บท 102: SWORDTAIL vs STABULOUS (1)
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It took a bit of time to clear the space of holes and debris after all the summoned magic rocks and ice and explosions from earlier. Linze had woken up and looked so terribly embarrassed. She was being congratulated for being such a vicious young miss and she was hiding her face in her hands going "Noooooooooo…!" in mortification.
But certain people liked that sort of woman. Case in point: why Monika. Normal people would be turned off from choosing a hyper-possessive yandere as their waifu, rarer still those who didn't fall into gibbering terror when she turned into a real person.
"Please tell me you're not doing this just to get the notice of a man…" Cynthia Aurbell almost begged Yae as they finally faced each other on the ring.
She basically looked much like Lucina from Fire Emblem. She had long straight black hair and a headband to keep her hair neat and out of the way, and the modest leather chestpiece she wore was actually a decently protective brigandine with metal plates sewn on the inside. She wore tall riding boots that ended over the knee for protection. Her gloves were fingerless, but had metal on the outside to protect her forearms. All in all prim, stylish, confident and beautiful. She had a refined and well-organized demeanor.
Contrast this with Lydia, who wore a steel breastplate and looked much more like a female knight, but despite her more expensive wargear had a perpetual look of weary frustration that undercut her dignity.
Yae shook her head. "In some way, I must admit that I do this for a man."
"That's… disappointing."
"But it is the Viscount Sordrick. I cannot not rest easy until I beat his teeth in, that is so!"
Cynthia beamed. "… That's fair. I know of the Viscount, he's the strongest swordsman in the land, but he's not really one for the niceties."
Yae nodded. "Before we begin… please tell me, do you know of the darkness behind the sword?"
Cynthia smirked and drew her rapier from its scabbard. Unlike the thin sporting and dueling blades favored by aggressive youths, it was a battle tested blade that could cut and block and thrust. (1) "Why concern yourself with that? Embrace the light in front of the sword and never fear anything ever again!"
"… My apologies, I have no idea what you are talking about, that I do not."
("Oh this is nice. No offense, Elze, Linze – but it's nice to see some professionals on the field. In a way, you both fought under inability to gauge the opposing force's strength. Elze, you were underestimated until it was way too late, and Linze… well, your terrifying character as deathfreezesaberlightmage sapped your enemy's focus and you yourself had no care whatsoever to any disparity in power.
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("But two well practiced swordswomen can more accurately gauge each other's strength. So we're in for some excellent swordplay where skill is the most important quality.")
("Nnngh.")
("Lady Zorah? What's wrong with you now?")
("You will regret saying that.")
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The two swordswomen bowed to each other and raised their swords. Everyone held their breaths. This was not just a battle between two fighters, but two differently perfected ways of fighting, two vastly different blades. One optimized for the slash, the other optimized for the thrust. Two perfectly opposing philosophies. If there was a moment where one could converse through fighting this was a long-awaited debate.
Then after a few tense minutes, they moved at the same time.
Yae was a touch slower. That was because the fencer's great advantage was the lunge – by using the whole body in the attack, she has better reach and thus attacks at her maximum range while the slash must move in to make contact with the body.
Tink. Yae deflected the thrust and then leaned in to slash at the now exposed body of her enemy. Since they were facing each other, and both were right-handed, their swords were aimed toward their opposite shoulders.
Cynthia smirked. If that alone was enough to prove a weakness, no one would use the rapier at all compared to sabers and longswords.
She flicked her wrist and that small movement was enough to send the tip slicing down towards the inside of Yae's arm looking to sever a vein. A rapier that weighed very little also meant that it was the fastest sword possible.
Yae had to pull her arm back. She paused and thinned her lips in concentration. Against normal arm guards that would not have worked, but they were fighting mostly unarmored. The two-handed hold on a katana added power, but power was not needed here. She shifted her grip to hold her sword almost by the end of the pommel to emphasize its own thrust.
But the katana was the heavier sword, and that had its positives too. She tried to slap away the sword much more forcefully and stepped into her opponent's guard. But Cynthia, rather than retreating to extend the range and keep on safely harassing Yae with swift contacts that in a real fight would look to make small bleeding wounds, instead stepped in to meet her halfway.
She parried and drew the katana blade away, ducking under the sweep –
Then she punched Yae straight into her right boob.
The samurai girl only frowned slightly as she recoiled away from the hit. The pain was slight. Grappling was heavily involved in real combat, specially since katanas were not meant to be used with a shield and rare were those who used a wakizachi or tanto in their off hand, much like the defensive pair of sword and dagger in the West.
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("Yeah okay that's fair. That's the difference between sport fencing and real fencing, the open hand does more than just hang there.")
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Then Cynthia opened her hand out and grabbed Yae's chest.
"Whu-?!" Yae quickly moved to try and break the hold, flashing back to the holds and throws of martial arts related to karate and aikido. That was just to be expected from where everyone voluminous wore robes and kimonos that made for excellent clothing grabs.
Cynthia squeezed.
Yae blurted out "This is not-"
"Honk! Honk!" the swordswoman said with a catlike grin even as she squeezed again. Then taking advantage of Yae being frozen in outrage, she stepped in deeper past Yae's arms and punched the samurai girl in the face with the basket hilt of her rapier in her other hand.
Yae grunted and fell back. Her eyes glittered with rage and shame.
Cynthia grinned. "I know what you're thinking. Am I trying to make you angry, or do I like you that way? Why don't you come closer again and find out?"
..
("…")
("…")
("… *thunk* *thunk* *thunk*")
("Mistress, please. Do not try to break your nephew's table with your face.")
("Zanac, interfering with any of the duels is an immediate forfeit, right?")
("Um, yes? I believe so?")
("Elze, Linze, let's go! We're up by two anyway, the worst that could happen now is a draw. FACESMASH TIME IS UPON US.")
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AN:
(1)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spada_da_lato
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Bluepencil
Bluepencil And so we return to regular updates.
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