it was, the princess wanted to crush it with all her power. She pursed her lips, her visage suddenly stoic.
A pair of twin daggers suddenly appeared in her hands. Darker than obsidian and blacker than the abyss.
"Let's see what the Xi has got to offer."
Evira's smile turned cold as her eyes glinted with the same color as the steel suddenly in her hands.
A beautiful longsword made of ice.
"Likewise. I'm curious too…"
A mocking smile formed on her pale visage.
"…Princess."
Ullysen observed the scene and his smirk deepened. He glanced at the crowd, at least approximately a few million people in the arena, and announced.
His voice was barely a whisper but audible across the carnivorous silence of the Trojan Hall.
"Heh… let the games begin."
Two sounds emerged, the soft deadly chimes of the glacier-like blade against the hiss of the sound-absorbing vacuum edges.
'So fast…' Vesper's eyes widened. Both ladies were moving at extremely high speeds. Almost at the speed of light. Each clash resounded with the sounds of their bouts half a second later.
Even the sounds of their blades clashing were terrifying because they were simply hisses.
The entire arena was silent, they were quietly observing the beauty in the framework of the two figures that stood to inherit absolute power in the coming future.
"The princess is winning… I think."
"No, it's definitely the Last Xi."
"Idiot, see properly. It's the Princess."
Whispers were beginning to arise as the fight prolonged.
"Heh…" Amyris couldn't help but chuckle as she moved around Evira with her daggers.
She was lunging at every vital point of her body while the scion did her best to avoid the blade though a few cuts couldn't help but appear.
Not very deep but enough. Amyris paused, she glanced at her black daggers, they were so black that the blood on them wasn't visible.
Still, she went for a small lick… taunting the princess with a crazed frenzy.
Evira quickly grabbed the opportunity to strike at her opponent. Her glacier blade met the black steel.
A huge hiss rang across the arena as both sides were paused in motion battling for superiority of who would fall first.
Amyris quickly let go of her left dagger, somersaulting underneath the glacier blade. She caught the dagger in the air and plunged it into Evira's stomach.
"Ufghkkk-" The last scion spat a mouthful of blood but she quickly took a few steps back somersaulting in the air.
Blood painted the ground as Evira walked with a pained expression, her grip on her sword still solid.
"Whoaaa it looks like the princess is winning!!!"
"LONG LIVE THE MAJESTY!!"
"Wooohooo Princesssss!!!!"
The Arena burst into a million cheers each hooting in celebration of the princess.
The merriments however were mistaken...
They saw the flash of gold, the aggressive advance, and called it victory but they failed to see the motion of thrift in Evira's defense.
Yes… she was bleeding. Heavily.
…but if one looked at her again.
The wounds had already healed.
Every lunge that Amyris made, the blade was already there to defend against.
Not meeting force with force but rather melting to absorb the impact and then reforging in an instant.
The fight kept going. Minutes turned into hours and hours turned into days. Both parties kept to it. Unyielding.
…and the audience. They kept at their seats, not one moving, not even Vesper. Each one of them was mesmerized by the beauty in their movements. The endless grace.
There was much to learn… too much and it was too beautiful to disturb.
Amyris felt it first. Not in her eyes, but in her bones. A flicker of doubt, cold and alien… leaching into her similar to the ice-cold glacial long sword.
Xi Evira's body was filled with cuts, some fresh and some healing and the floor had already turned brown with the amount of blood shed and dried up.
The last scion was still defending even after days had passed. There wasn't much of even a scratch on Amyris's body… the abyssal daggers she held however were filled with chips in them.
Her attacks in actuality weren't being blocked but rather measured… each strike felt less like striking a sword but more like thrusting her hand deep into snow.
The more she pushed, the heavier and colder the resistance became.
'Am I getting tired…? Or is Xi Evira getting stronger?'
Amyris's eyes for the first time in a while flickered to Xi Evira's in doubt.
There she saw it… her eyes gleaning with a ferocity unlike any other she had ever seen in her life.
For a moment Amyris was scared.
The stormy grey eyes bore into her soul and struck such inexplicable terror that she could not explain.
Amyris closed her eyes shut and in that moment the entire landscape changed.
Evira's foot shifted half an inch. It was the second offensive step she had taken since the duel began.
The temperature in the Arena plummeted. The hiss of the void daggers were choked by the freezing cold of the glacier sword.
The tempest in Evira's eyes swirled. True to her words. She was the storm and the storm had remained… while the sun had burnt out.
Amyris lay pinned, the glacial sword at her throat, and the void daggers were destroyed into oblivion.
Her golden eyes blazed with helpless fury and helpless pride. Her moment of doubt had become her bane of existence.
She looked up at Evira, those grey eyes that had struck great fear in her heart.
They were now calm… the storm had calmed down. Evira looked upon the princess… not with pity… not with triumph.
Evira gazed at Amyris with apathy.
And.
Evira gazed at Amyris with conclusion.
"You offered to retire."
For the first time in days, a human voice reverberated across the arena. Xi Evira's voice was calm and without a sign of exhaustion.
…but to Amyris, it sounded cruel. Oh so terribly cruel that even the audience could not help but feel pity for the princess… even Vesper.
"It was a generous offer. Unnecessary but generous."
Amyris closed her eyes, a singular tear flowing from one of her eyes… not of water but of blood… she whispered almost as if begging.
"Kill me."
Xi Evira ignored her words, she withdrew her blade as it sighed into mist. Unsummoned back into wherever the nightmare it came from.
"What do I get from doing that?" She asked the princess uncaringly but genuinely curious.
The princess's eyes shot open glaring at Xi Evira with endless fury. Her nails dug deep into the ground and that's when she noticed.
The Landscape had truly changed as if a storm had paved it's way across it.
Their clashes had destroyed everything and the floor itself had changed color.
Xi Evira glanced at Ullysen Paul and the black box in the corner. Then she looked down at Amyris, her stormy eyes utterly devoid of any interest.
Her voice, when it came was clear and swallowed all sound in the arena.
"I'm bored," she said. "I retire."