Blade of Hallownest

III - Deadly Dance of Demigods

The Daughter of Hallownest, Princess Sentinel Hornet.

The Blade of Miquella, Malenia the Severed.

These two were among the mightiest warriors of their respective worlds, and now locked horns in combat.

Hornet moved first, eager as ever as she threw her needle, aiming for her opponent's chest. But with a swift swipe of her blade, Malenia deflected the needle to the side. But this did not fully stop its momentum, as Hornet used her strings to pull her needle back and swung it in a circle back towards Malenia, who jumped over it and dove at Hornet to skewer her in a flash. Hornet was quick to step out of the way, leading to Malenia's blade impaling the ground and getting briefly stuck. Though it was a quick pull out, it was this short window of weakness that allowed Hornet to get a couple knicks on her.

The scarlet valkyrie did not hesitate in her follow up. She dashed around Hornet with a single stride and swung her blade down, only for the Weaver princess to match her grace with a swift dodge. It was at this point Malenia realized perhaps she'd underestimated this little bug. In order to put that to the test, she decided to go all in. Malenia leapt into the air, raising her right knee as she hovered in the air with her blade raised, her silhouette backlit by the rays of light streaming from above. After charging for a few seconds, she dashed at Hornet with the force of a hurricane, swinging her blade wildly in every direction as a myriad of phantom slashes danced all around her.

The Daughter of Hallownest was a paragon of precise and acrobatic movements. The world seemed to move in slow motion around her as she expertly weaved and dodged through every slash of Malenia's intense waterfowl dance. Eventually, Malenia would stop swinging, and Hornet would stop dodging, but she did not expect a final vacuum flurry after Malenia had stopped in her tracks. Hornet was too close, and got sliced from every direction. She failed to suppress a pained grunt as she staggered to one knee.

Malenia pounced on this opportunity, dashing at Hornet and swiftly grasped her by the neck, then proceeded to throw her high into the air like she was nothing. Hornet shouted, eyes widening as she began plummeting back down toward Malenia. But her descent would be halted... Halted by a sharp, enormous pain that razed her abdomen. She had been impaled straight through the stomach by the one-armed valkyrie's lengthy golden blade. She yelled sharply and whimpered as her foe pulled her closer, grabbing her by the horn as she muttered into her ear.

"Now do you understand? I am Malenia. Blade of Miquella."

Hornet cried out as she was flung off the massive blade, sending her tumbling on the ground for several meters. She quickly got on one knee, clutching her stomach, and looked up, eyes narrowing, to see the Blade of Miquella approaching slowly in an intimidating yet relaxed stance. The first hint of doubt crept into her mind. It's only been half a minute, and Malenia was already proving to be a fierce challenge like no other she had ever faced. But...

"I'm not done, Malenia!"

Oh, Hornet was far from done. It was then that she too would stop holding back. She gathered herself and rose back up to her feet, and then charged at her foe so quickly it was as if she'd teleported. As intelligent and calculating as she was, Hornet's needle always moved first. Silk whirled all around her as she unleashed a blinding flurry of slashes, as if in a desperate frenzy to finish her opponent.

But Malenia too had terrifying speed and dexterity to match. Her blade clanged loudly against Hornet's needle, parrying nearly every single swipe while taking advantage of extremely brief opportunities to retaliate. The clashing of metal reverberated through the cavern at an impossible tempo. For the two demigods however, the world slowed down as their deadly dance waged on.

Hornet was hyperventilating. She wasn't just fighting for her life anymore; she was fighting to prove her strength. Malenia's arrogance fueled her. Malenia was sweating. It had been so long since she faced a worthy opponent, and Hornet was giving her everything she could have wanted in a high-octane fight. For what felt like hours to them, the battle continued. If a spectator were there, they wouldn't quite know what to make of it, or when to pick their jaw up off the floor. To a mere mortal, all that could be comprehended was an unrelenting storm of silky white and unalloyed gold.