A Beast King's Combat Record
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Behind the palace was a massive arena that looked like the great Roman Colosseum. Arabic looking palace, Roman backyard. This country was just all over the place aesthetically.
Though I supposed if Regulus was fantasy Rome and there used to be a Regulanen colony here, then that made sense. It also made sense why the capital of this country faced the inland lake rather than the ocean, across that lake was the northern half of the continent. It was, unsurprisingly, known as the Great Gao Lake.
Before facing the King Jamukha however, we were led to a dressing room for gladiators. Mannequins wore all sorts of gladiatorial garb and weapons, as might be expected from such a fabulous heritage. I poked one which had an ornate basket helmet, metal wraps around the arms, silver greaves and boots, a chain-covered kilt to protect the groin and thigh area, and a round shield for the left arm – basically an outfit that protected everything except the chest and stomach of the wearer.
"Are we expected to wear these?" I asked.
"Oh, no. In a simple spar with His Beastliness, there is no need for such outlandish accoutrements."
Behind me was Chancellor Glatz, the avian beastkin from earlier. His wings were as gray as his hair, and his robes were a shade of off-white only slightly darker than the rest of him. He had a thick and prominent mustache that reached down past his chin. He pointed to another manikin with a decent-looking padded jack (1).
"Though for your protection, I recommend you wear some padding. A shield might be useful too." Then he muttered under his breath "Like everyone knows the King isn't going to wear any of that."
Uh, having a bunch of old guys in my dressing room is kinda making me uncomfortable. "Uh. Right. Thanks." I made a small shrug and asked "What was that some other business you wanted to discuss with me before the fighting?"
"Ah, my apologies. Please forgive us, goodman Zah. His Beastliness is the person who cannot resist fighting anyone who he thinks is strong. In truth, we are all quite bothered by it too."
"It's fine. It's somewhat refreshing to me, in Belfast there's only a few people who would be fortright enough to forego the rules of courtesy to challenge directly. People who seek strength only for strength, rather than power or status."
I thought about them. There's the Viscount Sordrick. And I supposed Zorah.
They were also quite annoying people.
Huh.
One of the other ministers presented to me a wooden sword. It looked somewhat like the Roman spatha(2), but with a longer two-handed grip. It came with a thicker blade obviously due to wood not having the same structural strength as steel. I tested its grip, balance, and swing.
Whoosh. Whoosh. The sword cut a good draft in the air. The sword blade was dull but the wood it was made of was dark and hard, almost copper-red in color. It was very rigid, and somewhat heavier than a real sword. The two-handed grip with a heavy metal pommel was necessary to put balance back towards the wrist. Was this ironwood?
"A good sword. Heck, if the edge was sharpened, this could do some real damage. As it is, if the King's sword is like this I'm going to have to fear some broken bones."
"Oh no! No, you need not fear for that!" spoke the minister who handed me the sword. "His Beastliness will be using a softer wood sword, as usual. The sword must be easy to break in case he fails to control his strength."
"I see. That's not encouraging…"
"We are here to tell you that you need not hold back!" Chancellor Glatz added. "Fight your hardest! Don't worry about hurting His Beastliness! In fact we would be truly grateful if you caused him some serious pain!"
"Wait, hang on. Isn't he your liege? Is it okay to be telling things like that to some random stranger from outside the kingdom?"
"It would be okay to tell it to some random citizens living inside the kingdom!" someone immediately backed up Glatz. "No one minds it! Everyone knows his Beastliness always looks down on the importance of state affairs!"
Another spoke up: "There are times when he just disappears and we find him training with the soldiers, overpowering every single one of them!"
"There was a time when he got an idea for a new weapon and just walked out of the room while someone was talking and went straight to the blacksmith. We had to apologize to the visitor and our schedule for the rest of the day was just ruined!"
"Don't forget what he said about starting a grand tournament… did he even consider the budget?! We have no budget for grand displays just giving money away! If he wants to have strong fighters, then just pay the army more to train soldiers the regular way!"
The ministers then all huddled together in a circle with arms on each other's shoulders. I think I could almost hear a sob.
Chancellor Glatz looked up with a strange look on his face. "Help us, Sir Playa! You are our only hope."
Nope I am completely compartmentalizing this type of behavior.
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I went out to the bright morning light of the arena to a dull roar. The audience was made of my friends and colleagues, all the ministers of Mismede, and many soldiers of their army ranked Captain and above. Rather than clapping, it seemed they expressed appreciation by stomping feet.
The King was already at the center of the arena with both muscled arms raised high, hamming it up and building hype for his challenger. He had a regular sword that looked that looked like a one-handed cutlass with a basket hilt in his big beefy hands and a round shield that was more proportionally a buckler strapped onto his left arm.
I chose to forego a shield because I had no training in using them anyway. I'd have to rely on my advantage in speed.
"Good, you didn't back out! I'm really happy about that!" King Jamukha greeted me, rubbing at his nose like some schoolboy. "Let's have a good fight!"
The referee began to start the bout. "The fight will last until one side receives a hit or an injury that would be fatal with real swords or if one side admits defeat. The use of magic is permitted for both sides."
I raised an eyebrow. Then again, comparing how big the King was, a purely physical fight just looked so dashed unfair.
"However, offensive magic aimed directly at your opponent is forbidden. Do both parties agree to follow these rules?"
No offensive magic? That's… fine. I glanced aside to see that among the girls, Yae and Yumina had the most intense looks trying to commit this spectacle of swordery to memory. Linze yelled down "Good luck, Mister Zah! Fight-o!"
And Elze "Get your ass beat, Playa!"
Elze why.
I turned back towards the King and asked "You sure about this?"
"Heheheh. Of course! Don't you dare hold back!" He was a snow leopard beastkin with a large white brush mustache. He looked a bit old, with a lined face, but I wondered how much of that was really age and not laugh lines and skin wear and tear under the sun. The white hair threw off real estimates of his age. "Use all you have an' try to win! I'd be insulted if you try to hold back just because of my crown, and you won't like that!"
He was so huge, it would be stupid to underestimate him. Those damn hard muscles might as well be natural armor.
The referee with the tall goat horns raised his hand high, looked at both fighters, then chopped his hand down. "Ready… BEGIN!"
Paf. Paf.
Two small craters appeared on the sand floor of the arena.
Next thing everyone realized was a crash as the two fighters were abruptly in the middle of the arena, the King with his sword pointed down, blocking a strike towards his right side hip.
His eyes glittered and his face opened up in delight, with a big wide grin showing all of his teeth. "You're fast! No feelin' out the enemy, you go full speed for the kill at the start!" he said with a full belly laugh. "I like it!"
I grinned back. "Red wunz go fasta."
"Heh heh he. Not bad. Not bad at all!" Then he forced me off the blade lock with his superior natural strength and swung again in a stab-cut.
I disengaged to avoid, and then he surged forward in a barrel rush. "Faster! Faster! You have to do better than that!" He swung his sword at such speed and power I couldn't hope to block them. With our difference in height, he had the advantage in reach.
I stepped back again and again, having to give way.
King Jamukha roared out "Don't just dodge! Fight!"
The King made a big heavy overhead chop with his sword that I side-stepped easily. But then abruptly with great effort on his part it abruptly changed directions 90-degrees like an L into a horizontal slash. I leaned backwards Matrix-style and watched the swing pass over me.
But that took my eye off him and left me open for a follow-through punch, the momentum of his right arm swinging the sword pulling the other side of his body.
That is, if I hadn't raised my right leg and as his left fist made contact with the sole of my boot, that was enough to fling me up and away. I flipped in the air and with a soft puff on the sands, landed cleanly on both feet some distance away. Still facing my opponent.
The King stopped and stood straight up. His spotted tail made small confused side to side motions as if trying to seek a counter-balance. "Swooping Swallow style…" he mumbled with raised eyebrows. "How ever did a human manage to learn that?"
I see. I guess with the differences in actual physical abilities between the beastkin it also made sense they also had distinct fighting styles. Kind of like the Animal Forms of Kung Fu. (3) Tiger, Snake, Dragon, Crane, Monkey, etc.
"I am a leaf in the wind!" I replied.
"Good for you! But trying to tire me out? That won't work." He grinned again and bent down. He muttered something under his breath and then shouted "Even leaves can be cut!"
Paf.
With another crater in the sand, the king disappeared.
Paf.
And me too.
Faster than anyone could see, we screamed and leaped at each other.
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Clack.
Clack.
Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack.
Paf. Paf.
Two figures slid back into view, half-crouched with their swords held up to just above their heads and pointed towards the enemy's throat. A gap of several stride lengths extended between them.
I heard a ripping noise. One the red sleeves of my jacket tore open in the motion. It was armor cloth, but it was cut through. How?
"… I see. Air pressure. You swing the sword so fast, that it creates an air blade that can hit the enemy beyond the tip of your sword." And worse than that, because it creates a partial vacuum, the floating leaf can't use that wind pressure to push itself away.
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Up in the stands, Monika was relaying the words spoken between the combatants. Yae perked up and looked like she had a new idea. Then she remembered she didn't have usable swords anymore and sighed in disappointment.
She touched the remaining sword by her waist, the one that was shattered to half size.
She was still looking for a way to defeat the darkness within the sword… for wherever light may go, it finds that the shadow has gotten there first.
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I could do that too, but because my limb was inherently shorter, the range and power would be shorter - any more would require magic, and that violates the rule about using magic directly. There were also a lot of things I could do like wetting and freezing the ground to destroy friction needed for footing, but that sort of cheap shot ruins the whole point of sparring in the first place.
Gesturing for wandless magic also had the problem that it destroyed my guard. I needed to open the range for that, but he was fast enough to keep me distracted by constantly stabbing towards my face.
"Not bad. Not bad at all. But is that all?" the King asked. "Why not use your magic? I recognize that you're fast, boyo, but just being fast isn't enough. You didn't beat a dragon with just this, did ya?"
"Don't look down on me while thinking I'm looking down on you! If I want to fight you with a sword, then I'm beating you the way I want!" I shot back. Then in a lower tone of voice "Are you asking me that because you've been using Magic all this while? Your speed isn't natural, I can tell that. I'm keeping up with my own combat speed spell."
King Jamukha nodded. "My own special Null ability is [Accel]. It makes the body a bit faster, that's all. It also makes this magic barrier around the body the faster I move. It eats up magic energy like crazy though, so you can't really keep it up for long."
"Impressive. But you just told me that contrary to your words from earlier, trying to tire you out WILL WORK."
"That's only if you can take even one of my hits, innit?" He grinned back. The grip on his sword tightened and he crouched lower, ready to put all his thigh strength into a powerful lunge. Right, with how [Accel] works, the faster he goes that safer he is. He was always incentivized to hit with full force, and spells would bounce off his environmental shield.
KE=mv2. The King being so huge made sense now- his speed multiplied the power of his attacks. Just blocking his strikes was already making my bones ache. But only blocking early would prevent the air pressure front from forming at the tip of the blade.
"Oh, really?" I smiled smugly like a fox. "How are you going to do that when-" [wuld] [na] [kest!]
I vanished from sight, a small spray of sand was kicked off to the right. I pointed my sword at the back of the Beastkin King's neck. "… When I am right behind you?"
Behind me boiled a ゴゴゴゴ [Menacing] aura.
King Jamukha chuckled. "Impressive. But you're wrong." [Accel!].
The event repeated itself. "I am behind you."
Paf. "No, I am behind you."
Paf. "No, I am!"
Paf. "No, I'm behind you again."
Paf. "No, you're in front of me."
Monika slapped her face and groaned. /"Seriously? Seriously, Player? That old Bleach meme?"/
I don't get to use this dankest of powers very often, Monika. Just let me have this.
Paf. "Too slow, boyo."
Paf. "No you're slowing down old man."
Paf. "Now-"
Paf. "I am-."
Paf. "Behind-."
Paf. "You-."
Paf.
Paf.
Paf.
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"What are those idiots doing?!" (4) Elze moaned. "This isn't a fight any more. If they have to show off, can't they do it in a way that makes sense?!"
"But this does carry its own logic, Elze-dono," said Yae as she intently observed.
Logically it takes a lot more effort to flash step behind someone. Kick out with one foot, kick with the other to push in the opposite angle, land and stop making the whole thing look effortless. Only possible if you had the utmost in speed and control. Only possible with those so fast to make the movements in between seem invisible.
"To strike from behind is dishonorable, but that it because it is the best place to strike. But at these speeds, if you miss, now you will be the one left open to a strike from behind. They cannot allow the opponent that advantage, so no one attacks until they are sure. Positioning is quite important, yes it is."
Yae could barely see them as they blinked and shuffled backwards, but she looked past them towards how they approached the colloseum wall. Whoever ended up with his back to the wall has no choice but to strike.
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The soles of my boots slapped flat onto the arena wall. I sat there stuck to the wall for a second, like Spider-Man. The King smirked, but didn't look behind him. He opened his arms wide, baring his back, silently asking "Well…?"
Phrak.
The stone behind me cratered out as I shot out with the force of a bullet.
The King merely had to step slightly aside to avoid my stab, but I was going too fast for a return strike.
"[ACCEL!]" he roared, and ran after me.
Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak!
A line of small divots were punched into the arena floor, the combatants moving so fast the only thing that could be seen were the footsteps they left behind. Swords clashed as both fighters maintained an even distance from each other. Evading hits just barely only worked if you had the speed advantage - if you were both equal, playing around like that was the fastest way to lose.
Kick. Slash. Block. Kick. Slash. Block. As fast as possible, as often as possible.
Until something breaks through!
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Yae clenched her fists and jaw, her eyes narrowed to the point she was almost scowling, trying to maintain contact with the blur.
Like a snake coiling through sand, the line curved around and around, the faster we we were going the larger was the turning radius. A slow biplane might be able to tightly turn about in a second, but something like the famed Blackbird SR-71 had a turning radius measured in hundreds of kilometers.
"They're going so fast, they're now running on the walls!" Linze squealed as the winds kicked up by our passing flowed by. The walls underneath the group were also marked with foot-shaped divots punched into the stone.
Yae let out a slow despairing hiss.
/"Ohh? Envious are we? Do you think this is the gap that separates magic-users from mere warriors?"/ Monika whispered into her ears. /"Beyond technique, there is only power. It's unfair, isn't it? Some people are just born into it. Life is so unfair, it's like someone has written the ending before we even started.
/"You know this. You benefit from this. Imagine if you weren't born the daughter of the warrior house of Kokonoe, instead just some merchant or farmer's daughter. The strength in your arms comes from the training and the comfort allowed to you by your station."/
"Do you… do you mean to say that I should not be jealous of what I cannot have? We are not all born equal, this I do. Duty and fealty, filial piety- I understand this, this I do."
/"Oh no, no, no, my dear samurai girl. That's not right at all. Player and I are bored with that sort of Dragon Ball escalation. It's fine to look for strength, but if you can't define victory then you'll be spending the rest of your life looking for something that doesn't exist. Isn't that why followers of your school travel the world? You're allowed to find a way to integrate what you learn out there to improve your swordsmanship.
/"Beyond power, there is perfection. A stagnant, dead sword style is one that refuses to grow. Our sword is the sword that cries out in loneliness from the heart of the world."/
-.
Poom. Poom.
I launched myself into the air. The King leapt straight up after me. Yumina and Elze screamed as stone fragments fell down from where we ran up the pillars and pushed off the roof up into the open sky above the Colosseum.
Our swords clashed in mid-air.
"In the air, there's no footing, is this what you were thinking?!" King Jamukha roared out. "Many winged warriors thought the same dang thing!"
Pakapakakakaka! Our swords struck and parried each other repeatedly as we fell down to earth.
With one last strong strike, the recoil from our blow pushed us apart from each other. Wind billowed beneath my cloak, and I boosted to swoop down upon the snow leopard like a hawk diving after prey. King Jamuka swung his arm about, turning 180* degrees, and somehow in mid-air managed to find the acceleration to swing up and meet me in mid-dive.
What.
Smack!
Is… is this AMBAC?! (5) Shite, I should have been wary about how you resembled Ramba Ral too much! By swinging mass around, he could impart momentum and vector changes without expenditure of reaction energy.
Huge muscles mean more speed! What is this unfairneeess!
-.
We arced away from each other and landed back down on the ground, facing each other.
We were both breathing hard, no longer trying to disguise our exhaustion. If anything making the enemy think we had less energy than what we had would bias them into over-committing into the next hit. Haaah. Hah.
Not gonna lie, just managing to deflect his hits was painful as all get out. While he couldn't keep running [Accel] for much longer, if my ability to dodge or block fails even just once I'd be down and out for sure. I needed to go beyond speed. Beyond rocket speed.
I needed godspeed.
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"You… you can use [Accel] to increase your acceleration at any time. It's not adding energy into the equation, it's manipulating what's already there," I say out loud. The shield effect that protects him was similar to how Elze's boost reinforced her body so that she doesn't pulverize herself by the forces she's punching into things. I could tell we were actually going supersonic at some points there.
"Your magic works like that, eh? Constantly pushing you instead. I can tell, you're changing your weight so you can move fast and act more quickly. A leaf in the wind, I get it now…" King Jamuka replied, his shoulders heaving with breath. "I haven't been pushed this hard in years. You're fast – you're really fast!"
Then he shook his head sadly. "What a pity though. You're fast- but your hits aren't that strong. You've got too little weight and power behind it. If you were just fightin' anyone else… hitting gaps in armor and defenses would be good enough."
But King Jamukha made his legend by ripping through reams of men, overpowering all of them, throwing whole formations in disarray. Once going in a straight line, very few things could stop him.
I took a deep breath. And exhaled.
"I have to admit, I can't beat you like this."
And the music of a certain rurouni with an x-shaped scar on his cheek shifted through my earphones. (6)
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/"We are reminded of a story about the strongest sword – a sword style born in the crucible of war – a way for a single swordsman to defeat multiple opponents. Beyond human speed is godspeed – a heavenly soaring sword style,"/ Monika whispered.
With similar words, I spoke to Beast King Jamukha about this.
"So powerful is it, that the practitioners of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu are forbidden to use their sword to improve their social standing, to acquire wealth, or to obtain political power. So powerful that it can never be sworn in fealty to a single lord."
/"For whomsoever can bring them to their side in battle shall almost certainly acquire absolute victory. Rather, those who master this sword must weild their blades in defense of the weak and in support of the right."/
-.
Yae nodded. She understood that. She also understood that Zah Playa von Chara could NOT be a practitioner of that sword style – his sheer neophyte ways with the sword were very difficult to fake. It was easy to see that he was more comfortable with handling a spear or a long sword.
I raised my sword and held it in a basic stance in front of me.
/"I want you to imagine it – an attack that dashes forward and strikes all nine points of the enemy simultaneously – an attack said to be practically unavoidable and unblockable, only possible through the unmatched godspeed of those that have mastered this style."/
The illusion of nine swords clashing – diagonal cut from left shoulder, vertical slash to the head, diagonal cut from right shoulder, horizontal slash from right to left, rising diagonal cut through right hip, rising vertical slash cutting through the groin, rising diagonal cut through left hip, horizontal slash from left to right, and then finally a straight stab through the breastbone – passed through my vision.
/"No matter what sword style, it is assumed that attacks will always target one of these points, and so will one's guard. But if one attacks all of these areas simultaneously, this makes all blocking and dodging useless."/
With a tiny gesture, nine illusionary swords appeared in the air in front of them. Katanas, arranged in triple rows. With another flick, the swords dived towards Yae, opening up slightly then converging like a dragon's claw holding a hapless mortal morsel in its grip.
/"How do you stop the attack of someone massively faster than you?"/
The girls yelped, and leaned away from Yae. The swordswoman didn't even flinch. Not even when the swords pierced into the wooden seats. The parts that passed through her body remained ethereal as ever.
She clenched her fists. "Is Playa-dono able to execute that?"
-.
I chuckled lightly. "I am not a practitioner of Hiten Mitsurgi Ryuu. My straight-line speed might be fast enough, but no way can I swing my arms fast enough to strike from nine directions simultaneously."
"Is that even possible?" the Beastkin King asked. His mustache quivered. He looked excited about it.
"The Dragon has nine heads. Fighting you is like fighting a master of the Heavenly Soaring Sword. Speed and power combined in one peerless package. (7)
"More than that, the style's last and most famed practitioner, Himura Kenshin, was a little slip of a man. His Kuzu Ryu Sen, no matter how fast, would always be overcome by his master due to the weight advantage."
Speed kills. But speed without power, is just wind, which batters against the mountainside in all futility.
Then I smiled. "But then - that is the reason why the Nine Headed Dragon Flash is NOT the ultimate technique of the Heaven Soaring Holy Sword Style."
I put my left foot forward and crouched. I positioned my sword at just below my left armpit.
-.
"That stance-!" Yae recognized it immediately. "That is a fast-draw battou jutsu stance!"
Then she frowned. "It is not going to work. His sword is a straight sword and he doesn't even have a sheath." Then she brightened up. "But… the wind blade forming at the tip! The faster the blade moves, the stronger it is! You do not even have to fear the difference in reach, you do not!"
Then again she frowned. "But that is wrong. You are supposed to put your right foot forward, not your left. Doing it like this risks your own foot being cut off in the draw, it does…"
And wouldn't the magic barrier stop the ranged strike anyway?
-.
King Jamukha grinned. He shrugged off the shield on his left arm and tossed it away, holding his sword with both hands with his left hand wrapped around the pommel.
"Let's see if what you're thinking works out as well as you think, boyo! I respect that – so I'll show you the power of my own sacred arts –"
Paf.
-.
I crouched lower, looking down at the ground. My eyes were useless here, to detect the approach of such speed. Feel the approaching wind pressure…
Feel the hostile intent.
A new type of combat.
I slammed my left foot down, cratering the sand floor and breaking even the foundation stones beneath.
And Monika spoke: /"Hiten Mitsurgi Ryuu-"/
PHRAK.
Light flashed from the point of contact.
/"Amakakeru Ryuu no Hirameki – the FLASH OF THE HEAVEN SOARING DRAGON!"/
The King appeared suddenly, his sword held vertically. His magic barrier popped. His left foot slammed down as well, piercing the ground like a jackhammer piercing to secure footing. He blocked my sword edge to edge, adding his weight to the back of the blade with a supporting grip with his off hand. If he still had the shield on his arm, he wouldn't have been able to bend his arm inwards so far.
Sand and dust exploded out in a circle around us. Both of us bared our teeth as we put all our power into that one hit…
"You're strong!" the King roared. "But the attack you're expecting – it's one that's so strong because it doesn't give a hoot to defense, isn't it?! Going all in, I LIKE IT!" He grit his teeth and pushed. "But if someone blocks it instead? You're strong – BUT ARE YOU STRONG ENOUGH TO WIN?!"
"I've gone down a dark path and come into the light. I've died once before and with her now my DESIRE TO LIVE IS STRONGER THAN ANYTHINGGG!"
Our swords struggled in the blade lock-
... And slowly, my sword began to slide.
Flicking his arm up, he deflected my sword away while getting into position for an overhead slash.
"He- he blocked it!" someone gasped.
"Your Beastliness!" one of the ministers yelled, surprisingly happy. The battle had been so tense so far that now even he wanted to see his King win.
"Playa-dono!"
"YOU'RE WIDE OPEN!" King Jamuka roared and prepared to swing down as the momentum of my swing forced me to continue bringing my arm around, exposing my back.
"Uooooh! Here it comes! THE CLAW OF THE DIVINE WHITE TIGER!" yelled out the soldiers that had suffered many such training blows before.
And then...
... His foot slipped.
"… What?!" he gasped. His eyes widened.
He could only watch as he felt his body being drawn forward.
A clash of swords, no matter how violent, would normally not be able to create a vacuum that would pull in an opponent. That was just how anime fighting works. But then again, I wasn't an actual practitioner of Hiten Mitsurugi.
I AM A CHAR!
Mantling being born with the soul of a Dragon!
And the Absolute Master of WIND MAGIC!
-.
Monika smiled.
/"Even if you do avoid the fangs of the flying dragon, the gusting winds strip away freedom of movement – /
The King could only watch, in a second that trailed on for too long, as I completed the rotation back to the front and with a last desperate yell drove my blade into his side.
/"And its claws would tear you asunder."/
"Grrrrgh!" the huge snow leopard man tried to stand firm, but the wooden blade broke ribs. His stance was broken, he bent inwards from the blow.
I screamed "RRAAAAAAAH!"
And then he was flying through the arena off to the right, smashing into the stone guard wall and through it. FWA-BOM! Smoke and dust billowed out.
"YOUR BEASTLINESS!" Chancellor Gratz cried out. "MY KING!"
Thaa-dut. Ta-dut. Ta dut. Duh.
I dropped to the arena sands, face-first. Completely exhausted.
"Playa!"
-.
Moments passed in aching silence.
A dark shape loomed from within the dust cloud. A white clawed hand, stained with blood, reached out to the edge of the hole. Stone crumbled into his palms.
"Oh no…" Linze moaned.
King Jamuka pulled himself out of the debris. A wide wide grin was on his face, though his eyes were shadowed.
"That… that was a good hit," he growled.
Then blood spurted out from between his lips and he dropped to one knee.
"SAVE YOUR KING!" Chancellor Glatz roared.
Soldiers dropped into the arena, half over to the King and the other half surrounding me in a circle with naked blades pointing down ready to stab me if I even so much as twitched.
"PLAYA! You dirtbags, what do you think you're doing?!"
"Mister Zah! We're coming to rescue you!"
And Yumina yelled "IF SIR ZAH IS HURT FROM OUTSIDE FORCES, BELFAST WILL NOT IGNORE IT! THIS WAS A FAIR DUEL YOU ALL AGREED TO IT!"
"… Stop. Stop it, you dirtwiiipes…!" King Jamukha growled. "The girl's right. This was what I wanted all along AHAha- ow it hurts to laugh. Ahahaha…"
/"Ah, truly, between men a fight is a conversation,"/ Monika mused, nodding to herself. /"A conversation between gung-ho morons, but a conversation nonetheless. This, I also accept."/
Ahahaha.
-.
-.
Much later:
The King and I sat staring at each other on opposite sides of a round table. All wrapped up in bandages.
While being glared at by our significant others.
Ahahaha. Ow.
We both winced. It still hurt to laugh.
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(1) Gambeson - Wikipedia
(2) Spatha - Wikipedia
(3) Five Animals - Wikipedia
(4) youtube / watch?v=bZZcUdIdAt0
(5) gundam Active_Mass_Balance_Auto-Control
(6) youtube / watch?v=-4l4rvTVt8U