A young maid burst into the Princess's room.

"My Lady, Come quickly a fight has broken out in the dining hall. The Sylvan Knights are being pushed back." The maid was out of breath.

"Assemble the guard!" Shayley dropped the necklaces that she was looking at. The sun was barely rising so she only wore a simple silk night gown. She opened her dresser and pulled out her leather hunting pants. In one fluid motion, the leather pants were on. On a hanger near her door there was a brown leather jacket. She wasn't worried about modesty, the pants and jacket were enchanted with powerful defensive properties.

"They have already been neutralized."

"That's impossible! How numerous are the enemies?"

"As far as we can tell ma'am there's only one, but we suspect that he didn't act alone."

Shayley pulled her sword from her dresser, it was named the Seventh Verse an exceptionally well-crafted blade. She didn't bother to put it on, she merely freed it from its scabbard and said. "Take me too him!"

Shayley could hear the sounds of battle reverberating through the castle now. The magic pressure given off by the full power of the Sylvan Knights locked in combat with one individual was immense.

Mingled with the fearsome noises of battle was the sound of a man's voice. A slightly familiar voice and if Shayley hadn't been in such a state of distress she might have recognized it. The princess was bombarded by emotions such as confusion, concern for her friends, but most of all excitement. She was not a Princess meant to sit down at a desk all day, she was the warrior princess, and the battlefield was her playground.

The princess stormed the dining room to find all six of the sylvan knights panting for air. A single elf dressed in black hopped on the balls of his feet with a large grin on his face.

"It's you!" Shayley recognized him from the other day, he was the adventurer.

"AHA! The princess has arrived. It is finally time for the final act!" The elf was far too happy for his own good. He snapped his fingers and the doors slammed shut behind the princess. Then the floor and walls morphed and engulfed the Sylvan Knights in solid stone, leaving only their heads to be visible. A twisting spark grew into a roaring flame transforming into Silvia. She appeared sitting on one of the stone prisons.

"Yoohoo." Silvia waved innocently at the princess.

The next person to take shape was Lucinda as she stood in front of the door. Then foxes of all levels appeared in the room and surrounded the elves.

"Traitors, I'll have your hides for this!" Shayley exclaimed.

Silvia giggled, manifesting a fan in front of her mouths she looked down on the princess and said, "If only you knew."

"You," Shayley pointed her sword at the man whose grin never left his face. "Who are you and what do you want?"

Calloway admired the princess, she really was beautiful and fearless. Finally, he raised his sword and pointed it at the Princess, "I want a duel with the warrior princess of the City of Perils. If you refuse I'll simply leave, but I'll take the Knights and the Elementals of the city with me."

Shayley's brow creased, "You did all this for a duel?"

"In part, I came all this way for three wishes that only you can grant me."

"I take it, that if you win I will be compelled to grant you these wishes?"

"Aye, but if you win, I'll leave and never return."

"You are Bold, I don't hate that, but you have crossed me by hurting my friends. What is your name?"

"You may call me Cal, and I am a man of no consequence." He winked as he twirled his sword as if it were a plaything.

Shayley squinted her eyes, judging by the oppressive aura coming from the guy she called bullshit on his claim of being of no consequence. "What are your wishes?"

Calloway held up a finger. "Ever since I returned to this city I have found a great many people deluded with a fantasy. I will not stand for it. So my first wish, the girl named Naomi in the dungeon, I would like custody of her life turned over to me."

"Naomi? How do you know her?"

"Explaining that is not part of the deal. Wish number two, I want you to go on a date with me."

Shayley's sword drooped as much as her jaw. She looked at the Knights and Silvia but they all seemed to be as confused as her. "A date?"

"Ya, you know, it's when a two people-"

"I know what a date is, but I'm already-"

Calloway interrupted her by holding up three fingers, "Number three, I want the World Class Item known as the Ring of Gaia."

Shayley looked at her engagement ring on her left hand, it was the very same item.

"In doing so, I want you to call of your engagement to the Brother Calloway of the Past."

The girls in the room gasped. But that wasn't the biggest surprise, Silvia jumped from her perch and scurried up to Calloway.

"WHAT! That wasn't part of the deal Cal!" Silvia's distress made her look more sad than angry.

"Just trust me, I know what I'm doing." Cal assured her. But Sylvia looked extremely anxious.

The Sylvan Knights did not hold back their tongues as they begged the princess to forget them and as they raged at the man named Cal.

"So, Princess, what's it going to be?" Cal wiggled his sword in the air.

After a brief moment the princess stared down Cal with the fiery intensity of a scorned demoness. "You have come into my home and singlehandedly threatened every member of my family, that is not something I can take lying down. I, Princess Shayley O'heira Van Dravenkin, accept your challenge, Cal."

"The battle is won when one party surrenders or is unable to continue. Shall we begin, my lady?"

Shayley roared her anger at him and cast all the combat spells and abilities that she knew to raise her stats. She charged him, showing her agility by zigzagging on her way to him and get through his defense

[Heart Piercer]

A versatile skill that has a chance to ignore the enemies defense.

It was a powerful ability and one of Shayley's go to moves. She'd maxed it out so nobody would be able to block her, ever. It could now always ignore the enemies defense whether it be shield or armor. She'd once even cut someone sword clean in half.

Instead of blocking, Cal did something even more unexpected as he stepped toward her, and with a few well-placed steps, he danced around her. Her sword pierced only air, but Cal's right hand caressed her side pressing her silk nightie against her skin as he spun her gracefully.

"EEEEEK!" Shayley's balance was thrown off. She barely caught herself, her knees were together and she covered her chest with her face and ear burning red. "Wha- what are you doing? I- I am a Virgin Princess! How dare you touch me with your filthy hands!"

Cal just looked at his hand, "She's real, she's really real." He looked at her embarrassed form. Then something clicked. "Did you say Virgin?" Cal's own ears went red, he didn't even want to think about it. Did she really keep herself pure enough to not even have touched a member of the opposite sex.

"Of Course! I am engaged you Pervert!" She was fuming like an upset teenager.

"Two hundred and fifty years is a long time to be loyal to a guy that isn't even around long enough to seal the deal."

"I'd happily stay faithful another two hundred and fifty years, even a thousand years! I will never abandon my Calloway!"

Cal's ears reddened again, but his eyes reflected a hint of shame. "Not for much longer."

Shayley's embarrassment quickly turned to anger. "I'm not going to let you take this away from me, I'll stake my life on it."

"Don't think about it as me taking something, it's more like an upgrade. Don't you think it would be better to have me around than a fiancé who's never around?"

"My Calloway isn't just someone you can move on from like you're implying, now shut up and just lose!" Shayley charged at him and they engaged in combat.

Cal acted clumsy, but he was fast enough to avoid the majority of the life-threatening strikes that Shayley delivered, but none of it fazed him in the slightest. None of her abilities, magics, or strikes made any difference.

Strike.

Miss.

Strike.

Miss.

It didn't make any difference, Cal showed no signs of slowing or weakening.