The Lord of Ragnarok
Mini Chapter 9 - Beginner's Luck
Temple of Celestia Sol - Fifth Floor - Improvised Training Area - Lightingsword's P.O.V.
"Block. Block. Forward slash. Block. Block. Stab. Block. Upward slash, quick block! Very good!"
With blunted swords and wood armor, I kept up a steady pace in instructing Fluttershy. Already on our third session of the day, and she seemed as though she was picking things up fast. Her reflexes were improving, her blows getting harder, and her face more of a sunbeam each time I praised or complimented her.
She swung her blunted blade in a wide arc, and I parried it effortlessly. I lunged forward, and she answered with her own clumsy parry. She kept the momentum of that parry and slammed the blade down, which I blocked and fended off with no trouble.
"You will still need to work on your attack patterns, Fluttershy," I told her, keeping sternness to a minimum, "you telegraph your attacks too easily. It feels like you're giving me a chance to dodge as much as possible."
Even with my reproach so tame, Fluttershy still looked back at me with hurt eyes. "Well, I . . ." she began, fiddling with the pommel of her sword as her knees touched, "I don't . . . I don't want to hurt you, my lord . . ."
I couldn't help but grin at that. "That's commendable, sweetheart. But I have a lot of experience, and you've only just started. You would never be able to hurt me, but the point is to raise yourself up to be able to hurt me. In a fight, you need to be able to harm your opponent, but only to make it so they don't harm you. You don't have to want to, but there will be times where you have to. That's what self-defense is all about."
Fluttershy let her arms fall to her sides, her sword drooping in her hands. "I'm . . . sorry," she mumbled, crossing her legs as she stood and hanging her head. At this, I sighed and lowered my own blade.
"You know," I offered, "I feel like part of this is my fault, too. I mean, I should be coming at you with everything I've got, and I think I might be holding back. Your . . . choice of armor might be the reason that . . ."
Fluttershy wore a form-fitting and skimpy bunny costume, complete with white leotard, fishnet stockings, long white gloves, a hairband with stiff bunny ears, and a fluffy white tail planted firmly over her round, perky bottom. I offered to lend her a suit of armor (I had many different kinds I had both found and made in my travels and could give her the pick of the lot), but Fluttershy wouldn't hear it. She'd wanted to start from the bottom, like I did.
I kinda wanna start at the bottom, myself, I thought as I glanced at her hips, imagining her tight, enticing backside in that outfit.
"Umm, well . . ." she tried to reply, "it's . . . it's the only real armor I have, my lord . . ." She then blushed vividly, from the top of her forehead all the way down her neck and into the bared cleavage in the center of the leotard's chest hole.
Having tried not to notice it all this time, noticing it now made me pivot hard into not allowing my raging erection to be viewable. "Uhhh . . . you know what?" I said, sheathing my sword and turning to one side. "Let's take a break. I don't want to overwork you."
"Oh, no, my lord!" Fluttershy gasped, holding her sword back up in a two-handed grip. "I may not be very strong now, but I am your ever-eager student, and I'll keep getting better! I think I already am! Watch!" She slashed down with her blade, a confident smile on her face. She swiped the blade in a diagonal arc one-handed, did a perfect spin (allowing me a glimpse of her perfect "bunny tail") with the blade in a perfect horizontal slash in one, two, three rotations.
Then four. Then five. Then she squealed and released her sword, sending it flying directly at me.
I yelped as I ducked, missing the sword by inches, as Fluttershy kept spinning out of control. She squealed in distress and stumbled forward dizzily, finally falling backwards as her back faced me. I stood up, rushed to her and caught her in my arms. Her fragrant pink hair slapped me in the face, and she squeaked as I squeezed her close to me. She looked up at me with wide eyes, and I felt my face heat up when I realized my crotch was pressed a bit too tightly to her.
And she was, of course, still wearing that bunny outfit . . .
I gave a weak chuckle as she looked up at me with her lustrous eyes. "Well . . . I will give you points for enthusiasm. We've got a long way to go, but we can get there, if you're still willing."
"I'll be willing, my lord," Fluttershy replied smile never faltering. "I'll be strong and patient, and soon I'll be able to protect you and everyone in the guild. It's what I was meant for, I know it!"
Her positivity was infectious. "I have faith in you, honey." I ran my fingers through her smooth hair, and she raised her hand and brushed her fingers across my cheek. This combined with the outfit made it incredibly difficult to resist undressing her right then and there. And the temptation would only get stronger.
"Ooh!" Fluttershy cried and jerked forward in my arms, her lips a perfect "o" on her face. "My dear lord," she breathed, "did you just pinch my bunny tail?"
Strong as temptation was, I could not recall having done so. "No," I answered truthfully, feeling my face grow warmer all the while.
"Would you like to?" she murmured coquettishly, her palm now gently caressing my face. She blushed all the way down her neck again, but this time, it was different. This time, she bit her lip and stared at me with half-lidded eyes. Even in this mad romantic rush, it occurred to me how often she only seemed to act like this around me. Has Steve ever seen her like this?
Better not ask.
I would have lowered my face to meet hers for another of our passionate kisses. I wanted to breathe her in, press her body to mine, and take her for another wild, passionate moment right there on the grassy terrain on the fifth floor.
But an explosion of pain in my shoulder kept me from doing so.
I gave a throaty gasp and released Fluttershy, and she stood wobbly on shaky legs. She looked at my shoulder at the same time I did, and saw an iron dagger sticking out of it, dripping with my blood. Fluttershy let out a blood-curdling scream as my attacker flung me to one side, keeping the dagger in my shoulder and keeping me in obscene pain.
"From the Third Reich Guild with love, bitch!"
From what I could see (that my agony allowed me to), my assailant was clad in full stealth garb, the Darkwater Gi if I wasn't mistaken. It was no wonder he'd gotten the drop on me; the Darkwater Gi allowed for movements so silent that even the most advanced paladin magic had trouble detecting them. I tried to stand and reach for my sword, but just moving my arm was unbearable. My hand found my hilt, and I felt the attacker bear down on me, kicking the dagger in my back. I saw stars and made a sound that even I couldn't identify, something between a scream and a gulp.
"You killed my woman," the assailant growled, pulling a short sword out of a sheath and pointing it at Fluttershy, "I kill yours."
I struggled to pull in breath after breath, pushing myself up on my good arm. "What . . . what are you . . . talki—"
"Shut your filthy mouth, half-breed!" he snapped, his eyes flaring above his face mask. "You know who I mean! She would have been mine. I've done nothing but help raise her up to the highest position in our guild, and I would have gotten my deserved reward! Then you and your friends took her away from me! Now you get to come here and have sex with your braindead femoid while I have nothing? Me, The_Supreme_Gentleman_99, deprived of the love I deserve while you, some off-white animal, pervert the world by injecting your seed into your Mongoloid concubine?! I won't have it! You'll feel the pain I felt when you took Rose away from me!"
Even in the crippled, mind-blunting state I was in, I knew who he was referring to. And even in the pain I was in, I couldn't help but choke out a laugh. "TheTeutonicRose was a bully and a monster . . . and you honestly thought . . . you had a chance with her? You're just as . . . much of an airhead as . . . she was . . ."
He responded by kicking me in the face. As I fell back onto my hands and knees, he gripped the dagger still in my back and wrenched, and my shriek was enough to shatter glass.
"Not talking as much anymore, are you, half-breed?" he drawled, pulling the dagger this way and that and sending shock waves of agony through my whole body. "This Spell Inhibitor dagger keeps things level, you see. No spells, no Quicksilver, and definitely," he wrenched again, and I bellowed, "no," another wrench, and I screamed my throat raw, "healing!"
After a while I couldn't even scream anymore. It was just too much. I had never been this grievously injured by an enemy before. If my brain wasn't swimming in pain, it would be swimming in panic—and equally helpless.
"Does it hurt, Oreo boy?" he taunted, grip still tight over the dagger. "I hope it does. I hope you suffer. Just like I suffered. Years and years of rejection by evil temptresses, and when I finally find the woman perfect for me, you social justice rejects took her away from me! Now, you'll get the same treatment!"
Through the pain, trying hard to see through the tears and feeling my blood leaving my body by the ounce, I still couldn't help but grin. "G- . . . g-good . . . l-luck . . ."
Before the "Gentleman" could say "What?", he yelped as he was thrown from me by a hard tackle from Fluttershy. He only stumbled back a few steps, but it was all she needed. She pointed her training sword at him, along with a pair of eyes that could have been daggers for the deadly sharpness they bore.
"I don't know who you are or how you came in here," she snarled (as much as Fluttershy could snarl), "but if you don't get away from my Lord Lightning and leave this place right now, I shall have to do something very unpleasant!"
I squinted up at Fluttershy's commanding stance (betrayed only by her outfit), and despite myself (and the hellfire of pain that consumed me inside and out), I had to smile. That's my girl.
The Gentleman grinned a slimy, arrogant grin. "Hmm . . . you got a real attitude problem, little girl." He whipped his short sword up, it clanged hard against Fluttershy's blunted blade, and it flew out of her hand. The crushed look on her face was almost as painful as the dagger in my back.
"We can fix that," the Gentleman sneered. "I'll just have to beat it out of you."
Fluttershy took a stumbling step back, but she kept her arms up in a clumsy and obvious fighter stance. "D-don't you come closer, ser," she mumbled, her knees buckling and her eyes widening, "o-or you'll be sorry. I-I mean it!"
The Gentleman, seeming to take more and more interest in the hunt, crept forward with every ungainly step back Fluttershy took. "You know," he purred as he spun his sword in his hand, "you have the hugest eyes of any yellow bitch I've ever seen. Not bad to look at, though. The only thing that body's missing is an apron . . . and maybe a couple dozen welts on your ass to improve the mouth."
"No . . . goddamn you . . . leave her alone!" I groaned as I pulled myself up, struggling to get on my feet. The pain was just too much, and my head swam as I got up on my knees. I wavered and fell back onto my hands, almost slipping in the blood-soaked grass. "Get . . . away from her!" I dared not speak any further; just opening my mouth exacerbated the pain. Even thinking made me want to die.
If he gets any closer to her, I will want to die, I sobbed inside my head. It should be me! I should be dying to protect her, and I can't even do anything!
Except . . .
I glanced down at my swordbelt and saw the blade I had brought for the lesson, hanging in its sheath next to my training sword—the Enemy, a simple blade that could lower the durability of the opponent's currently equipped weapon. Would it still work the same way now that coding and mechanics were no longer a part of it?
I sure as fuck hope so . . .
"Fluttershy!"
Using my good arm, I pulled my sword from my swordbelt and threw, and a feeling nearly equivalent to being struck by lightning hit me, and all the fight was out of me from that moment on. All I could do was lay there, bleed, and watch as the love of my life risked her life to protect me.
Fluttershy turned her head as she heard me, caught the sword, pulled it from the sheath, and brought it up in a horizontal block just as the Gentleman lunged into a forward slash. The two blades clanged together, and I felt a wave of pride that was, just for a moment, enough to overcome the pain.
Fluttershy pushed her opponent's blade off, but he kept his momentum, swung the blade around, and went for a horizontal slash, which Fluttershy caught just in time with a vertical block. Another wild swing aimed at her legs, and Fluttershy caught it. With a grunt, the Gentleman lunged forward with a stab, and Fluttershy sidestepped it. Her eyes were like dinner plates and her hands shook, but she fought him off well.
Too well.
Even as I breathlessly tried to reach behind me to pull the dagger from my shoulder, it slowly sank in. Whoever this Gentleman guy is, he was woefully underprepared for this fight. Maybe less so than Fluttershy. He counted on killing me from behind, and he counted on Fluttershy being totally unable to defend herself. Neither of which turned out well for him. Furthermore, he was definitely equipped for a stealth mission, and it seemed his training had revolved solely around that. He'd attacked me from behind successfully, but couldn't seem to harm a novice sword wielder one-on-one, and wielded a short sword with wide, reckless arcs as if it was a longsword. He was passionate, true, but in the end, thoroughly incompetent.
The perfect opponent for a paladin in training.
Fluttershy parried another strike from above, swung her sword quickly across, and caught him in the chest. Stepping back before the middle of the blade could hit him, the Gentleman took a cut that tore into his Gi, and he yelped and gripped his chest in pain. Fluttershy gasped and froze, seemingly appalled by what she had done.
NO, FLUTTERSHY! I screamed inside my head, wishing I could say it aloud. PRESS THE ATTACK WHILE YOU HAVE HIM! DON'T HESITATE! HIT HIM NOW!
It was too late. Rushing forward, the Gentleman took his free hand from his chest and backhanded Fluttershy across the face, and she shrieked and stumbled backwards. Pressing the assault, the Gentleman slashed, catching Fluttershy in the arm and causing her to scream in pain.
You son of a bitch. You monster. You racist incel piece of inhuman filth, when I get my hands on you, I'll make you wish you were never born! All just thoughts, trapped in my mind as my ever-weakening state kept my mouth shut.
The Gentleman pointed his sword directly at her. "Now you know your place," he growled. "Like any other Stacy out there with even a single brain cell. If you're smart, you'll put the sword down and reward me for my valor with a nice thorough blowjob."
I swear to God, you will BEG for death when I'm done with you! More thoughts that could never leave my head. I kept reaching, choking back gasps and shedding rivers of tears as I tried to find the handle of the dagger.
Fluttershy had tears in her eyes, too. But her sword was still firmly grasped in her hand, even with the other clasping the bloody wound on her arm. She moved her hand from the wound and made for a two-handed grip, only to do a double-take at the wound itself.
Or rather, where it was.
Where there was once a deep gash in her upper arm just below the shoulder, now only a trickle of blood remained. Fluttershy marveled at it, and even the Gentleman was caught by surprise. It didn't slow him down, though, and he lunged again, just barely missing another jab that Fluttershy sidestepped. This time, he was smart and swept the blade, cutting Fluttershy on the thigh and eliciting another yelp of pain. Fluttershy crouched down to dodge a blow that would have taken off her head, she stood back up, and in that time, the cut on her thigh was gone and the fishnet stocking covering it was mended.
"What the fuck?!" the Gentleman spat, starting to shake with rage. "What is this hax bullshit?!" I asked myself the same question, even as I reached and bled.
Even Fluttershy couldn't answer. "I . . . I don't know. But you could have damaged my Aibu no Usagi, and that would have been very rude!"
The name struck my ears, and my jaw hit the floor. The Gentleman seemed to recognize the name, as well, "WHAT!? The Aibu no Usagi?! The armor that grants the wearer instant recovery from non-fatal injuries? An armor so rare and powerful, no player's ever even seen it?! Bitch, how do you have it?!"
Fluttershy seemed confused. "I don't know. Ser 7hund3r came back from a mission once with a random chest of treasures. Even he didn't know what was in it. But when I saw this suit, I thought it was adorable, so he let me keep it. I looked up what it was called in Lord Lightning's books."
Steve had the Aibu no Usagi all this time? He had one of the rarest and most powerful armors in the game and didn't even know it? And he just up and GAVE it to Fluttershy?!
I would have to have a serious talk with him somewhere down the line.
"Enough of this bullshit!" the Gentleman roared. "I'm done with both of you! If I can't train you, then I'll just have to kill you! I'll take your pretty little Asian head back to Arok as a trophy! Maybe then he'll let me learn necromancy so we can bring Rose back to life. Then, when we lead the attack, you'll be sorry!"
Attack? I asked myself. What does he mean? The thought was fleeting as another burst of pain seized me up, and I reached back again. Gotta get this thing out!
The Gentleman slammed his blade down on Fluttershy, and her blade clashed with his again. The two pushed against each other, the Gentleman with his slimy sneer and Fluttershy with an ever-tightening scowl. Neither gave an inch for a good few seconds, and it seemed as though neither would give up for a good long while. Until something happened that made both combatants blink.
CRACK!
It came from the Gentleman's sword, and was so loud that I heard it from where I was. Fluttershy seized the moment and pushed her opponent back, leaving him vulnerable to another swing. The Gentleman blocked, his sword emitting another loud CRACK as the blades connected. Finally, the Gentleman brought his blade down for a massive downward slash, but Fluttershy blocked horizontally again, and the foe's blade shattered into shards, falling apart off of the hilt and showering Fluttershy in silvery splinters. Some of them left small cuts on Fluttershy's face, but as the Gentleman knelt down and Fluttershy stood tall, the cuts seemed to vanish from her face instantly, leaving only a small trickle of blood and a pair of eyes filled with determined intensity.
That's my girl.
Fluttershy brought a foot up and kicked the unarmed man hard in the face, knocking him to the ground where he lay unmoving. His worthless sword, shattered by the Enemy and reduced to a bladeless hilt, dropped from his limp hand and rolled a few inches away in the grass. Fluttershy herself dropped to her knees and sighed long and hard, her head drooped and her whole body shaking. She seemed as though she would start crying in moments.
If she doesn't get her little bunny tail over here and start helping me, she'll definitely cry at my funeral!
She suddenly gasped and perked up her head. "Lord Lightning!" she screamed and stood up straight, racing to me and crouching beside me. By now, I was flat on the ground, missing maybe half the blood in my body. I could barely move. I couldn't even think straight without the pain gripping me like a vice.
"My lord!" Fluttershy cried as her hands hovered helplessly over the wound. "I-I . . . w-what do I do?"
"Get . . . it . . . out . . ."
"B-but . . ." she sniffled, her hands still shaking and hesitating to go forward, "I don't . . . I-I don't want to hurt you—"
"JUST DO IT!" I swear, another ounce of blood could have dropped from my body all at once, and I began to lose consciousness.
"I'M SORRY!" she squealed, now holding back genuine tears. She gently took the handle of the dagger in my back with two hands, felt how rigid it was, then in one smooth motion, gripped hard and pulled. The vice of agony crushed me, but already the dagger's binding magic was uplifted, and I began to feel stronger already.
"I'm sorry, my dear lord!" Fluttershy wailed, dropping the blood-stained dagger. "Please forgive me! I didn't want to do it! I didn't want to hurt you! Please don't be angry with me! I tried to protect you! I really did!"
I pushed myself up onto my knees, still feeling woozy from blood loss, until my eyes were level with hers. I smiled, touched one hand to her cheek, then brought her forward for a kiss on her lips. She stopped shaking the second her lips touched mine, and she sighed, much more relaxed this time. She leaned forward and I held her, and she melted into my arms as we kissed.
We parted only so I could take a breath. "Baby," I grunted, "you're the best."
At this, Fluttershy merely squeed.
Focusing my rebuilding energy, I tightened my hand into a fist and felt the power build up. It wasn't much, but it would be more soon, and for now, this was all I needed. I unfurled my fist and stretched my fingers out to the fullest, and they glowed with a dim yellow light as they hovered over my chest, where the dagger pierced through my wooden chestplate. I felt bones, organs, blood vessels and other such things move and reconstruct themselves in my body, a gentle numbing sensation floating through me and dulling the pain. It took about thirty seconds altogether (normally a basic healing spell took a bit over half of that, but this wound was pretty bad and my magic was still slightly stunted), but after an unpleasant feeling of moving and squishing and cracking, the hole was closed and sealed, and the numbing feeling cut off the spread of the pain. I was finally feeling like myself again.
"That's better," I said, taking a breath and trying to stand. I slipped a little on my own blood, and the movement caused my head to swim.
"My lord!" Fluttershy yelped and grabbed me by the good arm. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm good," I replied. "I'll be a little out of it for a day or so until my blood builds up again, but I'm finally free to use magic again. Let me lean on you, honey." She put my arm around her shoulders and took my weight, and I walked with her over to the still form of our assailant.
"Hmm . . ." I pondered as I observed him, "The_Supreme_Gentleman_99, huh? He wasn't so tough, all things considered. Still, he was your first true opponent, and you performed beautifully." I looked back at her with starry-eyed sincerity. "I'm so proud of you, sweetheart."
Despite the praise, Fluttershy looked somewhat mortified at the results of her efforts. "Did . . ." she mumbled, "did I . . . did I kill him?"
"I hope not." I crouched down to get a better look at his face—and the massive bruise on his face in the shape of Fluttershy's heel. "He and I have some things to discuss when he wakes up." Like how he snuck in, how he heard about Teutonic's death so quickly, and most especially . . .
Then, when we lead the attack, you'll be sorry!
What he meant by "attack".
I stood back up (still wavy, but Fluttershy held me steady), and I looked her full in the face for the first time since before this fight started. It might have been the harrowing situation, or delirium from the blood loss, or just her enticing (and, as it turned out, wholly practical) outfit. But somehow, Fluttershy seemed even more astoundingly beautiful than before.
My hands found her hips, my fingers hungering for her perky bottom, and I thrilled at the amorous look in her eyes.
"You know, my sweet," I teased, sliding my fingers back and watching her face flush, "the more I think about it, the more I want to reach out for that tasty little bunny tail."
This made her blush deepen. "Well, my dear lord," she whispered, batting her eyelashes, "I'd quite like to nibble on you for a time."
"And I'm sorely tempted to redden that little bunny tail."
"And I'm quite eager to have your thick, strong carrot."
I reached behind her and took one cheek in each hand, making her gasp and throw her arms around me. She pressed herself against my crotch, rubbing up against my throbbing erection and licking her lips lustily.
I felt it shrivel when I heard a pained groan from the ground. The Gentleman was still here, unconscious but slowly coming to.
Fluttershy and I looked at each other, the passion dissolving in moments.
"We should tie him up."
"Yep."
