Chapter 53: Duel (End)

Glynne has finally arrived at the training grounds. When he got there, he noticed Kiana at the middle of the field, with her arms crossed while tapping the ground with her foot.

"You're late." she said as soon as she saw the boy come out of the door.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I had something to do first." Glynne apologizes while rubbing the back of his head. He then put his hands down and stared at Kiana's eyes "That said, I'm glad I talk to again."

"Hm, do you miss talking to me that much?"

"Pretty much, yeah." the girl was taken aback when Glynne answered her without any hesitation. He noticed her mouth twitching as she seems to be holding back something.

"...Anyways," Kiana flips her hair and pointed her finger at him, "I believe you should already know why I called you here."

"Yeah, I know." Glynne lose the bet. With him barely passing the practicals, he lost to Kiana by a large margin. That said, the results was revealed last week and he was expecting to be confronted at any moment about the bet. However for some reason, she never approached him until now.

"By the way, you didn't held back right?" Kiana eyed the boy suspiciously. Yes, the practical score is quite understandable, but Glynne's score at the written exams are mediocre. In fact, their score were quite close to each other.

"Eh, there's no way that's the case." Glynne quickly denied the suspicion as he waves his hand quickly.

Kiana glared the boy for a while before she out a sign. "Fine, I'll let it pass this time."

She then walk closer to Glynne and stared at his face. "W-what?" of course, he was quite taken aback as he girl seems to be observing him from head to toe.

After a few moments she closed her eyes and turned around with her hands at her back. "Hey, do you remember this place?"

"Yeah," Glynne nodded and look around the place as if he was feeling nostalgic. "This is where we first met."

"-This is also where you first insulted me." Kiana quickly added.

"Well, in my defense, you are the rude one to interrupt during my training." Glynne retorted back while shrugging his shoulders.

They both look at each other for a few seconds before they broke out into laughter at the same.

".... Right, you know there's always been one thing I wanted to do here since then." Kiana moves closer once again and pointed her finger on the boy's face. "Please have a duel with me."

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"Uhm, just to make sure. Are you really okay with this?" Glynne asked as he tries to adjust the skintight training suit. With his battlesuit being confiscated, he has no other choice but to use this one for the duel. "You know, you could always challenge me anytime."

"Please don't fool me. " Kiana glared at the boy. "I know that if given the choice, you always decline to fight."

Glynne let out a sigh and muttered "I guess you saw right through me..." He wasn't really keen in getting into fight himself. Sparring is another thing though as he only thought of that as a part of training. That said, the only fights he would get into are the ones which are mandatory or those that are forced into him. In this case it was the latter.

He was planning to have Kiana change her wish. However, looking at her eyes, she seems pretty determined to fight him. He had no other choice as he did agree to do one thing if she beat him on the test. "By the way, are you not gonna use your battlesuit?" he pointed it out when he notice that Kiana is wearing a similar outfit as him but colored white.

"Yeah, I won't repeat the same mistake! With this, we're even." Kiana pump her fist and then brought two training pistols.

Glynne widened his eyes when he saw it but he soon smiled and also brought out the same same pistols as her. "Shall we start then?"

"Ah, before I forgot, don't hold back okay." the girl pointed her gun and glared menacingly at him. He just click his tongue in response. Well, there goes his plan.

With no referee looking over their match, Glynne pull out a coin and toss it on the air. ONE, the coin reaches the top; TWO, it then begun to fall down; THREE, as soon as it hit the ground both of them quickly charge at each other.

Kiana was the first and stared to aim her weapon. However, as pistols only has one way to deal damage, Glynne quickly redirects the muzzle with the back of his hand as a streak of light passes through the side of his head.

It was now his turn to attack and also tries to aim his weapon but just like earlier, Kiana was able to redirect it thus missing his shot. However, he expected it and quickly switch into a low spinning sweep kick.

Kiana was able to react on time and jump up into the air. She did a somersault and use the momentum to deliver an axe kick. Glynne quickly dodges to the side as he aim his weapon.

He fired it but Kiana was able to dodge in time by ducking down. She then tried retaliating back a doing a high kick aiming for his head.

Glynne leaned his head back as a foot almost hit his chin by a paper thin margin. He decided that he is losing control of the fight and step back to gain some distance.

The two both wipe the sweat forming on their chins as they both stared at each other. Being someone who trained under the same teacher, they would be able to predict each other's next move.

In just that exchange alone, Kiana was becoming more convinced that Glynne has met her father. A chance has finally showed itself in front of her and, even though slim, she wanted to grab it just so she could meet him again.

She lunged at the boy and started her assault once again. Launching a roundhouse kick, Glynne dodges two of it and manage to store one of his gun away in order to grab her foot.

Kiana was surprised by this and he use this opportunity to aim his weapon. In desperation, she raise her other foot to attempt a drop kick.

It was a mistake though as Glynne quickly push and let go of her other leg causing the girl to lose balance and landed on the ground with her back. However, she quickly tries to gather her breath and create some distance.

The boy didn't let her and followed her to strike her with his knee on her stomach. The air in her lungs has been force out and was sent flying a meters ahead. She kneeled down on the ground as she was desperately catching for air. She raise her head to see a muzzle aimed at her face.

She closed her eyes, bracing for impact. However she was surprised when she heard that it just flew passed by her side and hit the ground behind her.

"Ah, Oh no. I missed." Glynne said in (not) the most convincing voice ever. Firing a weapon at a close range but still misses, of course, it was obvious to what was his intention. He smirked as it seems to effective with the girl face flushed red in anger.

"Y-you, didn't I tell you not to hold back!" Kiana shouted in protest. However, she then flinched back when the boy glared at her.

"Hm? What would be the point if you're not going all out?" the girl widened her eyes at his words. Maybe because Glynne is beginning to lose some interest on the fight, he just close his eyes and created a distance between them.

He was right, Kiana understand the feeling well. There is no point in winning if your opponent doesn't try their best. It would only just lead to an empty victory and that would leave a bad aftertaste. She grip her weapons tighter as she slowly stood up. She was so engrossed at the small chance to learn anything about her father's current condition that she let herself get distracted by it.

She proceeded to take a deep breath to clear her mind and glared directly at her opponent. "I will make you regret for passing your chance!"

"Oh no, I'm scared..." Glynne shrugged his shoulders and responded with a flat tone. As a final touch, his lips formed into a wide grin.

And his provocation work as Kiana quickly closes the distance without waiting for him to switch to his fighting stance. It didn't pose a problem though as Glynne just keeps leaning back to dodge her kicks and shots.

"What, too slippery for you?"

"Shut up!" Kiana was getting irritated and wanted to wipe that grin on his face. However, she made a mistake.

Because of her opening her mouth, her pace of her attacks slowed down a bit. Glynne was quick to grab the opportunity and start to retaliate back with a frontal kick.

Kiana wasn't able to react in time and receive the full attack, pushing her back. She skid on the ground and quickly recovered as she charge at him once again.

This time, Glynne didn't let her get the upper hand. Once again, they were exchanging blow by blow refusing to let one land even a single hit. As time goes on, it was becoming clear who has the advantage.

Due to him having more experience in the battlefield, he had an edge over his opponent despite learning the same technique. However, Kiana has quite the battle instincts as it enables her to keep up with him.

Glynne noticed it, she is showing visible growth in the middle of a battle. Her kicks were getting sharper and she is slowly getting rid of the excess movements.

'Like father like daughter, I guess.' he muttered on his mind. At this rate, he would surely be at a disadvantage.... Not.

Kiana winch in pain from she hit she suffered on her stomach a while ago. Glynne was waiting for this chance and did low sweep to knock her down the ground. She was about to get up but bumped her forehead on something hard. See look up to see a muzzle right before her eyes.

"This time, I'm sure I won't miss." Glynne threatened with his index finger ready to pull the trigger at any moment.

It was checkmate. Kiana glared at him as she hated to lose, but she can't do anything except to raise both of her hands in surrender. "...I-it's your win."

"Yeah, though I will admit you put up a good fight." Glynne sighed with satisfaction and stored away his weapons. He then held out his hand to help the girl up on her feet.

"Fuu~ is that so," Kiana smiled as she seems to be happy about the compliment. She grabbed his hands to stand up.

"Ah," however maybe since she was feeling a bit wobbly, she trip on her own feet. It was fortunate that Glynne was able to catch her on his chest. "Phew, that was close."

The girl's face flushed red as she realized she was in his embrace. However she seems to begin calming down upon hearing his heart beating fast. She closed her eyes wanting to hear it more. "Hey.., you've met father, didn't you?"

She can't she his face but she could feel him move awkwardly with the sound of him ruffling his hair. He seems to be hesitating about something but soon sighed in defeat, "Yeah, I've met Siegfried almost a decade ago."

Half of it was a lie, Siegfried has been gone missing for a few years and Glynne could tell that her daughter has been trying to find his whereabouts. He doesn't know the exact reason why, but for him to have a resolve to leave his only daughter alone means that he doesn't want to be found because of something dangerous. That's why, even though it was a cold move, he had to lie so he could cut her hopes.

"I see," Glynne could tell there was a hint of sadness in her words. He could felt her grip on his clothes getting tighter "...Hey, can we stay like this for a while."

He didn't say a word, he just stood there and wrapped his hands around the girl. He was so invested on the girl in his arms that he failed to noticed a presence watching them.

"Kiana, " she muttered with in a lonely tone. She closed her eyes and turned around to leave the two alone.

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Yep yep, this is the end for Book one (St Freya Arc). Yes, through careful consideration, especially since this is quite a big one, I will separate each arc by volume. Next two chapters will be epilogues, so yeah.

(This is the time to tease for the next arc, right?) SS

Anyways, Thank you for the continued support for this book.