ALEXiThymiA: Chapter 83: The Duelist

Chapter 83

The Duelist

Monday

Time Until Integration: 1 Month, 26 Days, 9 Hours...

Panting.

Alexa found herself panting over the body of a monster of a woman. Even in her final moments the woman almost dropped rot and disease upon this world the likes of which had never been seen before.

Then there was the father.

Every muscle in Alexa’s body ached. She knew she was not capable of moving out of the way of a physical fighter like Gina’s father if she tried. Which is why she just stood there, panting, slowly trying to regain her stamina.

Fortunately, the system took care of everything for her.

In an instant, the powers that were in their bodies began repelling each other as if they were magnets that had the same polarity. Alexa watched on in muted fascination as she saw the energy fade away from the Columbian diplomat’s body. No, fade away wasn’t the correct word, fading away would almost implied that the energy dispersed into the atmosphere. That was not the case.

She watched as the energy that fused Victor Rojas with waves of crimson energy combusted. Yeah, combusted or got sucked into a miniature void of some kind. Sucking with it the size, muscle mass, and potential that it had offered. Worse still, he was an empty shell to her senses, a void in the otherwise perfectly congealed world around her.

Alexa looked to see Gina standing there, trembling.

Seeing her in such a state, Alexa didn’t need her Analyze skill to tell her that Gina was frightened. Not just frightened, but terrified of her.

“I…” Alexa opened her mouth to say.

But Gina looked like she wanted to run away, jittered, pivoted, took a half step away. Then thinking better clinched her fists, then charged forward.

Alexa was prepared for anything, she would stand there and take it, regardless of the consequences. She had after all just challenged her mother to a duel to the death and won.

Gina charged forward, then with her fists still balled up tight she threw them both up high in terrible punching form. It wasn’t until they were both past her face and she was turning her head to watch Gina’s right fist open up into an embracing gesture that Alexa felt something tingle on her cheek.

There was a warm sensation on her cheek that spread through her face, into her brain and fired synapses that she had long since were lost to time or disuse. These were receptors that she had never felt before, at least not ones that she could remember. These did something to her, deep inside.

Badump. Badump.

Her heart beat an erratic pattern. Not the blood lust rhythm it had a moment ago when she was facing down Gina’s mother, rather this was one that seemed to force her breaths to come in jagged hitches.

Gina dropped her jumping tackle of the larger Alexa and dropped to the ground and all but bounced in excitement as she kept her arms on Alexa’s shoulders.

“Thank you, thank you. I was just so worried, and then dad…well…” Gina began but then paused as she saw Alexa reaching her right hand up to touch the side of her face.

At that, Gina paused. “Oh, my gods, I am so sorry. I was just so excited and then you turned your head and I…”

“No, it’s fine. Thank you.” Alexa said, gently touching the spot as if trying to see if the spot felt unnaturally warm for some reason.

The two looked at each other for a moment, Alexa not knowing what these new emotions she was feeling were. She had of course felt joy, happiness, battle lust, so many different emotions, but this one was different in a way she couldn’t quite categorize.

The two shared only a moment before Jim and Judy Thyme, Alexa’s parents both came rushing forward. Jim hugged his daughter in a bear hug.

“THHAANNKKS, Dad.” Alexa said, as she could feel her Regeneration kicking in during the middle of his hug.

Gina on the other hand got a much warmer embrace from Judy.

“It’s going to be okay.” Judy said to the normally flustered Gina. At those words, the final high-strung tension that had been in Gina’s heart relaxed, as she felt her worries roll away. Only after hearing those words did the mental wall that Gina had learned to build up over the years shatter. As she felt tears of release and tension suddenly flow from her.

“There you go, let it all out.” Judy said.

Sob.

Gina was balling in under three seconds, blowing nasty snot bubbles in Judy’s hair, she was a mess. She wanted to apologize to reach back, to blow her nose. She tried to push herself away, feeling embarrassed for putting Alexa’s mother, the Judge, in such a position. But Judy held her tightly.

“None of that now. You have a lot more in you, let it out. No one can see or bother us right here. You go on and gather yourself, while you work through what you need to work through.” Judy said.

At that Gina cried some more. Years’ worth of pain, emotional baggage, and regrets were all let lose all at once. At one point Gina swore that she stopped standing and was being carried by the woman. Of course, this was impossible, or so she thought, but she didn’t care. Instead, she just continued to let Judge’s soothing aura wash over her, covering her in a protective blanket.

Meanwhile Jim and Alexa looked on at the two.

“Looks like mom’s working over the worst of what happened to your girlfriend.” Jim said, a smile forming on his lips.

“She’s not my…” Alexa trailed off as she realized this was often what her father would do.

Jim just stared at her for a second, then asked, “why not?”

Alexa just stared at him for a moment, “because I’m bad at emotions, at telling what people want from me. No one deserves that, especially not someone like her.” Alexa said, looking at Gina. As she did, her hand once again went up to the side of her face where Gina had kissed her.

“Look, I am not your mother. I will admit I am terrible with people. That said, I think she will be okay with you.”

“You think so?”

“I mean, I’m no expert, but even I can see the signs. You kill her mother sending her soul to some demon, then have her political father stripped of his system powers and her first reaction is to kiss you. I could be wrong here, but I’m pretty sure that speaks volumes.” Jim said.

“Okay.” Alexa said, then continued to watch Gina ball her eyes out on her mother’s shoulders.

“Uh thanks.” Luke said, finally coming around the gaggle of people and hugging his sister when she saw him.

Alexa let the hug go, even going so far as to give a return pat on the back after the required five seconds were up.

“Ms. Thyme. As a certified Magical Forensics examiner on scene, it is my duty to get you to describe in detail what it is you did during your system sanctioned Royal Duel with Ms. Rojas.” Mr. Mackie said, breaking into the moment.

“Right so first did you see the information about the duel?” Alexa began.

“Yes, we all saw that, as you were representing two different factions. Do you know what faction Ms. Rojas was representing?”

“The Dragon or Draconic faction. I know this as I felt my Dragon’s Bane and Dragon Slayer titles were active during the duel, but only at about half their standard efficacy.” Alexa said.

Hearing that Mr. Mackie nodded in understanding. “Very good. Now during the duel, you waited to let your opponent deliver two strikes?”

Alexa shook her head. “No, I began casting immediately. The spell I cast a variation of Healing and Water magic took a lot of time to enact as I had to first gain a foothold on her body. Then I had to overpower each of the cells in her body.”

“To be clear you said Water magic as well?”

“Yes.”

Mr. Mackie paused, as he realized there was likely more that could be gained from going down that line of questioning, but ultimately decided against making Alexa answer too many questions that would divulge her full power set in front of so many potential witnesses.

“Very well. Can you state what your spell did exactly?”

“Desiccation.”

At that Mr. Mackie paused, as he had to think about the true meaning of that word. “You removed the moisture from her body?”

“I tried. Mostly I was successful, though I had to rush a bit as was apparent with the eyes and a bit of the blood that got pulled through.” Alexa said.

Blek.

At that Jim who had been standing next to his daughter involuntarily felt his stomach rise, as he took one look at the pool of liquid filled slime that surrounded the former Countess’ body.

Trying to move on before he himself lost his composure, Mr. Mackie continued. “Moving on. This was a Royal Duel.”

“Yes.”

Mr. Mackie paused, not expecting to be caught off so quickly, but then just continued. “Have you ever been able to encounter a duel before this one?”

“No.”

“How did you know Luke was being challenged to a duel?”

“The system informed me of the situation. The system said ‘Blood Relative Luke Thyme has been challenged to a duel. He does not currently fall under a particular faction. Would you like to claim him for yours so you can take his place in the proposed duel.’” Alexa said, her voice cold as she seemed to read the personal system message out for everyone to hear.

“Very good. So now by accepting this Duel, you have made Luke a part of ou…your faction?” Mr. Mackie asked.

Alexa paused, then answered truthfully. “Yes.”

Mr. Mackie nodded in acceptance.

At the admission Jim and Judy both had a look of resignation, but they quickly masked their emotions before Mr. Mackie could look their way. Fortunately for them, he wasn’t worried about Jim and Judy, rather he looked to the small girl that was still clinging to Judy tightly, though looking much better.

“I take it Gina is in your faction as well.”

“Yes,” Alexa blurted out, but then paused. “That is, she can if she wants to.”

“Yes, of course!” Gina said, as she broke away from the warm embrace of Judy and found herself marching forward to stand next to Alexa. She of course made it about four steps, before she looked down at the pool of slime filled water that was left of her mother and quickly bolted back to Judy and turned her head away in fear. “I can’t look at that…”

“It’s okay.” Judy said, stroking Gina’s hair.

“Very good.” Mr. Mackie said, trying to once again regain control of the conversation. “Is there anything else you would like to report?”

Alexa paused, then shook her head.

“Okay. I will provide this to the TSI team. They will likely come and ask each of you questions about what transpired here today.” Mr. Mackie said.

With that Bullford who had been standing nearby listening in to the entire deposition asked for the others to recap the events.

***

Eight hours later, TSI tech teams were still cleaning up residual body fluids of the Red Countess.

“I don’t know if the international community will be thrilled that a sixteen-year-old managed to slay the Red Countess, or more shocked to learn about these alleged Royal Duels?” Captain Johnston said, speaking into her phone at the site that served as ground zero for the world’s first Royal Duel.

Muffled talking.

“Yes, Senator. The terms of a duel are set up just like medieval times. This is called the Wager, where the angered party declares the initial stakes, the defending party chooses the weapons and victory conditions, a slight alteration is offered. Then the duel, followed by the resolution.”

Muffled.

“No sir, I do not know how it knew their ranks.”

Muffled.

“The duel was between a Viscountess and a Countess. So their ranks were only separated by one degree, which the system noted.”

A pause.

“Yes, after which a dome of energy formed around the two pushing everyone away.”

Another pause.

“No, I do not know what that means. I assume it likely means the system is everywhere, and that our planet which is going to be fully integrated here shortly can expect many more of these types of events going forward. Particularly when the other sources come and start laying claim to territories.”

Another pause.

“No, it is not my job to sit down and theorize what will happen. I’d leave that up for a research team. Maybe a team with a lot more funding and a lot fewer dragons to get rid of.”

“Yes. We already took care of the dragon in Madison. As it is I have Polyglot going now to secure a line to Lewiston.”

“What do you mean forget Lewiston?”

“The dragons in England take priority?”

“Okay, know that we have spoken to the asset, but she is going to want compensation.”

“Yeah, she is out there risking her life for this, the least they can do is meet these demands.”

“You haven’t even heard what they are.”

“Thank you. Yeah, she is going to want free access to all your dungeons.”

“Yes. I am not finished.”

“She will want a full scholarship to Oxford University. Also, if they are smart, they will get her brother and her pack all scholarships there as well. Also, Gina Rojas, if they want her to stay, they will give her one as well.”

“Yes, the former Red Countess’ daughter. Look, I’m not done.”

“No, I am not. There is one more thing. She apparently is going to want a motorcycle.”

“I don’t know what kind. Frankly make it one of the best available, not like we will be the ones footing the bill.” Captain Johnston said.

“So yeah, she will go over there, slay two dragons for unlimited dungeon access, twenty-two scholarships to Oxford university, and a motorcycle. Honestly, I say that is too cheap but that’s what she wanted. Frankly if there is any push back, tell them the deal is declined.”

“No, I’m arguing this for her.”

“Why am I doing this? Frankly I owe her a lot. Also, I want her to stay. If they balk at these seemingly easy demands, I don’t think they deserve her.”

“Yeah, go ahead, whip in whatever agenda items you want as well. But those are the bare minimum she will need in order to go.”

“Thank you, you too Senator.”

Click.

As soon as the call ended Captain Rayne Johnston lost her civil composure she had while speaking to her superior and instantly fell into her normal rage filled state.

“GAH!” She said, screaming at the dead phone in her hands.

“Bad call?” Bullford asked.

“No, surprisingly they were happy with the work done. Our senators are looking at Dawning Light academy and hoisting it up as a tri-state initiative that is clearly showing success.”

“So why are you so angry all the sudden?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Johnston said, a biting tone coming to her voice.

Bullford for his part just looked like a lost puppy. “It sounded like he was going to push for what you asked.”

“Exactly!”

“Exactly?”

“Yeah, that means they will likely get it, and then our time of having Alexa to ourselves will be over.”

“Her parents stayed. She might as well.”

“We can only hope. Sadly, I don’t think we will be as lucky with her as we were with her parents.” There was a slight pause, then finally Captain Johnston said, "why don't you go on and head home for the day?"

"Not much point driving home now, just to turn around in a few hours and come right back here tomorrow." Bullford said.

At that Captain Johnston could only nod in agreement. "Yeah trouble does seem to find this campus."

"No, I figured I'd assign myself to be part of Alexa's protection detail." Bullford said.

"She doesn't need a babysitter to go to classes."

"Well, I don't know about that. But secondly, classes are not what I am worried about."

"I am tired from having put in a lot of hours today. What exactly are you talking about?"

"Tomorrow's Tuesday."

"And?"

"And what does Alexa normally do on Tuesdays?"

There was a pause as that statement took a lot to process. Then finally recognition and horror filled her face all at once. "Well, dang it. Looks like I'm not going home tonight either, thanks for ruining my night as well."

"You know we could..."