Clash!
With viscereal, unsuspecting impact, the blade darted out from the black with singing speed: smashing the deathly still weapon from its steadfast interrogation and freeing the backed up survivor from the possible final corner. Even the great black wolf did not expect her target to strike back and act on the chilling threat. At the cry of the wind's chorus and the eruption of steel, Velvet opted to retreat for ground by flipping backwards out of reach; valuable time to observe this newfound threat.
Finding balance upon the rocking floorboards proved simple as the storm rallied at the explosion of violent movement; cloak bristling to the savage notes of nature. She glared ahead with unbridled agitation, but no less uncovering slight respect for the half-malak's eventual defiance, teeth almost to bare with dancing shadows from the rain's torrent.
Slipped from swaying material at his waist, did Sarid draw concealed steel remaining in its oriental scabbard; thick and rectangular in sleek ebony wood and decored at the top of its width with aureate winding branches. Deep within where the blade stayed nestled, was a crimson lining that honed in on the sword's splendid craftsmanship. Sneering, the daemon could tell the weapon he had suddenly obtained was no standard blade; love and care poured into every smelting crevice for one single user.
He then spoke, and the tone merely whispered the dregs of his insurmountable, inward change; "I'll give you what you want, doesn't matter if I lose, I'm not your baggage anymore." Sarid's expression was unflinching yet wary, persistent and determined while he - even still - could sense the danger of his choice. No more words were necessary, both knew what would soon occur. Both knew, this was a long time coming.
Velvet's wrist-blade sank back into her glossy gauntlet, the steel zipping away as she began to lower her stature; bent knees and tensely spread arms invoking a keen sense of dread at her imminent pouncing. The daemon's eyes flashed dangerously, before the man rested a palm on the hilt of this mysterious weapon. A deep breath, feeling the blighted and corrupted scent of the ocean sink into lungs, and rapidly bursting out in a sudden dry and sharp splutter onto the back of his hand. Sarid did not react, and let a melancholic sigh wisp from between parched lips, and at last for the second time in his tormented life; brandished his blade to arms against the Lord of Calamity.
Shing!
Brilliant metal stung the air with a ringing tune, slicing through the storm's rage with a beautiful melody - and a warning. With its deadly song of arrival that could command and reprise the gales, the half-malak whipped his blade through droplet-racked skies in practiced motion, settling it out flat before him; casting its edge underneath his sharp stare of lavender.
Under the glare of moonlight, was it unveiled: a Jian style sword modified and refined to fit the necessary needs of its special wielder. A semi-circular, curved cross-guard bent towards the blade; thick with efficient protection of the user's hand, and contrasting the thin yet comfortable hilt wrapped in maroon cloth belying the artistic pommel of twisted, red-berried branches. Tied to one singular formation, was a silver pendant depicting a gleaming yin and yang symbol. Sprouting from around the very cross-guard, were more intricate coiling wood that seemed to grasp the ricasso of this ancient weapon, leading onto the blackened fuller of the blade itself and the shining, metal edges surrounding it.
"A fancy new sword won't save you..." Velvet growled dismissively, dryly writing off the seemingly worthless ornamental design with an unimpressed stare.
Sarid blinked wordlessly, cool and calm in the centre of this tense stand-off. He would not display his worries or fear, for courage is crafted from overcoming and refined through consistency. "Never been one for style, have you wolfy?" An eye roll sided with a disgruntled sigh was the only response.
Silence reigned free again. All that echoed in this isolated sea, was the ferocious rumbles of thunder and the crashes of sieging rain along dunes of towering waves. Two combatants, frozen in the everlasting wake of differing ideals yet aligning intention. Cool indigo peering through streaming veils, with the reflection of cold, simmering emotion ablaze in a pair of gilded orbs.
Crack! Came a bolt of lightning across the misted horizon.
And the daemon had already sprung just meters away from the still half-malak, form surging with emotion.
Sliding across the waterlogged boards came Sarid's swift and confident evasion, sword steadied for counter, while Velvet's aggressive offensive easily planted a fist through the soaked deck; an echo of their advancing confrontation crackling with the arcing storm and spray of the current at their backs. Shimmering steel in the haze; the man darted forth and abruptly came into contact with a destabilising boot crashing into his guard, the overwhelming strength wrenching momentum into slipping backwards across the stern with a sudden grunt of surprise. Sarid continued unfaltered, wary yet nigh unwilling.
Slashes curved winds and grinded across opposing metal, a choir of singing blades to accent nature's roar as they danced across the Van Eltia, Velvet's unbridled cries combating the very weather itself while lashing at the malak's surprising blade work. A flourish and a flip, the unblemished sword wailed with spins to fall upon her gauntleted blade that fell back to carry the man's fierce force into a counter of momentum; hurriedly parried to slide from the cleanly edge. A bang of thunder, a crashing roundhouse to swing into an unguarded abdomen, and Sarid was sent tumbling into the soaked deck with a heaving groan; the once resilient wood scarred and bruised.
Like that of a web, the aching pain spanned across his chest in a seizing hold, but he dared not rest and spare another second. Sweeping back the doused tail of his haori that weighed heavy, the warrior snapped up his vision through matted blanched strands. The sword slipped to hold across his bicep, and that wrist-blade followed within milliseconds, barely shielding against Velvet's unyielding attack. More came, and still Sarid held strong with each glaring strike. A sudden darting boot-blade slipped past to gouge his knee, but the chance was given to jump up from the disadvantageous kneeling position and lift the leg from the potential disabling wound.
Akin to a ravenous beast, a guttural growl of irritation rumbled from the daemon's throat as it was clear how much stronger the malak had somehow become. And so, she decided to take advantage of their main difference. Spinning on her heel and hopping upwards, Velvet unleashed a rattling blow down onto Sarid's guard, immediately thrusting him back to slam onto one knee. Arms trembling under her daemonic strength, the man grimaced as he earnestly attempted to stay her lone bladed arm at bay, until suddenly one was whisked from their balance by an unnatural gust of wind. Letting a cool breath, the malak took his chance to slip under the crushing blow and retreat backwards as his opponent recovered with a tick of annoyance. Stomping cracks into the groaning floorboards, the daemoness bounded forward to continue her tremendous pressure on the man, as sparks spat along the slicked and battered stern.
Crash!
Sarid coughed out with a disgruntled gasp as he was thrown right into the side, splintering the decor and sending mild debris to fly off into the gaping depths. Head pounding from a dazing smack of her steel gauntlet, and abdomen panging with a severe ache at the knee Velvet had performed to send him stumbling here; the malak still refused to give into surrendering this test of pure skill alone.
Clink, clink
The familiar shake of trinkets and belts swaying in the winds signalled her approach, but the aggressive crashing of her boots injuring the deck was not apparent, and as those now soured glints of violet peered forward through the haze; Velvet simply sauntered towards the evidently exhausted man. She rested a hand on her hip, waiting patiently for the malak to make his next move, while the coalescing tendrils of black and the flapping coat shimmered in the calmer, brimming gales. "You done?" the daemon brashly questioned with a raised brow, rapping her fingers along the soaked cloth at her side.
Velvet was not free of her own injuries - albeit extremely mild - to a few cuts and nicks broadening among her human arm and toned stomach. Sarid, on the other hand, was amassing a collection of bruises gone unseen under his outfit; but nevertheless began sporting even larger tears across his chest and gouged around the shoulders. Still, he pushed forward from the banister, steadying onto his feet with a gradual rise in posture and narrow of brow. Sweeping the remaining brandished blade to the hefty air and shedding it of the completely wet layer concentrated upon the edges, Sarid grasped the hilt with two hands; aiming the centre of the edge directly towards the motionless daemon that remained uncaring of the raging winds thrust against her. "Oh hell- Was... just warming up..."
Velvet did not sneer nor frown. Her expression remained completely unreadable as she evaluated this steadfast figure that refused to give in. "...Hah," was the dry sound that slipped from her lips.
The cracked banister was shattered in a single second. With unparalleled agility and flexibility, the daemoness flipped through the bristling winds that battered the invincible vessel, and slammed her savagely heel downwards, crumbling right through the spot he had been only moments before. Boards crashed down from above the swirling waters, and thus continued the deadly dance of steel.
Wrist-blade swatting away a pair of swift and clean blows, Velvet continued her thrilling hunt as she dashed after the malak's recovering steps, who sprinted towards the stairway for ground. Just as Sarid made the leap, he twisted and sliced horizontally - cleaving a few strands of hair from the daemon's swift duck - and landed perfectly onto the currently undamaged bridge with a grunt of exertion. Velvet was directly on his heels as he turned, sword raised in ready, when the woman abruptly pounced down from the stern and crashed down with a devastating kick to crater the deck even further.
Spinning to evade a narrow strike, she wrenched her wrist-blade fiercely as it slipped out of the gauntlet, curving around to lacerate the malak's left side. However, with an impressive flourish, Sarid spun his faithful broadsword behind the back to catch Velvet's fatal slice; twisting it around to send a valiant, vertical strike so simply side-stepped. His blade came sailing again, rendering up from below to carve across her stomach, but it never reached. Velvet's steel boot stomped right down onto the travelling sword; halting it completely from scoring any major incision. Sarid did not get the chance to pass any words, before the blade was violently ripped from his grip with a discarding kick, sending the fabled weapon sliding across the soaked bridge.
Darkness.
After carrying that disarming kick through, Velvet twisted her upper body and sent a devastating straight kick right into his temple. Sarid fell unconscious on impact. However, as the half-malak's form began to fall backwards onto the damaged vessel deck, a bandaged hand shot out and snatched his lifeless wrist. At resounding silence of this unbridled victory, even the world itself ceased its tremendous storm of chaos along the bubbling seas. Only the lingering rumbles of thunder echoed up above the receding smog.
Velvet gripped his arm harshly, a stern glare imprinted upon her features that scanned the malakhim who had been at her side for longer than she should have allowed. Even in the bleakest of times, where the man remained as nothing more than a nuisance to tug along, she still let him stay.
And gradually, did those sharp and bitter features relax and even soften slightly, once those amber eyes were drawn to the hand now held. Specks of smudged crimson dotted the back of it. The daemon inside grumbled with indecision, and a tired sigh flowed out once her sight clambered up to the peaceful face of who caused her so much more anguish than necessary. Minor cuts now slotted themselves in various parts along his cheek, a stark contrast to the lone beauty mark hovering above the opposing cheek. "...Why did you come back..." Velvet repeated to herself again, removed of all solace.
Soon, did her eyes sink to a close with a despairing and almost regretful intake of breath, before pulling the half-malak close and scooping up his slumbering figure with a shake of her head in disbelief at such a turn of events. Turning on her heel as the final dwindling droplets cascaded along the ghostly deck, Velvet ventured off; solemn but ever as determined, the gradual clicks of steel footwear reverberating into silence in the wake of a young woman's past failure.
~~~
Blinding yet iridescent rays slithered through the spry cracks in each individual board above, parting the shine into darting lasers spotting the occupied mattress below. The great wooden door creaked uncomfortably as she pressed her weight onto it, bandaged fingers tapping away at the opposing bicep. Hair dry and now clean once again, the winding onyx mane trailing from behind had been taken care of hours ago, that familiar and meaningful comb now sat undisturbed at the fairly vacant maroon counter; dissipating stains of water having trickled along the floorboards and pooled over the wooden desk without too much care. In addition, a small tan bag was aimlessly discarded upon the dusted tabletop, without any contents, along with a tiny hill in the corner of a fair few cloths; each marred with large collectives of soaked up vermillion.
Velvet's aureate orbs sat desolate while taking in the lapping blue just past the shining porthole of the Van Eltia's hull. Her senses could catch the clear cries of gulls cackling above, and that would soon declare their arrival at the great Jewel of the Empire; Loegres. Residence of the vile betrayer, Artorias Collbrande. But first, she had something else to attend to.
"...W...Where...?"
Or rather, someone.
Pulling her empty stare away from the newly serene ocean, Velvet tore her vision down and to the voice stirring nearby. Immersed within a few spare sheets taken from the storage room down below in the hold, was the returning half-malak that had only just awakened at such a time in the afternoon. Not that she was surprised. Sarid's roving indigo irises tiredly attempted to absorb the location he was currently stowed, and with a shake of his messy snow strands and a wince at the grating headache at his temple, finally caught the dark figure glowering at his presence from the doorway.
"Oh... great, can I head back to sleep?" he nervously chuckled through a crackly voice and chokingly dehydrated throat. If not for the piercing head injury, the man wouldn't be in bad shape at all, but of course, that would be mostly due to a certain brooding daemoness. And once again, Sarid found did difficulty in understanding the emotion she gazed at him with. However, that eyeful contempt no longer remained in those vacant eyes of gold, all that flowed forth from the air she emitted was a painful sense of melancholy. "Morning, uh, Velvet?"
Velvet blinked slowly with a dreadful sigh, until she opened those once resplendent eyes of amber - seemingly filled with never-ending hollow hazel fields - and dispelled what pulled at her emotions. "...Sarid," she affirmed with that cold voice you could always expect. The daemon easily caught the confusion that whirred in the malak's busy mind at many things currently taking place. 'Where is he, why has he been healed, and will she eat him alive?' The woman almost allowed a smirk to show itself for the briefest of moments at the thought. "We'll be arriving soon. Hurry up and get ready, everyone else is waiting," she quickly and simply relayed in a way that she always would.
Turning without in wait for the malak's reply, the daemon pulled open the door - not before swiping her comb carefully and slipping it into a torn pocket - and set a foot outside; before halting for a moment, parting her lips with a flash of indecision without facing the resting Sarid.
"And... thank you."
The cabin door gently closed shut with a click, the soft jingle of Velvet's chains echoing to silence down the long hallway.