The Siren of the Titanic

Chapter 40: A Fight Between Friends

Calia's chakram hula-hooped around her finger, her other hand hung down by her katar. I planned to stay far enough away from her so she wouldn't be able to use the deadly weapon. Within a single blink of the eye, the chakram came at me, I had to bend backwards so it wouldn't cut my throat. I coated the circular weapon as it passed over my face, where my throat once was, in a solid block of ice. She smiled, probably expecting me to do that, and charged me with incredible speed.

I only had a second to raise my halberd acting as both a shield and a deterrent. Had she kept moving forward, the stabbing part of the blade, would have pierced her armor, but she moved to the side. I quickly jumped backward as her katar sliced where I once was, missing me by a breath. I quickly realised that I was on the defensive, so I stuck to it, dodging or blocking her attacks.

She was much quicker than I expected. Eventually she realised that her close range katar wasn't going to work, so with a small flash, the katar vanished. In her hand was instead a long sword with a wavy blade. Adhira had one of these blades in her collection. "It's called a flamberge. It's a good mid-range sword. It's blade acts like a serrated edge, and will rip and tear the flesh. However they are two handed and heavy. Heavy means slow, slow means an opening, an opening means a chance to win." I silently thanked the crimson lightning master, and waited.

I made a shield and blocked her swings. Just as Adhira said, Calia was much slower thanks to the heavy blade. Her swings were slow, but strong. Each swing made me gasp and grunt at the amount of pressure that was hit on my icy shield. They didn't stop me from waiting, watching for an opportunity, and sure enough, one came.

The crimson princess grew angrier and angrier with every block or dodge I made. Soon she yelled, lifting her blade for a downward cut, I smiled. Quickly I exchanged my halberd for a small dagger and rushed forward, hitting the princess in the gut with the hilt. She gasped, the air rushing out of her lungs. She staggered backwards, grasping her stomach. Thanks to her armor, it only surprised her with the pressure of the hit rather than doing any real damage.

Thankfully her shoulders, neck, face, and tail were all exposed. I rushed her before she could recover, my dagger flashing out cutting a thin line on her cheek. She rushed back and summoned her katar back, but I moved backwards, trading my icy dagger for a bow. I had watched Alto practice with his bow, and knew what to do. I quickly summoned an ice arrow and drew back. The arrow soared through the air with a twang of the string. It hit her in the tail, and I smiled in congratulations. She growled at me, ripping the arrow out of her tail.

Her silver eyes changed to match her tail, and glowed in a scarlet light. She rushed at me with a smaller cutlass. She swung and cut a deep cut into my chest. She was much faster now, and I didn't have the time to react. Silver blood seeped out of the deep gash on my chest. I staggered back, surprised at her newfound speed. I growled back at her smirk, and summoned a pair of dagger with curved blades. I sped forward, calling upon any speed I had left, and cut at her shoulders. The deep cuts bled, but I didn't stop there, and cut her face with one blade while the other sought purchase deep in her tail. As I did this, her own blade came up and cut across my bicep. We backed up and rushed at each other again when a voice called out.

"Enough!" Calia and I both stopped immediately and turned to see King Laiken up out of his throne. I quickly dismissed my blades and sank to the floor in a bow, my chest heaving from adrenaline, loss of breath and the pain that seeped into my muscles. I looked over to see her doing the same, her bow not as low as mine, but her head was all but touching the floor.

"You have proved your mettle against the best soldier in my kingdom, kraftig havfrue. Both of you go to Licidia, and get patched up, that's an order." Calia and I nodded and silently left the main room.