Come on! What should it be!?

Looking over the the weapon, the magical wood is formed around the blade piece, creating a hilt that fits the grooves of my hand perfectly. Each gem is interwoven into the wood right below where the guard is. That spot is also a more square shape, so that the four gems are placed on the four sides of the shape. The guard is in a cup shape so it comes down a bit over the gems for protection. A plain, oval shaped pommel lies at the bottom of the hilt. The whole of the wood hilt is glowing a deep green, signifying that the wood is indeed magical.

"Are you done yet? You have a few seconds left!" states Sēti, yawning sarcastically afterwards. "Maybe you aren't as inventive as I thought!"

"Shush! I'm thinking! Ah-ha!" I say, finishing up the enchantment.

"Are you finally done? Why did you take so long?" asks Sēti, getting up and dusting herself off.

"Oh, I was done a while ago." I say with an embarrassed smile. "Yeah, I was just stuck on naming the weapon for the past oh... thirty minutes? I had the weapon all planned out the moment I had an idea of what to do, sorry about that."

Freezing in place for a moment, Sēti gives me a confused and bewildered look before laughing hysterically. The wind gusts through our area, making each strand of hair on her short coat of fur to stir gently. I can't help but join her with a few chuckles, realizing that I spent so much time worrying about a silly name.

I guess the days of character customization really stuck with me, though... The name will be important. But I guess she will find that out.

A few more moments of mirth pass by before she clears her throat and wipes her eyes. Walking over to me, she gives the biggest smile I've seen from her, displaying all of her feral teeth.

Sēti places her paws on my shoulders, and shakes me gently. "You are possibly the most clever or most idiotic being I have ever met. What is your name?"

Oh crap, I never introduced myself!? That's rude as fuck.

"It's Devan, Devan Whitney." I say sheepishly, feeling guilty that I was neglecting such an important part of social interaction.

Still seemingly excited, Sēti hops a few feet away. "Devan! Let's see what you have created! If you don't mind creating the same arena as before. They do it ritualistically for Judgement Duels, but this will just be a small bout between us."

"Judgement Duel?" I question, getting a small spell ready.

"Ah, yes. If you were to be judged to have lost, I would to be expected to take what I wanted from you. Let us just say that the duel was a draw, and that we both agreed to that." Sēti says with a bit of a smirk on her face, turning away to get back to the starting position.

Jeez... I don't know if that would have went down well.. I don't have much, and what I do need is required for this dumb journey.

Realizing I've been gathering magical essence in my hand, I cast the spell. Earthen walls rise up, created from the rubble from the last walls. Somewhat impressed with the ease of creating the arena, Sēti gives me a few slow claps. While rolling my eyes, I pick up my weapon and get into a battle stance. Sēti does the same, though seeming a bit more serious this time around with her facial expressions.

Alright, let's just take it slowly for now.. I don't want to show everything this can do.

Right as Sēti steps to the side, I rush forward, slashing at her horizontally. Albeit seemingly surprised, Sēti turns her sword vertically and blocks my attack with some ease. I push my sword up against hers, pushing her backwards along with it. Sēti gives me a strange grin, one that seems a bit crazy. Before I push her into the wall, her sword glows for a moment and she flies upwards around ten feet in a split second. I almost trip over due to the lack of force pushing against me, and look up quick enough to see Sēti hurdling back down towards me, sword at the ready.

I think she's having a bit too much fun.. This is kinda killing me, looks like I need to do more physical training. This journey will demand less magical solutions I bet, so why not start now huh!?

Instead of dodging the attack, like a clever person would, I throw my sword at her to disrupt her attack. It flies towards her, startling her and causing the path she was taking to change. Still heading towards me however, she attempts to slash at me before landing.

"Joyeuse" I say with a grin, making a motion as if I was going to swing with a weapon.

Not a split second later, the falchion was in my hand, ready to be swung. I couldn't help but chuckle at the face Sēti made before our weapons crashed into each other. After she lands on her feet, I stop pushing against her and do a quick slash towards her chest. Sēti gracefully flips away towards the other side of the arena.

Sēti and I begin to circle around each other slowly. "Teleportation magic in a weapon? Very interesting. That would usually use a lot of the magical essence stored in a gem, though that Arcane gem and the wood enhancing the gem most likely made that trivial; Very good, let's hope you have more left in you."

Looking down at each of the gems in Joyeuse, I can't help but chuckle again. "I have plenty left in me, you'll see."

Sēti gets into a lower stance, almost like she is going to jump. "Then I suppose I can try a bit harder, huh?"

Not a moment after she said that, she leaps forward at an impossible speed, fueled by her sword making a gust of air. I hesitate for too long and feel a slice go through the air near my neck. A spit second later, a small cut appears on my neck on that same side she passed. I turn around to see her bouncing off of a wall and flying towards me again. Thinking it will be the same, I slash towards her as she tries to pass. Effortlessly, Sēti dodges my slash with a small change in direction thanks to another gust of wind from her sword and counters by cutting into my right forearm with her claws. I wince at the pain and feel blood drip down off of the arm. Remembering how quickly she attacked, I dodge after turning towards where she jumped to. I barely cause her to miss the attack, almost falling on my ass. This time however I get to see her hit the wall with her legs and look at me in preperation for another attack.

"Not this time kitty cat. Time to show you what this weapon can do!" I say to myself, pushing some magical essence into the smoky quartz gemstone that is mounted onto the hilt.

Sēti jumps again at lightning speed, but confusion is plastered on her face for a second before she thrusts with her sword mid-air, slamming the tip into my weapon and being stopped almost completely, forcing her to put her feet on the ground.

"A shield?" is all Sēti can say in that moment.

In my hand is a shield with five spikes in the shape of an X. The silver spikes are covered in a little bit of hardened rock as well as the outline of shields body itself.

Looking over the shield, I give her a warm smile before replying. "Its not a normal shield, watch out."

The spikes on the shield thrust outwards, attempting to impale her. Attempting to dodge the counter-attack, Sēti uses another gust of wind, but still gets grazed multiple times by a few of the elongated spikes before they retract back into the shield. Seeing the cuts through her uniform and the blood staining them makes me feel guilty, so I push on the smoky quartz stone which is now located on the handle of the shield. The spikes turn into cubes, providing a less lethal way of counter-attacking.

There, no death today! Hopefully. So... What is she going to do now that a straight on attack won't work?

Surprisingly, Sēti gets into the same leaping position. I simply raise my shield up, peering over the edge. Her eyes are now an orange color, while before they were a light green. She also has a more focused expression, one that legitimately worries me.

That's... Probably not good.

As she springs her body to leap towards me, I understand why I felt so scared. The speed at which she travelled is at least doubled, reaching a point where I couldn't even tell when she leapt compared to when she arrived at my shield. Sēti stops in front of me for a moment in the air, which I try to take advantage of by bashing my shield towards her. A blink later and she is now to my left, readying a strike. I genuinely am surprised, but give a smirk.

"Nope" is what I say as the secondary part of this form is activated.

Hardened sand 'drones' shoot up from the ground and smash into her sides and legs. The amount of pain shown in her face, as she is flung away from me via the drones, makes me wince as well. Watching her get up slowly, I cant help but notice how beat up she looks. More parts of her uniform are ripped and bruises have already formed on her legs where the hardened sand struck her. Sēti now has almost blood red eyes, and her face os wearing an almost maniacal smile.

Noticing that this might get bad and escalate into more than just a bout, I ask her a question. "Are you sure you want to continue? I have far less wounds than you, and I have plenty of energy to spare."

She just laughs at my suggestion, almost happily. "Oh I am definitely sure I want to continue Devan. It has been so long since I have had such a good duel. Giving you the knowledge to improve your weapon was a mistake I believe, you are far more inventive than I thought. It is kind of scary, but I can't back down now!"

Putting her hand behind her back, she breathes slowly with her eyes closed for a second. Suddenly Sēti opens her eyes, swinging her sword rapidly in a pattern. Blades of wind careen through the air, threatening my legs and chest. I realize my impending doom and crouch down behind the shield. The blades strike my shield and the sand behind me, creating large cuts into the earth but nothing to my shield.

She is definitely not playing around, that could have definitely killed me normally. This form isn't that good for ranged battle, but I don't want to show the other ones yet either. I might not have a choice soon enough. I can still give some surprises with this shield, so hopefully she will try a forward attack soon.

Peering again over my shield while still crouched, I notice that Sēti is closing her eyes again. Taking the opportunity, I make a dash towards her in an attempt to finish this. Around ten feet before I reach her, she opens her eyes and does another pattern of slashes, but this time involving a thrust or two.

I can't let my shield get hit too much more. I need to avoid these instead of taking them head on... But how? Ah! I got it!

As the flurry of slashes and thrusts ends, I chuck my shield at her after a spin for momentum. It flies at her at a high speed, hitting the wall behind her as she dodges it. I use my arms to block the attack while a few drones pop up out of the ground and attempt to protect me. They start taking each slash and thrust head on while some slip through and strike my arms. To her surprise, I only take a few scratches.

"How?" asks Sēti, kneeling down after such a barrage of attacks from her weapon, using plenty of magical power. Her rapier is still pointed towards me in defiance however.

"This weapon form gives me enhanced toughness." I reply, standing up all the way and then pointing at my shield. "It also can activate effects without me being there."

Panicking, she attempts to leap away from the shield but can't find the strength to fully escape the radius of the effect that is about to happen. Columns of hardened sand fly outwards from the ground and wall in a small area around the shield, slamming into her from multiple angles. Sēti is blown away from the wall with her weapon raised up, towards me. I simply call back my shield and prepare to take another hit from her at close range, when I notice that her eyes seem a bit faded. I put some essence into each of the gems on the inside of the shield and it turns back into a sword, which I stab into the ground. Catching her in my arms, she drops the sword off to the side as I land backwards with her on top of me. I take a moment to make sure I am right, and lay her on the sand, giving her a bit of healing as sand forms around her body.

"She passed out, nice catch." speaks the mosquito in the form of a lizard on my shoulder.

I just chuckle to myself and smile. "Apparently, she is actually a he." I say, doubting every thing I've ever known about the female body up to that point due to the sausage I felt as he fell into me.

Author's Note

Oof. What a chapter. Traps ftw?