"I'll show you guys again," I said.

"Vinny rush at me," I said, as he immediately did so.

I waited till he was close and jumped up, did a flip and stabbed him from behind.

"Gah! Did you really have to stab me!?" Vinny complained, even though the wound was already healed.

I laughed as Arian nodded.

"I don't think I can do that, Princess," Hero laughed awkwardly.

"Haha... I don't think I could do that either," Mary agreed.

"I'll try it," Arian offered.

Hero rushed at Arian and Arian did the move perfectly.

"Hm, good job, Arian!" I clapped as he laughed sheepishly.

The duel was tomorrow and Sierra had just arrived to take note of what order the knights will go in.

"Arian will go first," I said as Sierra nodded and wrote it down.

"Are you sure you want to do that princess? Maybe we should save the best for last," Hero suggested.

"I did," I smiled sweetly, looking him straight in the eyes.

"Hero will be last," I said as Sierra wrote it down.

"W-What? Me!?" Hero exclaimed in a fluster.

"Of course," I smiled as he flared up as red as a tomato.

"Not fair! I thought I was the favorite!" Arian whined.

"Next would be Mary, then Vinny," I continued.

"That concludes the finalization. I'll see you tomorrow, my lady," she smiled.

"Bye, Sierra!" I called.

"Now. Time to spar," I said with a small smirk.

The four knights felt a chill run down their spines.

They got into position quickly.

Only one spirit appeared this time. Flare was holding 2 swords and gave me the other.

The four knights looked at me shocked.

"If you haven't guessed yet, you're battling me and Flare. Two by two," I smiled threateningly.

"Arian and Hero. Choose your opponent," I said, as they stepped up.

"I'm not fighting the princess," Hero said, immediately going to Flare.

"No holding back this time," I said to Flare.

"I had no intention of doing so, Princess," He said with an elegant bow.

"Come on, Arian. I don't bite. Well. I won't bite you anyway," I said with a laugh, as he fearfully got into position.

He rushed at me and I side stepped him and stepped on his sword. Surprisingly his grip was strong and he tried to throw me off.

I jumped up as he almost stumbled from trying to throw me off his sword and I landed on his shoulders and positioned the blade across his neck.

"That was pretty disappointing, Arian," I frowned.

I saw Hero rush at Flare as Flare moved and karate chopped a nerve behind Hero's neck that made Hero black out.

"You know what? I think me and Mary are gonna skip sparing today..." Vinny said, hiding behind Mary.

"Don't hide behind me!" Mary said, flustered.

"Well, I just wanted to see how you would hold out against us. Turns out you guys aren't ready," I laughed, jumping off of Arian's shoulders.

"The princess truly is scary, haha," Arian laughed, fear lacing his voice.

"If me and my father really do have to do the tie breaker... It could be catastrophic," I said with a grim expression.

"But go on and do your normal exercises! And let's do our best tomorrow!" I said, cheerfully.

"The princess will surely prevail," Flare bowed as he disappeared.

"Y-Yeah..." The four knights gulped.

-------------------

"Snowflake!" My father came and hugged me as tight as he could.

"Your Majesty," my knights greeted.

"You're cheery, father. I see you have a plan in mind," I laughed.

"You know me so well, Snowflake," He smiled.

We walked out into a huge open field between Fantasia and Sterling.

"Father-- are those... Bleachers?" I asked in confusion, spotting the twins waving around pom poms.

Father sighed. "I owed them for lending me some help... They requested to see the duel..."

"... You must've owed them a lot for you to let them see this," I glared.

Father chuckled nervously.

"Go, Snow!!" The Twins cheered in unison.

"Where did they even find the pom poms?" Queen Claudia asked as Liam sighed.

"Their Mother sent it to them and told me to record it... I'm also not spared from such a thing," Liam said, pulling out a single pom pom and held the recording crystal in his free hand.

Queen Claudia and Lilian laughed as the twins stood from their seats to cheer even louder.

"Boys, sit down... you're embarrassing your father," Liam complained.

"Never!" The twins shouted as Queen Claudia and Queen Lilian laughed.

"Maybe I should've gotten pom poms too," Lennon said, thoughtfully.

"Thank goodness you didn't," Queen Claudia and prince Leonard said in unison.

I laughed and waved to the twins.

I also saw Dean. "Hi, Dean!" I greeted, running up to the bleachers.

"Aren't you supposed to be in the academy?" I asked.

"Yes! But mother and father asked the academy to let me off for the day," he smiled as I reached out to ruffle his fluffly, slightly curly white hair.

"I'll be rooting for you, sister!" He said, encouragingly.

"Us too!" The twins cheered.

"I'll be cheering you on as well," Leo smiled.

"According to Bellatrix I'm also cheering for you, princess," Liam smiled, amused.

"Of course my darling princess will always be a winner to me~" King Lennon said, reaching out to pat my head.

"Hands off, Lennon!" My father shouted.

King Lennon plopped back on his seat with a huff.

Caleb and Sierra came out to announce the first knights like this was some show.

"The first knight on Princess Snow's side will be, Arian Velos," Sierra announced.

"The first knight on King Victor's side will be Charles Cardinal," Caleb announced.

"Go, Arian!" I cheered as he stepped up to his burly, grey haired, black eyed opponent.

"Show your bestial forms," Sierra commanded.

I was shocked to see that sir Charles was a rhinoceros beast! It was rare but if he really has the secondary skill 'Steel skin' then that meant Arian's sword would be rendered usless.

"Start!"

I grit my teeth as the duel began.

Arian had a hard time knocking his opponent down and almost had a successful hit but unfortunately, I was right.

Arian was shocked to see his opponent had skin like steel and his sword shook when he hit his opponent's skin.

"Father, you cheater!" I screamed angrily.

He just smiled at me, "There were no rules against using a rhino knight, right, Snowflake? And what was it you said? First to draw blood wins the point right?" He asked as I glared at him and searched the bleachers as queen Claudia looked away whistling.

"So it was queen Claudia who suggested the idea," I growled.

Arian was trying hard to search for weak spots and was desperate for time to scope.

His opponent was slightly slower but precise.

"Aerial," I whispered as he appeared, crouching by my side.

"Boost him," I commanded as Aerial nodded.

Aerial disappeared into the trees as Arian looked at me confused.

I stared at him straight in the eyes and nodded.

"Remember, Arian! There's more than one way to draw blood!" I cheered.

My father looked at me amused.

His movement became faster with Aerial's boost.

I clenched my fists nervously as I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"If someone could defeat sir Charles it's Arian. Because you trained him right," Hero smiled as I smiled back.

"Have some faith in us, Princess," Vinny grinned.

"That's right! We'll definitely win! Go, Arian! For the princess!" Mary cheered.

Arian looked back with a smile, though he was straining.

"For the princess!" He shouted back.

I felt the weight on my shoulders lighten and I felt myself sigh in relief.

"Go, Arian!"

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°and cut!°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°