Disclaimer
Not mine. Oc's are, but thats it...for now...
Chapter 4
"Granberia..." I stared up in shock at the Heavenly Knight in front of me.
"Genko" She responded evenly, bemused at my sudden appearance. "Why are you running?"she questioned.
"Well, I ah Got lost! Yeah, I got lost and ran out of frustration!" Which was half-true. She quirked an eyebrow.
"Oh, really? The direction you just came from leads to the slime chamber, Erubetie didn't scare you off now did she?" Amusement glinted in her eyes as I blushed in embarrassment.
S-she didn't scare me off! I just decided to leave at her polite request." I tried to defend myself and judging by Granberia's flat look, failed miserably.
"Right. Sure you did." She murmured sarcastically and began to walk past me.
"Wait! Where are you going?" I scrambled to my feet and followed after her.
"To train. Why?" She asked, still continuing her pace.
"Tamamo has business to take care of in the castle, so we'll be staying here for awhile." I answered, falling in step with her.
"So?" She pressed on.
"So, I'm bored!" I exclaimed throwing my hands up in exaggeration."I can't navigate the castle without getting lost, and your the only person in this castle who doesn't freak me out! Plus.." I trailed off knowing that she'll agree once I finished.
"Plus?" She raised an eyebrow.
I stopped walking, letting a battle hungry grin appear on my face.
"Its been awhile sense I've tested my swordsmanship against someone."
Granberia paused, turning to look back at me. Golden eyes staring intently at me.
"Are you Challenging me?"
I simply keep on grinning. She soon returned the grin with one of her own.
"I knew I like you for some reason."
Remembered how I said that If there was one thing I prided myself on more than my swordsmanship, was my speed? Well Granberia crushed both prides as soon as she drew her blade. She was faster, stronger and her swordsmanship was borderline god-like.
I was breathing heavily covered in cuts and bruises of varying degrees. Nothing life threatening, she was holding back of course
"Come On! Is that the best you got!" Granberia roared, not looking winded in the slightest.
Now I was under no illusion that I could best her in combat, but I at least thought I could make her sweat a little. But there she was, short crimson hair framing her face held in place by a black and gold metal headband. The signature red tattoo all Heavenly Knights possess on the left side of her face, trailing down her neck. A maniac grin on her face showing her sharp teeth, only her breastplate and shoulder pads shined in the light as she wore nothing else besides them and her purple cape bellowed in the wind behind her. Her draconic scales covered her surprisingly slender frame except for her chest, face, inner thigh, and the area from her shoulders to her elbow. Her reptilian tail laid on the ground behind her as her clawed hands griped around Ares, Her greatsword made out of dragonsteel, the 'supposedly' hardest metal in the world. The sun glinted off the blade as it was trained on my panting form across the room. Granberia was the perfect picture of a warrior. A scantily clad warrior but a warrior nonetheless.
I gritted my teeth, tightening my hold on katanas, and dash forward towards Granberia. She smirked wider and swung her sword to the side picking up wind. "COME!"
When I reached her I slashed my left katana down and diagonally towards her, which she deflected and sent me rolling to the right. I rolled with the momentum letting it carry me away from the greatsword that would have cleaved where I just was. Once on my feet I rushed her from behind, leading with my right katana, but she turned around quickly and blocked it. I didn't let up though performing an series of slashes alternating with my left and right, which she promptly blocked or deflected with ease.
Granberia eventually grew tired of being on the defensive and began swinging her sword with increasing speed, forcing me to abort my attacks and avoid hers or be cut in half. Her blows quickly came to the point where I could not dodge and only block, the strain from the hammering blows quickly waring down on my arms as I desperately looked for an opening. When she swung her horizontally I saw it. I ducked under the attack, flattening my ears they wouldn't be chopped off, and thrusted my left blade at her throat, grinning at the chance to land a hit. I didn't. A scaled fist planted itself into my gut knocking the wind out of me and forcing my the katana from my left hand. I was flung across the room. I righted myself in the air at he last second before landing. Kneeling and clutching my stomach with my disarmed hand, I gasped for air.
"You done?" Granberia asked, resting Ares on her shoulder.
I glared at her and tried to stand up, before stumbling and falling back down.
"Haaah.." Granberia sighed, and I saw something like a flash of disappointment across her eyes.
I hated it. I once again tried to stand up struggling all the way to my feet.
"You might as well stay down, you can hardly stand,let alone fight." Granberia spoke, regarded me calmly as I finally stood up.
"Ha..ha..ha..Shut..up...Im...Not.. Done...Yet..." I breathed out, clutching my remaining katana tightly. "I..won't give up..."
"Not...while you have that look on your face."
"Hmmph" Granberia huffed. But smirked.
"Well come on more attack." She brandished Ares.
I nodded and griped my katana with both hands. I closes my eyes and breathed in and out, calming myself as I settled into a stance. Right foot forward, left foot back, I raised the katana straight, beside my eyes trained on Granberia across from me. Wisps of pale blue energy began to seep of my form and along the length of the blade. When I opened my eyes I was greeted with the sight of a suprised Granberia. I smiled.
"Since this is the final move I am not going to limit myself just to blades." I smirked as her eyes widened.
"You weren't going all out." She glared at me.
"I wanted to test my swordsmanship against you, not shoot magic at each other." I shrugged.
"...Next time fight me with all you got." She warned.
I nodded and pumped more energy into my blade. The light growing brighter and brighter.
Granberia glared at me a little longer before smirking and readying her blade.
"Well then show me what you got Genko!" I roared and I took that as my signal and dashed forward calling out the name of the technique.
"LUNAR ART:FLASHING MOON!"
I swung the glowing blade down with all my might, clashing against Granberia's. The blow illuminating the room in a bright light.
"AAAGHHH!" I pressed harder against her blade determined to over power her.
"Hnn..." Granberia grunted slightly at the impact. I took great pleasure in seeing a drip of sweat trail down her check.
"Good, BUT NOT ENOUGH!" She roared and overpowered my attack, and swung her sword, flinging my blade from my grasp and canceling my attack. The katana clanged somewhere on the ground behind me.
"Damn.. It..." I feel to my knees as my eyes found it hard to focus.
"N..c..e t..y, Bu...n.t..go...d e...ou..g..h."
I couldn't hear what she said as black spots began to dance across my vision.
"...re..s..t..f..n..o..w.."
The last thing I saw was the approving glint in Granberia's yellow eyes, before everything went black.
Granberia's POV
I stared at the unconscious girl on the ground, frowning.
'That was some power towards the end. Nothing I couldn't handle but still impressive.' I thought looking down at the girl in front of me in a new light. 'However her swords skills, could use a little work.'
Clap, Clap, Clap.
"Ufufufu, what a good fight!"
A clap echoed around the room snapping me out of my thoughts followed by someone giggling. I sighed feeling a headache coming on.
"Alma what do you want?" I asked irritably.
The succubus appeared in front of me in a whirl of wind and greeted me with a smile.
"Now, now Beri-chan no need to be so hostile." She giggled out.
I scowled at that accursed nickname.
"Don't call me that." I glared at her and leveled Ares.
"Okay okay, no need to get snippy." Alma put her hands up in faux surrender, grin never leaving her face.
"Haaah..." I sighed out.
Putting away Ares, I walked towards the knockout Genko and picked her up. Laying her across my shoulder, I went to retrieve her blades. Alma watched me silently. Feeling admittedly disturbed by her silence, I asked her a question.
"What do you think?"
"Hmm? About what?" She tilted her head to the side, confused.
"The fight." I clarified."What do think of her?"
"Oh, well I thought Gen-chan did very good considering her opponent. But," Her expression turned serious. "She relies far too much on speed in fighting and her swordsmanship. Gen-chan is fast I'll give her that, but she lacks the strength and stamina to back it up. That may work on slower opponents, but against someone of equal or more speed, she would lose undoubtedly."
To be honest I was surprised to say the least. Alma is rarely this serious. I was half expecting her to spout out some innuendo of some sort, not give an in-depth analysis.
"Thats..exactly the problem..." I agreed hesitantly, thinking back to the beginning of our fight.
"You ready Granberia!?" Genko shouted from across the room.
"I should be asking you that." I answered, Eye brow twitching slightly at the confidence she seemed to be radiating.
"Ufufufu..." Genko chuckled, a fox-like grin appearing on her face. A tic mark appeared on my head."I'm more than ready!" She placed both hands on the hilt of her katanas.
"Ready, Set...Go!"
"Hn?" I grunted and whipped out Ares to block the attack, as Genko seemingly disappeared and flash into existence right in front of me, Katanas no longer in their sheaths, bearing down on my blade
"Surprised? I take pride in my speed you know." I scowled and swiped at her, which she avoided by flipping back gracefully. Landing on her feet. She looked back towards me, grin still in place, practically oozing confidence. She disappeared again, this time striking from behind, and as soon as I blocked it she was gone, attacking from another angle, picking at my defenses. I blocked all of them without too much trouble. This continued for a minute or so, before I grew tired. The next time Genko slashed, I vanished.
"What?" She looked shocked at my sudden disappearance, and looked around wildly trying to locate me. I appeared at her right swinging Ares down, her nose twitched, 'tracking my scent, smart.' and she dodged the move, jumping back putting distance between us. 'Good reflexes too,
"H-How the..?" I rambled out jaw open.
I smirked relishing in the fact that I wiped that grin off her face.
"What? You thought you were the only one who could move at high speeds?" I vanished again this time behind her, bringing down Ares. My smile turned a bit crazed as I noticed the fear in her eyes.
"DON'T GET COCKY!"
"AAAAAHHHH!"
After that, she lasted about another minute before running out of steam, and I slowed down giving her a chance.
"Uh huh, with a little more training, she would be quite the opponent. Plus what she did at the end, who knows what she's hiding!" Alma continued.
"Yes...with some work on her strength and some stamina exercises, she could grow into a very formidable opponent indeed." I contemplated the thought.
"Right! How can she hope to satisfy anyone, if she done within the first minute?" Alma winked at me seductively.
Aaannd she's back.
Here's another chapter of a Black Fox. Did you guys like the fight scene? How about the switch in POV? Did I make the Knights too OOC?