Ch231: Some Spare Time For Sparring

Krvavy raises an arm. Her partially armoured fingers – capped with pointy metal claws – carefully curl around the Countess’ delicate hand, helping that elegant half-Elf climb down from their shared carriage.

A subtle smile plays at Rina’s painted lips, amethyst eyes meeting an emerald pair as she politely nods her head in thanks. Her dignified ankle-length dress and fashionably fancy heels are really not the best suited for this random patch of grassland beside the road... but she hardly seems bothered by that, walking just fine despite the imperfectly packed ground.

Vera shoots Krvavy a cold glare as she descends down these wooden steps on her own, clutching at her uniform and apron alike while purposefully ignoring the barbaric bodyguard’s offered hand.

“Feel free to stretch your legs, Krvavy.” The Countess calmly dismisses the Drakling from duty, her tone devoid of its usual playful mirth. There are a lot of witnesses around right now, after all. Even if they are unquestioningly loyal to her. “You need not hover in my shadow here.” She states, pointedly looking over the protective ring that the convoy has formed, many armoured knights milling about within and without.

“Alright.” Krvavy rolls her shoulders, stretching her back just a bit. While the carriage isn’t quite as cramped as it could be, it is still nice to not have a ceiling hover so closely above her head. Honestly, she’s lucky that it is high enough for her to stand up straight in there. Even if just barely... “Well, I’ll be around, if you need me.”

The Countess simply nods again, her jewellery softly jangling with that gesture. Without another word, she turns and walks off, heading... somewhere. Probably to talk with the drivers and support staff, if what she did yesterday is any indication.

Vera gives Krvavy one last glare, pale pink eyes narrowed into hateful slits behind the thick lenses of her glasses, before hurrying after her Lady... sticking so very close to Rina’s side.

“I take it that you are free now?”

That sudden question almost makes Krvavy jump, this Drakling quickly turning to see the knight from yesterday – Piotr – standing off to the side, halberd in hand. “Yeah,” she easily answers. As much as she may complain about having to spend time with a certain aggressive, albino maid... there really isn’t much for her to do during these stops. Other than awkwardly loitering around, of course. “Want to spar right away?”

“If it is no trouble.” The armoured knight bows slightly... only for his visor to drop down into place with a clamorous clang. “Tk...”

A faint smile pulls at the corners of Krvavy’s pale lips. “Oil the hinges a bit too much, huh?” She lightly jokes, casually passing her axe from her left to her right. It is just a bit more comfortable holding that huge weapon with her dominant hand.

“So it would seem.” Piotr sighs back, lifting that loose visor up and away from his clean-shaven face. “Are you ready to spar now? We can wait until after we have had a bite to eat, if you would prefer.”

Krvavy cocks her head to the side. She is a little hungry, but... “Nah, I’m good now. Lead the way.”

Making sure to hold his visor in place, Piotr once again bobs his helmeted head in a vague bow. “Please, follow me.” He respectfully requests, polished armour quietly clanking as he turns and marches off, each step steady and measured.

Soft grasses, already packed down and thoroughly trampled, are further flattened underfoot as knight and Drakling weave through this defensive arrangement of carriages. A few pleasantries are exchanged with Piotr, while Krvavy... mostly just gets curious or cautious looks, the servants notably more wary than the soldiers.

This is just her second day of travelling with all of these people. And, in that time, Krvavy has learned only one other person’s name: that of the man who she is currently following. Granted, Krvavy has only had a few chances to even speak with anyone other than Rina or Vera, but still... She should at least try to get to know some of the other people here, to not be such an outsider. Suppose that, in a way, that’s exactly what she is doing right now...

“Here. We should be far enough away to not be a bother.” The knight states, trying to keep his tone calm and professional. But, despite his efforts, an eager excitement still underlines Piotr’s words. He has clearly been looking forward to this.

Krvavy quirks her brow. Not that that can really be seen, with her mask-like helmet headband thing in the way. “Are we good to use our normal weapons?”

Piotr opens his mouth as if to say ‘yes’... but stops before he can so much as make a sound. Slowly, he looks between this barbarian’s oversized axe and his own, much more reasonably sized, halberd. “We... could start off light?” He hesitantly suggests. “To get a sense of each others strength?”

“I guess...?” Krvavy catches the tip of her tongue between her carnivorous teeth. Going slow kind of sounds a bit, well, boring. But she doesn’t want to actually injure this knight, or irreparably damage his armour, or break his halberd. She idly chews at the inside of her cheek... before suddenly perking up, an idea popping into her head. “What if...?”

This knight looks a little confused as, rather than explain her thoughts, that Drakling simply thumps her large weapon into the ground. The grassy soil parts, clinging to its large axehead well enough to hold the entire thing in place.

Krvavy takes a deep breath. Her fingers glance over the leafy bracelet clinging to her heavily armoured left wrist. She has quite a lot of mana sitting in reserve and, with her new enchanted ring mimicking the effects of Calm Creature, absolutely nothing to spend it on. So might as well put that energy to use somewhere.

A twiggy sprout stretches out from behind a soft leaf, brushing over the barbarian’s bare palm as it steadily swells in size, growing longer and thicker by the second. The end of that burgeoning branch begins to bloat, thickening into a dense and heavy block with a pointed tooth-like spike jutting from its side. That solid stick continues to grow beyond her hand, even as she pulls it free from this mossy bracelet of hers.

Mana flows through the channels in Krvavy’s arm like creeping vines, like nutrients carried through root and stem. It takes a fair bit of effort to ensure that this branch doesn’t just grow into one of her Blackbriar Javelins. And it requires even more focus to make it resemble her Soulbound Weapon. But, bit by bit, a proper and almost entirely accurate replica of her axe takes shape.

“Impressive...!” Genuine awe and amazement fills Piotr’s voice as he beholds that sight.

“Mmm...” Krvavy softly hums, hefting the ‘weapon’ made of reddish-brown wood in her hand. It is a bit lighter than her actual axe, but surprisingly not by all that much. And the balance seems alright. Not exactly the same, but similar enough. “Right,” she rests that replica beside the original, burying its dull axehead into the soil with a lazy strike. “We’re probably good to go like this, but... Want me to try to make a copy of your halberd as well?”

Piotr glances down towards this Drakling’s midsection, where Krvavy’s completely uncovered belly is on full display. “Yes, please.” He slowly nods. “Do you need to hold it first? To get a sense of its weight and balance?”

“Sure, that’ll help.” Probably. It wouldn’t hurt, at least. “It won’t be perfect, but we won’t have to worry quite as much about causing actual damage to each other this way.”

“Understood. This is a simple sparring match, not a proper fight.” Piotr presses his fancy halberd into the Drakling’s waiting hands, grey eyes gleaming with anticipation. “It does not need to be perfect, just usable.”

Krvavy’s heavily armoured fingers wrap around that halberd’s straight haft. She slowly lifts it up and down, slightly wobbling it about. This well-made weapon is wonderfully weighted. Especially compared to her top-heavy axe. The replica that she is about to make definitely won’t be quite as nice as this. But that is no excuse to not even try to make it as accurate as she can.

Mana begins to well up within Krvavy’s core once more, like flowers budding into berries. She takes a long, deep breath... her chest expanding as much as it can within the confines of her cuirass. The leafy bracelet on her wrist rustles as another twig stretches out from it. The considerably less armoured fingers of her right hand wrap around a straight stick, supporting its increasing weight and encouraging it to grow.

Emerald eyes narrow and pale lips press together. Even with the halberd still in hand, right here and available for her to look at, it... isn’t exactly easy to copy. Krvavy is just much less familiar with this weapon than with her own axe. The straight haft is fine, of course, but the ornate heads are a different story.

This reddish-brown branch slows its growth as the mana feeding into it is focused further and more accurately directed. A pointy crescent moon of an axehead slowly takes shape at one end, expanding in tandem with the slightly hooked spike directly opposite of it. Both connected heads grow darker and more bloody in colour as the wood swells noticeably thicker than its metal counterpart. The long and pointy needle that serves as its spearhead finally separates from the leafy bracelet, looking far more green and fresh than the rest of the weapon. Thin leaf-like veins cover what should be metal, poorly replacing the ornate etchings and engravings that decorate the original.

“Ehh...” Krvavy holds both halberds out, one in each hand. “It’s... alright. Here.”

The knight eagerly takes his halberd and the freshly grown copy of it back from that Drakling. “Mhhm... No need to downplay your work. This is more than serviceable. The balancing and weight are similar to what I would expect of a training weapon.” With a nod, he gently tosses his actual weapon onto the ground.

A quiet clang can be heard as it taps into the large metallic head of Krvavy’s axe.

“Ready to begin?” Piotr eagerly asks, giving his freshly grown wooden weapon a twirl, quickly getting used to how it feels in his gauntleted hands.

“Yup.” The Drakling nods, taking hold of the relatively accurate replicate of her oversized axe before wrenching it free from the ground. Her thick tail steadily sways back and forth behind her, betraying her own excitement for this non-serious spar of a fight, her heart beating with anticipation.

“Good.” The knight sharply nods, that sudden and rather jerky motion knocking his visor down into place. Presumably on purpose, this time. His gauntleted grip purposefully slips down the smooth wooden haft of that mock halberd, his left stopping around its midpoint while his right firmly grasps at its base.

Without warning... Piotr raises that wooden weapon up above his head and takes a large lunging step forward, putting his whole body into a fast, diagonal cut.

More by instinct than anything, Krvavy shifts her axe around and swing it towards that strike.

But those training weapons don’t collide. Instead, Piotr steps to the side, curving his halberd around that obstacle and abruptly pulling it back towards his body... before forcing it forward once more.

Clack.

Two reddish-brown wooden hafts bump together as the knight’s rapid thrust is just barely bat aside.

“Excellent reflexes.” Piotr casually compliments, already twirling his deflected strike around for another go, using the momentum that Krvavy’s clumsy parry imparted on it to his advantage.

Clack.

The crescent head of that halberd collides with and then glides along the haft of Krvavy’s axe, hooking beneath an overly large bearded blade and leveraging a rough, jerking tug to force the barbarian’s weapon towards the ground.

Or at least that is what it would have happened, were Krvavy weaker.

The replica of this Drakling’s Soulbound weapon bends slightly as she overpowers that strike, flinging the much more reasonably proportioned halberd upward. With nothing in its way, that large axe lunges forward, violently crashing into polished plate.

Clang!

2.11 Damage dealt to [Piotr]

“Sorry, that was a bit... springier... than I expected.” The Drakling absentmindedly apologizes, quickly moving her weapon into position... only just able to catch a retaliatory strike between its wooden spear and axe heads.

“A good spar always ends with a few bruises!” Mildly muffled laughter echoes from within Piotr’s helmet, his lowered visor quite securely latched in place. It only seemed to have had an issue staying open. “Not that your strike was enough to leave one!”

“Oh? Is that so?” Krvavy gleefully bares her sharp and carnivorous teeth, swinging this mock axe of hers in a wide arc meant to drive that knight back more than to actually strike true. “Guess I’ll keep hitting you about that hard then! But don’t worry, I won’t be too rough! We wouldn’t want to dent that nice armour of yours~!”

“Hah!” The knight lunges forward, shifting his swing into a stab at the last possible moment. “These wooden weapons would break long before that!”

Clack!

The tooth-like hook at the base of Krvavy’s axe catches the crescent head of that freshly grown halberd, twisting it away from her body as she strikes back with an aggressive, upward swing.

Only for Piotr to deftly dodge that attack, freeing his polearm in the process.

Clack!

The momentum of Krvavy’s excessively large axe is used against her, that knight whacking its wobbled wooden haft to further encourage that replica of a weapon along its skyward path... decisively knocking it out of the way.

“Hhn...” The Drakling grunts, fighting physics in an attempt to force this training weapon of hers back down, aiming to strike with its hammer head. But she isn’t quite quick enough, missing this knight and... getting poked in the belly by a thin, leafy thorn of a spearhead.

“Not even a scratch?!” A mix of surprise and elation fills Piotr’s voice. “I held back, yes, but not by that much...!”

Krvavy’s grin only grows wider and wider, those emerald eyes gleaming with a predatory light. “I have a tough hide!” She boisterously boasts, metal clad claws digging into the grassy ground, the muscles throughout her whole body flexing as her center of gravity briefly drops. “Even without any spells bolstering my defences!”

Clack!

“I see...!” This knight in polished black armour parries Krvavy’s strike, successfully landing a glancing blow on the heavy rerebrace shielding her left bicep. “Then I need not be quite so careful!”

Clack! Clack!

Clack!

Krvavy has no choice but to take a step back... and then another and another and another still as she struggles to block the flurry of blows suddenly thrown her way. The air hisses as crescent, spike, and thorn cut, slice, and thrust towards her, searching and seeking for any gap in her guard.

The mock halberd that she made bobs and weaves around her heavier wooden axe, half of its attacks nothing more than feints meant to trick and confuse her.

Thmp...! Thmmp...!

Her breastplate and one of her thick hip tassets absorb some of that abuse, the soft stoat fur padding within doing wonders in dampening each hit, no doubt aided a fair bit by the magical enchantments woven into its grain. She barely even feels those various strikes. But she is still getting struck. And Krvavy can’t just let that happen.

Thmp...! Clack!

The barbarian grimaces, pale lips twisting into a snarled scowl. Try as she might, Krvavy simply can’t block or dodge all of those attacks. And there are no openings for her take advantage of either. Not without her making one, at least.

Thmp!

Krvavy’s gauntleted hand snaps towards that annoyingly quick halberd, only just able to clench her clawed fingers tight around its haft, not letting that wooden weapon pull away. Her bicep flexes and tenses as she jerks that pesky thing back with all her might.

Piotr puts up a fight and resists as best he can... but this knight simply isn’t strong enough to prevent his weapon from being pulled to the side. All he ends up doing is anchoring himself to the ground, keeping him from reacting fast enough as an oversized axe – swung with just one arm – comes flying towards him.

3.2 Damage dealt to [Piotr]

1.94 Damage dealt to [Piotr]

The knight’s legs are swiftly and smoothly swept out from beneath him, that mock halberd torn right from his grip. With a loud and unceremonious clattering clang... this fully fully armoured man crashes into the grassy ground.

Krvavy steps closer, leaning forward and looming over her fallen ‘foe’. “You good?”

“Nhh...” A groaned sigh squeezes its way through Piotr’s armour, his metal clad chest steadily rising and falling as he simply lies there on his back, catching his breath. “Yes...” After a good long second, he reaches up and grabs the wooden weapon pointed his way, getting dragged back up and onto his feet.

“Alright.” Krvavy nods, a faint and playful smile finding its way onto her face. “Don’t need to take a break or anything?”

An almost indignant sound slips through this knight’s closed visor, buried beneath an eager and excited grin. “Of course not.” Sunlight catches on Piotr’s polished pauldrons as he rolls his shoulders... and raises his halberd once more. “We have hardly even begun...!”

Clack! Clack! Thmp...!

The wooden hammer at the back of Krvavy’s replicated weapon bonks into this knight’s helmeted head with enough force to be felt but not enough to really hurt. At the same time, Piotr’s mock halberd bounces off one of the Drakling’s upper horn.

“Hahh...!” Piotr lifts his visor and takes a deep breath of fresh air.

“Done already~?” Krvavy can’t help but tease, ignoring the droplet of sweat dripping down the side of her nose. This odd headband, mask, helmet thing of hers does a pretty good job at keeping hair and sweat from getting into her eyes, but it isn’t perfect.

“If we would like to eat and have lunch today... then yes.” A glistening sheen of sweat covers this knight’s flushed and clean-shaven face. But he doesn’t seem too out of breath despite that.

“Tsk.” Krvavy clicks her tongue and softly shakes her head, disappointed but understanding. She is, after all, getting pretty hungry.

The knight holds up his mock halberd. “May I keep this?”

Krvavy blinks, glancing at that very disposable wooden weapon. “Yeah, of course. I was just going to toss mine into a fire, or something.”

“Don’t do that!” Piotr hastily shouts, immediately looking a little embarrassed by that outburst. “Save it, so that we can spar again later.” He rather insistently requests, his grey eyes glancing towards the protective ring of carriages. “And not just between the two of us. Some of the others would surely love to get involved as well.”

“Alright.” The Drakling lazily shrugs. Both this and her actual Soulbound weapon should fit under the couch together, so keeping it won’t be too much of a hassle. And she can always strap it onto the outside – or underside – of the carriage, if need be.

Piotr lazily leans to the side, trusting that wooden training weapon to help support the weight of him and his armour, its reddish-brown haft only slightly bending. “You are quite the fine fighter.” He idly compliments, watching as the barbarian walks on over to her real axe. “Self taught?”

A faint clack can be heard as Krvavy’s closed greaves click against the backs of her cuisses, that Drakling squatting down to pick up this knight’s actual halberd from where he left it laying on the ground. “Heh...” The lightest of laughs slips past her pale lips. “You could tell?”

“I meant no offenc–”

“And none was taken.” Krvavy cuts that knight off with a smile, handing him his halberd. “I am self taught, for the most part.” Technically speaking, she played plenty of IVR games with this sort of combat before she even became Krvavy, and while that isn’t exactly the same as actual professional training... it is better than nothing. “I bought a fighting manual some time ago, but I haven’t read through the whole thing just yet. I did recognize some of your moves from it though.”

“Yes, those have been deeply ingrained in me through constant drills.” Mirth and amusement fills Piotr’s mildly tired voice. “I do hope that I was not too predictable by following them?”

“Hardly. I could hardly ever tell if you were going to go through with an attack or shift it into something else.” Krvavy’s clawed, armoured fingers wrap around the haft of her Soulbound weapon. With a good and rough tug, she tears it free from the ground... resting both it and that wooden replica over different shoulders. “Really kept me on my toes.”

Polished metal plates quietly clack together as this knight nods his head. “As it should. Complacency in the midst of combat leads only to death and defeat. That said... this was hardly comparable to actual combat. You are the type to utilize magics in a fight, yes?”

“Yup.” Krvavy really makes that p sound pop. “I can’t exactly use most of it in a friendly sparring match though. I mean,” she abruptly turns away from the many carriages and slams her foot down. The grassy ground visible rolls, almost like a wave in water, as her Seismic Stomp travels outwards. “Just imagine that happening when I hit a person with my hammer. Tends to go straight through armour and turn their insides to mush.”

“How terrifying...” Piotr plainly states, subtly shaking his head. “Sometimes I envy those like you who can cast such magics. But when I think more of it, I am content as what I am.”

“Oh? Why’s that?” Krvavy curiously asks, slowly walking alongside the knight as they both begin to make their way back to the protective ring of parked carriages. The sounds of other voices, of countless conversations, carry through the air... along with the scent of horses and of food. Not the best combination, but not the worst either.

Piotr briefly turns his gaze towards the midday sky, a few heavy clouds hanging high, high overhead. “Were we on a real battlefield right now, you would be a priority target to take down and eliminate while I would be overlooked by all but those I am directly fighting. To put it simply,” he smiles wryly, “I prefer living over having more power. I would die if duty calls, of course, but I see no need to ask the enemy to put me down even faster.”

“Guess you’ve got a point.” Krvavy states with a shrug. “But then I’d say... just be powerful enough to not have to worry about getting ‘put down’ so easily~.” A joking laugh underlines those words, even if there is a sliver of seriousness to them. After all, that is pretty much the plan that Krvavy has for herself, simple as it may be.

“Yes, but just how powerful would one need to be for that?” This knight genuinely wonders. “Even our Countess, as skilled as she is in the Arcane Arts, has a target upon her head. And the Lady may well be the most magically mighty person in this entire region.”

The barbarian’s brow raises, if just a bit. “She’s that strong?”

“Yes.” Not even the slightest bit of hesitation delays that plain and calmly spoken answer. “Though... I will admit that the true extent of her might is known only to her, for our Countess has not been properly tested upon the battlefield. But she has, at times, practiced her arcane abilities where others could view her. And what she is capable of is... truly remarkable.”

The whinnying of a horse carries through the air. Krvavy quickly glances at her lower left horn, making sure that her Ring of Pacified Presence is still there. Which it is.

“From her amethyst flames reducing a training dummy to mere ash in a split second – a dummy meant to resist and withstand such attacks might I add – to manifesting a hundred arcane arrows and weaving them together in an intricate dance, not once letting them collide...” Piotr trails off with an almost wistful sigh, admiration and awe audible in his voice. “Those who ought to know better than I, those who themselves are quite talented with magic, say that the Countess has a level of finesse and power unlike anything they have seen before.”

Krvavy slowly nods. What Piotr just said is... obviously incredibly biased, and mostly hearsay as well. Rumours along with a bit of propaganda. But Krvavy also has no reason to not believe it. Honestly, if Rina is that powerful... that just makes her even hotter. “Yeah, I can see that. She definitely has that feel to her. A certain kind of magical... taste.” She absentmindedly mutters... so nearly stumbling as she realizes that that particular thought was spoken aloud, and not just in her head.

Piotr quirks his brow, but shrugs a moment later.

Maybe he just thinks that Krvavy’s admittedly odd comment is some magic or Drakling thing? Or maybe he is just minding his own business? After all, this knight is part of Rina’s retinue. He probably has at least an idea of her secret affairs...

Which has almost certainly lead to some rumours regarding Krvavy. The fact that she is here, spending so much time effectively alone with the Countess, isn’t exactly subtle. And neither is her armour, for that matter... Armour that the Countess in question commissioned specifically for her...

“I suppose this is where we part ways, for now.” The knight rather reluctantly states, glancing between his halberd and the wooden replica of it. “Are you up for more sparring when we stop for dinner?”

“Of course.” Krvavy quickly nods, just the thought of dinner enough to make her stomach rumble and grumble, those noises made even louder by the scent of cooked and still cooking food hanging in the air. It... it smells like today’s lunch was some sort of stew. And freshly baked bread. Probably for dipping...

“Good. Now eat well, friend, for you will need the energy later this eve...!”