'an arrogant foe may be worse than a foolish ally, so they say'
She thought as she took a proper fighting stance, despite her inner thoughts. Lakyus made sure not to be careless and remain cautious.
The moon shone radiantly as it cast its light upon the scene, illuminating both individuals almost like a spotlight on a stage. There was a small wind that blew across the area and kicked up a small dust cloud that disappeared as soon as it formed.
Lakyus tightly gripped the demonic sword on her hands, Kilineiram, one of the four swords of darkness once held by the legendary black knight of the thirteen Heroes, the sword itself was quite powerful, rumoured to be capable of engulfing a whole city in darkness. hanging above her shoulders and behind her back was four golden swords that floated freely, almost like she was holding them up with telekinesis.
Looking at her enemy with a sense of urgency in her eyes, Lakyus could clearly see what she specialized in in terms of combat. Her armor and use of daggers gave Lakyus much insight.
"Are we just going to stare at each other like this?"
Clementine asked and shrugged her shoulders as she did, while her posture was relaxed and seemed quite unserious she was actually on guard, she was able to quickly recognize that her opponent was somewhat strong and Looking at the blue rose accessory atop her head she had quickly surmised that the adventurer in front of her was a member of Blue rose, an Adamantite class party and a person that she should not underestimate by any means.
'Perhaps I should have come fully equipped.'
She thought as she began to walk but not towards Lakyus but instead in parallel to Lakyus and maintaining the same distance¹, an attempt to size her opponent up and to retrieve the weapon she threw when she ambushed them earlier, unfortunately Lakyus was a veteran adventurer that paid attention to the battle field and immediately knew what she was up to, she quickly launched one of the swords that floated behind her back shooting it forward and forcing Clementine to jump back, dodging the attack and landed back where she previously stood.
'So her main weapon is that black sword, but with those floating swords she can attack from long range, I can also assume they'll act as her shields as well, I see.'
Clementine inwardly said to herself while assessing Lakyus that she was neither safe from the distance and she was at a disadvantage at close range. Her specialty as a warrior was speed, agility, and a bit of stealth. Her main weapon was her extremely sharp daggers. She was fast and swift, but her reach was short compared to her.
'We'll test things out for a bit'
"Really you aren't going to let me get my weapon? Letting me fight with a handicap is that it? I mean, I don't mind, but wouldn't it be better to win when your opponent has all their weapons"
Lakyus did not respond to those words, Letting your enemy retrieve their weapons was a foolish and the height of arrogance and she did not plan on making such a mistake, being honourable and kind in a fight guaranteed death.
She heard as her foe click her tongue in frustration before she took a stance that looked to be a running Stance that had her back arched inward, Lakyus had already assessed that the enemy would specialize in agility and speed as well as stealth to a degree, so with that in mind she waited with a baited breath for the burst of speed to come.
"Martial art: Flow acceleration"
Clementine said before she burst forth with impeccable speed toward Lakyus and immediately closing the distance, Lakyus reacted quickly and swung her sword at the coming enemy however Clementine evaded the attack by ducking low and running past her before halting her speed when she was behind Lakyus, it was within a fraction of a second that Clementine spun and turned delivering a spin kick at Lakyus's back but the attack was blocked by her floating swords that acted as shields, Clementine quickly adapted and used the shields as platform to jump over Lakyus, landing in front of her she quickly, Pulled out her dagger and displayed her dexterity by flipping it before shoving her hand forward and tried to stab Lakyus in the stomach.
Lakyus quickly blocked the attack with her black blade before delivering a devastating kick onto her Foe's stomach and sent her tumbling on the ground and as she tumbled on the ground Lakyus followed up and sent one of the floating swords to impale Clementine however that attempt was fruitless as the blonde haired psycho quickly rolled onto her feet and stood before parrying the blade with her dagger. Flipping her wrist, Lakyus controlled the sword and sent relentless attacks that forced Clementine to dodge and parry, putting her in a defensive position and pushing her back.
"shit"
Clementine cursed as she realized that she was at a disadvantage and each attack she parried from the sword seemingly became faster and more vicious, however with each attack she moved back meaning eventually the range of her foe will decrease or at the very least it her control should weaken after all she can't possibly control the sword from too far away.
The sound of two blades echoed in the air, as their battle had now earnestly begun, the sense of urgency never left Lakyus' face, and she needed to end the battle as soon as possible
As Clementine was thinking about the diminishing range of the sword, Lakyus pre-emptively recalled her sword back to her and giving her enemy some breathing room, of course it would be ideal to tire her out with long range attacks using the swords however carefully controlling her swords from afar can get very tiring on itself, the act of controlling the swords is a low tier telekinetic ability that comes with acquiring the swords and using it drains stamina and drains you mentally and she is often forced to resort back to close quarters combat in a bid to conserve her stamina.
'her style of attack relies heavily on speed, and she most likely targets weak spots, so I should be careful with using my floating swords and leaving myself open'
Lakyus inwardly thought her foe could throw her weapons as such it was important not to leave herself vulnerable, not to mention the stamina drain when using the floating swords would make her sloppy Lakyus stared down her enemy, looking at Clementine began to think that it may have been a mistake to leave the other three behind, as leader she should have been able to understand that the person responsible for this would have underlings, the situation was already dire from get go and it didn't help that the plan was more of a search and rescue then come back to deal with the undead, Evileye mentioning the negative energy kind of shifted the priorities a bit.
Lakyus fancied herself as someone who was a problem solver rather than a planner, whatever options saved the most lives or caused the least death always took priority as a holy Maiden it was her duty to do so. This may have been a blunder on her part, but she'll do better next time.
'Taking too much time, so let's finish this'
Their fight had barely started no more than a minute had passed however letting Negative energy linger too much was dangerous so she needed to quickly kill/capture this enemy before joining up with Evileye and defeat the boss.
Coincidentally Clementine also had similar thoughts about concluding this battle, she would love to torture and hear the screams of the Adamantite class adventurer and leader of blue rose however prolonging things is not going to be good for her not when the enemy has an advantage in both long range and close range.
'I need to bypass herd efenses in one go and get close enough that those swords won't be able to interfere.'
Clementine inwardly thought and began to prepare, putting her dagger back in it's sheath she took an Olympic running stance, with her hand touching the ground, and her rump elevated up
"martial art: Ability boost."
Her body glowed an orange hue as she further arched her back inwardly. A problem with this was the fact that it was extremely telegraphed and alerted the enemy of the coming attack. However, the boost in speed was a good trade-off.
"Greater ability boost"
Lakyus gripped her sword tighter and changed her own stance, her sword which she held in front it her she now took a stance that had the sword on her side with the blade parallel to the ground and its tip pointing behind her, she leaned forward with her left shoulder sticking further out and her left knee forward. Her floating swords then stuck on her sides, two on each side, her gaze steely and her heart ready.
"[flow acceleration] [impenetrable fortress] [pace of the wind]"
With her body having glowed a myriad of colours she quickly moved forth in a burst of speed that left as small crack on the ground, her body was lighter, she was faster than before, to the naked eye she would be a blur. Lakyus quickly acted and sent two of her floating swords but unfortunately they proved useless Clementine parried one to the side and evaded the other and with her speed Lakyus wouldn't be able to call the swords back in time to help defend her, a smile appeared on the blonde haired psycho.
"Perhaps torturing her isn't out of the question.'
Seeing Her enemy's Stance, she went for her torso. Pulling out her dagger once more, but this time the weapon crackled with blue electricity ready to pierce the flesh of an enemy. Lakyus swung Kilineiram high aiming to decapitate however Clementine evaded by ducking low and saw an opening for her to attack, she smiled in excitement as she pushed forward her hand held dagger planning to gut out the woman's waist however a force collided with Clementine's stomach that was powerful enough to have her spit out volumes of saliva before she was sent flying through the air.
'shit!!!, I got careless'
She thought as she flew in the air, she quickly flipped herself up right, touching the ground with both feet she slid back due to the force of the kick, as she slid Clementine caught a glimpse of her enemy and saw her flick her fingers forward, like a command telling her to get closer, realizing this she tried to jump up trying to dodge the blade but it was too late the two swords plunged themselves into her body, The pain of two blades piercing through her body registered in her brain and she let out a painful scream that rung out in the air as she fell and tumbled on the ground.
One of the swords had pierced from her back and through the stomach, and the other pierced. Right through her thigh, she coughed up more than a mouthful of blood repeatedly. Seeing the blood gush out of her impaled stomach and the unbearable pain , Clementine screamed once more and tried to pill the sword out, but her strength was draining fast, and the blood made it slippery.
'No! no! no! no! no! NO!!!! I CAN'T DIE LIKE THIS!!! I DON'T WANT TO DIE LIKE THIS!!!'
She inwardly screamed as her body seemed to not have the strength to pull it out, unfortunately, regardless of what she thought no one would come to her rescue.
Lakyus quickly commanded her swords back to her. She then spun them around, removing the blood running toward her original destination. Regardless if the enemy is alive or dead, she was certain they won't be going anywhere such injuries and no potion could heal a hole in the stomach.
"I need to hurry."
.....
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this. Anytime a character gets this much screen time but isn't the mc and then you can probably assume they are important.