Sally closed her eyes as she listened to the clash of swords. Sitting next to Theo, she leaned her head against him. “If we have to fight, pup, you’ll let me win, yeah?”
“No.”
She pouted and then playfully bit his shoulder. “Unfair. You would kill me in cold blood?”
“Yeah.” The vampire leaned away so he could frown at her. “We won’t be paired against each other, do not fret.”
[Dent Wins!]
“How can you be so sure?” She moved away from him and stood to look out down at the arena better. It hadn’t taken Dent too long to win, and from what she saw, he didn’t look to have had to try too hard to seal the deal.
“The way the brackets are organised. I’d have to beat Dent and the winner from group B, and you’d have to beat Humphrey and the winner of group D.”
“You don’t think we could?”
Theo shrugged and gave a tired grunt.
Sally smiled. “You want to go find something fun to do if we drop out early?”
He turned his glare up to her and narrowed his eyes. “Depends what kind of fun.”
“Your pick today. You earned it.”
The vampire worked out his neck. “I could really go for a bite to eat.”
“Snap.” She clicked her fingers. “That’s exactly what I wanted, too. Assuming that you meant eating people.”
“Naturally.” He grinned, exposing his long fangs.
The flash of blue drew their attention as Dent returned to their VIP suite. He shot them a sheepish grin and went to sit down.
“Impressive,” Humphrey said, turning his skeletal head towards the man. “Always a joy to watch your technique in action.”
Dent grunted. “Thought I’d try out a different sword to warm up, but I’m not a fan of how it is weighted.”
Sally rolled her eyes. Such bravado and Chuck wasn’t even here for him to impress. Edward had all but checked out, looking grumpy in the corner while he went through System messages or something. Maybe he had a secret pen-pal. Humphrey had been watching the Dent fight intently, anticipating having to go against the man eventually.
It was all rather boring to Sally. She wasn’t much for competition - at least not without skills and abilities. She was a necromancer at heart, so having to clash blades wasn’t really her idea of fun. Would have pulled out of the competition if it weren’t for Theo encouraging her. Maybe he did want to fight her. They’d never fully clashed before, perhaps this was some coy power struggle he wanted to enact.
She narrowed her eyes at him, as he stared blankly out at the horizon. “Is it my fight yet?”
“Two more and then you’re up,” he replied, not moving his tired stare.
“Boring, what if I yell Mont-”
“No, you’ll just have to wait and be patient like the rest of us. It won’t take long at all.”
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Sally pouted and spun her shortsword around in her hand. The vampire had been right, after all.
Being in the middle of the arena was certainly an experience. It was odd to be surrounded by so many people who weren’t dead or about to be. Any jealously over Theo having his own fan club had fizzled away as soon as she saw the signs and t-shirts with her logo on. Somehow, being a mass-murdering and slightly unhinged walking corpse was cause enough to be famous.
She lifted up her left hand up to look at her forearm. No Biting was clearly written there. Apparently, eating brains in a sword fighting competition was against the rules. Not that she cared about the rules as such, but she wanted to play fair so that it was fun for all involved. Slice of life for the whole System, not her own selfish stage show.
Her opponent was a tall man with some degree of armor, and a zweihander. With the longer blade and his reach, he already had quite the advantage over her.
Deeply tanned, his almond eyes brightened as they stood ready to begin their fight. “Sally Danger, it is an honor to fight against you once more.”
She tilted her head and thought. “Oh!” Sally clicked her fingers. “The Corpse Bowl battle a few weeks back! You decapitated me.”
“You remember!” He grinned and raised his sword up, two hands on the handle. “Let’s see if you can avoid the repeat.”
[Sally vs Kyle - Begin!]
“I’m not sure how likely that-” she rolled to the side as he leaped toward her and slashed downward with his blade.
She twisted around as his follow-up lashed out straight away, her shortsword blocking the forceful swing with the flat of the blade. Stumbling back away back to her feet, she made as if to sneak behind a zombie - before remembering there were none.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
No Biting, her arm reminded her.
As he adjusted his footing, bringing his sword back up for his next attack, Sally threw a handful of grit and dust gathered during her roll from her left hand.
Kyle staggered and tried to shake the blinding cloud from his eyes. Not knowing where the zombie had gone, he made a wide swing. Innacurate, it struck nothing but air. With bleary eyes he blinked away tears to see that she was standing further away, her sword lax by her side.
“Sorry.” Sally grinned. “I have a habit of fighting dirty.”
“You have a habit of getting distracted and losing your head.”
Before she could respond he darted toward her, leveling another three swings in succession. Each, she blocked, but was on the back foot - unable to gain ground against his longer reach and strong blows. Another two deflected as she tried to encircle him and her arm was starting to get numb.
No worries, as she had a secret plan up her sleeve.
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Theo sat with his head in his hands, elbows resting across the wall looking out to the arena.
“I would have thought you’d show a bit more enthusiam,” Humphrey chastised him.
The vampire gave him a tired look before returning to watch the clash of swords. “Sally will win.”
“Not that I disagree, but is that confidence borne of more than your close companionship?”
Theo exhaled through his nose. “No. That Sally is my partner has no bearing on her ability to win this fight. She hasn’t trained enough to be a true sword wielder, and has only sparred briefly with you, correct?”
“That is correct.” The Death Knight tilted his head.
“The attack pattern Kyle employs is somewhat similar to yours. Large sword, deliberate targeted swings, slower, but methodical. Sally would have the best chance of beating him compared to others she has no experience against.”
Humphrey frowned at the vampire, before watching the duel more intently to see if he was correct.
He was.
----------------------------------------
Sally slid across the loose sand and almost lost the grip on her sword. She much preferred daggers, even if it would be even more of a range disadvantage. “Tired yet?”
“Never,” he panted, despite the sweat running down his face.
“Your lies are as terrible as your swordsmanship.” She winked and took a couple steps backward.
“You have hardly attacked, and yet you feel we are equal?”
Sally grinned. “Equal? All that effort and you haven’t even scratched me.”
His brow furrowed and he worked the muscles in his arm before readying to attack. “What’s all that blood on you then?”
“Decoy blood,” she replied, maintaining eye contact. “I’ll tell you what, though. Let’s go all out. One big attack at each other to end this.”
Kyle nodded. “As you wish, Sally.”
Without overpowered Stats or any abilities, it was a lot slower and less cinematic clash than she had hoped for. Just as soon as their feet dug into the ground and powered them towards each other, it was over. Now a good handful of feet apart, backs to each other, they did the cliche dramatic pause.
Sally looked down at her left arm. No Biting, it reminded her, even though it was on the floor, detatched from the rest of her. She turned to face her opponent, and he turned to look at her too.
His hand was up at his neck, blood soaking through his fingers and dripping to the ground. Expecting him to keel over in short order, he instead prepared his sword, now only wielded with the one hand. “I can still fight. I do not submit.”
“Fun.” Sally grinned as she turned away from her dismembered limb. Crimson fire burned behind her eyes. “Same here.”
They dashed back into the fight. Both of them now more sluggish, less accurate, and lower strength. Sally was once again on the defence, but now every time Kyle missed, she found the opportunity to dart around to his open side and exact a jab or two.
She caught a slash across the head - loss of her arm was making her lightheaded. Wasn’t even focusing on the amount of blood covering the ground. Kyle overcommitted to the follow-up and stumbled away from her as she dodged to the side.
He struggled to regain his footing, dropping to his knees as exhaustion and blood loss finally took its toll.
Sally clenched her teeth, ready to take advantage and lop his head off - finish the job… but she stopped. As she caught her breath, the man finished keeling over, passing out.
[Sally Wins!]
She turned to the crowd, realising they were there again. Cheers all abound… even though she didn’t exactly feel good about it. Or feel good in general, with the blood loss. A bit more visceral than she had imagined. Blood had soaked into the dusty sawdust, or whatever was on the ground here. Now feeling sluggish herself, she dropped the sword to the floor as she spotted some familiar faces in the crowed. She waved.
And then a pulse of healing warmed her as blue light teleported her back to their VP suite. Her arm returned and outfit repaired, she spun around to see the gathered Outsiders. “I didn’t bite him,” she said and beamed at them.
“You did well,” Theo said, without moving an inch to regard her.
Humphrey however, put his plated hand on her shoulder and brought her in for a hug. “Well done. I’m proud of you.”
“Ah, you’re up next, pops. If you win then you’re facing me.”
“Good thing I can’t bleed out, then.” He grinned and attempted to wink his empty eye socket. “Wish me luck.”
“Good luck.” She grinned as he vanished in a flash of blue, and she walked over to the vampire. “What do you think fangs? Pretty close, huh?”
“It went as expected.” His voice came out monotone as his eyes stared out. “Your training with pops helped with your defence, but when it came to offence… well, it was classic Sally Danger. Go all out and put yourself at risk in the hopes that you’d win out anyway.”
“And I did.” She clicked her fingers and leaned against the opening. At the back of their room, Edward looked like he had fallen asleep on the couch. To the side, Dent was browsing through a rack of different swords that he had procured from somewhere during her fight. “I’ll probably fall on pops’ sword so we can go hang out. How tryhard are you going to be in your fight with Dent?”
“Mmm. I’ll give it my all.”
She prodded him. “I guess that’s fair. Gotta make Dent work for his title, and give the crowd something to cheer for.”
Theo leaned back and turned his gaze up to her for the first time. “It’s not that. You know me, Sally. I always put one hundred percent in.”
“Quick,” she whispered, “pops isn’t here, give me some smooches.”
“Ugh, could you not?” Edward complained from the couch.
“Avert your eyes, demon!” Sally growled.
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Humphrey gave his sword a few test swings. The greatsword cut through the air with the faint whistle of displaced air. His role as Head of Security had left him a little rusty as of late. Not that he didn’t get in as much practice as he could, but it paled in comparison to his time with the Outsiders where they were in near constant conflict.
The woman he was pitted against was a Unique Monster. Six arms and just as many thin swords. Her back was bulbous and reflected the light, like a beetle shell. Probably a quick and nimble fighter - his weakness.
He grinned and hoisted his large sword across his shoulders. Without his skills he was certainly less of an unstoppable force as he used to be, but he was still a large chunk of metal. He’d just have to weather the storm and get a couple strong hits in.
“Come,” he said, gesturing toward his opponent with his hand. “Let us Observe how capable you truly are.”