Fuyuko had been studying Gou's equipment while they were talking, and it made her a bit nervous.

  The metal parts of his armor were a breastpte, bracers, greaves, and a helmet that kept his ears and eyes clear. Normally a poor choice for a helmet to leave that much exposed, but for someone whose senses were keen enough it could be more important to not obscure them.

  The rest of his armor was thick but flexible hide. Fuyuko guessed that he was fast enough that too much metal near his joints slowed him down. Jointed metal ptes could provide as much freedom of movement as not wearing armor, but it was harder to move quickly when you had metal sliding against metal.

  As for his ons, the prince had a rge pair of 'cws' strapped over his bracers and wrists. The hooked triple bdes were as long as her daggers and had the advantage iain attacks, such as being able to punstead of aligning his wrist for a thrust the way she had to.

  She did hat the oversized base of the cws also let them act like bucklers and gave them enough length for a total of three straps. The one across his palm gave fine trol, but Gou could also open his hand without the strap shifting much.

  He was wearing partial gloves, leaving the outer half of his fingers exposed. The only reason that she could think of for that choice was that he o make sure he could feel something. Given his size and visible strength, Fuyuko suspected that he was a grappler as well.

  Her number one priority was therefore to not be grabbed. Fuyuko was strong even for her height, but she was dead certain that Gou was stronger. A grapple was not going to work in her favor even with the advantage of her leverage.

  Hmm. Fuyuko gnced down at his greaves again and verified that the top of them was slightly shinier and scraped up, like an attat had been removed. If that ot for a small spike or something, Gou's normal fighting style was rather brutal. Horab a foe with one hand and then begin a cle assault desigo tear a target apart as much as pummel them.

  A third princess had joined Gou's sisters; Carmil, Fuyuko's sister, and she was standing behind Orchid.

  That subtle hint affirmed what was already in Fuyuko's mind. Carmil could have told her over the link, but Fuyuko had to be able to read clues and not just depend on that unication.

  When the signal to start was given, Fuyuko didn't simply leap backward, she flowed at an oblique ahat gave her the room to begin a dance of bdes.

  Fuyuko had been in awe of Carmil's fighting style whenessed her sister's duel, and she had beeermio learn how to be as beautifully graceful without taking away from her fighting prowess. On top of that, Orchid had been one of her etiquette trainers after Fuyuko's slip-up. The deadly little princess had naturally started adding more training on top of that, including Orchid's style of fighting.

  The ways one could use even a small bde to inflict deadly wounds were a little horrifying. They also required precision along with deceptive grad speed to inflict such wounds in the middle of bat.

  These were incorporated into a style Mordecai taught her specifically to take advantage of what Orchid and Carmil had been training her in, and now Fuyuko's wooden falcatas spun and flickered in a stant weaving pattern desigo maintain a stant guard even against attacks she was slow to react to and give her an ever-shifti of points to attack from.

  Fuyuko loved the dispy ay of the maneuver, but it came at a cost; it was tiring to keep up for too long.

  But that cost quickly proved worth it when Gou's wooden cws cshed with her swords hard enough to almost interrupt her pattern. Fuyuko ighe shock up her arms a moving. It wasn't just her arms either, she had to keep moving her entire body like she was actually dang. She was setting a pattern and a beat and using them to demand trol over the battle despite the overwhelming strength and speed of her oppo.

  Their bde crashed repeatedly and each scored only light marks on each other's arms. Fuyuko might be able to keep Getting a hold or a solid hit on her, but it was also difficult for her to score a solid hit iurn.

  As they sparred each kept w to force a break iher's guard. Fuyuko's nose saved her from a surprise, and she dodged to the side just before he spit lightning where she'd been standing just a moment before. Fuyuko had trained far too much with Mama M to not catch that faint whiff of f lightning.

  But that attack had brought Gou's guard lower when he leaned slightly forward to release that bst, and Fuyuko tried to take advantage of that faint opening as she rolled back to her feet. She didn't quite make it and her bde smashed against his wooden cws hard enough to snap off one of the bdes.

  She'd been aiming for his .

  "Oh, Sparks is gonna like you," Fuyuko said with a grin as she recovered her stahe quip also helped her cover for her about one of her bdes. The bance was off and there was a faint sense of give to the wood. Fuyuko decided not to trust that oo guard with at all, and she might have a siack left before it broke.

  She also took note of the fact that the royal family had some iiage. That hadn't been a spell, the prince had spit lightning like a dragon. There was a reason that Thunder and Lightning had e to mind.

  "Looking forward to it," Gou replied. He sounded a little winded, but Fuyuko was sure that she sounded rough too. Nothing for it but to tinue. She didn't feel fident that he was getting tired faster than she was, so she didn't try to wear him out and instead pressed an assault.

  In the following exge, her weakened falcata shattered against the outside of the brace for his cws, though it created a cra exge. It was also the closest he'd e to grabbing her, but she mao drive the broken end of the wooden swainst his palm. It bought her enough time to fall bad throw the ruined bde at his face before drawing a dagger in rept.

  That was whech was decred a draw, a decision that drew brief glowers from both Fuyuko and Gou. her of them felt quite satisfied with that result, but she uood the logic of the call. This was as much evaluation as it was a training spar and having their equipment breaking could be dangerous for both of them.

  Fuyuko rolled her o crack it and decred, "Alright, well, I need a break and some more food before I spar with yer friend. , it looks like yer sisters and mine have some for us."

  Her final sparring partner for the day was slightly closer thawo of them were ahem to the food, though he olite enough to wait despite looking over the food longingly.

  Carmil intercepted Fuyuko before she could quite reach the food and gave her a hug. "You did well, and I'm looking forward to seeing your fight."

  Fuyuko returhe hug briefly and fought down a blush at the praise. "Thank you. Um, but I am really hungry, I..."

  With a ugh Carmil let Fuyuko go and gave a slight shove toward the food. "Go o." Carmil rejoined Orchid and Bridgette while Fuyuko went to where the two boys were waiting. Personally, she was rather amazed at their patiend restraint.

  Gou's friend looked up from the untouched food when Fuyuko got close and gave her a smile before introdug himself. "Hello, I'm Amrydor. I hope my friend 'Yugo' wasn't too much of a bother. Um, are you sure that's enough food? I think all three of us eat a lot."

  It turned out that Amrydor was correct to be ed. Thankfully, her parents were on top of it and had plenty of foht for the entire group. After the first round of food was finished, Gou took a sed serving and moved closer to his sisters to chat with them and Carmil.

  Amrydor's appetite seemed sed only to Fuyuko's, with 'Yugo' a close third. She was a bit surprised, there were few other people willing to eat a lot before a match or other training. This was going to be an iing fight.

  Despite Amrydor's earlier outburst of ughter, he seemed a bit more somber now that he wasn't teasing his friend. But she did get a little out of him over the impromptu meal and found out that he'd been training to be a champion since he was nine.

  "Er, isn't that kind of young?" Fuyuko asked.

  He shrugged and said, "A bit, but, well, I only had a couple of years at most to stay where I was, and I liked the stories of the powerful heroes. So, um, I decided to bee one." Amrydaze dropped to the pendant at her neck briefly before he added, "It was a safe pce, but I think you also know there is a limit to the safety they give."

  Now that was a surprise. Fuyuko took a moment to make sure she'd heard everything correctly as she ran her fingers across the -like pendant of Li that she wore and then quietly asked, "Um, so, ah, have you been able ta visit since ya got stronger?"

  Amrydor shook his head. "No, though when I remembered enough, I was able to meet with a couple of the caretakers again. I don't think my old friends and I have mu on anymore."

  "Oh," Fuyuko said. "Um, I am not sure how things will go for me. I left less than a year ago, but that means everyoill there was a lot younger. I think I liked them, at least, I don't remember not likin' them, but them bein' so young, I don't think we had a lot in ohen. I'm not sure how I'd go findin' my friends who left earlier."

  "I have so many questions," he said thoughtfully but was interrupted before he could ask any of them.

  "I'm gd you found someoo talk with about your obscure childhood," Gou said, "but I think people are starting to get impatient waiting on you two."

  ht. Fuyuko stood hastily and said, "Sorry, um, we should take care of that." She was slightly ahat 'Yugo' got to just stay here and talk with his sisters and Carmil, though maybe that was just because her own versation got interrupted.

  Amrydor looked embarrassed as he rose too. "Yeah. Um, just to make sure, you're okay to fight again already?"

  Fuyuko nodded. "The honey drinks I had were also recovery potions. Um, I assume they gave you normal ones since you haven't fought yet. Oh! I o repce my ons first."

  She focused on her link to the dungeon and asked, "Papa, could I have some neons, please? I think I want two pairs of swords this time though. Oh, and ya tell me about that on I saw with him? I don't think I've seen one quite like it."

  Fuyuko discarded all the ons she had used even once as she walked back to the ring and started snatg neons out of the air as Mordecai maed them for her. The first pair of falcata she pced into the avaible ste on her bracers, while the sed pair she was going to start with in hand. She refilled her dagger sheaths too of course, but Fuyuko wasn't sure if they were going to be useful.

  The on Fuyuko had asked about was familiar in general form at least: a long bde at the end of a long pole. But the shape of the bde was not familiar; it had a wide base that tapered while curving inward toward its edge.

  "Yes, that's fair as he's seen you fight," Mordecai said. "Because of its inward curving edge, it's called a war scythe. Most people think that term refers te, reinforced version of a field scythe, but the bde starts parallel to the shaft rather than starting off at a sharp angle and there is no sedary grip. For the most part, you treat it like other polearms, but the curved edge has one special quality. If an oppo is ihe reach of the on, the wielder attempt to force them out by pressing with the shaft and shoving them toward the bde where it catch them and slice deeply. Most pole ons don't have an edge fag toeople inside of the bde's reaaturally, this means it has less utility in other areas. The curved bde is not as good at thrusting as a straight one and there is no way to try catg a on. It also has no crushing surface for dealing with heavy armor. "

  That was somewhat troubling as Fuyuko was going to have to fight inside of his reach. She might have the longer arms, but it wasn't by mud he had the much longer on. Throwing her daggers wasn't going to do a lot of good either; Amrydor's helmet was much more enclosed than Gou's had been and he was wearing a mix of pte and . Even her real daggers would have trouble getting through armor when thrown, though she'd proven strong enough to drive a dagger through steel pte, given that the dagger was tough enough to not bend or break.

  Of course, that test had not been doh one of her real daggers. It was much better to just ask for a temporary creation from Papa or Mama K.

  Fuyuko had been double-cheg her gear during her musings, but Papa had one more bit of iing information.

  "You might want to know some mixed news. Priestess Helena had already informed us that Amrydor was still trying to find his preferred on; none of what they had at hand seemed much better or worse for him. However, the moment that he tried out the war scythe from the sele of less on ons I'd made, Amrydor seemed certain that this was the perfect on for him. His practice seemed rather smooth too. On the upside, he has no experieh this particur on. On the dowhat means he will be experimenting and be less predictable."

  Great. Fuyuko sighed aled into her stance before signaling that she was ready.

  Zagaroth