Third Person POV

Aphmau and Jeffory smirked at each other, and then the fight began. Jeffory swung his golden scythe, which was called a heart, at Aphmau, but she dodged.

Aphmau then spun behind Jeffory and swung her sword at his back. He twisted, and blocked it with his scythe (an, I shall refer to it as a scythe 'cause it feels weird calling it a heart).

They both backed up a bit, then Jeffory swung in low for a leg attack. Aphmau jumped the swiftly moving blade, and, as she landed, transformed into her Jury of Nine form.

Suddenly her black and purple sword was almost as large as a broadsword, and Aphmau was larger than people were supposed to be. She swung, he dodged, transforming as he went.

He swung, she blocked, and they stayed that way for a moment. Aphmau twisted her sword against Jeffory's scythe and brought it under, for an attack on his stomach.

Jeffory backed off, his huge scythe now held in front of him. As Aphmau ran forward, he jumped, holding on to the scythe, and flipped so he was behind her. Aphmau continued running, but had turned so she was running straight for Jeffory again.

They blocked each other, yet again, but this time Jeffory broke it. He twisted up his weapon of choice to try and strike her head, but suddenly the scythe was knocked from his loosened grip and he was down, Aphmau's sword at his neck.

The whole fight lasted only a couple minutes.

Laurence's POV

Wow. Aphmau beat Jeffory. That, I did not see that coming. Honestly I thought Jeffory would win.

Garroth, Dante, and I went to where Aphmau stood, grinning. She turned back to her human form and helped up a now human Jeffory.

He picked up his scythe. "Well played, Aphmau, well played." He chuckled. They both sheathed their weapons.

She grinned. "Thanks."

"That was amazing." Garroth said, echoing my thoughts.

"Thanks." Jeffory chuckled. "Ah man, it's been a while since anyone but Katelyn has actually beat me while sparring."

"Hm. I wonder when Katelyn's going to get here." Aphmau said, then shrugged.

"Wait, who?" I asked.

"Our other best friend. The only other Jury member who isn't corrupt and hates Zane." Jeffory said.

"Katelyn the Fire Fist." Aphmau told us.

"What's she going to be doing here?" Dante asked.

"Officially, investing my 'death'." Jeffory said. "Unofficially, she's staying."

"I am not letting her go back to the Jury alone." Aphmau said, crossing her arms.

"She can take care of herself." Jeffory pointed out.

"I know. But the others, at least the six I knew, were all as good as us when we first joined, or almost as good as us when I left. None alone can beat either three of us, but if they converged none of us would stand a chance." Aphmau said.

"True." Jeffory nodded.

"Hey, speaking of, who was my replacement?" Aphmau asked.

"You know that girl we met once? Ivy?" Jeffory asked.

"Her?" Aphmau exclaimed. "What? I could beat her with my eyes closed, one hand tied behind my back and one legged. I did, in fact!"

I looked at Aphmau weirdly. What?

"Yeah, her." Jeffory said. "As corrupt as the rest of 'em. She only wanted to be a Juror so she could be above the rules. Completely ignoring the fact that even the Jury of Nine needs to follow rules. Or mankind would probably be wiped out."

Aphmau laughed. "True, that."

Garroth's POV

I don't know, but I think I was kind of expecting this. I mean, yeah, Lady Aphmau never really argued when any of us tried to protect her. Laurence kind of assumed she wasn't that good with a sword.

But I saw Lady Aphmau before she became the Lord. Back then, whenever zombies and stuff attacked, she was there and had 'killed' that stuff with a few swings. I knew she was good with a sword.

I just never expected she'd be on the Jury of Nine.

Aphmau's POV

Jeffory, Garroth, Laurence, Dante, and I returned to my home and then the guys had to split off to go do their duties.

"Hey, you can use my guest room tonight." I told Jeffory. "I'll set up a sleeping bag for Abby. Tomorrow we'll set up a house for you two."

He nodded. "Okay. We should probably build a house for Katelyn too."

"Good idea." I nodded.

I showed him the guest room, and he went to bed. I put a sleeping bag on the floor for Abby, who squealed in excitement. Well, even when she was younger she loved camping.

I put Levin and Malichi to bed and went to sleep myself.

The next day, I was up at dawn and packed everything we'd need to build two houses in a backpack.

Zoey took the three kids over to Kiki's barn, where they would be celebrating Abby's birthday. She turned ten that day, and Jeffory figured that getting the house built and finished for her would be an awesome birthday present.

I guess it would, I mean, how amazing would it be to wake up on your birthday and in a couple hours have a house? Pretty awesome.

Jeffory and I expanded the little road where Emmalyn's, Corey and Emma's, Cadenza's, and Kawaii~chan's houses were, and began building two more.

I was doing Katelyn's, and Jeffory was building his own.

We finished around noon, and went to the barn for Abby's party. I gave her a training sword, because I remembered she wanted to be a guard like her dad.

"Abby, follow me." Jeffory told her, and we went to the houses. "This is our new place." He explained.

"I love it!" She yelled, jumping up and down excitedly. "Thank you daddy!" She hugged Jeffory.

"Aww." I said. It was cute.

Garroth and Laurence came running over, and I turned to them. "Something wrong?" I asked.

"Maybe." Laurence said.

"There's a Jury of Nine ship at the docks." Garroth said.

Jeffory and I frowned. "This has the potential to be amazing or bad." Jeffory said. "What color are the sails?"

"Light blue." Laurence said.

We grinned. "Katelyn." Then Jeffory and I ran off, Abby right next to us. The guys followed us.