Even with the mask on, I could tell her face was getting red with anger. She shifted stance, towards a much more aggressive style. She trained her sword towards me as she was trying to size us up. I would assume it's rather hard to figure out our actual combat strength, as she probably didn't even see us fight yet, although I could see some determination in the way she carried herself.
"I'm afraid I can't give this [Holy Sword] to you, Sin," she snarked at me, "It would burn you."
"That's a feisty girl. I like that," I said some arbitrary villainous line, "Don't get burnt then."
Again, that feeling of her turning even more red striked me. She was so easy to make fun of, that I just didn't really know how to stop. I swear, those girls are the best. I feel like I just have to do it, you know? Being a jerk to them just feels so good. Finally managing to hold my carnal desires, I truned towards my temporary mount.
"You think you can hold her off for a bit?" I asked him.
"Aye," Baulder replied, "Don't take too long taking that Medusa chick down."
"You got it," I nodded, and jumped off of his back.
I walked towards Claire, passing Zenia Pendragon in the process. She turned towards me, and leaped forth with her sword in hand, trying to strike me. Not paying attention to her, I just walked, while a huge wall of wood appeared in front of me. Some [Holy Sword] that was, getting stuck in wood.
"You might want to sharpen that knife," Baulder said. That was unique, never heard a taunt from the man ever. He was maturing well. I continued down my path, and I could see some hesitation in Claire's eyes. It was almost as if she got intimidated. No wonder, I had a hard time against her last time, and now I didn't even look like I cared at all about her [Poison Touch]. I wonder how that felt to her?
"Hey bitch, it's finally just the two of us again," I said hi, "You up for our final dance? I'll make it fast."
She backed off a little bit, but she managed to grab of hold of herself after a second. She stood up more or less firmly, maybe a bit shakily, but she stood her ground. I walked towards her, until the distance between us was just a few feet. I grinned at her, then jumped for the first attack.
With my [Greed Binders] in action, on my side, spinning 'round and 'round, I already tried to go for her stupid looking pipes. That helmet really didn't work out for her. Once I manage to plug them up, her firepower goes down by probably about seventy percent. That would be huge for me, and a clear disadvantage to her. It would probably be so much for her, that her fighting will could entirely disappear, and that'd be where my [Temptation] could shine.
Although I was sort of overpowering her, she still managed to dodge most of my attacks, with rapid succession. I decided to make this situation even more fearsome for her, and decided to just walk her direction, rather slowly, as I was cleaving out chunks from the ground, using my spinning attack. This could be a new attack, couldn't it?
"[Binding Fear]!" I yelled. I don't know why, but yelling out your attack names is something else. It almost gave my attack more force- No. It actually did. I noticed people naming their attacks, and even I did so with my previous abilities, but I never really call them out. Maybe there's something with the [Power] system? Or is it the other way around? Do names make things stronger? I had to look into this, because if that's so, I could optimize my attacks even more.
----
The other side of the very same room was already in turmoil. Where the floor wasn't covered in wood shavings, it was with blood. The fight was vicious, and wild. Well, one of the fighters was like that. Just after starting the fight, Zenia achieved some sort of deep trance like state, and started furiously chopping away at Baulder. Thankfully for him, he had the upper hand still. Being that tank he is, Baulder didn't have any problems with defending against most attacks. And when it came to cutting objects, he was already prepared. He learnt of a certain rare tree type, the [Jarnwid], that was more or less resistant to any sort of blade.
They say, that to 'cut down' one of these trees, you'd need at least a hundred strong men, each with the strength to move mountains, to pull it out of the ground. Some measily [Holy Sword] wouldn't be able to cut it. It just so happens, that Baulder's home village was centered around one of the last of these trees. He would spend the majority of his childhood gazing at the magical tree, and recently, when he was training, he found some documents on this very tree. He didn't manage to replicate it exactly, but he could alter the wood enough, that he could coat his body with a similarly strong material.
The blood in the room didn't even come from him. It was blood dripping down from Zenia's hands. Both her grip, and the reverberation coming from each strike caused her so much damage, that after just a few minutes of fighting, she was already starting to loose consciousness from blodd-loss. Baulder really was a hard counter for her.
----
"Stop!" Howard Cowell shouted, "Don't you move another inch!"
At that point, he was already at his wits end. Francis has been running around in circles for the better part of the last ten minutes. Cowell has been battling his gag reflex, as well as severe nausea.
"What, you don't like it?" Francis laughed, "My Mamma said 'If you eat, swallow." Keep to that!"
Disregarding the fact that this was probably the very first time Francis said something actually useful, that his 'Mamma' said, at this point, he had the situation entirely under control. After figuring out the fact that this dimension was probably part of Cowell's body, he was working towards making him throw up. His idea behind this was that if he throws up, the dimension breaks, and they'll be out, for a while at least.
"Stop already! I'm the Prison Deacon of the Order! You can't do this to me!" Howard shouted.
"I have a good track record of breaking out of prisons," Francis responded.
----
Roaring fire in a small, enclosed space wasn't really a recipe for a long healthy life. The smoke coming from the flames has already encompassed the entirety of the ceiling, and was slowly creeping downward. Meda and Ivan were standing in front of each other, sizing up each other, while taking their sweet time. For one, the clock was ticking, and for the other, it was all just a matter of time, yet Meda didn't give in to panic.
She circled around her prey, waiting for the best opporunity, to final hunt him down. This was her at her fullest. Yet, Ivan didn't give in either, and didn't let his guard down. He waited, paying full attention at all times. It really didn't look all that great for our young lioness. Was this finally her doom? Was this it for her?
Of course not. And she knew this full well. She still had an ace up her sleeve, but she was saving that for a more appropriate time. And given the fact that she'd probably collapse after using that ability, she thought it better to save it for a time, when she wasn't in a room full of creeping smoke.
She finally gave in to wait, and decided that it was best to pounce now, rather than ina few minutes, when she'd loose most likely. As she jumped, she was already pretty close to her target, thus making it nay impossible to dodge. And as she landed on her opponent, he was already waiting for the attack.
Another ball of flame encompassed the body of our heroine, and she roared out in pain. But this didn't hodl her back. She finally bit down on the throat of the Deacon, thus slowly making him unconscious. With the warmth of fresh blood running down Meda's chin, she too fell down, landing next to the body of her pray.
She won the fight, but she might just loose the most important fight in her entire life. In those moments, she was preoccupied with one thought, one thought that might've changed her life, if she wasn't so slow on the uptake. But did that matter anymore?
Before finally passing out, she could make out some rustling noise, from where the debris has fallen, but she was out cold before she could even turn her head that direction.
What could it have been?