*Knock*Knock*

  "Just open the door, Vivi. It's not locked."

  "It's me."

  When she knows that it was Randia on her door, Lisabelle closes her book. It's not often for Viena's dad to visit her room. He usually only knocks on her door when he was about to tell Viena to go to sleep. Yet, Viena is not in the room right now, so, what business Randia could possibly have with her?

  "Yes? Do you need something?" Lisabelle opens her door fully.

  "I was told that you have taken something valuable to me."

  ". . . I guess I did."

  With his usual indifferent face, Randia opens his hand. He is giving a hint to Lisabelle to return his rings. Unfortunately for him, in that spur of a moment, Lisabelle mischievous trait got turned on. She goes to her drawer and then takes out the red pouch of which the rings are inside. Then she returned to Randia and Viena who was sticking out her head from behind him.

  Lisabelle gives out her hand and the pouch was on her palm. However, when Randia wanted to take the pouch, she pulls her hand away.

  "What are you doing?"

  "Uncle Ran. Vivi said that you are strong."

  "I don't know what she told you, but you shouldn't take her words at face value. Kids talk and do more than they think, and that's their nature."

  "But kids are honest, that's also in their nature."

  Sensing that Lisabelle wanted something from him and is most probably going to be a hassle if he refused - Randia decided to lower his hand. He keeps silent and so did Lisabelle. They stay and stare at each other for a while before finally Randia speak again.

  "Fine. What are you getting at?"

  "Spar with me, Uncle Ran."

  "Sigh. Why should we?"

  "Because it will be a good experience to fight someone much taller and bigger than me. I want to know how I would fare against someone like you."

  "You just got roughed not long ago. Are you addicted to pain or something?"

  "That's true. So, let's do it in four days."

  Knowing how troublesome Lisabelle is, Randia let out a sigh and simply leave without saying a word. Lisabelle tilts her head in confusion, and so does Viena. They then looked at each other, raising brows.

  "Does he do that often?" Lisabelle asked.

  "I think so," Viena nods and awkwardly smiling.

  "Haah. Your father is a real ball of weirdo."

  [Four days ter - 06.00 AM - The backyard of Arbona's house]

  The morning dew of Sabada gathers as if they eagerly waiting for Lisabelle and Randia. While the two are busy stretching, the spectators, namely Eleanor, Viena, and the two guards, An and Gwen, are gathering on the patio of the house. Viena sits on Gwen's p while getting herself hugged for warmth since the female guard seemed to gripe a lot about the cold.

  "It's a refreshing weather perfect for a warm pot of porridge and a cup of rose tea. Why do we have to start it with such a pointless thing first thing in the morning?" Eleanor frowned.

  "I'm sorry, grandma."

  "Sigh. It's not your fault, little pie. It's just that I can never understand my granddaughter. I taught her nothing but grace and feminine qualities. How comes she grow up to be such a boisterous girl? Who is she taking after?"

  "Uncle Liam, maybe? He is a cool old man! I like him!"

  Viena's answer actually make sense to Eleanor. She took a deep breath, and her annoyance is getting more and more surfaced on her face. The old dy is muttering to herself, but her voice is too low to be heard by anyone.

  "Midy, have you ever seen Lisabelle fight before?" Gwen asked.

  "Hm? No, and I don't wish to. I understand that she run pretty fast, and she won every race back in her elementary school, but martial arts? Surely you jest."

  "If I may have a say, Lady Eleanor. I think your granddaughter is pretty talented in martial arts," An retorted

  "No way! She is just normal girl with too much spare time and energy."

  While the spectators are talking to each other, Lisabelle and Randia have finished their warm-ups. Then they went to arm themselves with wooden weapons of their choices that have been lined up on a table nearby. The venue of their little match-up isn't as vast as the practice field back in Neims, but it's spacious enough to allow any kind of movements.

  Seeing Randia taking a simple broad sword, Lisabelle walks up to him.

  "Just a straight sword? What about dual wielding?" Lisabelle pys with her two swords.

  "There's no need for that."

  "Dull and boring as always. Why don't you try something more fun?"

  "To cast a cloud to the mind of your opponent is to seize half the path to victory. If by simply choosing this weapon makes you look down on me, then it's the best choice for me."

  After Randia said that, Lisabelle went silent. She quietly walks to her side of the yard and ready her swords while Randia loosen his shoulder and fix his cloak. As the referee of the duel, An walks in the middle of the two.

  "Remember both of you, this is a sparring match. Give it your best shot but control yourself. Now, are you ready?"

  "Yes!"

  Lisabelle replied, and Randia kept his mouth shut. Then, An raises his hand to give a signal that he will start the count down. The young girl does some little jumps as if she is ready to charge. As for the big man on the other side, he is standing side-on to the direction of Lisabelle, eyeing her like she did him.

  "Three!"

  "One thing for you to know, Uncle Ran. I never look down on anyone."

  "Two!"

  ". . . Good," Randia replied.

  "One! Commence!"

  As expected, Lisabelle dashed forward like she did against Mr. Sunday. However, in the blink of an eye, Randia had already right on her face without her even knowing how he arrived there so suddenly. She keeps her sight while squints her eyes in anticipation of dust or any simir trick that she had previously fallen into, but even then, everything happened so suddenly. She stopped in her tracks as Randia's sword hilt already touched the left side of her chest.

  "Wha-!" An gasped.

  "Dead. Try again," Randia pushed Lisabelle chest away.

  Lisabelle stepped back and trying to process what just happened. Before she can figure out, Randia is already lowered down his sword.

  "My legs are much longer than yours, one good blink step is all it takes to close the distance between us. Remember, being the bigger one doesn't necessarily mean that I am slow. Put it into your calcution."

  Soon, Lisabelle begins attacking Randia again. After a few exchanges of strike, this time, Randia did a quick succession of passing step back and lunge with his body arched forward. His sword stops right before Lisabelle's eyes.

  "Dead. Try again," Randia pushed Lisabelle's forehead with his sword away.

  This is the second time Lisabelle took a step back.

  "You calcute our height differences and act accordingly against my sword reach. However, you failed to measure the maximum reach I could make with the proper form."

  After ten minutes of fighting Randia, Lisabelle keeps getting lectured time and time again. 'Dead. Try again.' - 'Dead. Try again.' - 'Dead. Try again.' 'Dead. Try again.' - 'Dead. Try again.' - 'Dead. Try again.' 'Dead. Try again.' - 'Dead. Try again.' - 'Dead. Try again.' Those words repeated over and over and over again. Even Viena who was watching on the sidelines see herself in Lisabelle, because right now, she saw as if her father is teaching Lisabelle like he always did with her.

  "Ugh! Enough of this!" Lisabelle grows frustrated and throw her two swords on the ground.

  "Your basics are all over the pce, Lisabelle. You rely on acrobatic moves to catch your opponent off guard from unexpected angles. It's a good method but not perfect. Try to adapt."

  Lisabelle then walks to the weapon table and grab a spear with 180 cm length.

  "Good answer. You can never win against someone like me with swords."

  The second Lisabelle pick up a spear, she fares much better against Randia. Surprisingly to An, Gwen, and Viena, Lisabelle is also and adept as using spear. They thought she only has one fighting style, and they were wrong. Lisabelle's thrusting attacks are so fast that they make her own hand bleeds.

  At one moment, Lisabelle is finally able to nd a single strike on Randia's anterior shin splints, little did she know that it was a trap. Although the strike nds, Lisabelle overextends her hands, and she was already tired. This is the moment that Randia has been waiting for- When Lisabelle becomes sluggish and was too te to pull back albeit only slightly.

  Randia quickly steps on her spear with the very same leg that was hit to hold it on the ground, before sending a big horizontal swing right to Lisabelle's neck.

  "Lisabelle!" Eleanor screamed.

  When the sword is getting very close to her neck, Lisabelle quickly releases the spear on her hand. She was able to dodge in the nick of time by moving her head and entire body back, proceeding to do a back walkover. After the back walkover, when her hands are still on the ground, Lisabelle saw the two swords she previously dropped in a split second. She immediately grabs them and goes for her final attempt, dashing at Randia.

  The young Arbona, being so keen on getting a clean hit on her opponent, fails to notice that Randia has put the wooden spear right under her feet by kicking it slowly. As a result, Lisabelle stumbled on the round wood and the dew-covered grass, and fell face first to the ground. When she looks up to recover, Randia is already walking away and turned his back on her.

  "Let us stop here," Randia speaks to An.

  "The bout is over! Weapons down!" An raises his hand.

  Lisabelle, overwhelmed by great feeling of humiliation, just sits there on the ground, looking at her hands.

  "(Fucking damn it!)" She screamed to herself while smacking the ground.