SWOOSH

Megumi unfurled her wings, filling the air with dusky feathers, fifteen meters to either side.

“Now, follow my lead.”

Curl arm and extend foot, bow slightly, stretch back out …

Cultural festival, third year of high school. The dance steps still flowed perfectly, years and worlds later. Endless practice with Hinako, Tomoe, and Rumi had branded the moves deeply into Megumi’s very soul. And this time the wings were real.

Oh, to watch herself rather than the crowd.

‘damn, we look good’

Heh, at least part of her got to watch.

“Yes, my Lady! I … rrr! … I heed your desires!”

Kadoharin had grabbed a handful of feathers to maintain his balance.

“How ungentlemanly of you, old man, groping like that. You should learn some manners.”

The real Gueng Zhin was back on Megumi’s shoulders amongst the duplicates, lashing out with wicked knives. His strikes tore deep gouges into Kadoharin’s timely interposed staff.

“Manners? I mastered manners long before you were conceived, whelp! < CLOUDY STEP! > Our Lady bids us dance. < SUMMON THUNDER SERPENTS! > Try to keep up, boy!”

“HA! < FORTIFIED SHADOWS! > As if you could possibly keep up with our Lady and me, old fart! < SYMPHONY OF GLORY! > I’m going to enjoy watching you fall!”

The pace and fury of the duel suddenly doubled, to the crowd’s roaring approval.

The duplicate spirit Megumi’s, still going strong, noticed.

‘they’re paying attention now’   ‘for sure’  ‘oh, to share this with everyone back home’

Home.

No, focus on the now.

No more half speed dancing.

Megumi quickly confirmed Pei and Hazadul’s safety before upping her rhythm.

Time to make this AWESOME.

Halfway through Megumi’s high energy routine, one of her clones finally reported trouble.

‘fourth tier, entry side. beastkin woman messing with the back wall’

Megumi ended her spin early and subtly ushered away a crackling, snake-like spirit dragon with one wing. She looked up in the indicated direction without skipping a dance beat.

Hmm, what are you doing up there?

The woman had undone her black cloak, revealing a dark ochre outfit worn by low-ranking court ladies. Her tan and cream mane was elegantly bedecked with gleaming ribbons, and her twitching, wolf-like ears sported dark, glittering jewelry. Clearly well-to-do.

(presumed associate of Lady Danitu, exact identity unknown … recalling … mEmoRy fAulT)

Memory fault? That didn’t sound good.

Whatever the mystery woman was doing, it was clearly shady. She kept looking around guiltily. A detection glance suggested she was placing something masked by magic.

‘woah, feeling weak’  ‘yeah, me too’  ‘we should rejoin to avoid backlash’

Damn, right at a critical point.

Kadoharin and Gueng Zhin had both sustained significant wounds. A trio of spells probing at Pei’s defenses had been rebuffed without revealing their sources. And now whatever this unknown person was doing.

‘Report to Lord Hazadul about that wolfkin woman. Advise caution, but he may act as he sees fit. Then all of you return to me.’

“Hah! I’ve got you now, boy!”

“I wanted you to think that, old man!”

Standing atop Megumi’s overlapped forearms, both duelists had grabbed the other by the shoulder. No more dodging now.

This is it. Ready healing.

Time slowed as Megumi and everyone present held their breath.

Each of the duelists reached into their clothing …

Oh no!

The identical, crackling black pistols immediately filled Megumi with dread.

BANG!

Both shots, directly into their opponent’s chest.

“YOU …”

 The identical, shocked reactions would have been comical if the situation hadn’t been so deadly serious.

The two duelists grunted in pain as sparking black energy surrounded them. All the summoned knives, serpents, and clones disappeared as one. Both men retained their unrelenting grips as they slowly toppled and fell to the ground. The intertwined pair writhed in agony. The curses they’d inflicted upon each other apparently prevented active recovery.

The colored bars around the room steadily shrank.

Megumi stared blankly for a few seconds before the energy flash of her clones returning brought her back to her senses. Disbelief gave way to tail-twitching exasperation.

“Honestly.”

She knelt to place her hands upon her foolish Magisters.

“< DIVINE CURSE REMOVAL! >, < DIVINE RESTORATION! >, < DIVINE HEAL! >”

The crackling faded. Wounds and clothing damage disappeared.

Megumi frowned at the pair of idiots. They still refused to release their holds even as they sighed in relief. She stood up, folded her wings back, and placed her fists firmly at her hips.

“This duel is officially over!”

After resolving a few minor audience scuffles, everyone awaited a resolution.

Megumi stood in the center of the room, towering over the still belligerent Kadoharin and Gueng Zhin. Hazadul stood vigil near a very anxious looking Pei.

The wolfkin woman was nowhere to be seen. Darn it.

“I know you two won’t rest until a winner and loser are declared. I will do so now. Do either of you disagree with this decision?”

“No, my dearest Dark Lady.”  “I trust your judgment, oh Great Lady.”

So they say. For now.

“I am rating each of you on a scale of one to five in nine categories. Higher total wins. To break a tie, I will go through the categories in order.”

Megumi shamelessly copied the cultural festival rating system, adding ‘time of contact’ as a special ninth category. Several snap decisions and a display spell later …

“Grand Magister Kadoharin, thirty-eight. Magister Gueng, thirty-nine. Gueng Zhin is our winner, by one point. Congratulations.”

“Hmph.”  “Hah!”

The crowd’s response was a seething mix of cheering, angry refusal, and general disappointment.

“My dearest Great Lady, are you certain about this?”

“Is there a particular rating you wish to dispute?”

Kadoharin took a deep breath, frowned, and kept his objections to himself.

“You lost, old man. Admit it. I’ll be taking that title of Grand Magister, thank you very much.”

“Our Lady decides that. Not you.”

Gueng Zhin flashed Megumi a sly, expectant smile.

“My Lady?”