"Just what is that idiot doing this time...?" Erik muttered in disbelief as he and the other cadets witnessed the Queen challenging Jay to a sparring session after she had toyed with Luna a few moments ago.
Everyone paved the way for Jay as he reluctantly walked over to Queen Maya, who was eagerly awaiting him.
"What kind of weapon do you want?" she asked him.
Jay looked around himself. He noticed Luna, who was sitting on the ground, drowning in her pathetic defeat.
"I will go with this one." he said, picking up Luna's spear.
"I'm surprised. I expected you to look for a sword."
"It's true that I mainly wield a sword, but I guess I have a talent for being able to handle every kind of weapon." Jay replied with a wry smile as he adjusted to Luna's spear.
And it did not take long until both of them were ready. However, contrary to the Queen, Jay's stance was more defensive than offensive.
"Are you not planning on charging at me?"
"I can't possibly do that, Your Highness."
Displeased by that answer, Maya's eyes turned grim. She leaped toward him and launched a barrage of spear thrusts. They were not just some random thrusts; each one of them was controlled, and they did not show a single opening to let her opponent counter.
Still, Jay blocked off each attack without even letting the spear scratch his clothes. Both of them were deep in the zone, concentrating so much that they forgot their surroundings. It was only when the Queen was about to activate her skill that she became aware of the others again.
"You're better with the spear than I thought." she admitted with an impressed grin, though her eyes remained sharp.
"Thank you, Your Highness." Jay said. He wanted to compliment her spear-wielding skills, too, as he did not anticipate a queen to be able to fight like that. However, if he were to say that out loud, then he would only offend her.
"Then, how about you being the one on the offense now?" she suggested, provoking him with her grin.
"I don't know about that... My fighting style is quite..." Jay searched for an excuse. He really did not want to fight her. If it came to pure weapon-wielding skills, then the Queen would have him beat. However, once Jay was on the offense, he would quickly revert to his usual fighting style, which could be a bit rough for a queen.
"I order you to." the Queen stated, having had enough of Jay's attitude. She even had to change her tone and facial expression to make him realize that she was serious.
"I... I understand..." Jay gave in.
In a fight, Jay did not rely purely on his skills with a weapon. Instead, he relied on literally everything. If it were a simple teaching lesson or a sparring session with someone a lot weaker than him, then he could probably just use pure weapon-wielding. However, if the opponent was someone whom he could not afford to go easy against, then he would fight like always before he would even realize it.
"Good to know."
The Queen was in a defensive stance, expecting Jay to begin with simple thrusts to test the waters—and like she predicted, it happened. Compared to her, Jay attacked with the spear wilder and more powerful. Rather than reading the opponent's movements and patterns, he relied on his instincts.
"?"
She spaced out for less than a second. However, that short moment was enough to make a fatal mistake.
Instead of a thrust, Jay immediately switched over to a swing from the side. The Queen managed to defend it at the last second, but Jay did not ease up and followed with a swing from above. The spears clashed, and a shrill sound filled the grounds.
The Queen was excited by their exchange and showed a big grin on her face that yearned for more. But unfortunately for her, their bout came to a sudden end.
"?!"
She lost her balance and fell on her right arm. And when she looked up, she saw a spear's tip right in front of her.
The winner was Jay.
"What did you do...?" she asked, genuinely puzzled.
"I-"
"Before you explain, can you move away first?"
Chris, who spectated the match, came forward. Even though it was a match that both of them agreed on, Jay had to realize that the match was over and that he should better remove the weapon from the Queen's face.
"It's fine, Chris." the Queen said, slapping the spear's tip away from her face as if it were just a toy. She got up on her own and observed Jay thoroughly.
"I see. You must have swept my feet away with a kick." she concluded.
Jay nodded his head.
"It appears that I was careless. I should have paid more attention to everything instead of just the weapon. This was a good lesson for me. You have my gratitude, instructor Jay." Queen Maya said, bowing her head slightly to express her honest gratitude.
"I-I'm not worthy of your praise, Your Highness...!" Jay responded, lowering his head and upper body more than hers.
Despite heaving a sigh, she smiled.
"If you ever need something, come to the castle." she declared, before she was about to leave.
On her way out, she briefly exchanged gazes with Luna.
"I hope you were able to learn a few things from that exchange." Queen Maya whispered kindly.
Luna shot up from the ground and also bowed deeply at the departing Queen.
"Thank you very much!"
A few knights were escorting the Queen.
"It's fascinating how everything is at her pace." Erik commented, chuckling wryly. He stood beside Jay as the two watched her small back that carried a responsibility which was bigger than what the two of them could possibly imagine.
"I think I can understand why she's loved by her people." Jay admitted, heaving a sigh.
"Even though she appears very strict, she loves this section more than anyone else. That's why she does things that wouldn't even need her attention." Erik said, thinking about the Royal Knight Selection. Despite Chris being here, Queen Maya wanted to check the cadets with her own eyes and even went so far as to participate in order to understand and connect with the cadets.
Then, Chris clapped his hands loudly.
"Alright, everyone! I know that you all slacked off just now! Run ten laps and resume the training!" he shouted, punishing the cadets for neglecting their training and watching the Queen's sparring bout with Jay instead.
Thus, the third day of the event slowly came to pass, and it was now the morning of the fourth day. That also meant that, including today, there were four days left until the exam was over.
Luna went home right after the training was over. She was obviously tired, but she wanted to think about the Queen's match against Jay without anyone disturbing her. Since the Queen had told her to learn from the match, Luna concentrated on the moves she had seen. Sometimes they were too fast, but she still managed to get a good grasp on how they wielded their spears.
She was also certain that she could not copy the way Jay fought. Therefore, she decided to learn from the Queen's fighting style. The Queen was always in control of the spear, knowing when and how much strength she had to put into each attack, while still appearing elegant.
And because she could not stop recalling the moves, Luna barely got any sleep and headed to the training grounds earlier than usual. The sun was barely up, and it was still chilly outside. Only a few people could be spotted outside, with most of them just setting up their stores.
With an exciting smile, Luna rushed to the gate, which was already lifted.
"Are they already training?" she wondered. The closer she got, the clearer the sounds of metal clashing were to her. It was as if a few people had already started to spar with each other.
"Maybe I can try out my spear moves with them...!" she muttered to herself.
But her delight quickly vanished.
"Guah!"
It was not the sound of swords or metal clashing. It was the sound of someone in great pain. And to top it off, the voice belonged to someone she was familiar with. Luna picked up her pace to see what was going on.
"Captain of the Royal Knights, Chris Vander... You're stronger than I expected."
Only two people were present. One of them was the man who appeared on the first day of the Royal Knight Selection and had beaten up her and the other cadets. It was the cold-blooded man—a part of Jay. He held a sword whose blade was missing.
The other person was Chris. He was on one knee, clenching his chest with his hand. Despite wearing armor, the missing blade from the other Jay was stuck in Chris's chest, blood continuing to stream out of there.
"C-Captain!" Luna cried, attracting their attention.
"L-Luna Park...? What are you doing here so early...?" Chris muttered, his voice strained. Besides his sword wound, he was also beaten up in other spots and looked exhausted, barely able to muster up the strength to stand.
"You are..."
Meanwhile, this version of Jay glared at her after he recognized her. He, too, was exhausted and had a few injuries on him, but he was a lot fitter than Chris. This Jay looked down at his sword, which was not usable anymore. Throwing it to the ground, he walked over to her.
"W-wait...! I'm not done yet...!"
"But I'm done with you. Now that I've cleared my quest, you're not my target anymore."
He stood in front of the intimidated Luna, who could not help but fall on her butt, with her legs shaking. The memory of the day he sent her to the hospital—and the pain she had endured—flashed through her mind.
"You're the friend of that Jay, right?" he asked, crouching down to be on the same eye level as her.
Luna did not reply as her lips could not stop trembling.
"Lure him out if you don't want to die."