>>6073247Her mana is already coming back to fill back her protective spell, and Aroth despairs as he has to readjust his strategy, he cannot hit anything like this, but he already has the momentum, and all he can get at this height are two, big things.
As much as he hated to admit it, he considered this as a backup plan. It was allowed in demon duels, albeit still somewhat frowned upon. But all he needed to do was to win, it didn't matter how as long as it was within the rules of the duel.
He grabs her two horns with full momentum and twists them. A weird sound escapes her, gasps from the crowd, and a rising sense of shame from Aroth. It's too late to go back now, he shoves her on the ground all while keeping a tight grasp on her horn. She pants heavily, she tries to fight back, but remove hurt makes you more susceptible to other kinds of feelings-- namely, pleasure. She's trying to fight back, but weakly. She has conflicting feelings in her heart, and by some miracle, it incapacitates her long enough for Atlas to pronounce Aroth the victor. Yes, she stayed on the ground for more than ten seconds, it counts, it was a weird tactic, not the one he really wanted to use, but it worked, and that's all that mattered.
She stares at the sky, her eyes devoid of emotion. "I'm never going to hear the end of this," she says.
"So, uh, I won, you'll leave me alone, right?" Aroth replies as he slowly lets go of her horn.
"...I lost. Doesn't matter how I lost, just that I did. People saw the terms of our duels, and I'll abide by it. That's that."
"Err, sorry about the uhm... all that."
She doesn't answer. She instead stands up, nods to him, and leaves. She doesn't even look mad, just done with it all. He almost feels bad, almost.
---
Table's is rolling on the grass cackling like a madwoman. It's a good thing Aroth won't pay attention to her or it might hurt his feelings. Most people are looking at him like a pervert, and he doesn't look too happy about it, but Charlotte still congratulates him, and so do you. You understand that he didn't have a lot of options when fighting someone stronger than him, and even if it wasn't pretty, he'll at least be free for the rest of his school years, probably.
It's a shame he'll be the butt of the jokes for a little while, but maybe it's better than ending up as the princess's pet.
