Since Angela no longer wanted to fight him, Arvell didn't have any other option than to nod his head and listen to his new 'sister'.

As the two left the arena they were met with looks of admiration from the nearby knights.

"To think that he could take one of Lady Angela's swings and just walk it off…"

"What is that kid's body made of? Reinforced steel?"

Angela walked up to one of the knights.

A somewhat bulky-looking man, who looked big even among the knights.

"Owen, could you take a look at Arvell? While he says he's fine, he still has some internal bleeding."

Owen took a look at Arvell and smiled.

"Of course! It'll be a shame to let such a handsome boy walk around all beat up wouldn't it?"

Arvell opened his mouth to thank him, but he paused when felt a sense of danger from the man before him.

However…

It wasn't the same as when he came across a strong opponent he couldn't beat.

While Arvell was sure he wasn't able to beat this knight, this feeling of danger didn't come from that.

This feeling of danger was a foreign sensation for Arvell.

It was like every cell of his body was screaming at him to get away from this man.

Arvell was curious about this feeling and took another look at the incredibly buff man standing before him.

Owen gave Arvell a small wink when the two made eye contact.

Shivers spread down Arvell's spine as his eyes widened in realization.

'Oh… My chastity is in danger.'

***

It wasn't long before Arvell was able to pull himself free from Owen's clutches.

'Shouldn't this technically be a crime? I'm only 13!' Arvell lamented.

He still felt 'unclean' after being profusely touched by Owen.

However, Owen claimed that he had only done it to heal him…

Mostly…

None of the onlookers said anything, but their pitying faces spoke volumes.

'Look at it this way, you made it out without losing your virginity. I consider that a win.'

Lykos materialized next to Arvell and decided to try to 'encourage' him.

"..."

Arvell decided to bury that memory, permanently.

Zen and Reyna walked over to Arvell after his treatment finished.

It was a fairly speedy process, so they didn't need to wait long.

"That was insane! You had my sister on the ropes for a moment!"

"Yeah! That fight was amazing! I had my doubts when I found out you saved Zen, but you're really strong!"

Arvell gave them a small smile.

"She still defeated me in one move."

Zen and Angela exchanged looks.

'Is this guy an idiot?'

Zen walked up and placed his hand on Arvell's shoulder.

"You do realize my sister is going into her third year right? My sister is incredibly strong, even in her year. Being able to push someone like that is impressive."

"I concur," a voice rang out behind them.

They turned around to see Rupert walking up to them while clapping his hands.

"I saw your fight from the window," Rupert pointed to a nearby building, "That fight was quite impressive Arvell. In a real fight, you should use anything and everything to gain an advantage. Even if other people consider it a 'dirty' tactic."

While many would consider kicking someone else's shins in a swordfight would be cowardly, Arvell was definitely not one of them.

In a real fight to the death, would you get 'disqualified' for doing actions like this?

No.

So why should he care?

Arvell considered the act of attaching 'rules' to real fights to be nothing more than pure stupidity.

Why lose his life when he can use 'dirty' tactics and win?

As long as they didn't infringe on his core principles, he would do anything to win.

"Hey so now that you're all healed, do you want to do a rematch?" Angela asked after joining them.

Arvell's smile curved into a devilish smile.

"Of course~"

While Angela and Reyna took lethal damage from that smile, Zen threw Arvell an angry glare.

Arvell shrugged it off and slowly made his way back to the fighting arena.

Watching this scene, Rupert had a pained expression on his face.

'This kid is going to become every man's worst nightmare…'

***

A FEW HOURS LATER

*CRASH*

Arvell onto his back desperately gasping for air.

The two of them sparred until sunset, mostly because of Arvell's insistence of course.

Angela wasn't any better.

The instant she saw Arvell's pleading eyes, she crumbled like a house of cards.

Giving in to his request to train for longer.

Zen, Reyna and the knights had already, leaving just the two of them to train here by themselves.

Reyna wanted some time to catch up with Zen, while the knights went back to their respective homes for the day.

Reyna also took August with her, since she didn't want to make the baby dragon wait until the two finished their sparring session.

Angela walked over to Arvell and sat down beside him.

"While you aren't yet able to match me in strength and speed, your technique is amazing. I've seen countless forms of swordsmanship, but yours stands out."

'Well yeah, it wasn't meant to be used by humans,' Lykos butted in.

"It's (Gasp) self-taught, so that might be the reason," Arvell responded.

"Even so, your strikes seem… Unorthodox. I feel like I would struggle to perform those techniques. I could simply do the motions of course, but they wouldn't be as impactful as if you were the one to do it."

"I did say this was self-taught (gasp), so it's personalized for me. Also, you were far stronger than you let out in our first round."

Angela chuckled nervously.

"About that… I was using a spell that I hadn't fully mastered yet, so the chanting time look far longer than normal. The power of Zephyr Cloak is quite strong, but right now it's almost impractical for me to use it in fights."

"So… You underestimated me and decided to just use a half-baked technique," Arvell responded with an amused smile.

"Yeah… Sorry about that. I learned my mistake after the first round."

While the first round was quite volatile, the other rounds were heavily favoured for Angela.

She had a considerable advantage on Arvell due to Arvell's handicap and the rank difference.

While Arvell's swordsmanship was superior to Angela's, it didn't bridge the gap created by her overwhelming strength.

If Arvell was able to use his full strength, he could theoretically be an even match for her.

If she didn't use Zephyr Cloak of course.

However, the handicap resulted in Arvell fighting an uphill battle.

*Creak*

While they were talking, the room to the barracks opened and a group of maids entered.

"It is time for dinner, Lady Angela and guest Arvell." One of the maids stepped forwards and announced.

Arvell pulled himself up to his feet and helped Angela up too.

*Rumble…*

As if on cue, Angela's stomach rumbled.

Her face visibly turned red with blush, as she tried to cover her head with her hands.

"T-This is because we trained all day! We didn't even eat lunch! I-I'm not a glutton!"

Seeing his 'big sister' try to hide her embarrassment, Arvell had an amused smile.

"Sure… Anyways, I'm hungry too now, so let's go."