"I, Akira Winters of Venindale, Matriarch of Venindale, and the Blade of Yuisur here by sanctioning this duel between Commander Rainghar Silverbreeze and Officer Petty… Holly Remington? I'm so sorry, did I get the title right?"
Akira of Venindale stood between the opposing fighters, giving their duel her official blessing before it started. She was still wearing her signature black thigh slit maxi dress that hugged her perfect form almost a little too nicely. It had been a brisk morning so she had put on a pair of laced tights that she knew would drive her husband and mate absolutely wild while still giving her an extra thin layer of protection against the cold.
Cooler temperatures had never really bothered Akira though she didn't exactly know why. She had always marked it up to being part fox in the past but then again her mentor, who was also a kitsune, had always seemed to be shivering cold even in slightly warmer climates. Akira didn't think about it too much though and if all she had to do to stay warm on a chillier morning was to put on a pair of tights, then she wouldn't complain.
It had gotten warmer though as the day progressed and now she stood under the sun in the bright clearing as she felt a small bead of sweat roll down ample bust and into her cleavage. She wore a sly grin on her lips, partially because she was having slightly indecent thoughts about her husband eyeing up her glistening chest, but the main reason was due to the bloodlust she could feel in the air all around her. Her eyes had dilated as the scent of killing intent reached her nose and the sides of her lips drew up just enough to show her sharpened canines.
Akira had a strange love fixation on bloodlust. She had always done her best to keep herself in check nowadays but it hadn't been so easy for her in her younger years. It had been the reason why she took the path of the assassin when she was only thirteen and she hadn't left that life of killing until she had turned twenty seven, and was forced to take her position as Matriarch on that fateful day. She had gotten her revenge shortly after though and her bloodlust had been satiated, but only for a time. After a while, the feeling had slowly begun to return and she had to do her best to hide it in an attempt to leave her old life behind. However, that changed when she met her now husband, Matt. His body, his soul, his entire being radiated the very aura of death itself. She knew he was a killer before she had even first laid eyes upon him, when she had only just noticed his scent. In the past, she would have normally wanted to fight someone like him right away if the winner takes all and gets to live on sort of way. Something was… different about him though, and instead of wanting to kill him her heart reached out to him and it was pure undying love at first sight. There was no way she could explain her reasoning for falling for him, she just had. Then there was the slaughter at Thomas's tavern and that…well, let's just say that she was attached to his hip in more ways than one after that.
Now Akira felt a similar bloodlust in the air. Her commander of the guards and so far loyal advisor wanted to right the injustice that had been brought upon him when the small woman pointed a weapon in his face before the duel had ever even started. That, and she was pretty sure he wanted to knock the human's down a few pegs by his beliefs and stand out on top once more in his Matriarch's mind. Akira had no doubt that if given the chance, Rainghar might actually try and critically injure his opponent, just to prove his point that he was better then them.
However, the biggest amount of bloodlust Akira could feel in the air wasn't from her advisor, but from his opponent. Holly Remington was her husband's best friend and apparently adopted little sister. She wore a large unnerving smile on her lips that showed off her rows of jagged, shark-like teeth with malevolent intent. The bloodlust she exerted all around her was similar to that of her husband's and Akira could sense a sort of… controlled chaos brewing inside the small female that she'd soon unleash upon her opponent. Akira felt slightly bad for Rainghar. She believed that the fate of this fight was already decided long before it had ever started.
"It's Petty Officer ma'am," Rem said, gently correcting Akira.
Her genuine politeness towards Akira quickly disappeared back to unadulterated bloodlust once more when she refocused on Rainghar. Yeup, this fight was already over.
Yeup, this fight was… boring. Like painstakingly boring. Holly had to do her best to stifle a yawn as she took a step back to dodge an incoming slash that was clearly meant to cut her throat. He was starting to strike with a bit more intent to kill her now, she guessed she had to give her opponent that much. The Elven pretty boy was starting to look a little haggard now as breathed heavily and as sweat began to roll down his brow. Even a lock of his perfect hair hung down over his face in such a way that made him look like some sort of anime protagonist. The dude was starting to look wiped out, and Holly hadn't even touched him yet.
They had been at this for about seven minutes now and neither had yet to land a single blow on the other. Rainghar hadn't been taking Holly seriously at first in the fight, but when he found out how easily she could dodge his attacks, his temper began to rise more and his attacks came even harder. Still, Holly dodged every swing, slash, and stab the elf had to throw at her, all without so much as even lifting the knife in her hand to parry an attack.
Her plan to humble the elf who thought so highly of himself was going a little… too well, almost to the point now that she felt like she was starting to embarrass him in front of everyone else instead. Not that that was a bad thing as now it seemed he was finally starting to take her at least a little more seriously. His last attack had been a flurry of fainting jabs with the tip of his long needle like rapier that ultimately had allowed him to get close enough to try to slit his throat. However, Holly felt like she saw the move coming from a mile away and had expertly stepped out of his reach when the attack came. The fight might have been at least starting to feel a little more real, but it was still boring.
"Really? How much longer are you gonna keep this up for?" came Matt's voice in her ear.
Holly was wearing a small in-ear earpiece that allowed her to stay in contact with Matt during the fight, just in case she got too bored and wanted to talk to him.
"So I was thinking, what do you wanna do for dinner after this? I can reach out to H after and see if she'll meet us for like… a couples thing if you're interested." Holly replied out loud as she swiftly dodged another attack meant to pierce her heart.
"Oh so you guys are officially a thing now?" Matt replied.
"Hmm. I mean not really but maybe we could change that." Holly replied with a bored sounding sigh as she stepped around her opponent's thrusting attack in such a way that it set her up for a retaliatory strike that she didn't take.
"Really? Moving a little fast now aren't we?" Matt replied with a chuckle.
His comment made her turn and squint over at him with an annoyed look that almost cost her her life as Rainghar tried to stab her from behind through her chest. Luckily she had anticipated such an attack and sidestepped out of the way just in time.
"Remind me to hit you after" Rem replied to Matt.
"Pay attention to our fight you light fucking runt!"
Rainghar was getting more and more annoyed and his attacks were starting to come more quickly now with more rage thrown behind each jab and slash of his rapier. Holly still expertly dodged them all, looking more like an exotic dancer than a fighter as she moved around the battlefield. She had officially reached a new point of boredom and to keep herself from going crazy she decided it was now time to start messing with the elf a little bit more for her own entertainment. She began throwing small spins and pirouettes into her movements to make herself look more like a dancer than ever before as she continued to move on around.
"Stop that! Use that knife in your hand and fight me!" Rainghar exclaimed out loud as he began to ready himself for another jab at her chest.
This time however, Holly watched as the air around the tip of the blade began to swirl in a brilliant blue color. Bright particles of magical dust began to be pulled into the tip of the blade as it charged up for the next attack. Rainghar was finally using his magic now. Though Holly had been forbidden from using any of her firearms during the fight, she had actually voiced the approval for the use of magic even though she didn't have any of her own. She wanted to know what this elf was capable of and the thought of fighting a real magic blade user actually began to excite her now. The wicked grin on her face returned as she lowered herself down into an actual fighting stance for the first time since the fight had started, her knife clutched tightly in her gloved hand.
Rainghar didn't waste any time and quickly thrusted the now magic-imbued blade forward with such speed and force that Holly thought she heard a small sonic boom as she narrowly stepped out of the way. She watched as Rainghar went speeding past her before coming to a stop a few feet away from her in the direction in which he had been going. His attack was clearly a single direction charge that would have left him vulnerable to attack from behind if his attack didn't land but to his credit, Rainghar was quick to stop and slash out in a wide arc behind him to cover his attack in case Holly had decided to take the opportunity. The two locked eyes with one another for a moment and the much shorter Holly smiled and looked down her nose at Rainghar as if she was a giant looking down upon her prey.
"Fucking finally! Now this is going to be fun."
'What's going on here? How is she still able to keep up with me?'
Rainghar was starting to believe that he may have bitten off more than he could chew. He originally hadn't planned on using his magic in this duel, even though his opponent had allowed it. In fact, it was only now that he was starting to see that most of the terms for the fight were not only just in his favor, but she had agreed to them and even suggested them. By all means she should have been at a huge disadvantage with her human weapons, but she was holding her own and mocking him at the same time!
Rainghar had let his emotions get the better of him and made a few too many careless mistakes that he didn't realize he had made until it was probably too late. He had shown too much of his hand to her, including his magic abilities without him learning anything more from her then she was quick and good at dodging him. Things started to get really bad for him when he tried to jab for her face. She was forced to finally use that small knife in her right hand to block his attack. The moment their blades met was when he realized how much trouble he was really in. Rainghar had studied the blade almost all his life and was proficient in almost every sword type, though he preferred the elegance of the rapier. He had faced many foes both in controlled duels and actually fights for life and death. He knew when someone was going all out against him and this shrimp? This short overly top heavy little runt, barely used any effort to block his attack. Now Rainghar found himself fighting for his life as she made precise movements with her blade that, if he wasn't careful, would easily end his life.
She was a far more skilled opponent then Rainghar had originally given her credit for and now, for the first time in a long time, he was starting to have doubts whether he could actually win or not.
"She's toying with him." Flow stated rather flatly, which felt a little off coming from her.
Matthew Winters watched as Rem was indeed playing around with her opponent instead of taking the fight more seriously. She almost reminded him of a Cheshire cat with the way her massive grin almost seemed to span over her entire face. Her movements were fast and deadly but she was still holding her punches like a cat playing with a mouse before going in for the kill.
Matt figured that most of those in attendance that day were skilled warriors, to some degree, so it didn't really surprise him when Flow noticed the power dynamic between the two combatants. Both Pyre and Aida grunted and nodded their heads in agreement as they stood by and watched with all the others. Even Rainghar's own knights were starting to see that this was not going in their commanders favor anymore. Matt sighed a little and shook his head as he watched the fight near its conclusion.
Rem had moved fully to the offensive now and had changed her fighting style to incorporate a little more acrobatics. Matt watched as she placed her hand on Rainghar's shoulder after he failed to try and rebuttal an attack and lifted herself up, and over his shoulders like a circus performer before she landed on the other side of him. She then used the tip of her blade and left several very shallow and very quick cut marks all over the elves neck and face from behind, showing each and every way she could have killed him in that one instance. Rainghar paused in that moment as blood began to trickle from one of the shallow cuts on his cheeks, a stunned look plastered on his face. Rem looked like she was about to continue marking the elf with the tip of her blade when she noticed the elf freeze, and halted her attack.
"Well I guess that's it huh?" she said as she lowered the blade before padding Rainghar on the back with a chuckle "Don't feel too bad about it, okay? I spar with the literal Commander of the Proctor's nearly every day so honestly, the odds were kind of stacked against you from the get go. But hey, it got pretty exciting their at the end so… good on you"
Rem smiled and padded the still frozen Rainghar on the back once more before she began to gleefully skip over towards the area where the rest of the spectators were gathered. She stopped over in front of Matt and bent over slightly, her arms behind her back and a broad smile on her lips.
"So?" she asked as she looked up at him.
Matthew sighed and shook his head as he looked down at her then over at the others a bit hesitant. They looked back at him a bit confused as to what was going on but Matt saw that Flow was actually the first to understand as he saw a hint of jealousy in her eyes. Akira, who seemed to understand a split second later, also let out a silent sigh before nodding her head in approval. Matt shook his head and looked down at Rem in front of him once more and placed his hand on top of her head, giving her small head pats.
"You're a fucking monster" he sighed
"Hehe" Rem cackled "Fucking roar bitch."