Clementine didn't dare to move from her current position. Even though her nausea was threatening to take her down, she stood still on her feet and pushed forward with all her might. Violet found her willpower quite impressive, though useless. Her opponent was, after all, in a tight spot: if she lessened her pressure even a little bit, Violet would be able to move freely and create distance to attack her; but, if she backed away, she would only make things easier for the brown-haired beauty.
"You are feeling this, aren't you? I bet that you can already guess what is causing this strong nausea, this feeling of weakness in your legs, and making your eyelids feel so heavy!" Violet provoked, talking through her gritted teeth with a malicious gleam in her calm eyes.
"My whip isn't called Aspidis just by its looks, after all."
Clementine didn't answer. If she opened her mouth, she was sure that she would vomit, for she was contracting her diaphragm way too hard. Even breathing was hard as she was seeing the world spinning again after each inspiration.
'When did she strike me with this damn weapon? When did this thing happen at all? I didn't feel anything!' Clementine thought as she felt another wave of tiredness crossing her body and making her legs tremble even more.
Clementine gulped, forcing herself to stay standing.
'I know very well about Violet's powers, and they should only work if her whip leaves a scratch on me. However, how could she target any part of my body when I am wearing armor!? That's unreasonable!'
Clementine finally lost her steadiness and needed to back away as she avoided a kick delivered by Violet. The whip followed suit of her around the room as she leaped across and on top of the many benches spread there and dodged every single attack.
Finally, the whip came thrusting into the air like a spear. That kind of attack was a surprise for her, who had been only receiving normal attacks until now. A whip needs to make swinging motions, so its elasticity will be used to the fullest, after all. It didn't seem to be the case with Aspidis, though.
Another leap by Clementine, followed by a destructive whip shattering the benches into pieces. A dodge, a well-calculated parry, then another leap. The whip continued swinging, drawing arcs, and sometimes thrusting; it moved around the room as if warping, and only the cunning and attentive eyes of Clementine could match its speed.
'Impressive, she is still managing to dodge the attacks even when in this state. No doubt people always said how incredible her mental resilience and skill are. Despite being a Rank-C, these two factors are making the difference in this battle.'
As she attacked too many times nonstop, Violet needed a brief break. Clementine could use that moment to attack, but she was feeling so nauseous that she took advantage of that time to throw out and kneel on the ground so she could rest her tired legs for a while.
"I am recollecting the fight, and now I remembered about the light bruise you left on my cheek. Since my helmet absorbed a great part of the impact and my sword stopped it partially, it was the same thing as receiving a strong slap. I didn't think that it could cause any harm but... it seems that what you have there isn't a poisonous whip...", Clementine said.
Violent smiled at that phrase while nodding her head slowly.
"As expected from you, Clementine. You are a very intelligent person. Indeed, the nature of my Divine Flames isn't that of poison like some other paladins out there. No, my power is way different. Aspidis isn't known as golden serpent due to poison, but because its power is very similar."
Clementine got up slowly. It was hard to do so after going down to her knees, but she needed to do it. She wouldn't allow herself to be looked down by that insolent woman.
"Your whip only needs to strike me once to apply the curse on me, right? It looks like a demonic power to me, if I was to be honest," she provoked, even though she wasn't exactly in the position to get that woman angry.
Violet, though, remained calm. She wasn't willing to lose her cool there as it would be dangerous for her as well.
"Yes. Different from other techniques that need to open wounds, so the poison can work, a light bruise is enough to mine. And, please, don't get me wrong here. I know I literally said curse before, and you are right in addressing my power as that, but curses are blessing sometimes, you know?
"Divine punishments in form of curses are an efficient way to fix the hearts of sinners who keep infecting our world with anger, sadness, lust, and so on. That's particularly the job of Aspidis."
Clementine narrowed her eyes to that final statement as she bit her lips. She wanted to make sure to finish her line of thought, and the pain on her lips was enough to keep her from losing her focus.
'Fix the heart, huh? Also, all the sins she said here are feelings, negative feelings. I guess I discovered the conditions for her power to work: she needs to directly strike the person with her whip. And not only that, this person in question must have negative feelings to nourish the curse. It seems quite simple, and even weak, but not when you think about it properly.
'In a battle, it's nigh impossible not to have negative feelings. Frustration, anger, fear... all these feelings appear and get stronger every second. Thus, this curse can become a hassle in the long run as its intensity grows together with the intensity of these feelings.
'I saw other paladins with similar powers, and they were quite tough. I always wondered how I could match those guys, but couldn't get to the response other than not getting hit. But now that this plan is gone, what do I do?'
As Violet saw the frown forming on Clementine's face and nearly giggled.
"Are you really considering not surrendering this battle? Clementine, I would like not to have to kill you. Having the blood of other fellow paladin on my hands isn't something I will be proud of. However, I don't have any other choice here. Please, make this decision easier for me," she said in a calm but serious voice.
Clementine didn't respond to her. She kept standing there and staring at Violet. Her eyes were full of resolution, not showing a hint of willingness to back away.
"Hmph, ignorant people blind by their own ideals will never make reasonable choices," she claimed, sighing hard. Her eyes were staring at Clementine attentively. Deep inside, Violet was pitying the old woman. After all, what kid didn't admire the feats of the great paladin lady, who some called Lady Welcome due to her strange surname? Violet surely admired her when she was still training to become a paladin.
"I shouldn't even have given you that proposal. Since you are committing heresy, I have enough authority to kill you. Even so, I did it because I admire you," the woman said, her calm countenance breaking apart during that phrase, only to come back to its usual form again.
"I never thought that I would need to fight against you," she said.
Clementine nodded her head to her, taking a deep breath.
"I am flattered. But it doesn't matter now. Whether you really admired me or not, it doesn't matter anymore, because I am not the Lady Welcome that was the hero of the paladins. I am walking on my own path, be it wrong for the Church or not," she resolutely said, clenching both fists around the hilt of Dei Ignus.
"Now, come here, I am waiting," Clementine said, there was no hint of fear in her eyes.
Violet didn't show any hint of hesitation. She did what needed to be done. With a fluid movement, she moved her whip once again.
'At this point, she has the wrath against me and the Church punishing her. Also, the agony of her wounds is filling her mind with frustration and more wrath. I bet that there is sadness somewhere there. I am an expert when it comes to identifying this kind of feeling on people's faces, particularly the eyes. The eyes are the closest gate to our soul, after all.
'Anyway, in this state that she is right now, I doubt that she will be able to fight against my attacks any further.'
Her whip drew a bow in the air, descending towards Clementine's head. The latter closed her eyes as she waited for the blow, hearing the whistling sound of the whip crossing the air.
Violet was sure that it would hit her, and she even blinked at the last moment, maybe not to see the result of such a devastating attack.
Nevertheless, the impact never came. Instead, she felt through the cable of the whip that it got... stopped.