Some say the night is a child, but kids nowadays are taking it too seriously.


    Two children were now breaking several rules just because they wanted to fight each other, hoping to beat their rival in the most brutal way possible.


    Dante and Sara were in a private arena at the Academy; they sneaked into the ce to finally decide who is the best among them and end that useless bet.


    Dante was now drawing his Katana, and Sara wielding Durandal.


    Both had already assumed theirbat stances, and now, it was do or die.


    Dante had been carefully analyzing Sara since they arrived; her posture was impable, and her strength could already be felt. With just one hand, she could lift Durandal effortlessly, as if it were a mere dagger, but in reality, it was a greatsword that anyone would find too heavy just by looking at it.


    Dante had alreadye to the conclusion that it was impossible to face Durandal head-on with just his Katana. It''s impossible to win against Durandal without an equivalent Sword; a fight between them with just swords is almost cheating when calcting their differences.


    While Dante''s Katana would be just a bread knifepared to Sara''s Sword, Sara''s Sword could be described as capable of cutting the scales of a dragon, and that was the real difference between the des they both wielded.


    Did Dante find it unfair? Of course not! He fought against Gungnir, the weapon that killed a god.


    They stared at each other without taking any steps; time was short and lonely, the night was dark, and only small low mes were illuminating the open-air arena. It was a full moon night, and nothing could spoil that peaceful atmosphere, not even a couple fighting for the sovereignty of the strongest.


    "You seem eager," Dante said as he focused on Sara''s face, which stared at him with a sharp gaze.


    "I could say the same," she replied casually, pointing the sacred sword at Dante''s chest. Her long hair slightly covered her eyes, and then a huge impulse came from her feet, and she appeared in front of Dante.


    TIN


    The first standoff began; the des shed for the first time, and their masters collided them non-stop.


    TIN


    TIN


    TIN


    It was the sound of the steel of both swords hitting; all attacks were instantly defended, and the attention of both never wavered.


    ''What absurd strength for a human...'', Dante said this while blocking her onught.


    "Come!" She said with a smile.


    For a second, time stopped; their eyes met, and then... BOOM! Both delivered a blow that caused a slight explosion, sending both of them backward.


    An explosion of power when the two weapons shed head-on; the once weak Katana was now powerful enough not to be destroyed by Durandal. Dante put some of his magic into the weapon to fortify it.


    By using magic to strengthen the weapon, Dante just faced it head-on. Although it was a lost strategy, it was the only preliminary solution he could think of; he couldn''t infuse the true aura he had, only magic.


    He then made the first move after they both backed away; he quickly ran and unleashed a sideways cut, trying to sever Sara''s right arm.


    She countered with another blow, causing Dante''s stance to shift slightly backward.


    "Is that all you''ve got, vampire?!" She said, unleashing a tremor with the sword. Only the wind emerging from the sword could make parts of the arena shake.


    "Bring it on!" She said, and Dante followed.


    The sound of iron shing began to make the arena shake; many blows were blocked, and much force was exerted.


    The sound of des colliding was like that of an experienced cksmith dealing with steel; it sounded like hammer strikes. It seemed like a hammer hitting a massive iron anvil.


    The aura bath was extended to fire, and now the silver-ded Katana seemed consumed by mes; he attributed the fire element to increase the strength of his de, but it was in vain.


    The Elemental Fire derived from Dante''s Magic was much weakerpared to his three types of mes, but he couldn''t fight with everything. From the beginning, he knew he had to hold back, but his arrogance made him think everyone was weak, but there were so many limitations that he himself became the burden.


    He could me the Katana, but he knew it wasn''t to me; it was a weapon given by his mother, so it was never a question of it being weak. It was only his arrogance to try to hide his strengths.


    He thought he could handle her without using his other abilities; he could use spells of various elements, but fire is his central element, and as he blocked his unique mes, he was at an impasse.


    He had reached a dead end, and all he could offer was resistance; arrogance consumed him and let it take him.


    "Darn," he muttered realizing his mistakes. He then conjured a firestorm while mixing the sandy ground, creating a hurricane of sand and fire.


    The fire was so hot that it began to turn the sand into ss, creating hot ss fragments all over the arena.


    "You''re good, but this has no effect," Sara said and for the first time used magic in battle.


    "Crystal Fields." She said, and a magic circle appeared; the circle covered arge part of the arena, and then water starteding out of it, water jets started wetting the field that now became muddy.


    With the ground moisture being made, the hurricane went out. But before that, Sara had already appeared in front of him, and without reaction, he was almost killed.


    His reaction time was very good, but he still suffered a small cut on his arm while trying to dodge. His arm began to regenerate, but his blood had already fallen on the arena.


    Sara seemed tired, as she should be. The mana she had used to defend herself and strengthen Durandal was already very high. Unlike Dante, who has his own method of refining mana, she didn''t have anything like that; she was a warrior, not a mage, and like the boy, she hid part of her strength.


    Again, they looked at each other; despite both being breathless, they still wanted to fight. Finally, they found people who could leave them tired.


    A genius''s life is boring, and when you always learn everything quickly, youck opponents. It''s not hard toe to this conclusion; all the heirs and nobles whoe to this ce are precisely because of this, because they need to ovee the wall in front of them.


    Dante and Sara are perfect examples of this. One is the greatest chaos that could exist, and the other is the overestimated princess of the Empire.


    For both, life was full of constant nightmares and pressure to be stronger than yesterday. But now? They were enjoying each other''spany.


    It''s not even a matter of sharing a room anymore, but rather who is the strongest. And if one is stronger than the other? Who cares! Both would want to be stronger than they once were. They were immersed in battle.


    Their smiles finally matched; both smiled as if they had just won the greatest fortune of their lives.


    The battle resumed, but now it was only with fencing techniques, without any magic or technique outside the pure exchange of blows.


    TIN


    TIN


    TIN


    The swords echoed throughout the ce, creating immense wind currents and small embers of live coal; the blows were always defended, no matter the strength, and so the battle continued for several minutes, always tying in everything.


    Dante didn''t even care anymore; he just wanted to beat her, but at the same time, he wanted her to beat him; he didn''t want to leave that ce anymore, the feeling was too good, it made him enter the Flow.


    While Dante was in a state of "Flow," Sara was thinking even more about the fight; above all, she was happy.


    ''Mistress... I understood what you said,'' Sara muttered mentally as she remembered the woman who taught her about the sword. The bearer of the Virtue of Justice. The first and only Saint of Orleans... Joan of Arc.


    Her words echoed softly in Sara''s ears: "One day you will meet someone who will make you explode with excitement, someone who will change your way of living and make you do things you would never do... What I mean is that you need to value these encounters, little Sara. When it happens, you will understand more about yourself and your virtues.


    Be humble with your opponent, but know that humility can sound like pride." Again, in her mind, small images returned from the moment she met Dante; she was proud, wasn''t she? It was her thought, it was true, her humility turned into foolish pride.


    Sheughed and looked at Dante, who had a huge smile on his face. ''It seems I found someone like that, mistress,'' she thought again of her mistress, when she still had ck hair and wore a silver armor.


    "Find your own path, Sara."


    Sara looked at Dante again and smiled, a smile that let her humility and respect for the opponent flow over every corner of her rosy lips.


    So, finally, Sara entered the Flow Zone for the first time, consumed by the me of battle, she surrenderedpletely. Dante was the same, they wanted to meet again and make their swords roar through the sound of metals.


    Again, they went for it. A fierce fight continued, leaving giant sounds echoing throughout the academy, as they greatly enjoyed themselves.


    The arena could be seen from the windows of some rooms; boys and girls began to wake up and look out the window.


    "Hey, what''s that noise?" The elf girl asked the vampire girl.


    "See for yourself," the girl replied to the other and opened the curtain where she was looking. The view they saw was terrifyingly beautiful.


    "They seem to be dancing..." She murmured, and her roommate just nodded.


    In the buildings around the arena, amotion began slightly after the start of Sara and Dante''sbat.


    "What''s this iron racket!" Two boys shouted together as they opened the curtain with ignorance.


    "Vortex," one of them said. "And that weird guy..." the other muttered.


    "No wonder she''s talented, but that guy..." He murmured as he tried to identify the person. Unfortunately, no light beyond the moon could illuminate the arena for them to see more calmly.


    "They''re too excited! They woke everyone up!" He said with much anger.


    "I''ll warn the building coordinator; he''ll do something." He replied as he left, but before that, he was called.


    "Hey, a teacher showed up." They looked at the man and quickly realized who he was.