NOVEL NEXT Ch 2.81: Tilt
Elaina wasn’t ready, not for the round to start, not for Prisma to lunge at her, for the snake-like blade to strike out. Her legs were still halfway to buckling from the orgasm, barely able to step back as the rapier darted forward, tapping her on the knee.
“Point!” Shein said, the crowd offering a mild approval. “Maybe she’s trying to get used to this; her legs are shaking after all.”
Elaina did have time to collect herself, plant her feet down as Prisma stepped back. Elaina thought the girl was moving awkwardly, and she was, shuffling back without baring her front to the audience.
It was bad, Elaina knew, that she’d lost once already. Prisma was the better fencer in skill by far, and Elaina hadn’t really practiced much since their last bout. She had the minor boost in speed from being level three now, but the incremental increases in her physical ability between levels weren’t anywhere near the vast increase she’d gotten upon first receiving her class.
“Start!” Shein said, both contestants moving at once this time. Even though the gain was small comparatively, Elaina was faster now. Maybe it was that, maybe it was the little bit of extra practice, but she was managing to keep up with Prisma somehow, parry, sidestep, attack. They were trading blows this time, a thing Elaina had never been able to do last time. Am I that much better?
Whatever it was, she needed to press whatever advantage she could. She remembered their first duel, the one way she’d been able to to score a point, and slammed her rapier towards her opponent. Prisma blocked, just like Elaina knew she would, but the force was too much, and Prisma’s rapier flew to the side, overwhelmed by the strength of someone with a class. This is it!
Prisma sidestepped the follow through, just an inch away from Elaina’s blade. But that wasn’t all, as Elaina’s sword crashed into the wooden stage Prisma’s was moving in a circle, rotating at that same speed as Elaina’s, the spin of Prisma’s wrist propelled by the same strike that Elaina had knocked it away with. The dull blade dug into Elaina’s breast, causing her to shout out in pain.
“Point!” Shein said. “And that one looked like it hurt. Remember, folks, always where proper protective undergarments when practicing fencing. Or at least some at all.”
Elaina bit her lip, failing to ignore the laughter at that comment as she rubbed her breast. That only made it more embarrassing she knew, but that had hurt, and there was no [Pain Response] to dull the blow, transfer it into something much more palatable. Even without that skill though, the sting of the blow right across her nipple was distracting, a lovely little place to be rubbing against. She found herself biting her lip in a different way, shaking her head to distract from the tingling going through her body.
Shein was nice enough to give her enough of a break to fall back into her stance, at least. Maybe she was just letting the crowd get their enjoyment out of the display though. The crowd. Impossible to ignore, necessary to ignore. In any other situation it may have been a boon, but without her aspect it was meaningless, a blinding distraction.
“Start!”
Elaina was ready this time, really ready. She wasn’t going to go for tricks either. It was match point against her, and she knew Carly still hadn’t been able to win against Prisma during fencing class, so Elaina needed to give it everything she had. At the very least, she needed to wear Prisma out, give Carly later on the best chance at victory.
Their swords clashed again, Elaina focusing on defense, keeping her feet planted and fending off Prisma’s attacks. There was something about this way of fighting defensively that felt right, reacting to Prisma’s attacks instead of going on the offensive. It wasn’t Elaina’s usual way of fighting, but it was working surprisingly well. She needed to figure out why it was working, exploit that, but “working well” against on of the Fireguard sisters was a relative expression, and it didn’t leave much room for thinking.
As they moved across the stage though, as Elaina danced to the side to dodge an attack, she saw an opening, saw the way she could win. She didn’t attack after the sidestep, just kept walking, circling around Prisma as the girl kept her foot planted, futilly chasing after Elaina with the tip of her sword as Elaina ran past. Elaina just kept running, tapping the back of Prisma’s leg as she passed by, catching her bouncing chest as she slowed down.
“Point! And a fun one at that. Return to stations.” Elaina barely heard the instructions, doing her best to keep her eyes off the crowd as she walked back behind Prisma.
It was one thing to exploit, the fact that Prisma still had a bit of modesty to lose in this fight, but that wasn’t it, Elaina knew. Prisma seemed slower, even compared to Elaina’s new speed, even compared to the fact that she was holding herself back from rotating. She was nothing compared to how Elaina had perceived her before, nothing compared to—
Koh. It wasn’t that Prisma was slower. She was the same, but Elaina had seen what true speed was, the pinnacle of human swordplay. It wasn’t even just speed, but the way the sword move, jumped through the air, seemed alive itself when Koh fought. Elaina had only seen it once, only experienced the piercing bite a couple of times, but the memory of it lingered.
“Start!” Prisma was on the attack again, and Elaina knew from experience that a trick like passing her by wouldn’t work again. Maybe if she was really lucky it would work a second time, but never a third.
Still, the serpent that was Prisma’s sword wasn’t unbeatable, not anymore. Elaina could sense the fang’s momentum, the desperate blade looking to bite into her flesh, and she was able to repel it, occasionally coming mere inches, less than an inch even from getting hit, but that was far enough away.
Prisma wasn’t as concerned about her modesty this time either. She wasn’t baring her entire body to the crowd like Elaina, but she had no problem turning her body, twisting her waist when needed. Still, Elaina didn’t give up, pressed when she could, retreated when she had to, and then finally it happened. As Prisma struck out, her blade gently gliding across the flat of Elaina’s sword, Elaina struck back, a quick flick, like viper lashing out from the brush. It caught only the tip of Prisma’s knuckle, a bare graze. Elaina had scored a point, no tricks, just a clean strike.
Prisma jumped back, sword still raised, and the room watched in silence. Elaina looked over to Shein, who was still staring between the combatants, intently watching, not calling the round. She didn’t see the point! It happened behind Prisma’s hand from her view!
Out the corner of her eye Elaina saw her incoming defeat, Prisma moving at lightning speed. Of all the ways it could have ended, this would be the worst. She barely had time to look back as the tip of the blade touched skin and Shein finally called out, “Point!”
It wasn’t Elaina that was hit though. Prisma had stepped forward for what Elaina thought was the finishing blow, but instead placed her finger on the tip of Elaina’s blade. “She touched me before,” Prisma said over the dulled crowd. “It just wasn’t a good angle for the referee.”
The crowd erupted at that display of fair conduct as Prisma turned around, really turned around, no concern at all that her body was exposed to the crowd as she fell back into her stance. “That’s one real one for each of us, and one gimmick one. We’re even,” she said.
“Right,” Elaina said, still in her stance from before. This is was it, the last point, and she knew it was gloves off for both of them now. They weren’t holding back, no more tricks would work, and she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if they did anyway.
“Start!”