“WHAT A SHOW FOLKS. GIVE THEM A ROUND OF APPLUASE,” said the announcer, though the clapping had long since started. He shot a golden ball of qi at each of the twins and jumped away. “ARE YOU READY?!”
*Not really. I still need a bit of time to properly recover from my exertions showing off. Despite having my qi topped off my body still thinks its exhausted and I’d really rather you give us more time.* Despite her thoughts, Bing didn’t say anything aloud. She knew there was no point. It wouldn’t do to make it look like their ‘little display’ was strenuous in any way.
Feeling her dantain rapidly fill with qi was intoxicating, and did a lot to help calm her racing heart. She was still unhappy with the sudden start, but after jut a few moments it was looking much more acceptable. Bing had recovered well… of course the artifacts she was wearing had not. So, using them for extra bits of flare and power was out of the question.
Bing pulled her sword gently from its sheath, the soft sound of metal on leather ringing in her ears as she twirled the blade around in her hands. Feng did the same, drawing both daggers and spinning them in his hands, twirling the handles around his fingers. The show off.
“BEGIN!” shouted the announcer.
Bing’s form blurred as she rushed straight at Feng, hoping he was still wasting time twirling with his knives. Bing wasn’t sure if she wanted to try winning or not just yet… but Feng certainly didn’t deserve the win if he fell for such a simple tactic. The wind howled as she moved, and the sword came down…
Clang! Feng caught her sword with his dagger. Bing’s eyes widened as she realised it was just the single dagger. Letting go with her hand, she whipped her now free hand over around Feng’s other wrist, stopping herself from getting stabbed. It wasn’t enough though. Not only could she feel Feng pushing her back, slowly, her hands were already numb. Ice was spreading along her sword and her fingers were turning red.
.....
Bing sucked in a deep breath and let the wind explode from her lungs, pushing her away from Feng. She dashed away and sucked in more air to recover, regulating her breathing as she tried to warm up her hands without dropping her guard. Feng seemed willing to just watch her for a few moments, but that wasn’t going to last long unless he had some plan to use the break.
*Dammit. I know he’s stronger than me bit really? How much qi did he burn blocking my attack with one of his dinky little knives? I can’t believe that. Not parrying, not dodging, the bastard BLOCKED my sword swing. I don’t know what our weapons are made of but clearly they’re better then my wind. I can’t just cut through them like something lesser…
So what am I going to do? I might not be able to threaten him even if I want to…* Before Bing could keep wallowing in pity, Feng dashed forward, his daggers glowing with blue light. Bing, wanting nothing to do with that, used her qi to stay away from him, dashing and floating around Feng, making sure to use the ample extra space the main arena gave them to avoid his strikes easily.
*Yeah ‘easily’ as if this isn’t burning through all of my qi like one of those overpriced carriages. I don’t know how much qi Feng has in his daggers right now but I’m guessing not that much. The blue glow is more from the material and array in them then the amount of qi… probably. If I keep dodging like this I’m the one who’s going to lose. Which… isn’t the worst thing ever but… I don’t know if I can even make him break a sweat if things keep going this way.*
Bing decided to go in for a probing strike, letting her grip hang loose in one hand Bing unleashed a flurry of blows on Feng, trying to overwhelm him with speed, the one thing she knew she had on him… but to no avail. Feng might not have been as fast as Bing, but he had a lot of combat experience and was able to use minimal movements to line up one of his daggers as protection from every strike.
The one time Bing went for a kick, she nearly lost her foot in the attempt. She’d thought Feng was sufficiently distracted, but he was ready, dropping his dagger down and were it not for her speed and wind affinity Bing knew she’d been out of the match after such a blunder. She needed to use her breath technique to escape again, but Feng was ready, and managed to avoid it. He was now chasing her around the ring, keeping to the inside to save on energy.
*Dammit! He’s just going to run me down! I knew that I wasn’t his match in direct combat but this is ridiculous! I don’t want to break out my big techniques because if I fuck one of those up I’ll be out of the match! Plus I’m sure Feng has some to match me. Ugh, this was so much easier when I was set to just let him win, but now I feel like actually trying a bit… and it’s really not working.
What can I do? If I whip up a tornado he’ll just add frost to it. My wind blade isn’t strong enough to cut his knives. I’m fast, but not fast enough when he’s able to block with either blade. I can’t get around behind him… probably. He’s not so slow as to miss something like that unless I blind him or something… hmm… no I think his hearing is good enough to follow me decently well so that wouldn’t work.
I… I guess I knew it was probably going to turn out like this. It was probably better to put in less effort. Much less risk of a heart demon that way. Of course, I was having fun with my friends, and I just had to brag that I could beat Feng ‘if I got lucky’ ha, even if I get lucky I still probably can’t take him out. What did I think would happen? That Feng would trip on some loose rocks or something?*
Bing sucked in a big lot of air and tried to discretely shoot air darts at Feng’s feet, but he managed to sidestep them all, not even stopping in his charge. *Ugh. Hmm… he did that pretty casually. Could I…? Is it possible?*
Bing started to get a crazy idea. It might not work… but it was the best idea she had. Taking a page from Lian’s playbook, Bing started to form up wind darts in her throat… but coated them in an extra thick layer of qi so that they wouldn’t just pop on contact with the ground. She spat them out one after another, burning through her precious qi reserves but setting up a deadly minefield.
It didn’t seem like Feng had noticed anything weird as she kept sending the wind ‘bullets’ at Feng’s legs as she ran around. “You’re going to exhaust yourself sister!” taunted Feng. Bing just glared in response, not able to respond with condensed wind qi in her throat. She kept firing, ball of air after ball of air until the moment arrived. Feng was just about to step on one… her whole body tensed, she readied her sword and then…
Feng stepped around it. Awkwardly yes, but clearly dodging the mines. Bing’s eyes widened, she’d already partially committed. Her qi was running low, and she was turning. It would take more qi then she could afford to turn herself around and not get caught by the knives… so she had to try.
Bing charged in, trying to think of a way to still use her mines, and hit on an idea. Just as she reached Bing, she spat out another glob of air qi, just a thin slice to pop the mine and slice into Feng’s side. She reached him just a moment before the mine would explode and swung down.
With one arm, Feng blocked her… and with his foot he summoned a wall of ice. The mine exploded, shattering the ice but losing its power as the ice washed against Feng mostly harmlessly. Bing’s expression crumbled and she let the attack come. Feng’s dagger paused, a hair’s width from her neck. “Surrender?” he asked
*I should keep fighting just to spite him. He doesn’t have enough space to get the power to cut my skin but…* “I surrender…” said Bing with annoyance.
“You nearly had my sister,” said Feng with a grin, as Bing collapsed to her knees.
“Bah, you saw right through me,” said Bing grumbling.
“Nope. I wasn’t paying enough attention, I thought you were panicking. I only noticed that something was wrong when you tensed up. I didn’t know about the mines at all, I just guessed there was something wrong with the spot after you looked like I was about to offer you my ice cream serving at dinner,” explained Feng.