They were upon each other a moment later, Carter keeping his hands close to his face to guard as Iris took swing after swing, the sound of metal on metal clanging in their ears, each trying to make a solid hit where they could. Each landing partial blows and sneaky shots when they could manage.
Meanwhile, Tye had made her way back to Annie, whose eyes were locked on the duel. "What do you think?"
"I think you need to get your priorities straight," Annie grumbled.
"Not about him," Tye grinned, glancing towards Gene, who was watching the duel just as intensely. "About him," she clarified, gesturing towards Carter, who, although had started the match what looked like the upper hand, was now struggling to hold his own against Iris, the gap between their HP's steadily growing. "Using his gauntlets like that."
"Hmph. That first shot just caught Iris off guard. He made a lucky decision."
"I don't know … Using gauntlets to deflect blades was a pretty good idea. And more importantly, one that Iris couldn't anticipate," Tye argued.
"Hmph. Still sucks at fighting," Annie huffed, crossing her arms over her chest as they watched.
Armageddon (lvl 25) HP – 52%
Chidori (lvl 23) HP – 77%
By this time, both sides were panting, having spent a majority of their stamina on swift attacks and repeated blocks. Each player stood across from the other near the edge of the hilltop, watching each other carefully for their next move.
"You're pretty stubborn," Carter scoffed with a smirk, panting. Iris left him without a response, not interested in starting any banter to prolong the duel. "Tch. What? Too scared to talk? Or do you think you're that tough?" Carter jabbed, frowning when Iris remained silent. "Heh … Come on, then!" he roared, charging at her again.
Iris fortified her stance, ready for another stand-off. Dodging a series of punches, she waited for an opening to swing her sword. "I'm not going to lose to you …" Carter growled, grunting when he caught the end of Iris' blade against his arm, his lack in stamina causing him to move slower than at the beginning of the match. "You hear me?!" he bellowed, managing to catch the blade of one of Iris' swords in his hand as it swung at him. Iris' eyes went wide as she felt herself loose traction, Carter taking the blade with both hands and using it to throw Iris off of the edge of the hilltop.
"Iris!" Annie and Tye gasped as they started running towards the edge of the hilltop.
Looking at Carter in disbelief as she flew over the edge, Iris' mind raced. If she hit the ground wrong from that height she'd be in trouble. It probably wouldn't be enough to drain her HP completely, but it would leave her in a vulnerable enough position thereafter. If she didn't end the fight before Carter managed to land a few more hits, she'd be done. As her body turned in the air, Iris took a gamble. The clearing below the hilltop was smaller than the one above. If she could just reach …
Despawning her duel blades, Iris took a risk at drawing her second weapon of choice – the chained scythe. Carter's face of confidence fell when she haphazardly threw it towards a tree on the edge of the clearing below.
"You've got to be kidding me …"
Hooking around one of the trunk of one of the trees, Iris held on tight as she swung around it twice, her feet touching the ground and her body skidding to a stop in a blanket of dust. Iris head slowly rose a moment later, her eyes hot and narrowed as her pastel pink dreads fell over her shoulders.
Everyone stood at the top of the hill's cliff. Carter in the center, Annie and Tye to his right, and Gene, who had run up to see the outcome as well, to his left.
"Woo! Way to go, Iris!" Tye cheered while Annie looked on in shock.
That was a pretty bold move, tossing her off a cliff like that, Gene thought, watching Iris over the edge of the hill's cliff. And cheap. It's obvious that he's starting to run out of ideas – and stamina. But this girl … Even put in that situation she was able to think her way out of it so quickly? This is bad … Come on, Carter. Don't give up.
Carter's gauntlet-covered hands clenched into fists, his eyes squinting in their glare before he leapt off the cliff, jumping in a way that would allow him to slide down its rocky wall to the clearing below. Iris, on the other hand, left her weapon to despawn, walking towards his eager charge with bare fists, her steps calm and her gaze lethal.
"Yep," Tye giggled, noticing the shift, her hands linking behind the back of her head.
"She's pissed," Annie nodded, grinning as she folded her arms over her chest once again.
Running at Iris, Carter roared as he threw a punch aimed at her face. But with one side step, Iris raised her arm deflecting Carter's aim just enough to miss, while cocking her free hand back for a punch of her own – one that connected right with the tip of Carter's nose.
Carter's head immediately bounced backwards, his eyes screwed shut in pain. But Iris held onto the wrist that deflected, pulling Carter back before he could be knocked away. Grabbing his opposite shoulder, Iris pulled him towards her, driving her knee into his midsection and letting go to let him double over. Arms wrapped around himself, she used the opening to link her hands together and ram them down against the back of Carter's head, sending him face-first into the ground.
Armageddon (lvl 25) HP – 40%
"Huh?" Annie mused, noticing that Iris had paused after the string of fluid attacks, choosing to stand over him and wait for him to get back up, instead of finishing him off. "She's waiting?"
"Weird."
"…" Annie looked to Tye, who seemed to be having entirely too much fun watching the match. "You don't think …"
"I don't know," Tye smiled. "I've never seen Iris pissed and impressed at the same time."
"Damn you …" Carter seethed as he struggled to get to his knees. "I'm not done, dammit. I'm not done!" he roared, pushing himself to his feet in a crouch. Iris' eyes widened when seeing the slightly glowing veins running through his neck and throughout his chest, his eyes wide and his pupils small. Berserker mode. But before she could think to activate her own stealth mode, Carter was charging forward, his fist drawn.
Damn! Iris silently scowled as she drew her duel blades in a cross in front of her, not having enough time to properly dodge. The impact still sent her skidding back several feet, and her HP still took a significant blow, thanks to Carter's 10% attack increase.
Chidori (lvl 23) HP – 65%
Feet digging into the ground to come to a stop, Iris immediately took off running, seeing that Carter hadn't stopped after his attack. Gotta keep my distance. Wait it out.
"What? Don't think you can go toe to toe with me?!" Carter yelled as he chased after Iris. "Come on!"
Dammit, Carter, Gene silently cursed, his hand coming to press against his forehead in frustration. Using your ace when you can't even pin her down. You should have waited to see if you could have gotten her in a more vulnerable spot … If you can't find a way to cut her off, this isn't going to last much longer.
Running towards the edge of the clearing, Iris cocked one of her swords back, throwing and stabbing it into the lower half of a tree trunk. Using it as a step up, Iris grabbed onto the branch she could reach, using her momentum to swing herself under and over it, dodging Carter's pouncing attack and sending the soles of both of her feet crashing down on the back of his head, and sending him face first into the ground – again.
"Argh!" Carter roared out in rage, grunting when Iris landed on top of him in a straddle, pulling and pinning one of his arms behind his back before he could use it to get up.
Armageddon (lvl 25) HP – 34%
Now, she thought as she drew her second blade to hold it high, ready to pierce through his neck from behind. Before she could end the duel, the trembling of the ground drew her attention. Pausing, she, along with everyone else, stopped, wondering what was causing it.
"Trembling …?" Gene mumbled to himself, steadying his stance to prevent him from falling off the cliff's edge.
"What the hell? Is it another server crash?" Annie wondered aloud.
"But nothing's glitching," Tye argued, looking around to be sure.
Before anyone could put two and two together, another player came running out of the clearing's edge, drawing the group's attention. A young player by the looks of it, a female mage low in level, crying as she rushed out into the clearing.
"H-Help! Please!" she cried.
"A girl?" Annie gawked, gasping when a *Hell Beast came charging out of the woods a moment later.
Iris' eyes went wide as the beast rushed past her, crying out when its meaty arm slammed into her during its charge, sending her flying into the rocky side of the cliff on the other side of the clearing.
Chidori (lvl 23) HP – 39%
"Iris!" Tye and Annie gasped in horror as she coughed out in pain and fell to the ground in a heap.
"Sing!" Annie screamed in what almost sounded like agony. But Iris was barely managing to catch her breath, let alone about to squeak out a healing note.
A Hell Beast? Gene thought, his eyes wide as he watched it chase after and corner the girl. What is something like that doing in Eden? It has to be someone's pet, he assumed, immediately looking around on edge, though his readings picked up no other players aside from the girl below.
"What the hell is that thing doing here?!" Annie wailed, trying to look over the cliff to see Iris but unable to. "It's level is so high … Should we attack it? The clearing is so small … What if it hits Iris again?"
"Iris!" Tye called out, hoping she'd manage to call out some form of instructions. "Iris!"
_________________________________________________
Thank you for reading!
If you're enjoying the story, considering giving a like and sharing what you think!