Chapter 37: Chapter 36

Hanging around to do her training for the day - she needed the tokens - one of the Witches came to talk to her at the end of it, and it was a nice chat, that made her feel more welcomed in their Cult. Her Sister offered some pointers towards more efficient movement and combat, and then left for her own training and to engage in some ritual to Khaine.

 

Though, she was caught off guard a little. When did she start thinking of the Witches as her Sisters? Was she a Witch now, because of the reputation? Or did they just like her? She’d have to sort out that particular question later, because she just didn’t have the mind for it right now.

 

Returning home to Filnon, she ate, talked, and then given the late hour, slept. The next few days didn’t give her any arena fights, as if they were preparing for something big, so she did her training and followed Filnon around to serve her needs. Filnon’s day to day was mostly in the Witch Cult, which kept the two close to Fukiri. There was no notable change from her, but the Blessing had definitely helped emotionally. 

 

Another thing she did was upgrade her weapon with the Dungeon Cash. Up to Green rating, they had a decent set of stats now and were far more worthy a weapon to use in combat. Unlike before - or probably like before, she didn’t really pay attention - the appearance of the weapon changed. Thick leather straps bound the gauntlets, studded for increased durability and impact. The spikes grew slightly bigger and much shinier, made from steel rather than iron. It looked like a more dangerous weapon than before, all told.

 

Then, after a few days of just milling around, running C-ranks by herself since Filnon was getting a bit of flak for negligence and didn’t have the time to duo B-ranks with her. Her xp crawled with sloth towards it’s target, and she was elated when she got a call to the Arena. From the lack of any ambience, she could tell there was no crowd waiting, which meant this fight was a more personal one. She wondered why, but was reminded of the guy who hated her for killing Jack. Maybe he was the reason for her recent fighting drought and now the lack of people.

Gathering at the gate, clenching and unclenching her new gauntlets, she took a breath and hopped on the spot. It was good, her weapons were decent and she was well trained, she could handle this. The door opened and she saw the man in front of her, quite an intimidating specimen. A Druchii warrior, in full battle armour, with a broad shield and a vicious looking blade. Orange rank foe as well, so not just anyone. Not something that would have been all that hard with her proper gear, but she was decidedly sans gear right now. Maybe this was why Filnon had her experiment with punching plate, to see how well she did. Anticipating her fight with this guy…

 

The Druchii gave a salute to the Master of town, and Estaria spared a glance towards the crowd. Some twelve people, dressed well and looking similar. Possibly family? She was told she pissed off some dude with her murder of Jack, so maybe this was the guy? Filnon was there was well, stern face hiding a touch of worry that this fight might be beyond Estaria. There was no way she’d lose with her in the audience though. 

 

Flicking her eyes back to the warrior, she clenched her new gauntlet fists and took off towards him, making sure to take the momentum, and keep it up. The shield and armour would make him pretty hard to deal with, even with the new weapon she upgraded, it would need to be an Orange weapon to give her the penetration to go through that. The armour was heavy and the shield wasn’t light either, so she’d have a mobility advantage, but it’d be like chipping away at a block.

 

The lack of range the fists gave was mitigated by Estaria reaching into close quarters and bouncing about, never staying in the same spot for a moment as she lashed blows he caught on his shield. The Druchii was fast, but Estaria was constantly shifting, constantly striking, and occasionally bouncing backwards. He let her do it the first time to give himself some room, but she put her foot on one of the ornamental pillars and kicked off, rocking towards him with a powerful kick that dented his shield. 

 

He gave chase after that when she bounced back, though was unable to truly make any hit land. Between Estaria’s constant shifting, and her Luck reducing any blow he actually landed, it was an extremely infuriating moment for him. 

 

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Eventually, sick of having it constantly struck and slowing him down so he could barely swing, he threw the dented shield away and got into the fight with his sword. Es ducked, shifted, and bounced, a vigorous and passionate display of energy, though it didn’t save her from his sword, which cut into her Luck with every swing she missed.

 

Enraging him with the constant motion and difficulty to hit, she goaded a wild swing out of him and then struck with Quicksilver Viper followed by Double Strike, the arm she laid the blows into taking heavy damage and allowing her through his shield of swings to the chest. She made a solid blow, but The armour proved tough for her, since it was well forged and her gauntlets were hardly armour piercing. It jarred her arm and she swept backwards to avoid his sword, getting a small cut across a wide area of her torso for her troubles.

 

The fight was wildly in his favour. She had to get in, deliver a precise strike and then slip out before he could catch her with his sword, which he did a few times. And the armour, it was thick and robust, and ablated her damage down to tiny chunks. It was like hacking down a building with a knife. She got fixated on his sword and the movements needed, and her situational awareness suffered. One shift, she slammed against one of the ornamental pillars as she moved out of his way, and he took advantage of it swiftly, driving his sword deep into her. Only a quick shift avoided it hitting anywhere lethal, but she still took a wild amount of damage.

 

In desperation, Estaria wildly struck out with everything she had left. First she hit his Groin with a Quicksilver Viper, stunning him enough for her to lash a second blow there, followed by a Second Slice. Burning all her Cool on this one strike, she managed to get through his armour resistance and ‘destroy’ the Groin, causing him to hunch over in agony. 

 

Punching him in the head to knock him over, she would take the sword and pull it out. Bad idea, since she was bleeding a lot from the wound, but it was a worse idea to be pinned to a pillar if the guy managed to overcome his wound. Getting free of it, she would toss the sword away and turn to the man on his knees, waiting for him to rise a bit before Sub-Targeting his head and kicking it violently. The heavy clang of foot on helmet rang out as the metal dented from the force and he collapsed, moving no more. She wasn’t sure if he was alive or dead, but at this point she didn’t care.

 

Stumbling away from the corpse, she’d watch him for a few seconds and theh collapse, first onto her ass and then onto her back. Health was low, Fatigue was high, and generally she just felt like shit. Arena Medics came and stitched her up before she bled to death, but that didn’t help the fact that she had nearly bled to death from a wild sword wound. The crowd watching didn’t seem very pleased about her victory, further reinforcing the fact that they were family. 

 

“That was close” Filnon commented, having left the stands and rushed down to see Estaria. 

“Bah. I was just-” she’d tense up as a jolt of pain ran through her body, and then took deep breaths. “-Playing with him. Had him, right where I wanted him” she replied, a thin smile plastered shakily on her face.

“Heh. Well, I do believe I promised you a new uniform after a few victories. And that was quite the resounding victory. You killed a Lordling and saved a Noblewoman quite a lot of money and work having him assassinated. Definitely time for a celebration”

You have leveled up

Seeing the box, Estaria would nod, and smile. The Lordling had given her a lot, pushing half way towards the next level. With all this xp, Filnon must be pretty close to her own trait. 

"Absolutely" Estaria's shaky reply came. She was still alive, and still kicking, just...needed to lie down for a moment, was all. 

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