Chapter 6

When Selena came to call upon James as was the custom what she saw was James and Amelia walking hand in hand. Selena thought about the time James had said about marrying for love and had a slight feeling towards James as being hypocritical. She went towards them and said to James.

"James, there is a welcoming ceremony as per the tradition. You are wanted there."

James nodded his head and walked behind Selena, his Head held high and arms at his side. Amelia was walking alongside with her mother. They entered a banquet hall filled with people standing besides their tables respectfully, waiting for their host. The hall was filled with Golden drapes, the sign of beginning. At the centre table lay three Chair. Selena went and sat on the centre one, Amelia on the right and James on the left.

Even though James was falling in with the plans and customs, he was getting the feeling of being caught in a tornado not knowing directions. He had a plan of joining a powerful house, but this fast seemed to be problematic for his conscience to keep pace with. James steadied himself with a breath. He remembered the countless times he had spent training and calmed himself. His main plan was to use this house as a stepping ladder and to move onto a better house. But knowing this as to be one of the top houses in power, he did not know the admittance of another house as a possibility. The only problem was Amelia as he did not like being with a woman in a relation. He had experimented by kissing, though it had elevated his sense of pleasure highly, he considered it a high price to pay for happiness. Woman could never be trusted. He was waiting on it anyway.

Selena stood up and spoke, "Years ago it was prophesied that an anointed blade shall be born into the main family and though separated shall reunite with the heiress of the house. The Goddess has shown this man as the eligible one and the twin star symbol has been accepted into his body. His worth is determined. Let us drink to his day."

Every one raised their cups in a cheer and went on with their feast. James did have certain troubles. Even though the rules did state men and women were equal, since women were the ones who held the power they usually denied these rules. He had read that very few times men are given posts and the family thusly will grow for the better or the worse. Magic seldom accepted men and women gave seldom chance for men to be accepted. He knew the only reason he was given such welcome was due to the prediction of him being powerful in the future. He knew he had to hide his true power, else he would be force to graduate the academy early. He did know the secret of the academy, the power to grant knowledge.

Slowly after the feast had ended, the soldiers one by one swore fealty to the two ladies and then to him. He now had men power to support him.

One of the soldiers came forward and said, "My name is Ervan, I am a swordsman. I would like to ask the honour of duelling with you Ser James."

James looked at Ervan who seemed to be tall and properly built, though he did appear bony when he wore that large dress. He knew this man mostly practised the arts of fighting like himself and wanted to know how much he knew before he attended the academy. He smiled to Ervan and said,

"Only if afterwards you promise to be my friend."

Selena said with a smile, "If you win in this fight James, Ervin will be your personal guard and if you see fit your Lieutenant."

"Am I supposed to have a Battalion my lady."

"Apparently so Ser, a whole new battalion for yourself. You can choose a few from here but mostly the new ones are to be recruited by you. Make sure you are ready for the missions."

"Well lady Selena, what kind of missions am i supposed to do."

"Nothing major, hunting magical beasts, cleaning bandits, very rarely though execution of a whole house. Make sure you have all the types of comrades. After all you are supposed to be the sword of this house."

"I do have to start somewhere so Ervan, if i defeat you, will you join my battalion."

"If you say Ser i will join regardless of matches outcome."

"I have a policy forced in my head Ervan. The person who leads should be single handedly more powerful than all the persons beneath him, otherwise the group will falter due to internal strife."

"Well said James, my dear." Amelia said.

James held himself back from snorting. He decided it was not the right time to turn on the family now. Selena rose from the seat and said, "As it is usual in customs a challenger has appeared. Let us all go int o the practise hall."

James was standing at one side of the practise hall. All the people except him and Erwin was beyond the boundary, sitting and enjoying the match. He was asked to choose a weapon and he had chose a single handed sword.

Erwin held two swords of thin thickness and long length much like James had constructed in his early times. He advance swiftly with both swords coming from the top. James blocked it with his sword. The left sword suddenly came from the left aside forming an arc and hit James on his ribs. Because of his enhanced dress nothing happened. James used his footing and mustered the strength to push Erwin down to the ground. Erwin jumped backwards and regained his balance. Erwin accelerated himself and started a fury of attacks from all the sides. James kept on blocking all the blows but could not hit him even once. The sword was not well balanced. He did not know whether to take his sword in front of everyone ore not.

He took a different strategy. He dropped his sword aside. Erwin was too fast to be caught with a sword but not fast for a fist, especially when he closes himself.

"Well Ser James, is it that you have already forfeited the match."

"No Erwin, a true warrior does not need any weapon."

"I could kill you."

"Not in a millennium Erwin."

Everyone began to laugh at this comment though none could tell who the laugh was aimed at, the overconfidence or the less talented.

Erwin advanced fast in his fury. He began his reign of attacks while hovering in the air. James used dodging every single time even stepping backwards. He then jumped on to the wall and hung there like a cat. Erwin looked confused. James was a master at fighting indoors. James pounce on to Erwin with ghastly speed. Erwin crossed his swords on the intend to cut him down. James twisted inn mid air creating enough spin to go sideways. James used his fingers and scratched Erwin on the neck from behind. Blood spilled on the floor.

Selena stood up. Everyone was flabbergasted as most only developed their skills in swords and weapons and only a few knew the jungle survival skills.

"I Lady Rookwood declare James as the winner of this duel. He displayed good martial arts skills, the cat prancing used by the hunters in guerilla warfare. No one knew it could be used on marble walls without any frictions or magic. Well done Ser James."

Erwin bowed down to James and James signalled him to stand up. What James did was to make sure his nails got dug into the walls. His nails had already been empowered for battle a long time ago. James had been satisfied as he did not have to show any moves. But that was not what happened. Amelia came forward and said to James.

"I Amelia Rookwood challenge you to a duel."

James knew that he had to accept this challenge. He also knew that he could not use his powers fully. He did not know whether he was even allowed to win. He decided to lose the battle on purpose after a good showdown. He decided to use some of his powers but not up to the good scale.

"I Ser James Rooky accept your duel."

Selena said, "Just so you know James, if you lose this battle on purpose the twin stars will disappear."

"Well, thanks for informing me lady."

James had decided to use minimum of his powers while not losing. He somewhat knew that both the ladies knew that he was powerful but could not determine the level of his power. James decided to let Amelia attack first.

Amelia was on the other side and could see James waiting for her to attack. He could presence the calm aura around him and knew he had primeval strength. Whether or not he could use it to perfection was a completely different thing.

Amelia took her sword and prayed to the heavens. The sword shone with lightning. The lighting crashed onto where James was.

James had did a double back flip to avoid it. His dress had took the shock slightly. James was having a hard time concentrating. A lightning sword. He returned to his warrior instincts, thinking without thinking. His body returned to a meditative state. He had every weapon at his disposal and he was going to use it. All the knowledge he had, all the thought processes he had come down on him in an instant. His mind was clear. His existence was one. He smiled. He used his voice.

"Amelia, I did not know you had lightning powers. I thought you only used healing and swords."

"Yes, James but I can have a powerful artefact can't I and goddess's divine judgement does use the lightning. I am in very way a priestess except in name."

"I must admit you do look beautiful with the sword."

Amelia looked confused at the odd compliment at the odd time. James laughed. His meditation had made him lose his primeval instincts due to slowing his body speed to make time move faster. He did not had wanted to wait another long time before he got into the academy. Now everything seemed fine. He was back to his true self. The cynicism and thoughts returned. He was going to be on the top.

James exactly knew what Amelia was thinking. She was doubting whether or not to attack James. James raised his hands towards Amelia and lightning passed onto Amelia.

"Are you a fool James. Lightning doesn't affect me as long as I hold this sword."

James smiled thinly. Amelia was getting slightly scared as she was inexperienced in real battles. She could see the blood lust in James' eyes and he was a mage too. She knew only one thing. She used lightning and charged using full speed, the lightning strike used against higher order beasts. She could only use it three times a day and very few survived the attack.

James saw Amelia approaching. Such attacks were powerful to be met head on. He moved perpendicularly against the attack farther away from the trajectory. Amelia passed from where he was standing and looked at him. She was weakened due to the final stride f her move. She knew she should have used smaller attacks.

James did not want to destroy the society or the people. What he wanted was power and he was going to receive it more from knowledge if he lost this battle. He looked at the twin star brand and so that it will vanish if any actions are taken against the house of Rookwood. He knew what to do. Mind magic. He created an alternating thinking process as such to please the brand telling it that he was going to lose for the house's sake. He then used his sword and approached Amelia swiftly, she used his sword to cut down on his chest. He jumped just in time after creating a false impact on the sword. He fell down as though he had been defeated due to energy lose. He pulled away all the surface energy to his internal core. Selena came forward looked on James.

"I declare Amelia the winner."

Selena the used her magic to transfer some energy onto James. James transferred this into the floor while increasing his energy on the surface. He stood up and smiled.

"That was a nice match Amelia."

"For a moment I thought you might win."

"That was luck I avoided the attack. And how can I defeat a third level lady."

"How did you use lightning James." Selena asked.

"Yin yang energy manipulation. I absorbed part of the lightning and returned it ten-fold." James lied without thinking.

"Interesting, anyway I recommend you to return to your quarters. Erwin take Ser James to his room."

James was sitting alone on his bed thinking. He had lost on purpose. He will soon start showing his real powers. He had to get some experience fighting monsters and bandits. Some of the materials of monsters were good for spell-spinning and crafting weapons. He knew timing was the only factor here. He was going to be on the top.

He increased his body speed and started reading the books. After all knowledge did give him power and raw power was what he was after.