Fate DxD

Chapter 103

The two young women clash, trident against sword, the blade still in its scabbard. After only a few exchanges, their arms and hands are trembling, numbed by their respective powers. Suddenly, the chain holding the scabbard around the blade falls to the ground.

(...Only the most powerful adversaries can open my door to paradise, and she did it in one fell swoop!)

Seeing Haruko unfocused, Demitra prepares to leap towards her, but she barely takes her eyes off Haruko for a second before she's already lunging towards Demitra. With barely time to react, Demitra has no choice but to defend herself. Haruko makes a horizontal strike, Demitra blocks the blow, pushes her away and goes on the attack, but Haruko is ready, parrying and counter-attacking each attack. Both seek to gain an advantage over the other, but they leave no opening, except for Haruko, who manages to be faster than Demitra. Seeing that Demitra is losing the upper hand, Haruko lunges forward and strikes, but her blow doesn't hit Demitra, but water floating between them, stopping her in her tracks.

"Huh?!" Haruko is surprised.

"Your mastery of the sword is truly sensational, though..." Demitra plunges her trident forward, which Haruko just barely blocks. "This isn't a martial arts competition!" Energy surges through the trident, causing Haruko's eyes to widen.

A whirlwind of water bursts from the trident, striking Haruko head-on and sending her crashing into a wall.

"In this match it's not about who has the best mastery of their weapon, it's a battle between Sacred Gear!" Demitra exclaims, her warrior gaze fixed on Haruko. "Have you forgotten that detail?"

"Huh?" Haruko barely has time to stand up before drops of water form around her. "Hmm? Water drops?"

"I'm not finished yet." The trident shines.

The drops of water propel themselves like bullets towards Haruko, who throws herself to the side to dodge, still receiving some blow in the back, leaving a nasty red mark. She gets up and runs, parrying the drops as best she can. She enters a classroom and hides behind the teacher's desk, catching her breath.

"Haa... Haa... She's powerful... She's the strongest opponent I've ever faced!" Haruko exclaims, then notices that nothing more is happening. "Hmm? What's going on? She's stopped shooting at me, would I be in a blind spot?" She lifts her head, looking over the desk and sees flowers in a white pot sitting on a table "Those flowers... Demitra placed them... Hyaa!!!" She quickly lowers her head, dodging a drop of water. Then she looks at her chest and touches it, feeling that her bra has broken. "Ooh... I've ruined the bra Himegami-san gave me.... I'll apologize to her later..." Noticing her hand shaking like a leaf, she clutches her sword to herself, trying to calm herself.

"Why don't you draw your sword?" Demitra asks, walking slowly toward the classroom where Haruko is hiding, water floating all around her. "It doesn't look to me like you're holding back! If that's the case, the only reason I can think of is that this maken scares you, doesn't it?"

Haruko's eyes widen, memories flooding back. A trembling little Haruko hiding behind her father, who introduced her to a beautiful woman running a dojo.

"Sorry about that, she's skittish by nature and lately she can't stop crying over nothing!" Explains her father, comforting his daughter as best he can.

"Ooh... But don't be afraid! The kids at the dojo can be silly sometimes, but they're all really nice!" reassures the dojo manager.

"Uuu... Uuu... Uh?" Haruko's crying stops suddenly, as a boy about her age approaches the lady and hands her a bottle of water, before turning to her.