Never

Chapter 20: Orchid vs Moon

Orchid was on her feet, with her weapon in her claws watching intently at her opponent. She was slightly nervous about the battle that was coming. After several days of training she felt that she had finally honed her battle prowess, had regained the agility she had lost after so much rest in the palace, and had learned to trust her ear as much as in her sight. She was ready for the final challenge, defeating Moon.

"Take it easy, Orchid," Ren shouted out of the makeshift battlefield. "You're doing great".

"Today is the day I will beat her, I'm not here to take things easy."

"It's not good to be smug." The beetle gave her a disapproving look. "Remember that you fight against Moon, the guardian of the Crystal Peak, beating her is not easy even for the best knights.

"Well, now she faces Orchid..."

"The pervert from Fungal Wastes," Ren completed.

"I am going to kill you!"

"Perfect, use those murderous cravings to fight Moon, you can do it Orchid!"

"......!" Along with the insect Hollow also encouraged her.

The mantis sighed, with time after getting to know Ren she had come to feel sympathy for the bug, at least enough to not wish him death, but she had to admit that sometimes it was heavy to tolerate him, he had a good heart but his way of doing things could be rough and unsubtle. But she chose to shake off those thoughts and focus on Moon, who was already holding her club high waiting to start.

The Lord did not want to make her wait any longer, both were face to face and after a respectful bow they began the combat.

As usual, Orchid began the offensive, and following the usual path, Moon stirred her mass and hit it on the ground causing numerous crystals to fall from the ceiling. This interrupted the mantis attack, which she had to focus on dodging, but this now seemed like a natural task for her, she didn't even have to bother to see where the rocks and projectiles fell.

She tossed one of her cutting wind swirls opting for a ranged attack, but Moon had no trouble blocking it. Most of Orchid's offensives were blocked, since the weight of Moon's weapon prevented her from dodging.

Orchid continued to approach until her opponent was within range of her weapon, then she began to attack with great speed performing a series of quick thrusts, like an endless pecking rain. Moon raised her weapon and used it to block each blow with quick but precise movements, as each action was short and did not require much effort, she could keep up with the mantis, but keeping the mace up high constantly began to numb her arms. She was using a lot of force to lift the mace, she knew she couldn't hold on much longer.

The guardian stepped back a couple of steps, Orchid immediately advanced her spear forward trying to press more, but she didn't expect Moon to lift her mace and push her away. Until now she had always limited herself to blocking and attacking her with the cave rocks, but apparently she was finally putting her in the point that she had become more aggressive.

Orchid was light, Moon's push was enough to send her flying far away. Hollow and Ren thought that this would be the end of the battle, but to their surprise the Lord spun in the air leaving her feet in position to land, managing to fall to her feet with the grace of a cat. She had no time to brag about her feat, the guardian had run towards her and had jumped to an impressive height and was now falling towards her using the weight of the dough to increase the damage.

The mantis jumped slightly to the side avoiding damage, but the shaking of the earth left her somewhat stunned, some rocks fell from the sky after that blow and she was barely able to avoid them, however she was not intimidated by this and as soon as she was in a position, she jumped towards Moon, but she waved her mace again, hitting her in the air and throwing her aside.