AN: Yo!! Your lazy author present you chapter 46. Enjoy!!

Let the final team battle begin... … for some reason “it's time to d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-duel!!” rang in my mind... Haaa, the time when I liked Yu-gi-oh... I never read/watched it till the end, don't know how it finished. I'll have a look at it sometime later...

!!!!!!! I had planned for Aenthar to introduce a few games in the story, I'll have him introduce card game like Yu-gi-ho and Magic!! I can't believe I forgot them!!!

PR by Bboybrian

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As soon as the referee gave the signal to start the battle, Aenthar used speed enhancement on both himself and his swordsman teammate, and dashed toward Kerrina and Muriem. On the other side, Kerrina also cast speed enhancement on both herself and Muriem. From the look of it, Aenthar wanted to subdue them in close combat. Aenthar usually started with a speed enhancement if the opponent was going to be troublesome.

As the distance rapidly decreased between Aenthar and Muriem, Kerrina sharpened her senses, she was facing her beloved, and wanted to show him how much she grew. Their sparring sessions were all close quarters combat; they never had a mock battle with her using her bow, so it was possible to surprise him. For this battle, she was equipped with a short bow and a quiver of training arrows, and a short training sword. As planned, she hid behind Muriem so that Aenthar would not see her shooting

From her hiding spot, Kerrina unleashed a barrage of arrow on Aenthar, hoping to surprise him. However, she had forgotten about Aenthar's incredible perception. Since the beginning of the match, all of his senses were entirely focused on the girls, including his magic sense. Aenthar had developed the habit of training his magic sense everyday. After first coming to the capital and the academy, he was suffocated by the overwhelming amounts of information coming through his senses. There were just too many people, too many buildings, and too much activity.

At the beginning, he couldn't keep it up for long, the burden was too great, and it would give him painful headaches and cold sweat. But with time, he learned to filter information, and his accuracy greatly improved. That was how he was able to cleanly sense the strange mana in Komodo.

In the past, relying on his mana sense to detect and defend against projectiles would be impossible. But not anymore. He clearly felt Kerrina releasing the arrows and easily deflected them with his staff. Kerrina who expected her arrows to hit the mark was surprised and disappointed to see them fly in another direction each time they disappeared out of sight.

As Muriem got closer to Aenthar, her excitement and anxiousness grew, her heart was beating quickly in her chest, and the expression on his face sent shivers down her spine, an expression full of battle lust she had never seen before. She was thrilled by that sight, and her fighting spirit rose in consequence. Muriem slowed down just outside Aenthar’s range, eying him carefully. Suddenly, she lunged at Aenthar before he could prepare himself, hoping to get the first strike on him and set her pace.

She made a powerful thrust forward, aiming at his torso. With his 2 hands on his staff, he parried the blow with the middle of his staff and deflected it to the side while closing the distance on Muriem. He rotated his staff in an upward arc, aiming for her chin. Aenthar wanted to daze her before giving the finishing blow, but Muriem hadn't struck without thinking of the possibility of a counter.

While fighting Aenthar, she was even more cautious than with her previous opponents. She used the momentum of her weapon being deflected to the side to quickly rotate it horizontally to block the upwards swing - only to receive a strong front kick in the belly, which made her stagger backward. As she tried to keep her balance she had to defend against another attack coming from overhead. Somehow, she managed to block it. At the same time, Aenthar retreated back one step and an arrow pierced the air right where he had been.

While Aenthar and Muriem were exchanging blows, Kerrina got closer while positioning herself in a way that allowed her to attack Aenthar without hindering Muriem. With that shot she allowed Muriem to go on the offensive again. As Muriem attacked, Aenthar kept moving around to have Muriem between him and Kerrina, or to put himself between the 2 girls. Kerrina already had few occasions to attack and each time Aenthar had either dodged or deflected the arrow.

Aenthar was impressed. Each time he had to spar with Muriem back in Argot he always had some breathing room. However, right now, her movements had become swift, her strikes, precise. Her overall fitness had increased as well, she was faster and stronger. He could feel a real difference compared to the last serious sparring session they had. But it still wasn't enough to put him in danger. After all, according to Zelfron, he was already close to the advanced rank as a warrior, and that was already a year ago.

Muriem was trying hard to suppress Aenthar, but with little results. He parried and counter attacked on each of her thrusts. When she tried to disarm him with the hooked part of her halberd he quickly slid free his weapon. He was always on the move, delivering flowing and unpredictable attacks. A thrust would turn into a slash, a sweep into an upward strike, with skillful manipulation of his staff he could change the range and nature of attacks at the last moment.

He could turn an offensive strike into a suppressive one to dodge an arrow without giving her the chance to take the advantage. She was having cold sweat, Kerrina's covering fire was ineffective and she was trying her hardest to keep up with him. Her fighting spirit got dampened, she knew she wouldn't last long at this rate, but she couldn't think of anything to turn the situation around.

Kerrina could no longer get a clear shot on Aenthar and he had never gotten on the defensive once, so she closed the distance with her sword drawn in one hand. She still kept her bow in her other hand, in case. She had never seen him so fierce in a battle against any of them. For the first time, he was going all out. And she was going to meet him with everything that she got, her fighting spirit burning brighter than ever.

During his personal practice time, Aenthar had trained a lot to fuse his staff mastery with hand-to-hand combat, and with Kerrina entering the fray on close range, he had to test the result. With the 2 girls now close to him, Aenthar completely shut out the surroundings from his consciousness. The only thing that mattered to him was what was happening within 4m of him, an ability he developed while trying to emulate History Strongest Disciple Kenichi's seikuken with mana sense. (PR: Seikuken: http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/kenichila/images/d/d2/Seikuken_2.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130612203249&path-prefix=es)

When Kerrina attacked, Aenthar turned into a storm of staff strikes, punches and kicks. His staff was solely used to defend against Muriem's halberd, while he used his agility and capoeira to dodge Kerrina's strikes and counter attack, and deflected her sword with knee strikes, all the while spinning out low and high kicks to counter after a dodge, if necessary, he used the staff in case of lack of footing. He would sometimes release one of his hands from the staff to launch fast punches and kicks at one of the girls while keeping the other at bay by using the staff like a spear. Kerrina had to sometimes use her bow to block strikes, but it was a bow of low quality and broke quickly.

He would use his momentum as much as the power from the girls strike to avoid the next strike, take some distance or counter attack on the other girl. He even used another move from the previously mentioned manga, shiraha nagashi, a technique to deflect a blade attack and strike in the same motion while barehanded. It was the first time he showed this move, and Kerrina was too surprised to react. She expected many things, but not such a barehanded counter to a sword strike. (PR: Shiraha nagashi: http://kenichi.wikia.com/wiki/Shiraha_Nagashi)

His punch landed right under her left eye and stunned her for 2 seconds. If not for Muriem's relentless assault he would have finished her. The spin included in the strike generated more power than an ordinary punch, and coupled with her own momentum and lack of defense, it shook her brain to the core. And even though she recovered enough to resume her attacks, she got a little slower than before. Her vision and equilibrium were impaired.

Muriem, whose fighting spirit was dwindling, regained her vigor when Kerrina entered the fray. On the other hand, Aenthar was the one with cold sweat. He was now forced on the defensive and Kerrina's fast attacks forced him to push his body to its limits. The confrontation against both girls was draining his stamina, both physically and mentally, at a very fast rate. He had to use his body's flexibility to the extreme, twisting his frame to the absolute limits allowed by his joints, making sudden changes of motions that would almost tear his muscles.

He felt like someone had dumped freezing water on his excited hot head. His successful counter attack on Kerrina, which was half a panicked move, gave him some breathing space, but he wasn't out of trouble. With Kerrina engaging him at close range alongside Muriem, he could not muster the concentration to cast a single spell. He had to create an opportunity soon, else he would be defeated. But even that was almost out of reach as he was heavily pressured by the 2 beauties, trying to formulate plans in such a fast paced battle was too hard.

However, as he blocked an attack from Muriem, she let go of her halberd in the same motion and grabbed his staff. Without missing a beat, she lightly jumped into the air and launched her 2 feet at him, 1 towards the head and the other towards his torso. Aenthar had to lean backward and release his staff to dodge the unexpected attack, and jump further away to avoid a viscous thrust from Kerrina aimed at his neck.

Kerrina pressed the attack while Muriem swiftly got back up with both the staff and her halberd in her hands. When she got in range she made a powerful, low swipe at Aenthar's legs. She expected him to jump backwards to dodge and get some distance, and wanted to use the moment he was in mid-air to let go of the staff and strike with her halberd while staying out of his range. But Aenthar jumped right at her. Neither the staff nor the halberd were made to be wielded with only one hand, and she was already preparing herself for a frontal assault, hence she couldn't do anything during that instant.

It wasn't a tackle. He struck her with his 2 fists, while using all the power of his jump, with a spinning motion added. Right to the chin. She was blown backward and knocked out on the spot, her headgear keeping her jaw from being broken by the power and the weight behind the strike, and glowing orange. Kerrina panicked and hastily went after Aenthar to keep him from finishing Muriem off, she knew Muriem wouldn't be able to defend herself, though she didn't know she was unconscious.

Aenthar didn't know that either, however he was sure Muriem would be out for several seconds and that she would be quite diminished should she choose to resume the fight. Hence, he no longer considered her a threat, and used the opportunity to bait Kerrina in. He put his left hand on Muriem's forehead and raised his right fist, like someone would on the verge of dealing the killing blow.

Kerrina rushed at him at maximum speed, her sword drawing an arc toward Aenthar’s neck. He leaned backward and to the side and grabbed Kerrina's hand. As he drew her toward him using her momentum, he launched his 2 feet at her. She quickly protected herself with her free hand, and avoided an instant knock out. However, the power of the strike not only blew her backward, but it also stunned her as she fell on her butt. Aenthar grabbed his staff and advanced towards her to knock her out. He didn't want to get too close to her to deal the finishing blow.

It was like a thunder strike. The forbidden pain all males dread!!! Aenthar dropped his staff and fell to his knees, his hands on his crotch and tears in his eyes, his face deformed in a mask of pain and shame. And a second later he was knocked out cold, the crests on his battle gear glowing red.

Muriem: “... I'm sorry??...”

Chapter end

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REMINDER CHARACTERS

Main characters:

Aenthar, the protagonist of the story. Half human caecian, half dark elf. Black hair, silver eyes, dark skin, slightly pointy ears, handsome face, well developped body. High magic aptitude and affinity to all elements. Reincarnated earthling with past life memories.

Kerrina, harem member 1, childhood friend and lover of the protagonist, 1 year olde than him. Lycan hototo (wolf beastgirl), brown hair, sapphire eyes, athletic, well proportioned body with good curves. Low magic aptitude, affinity with darkness, body, earth and nature

Muriem, harem member 2, friend and lover of the protagonist, 4 year older than him. Human caecian-thoreim, golden blond hair, brown eyes, athletic, modest chest killer butt. No magic aptitude.

Characters appearing during the childhood part of the protagonist life (ch 1-32)

Family members of the main characters

Roland: Father of Aenthar, human caecian, expert alchemist

Yaereen: Mother of Aenthar, dark elf, hunter and leather worker, member of the village milicia

Erik: Father of Kerrina, lycan hototo (wolf beastman), hunter and woodcutter, former mercenary (swordman)

Jenna: Mother of Kerrina, lycan hototo (fox beastwoman), farmer, former waitress

Arren: Big brother of Kerrina, lycan hototo (fox beastman), adventurer

Muriem's parents: Killed during a bandit raid on their village. Roland and Yaereen are her step-parents.

Aquitances/Friends/Teachers

Nana: Old caecian woman, nurse and guild receptionist

Namir: Young caecian woman, farmer

Zelfron: Middle aged troll, village guard, warrior

Old Johrgard: Old thoreim man, master blacksmith and knowledgable in other crafts

Bathul: Middle aged dwarf, expert wood crafter

Ellis: Old caecian man, priest and healer

Dumas: Middle aged caecian man, physician

Lucas: Middle aged caecian man, Argot village chief

Characters appearing in the story since leaving Argot for Tristam City and Lana Academy up until now (ch 33-46).

Staff from Lana Academy

Marcus Basililey: Headmaster of Lana Academy. Old caecian man.

Elyhn Shara: Secretary of Marcus. High elf woman.

William Sunderset: Head of the magic department. Old caecian man

Natasha Harwoon: Assistant teacher for magic battles. Caecian woman

Victoria Landen: Head of the society department. Middle aged caecian woman

Brad Crowford: Head of the martial arts department. Middle aged caecian man

Victoria Hallawen: Polearm instructor. Middle aged caecian woman

Mica Milaine: Sword instructor. Young caecian woman

Ganshi Vishnar: Hand-to-hand combat instructor. Middle aged yukhan man

Ishtarin Mora: Ranged weapons and Scouting and tracking instructor. Middle aged ark elf man

Students from Lana Academy

Student council

Jean Wallace, caecian boy, 15yo. Intermediate martial arts classes

Ren Brom, caecian boy, 16yo. Intermediate martial arts classes, good aquitance

Kalima, kunede girl, 15yo. Advanced martial arts classes

Gamli Tzarim, dwarf boy, 17yo. Advanced martial arts classes

Eliane Shane, caecian girl, 16yo. Intermediate magic classes, good aquitance

Francisco Drega, caecian boy, 17yo. Intermediate magic classes, good aquitance

Jane Millard, caecian girl, 18yo. Advanced magic classes

Franck Dumas, caecian boy, 16yo. Intermediate society classes

Bertha Schutzen, caecian girl, 17yo. Intermediate society classes

Irmynn Thum, wood elven girl, 20yo. Advanced society classes, good aquitance

Other students

Elise Durand, caecian girl, 15yo. Intermediate magic classes, good aquitance

Nicholas Bauwing, caecian boy, 15yo. Intermediate magic classes, minor antagonist

Largo Hecton, caecian boy, 14yo. Intermediate magic classes, minor antagonist

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AN: ...There is one guy there who is done being smug...

Hope you enjoyed the battle.

The next chapter is already sent for proofreading, with answers to questions you might have about the outcome of the battle. Should be posted in 15h or so.