A Terrible Villain And Their Destiny

After the ridiculous challenge was set, the remaining school day passed quickly. Which meant that Bryson and the others now had time to properly gauge what in the world Patience Pylet was like with a blade. While Bryson remained skeptical, the other two seemed to fully believe the rumour.

Patience followed behind them onto the training field looking extremely nervous. It felt as though the further she went along, the more scared she became. Bryson found this reaction extremely peculiar. Was she really that scared of using a blade? He thought to himself.

"This should be the type of arena that you'll be fighting in." Reynard said after stopping at one area.

It was an outside arena with an elevated ring in the middle while some stadium seats surrounded the place. Bryson looked a little further beyond the arena and saw several others around the place, though visibly lacking seats for spectators.

"Why in front of a crowd?" Bryson complained.

"Two children of dukes are fighting one another, there's no way that people would miss it." Reynard said.

"Great, more attention." Bryson muttered.

"So, uh, how does a supporter duel work?" Anna asked a bit sheepishly.

"Didn't you ask for this type of duel?" Bryson asked.

"I read about it! But I know that reality is different from theory."

"You're not wrong." Bryson said with a tired sigh, "It's basically what you would have read about. We'll sit on the sidelines and cast spells to help. That could be attacking the opponent or using support spells for Pylet."

"Can we get hurt?" Anna asked.

"Yeah, a big blast spell that 'accidentally' lands too close, or if the fighter deflects something at us." Bryson said, "Though I've never really had one of these duels before so I can't be too sure."

"You guys shouldn't need to do this." Patience said as she gazed towards the arena, "I'm sorry about this."

"Hey, I volunteered for this." Anna reminded her, "I want this fight."

"The problem is you don't." Bryson added.

"Huh? No I do!" Patience said emphatically.

"Then why are you so scared?" Bryson asked.

"Because of what I might do!" Patience exclaimed looking troubled.

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"Okay, I've been hearing about you turning into a demon in fights. What is that about?" Reynard asked too curious not to ask anymore.

"Why get into fights… I sort of get too into it." Patience said looking scared.

"How bad is it?" Anna asked.

"I try to kill my opponents and people have to pull me away." Patience staring at the ground.

"How does it get that bad?" Bryson asked, "Are you cursed?"

"I don't know, I was told it was just a weird disorder."

"Do you remember anything when you're in that phase?" Reynard asked curiously.

"Vaguely, I sort of black out."

"Wait, didn't you say you purposefully stole a load of equipment to fight monsters? You did that even knowing the risk?" Bryson asked.

"Uh yeah…" Patience said with a nod.

"Why?"

"Because I really wanted the material for my next design project."

"You were willing to go that far just for clothing material?"

"… Yes."

"Wow, you are crazy." Bryson said in disbelief.

"Is there any way to stop you from going insane like that?" Reynard asked.

"A couple, you can just beat me in combat or restrain me until I calm down." Patience said with a grimace.

"How often do you lose?"

"I haven't fought someone else for a bit, but even then, it's… been a while."

Reynard's face momentarily furrowed before a small, curious grin replaced the furrow. He looked almost excited, like a kid being offered candy. Bryson frowned when he saw that expression on his face. He couldn't help but feel that the prince was going to do something very stupid.

"Why don't we test it out?" Reynard offered.

"Huh?"

"Fight me." He said with a grin.

"What?" Anna said as Bryson rolled his eyes. He could see why Reynard was so low down on the ladder for the next king. The boy looked for excitement first.

"Huh?" Patience said loudly, "No! No way! You're the prince!"

"Yeah, and I think I'm pretty good." Reynard said as he stretched his arms a bit and went over to the sparring equipment.

"I'm not going to be able to control the pace of the fight."

"It's fine." Reynard said as he took a training sword and then tossed Patience. Patience deftly caught it with one hand and looked at it unsure.

"Are you sure about this?" Bryson asked unconvinced.

"Yeah, the fight is only a couple of days away, if some injury occurs, it's not going to be good." Anna also added her concerns.

"Yeah I know, which is why I'm asking to fight with the two of you watching." Reynard said, "Besides, it's good practice for you two to practice synergy right?"

"There has to be a better way than this." Anna said.

"There definitely are." Bryson grumbled.

"Come on, don't you want to see what the 'demon' is all about?" Reynard asked.

"Well… if we can figure out a way to control it…" Anna said looking tempted.

"In two days?" Bryson scoffed.

"I mean there's a chance, also it could help with the actual duel for us to practice now." Anna said, she was just as curious about Patience as Reynard was. Unfortunately, so was Bryson.

"Are you sure about this?" Bryson asked Patience.

"Uh… if all three of you are here then… yeah, I think I can do this." Patience said with a nod as she looked at the sword in her hand with some hesitancy.

"Come on." Reynard said as he went into the middle of one of the empty training rings.

"Shouldn't we do this somewhere a bit more private?" Bryson asked as there were a few students who looked over towards them now.

"It's fine." Reynard said before asking Patience, "Right?"

"Uh… well, as long as they don't get too close." Patience said with a hesitant nod as she entered the arena.

"See?" Reynard said.

"This is going to end poorly." Bryson muttered.

"When should we intervene?" Anna asked.

"When it looks like things are going out of hand." Reynard said as he raised his blade up.

"You'll have to try." Bryson reminded Patience.

"Yeah, I know." Patience said taking a deep breath, "Alright, let's do this."