--- Winning himself a Redhead

In a clearing a few kilometers from Crescent Moon City, thousands of players can be seen forming a circle. In the middle of that circle are two people standing a few meters apart.

One is a red-haired female in a tight-fitting black outfit meant for assassins. Only her hair and mesmerizing pair of blue eyes can be seen, but most of the males in the surrounding area are focused on her incredible figure.

The other one is a plain and weak-looking black-haired man. His very being screams "ordinary", not just because of his physical appearance but because of the equipment he is equipped with.

He is obviously Chris in his polymorph form, and the female in the assassin's outfit is Sonja, and they are about to start their duel.

"Since you chose the Advantage ON mode, I chose three hits for K.O." Sonja had a stern voice while speaking. "Are you okay with that?"

"I'm okay with that." Chris said flatly while looking straight at her.

Dueling is a type of PVP where a player can challenge anyone to a fight without any consequence. It is the least type of PVP that players do. They mostly do it for bragging rights, showing off their battles in the forums.

It has two modes. First is Advantage ON, where both players can only deal 1 damage to each other, and there are no skills, spells, equipment effects, or consumables allowed. Pretty much, you'll just rely on your own raw combat ability. A winner will be declared if he or she managed to hit his or her opponent on the decided hit count.

The other mode is Advantage OFF. It is where everything is legal, you deal damage that is equivalent to your true attributes, and the winner is decided if he or she managed to bring down his or her opponent's HP to zero.

"Still, three counts, eh?" Chris smirks. "It seems that Miss Dark Star is in a hurry."

"Not really." Sonja said flatly. "I just don't want to waste time on such farce."

"Heeeh..." The smirk on Chris' face got wider as he looked at Sonja. "Farce, eh?" 

"Hmph! Enough chitchat."

"..."

The two became serious as they prepared for battle while the countdown began.

On the spectator's side, a handsome black-haired man approached the red-haired man, who was supposed to be the brother of Sonja.

"Brother Victor, do you think that guy can win against Sonja?"

"Andrei, huh?" The red-haired man, who is named Victor, looked towards the handsome black-haired youth named Andrei with a frown.

He doesn't like how Andrei calls his sister by just her name. But he just kept it to himself, as Andrei was a prince of their neighboring kingdom, and their parents had arranged the marriage of his sister with Andrei. Although Victor was against it, he has no say in the matter, and only his sister can decide.

"As if my sister can lose!" Victor answered proudly. He then snorted afterwards. "That guy will not even last a minute against my sister."

"That's... right..." Andrei murmured while his lust-filled eyes were glued to Sonja's figure. "I forgot that my Sonja is one of the strongest in her generation."

"..."

Victor noticed Andrei's disgusting look on his sister and scoffed inwardly.

In the center of the circle, the duel is about to start.

[...4...3...2...1... Duel Start!]

The moment the countdown hit zero, Chris and Sonja didn't attack immediately. Instead, they circled around, trying to size each other up.

A few seconds later, Sonja rushed forward with a dagger in her hand.

'Hmmm!?'

*Clang!*

She didn't attack in a straight line, though, as she did a last-minute sidestep to hit Chris on his blind side. Chris, on the other hand, has his battle sense completely up He easily parried the dagger with his scimitar. He made the right call by using the sword form instead of its glaive form, as Sonja was quite nimble.

Although his sword mastery isn't as high as his polearm mastery, that doesn't mean he's weak at it. In fact, he uses up a quarter of his training time on swordsmanship against Orson.

*Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!*

Times passed, and the battle raged on. It has been nearly five minutes since their duel started, and neither of them has managed to land a hit yet.

"Y-you're quite strong, aren't you?"

Sonja has a shocked expression on her face, which is hidden by her hooded mask. She didn't think that someone of her age could keep up with her. Rather, she felt like this guy was having it easy.

*Clang!*

"Why, thank you!" Chris has a smile on his face while parrying yet another feint attack.

'Man, if I fought this girl more than a month ago, I won't even last a minute...'

Chris was somewhat having it easy, parrying each of her attacks by the last second, which makes Sonja quite frustrated at him. Inwardly, though, he was quite shocked at her battle sense and nimbleness.

"Thank goodness, I've been training with Sir Orson now, and my body is pretty much in shape as well."

*Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!*

Time passed, and another five minutes passed with no clean hit, but their movement became faster and their focus sharper by the minute, as if they were both experiencing enlightenment while performing a lethal dance.

Whatever Sonja did, Chris was able to parry at the last second. And the latter couldn't hit her because she's so good at dodging.

In the spectator area, every single person has an astonished look on their faces. Some are even recording the fight and streaming the battle live. Even though it was just a duel, the live viewer count was already in the millions because one of the fighters was quite famous and had a lot of followers.

"What the hell, that guy can actually keep up with the eldest sister!"

"No, not just that he's keeping up, but I feel like he's the dominant one!"

"Unbelievable... she's the Night Queen, you know?"

"Yeah, she's in the top ten of the youngest generation worldwide in terms of combat skill, and yet... "

"That guy though, I feel like he's just playing around."

"""..."""

The people in the surrounding area couldn't believe that a nobody was actually dominating their elder sister in battle, but they didn't know that Chris was already quite serious.

The two specific men who were spectating, on the other hand, had an ugly look on their faces. They never imagined a nobody could stand up to Sonja for this long. They can only stand there silently, cheering for her inwardly.

On the battlefield...

*Clang!* *Clang!*

"Aren't you getting tired, Miss Dark Star?" Chris had a slight smirk. "How about you take this seriously?"

*Clang!*

"..."

'This man... does he not think I'm not serious yet?' Sonja, on the other hand, was now quite frustrated, and there was already a tick mark on her forehead. 'Hmph, I'll show you...'

She then backflips, making a bit of distance from him, and then she slightly bends forward, seemingly preparing for something.

'She's pretty flexible, huh?' Chris had an awed look on his face after seeing her backflip. 'I completely forgot that you could do that. Maybe I should learn some acrobatics as well?'

*Wooosh!*

'Wha-!'

Even though he was having inner ramblings, he was fully alert to his surroundings, and his sight never left her, but what she did still managed to catch him off guard.

*Shiiing...* -1

'T-that's my family's...'

Sonja finally landed a clean hit, and a surprised look can be seen on Chris' face.

"""!!!"""

"""OOOOH!!!"""

*Whistles!* "Way to go, sister!"

"Look at that guy's face!"

"Yeah, he must have been surprised."

"She's one of the very few who managed to master one of that academy's secret martial arts!"

"However, it just shows how strong that guy was to make the eldest sister extremely serious."

"""..."""

The spectators in the surrounding area cheered loudly as their sister finally got the upper hand. But deep inside, they admire Chris for lasting this long and forcing her to play her trump card.

'I see... so she graduated from that academy, huh?' Chris finally snapped out of his daze and decided to take it more seriously as well. 'Well, too bad, that was only a quarter of the real deal.'

"Surprised, aren't you?" Sonja smirked.

"Yes, I'm really surprised." Chris said flaty.

'Is he acting tough?'

"Hmph!" Sonja harrumphed at Chris' nonchalant reply. She took the same stance again, ready for another attack. She will show this man their difference in skill.

"Are you ready to join my guild?"

"Maybe, how about you?"

"Hmph!"

*Wooosh!*

Without further ado, Sonja moved at breakneck speed. She maintained the same footwork as before. But...

*Clang!*

This time, Chris managed to parry it easily.

"Eh!?"

'He parried?' She was surprised at how Chris managed to follow her movements. 'But how?'

"Surprised, aren't you?"

Chris had a smirk on his face while asking the very same question Sonja asked him before. The tick mark on her forehead increased while her mouth was twitching nonstop. But still, she couldn't fathom how he did it. No matter how genius he is in battle, he won't be able to adapt that easily to that technique. Unless, he...

"Seems that you graduated from that academy, huh?"

"..."

"Well, let me show you what the real deal is."

"What do yo-!"

*Wooosh!*

Chris had already left his position before Sonja could ask. Her guard was still completely up. She's been trained for battle since she was a child, so she never lets her guard down, especially in battle. But Chris moved in such a blur that she couldn't defend herself.

*Shiiing!* -1 *Shiiing!* -1 *Shiiing!* -1

[Duel completed!]

[Player HighRoller has won the duel!]

*Thud!*

"N-no way..."

Sonja fell on her butt with a look of disbelief. She didn't understand what just happened, but she knew that she lost the duel and that she'll be this man's property from now on as it was the bet after all.

Although she has the option of walking away from the deal, she values her pride and believes that a loss is a loss, so she will keep her end of the bargain.

"I guess it's my win?" Chris walked towards her, giving her a hand.

"T-thank you..." She took his hand and stood up. She then asked, "And yes, I'm all yours now, but how?" 

"Huh?"

"How did you do that movement?"

"Oh, I'll teach you some time." Chris smiled meaningfully and then started to walk away. "I already gave you a friend request, and I'll tell you the specifics of what to do later."

"..."

The players are still dumbfounded at what they just saw, and none of them actually got in his way as he moved out of the circle. They all came to their senses when Chris vanished out of their sight, or rather, he used his invisibility spell.

"E-eldest sister lost?"

"""..."""

"I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it for myself."

"Seriously, who the hell is that guy?"

"The technique he used seems similar to the eldest sister's, but somewhat... cooler?"

"""..."""

Meanwhile, Victor ran towards Sonja with worry on his face.

"Are you alright, sis?"

"Yes, I'm leaving the guild and will now follow him."

"This... you don't have to do this, you know?"

Victor had a complicated expression on his face. He knew how stubborn his little sister was and would never be able to do anything when she decided on something. But as Sonja was about to say something, Andrei, who was behind Victor, spoke first.

"I won't permit you to join that man, Sonja!"

"Permit?" Sonja frowned. "Who are you to decide for me?"

"I'm your fiancée, and as your future husband, I'm not going to let you spend time alone with some nobody."

"Hmph!" She harrumphed at the delusional man. "I never agreed to that."

"It is a deal with your fath-!"

"Screw you and your deals with that man!" Sonja had now a murderous intent while pointing her dagger at Andrei. "How about you and that man go and marry each other, huh?"

"..."

Sonja then walked away, intending to follow Chris, but not before saying a parting word to Andrei, laced with murderous intent that sent shivers down his spine.

"If you bring that up again, I'll definitely go to your kingdom and assassinate you."

Despite coming from a Viscount family, she wasn't afraid to threaten a neighboring kingdom's prince. She possesses the abilities, and she would rather die than marry some spoiled, untalented brat.

Chris had no idea what had occurred back there, but he probably wouldn't care and would simply smirk and give Sonja a thumbs up. But one thing is certain: He gained another ally, one who will always be by his side, silently protecting him from the shadows. "The Night Dragon Queen" is her title.