Across from him, Domain, Second Elder of the Gamma Branch, stood in serene stillness, her weathered gi fluttering faintly in the night wind.
Euly raised his blade. "Aren't you a little too old to be fighting?"
EULY ABI: 100%
Domain tilted her head, her voice calm and clipped. "That is ageism, and it is not becoming of a man who calls himself a knight to behave in such a manner."
DOMAIN ABI: 100%
"Don't preach to me about morals," Euly shot back. "You're an Elder of the Gamma Branch. I know about your committees, every decision about the Zoners runs through you. That means you voted against my people."
"I only support what the King desires," Domain replied plainly.
"Well, I don't give a damn about your King," Euly said, stepping forward. "Especially when he doesn't give a damn about me."
Domain slowly untied her gi and let it slip from her shoulders. Beneath it, her body was frail, skeletal, skin thin as paper stretched over trembling bones. With deliberate slowness, she unsheathed a long, narrow sword from its scabbard.
Euly blinked, startled.
What is this...? This woman is basically bones. What's she thinking, trying to fight me like this? in any she's an Elder so I shouldn't underestimate her.
Domain moved first. Despite her fragility, she rushed forward and swung her blade in a flurry of strikes. Euly didn't even break a sweat, he parried each one with lazy precision, barely shifting his footing.
CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.
Steel rang against steel, and then Euly batted her blade aside entirely, knocking Domain backward. She stumbled and crashed to the ground, breath heaving.
"Forgive me..." Domain rasped. "My body is... old and frail."
Euly lowered his sword, irritation flashing across his face. "What the hell, lady? If you can't fight, why the hell are you even here?"
Domain struggled to stand, leaning heavily on her sword for balance.
"Don't even answer that," Euly snapped. "It never surprises me, the ones on top, barking orders and acting all tough, are just old, weak relics hiding behind their titles."
Domain chuckled softly, then coughed. "You really should stop disrespecting your elders. Those who achieve success and excellence understand the importance of hierarchy. You... you are a filthy Zoner. Do not dare see yourself as superior to me."
Her words were calm, almost polite, but they dripped with venom, she snapped her self back into action. Both combatants enaged in a dance of swords.
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Euly stared at her, half-confused, half-disgusted. "This has got to be a joke."
"You just don't understand," Domain said, her breathing steadying. "I wasn't trying to defeat you just now. I was merely observing your sword style. And now it's clear, you favor a modern medieval technique. Very well."
She raised a trembling hand, and with that motion, a heavy book materialized before her, bound in dark blue and etched with geometric sigils. Its pages fluttered like a bird stretching its wings.
"This," she said softly, "is Rajan's Penalty."
Euly's eyes narrowed as he leapt back, sword raised. "I've never seen anything like that. What is it? Some kind of Art?"
"This is no Art," Domain replied. "This is my philosophy."
She turned a page. "Rajan... give me Glass."
Her blade pulsed with a blinding light, clear and sharp as crystal.
Domain lunged forward with renewed vigor. Steel clashed against steel in a flurry of ringing blows. Sparks erupted as the two swords danced across the ruined street.
"Reflect." Domain's voice cut through the chaos.
DOMAINS ABI: 95%
Euly staggered as the next blow slammed against his guard with far more force than before.
Her strikes came faster, heavier, as if the frail old woman from moments ago had been replaced by a warrior in her prime.
"What the—?" he grunted, blocking another powerful swing. "Where is she getting this strength from?"
Domain closed the distance and slammed the pommel of her blade into his chest. The blow hit like a hammer, launching Euly backward into a pile of rubble. He coughed, breath knocked from his lungs.
"No way..." he rasped, forcing himself to his feet. "She was barely standing before. How...?"
Above him, Domain descended from the sky in a vertical slash. Her blade struck the ground with such force the earth itself shattered, smoke billowing around them.
Euly shielded his eyes from the dust. Was she pretending to be weak the entire time? No... I could feel it. Her movements were slow. Her body was unfit for battle... so how—
The smoke cleared.
And Euly's heart skipped a beat.
Standing in the crater wasn't the frail, trembling elder he had fought minutes ago. This was someone new, or rather, someone reborn. Her skin was smooth and youthful, her limbs strong and sure. The tremors were gone. The cough was gone. Her sword hummed with quiet, devastating power.
Euly "Very well then, I'm not holding back, unleash the sparks."
Euly's balde was covered in sparks.
EULY ABI: 95%
Euly Copper sword illuminated with sparks. A cape formed signifying the charge of his attack. He swung his blade toward Domain, and the air itself ignited "Trail of Sparks."
EULY ABI: 75%
Sparks of Abi flared into existence, forming a blazing trail that chased her like a line of living dynamite. In an instant, the trail erupted, a chain of explosions bursting across the battlefield, and the final blast struck her full force, hurling Domain violently into the ground amid a storm of light and dust.Domain stepped forward, her gaze locked onto him.
Domain stood up, her body unharmed.
Euly grit his teeth.
"Don't think too hard," she said, voice steady and sharp. "You cannot understand my philosophy."
The air grew heavy. Time itself seemed to thicken around them.
And the real fight had only just begun.
To be continued...