(Part Thirty - Duel)

It has been a week since the wedding, and as far as I can tell; Tenchi 
has the silliest look etched as stone on his face.
At least what he wanted to know about married life was answered. For 
the most part..
Ayeka, Mihoshi and Ayeka are also a surprise; because as far as the 
rest of us can tell, whatever happened during the Cycle month caused 
the three to act pretty much in the same manner as Misaki and Funaho 
do.
Oh, there are still the occasional squabbles, retorts, mini-supernovas 
and the like from time to time, but nowadays, the whole thing is more 
meant as show.

For one thing, Ayeka and Ryoko share each others clothes more now.. 
seeing Ayeka in one of Ryoko's outfits had me in a coughing fit. Ryoko 
has sure mellowed out as well, more from Mihoshi's influence.
Mihoshi also changed some, now more of an air of confidence; and less 
clumsiness. Due in part to Ayeka's own influence, mainly in helping 
Mihoshi find a more calming center rather than her seemingly stressed 
out attitude. A few bottles of Sake` from Ryoko also helped.
There are other things, but they render in the preview of privacy, 
something Tsui keeps reminding me of when I try to pry at times.
The welt on my head is a constant reminder.

Misaki soon returned with Azusa to Jurai, but came back all of a week 
later to keep tabs on the marriage.. (Mother-in-law's prerogative 
apparently), and also to keep company with her own 'Sister' Funaho, who 
was acting as observer for the month following the wedding as the Cycle 
dictated.
Father and Mother took off again, with Bruinuae again, as well as many 
of the other particulars of the peripheral family members.
That left the rest of us to enjoy the late Spring, as it slowly began 
to feel the touches of Summer.

The couple of days following the ceremony found me putting many of my 
experiences on canvas, and I sorta cheated by using the Jurai power to 
aide my memory for extra details.
Tsunami would come in from time to time because of this and remind me 
playfully of using the Jurai power responsibly. Course when I showed 
her my paintings, she'd melt everytime; at least I held sway over one 
area of my life.
But my artistic skills weren't the only ones improving, as Sasami and 
Achika decided to improve on their cooking skills in an interesting 
bet, one meant to see who could come up with the best dishes by the end 
of Spring.
Most of this was dealt with by studying many cooking books, both 
sopping up materials and recipes like sponges.

This of course ended up involving parties from the related Achika and 
Sasami camps, as Misaki and Ayeka would 'suggest' recipes from several 
major cooks from all over the Empire of Jurai, while Achika was 
'helped' by Yosho and Nobuyuki with recipes from all around Earth.
Washu even got into the act as a special panel judge, naming herself, 
Funaho, Tenchi and 'somehow' myself to the panel. Course the 'judging' 
would be at every meal, and I can only thank Yosho's intense training 
in the afternoons for burning off all the fat, because many of the 
dishes were QUITE rich.
It got even worse with the desserts, because no normal human is 
supposed to survive THAT amount of flavors.
It also didn't help when certain 'helpers' would try to skewer the 
decisions of the 'panel'; Tenchi of course at night after dinner, and 
myself likewise in my 'venue'
At the time of this writing, I'm not sure if the contest will EVER end.

Other than that, and some news from Jurai on the progress of the 
children; as well as the update that Funaho and Misaki would be 
returning in a couple of days, the rest of the time has been yada 
yada..
That was until one morning.
It was while I was taking a morning walk with Tenchi and Achika..
When it happened..

It started while Tenchi was debating the merits of married life with 
Achika (it's about all that's on his mind at the moment.. anywho..), 
when the tell tale whine of a spacecraft engine caught our attention.
Tenchi automatically out of habit though it was Mihoshi's craft, but 
remembered she was in the house.
This need to know was exacerbated by the style of the craft 
approaching.
By the time we finished running to the lake side nearest the house, a 
strange bluish silver hawk-like craft had about neared the lake water.
The vessel was sleek and well rounded, with a sheen that reflected like 
water the sunlight struck to it. It's only marking was a single image 
of a longsword set at a defensive angle, a single star sparkle at it's 
tip was it's only accouterment.

As the vessel made good it's hover landing upon the lake, (standard 
practice around here it seems.. *shrug*) it simply sat there for a 
moment, as everyone from the household gathered to see.
A hatch from the near side of the vessel finally opened, as a pair of 
individuals appeared.
Both clothed in simple black robes, one a male, the other female; as 
far as I could tell.
The male had his head cloaked under a hood, but I could make out a 
touch of long black hair; but not much else.
The female was cloaked the same as the male, but with a touch of longer 
brown hair it seemed..

Tenchi of course played the good host, and made short welcome.
The response, from the male apparently, was to ask whom of us was 
Aleaic.
I traded looks with Tenchi, then a few others, before I finally 
answered the call.
He then announced for me to call my Key forth, which I quizzed why 
immediately.

The response, first off; was that the 'destroyer of Mulhorand' was 
about to be tested; which took me VERY much aback, the rest too.
Second off, the male suddenly brandished a slender tube, and flared to 
life two blades; ruby in color.
I demanded an explanation, but nearly lost my head for the trouble.
Everyone was at first too shocked to respond, as I tumbled and flipped 
away from several parries in desperation. 
I finally managed a mid-air backkick to give me breathing space; and 
demanded the explanation for this again.

The next three near slashes I dodged told me I wasn't going to get 
straight answers, but all I could do was dodge for a good bit.
Tsunami then yelled in my direction, and threw me my Avatar Key; which 
I engaged in time to parry a vicious uppercut slash.
I then made several wide parries, twisting my body in several 
directions in directions with each parry; before finally shoving my 
unexpected adversary into a defensive roll.
He came back with a mean low side slash, followed by a reverse blade 
thrust with his other blade; which I back rolled under; upon which, I 
used the inertial to trip up my opponent.

Upon reaching my feet, I blocked off two more blows, and a strange mid-
air spinning attack with several blade shots peppered within.
I then locked blades, and tried to ask yet again; which only resulted 
in me having to jump away from a slash to my ankles. I went on the 
defensive for a good bit, trying out some advice Yosho had levied 
sometime back, watch the opponents tactics, and gauge his or her 
abilities.
This of course started a long sword dance that took us all the way up 
the Shrine steps, past the Shrine into the forest, a cat and mouse game 
in the woods, which ended us back at the house near the storage shed, 
around it, making sure the fight didn't actually damage the home, past 
the front, and back to where we had started.
It was there that I decided that this was a true master of the sword, 
excellent in skill and tactic; but one grows weary of battle, so I 
decided to see what power he had behind the blade; and I added a tad 
bit of Jurai power to my abilities; just to test the waters.

My opponent immediately noticed this, and went on the defensive; his 
turn it seemed. But I decided against giving him the chance so easily, 
and I slid very fast to his left, and landed a brutal blade shot that 
he barely blocked in time.
I pushed at awkward angles, playing at keeping the both of us 
unbalanced, while using extra footing off of trees and step angles to 
make harsh attacks, soon this tact was getting us both tired.
My opponent finally was getting a bit weary as I, and was letting his 
emotions seep through, and this is where I pressed the advantage that 
even Mulhorand had slipped with; emotion in battle kills.
I parried a few more, against my straining, screaming muscles; when he 
finally made one thrust that overreached. I caught the tip of the blade 
with mine, then sheared the blade down to his hilt, sparking it all the 
way.

He tired to recover, and caught my shoulder in the process in the angle 
I was in, but I pressed, and forced him to break off backwards, leaving 
me the opening, which I took by hard twirling my bade into his open 
hilt; severing it; and a final brutal backkick sent my opponent 
skidding to a halt.
The silence was deafening for a moment, as I finally let MY emotions 
froth forth, and pointed one of my sword blades at his throat. I made 
no bones about demanding answers.
It was there that the female finally appeared with a double blue bladed 
sword.
The stranger I had beaten finally said "enough" in a stonish manner.
While this was occurring, the rest of the clan had settled down to the 
porch, like it was all a sporting event or something.. errrrrrrrrr..

Tsunami then appeared next to me, and calmed me down with her sweet 
sounding tones. The kiss, quite deep; helped calm me from my frenzy.
After everything settled down, the strangers finally announced their 
names, Lonar and Aphelia.
They then announced themselves as emissaries of the Guild of the 
Immortal Sword. And that they were some kind of First Lieutenants of a 
sort. Misaki and Funaho then spoke up, lending validity to the 
announcement.
I guess the spiel was, as Sasami helped settled everyone's nerves with 
some Green Tea; that they were sent to verify the skill of the one that 
they had heard about, concerning the Duel of Jurai as the called it.

As best as I could tell, this Guild was a large group of individuals 
that literally loved the art of the sword, whether of the energy blade, 
or the conventional, they all seeked to uphold the tradition that has 
apparently existed for ten-thousand years, give or take a few decades. 
They were spread out over several planets, but with a 'capital' world 
of their own that Aphelia called Edge Point. Appropriate..
These people of the Guild apparently spent much of their time when not 
in sleep, perfecting this art of theirs. But they weren't a group that 
called attention to itself; only appearing at times like these to 
recruit certain individuals, or to test those they saw as.. what they 
seemed to term.. 'worthy'.
Apparently this was the reason that these two had appeared, and I was 
challenged. No thanks to the Royal  family, the story of the Battle of 
Jurai, as well as my personal actions from my duel with Mulhorand had 
reached quite far and wide in the universe.

This had caused the Guild to find out, and verify the story in their 
own way, much to the pain my arm was wincing with, though Tsui was 
quite the efficient Medic.
These Guild members consider the duel almost akin to a religion, even 
going so far as to have certain members of standing challenge those 
that have survived duels, such as myself. As a response, I wondered to 
Lonar why Tenchi had not been challenged so; considering his skills 
matched mine.. (..and I know, trust me..)
Tenchi apparently is Jurai's best kept secret, this is the first time 
the two swordsmen had actually met the young Crown Prince; I was 
actually more well known. I then looked at Funaho and Misaki, and 
instinctively felt like I was a shield of sorts.

Aphelia however motioned to Lord Kosihito, and said one of their order 
had once challenged him in similar combat, Juraian sword masters were 
apparently replete in history with duels against the Guild, though they 
are not alone in this regard.
Yosho's had taken place interestingly enough a short time before Ryoko 
had attacked Jurai under Kagato's influence. Ah, the stories of related 
mortals.
Such duels as indicated by Lonar were more common than anyone thought, 
though how I ranked with the legions of duels in galactic history made 
me blush reflexively. 
What caught me off guard though was that Lonar felt I didn't give him 
everything I had, that it was allowable of an opponent to use all the 
resources available to him. I retorted by telling a warrior of any 
caliber only acts with his head, his skill, and most of all, his honor; 
powers are only a tool as seen fit to use.

The silence that followed was broken by a timely bit of chaos by 
'Goddess' of Chaos, as Mihoshi spilled some tea on her, which caused a 
massive cascade of fallen bodies as Mihoshi tried to leap over Kiyone 
getting to the kitchen.
She didn't make it.
I was thinking of the merits of double strength cable as Tsunami lay on 
top of me, when a new scuffle broke out..
But it wasn't Ayeka and Ryoko as usual.

Instead, Ryoko was sprawled with Aphelia over her, whom traded a few 
choice insults of gender quality; which not even Ayeka would have 
spoken in the worst days of the Misaki clan.
Lonar tried to settle down Aphelia while Tenchi did the same with 
Ryoko, it was in vain; the bomb was engaged to blow, and the rest of us 
knew better than to get involved with an insulted Ryoko.
It only took a simple challenge from Aphelia to take this outside, 
where it took all of three seconds for the new duel to be joined.
This was actually a treat for Ayeka, not being on the receiving end of 
attacks; as Ryoko customarily led things off with a thrown energy 
blade.

Now, as where Lonar and I stuck to the ground, Ryoko and Aphelia took 
to the air more readily than most bird of Earth, or many planets for 
that matter.
Ryoko of course acted mostly with emotion and venomous barbs, as she 
tried to unnerve her opponent.
Aphelia wasn't nearly so fooled, as she let Ryoko do all the attacking.
As for the rest of us, most were neutral, though Tenchi cheered Ryoko 
as expected, but Ayeka more cheered for Aphelia, out of old habit, one 
Misaki reprimanded her for during the duel.
Yosho for some reason was the most interested, though I couldn't guess 
why.

Turning attentions back to the duel, as a earth shaking explosion 
rocked near the lake. Then a cyan haired form blasted loose to the sky, 
with a brown haired streak close behind.
I caught next a massive number of explosions; as well as angry screams 
from Ryoko. 
Then the battle drifted up to the Shrine area, which caused most of us 
to run up there to make sure it wasn't ruined.
Instead, the battle had drifted into the same woods Lonar had drawn me 
into; a demonstration of several red lances demonstrated as such.
Then, before the rest of us knew it; Aphelia phased in amongst us, 
which had us all diving for cover, as a errant blast hit where Aphelia 
once was; Ayeka was QUICK to admonish this.

The fight drifted then to over the lake, as large water potmarks marked 
where Ryoko had thrown blasts, which made me think this wasn't that 
much of a blade contest.
The battle continued like this for another five minutes, as the fight 
exchanged several times between hunter and hunted.
Finally, Ryoko started showing her 'mother's' craftiness, as she split 
into two, and literally bombarded Aphelia.
This caused Aphelia to use some strange device to make a second image 
of herself, which apparently was as effective as the original.
The battle continued like this until Ryoko grabbed her true adversary, 
and rammed Aphelia into her copy.

The two slammed to the ground, and then both rolled away in opposite 
directions as a double beam shot hit the same point.
From there, the finishing stroke came as Ryoko and Aphelia rammed 
blades into each other's shoulders; with agonizing screams to boot.
Both finally collapsed from exhaustion to the ground near the Shrine 
office. Tenchi and Lonar raced to their respective combatants, and I 
noted that Tenchi and Lonar fawned over their ladies in EXACTLY the 
same manner, logic told the rest.
It was from there, that Washu stepped in, transporting both combatants 
to her lab Medical section. Their night was hashed, that was for sure, 
at least Sasami was kind with the leftovers that night. The rest of us 
enjoyed more of the 'duel' between Achika and Sasami.

The night ended with Tsunami escorting me back to the same section of 
lake edge that I had been with Tenchi earlier that morning, though I 
was much more tired.
It was while we were at the farthest point of the lake away from the 
house, that I asked Tsui just how well know in the universe my name 
was..
The answer was not too helpful, or forthcoming. My prying only got me 
passionate kisses I knew were meant to change the subject, so I 
followed, and so did the kimono soon after.

The next morning saw Lonar and Aphelia reboarding their vessel, with 
Ryoko and Aphelia avoiding each other, but a decent amount of lauding 
came my way from Lonar and Aphelia respectively, though Tenchi and 
Yosho also received respect, in the name of the Misaki Clan. 
Soon after, their vessel departed soon after, with a warning, my name 
was known, I should watch my back.
But know my case, and my company, it was already watched.
The next day, it was Misaki's and Funaho's turn to depart, as their 
Treeship leapt into a subspace portal in witness of the gathered family 
once more.
That seemed to finally leave us all in at least SOME semblance of 
peace.

But.. I hate to say.. the fun had only begun..
Because then came the trip to the Hot Springs..

(End Part Thirty)