Abrial sidestepped nimbly, narrowly avoiding his grasp. He whirled around and with a horrible scraping noise unsheathed his steel sword, which was very ugly and very wide. Abrial made a sour face just seeing it. What was that thing for, butchering meat, or what? She snapped out of her criticism as this "Imperial General Magnus" hurtled towards her again like a great big clumsy troll.
Metal clashed on metal, reverberating.
The crowd ringed around them burst into gasps and shouts, backing out of the range of the blades in utter terror. Black clashed on silver, black and scarlet robes flashing around crimson and steel. The other guards in the circle shifted nervously from foot to foot, shooting one another looks.
"What do we do?" one muttered to another.
"Should we step in?"
"Are you kidding me? The General might go nuts and stab one of us if we do! We'd best just leave it!"
"Yeah, he hates when people mess with his fights! Safer to do nothing than do something and get singled out!"
Abrial twirled, easily blocking each of General Magnus' heavy strikes with her single black dagger Dohyun, swiftly ducking the ones he swung at her head. Slowly, Magnus was accumulating injuries as Abrial's dagger flashed with lightning speed: a nick on his ear, a slice on his chin, a bloody gash on the thigh.
He roared in rage, plunging his sword towards Abrial with monstrous strength.
A revolted expression crossed Abrial's face.
Was this troll really an imperial general? What a disgrace, for real! Clumsy, careless, and with a disgusting temper. With this one rabid charge, he'd already lost this boring fight! What kind of general was this pathetic?!
She spun away from his blade and darted in, slicing the back of his knee deeply and cleanly. Black metal slashed tendons, snapping them.
With an earth-shaking thud and an enraged roar, the beastly general fell to the ground. Before he could struggle to stand again, Abrial angrily bashed the back of his head with the hilt of her dagger, and he went limp like a sack of useless flour.
Abrial stuck her tongue out at him and rubbed his unconscious, ugly face roughly in the dirt for good measure. Then she stood up and fixed her arm guards, grinning with satisfaction.
The surrounding guards looked at one another in shock and confusion. Suddenly, one of them drew his wide sword and bellowed. Better to attack this crazy bitch now than get in trouble with the General for not doing anything later! He charged at Abrial, who was pumping her fists and walking towards the unconscious body of that young magician who'd been beaten. Immediately, the other guards followed, rushing in on her like a ring of bulky bulls. No one wanted to get in trouble, but no one wanted to fight this crazy blade-fighting woman alone — better for them to all take her on at once and be done with it! Who cared about honor? They didn't want to get beaten to a pulp by the even crazier Imperial General later!
Abrial's eyes glittered irritatedly as she caught sight of the horde closing in. A scowl curled her lips as she unsheathed Dohyun one more time.
______
Soon enough, Abrial stood among an array of unconscious bodies, huffing slightly and grinning a crooked grin. There was only a single drop of sweat on her brow.
Her dagger dripped scarlet blood into the dirt.
"You're lucky I just slashed your knee-backs," she remarked proudly, wiping Dohyun on her sleeve. "If I'd gone a little deeper, I would've cut your ligaments, and you'd never be able to walk again! Though..."
She glanced at the body behind the heel of her boot — the big one, that "Imperial General Magnus". There was blood dribbling from his mouth into the dirt, and the stub of his finger still oozed in a small pool. He looked like a big, beastly baby in a deep sleep.
With a smooth motion, she flashed her dagger through the air and sliced deeper into the back of his knee.
"There," she scowled, her eyes dark and cold as midnight shadows. "You won't be running around with a whip ever again, you big old whore!"
"She's crazy! A madwoman!"
"Does she have no humanity?"
"How can she mutilate the Imperial General just like that? What a horrible insult to His Divine Majesty!"
Abrial whirled around, her mouth gaping in disbelief at the crowd, who had burst into chattering a moment ago.
"Hey!" she hollered, pointing Dohyun accusingly at the crowd members, who trembled. "Seriously! Do you all even have eyes? This imperial general was just beating a person to death! What d'you want me to do, stand there and watch?! Like it's a show or something?!?!?!"
Several people in the front row of the circle averted their eyes guiltily. But an older man carrying a bundle of sticks for a fire on his back laughed. He pointed at the long-unconscious young magician's limp body.