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Vin then realized he did have one other option, and it could possibly work.
Hah, this was going to suck, wasn't it?
Vin squared his feet, assuming a wide, sturdy stance as Xenovia finally rose up to face him, a punch that could rival the gods already cocked back and ready to fly. Vin braced, before fist met flesh, as Xenovia drilled her fist deep into Vin's stomach, forcing the air out of him.
Hold on! Before he could go down, Vin lashed out a right hook, as his fist rocketed towards Xenovia's face. In between the soft hum of his adrenaline-induced pain-high, Vin could see Xenovia's eyes widen in surprise, before a deep thwack echoed around the arena as Vin's own fist pound deep purchase in Xenovia's left cheek. Both combatants stumbled back from each other, Vin falling onto his ass, while Xenovia simply staggered back a few steps.
Tasting copper in her mouth, Xenovia raised a hand to the left side of her lips, brushing it with the back of her hand, before finding it bleeding pretty bad from a pressure cut. Xenovia raised her eyebrow, not bad for a complete beginner, but certainly not enough to put her out of commission. Xenovia's tongue lapped at the wound on her lips, before swallowing her blood without a second thought, however, her attention was soon drawn over to her opponent, who smacked the floor a few times with his hand.
"Alright, alright," Vin wheezed, "I yield."
Irina finally walked back towards them from where she sat, "Vin yields, so Xenovia is the winner."
As Irina took in the appearance of her two friends, one on the floor, nursing his lower jaw and stomach, while the other was occasionally using the bottom of her shirt to dab away blood that continually poured from her split-open lip; she realized that indeed, this was the path that God had apparently put her life on: taking care of two maniacs whose idea of a fun afternoon was beating each other bloody. Oh god, was this some divine test of patience given to her by the lord himself in order to judge if she was truly worthy of salvation? Because in some deep part of her mind, it sure felt like it…
Irina pinched her brow, "I told you two this was a bad idea…"
"What? No, no," Vin staggered to his feet, his voice raspy as he slowly took in shaky breaths, "Look, I'm fine! This was a fine idea, perfect even-! Ow…"
Vin had jolted up right at the end of his sentence, as if something had just popped or strained in his body. Irina drew her best deadpanned, disapproving glare at Xenovia, who just stared back at her blankly, as if she didn't even comprehend what was wrong. But then again, this was Xenovia she was talking about… so maybe she really didn't think anything was wrong.
"I think it went well," Xenovia simply replied, not even showing the slightest indication she was bothered by her gushing lip, "He's improved tremendously from his first fight with Ezekiel. He actually landed a single hit on me."
Now, from anyone else, that would've likely come off as pretty condescending, but from Xenovia? Well, the girl really only spoke the blunt truth.
Vin gave a strained painful smile, and a shaky thumbs up, "Thanks for the compliment Xenovia! Next time, hopefully I'll get more than just one hit on you."
Xenovia looked over and nodded, "I look forward to it."
Irina's hand met her face. Oh lord, what did she do to deserve these two idiots?
November 12th, 2012
"Vin, a word please," Griselda called out, as Vin stopped casting out waves of crystals. Quickly Vin punched one of the crystals, and soon enough, the entire spire shattered into nothing.
"Yes Griselda?" Vin ran up to his mentor, nursing the burning muscles in his arms.
Griselda hesitated for a moment, "How confident do you feel about undergoing missions again?"
A myriad of images flew through Vin's head at the suggestion. Him, on the floor of that dank, dirty market, the ungodly beast on top of him, slowly digging it's fangs into his body in sick, sadistic pleasure. The feelings of hopelessness washing over him as he thrashed out in vain...
Griselda looked at the forlorn look in Vin's eyes, before quickly pressing a hand to his shoulder, making the boy snap out of his funk, and look his instructor in the eyes.
"Vin. What happened was a complete miscalculation, and won't happen again. I plan to ease you into this, alright? The mission I had in mind was a lot easier than the last one you participated in, and we've made sure to do a top to bottom search for any details beforehand. It's only one stray devil, and not a particularly powerful one at that," Griselda rubbed his shoulder caringly, "Look, if we get there, and you don't feel comfortable enough to go ahead, you can even wait in the transport, alright? We're going to be going in a smaller group, but that just means that we can all keep an eye on each other easier."
Vin's haunted gaze softened. A lot of what Griselda said had struck true for Vin. He wasn't going up against some insanely strong behemoth, he was just going up against one simple, measly stray devil. And surely, they learned from their mistakes last time, if the extra recon was anything to go by.
Vin looked down at his pants, brushing his hands against them, "...I don't exactly know if I'm ready yet, or if I'll ever be… But, that just means I gotta try, right?"
"Right," Griselda smiled, "We're going to leave tomorrow, so I suggest getting some sleep now, it's late anyway."
"Gotcha," Vin yawned into his hand, "Good night, Griselda."
"Good night, Vin…"
November 13th, 2012
Vin fiddled with the straps on his coat as he felt the bus bounce up and down on it's suspension while the team cruised down the streets. A pair of earbuds were tucked into his ears, as the sounds of music drowned out his anxieties over the upcoming mission.
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