Demonic Influences (Xiao x GN!Reader)

-7-

(TW! Vulgar language, fighting/violence)

[Xiao's POV]

I stared at y/n back the entire time we walked down to the beach. I wondered if they could feel my stare through their back.

I was still very skeptical of them but at the same time there was something, a feeling I couldn't quite identify, that hoped this was all just a misunderstanding. We only met by chance but y/n seemed like the kind of person to hold on to. To keep near.

We approached the beach and as I set down our bag of food and water I turned to see them already behind me, their catalyst floating behind them precariously.

"Well? Ready to spar?" They grinned, face breaking out into a sunny smile, "I haven't sparred with anyone in years, I'm excited!"

I sigh, their infectious light threatening to catch onto me. Their joy was almost contagious, spreading into everyone and anyone. Nodding softly, I pulled my polearm from off of my back, assuming a fighting stance.

Seeing me do this, y/n skipped a few steps back, turning to face me with a determined look on their face.

"Ready?" I asked, eyeing them with suspicion.

Y/n grinned, summoning a delicate looking polearm from their catalyst, "Go!"

Rushing at them, y/n surprisingly changed to an ice claymore, jagged and crooked, like a dragon's teeth. The polearm was a decoy. They blocked my jabbing attack with the side blade, coming around to swing the heavy blade at me. After the blow nearly landed on me, I looked at them with shocked eyes.
They didn't wobble, nor did they ever falter as they lead through with their swing, their arms remaining steady and their expression determined.
It seemed they were significantly stronger than I had sized them up to be.

After my next slash was blocked again by them jumping back, their feet landing on a large platform of ice which had appeared on the water they would have stood on, y/n grinned at me cheekily, their eyes urging me on.

"Come at me," they said.

~~~

Around two hours later we both were still at it. Neither of us had managed to pin the other or put them in a fatal situation. We were both beat up, nothing but the slowly setting sun and a few crabs as our audience.

I was surprisingly running out of stamina quite significantly now, but y/n pressed on, lunging at me with another dangerously powerful swinging blow. This time I was caught off guard, trying to asses the situation. My ankle was clipped from beneath me.
My eyes widened as I felt myself falling backwards onto my back. Trying to push myself up, an arrow came dangerously close to my face, landing in the sand next to me, pinning a tuft of my hair into the ground. It seemed y/n had changed to a bow now.

No longer able to get up, y/n approached me, crouching over me, their shit-eating smile evident as the sun shone from behind their head, illuminating their silhouette.

"Well, my dear adeptus? How does it feel to lose to the likes of me?" they chuckled, causing a heat to rush to my face as I noticed how close they were leaning over me.

With a cough, I teleported away, back to the rooftop of Wangshu Inn. It was only once it was sat down, feeling the now broken strands of my hair that I realised exactly how fast my heart was rushing and how hot my face felt.
I was confused, I never got nervous, at least I hadn't in a long while. But this didn't feel like nerves.

Ever since I had met y/n I had been starting to feel strange emotions I wasn't much used to, or that I hadn't felt in a long while.

I didn't know what to do...

{A/n: Sorry for taking so long to post another part, the Christmas holidays have been extremely stressful and the first bit of this school term just threw my mental health into an all time low, but I'm back now, and I hope to be organising my time and hobbies enough that I can post in a more steady routine!

I will be trying to update a chapter of each of my books in an order, so it may be a wait between an update for a certain fic and the next one for it!}