Part 23
The makeshift gang was all gathered around a table.
"He usez an axe Cyee, ya gotta use your scythe thiz time."
Their original topic was how they would deal with Fragen. From the subject they were on right now, one could tell they had already went over that.
"Axe? Like the ones that you use to cut down trees?" asked Cyeen.
The way they would handle her was easy, the only hard part was executing it. It was decided to fight the player out in the open and to not use blasters ever.
Jess slammed the table,
"I am talkin' about a battle axe ya idiot!"
And now there they were, talking about the fight between Guela and Cyeen that was to begin in less than a hour.
Zoen threw out his idea,
"Maybe you should poke at him until you learn his arsenal?"
Jess squeezed the nose of her brother.
"Hmm, ya are below avrage aboud max essence and strengt. But ya are fast right? So use yar speed. Don' forget to use ya legs too!"
The noble rubbed her eyes, she had barely awoke.
"Leave it to me. I assure you I will bring you a win."
"If you're that confident." said both the siblings in sync although Jess's accent ruined it.
"Let'z go guyze. There'z a guy tryna steal ma Cherry!" yelled out Jess.
***
All five of them were gathered at the location Cyeen and Jess usually had their training sessions back when they stayed at Bami. As the two challengers were warming up ten meters away from each other, Cherry was cheering on for her husband and Jess was whispering tactics she could use to Cyeen.
Zoen got in between the challengers.
"I decided to be the host of this so bear with me." he cleared his throat."On my right is the husband of our beloved Cherry, Guela. On my left is the elder daughter of the Flameberg family, Cyeen. This fight ahem in Jess's word's, shall determine if Guela is fit for Cherry or not."
A long silence of anticipation was followed after his words. The two fighters took their positions and...
"Begin!"
Both of them rushed forward the second they heard the signal, summoning their soul weapons. Cyeen swung her scythe just to be met with a green two sided battle axe. The two weapons clashed against eachother but the axe had gotten stuck in the middle of the scythe.
The noble pulled her scythe down before letting it go and landing a punch right in the middle of her opponent's face. Upon letting go of her scythe, she had indirectly dismissed the weapon, freeing the battle axe. Guela immediately took advantage of that despite the punch he received.
The axe was swung from Cyeen's left which she barely managed to hold with her hands. It helped absorb a little of the impact but it still managed to make her go flying in the opposite direction.
The noble teleported to the side of Guela while still airborne, using her momentum as a weapon.
Both challengers were knocked to the ground at high speeds but Cyeen managed to land faster with a quick ground stab using her scythe. She lifted her head to see bunch of diamond shaped projectiles come her way. The noble summoned her knives with a click to intercept the diamonds. Guela was right in her face now, she hadn't even see the guy move.
Cyeen used her teleport despite the cooldown, taking a hefty essence penalty. She was now behind where the guy last stood. With a hard swing, the noble flung her strings at her opponent. All of them were easily cut down by green clubs.
"Wait a second, those are playing cards!" Cyeen yelled, finally figuring out her opponent's arsenal.
"I guess." said Guela, with a green deck of cards in his hands. He pulled two cards from the deck.
"Twenty one, read it and weep."
Cyeen was immediately surrounded by countles clubs, hearts, spades and diamonds. The noble made a ball of violet strings around her in desperation as the projectiles bombarded her.
After the symbols were all done attacking the ball, she tore opened the ball. There were torn strings all around her now. Cyeen held her hand forwards towards the guy, immediately making the torn strings follow him. Jess had caught on how Cyeen was taking inspiration from Fragen on how to move her strings.
Guela swiftly dodged most of the strings before cutting the rest with his battle axe. He drew another card from the deck. It was an ace of spades. Let's see you deal with an ace. He shined green for a few seconds. Cyeen raised her eyebrow to understand what was happening. After some confusion, she realised she couldn't move her body anymore.
Guela was standing still just like Cyeen. They seemed to be locked into a sort of watching state. Suddenly, a pletra of green playing cards fell out of her mouth like she was a magician.
Every single card that fell out of Cyeen's mouth turned into the symbol that was on them while the card's value determined the amount of projectiles spawned.
The noble could do nothing but watch as she was bombarded once again by the high damage cards. Her shield's hit point was dropped all the way to one as she fell to her knees. Cyeen felt the sharp edge of the axe against her neck before a thread in her brain snapped.
Suddenly, she pounced on the legs of the confused guy, knocking him down. She tossed him away with pure strength as she let go of his legs.
In an instant, the noble had appeared behind the flying Guela. A second passed before the guy perfectly fit into Cyeen's knee. Cherry, who was watching the fight closely flinched as she felt like the knee had hit her own spine.
Guela was knocked in the opposite direction after the blow, bouncing on the ground once like a stone on the surface of a lake. Before he could even begin his descent for the second bounce, appeared Cyeen who ignored her teleportation cooldown once more. Both of her hands were clasped into a fist.
When the time was right, she hit the guy down with the bottom of her double fist. Guela was slammed against the ground with such force that some birds flew off of the nearby trees.
Finally, Cyeen summoned a flameberge and lifted it above her head.
A sound of clothes moving was heard and in the blink of an eye, Cyeen's shield was broken as she was sent into the hands of Jess. The noble looked at the expert with a single eye open. I lost again..? How?
There was a scary look on her face as her vibrating pupils were dead locked onto her opponent.
"Let go! I haven't lost yet!" screamed out Cyeen.
Jess tightened her grip on Cyeen's arms.
"Ya lost man, let it go."
Her pupils slowly got back to their usual state as she let herself relax in Jess's arms. Unlike her usual losses this one was different, she had felt like she was obligated to kill her opponent the second that axe had touched her neck.
Zoen lifted his hand up.
"And the winner with twelve remaining shield hit points is... GUELA!"
I couldn't even scratch him? The cheering from Cherry got louder as his name was announced. The guy went up to Cyeen to shake her hand.
"You were a good sport, I truly felt like a prey in that last part. But I gotta say, you reminded me of what Cherry used to be." he said.
Cyeen unwillingly agreed to shaking his hand but stopped herself from saying anything. I keep on losing. Every single time. Every SINGLE time.
The noble escaped from the hands of Jess, leaving their side with an excuse to have some alone time.
"What am I missing!" yelled the noble as she punched a tree. Blood was oozing out of her knuckles as she sat down laying against that same tree.
Something small vibrated deep in her soul. En? She summoned the white book into her hands before opening the first page.
"Cyeen Flameberg, I deeply apologize as I have realised the impossibility of the last task I gave you. For that, I decided for you to abondon it and give you two hard but possible tasks. Firstly, I'm going to need you to eradicate Fragen as it falls under cleansing the world of all corruption. Secondly, I want you to learn as many skills with the white essence as possible. Copy anything you can."
The air had gotten denser again. Cyeen picked up the floating feather.
"I won't disappoint you En."
It was at that moment the noble realised. It was impossible for her to lead even a small group of three people let alone a whole duchy. Her left eye began itching. She shook her head. I can lead even a duchy. It's just Jess who resists obeying me. A few moments passed under the tree. It was quiet, just like how she liked it.
"Not like this."
The cyan sundress she wore waved at the trees as wind began blowing upon the forest. Her body flowed opposite to the wind, frantically being thrown around.
The trees around her were covered in violet knives and blaster marks. She got up while fixing the hair that was trying to get into her eyes. A person was waiting for her. They were leaning against a tree, imitating Cyeen. They had clearly seen everything. The setting sun cast a warm shadow upon the area as they spoke out.
"Heya. Not comin' back?"
Cyeen went towards the demon, brushing past her.
"I should have won that."
Her arm was grabbed by the clawed hand of Jess.
"Ya should've? Now way, I made ya fite someon on par widh me, it'z understandebla ya losed."
The noble aggressively pulled her arm free.
"I can't beat anyone. You don't understand do you?! You win every one on one. But me? I cannot even win a single fight no matter how much effort I put into it!"
Jess sighed.
"I failed to teach ya."
Cyeen remained silent, making Jess talk again.
"Yar weak Cyee, mentaly, physicaly and essence wise. So make up fo' it somehow. When brute strenth doesn' work; use yar creativity, suprize ya opponent, pull dirty triccks, just do somethin' ya understand me? Neva hold back, don' even thinkg about preservin yar strength. Listen to me and I promize, ya will thrive."
The two stood there for a second without any other words. Cyeen felt insulted, weak, incompetent but on the other hand, a part of her now felt aflame. The demon left after telling her to go upstairs in Cherry's shop. The itch in her crater of a left eye had turned into a heavy headache, encouraging her to get a good night's rest. She dragged her feet towards Bami soon afterwards.
***
A demon in her undergarments offered the noble a fist bump.
"Hm, what's this for?" asked the confused girl.
"Somethin' I did with me crew. Just do what I'ym doin', Cyee." said Jess, bumping fists with Cyeen.
The noble sat on the side of her bed in a really long chemise. All of the makeshift gang was practically naked as they had hung their clothes for drying up.
Although she didn't care much, Cyeen couldn't help but feel more vulnerable in this state than any.
Jess fixed her position, also sitting on the side of the bed, letting her legs dangle of the bed. She began swinging her legs as she talked.
"I thingk I mighta judged ya wrong. Ya are not one of thoze noblees interezted in the black market, rite?"
Cyeen lifted her eyebrow,
"No? Do you ask that because there are black markets I don't know about present in Enidia?"
"Na, not really. I wouldn' know. I hayte the black marketz too."
The noble threw her head back, contemplating asking about something she had been curious about for a long while.
"So Jess, I learned a bit from your brother but he directed me to you. Would you perhaps tell me a bit about your past?"
The gray haired girl's face dropped.
"God damit Zoen, why are ya goin' around spillin our past..." she mumbled to herself. "Ya wanna learn Cyee? Sure, under one condiotion: Ya are gonna tell me 'bout yourz after I'm done."
Cyeen nodded once, getting into her second deal with this demon.