"… And remember that Tetramands have a particulary thick and thorny skin, so spare yourself guns, it would be a waste of fire" Master Nobody continued, as he watched his pupil finish getting ready for the duel that would take place shortly thereafter.

"Yes sir" Attea nodded, adjusting one of her gloves.

"The Tetramand princess has the advantage of a superior physical strength, but you are more agile therefore watch not to get caught, stay at a distance, let she make the first move, tire her …"

Another nod.

"… Undermines her balance, tries to send her to the ground, aims her head, her articulations where the skin is thinner"

"Yes sir"

Although she would never admit it, Attea was grateful for Master Nobody's advices.
Not because she actually needed them, but the awareness of having at least one person who was SINCERELY on her side made her feel relieved.
She wouldn't have been surprised at all if she found out that the war council (maybe even instigated by uncle Rospus) was already thinking about how take advantage of this opportunity to oust her in case ...

Attea shook her head, no, defeat wasn't an option.

No matter how, she would have won that duel!

She hooked the sheath of the dagger that Nobody had given her to her belt …
… She was ready.

"... So, Looma showed up to our house just to bring some engagement gifts?" Ben said, looking at his mother.

Sandra nodded.
"I must admit that I was quite surprised when I found her in front of me" the woman commented "Which make me ask: Why didn't you tell me about her?"

Mother and son sat side by side, on one of the highest stands of the arena where, soon, the duel between Looma and Attea would take place.

They were both present the most important noble Incursians with their soldiers, and the Tetramand warriors of Looma's personal escort, who were around sixty.
Looking at it from above, it could have looked as small stadium, similar to Coliseum.

"Well, er …" Ben put a hand behind his neck, embarrassed "I … I would have told you, it's just ... er, it didn't seem a really important matter to me, that's all"
"An alien princess who claims you as her boyfriend, isn't it important?"
"W-Well, it all happened so quickly…"
"Anyway, I guess it doesn't matter now" Sandra cut it off, with a really tight smile "Soon, all of this will be over and you'll be free to come back home"

She put an arm around Ben's shoulders, squeezing him lightly towards her.

The sound of a war horn rang throughout the arena ending the public voices.
"Ladies and warriors" Raff's voice took Ben by surprise, he hadn't seen him since the wedding day "Today we are called here, to the arena of duels, to witness the fight between our empress Attea and the princess of the Tetramand royal house Red Wind, Looma!"

A series of excited buzzes ran through the crowd huddled in the stands.

"The rules of this type of duels are simple: Continue fighting until your opponent is unable to fight back, otherwise, everything is lawful"

Ben wasn't sure how he supposed to feel about all of that.

Even if Looma had won, what would have changed? Would he find himself trapped in another marriage? Then why did his mom seem so calm about it ...?

… and you'll be free to come back home.

Ben felt that bad feeling again "Er, Mom …?"

"Yes, honey?"
"… What did you say to Looma, EXACTLY, besides ask her to bring you here with her?" the hero wasn't even sure why he asked her such a question.

Sandra seemed to hesitate for a moment, however before she could answer ...

"Oh, luckily I arrived on time!" a voice near them suddenly commented.

"Uh? Armand" Ben exclaimed, blinking.
"Ehy Ben" the conductoid had just taken a seat next to the boy with a garment in his hands that the latter hadn't seen for more than a week "I heard from Jades what was happening only now, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, is … is that my shirt?" Ben asked, surprised.

"Yes sir, I promised you I'd refurbish it, didn't I?" the alien said proudly "I had come to look for you in your rooms just to give it to you, but I didn't find you …"

"Ben-Ben-Ben!"

"… Oh yeah, on the other hand I found someone else"

"Specter!?"

The little necrofriggian jumped from behind Armand's shoulder to end up straight in Ben's arms, causing some perplexity in Sandra.
"Doesn't this little thing look like your moth alien of yours with ice powers?" she asked.

"Ben-Ben!"

"Easy little guy … wait, do you mean Big Chill? Yeah, pretty much …" Ben answered.

"Where does it come from?"
"Well, that's a pretty long story ..."

Sandra frowned "Another secret, Ben?"

"I wouldn't call it a "secret ", but ..."

"Ben!"

"Look, I promise that I will explain this too, okay? Possibly in a more relaxed context" the boy sighed, letting Specter climb on his shoulder "It's just, I need to find the right words to explain it …"

"Oh, they are about to start!" Armand noticed.

Attea and Looma entered the arena accompanied by the whistles and shouts of encouragement from the crowd.

Especially the Tetramand one, whose bombastic voices outclassed the Incursean ones.

Attea wore her purple flight suit with grey gloves, goggles, and the white scarf.
And, for some strange reason, Ben had to admit that he actually preferred her dressed like that, like a pilot or something.

She also seemed much more relaxed herself than way, instead that slipped into those regal clothes.

The human shook his head, why would he care about how Attea was dressed? He wasn't Armand!

"Let's begin!"

"FINALLY!" Looma shouted, clenching her left fists for a possible double punch "I'm going to break every single little bone of your slender body, frog!"

"You'll have to catch me first, flabby arms" Attea dodged with a leap forward, using her mighty shoulders like a vaulting horse to land behind her "Ah! Too slow …"
"Ggrrrr!" the Tetramand princess turned aggressively, trying to hit her again.

Attea continued to dodge with rapid external, low and internal inclinations of the torso and head, stepping back.

Tire her …

Nobody's words rang in the head of the young empress while she continued to dodge.

"Ggrrr, stay still you ugly ...!"
"Why? What's wrong, Looma?" Attea chirped with a provocative smirk "Am I too fast for you?"

"Stop running away and face me!"

… Undermines her balance, tries to send her to the ground, aims her head, her articulations.

Attea let herself go at a rapid inclination of the back outward, which allowed her to slide under Looma's legs and managed to make her fall heavily on the ground with a powerful round ground kick aimed at the ankles.
Looma lost her balance, falling to the side.

Luckily for her, she managed not to fall completely by leaning on her arms.

"Well, that's all you got?" Attea provoked, taking advantage to jump on the opponent's back "I'm not impressed …"

Aims her head.

"… Nice helmet though" Attea commented, grasping the pointed ends of Looma's war hat "Do you mind if I take a closer look?" she took the helmet off her head and jumped down, moving to a safe distance before Looma could grab her.
Ehy, Looma's hair was black.
Attea threw away the helmet with calculated carelessness, intentioned at making the Tetramand princess even more angry.
A warrior who fights angrily is a warrior destined to lose.

All this amidst the shouts of encouragement from the crowd, both Incursean and Tetramand.

The duel went on for about a couple of minutes like this, with Looma trying to hit Attea and the latter merely dodging and provoking, waiting for the right opportunity.
"Wow, I struggled much more when I faced Looma" Ben found himself admitting.
Then he glanced towards the stands above his, where Nobody and Lady Neptune had taken their seats, albeit a few seats away from each other.

In fact, Rospus was the one sitting next the Atlantean, who doesn't seem really happy about it.

Anyway, even from Nobody's expression it seemed to him that Attea was doing well.
More than what the hero expected.

"Well, I already knew she could fight …" he shouldn't have been so surprised.

"It seems so?" was Sandra's icy comment.
Ben gasped, as his mother's grip on his hand tightening, almost hurting.

"Mom ...?"

Attea jumped forward with an aerial somersault landing on the Tetramand's shoulders, after which she settled on a pair of powerful slaps at the height of her ears.
"Aarrgh!" Looma staggered slightly, stunned.
"Here we go" said the frog girl before Kneeing at the nape of her neck which, without the protection of the helmet, it actually HURT.

Looma fell to her knees, but at least she managed to grab her opponent by the leg and get she off, throwing her away.

Despite this, Attea managed to land without too much damage, rolling on herself a short distance from the other.
"You know, for being here to prove your worth to your "beloved", you're not making a really good impression" she grinned.

"At least I have the courage to fight first hand instead of hiding behind my army like you!" Looma hissed.

"What are you talking about? I accepted your little challenge, didn't I?" the other replied, raising an eyebrow.
Looma had not yet stood up, it was her chance ...

"But what else should I have expected from a coward?" Looma made a mocking smile "Daughter of an even more cowardly empress"
Attea froze on the spot, the hand that was about to reach the dagger motionless, with its fingers still outstretched.

"What did you just say?"

"That's how they call her, right? The coward empress" the tetramand princess said, with a smirk.

"...Why did they stop fighting suddenly?" Ben murmured, frowning in confusion.

Attea seemed to have frozen on the spot, leaving Looma all the time to get back on her feet and ... talk?
Too bad that the uproar caused by the crowd combined with the distance made it impossible to understand what the two challengers were saying.

"Did you really think I'd come this far without looking for a bit of information about my rival?" Looma continued beating her fists together Especially if the rival in question was recently crowned empress"
Attea blinked, without answering.
"No wonder that someone like you had to stoop to blackmailing my beloved in order to be taken into consideration by your own people, you have dishonor in your blood ..."

"Shut up" Attea hissed.

"... You are not a empress, least of all a warrior and I will defeat you because there is NOT a single chance that someone like you with a similar legacy could beat me in a real duel"

"SHUT UP!"

Attea wasn't sure what was going on, a second before she felt she had the victory in her pocket and the next one she was seeing red.
How dare that species of four-armed gorilla? She knew nothing, NOTHING!

A warrior who fights angrily is a warrior destined to lose.

Nobody's words crossed her mind like a white flash, just a second before she was grabbed by Looma.

"ATTEA!" Lady Neptune and Nobody shouted at the same time, horrified.

Blinded by anger, Attea launched herself against the Tetramand, drawing her dagger.
She had managed to avoid the other's punches by discarding the side with a somersault but it was still too late.

She had come too close.

One of Looma's arms had managed to grab her by the wrist.
Before she could even realize what was going on, the Incursean found herself slammed against the wall, right on the side of the stands where Ben was.
Looma held her by the wrist, her grip so tight that she felt her bones dangerously close to breaking.

Then the punches began to arrive.

One, two, four ...
... Mainly on the chest and stomach.

Ben was watching the whole thing with wide eyes and a feeling of nausea grew in his stomach when he saw Attea spitting blood.
A grave silence had fallen in the Incursean wing of the arena, while jubilant cries came from that Tetramand.

Attea seemed barely conscious now.

"The outcome of this duel was decided from the beginning" Looma commented, smiling with sadistic satisfaction while throwing away the opponent like a broken doll "You managed to deal some lucky shots at the beginning, but in the end you showed yourself for what you really are, a weakling! You are not worthy of being Ben Tennyson's wife, I AM!"
Attea lay motionless on the ground, barely coughing.
She must have had some broken ribs, maybe even his right arm, damn …
Moving her head to the side, she noticed that she had fallen just a few centimeters from her dagger and a spark of hope pushed her to try to stretch her healthy arm towards it.

If only she could reach it ...

Then what? The rational voice in her head mocked Would you stab Looma's ankle? Well, always better than nothing.
Her stubbornness simply refused to give up.

Moreover, if she had managed to make the Tetramand fall to the ground, perhaps she would have had a chance.

Pity that Looma had already reached her by now.

Looma raised one foot just above his head.

Ben tensed.
No, Looma couldn't do it, she wouldn't ...

Attea was on the ground, she could no longer fight, right?

It wasn't necessary ...
"Farewell, fake empress" Looma hissed.
… crush her skull!?

"Ben, don't ...!" for a moment Sandra saw only green.

Ben's hand had never reached the dial of the Ominitrix so quickly, hoping it was quick enough ...

...

Hello guys! ^^
Sorry again it took so long, but at least there is some action, right? Now, I would like to clarify that Attea could have won the duel if she had not foolishly thrown herself against Looma in an attempt of frontal attack, dictated by an attack of childish anger (perhaps not so childish from her point of view but still …).

I mean, Attea is actually an excellent fighter and during the series we got to see it several times, even against Looma (see "Catfight"), so I think that her only problem is that sometimes she behaves in a childish way when things don't go the way she wants or she feel insulted.

And in this case then Looma hit a particularly painful nerve.

Anyway, I hope you'll like this new chapter, see you! ^^