Chapter 4- Defy Expectations
"Miss...Miss..." Natsuki was abruptly woken by a slight shake. Her first thoughts were she was under attack and her hand went to one of her kris but when she didn't find the familiar hilt at her waist she remembered the events of the past night and groaned.
"Miss, You have to get up. The exam starts in an hour, you mustn't be late." Natsuki cracked an eye to see a young servant girl standing over her bed.
"Exam??" Natsuki asked groggily.
"Yes, Your participating in it, aren't?" The servant responded.
"Participating???" It took Natsuki's tired brain a moment to connect the two words but when it came she was rudely awaken and shot up and out of bed almost immediately scaring the servant to death, "You don't mean that damned knight's exam thing, That's today?" She questioned the frightened girl who merely nodded. Natsuki muttered a silent curse and smacked her forehead, however her thoughts on how to murder everyone who got her stuck in this mess and then get the stupid choker off her neck were short lived seeing as a chain smacked her in the face.
"Son of a..." Natsuki muttered more out of surprise than pain as she moved her hand from her face to look at the manacles that still rested on her wrists, she had totally forgotten about them. Natsuki let out a sigh then looked at the servant girl, "Out..." she said simply pointing towards the door.
"But..." The girl started to protest but was quickly silenced when Natsuki gave her a very cold stare, "Y-Yes, Miss..." The girl said a little scared and walked out of the room. Natsuki watched in amusement when the servant walked in a large circle to avoid getting anywhere close to her two kris lying on the floor.
When the door was shut Natsuki let out another sigh then looked at the iron cuffs. After making a quick check that no one was hiding out anywhere close by she wrapped one hand over one of the iron cuffs and muttered a quick, "Peil." As soon as the word was out of her mouth a spiderweb of cracks spread it's way over the bond and then it shattered into pieces. She repeated the process on the other manacle and flexed her now free wrists.
"Now...if only I payed attention to disenchanting classes." Natsuki said with an exasperated sigh tracing the silver choker with a finger. Then a thought crossed Natsuki's head, she moved her hand towards the clasp on the choker and moved to take it off and immediately wished she hadn't. A sharp stabbing sensation pierced her hand and forced her to remove it. Natsuki took a sharp intake of breath and flexed her now numbed hand, Well it was worth a try, at least I'm awake now. She thought dejectedly.
"Umm...Miss, I was instructed to take you to the arena. If we don't hurry we will be late." Natsuki heard the servant yell through the door.
"One second!" Natsuki yelled back then turned to look at the broken chains that lay on the floor and proceeded to pick them up. Once getting as many of the fragments as she could, Natsuki took a look around the room for a place to hide the contents but could not find a substantial spot. Shrugging Natsuki walked to the window of her new room and tossed them out without a second thought.
"Aiieee!" Natsuki cringed at the scream that emanated from outside the window, "Ow! Hey what the hell is this?!" Not chancing to look outside and see what had happened Natsuki quickly made her way to the door picking up her kris and fastening them to her belt in the process. Outside the door the servant girl was waiting, a curious look on her face.
"Miss, Did you hear something just now?" She asked turning her head from side to side looking down the hallway.
"Hear something? No, I didn't hear anything." Natsuki replied with a nervous chuckle.
"Oh...I see..." The girl seemed content with the answer and merely nodded and Natsuki gave a sigh of relief, "Well then Miss, this way, we have to hurry." The girl said and started down the hall with Natsuki in tow.
The duo's walk through the city was spent in relative silence, which was fine with Natsuki. The two had left the Noble District and were making there way through the throngs of people that filled the Common District streets. Natsuki was amazed that there were so many, during the couple weeks she had been in the city she had never noticed that it was so crowded. The pair had to push there way through the masses to make any headway at all and Natsuki had to wonder if they were going to make it at all.
"There it is!" Natsuki heard her guide pipe up and point over the crowd. Sure enough Natsuki could see the giant and richly decorated emerald dome that marked the arena tower over the surrounding buildings.
Finally. Natsuki thought as she saw the structure, though the two still had a ways to go before they could actually enter the building and the plaza in front of the stadium was packed with even more people. Seeing the sea of heads Natsuki let out a groan but continued to push her way through along with her guide.
Nao stood lazily against one of the many pillars that sat along the top of the arena, watching with a bored expression as the seats filled with people. Glancing to her side she smirked as she watched an annoyed Haruka yell at an arena attendant, though the actual conversation was inaudible amid the noise of the increasing crowd. She continued to watch as the attendant walked away lazily and Haruka still yelling at his retreating form before the commander turned and made her way towards Nao's location.
"So...Haruka, what crawled up your butt today?" Nao said still smirking.
"Must you be so vulgar all the time?!" Haruka snapped, "and how many times do I have to tell you it's commander!"
Nao gave a shrug that went unnoticed, "Whatever, I was only trying to be nice and see what the problem is."
"And you couldn't have asked like a normal person?!" Haruka yelled turning towards Nao who replied with another shrug infuriating the blond even more, "You know what Nao? It's amazing I let you keep your position with the way you act. I am this close to demoting you." Haruka made a small space between her thumb and index finger for emphasis, "This close, got it? So I'd shut your mouth if I were you."
Nao dismissed the outburst with a wave of her hand, "You say that everyday. It's kinda lost it's touch, ya know?"
"Gahhh!" Haruka yelled turning away from Nao and towards the center of the arena, her hands gripping the metal railing tightly. Nao couldn't help but laugh.
"At it again I see?" The muffled woman's voice brought Nao out of her laughing fit and caused her to look over to find a knight in a set of full ceremonial armor of a deep crimson red, helmet and all. A gold, ruby encrusted rapier made it's home on the knight's waist. Nao couldn't help but start laughing again, "What's so funny?" The knight asked putting her hand's on her hips.
"I can't believe you actually came in your armor, Mai." Nao barely managed to get out between the laughs.
The knight removed the full-metal helm revealing a scowl along with a mess of sweaty red hair that clung to the owners head tightly. The young knight pushed her hair out from in front of her eyes and glared at Nao, "You mean we didn't have too?!"
"How many times have we been to this?" Nao asked her laughing fit calming down to a small chuckle, "And how many times have you never seen us in our armor, you'd think you would get the idea, right Haruka?"
"Commander!!" The blond yelled turning around to face the two women, however this time instead of a frustrated look, Haruka had a grin on her face, "Though I hate to admit it, Yuuki has a point Mai. Not even I wear my armor, and if I remember correctly this is the fourth year in a row that you've done this." Nao's laughter had increased to it's regular velocity and Haruka joined in.
"Hmph, it's not that funny!" Mai protested setting her helmet down on the floor.
"Sorry, Sorry." Haruka managed after taking a moment to calm herself, "But it is just a little." she added looking at Mai, "Oh, hey, what happened to your forehead?"
"hmm?" Mai asked before bringing her hand to her forehead and touching a small bruise that had formed in between her eyes, "Oh...this? I don't really know. But I was walking through the castle courtyard and then BAM! I got smacked in the head by a bunch of metal fragments. Luckily I had my helmet on and only a small one made it through the visor."
"Oh?" Haruka asked worriedly, "I wonder what idiot would do something like that. I'll get to the bottom of this when we get through here." She finished with a tone of determination.
"Ah, That's ok Haruka, It's fine really, it's not that bad." Mai said sincerely, and somewhat hastily.
"Are you sure, Mai?" Haruka asked which was responded with a nod, "Hmm...If you insist." She finished turning back to watching the arena fill with people.
Mai let out a grateful sigh before taking a place next to Haruka, "So...Think any will actually win today?"
"I doubt it." Haruka answered simply, "They never do."
"What about you Nao?" Mai asked turning to look at the red head.
"Huh?" Nao asked looking up with a blank expression on her face.
"Do you think any of the squires will actually win tonight?" Mai repeated the question.
"Hmm..." Nao muttered bring a hand to rest against her chin in a thinking motion, "Your little beast is participating this year isn't she?"
"Mikoto is not some kind of animal!" Mai yelled in protest, "But..." she continued in a calmer manner, "Yes, Yes she is."
"Oh...I'm sorry, it's just that those ears and that tail, along with the way she's always following you around like a little pet throws me off sometimes." Nao said with a smirk ignoring the look she was getting from her fellow knight, clearing her throat she continued, "But...if anyone has a chance I'd put my money on her...Ohh, and maybe the prisoner chick."
"Prisoner chick?" Mai asked, "You mean that one with those weird weapons? Why is she participating?"
"It was a request." Haruka said with a clear tone of annoyance, "And...Yuuki, you do know who she's fighting right? She has no chance."
"Yeah yeah yeah, I know but...meh." Nao responded with a shrug, "Something tells me that that girl is more than she looks, and I'm good with these kinds of things."
"If you say so...I just hope she doesn't get beat too badly. That way I won't have to deal with questions of why she was accepted."
"What the hell are you guys talking about?" Mai asked staring back and forth between the two others.
"Don't worry about it, Mai, it would take too long to explain." Haruka answered the knight, who in turn left it at that, leaving the three to watch and wait for the festivities to begin.
Natsuki sighed and leaned back against a stone wall of the squire's entrance area and slid to the ground. The walk through the packed streets had left her tired and even worse annoyed. Natsuki took a few deep breaths to calm herself before looking around the large gathering of people.
There must be more than three hundred people in here. Natsuki thought as she looked over the mass of people in there armor and weapons. Natsuki noticed that she was the only one without a suit of armor and felt a little out of place, though not for only that reason. She also noticed that she was receiving a lot of stares, mostly from the males, Natsuki closed her eyes attempting to calm herself before she got in a fight.
"I've never seen you around here before? What's your name?" Natsuki opened her eyes to be greeted with a pair of bright yellow eyes only inches from her face. Natsuki made an involuntary shriek and stood up incredibly fast causing the other person to jump backwards and earning the attention and snickers from the nearby squire's. Blushing at the involuntary attention Natsuki glared down ready to vent her frustration to find a young girl staring up at her curiously a pair of cat-ears twitched excitedly atop her head.
"Hey, are you ok? Your face is really red, maybe you should go see a cleric." The black-braided haired girl said poking at Natsuki's cheeks.
Natsuki smacked the girl's hand away quickly scowling, "Who the hell are you, and what do you want?"
"Hey, I asked first." The girl pouted, eying Natsuki's blade heaths, "Hey, are those yours. Can I see them?" The girl said reaching for them before being stopped by Natsuki.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Natsuki whispered not wanting to attract any further attention.
"Aww, why not?"
"Because bad things will happen if you do."
"Bad things?" The girl wondered aloud, "Oohh! Are you that prisoner that Mai was talking about! What are you doing here?" She continued a little too loudly, gaining the interest of several nearby squire's, "Hey? Are you listening? Why-mmm" Natsuki quickly covered the girl's mouth.
"Will you shut up?" Natsuki whispered looking around sending dangerous looks to anyone looking at the duo who quickly looked away finding an interest in anything else at the moment, "If I show you them will you leave me alone?"
"Mm-hmm" The girl mumbled nodding pleased. Natsuki let out a sigh removing her hands from the young girls mouth before pulling out one of her blades. The girl looked at the weapon in wonder then up to the owner.
"Where are the edges?" She asked.
"They don't have any." Natsuki responded annoyed, "They are made for stabbing not slashing."
"That's odd." The girl responded simply, "They must be hard to use huh?"
Natsuki shrugged sheathing the weapon, "Now that I showed you it's time to uphold your part of the deal."
"But-"
"Mikoto Minagi! Your Up!" The girl looked towards the arena entrance then back to Natsuki a little sadly.
"Well...that's me I guess." The girl named Mikoto said to Natsuki, "Good luck in your fight." She finished before running towards the arena entrance. Natsuki noticed the large ebony zweihander strapped the the small frame and wondered how the hell the skinny girl could even hold a weapon that big, let alone use it in battle.
Natsuki shrugged, Must be the Mithra gene. She concluded retaking her previous sitting position to await her turn for her fight.
--
Natsuki sighed in boredom, she figured that she must have been sitting in the same spot for more than a couple hours. The only thing helping pass the time for the would be knight was seeing the faces and sorry states of the squires who came back through the arena entrance. But even that had gotten bored after the fiftieth time seeing the same depressed face. In fact Natsuki was pretty sure that out of the hundreds of squires that had gone in, the only one that had been happy was the mithra she had met earlier.
Though happy might be an understatement. Natsuki thought looking over to the several sliced up stone columns that the girl had diced in her elated frenzy before disappearing from the area.
Just when Natsuki thought she couldn't take any more waiting a tap on her shoulder caused her to look up too find a man dressed in an attendants uniform standing over her, "You the one called..." The attendant took a moment to check a sheet of paper he held in his hand, "Kuga?"
"Yeah, that's me." Natsuki replied standing.
"Your up next, get ready." The attendant said, Natsuki noticed the man's eyes lingering a little longer than was necessary.
"Is there something else you need, sir?" The comment laced with venom as Natsuki moved her hand to one of her kris' hilts.
"N-No, No, nothings wrong. Just...get ready. That's all." The man said flustered, immediately turning away and walking rather hastily for a group of squires.
Natsuki grinned slightly as she gave a few stretches to alleviate the numb feeling in her legs from the hours of sitting on the cold stone floor before she made her way to the entrance to the arena.
Once there she was greeted by an older woman who gave her a curious look.
"Your the next one up?" The woman asked a little disbelieving.
"Yeah, is that a problem?"
"No armor?" The woman sounded skeptical.
"No, do I need it?" Natsuki let her annoyance show in her look.
"Um...No...no...right this way." The woman replied somewhat timidly, "It's your funeral." Natsuki heard the woman mutter but decided to let it go. She followed the woman's direction and walked through a simple stone door into a large alcove. "Good Luck." The woman said giving a strained smile and the door slid shut leaving Natsuki alone in the room.
"What the hell is this..." Natsuki muttered, the room was incredibly dark and she had to squint to even make out where the four walls were. Just as she was about to turn around and ask if this was a joke the floor gave a slight lurch and Natsuki stumbled a bit surprised at the motion. Natsuki could feel the floor moving upwards and calmed down slightly.
The ascent was a slow one and Natsuki found herself getting impatient again though the feeling was short lived as the muffled sounds of cheering made it's way into the stone shaft. Crowd? Natsuki wondered though didn't have long to ponder the thought as the top of the shaft slid open flooding the darkened area in a blinding light and deafening roar. Natsuki grunted and shut her eyes quickly away from the offending light and could only wonder what was making the noise.
After a few moments had passed Natsuki dared to look and couldn't hold in her surprise. What kind of test is this? Natsuki wondered as she stared wide eyed at the sea of people around her. Feeling the lift underneath her feet give a small lurch Natsuki took a few steps off and onto the grassy field that was the arena floor. Behind her the lift descended back down to the squire's entrance and the stone trap door slid back into place leaving Natsuki stranded in the giant field. Natsuki's attention was quickly drawn away from the cheering people and towards the far end of the field where she noticed a similar trap door had slid open.
Natsuki watched as her would be opponent slowly rose into the stadium. However the action was rudely and crudely cut short as the lights in the stadium were abruptly shut off leaving the entire area in pitch black. The crowd also fell silent almost as abruptly.
"What the hell..." Natsuki muttered attempting to get her bearings in the new darkness. Just then several beams of light illuminated the area in front of her illuminating what she guessed was her opponent. At the emergence of the mystery figure the crowd stepped up their cheering a few notches, a feat Natsuki didn't think was possible a few moments ago.
Natsuki gave her opponent a once over, somewhat surprised it was a woman, though she didn't know why. Natsuki couldn't tell who the woman was thanks to the gleaming light purple armet the knight wore. The second thing Natsuki noticed was that the women wasn't wearing any armor, just a robe of the same amethyst color as her helm, and looked like it belonged on some noble rather than a knight getting ready to fight. The third thing Natsuki noticed and mentally cursed at was the long pole arm type weapon the knight was holding, the long slender metal blade glittered in the white light.
Already at a disadvantage. Natsuki thought before shrugging the feeling off, Oh well, that just makes it all the more interesting. She finished the thought, excitement taking the place of the slight worry.
After a brief moment of obvious fan-pleasing the rays of light disappeared and the main arena lights slowly came to life. After the lights fully regained intensity the knight started to make her way towards Natsuki and the center of the arena who followed suit. The two opponents met and the knight was the first to speak.
"I am pleased to see that you accepted my proposal." The woman's voice came through her helmet crystal clear, a feat Natsuki didn't think was possible.
"Wait...your the reason I'm stuck here?!" Natsuki yelled, finding new found determination to beat this knight into the ground.
"Ara, I would assume that Natsuki would find being free much more appealing than being in a prison." The knight responded simply
"What do you mean free?!" Natsuki retorted pointing to the choker around her neck, "And where the hell did you learn my name."
"Hmm..." The knight said bringing her free hand to the base of her helm in a thinking motion, "It's a secret." Something about her tone bothered Natsuki
Natsuki was about to yell at the knight again but the crowd had started to chant, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" which drowned out her chance for a retort. Deciding to let her weapons do the talking Natsuki drew her dual blades and dropped into a ready stance. The knight did as well and the crowd burst into cheering.
Natsuki took initiative, not wanting to be trapped in a defensive battle, which she would most likely result in a loss because of large reach difference. She closed the gap between her and the knight quickly not even giving the knight a chance to fend the rush off. Natsuki executed a flurry of attacks under the impression that with such a large weapon the knight wouldn't be able to do anything to block the quick attacks that her small weapons enabled her to launch. However Natsuki was amazed when all her crystalline blades connected with, was the wooden pole of the knight's weapon. After a final attack aimed at the knight's head was blocked the two locked blades, each pushing to gain dominance.
The knight chuckled, "It seems I was not wrong about Natsuki."
Natsuki just answered with a grunt and quickly gave a hard push upwards breaking out of the lock and knocking the knight off balance. Following the momentum Natsuki lashed out with her knee sending it straight into the knight's gut. However rather than connecting with the soft stomach her knee impacted with a sheet of metal sending a jolt of pain through her leg. Natsuki staggered back away from the knight surprised, and cursed as she flexed her slightly numb leg. The crowed roared out in laughter.
"A brigantine huh." Natsuki muttered before calling out to the knight, "I didn't know knights liked to play bandit."
The knight shrugged before getting back into a ready stance, "I think Natsuki is just trying to save face." Natsuki could just sense the smile the knight wore underneath her helm and she had to calm herself before she gave into her anger.
Her attempt to anger the knight and subsequently clouding her judgment failing Natsuki charged the knight again. This time however the knight was ready for the rush and swiped her pole arm sideways attempting to force Natsuki back. However Natsuki quickly ducked under the attack and sprang upwards both blades outstretched and aiming for the knight's neck. Unready for the sudden lunge the knight back stepped sloppily, escaping the deadly attack but not before one of Natsuki's kris raked the knight's helmet and sheering right through the metal leaving a large gash from the base of the chin to the visor.
Natsuki was vulnerable now, thinking that the knight wouldn't be fast enough to dodge she had put all her effort into that attack to end the fight quickly and as a result she was still in mid-air. The knight didn't waste any time, regaining her footing quickly she thrust her weapon at Natsuki. Seeing the attack Natsuki blocked the blade from piercing her but without having any form of brace she was pushed back through the air and landed on her back hard.
Natsuki scrambled to regain her footing despite the protesting of her bruised back and not a moment to soon. Just as she got to her feet she saw the blade coming for her again and managed to sidestep the blow but not before she felt the razor sharp edge find it's way into her right thigh. Grunting Natsuki lashed out at the wooden pole smacking the weapon away from her and increased the distance between her and the knight. Natsuki brought a hand down to the wound, blood had already started to soak her pants and shirt.
Natsuki didn't have long to admire the incision though as the knight charged letting out a continuous barrage of attacks leaving Natsuki no possible chance to counter and to make matters worse, with every step on her right leg Natsuki could feel a little more blood seep from the wound. Already she felt the effects of blood loss and knew if she wanted any hope of winning she would have to do something and quickly.
However the knight had other plans and after Natsuki had evaded one of her attacks quickly shortened the grip on her pole arm and lashed out with the butt of her weapon catching an off-guard Natsuki in the gut sending the girl to her knees, an event that caused the crowd to go wild. The knight brought the blade of the weapon to rest against Natsuki's neck.
"It seems that I have won." The knight said, Natsuki could see a smile through the gash she had caused earlier, "Though I must say Natsuki is quite the fighter."
Natsuki only had a second to try and formulate a plan to win, she wouldn't accept a loss, not against some prissy knight. Then an idea came to her and she instantly went with it. Dropping the kris in her left hand Natsuki, with lighting quick reflexes grabbed the part of the polearm where the thin blade met wood preventing the knight to move it. Then with her right hand and a pin-point strike thrust upwards cleaved the wood in two just below where her hand had resided. Ignoring the pain in her thigh, Natsuki stood quickly rushing the knight before she had time to react and rested the blade of her own weapon against the knight's throat.
Natsuki grinned, "It seems that I have won." She mocked the knight before letting out a faint laugh. Then the world went dizzy and she felt her feet fail her. The last thing Natsuki saw was the knight rushing to catch her falling form before the world went black.
