Snapping her eyes open, she found that the muffled jingling came from Jenkins spreading a set of enormous metal wings out.
And, like an idiot, she had let the Boss essentially finish his transformation sequence without getting a few hits in.
"Shit, he just had to be a Winged Ant! No, what am I even thinking? I even realised the Soldiers are incredibly similar to Zergs, and I didn't think of the possibility that they might have wings too!?"
Maintaining her stance simply out of habit, all she could do was blink rapidly at the unfolding situation, regardless of how shocking this revelation was.
The top two wing blades spread out to a good several meters of razor-sharp wingspan; the lower two looked to be about half as long and were less sharp, but clearly nowhere less devastating if they got a hit in.
No wonder the Soldiers' sparring arena had to be so large; Jenkins wasn't even the biggest Soldier here, yet his wingspan was that immense. If he could be a Zerg, he would undoubtedly be considered a top military leader.
But what distracted Delphina from her thoughts the most was the black framework and bronze coloured membrane that made up the base of these deadly weapons.
"Uh, Jenkins, question for you… Where do you even keep those? No, I mean, what even is that material? That can't be Black Gold too, surely?"
All she could do was leap back as Jenkins sent one of his wings her way in response.
"I didn't want to see it up close to check, but thank you!"
Batting the wing away, she could confirm it was indeed Black Gold. Unfortunately, it was honed so sharply that it had left a large scratch in the side of the Estoc.
There was no way she could play this game at a distance; she needed to get up close and personal. One of his arms was essentially useless, but the shorter wings could likely double as gripping appendages, so she was at a considerably worse starting point than earlier.
Having taken to dodging around the arena to prevent Jenkins from landing a hit, as he whipped his wing edges out towards her, Delphina formulated a plan of action.
"Damn it, Jenkins! Please remember I'm not wearing anything that really qualifies as armour!"
Reinforcing her very skin and bones with her energy, she felt her skin begin to tingle. She then protected her muscles to stop any contusions from occurring in the next few moments.
"Fuck, I can definitely take one direct hit, but I don't know how Delphina's body will hold up after that."
Swiftly darting forward, she weaved in amongst the repeated wing strikes that were becoming increasingly aggressive, occasionally parrying them away from her body with the slowly degrading sword as she manoeuvred side to side.
Calculating the distance, she could see she was gradually coming into the range of the shorter wings.
"Well, it's now or never. Hopefully Jenkins doesn't accidentally maim me…"
With her suddenly speeding up, his strikes faltered for a second as he realised she had been hiding her abilities.
Using this to her advantage, she leapt forward, akin to a pouncing leopard. Her arms back by the side of her head once more, watching as he reached out to grab her- she brought the sword tip downwards to deflect his left hand.
Allowing her deflection's momentum to carry through, she pushed his arm away, executing a wide cut-over-feint, rotating the sword above her head and bringing it down in a chopping motion towards his neck.
Carrying her whole weight behind it, the Estoc began to cut into him, almost completely separating his neck from his collarbone.
Shocked, she let go of the sword. Resulting in her awkwardly splatting herself onto his torso like a gecko, her legs wrapping around his mid-drift just under his wings.
She quickly reached out to stabilise his head and neck, only to find that he had already pulled out her Estoc and was covering the 'wound' with his hand.
His damaged right arm was now wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer.
Putting a hand on his 'healthy' shoulder, she leaned back to get a full appraisal of the damage; however, as she did so, the realisation struck her.
She had almost died too.
It must have been in reflex action when she had nearly half-decapitated him, but his lower wings were folded to form points that almost touched her upper ribs, and his larger top ones were practically giving her a trim.
If he hadn't pulled her closer at the last minute when she landed, they still might have caused some minor damage.
Delphina watched as a few shredded strands of her hair floated through the breeze.
She shuddered hard as she realised she had just leaned back; thankfully, he had moved them out of the way in time.
"Wow, that was a close call, all control of my senses went out the window when I realised I almost KO'd the fucker. That's definitely something I need to work on…"
"Uh, so Jenkins, I think it's fair to say I've won, don't you think?"
Throwing him a bright smile, Delphina didn't know that her eyes were now completely purple even in the sunlight, or that her pupils were dilated. She was clearly high on adrenaline.
Jenkins just stared up at her; well, she assumed he was staring. He seemed like he was anyway.
My Lady, never do something like that ever again.
"Aha, haha. No, don't worry, I don't plan on it. I didn't realise you had wings. Technically, this is your fault, you know. You should have conceded ages ago."
Yes, my Lady, I let the thrill of the fight get to my head. I can only apologise.
She gently began to kick her feet and then crossed her ankles behind his back, tightening her grip.
"As your Leader, I'm not going to have any more babying nonsense out of you, am I?"
Jenkins replied by tightening his hold around her waist, making her shiver. She wasn't sure why, but her skin seemed a little sensitive at the moment.
I wouldn't dare to my Lady.
Nodding at his answer, she became momentarily distracted as she noticed him pulling his wings back.
"Ah, wait!"
Swiftly reinforcing herself once again, she grabbed the nearest top wing.
My Lady!
Jenkins immediately stopped the wing from moving, practically stiff with tension. He couldn't let the wing drop as it would slide through her gloved hand and cut it, but he couldn't just pull it back either- she now had a firm grasp on the edge of the wing.
"Oh no, it's okay, Jenkins, you can't hurt me like this, see-"
With this, she gently ran her cheek along the edge and finally rested it on the wing tip, giving him a somewhat dreamy smile.
Standing stock still for only a moment, Jenkins wrapped his free wing behind Delphina. Using it to cushion her back so she could remain stable, his right arm was now free.
Gently lifting her chin, he proceeded to bring his face far too close to her as if examining every inch, before slowly nibbling on the spot she had run along his wing.
She literally squeaked in surprise- she didn't know he had mouthparts. But rather than freeing her, Jenkins held her in place until he determined she hadn't inflicted any wounds.
There's no illusion, you're uninjured. How?
Delphina didn't reply; she simply stuck out her tongue and winked, causing him to dig his claw tips into her cheeks slightly as his grip tightened.
"Can you not? My skin is really sensitive afterwards. And no comment- let's just say it's a trade secret. I am the youngest Sword Master in history after all."