Mialta came to her senses and slowly stood up. Trivia came closer and helped her stand. As she stood, she wiped away her tears, clearing away any evidence of fear. She then calmed herself and looked Trivia in the eyes. Trivia had a smile on her face as if to congratulate her,

"W-why did you help me?" Mialta stuttered,

"Cause he'd kill you otherwise" Trivia responded with a chuckle,

Mialta was extremely surprised. She had a face of shock like no other but for some reason, she felt anger and shame,

"So? It was a duel! Whether he killed me or not was down to me",

"Did you really want to die? Because what I saw was a girl terrified of what lurked behind the door" Trivia told her, losing her smile,

"I was no match... His power is beyond that of Krul's herself" she mumbled as she looked down,

"Well he wasn't trying to beat you from the beginning, he was trying to teach you" Trivia informed her,

"Huh?",

"You see these statues around you, while yes, they are of people who had a draw with Red, they are also proof of their learning in battle. This courtyard was built to teach others about what they lack the most in battle. The 4 statues represent the ones that learned the hardest" said Trivia as she pointed to the statues,

"But... Most of them are heroes are they not?",

"Precisely. Every single hero that Red has met before has fought him on this courtyard. And every single one of them, learned something in return",

Mialta then stared at Trivia's statue and with curiosity asked,

"What did you learn?",

Trivia was silent for a second. She also looked at her statues as fond memories came back,

"I learned to give up",

"It was about 4 years ago. You see I'm not just any normal Selvan, I'm a Dark Selvan or a dark elf if you'd like. My family was born into royalty because my grandfather was T Selvan Sage, the single most powerful wizard in all of Rianova. When I was born, me and my grandfather did everything together. He taught me to read, write, hunt and of course survive. All the time I was with him I was at bliss. Until one day we were dishonored. You see my mother, being the next in line for the Arch-Selvan Throne, broke a law all Selvans are bound to obey. Do not procreate with other species. Its a known fact that elves are a wonder when it comes to sexual interactions, after all, the succubus is a disowned family tree of elves. However, my mother fell in love with a dragon. When I was born, my mother kept the identity of my father a secret, of course so she could still inherit the throne. However the Council of Mages at Rianova soon found out and casted my family away. Removing any and all Royal Power we held. To prove my family's worth I trained with my grandfather to beat the King of Savanna. At the time Savanna was an eye sore on the elves. A country with absolute freedom. So I joined a secret military group within the Selvan Kingdom, called Arron Witches. We trained swordsmanship and all kinds of magic, all with the intent to kill. When the battle was nearly upon us, we invaded Savanna from the south. I was leader of the first invasion force. When we finally reached the gates of the capital, we were annihilated. We couldn't even knock on the gates. Their defence was so powerfull I ended up losing most of the people under my command. As a last ditch effort, I flew over the walls and straight to the Castle Hall. The force inside was much weaker than I expected so I was surprised as to why we couldn't get inside. As I reached those two giant doors, I kicked them open. What greeted me inside, will never leave my memory. There was no soldier or bodyguard, simply 2 maids each by his side. And him, Red, he sat there, on his golden throne with his eyes closed but with a huge grin on his face. I of course didn't hesitate to attack, but all he did was order his maids to leave. And they did, calmly like nothing was happening outside. At first I tried firing spells at him, but his sword blocked them all. Then I tried close quarters but once again, his sword deflected every attack. I was in shock. A man was sat there, bored, not moving a muscle while this flying sword did all the work. But what struck me out as even weirder was that he wasn't attacking. The sword never took a shot at me, it merely deflected my attacks. After a while I was getting tired, but I wasn't giving up. This was he made his first move, but not one I expected. He stood up and signaled me to follow him. We went out, to this very same courtyard. It was very different back then. There was no garden, the land was baren and stale. Out of the 4 statues only one stood and that was of Oblivion, The Dragon Father. We then dueled much like you and him did but to me it was different. He kept blocking me at every single point and seemed uninterested in my actions. I got so infuriated I ended up using one of my most powerfull Spells. And you know what he did? He waved. He waved away the spell, like it was just a leaf in the wind. That's when he opened the gate. The Gate of Nydius. When I saw those golden doors open in the sky, everything I've ever feared and hated came flooding into me, like an addictive drug circling my blood stream. I collapsed. I screamed, I cried, I begged. I tried my best and it was all for nothing. And that's when he said it to me. The phrase I carry with me every day. He said 'I know power not because I have it but because I know my weakness'. When I realized what it meant, my statue emerged on one of the pillars. Ever since that day, I've been in love with him. He was a man who knew what it meant to truly win, and I guess I fell from him. I mean I was trained for war, so to see not only the best looking man but also the most powerful man as my enemy, my priorities changed. I changed my view from wanting to kill him to wanting to aid him and I was declared as killed in action, so no one would ever come looking for me. However 6 months later, guess who shows up at our door. My parents. I was surprised, I mean what in the world we're they doing here? And it wasn't just them, my grandfather also appeared. They simply walked up to the main hall. I was with Red at the throne at the time so I was absolutely shocked to see them. But then, they attacked us. My mother went Berserk with magic and my grandfather assisted while my father, he was outside burning the townspeople. I tried to stop them but Red stopped me instead. He simply rose from the throne and stepped closer to them. My mother was blasting crystal spears at him but instead of blocking them like he did with me he just took them. I saw them, cutting his skin, his muscles, his veins, his nerves. But he kept walking. As he reached her, he bowed. He bowed. Can you believe it? A king bowing to a dishonored woman. She was so shocked that she actually stopped attacking and told my father and grandad to stop attacking. And Red just looked her in the eyes and asked for my hand in marriage. We were all surprised. I mean I went as red as his eyes. He wasn't upset about what they did to the villagers or even to his Kingdom. He simply looked up at my own mother and with a smile greeted her to his home. She's now a teacher here teaching young magicians while my father travels the world",

"What of your grandfather?" asked Mialta as she became overwhelmed,

"Red killed him. And no, not in the way your thinking. You see, my grandfather, as the strongest in Rianova, wanted to fight an enemy he knew he was unable to beat. So he fought Red. It was a normal duel like all the others but grandad said hed like Red to kill him if he could. The battle was epic, it lasted days. Each just didn't give in, but my grandad knew that Red wasn't giving it his all so when he confronted him about it, Red asked where he'd like to go, the Silver City or his homeland. My grandfather knew what he meant and he chose the Silver City. Red then did something he's never done to anyone else, not even me. He told him his full name. After that, no one knew what happened. All we all noticed was grandfather on the floor with a smile on his face and his eyes closed. And Red? He was crying",

"Why?",

"From what he told me... He never met a man like him in his life and the fact he had to kill him broke his heart. I didn't know what he was talking about at the time but he did say that they both wanted the same thing, but even I don't know what that is",

Mialta looked up to the sky, the stars were shinning just as bright as the full moon. She took a deep breath before turning to Trivia,

"I know what he wants",

Trivia looked at her surprised,

"We Noblesses and Diablos have the power to read anyone's mind. We search for our enemy's darkest secret so we could use it against them, but, I know if I ever used that against Red, he'd kill me outright",

"W-what is it?" Trivia asked shaking,

"An artifact known as The Sarcophagus",