Abyssal Awakening

"If you throw in a bet, I might be convinced." Alice grinned as Egil almost seemed offended by the suggestion.

"A bet? For the Warrior's honour??" Egil questioned.

"Yep. You see, I'm not exactly a northerner so all of this… tradition you speak of means absolutely nothing to me. I don't see why I should care about the 'Warrior's Honour'. So for me to care, perhaps you should get something to entice me into accepting. I take coin or items that can be sold for coin." Alice explained with a laugh.

"Of course, since I suggested the bet without you knowing, I'll give you a bit of time to think about it. In the meantime, shall we set down some ground rules for this 'Warrior's Honour?'" She suggested, pointing towards the chairs in the room.

Furrowing his brows, Egil nodded his head. He stepped into the building and sat down opposite Alice.

Crossing her legs nonchalantly, Alice played around with her shard.

"For this… Duel, I won't be able to fight you head on. Plus, I don't plan on doing such a thing to begin with. My body can't handle it." Alice admitted as she expanded the shield.

"I signed up to be a support. So how will we determine who wins? If I fend off your attacks? If you break my guard? What do you suggest."

Now that he was given a chance, Egil calmed down and observed Alice.

While he may have challenged her in the spur of the moment because he couldn't accept the fact that someone wounded was accepted, it was also out of desperation.

If he's turned away now, he wasn't sure when he'll be able to join the fight.

After a long pause, Egil opened his mouth.

"You can choose a representative to fight on your behalf. You just have to make it so that they don't get hit even once while we fight. If you can achieve that within a set duration, it'll be my loss." Egil suggested seriously as Alice was surprised by his response.

With the list of reasons why he was rejected earlier, Alice thought he would be more unreasonable.

Yet, he considered her current body conditions and even suggested a rule that benefitted her.

To Alice, it felt as though Egil wanted to prove himself.

Even if he got heated earlier, he wanted to redeem himself in this duel of a Warrior's Honour.

"Hou~ Aren't you afraid I'll pick someone you can't defeat?" Alice asked curiously while shifting her glance towards the Examiner who kept quiet and pretended the discussion wasn't about him.

Furrowing his brows, Egil shook his head.

"If they accept to be your representative then I have nothing to say for it."

Folding her arms, Alice raised an eyebrow before nodding her head.

"Don't worry, I won't pick anyone like that fufu~ Since I'm joining as a shielder, it's only natural for this to be a test towards my protective capabilities. I'll someone average and protect them from your attacks." She reassured with a laugh.

"So, how long should I protect him?"

"5 minutes. If you can defend him for five minutes, even if it's a weak little sh*t on the battlefield, you'll be able to guard them till reinforcements arrive. Or we can cut it down to two and a half minutes." Egil suggested.

'A rather short duration… Is he taking pity because of my body?' Alice mused to herself.

"I'm guessing the two and a half minutes has a catch." She asked.

"During the two and a half minutes, I'll also be going after you. Once people realise you are a support type on the battlefield, there will be no doubt that attacks will be flying your way. If you can't protect yourself while keeping an eye on the battlefield, you'll be useless as a support."

Blinking her eyes, Alice couldn't help but clap her hands.

To think he would put this much thought behind the duel despite his earlier demeanour. Truly, one couldn't judge others by the cover.

Even the Examiner was surprised as the difficulty was compensated by the short duration.

Two and a half minutes was both long and short in the heat of battle.

"Hmm… Two and a half minutes. During that time I have to defend myself and the random recruit I pick. If either of us gets hit, I lose. If I survive for that duration, I win. Alright, sounds fun." Alice grinned.

Rummaging through her pouch, she grabbed her flask and swung her head back to drink a mouthful of mead.

"Now that the rules are laid out, let's talk about the bet."

"How much gold are you wanting?" Egil asked but Alice shook her head.

"This is where you entice me with a good bargain." She narrowed her eyes while pinching her index and thumb together. The hand sign for money.

"Or at least that's what I would've said if nothing changed. How much do you have?"

"Around 2 Platina's worth if I sell some stuff." Egil hesitated.

This was everything he's got. Hell, he wasn't even sure if he could reach this price if the tradesman was stingy.

However, if this helps him achieve his goal then it'll be a small price to be paid. Money can always be earned once it's spent. But the same couldn't be said for someone's life.

Playing around with the flask in her hand, Alice observed Egil's movements. The way his eyes darted around. How he looks at the ground in deep contemplation before looking back at her.

The way he clenches his fists and sat uncomfortably.

"500 Gold. If you win, you take my spot. If I win, you give me 500 Gold. Mr Examiner, that's fine right?" Alice glanced over as the man sighed.

"It's Torgeir and yes, these arrangements are acceptable. However, if Egil takes your place, he still has to prove that he can work as part of the squad during training. If he cannot accomplish that, I remove him before we head out to war." Torgeir narrowed his eyes at Egil who glared back without fear.

*Clap!

Breaking up the glaring contest with a clap of her hands, Alice smiled.

"Then seems like everything is in order. Mister Torgeir, is there a space we can use for a duel? Preferably one that wouldn't damage the outpost. Ah I also need a volunteer from the recent recruits."

Letting out a sigh, Torgeir nodded.

"I'll arrange a spot. Take this time to prepare yourself and I'll let you know when everything is ready. Now please can the two of you leave this building so that I can continue with my job?" He asked, pointing towards the queue outside the building.

While they were discussing the details of their bet, Torgeir hadn't been able to do his job.

Now that they've sorted things out, he wanted to finish up quickly.

Realising that she had been holding him up, Alice laughed awkwardly as she quickly jumped off the seat and jogged over to Selen.

"I'll wait for you by the large tree near the centre of the outpost okay?" Alice patted her shoulder as Selen nodded her head.

Running away from the building, Alice relaxed herself by the big tree while enjoying her mead.

'He was quite the strange person, wasn't he? One moment he's like a brute. The next he's civil and even honourable.' Alyss remarked.

'I want to say it seems pretty standard for Northerners considering the emphasis on the so called 'Warrior's Honour' but he's the first one that mentioned it or even acted upon it.' Alice shrugged.

'Regardless, it's a good opportunity for you to test out your control over the Shard. Right now, we only know that it can form a single shield by connecting energy with each of the fragments. But I think if you play your cards right, you should be able to form smaller shields to block arrows and so on.' Alyss suggested.

Hearing this, Alice's eyes glimmered as she decided to put it to the test immediately.

Controlling the shard, she brought it in front of her and split it into tiny fragments before commanding it to form a shield.

However, compared to when it was linked with each other, the smaller shields were unstable. Even a light flick would dispel the barrier.

'Perhaps it's something that can only be repaired once the entire shard is fixed.'

'Seems like it.' Alice sighed inwardly as she leaned back.

Playing with the shard and drinking some mead whenever she felt thirsty, Alice practised her control.

After a short while, Selen returned.

"Welcome back~ With how long that took can I assume you passed with flying colours?" Alice grinned, offering some mead but Selen shook her head.

"Most of the time was spent cleaning up the mess before Torgeir could continue. Why did you even accept the duel of the Warrior's Honour?" She asked with an annoyed expression.

The longer Alice took to heal her body, the longer she had to stay around her.

While Selen didn't mind Alice's company, she was still a grim reminder of the experiments the Zenia's did on her. The source of the cursed blood. Once she repaid her debt, she wanted to go her separate way.

"Ahahah sorry sorry~ You saw the situation yourself. It wasn't exactly one that I could back out of easily since he seemed pretty insistent on the duel." Alice scratched her hair.

*Sigh

Nodding her head in agreement, Selen could only hope that they get the battle over and done with quickly.

The main concern was still Alice's body.

"Let's get you some new bandages before the fight begins." Selen suggested as Alice hopped onto her feet.

"Lead the way boss~ And don't worry, once I win the Gold I'll share half with you."

"Forget it. Just fix your body as soon as possible." Selen rolled her eyes.

Finding some new bandages and clean water to wash Alice's wounds, the two waited for the start of the duel.