Once Naesala left, the battle was a piece of cake. Mia dashed through the snow ahead of the others, leaving behind deep footprints. Through the howling wind, she could hear the others behind her, fighting off the last of the warriors and paladins.
"Mia, are you going to fight the enemy commander?" Ike shouted.
"Yeah," she turned and yelled back. "I'm going to weaken him until the rest of you catch up!"
"Be careful!" she heard Rhys call.
She nodded and turned back. A small figure in the distance-the enemy commander-stood still. As she grew closer, her eyes registered a thin ornate sword in the enemy's hand, expertly wielded. Could it be...?
No. He was swathed in a black kimono-like robe. How disappointing. As if to add insult to injury, the snow swirled around harder, making it look white.
She herself was in a bright orange swordmistress dress. (She had made it very clear to the entire army that she had indeed mastered the sword, but was to be called a swordmistress, not swordmaster.) Mia's radiant dress combined with her sharp, violet hair made her hard to miss, even in the thickly-falling snow. She held a hefty iron blade in her hand with ease.
In one fluid motion, he whirled around and got a good look at the slowly advancing Mia.
He laughed.
"You got something to say to me?" She demanded, wielding her blade threateningly.
"Ha ha ha!" He chortled. "A woman approaches me? Cutting down one with little skill brings no glory... Yet it cannot be avoided on the battlefield. Shall I teach you something of the sword?"
Mia murderously glared at the swordsman. "Are you gonna be that way? You think you can beat me just 'cause I'm a woman, huh? Why don't you challenge me then?"
Her opponent looked genuinely surprised. "Me? Challenge you?" He laughed again and held up his silver sword for Mia to see. "I am Homasa. My sword is lightning. Can you follow its dance?"
"Male superiority," Mia muttered to herself and rolled her eyes, but of course Homasa didn't notice. Why was she wasting time exchanging names? She got into a battle stance and simply responded, "I am Mia, the graceful whirlwind of singing steel."
As she spoke, her opponent shifted into his own battle stance. "A long name, I see. Will you still cross me?"
He was stalling the duel, and she knew it. So she yelled at him, "The time for talk is over! Either fight me, or run away now. For your personal safety, I would recommend the second choice. Don't say I didn't warn you."
He smirked at her. "I will not back down to a woman. The shame of it would taint my honor for eternity."
"Yeah? Come at me!"
STORY SPLIT!
Ok, so I'm going to post two chapters up. One chapter will be more realistic. I am not good at writing battle scenes, and I myself have never, y'know, dueled someone with swords. But this one will be more, I don't know, fanfic-y. Ex. "Mia parried the blow, dropped down, and rolled to the side." (Because you know how you never see that in the game, but it sounds more like something you might do in real life?)
The other will be more technical and turn-based, like it is in the game. Ex. "Mia had to stop and apply a vulnerary, but she didn't have time to attack Homasa as he dashed for her." (Because you know how using a vulnerary takes up one turn?) But I won't be that technical. I'm not going to write "Mia inflicted 21 damage on Homasa" or stuff like that.
I'm going on a last minute vacation soon and they will take a while to write, so don't hold your breath. I'll try to post both up on the same day.
Review, please!
