ULTRAMagic Interlude

Chapter 15

Blood-Wraith was ready to take on Dunja... until he fell over on the ground. "Can I... have... a second?" He struggled to ask as he tried to catch his breath. Everyone was shocked by this.

Dunja nervously glanced side to side, then sheathed her blades. "Blood, you need to be ready if you're going to challenge fate like this..." She remarked as she got down beside him.

"One... second..."

Englehart approached the two. "Blood, my boy, what happened? You look like you just ran several marathons."

"I... ran as fast as I could..." he replied as he propped up his body. "... I'm not going to let another one of my friends die."

"A friend?" Englehart questioned.

"Yeah, Dunja's my friend now..."

The king looked over to his former queen. "Mind if I ask what's going on here?"

Dunja looked even more nervous. "Er, yeah... we had a bit of a talk last night."

"She gave her... agh, I accepted her soul fragment in what she said was remembrance of her... yeah, like I'm going to let someone jump off a cliff like that..." Blood-Wraith added as he got to his feet.

"Wait! YOU DID WHAT!?" Radovan exclaimed from the crowd, startling everyone. "Good lord, do we need to supervise you every hour of the day?! Blood, I appreciate your diplomatic attitude, but this entire conflict is beyond you!"

Blood-Wraith sighed. "She's being earnest with her actions, father. When I accept a fragment, I can see into that person's thoughts and feelings, their soul if you will..."

Radovan was beside himself. "Well... I suppose that does change things a bit..." The crowd was beginning to mutter amongst themselves.

"...and furthermore, dad, I'm not going to turn into another Lich of Old, destroying everything in sight to achieve his goals."

"Ah... fair enough. Better to have standards then no standards at all..."

"How do we know we can trust his weird, sixth sense of sorts?" Octavius put forth. "Can anyone vouch for this?"

"I can, councilor," Dragoslava said with a raised hand. "Blood revealed at Aqua World that he had read my mind a bit while we were fighting the Lich at the Metal Oasis."

Octavius was still a bit skeptical, but things were seeming more plausible at this point. "I see... I have no reason to doubt you, Ms. Raynot. Do you trust your brother?"

"With my life, Councilor."

Seeing the crowd continuing to mutter, Drazhan spoke up. "Hey, Englehart, Blood? How about all of you rest up and move this to the colosseum? I just figured there's no sense in doing this on an empty stomach and potentially wrecking the city in the process."

"Hmm, that would be a bit better than what's going on now..." Englehart then groaned and faced the crowd. "My citizens, I have a confession to make: I have NO plans to end Dunja's life!" Many gasped at this, while others knew their king all too well. "Look: In truth, I want everything to return to the way they were too. All of you want things to return to the way they were. Dunja clearly wants everything to return to the way it was. Therefore, I have a better idea: I propose a new kind of duel. This will be a proper duel with no death. Dunja will fight Blood-Wraith and I. If we win, this conflict ends here and now..."

"And... what if I win?" Dunja inquired with dread.

"Simple: I shall abdicate the throne to you and go into exile." Everyone was terrified and horrified by this. Englehart could see this in the faces of his subjects. "If I can't overcome my past and end up getting bested by my significant other in addition to that, then I am not fit to be a king. It's as simple as that. Besides, we haven't had a truly gripping contest in a very long time..." He turned to his royal court. "Radovan!"