After Anput realized her mistake in not making Jahi anything at all, the Jackalkin let out a sigh as she stared at the black grain sand below us, before shrugging and turning towards Nirinia, asking "What are we going to do then?"
The Djinn stepped forwards and coughed into her fist, looking between us all as she said "I think the best thing for right now would be all of you against me like we did before, just so I can get a grasp on where you all are at and what you need to do? After that though, I think it'll be mainly rotating you four out against me for one on ones, just so I can try and guide you through whatever you need on an individual, focused basis. So..."
Strapping on her buckler and unsheathing her golden Dadao, the Djinn grinned at us as we all prepared ourself, her confidence oozing through her skin as she tapped her blade against her buckler, signifying the beginning of this four on one.
Anput and Jahi decided to take the bulk of the Djinn's attention, with the Demoness getting up into Nirinia's face while Anput skirted to the side, her rod of metal shifting into a long katana that snaked towards Nirinia's abs.
The Djinn used her buckler to slap Jahi's blade aside, whilst she spun her Dadao around used the flat of the blade to block Anput's thrust.
ραΠdαsΝοvεl ƈοm Of course, the Djinn had to deal with more than just those two, so while Jahi was off balance she pivoted and parried the Estoc that was thrust towards the center of her back, stepping into Leone's attack to avoid the thrust of my rapier.
"Sorry Princess!"
Grinning at Leone, Nirinia slammed her booted foot against the side of Leone's knee, forcing the Vampire down before pivoting once more, avoiding the slash of Anput's katana.
Nirinia jumped away and whistled softly at the thin crevasse that Jahi left behind with her cleave, before bolting forwards and slamming her buckler into Jahi's stomach, winding the Demoness and pushing her back a few steps.
Anput and I shifted ourselves to the side and thrust forwards; Anput put power behind her singular attack, whilst I went with speed and sent a barrage of thrusts forwards, hoping to pin the Djinn between us and Jahi.
Sadly for us, the woman was still just a tad too strong for something that simple, as she used her Dadao to almost send my rapier flying as she stepped in close, mirroring what she did with Leone just on a much quicker scale.
Feeling her foot connect with my knee, I grit my teeth as my knee cracked, the sharp, hot agony of my knee being dislocated sending me to the ground, leaving just Jahi and Anput to contend with the Djinn.
Leone had healed herself and moved to join the fight, only to redirect herself to me and swiftly try and bring me back, but Nirinia was prepared for that as she lowered her shoulder and slammed into Anput, sending her flying back and into Leone, causing the two to tumble to the ground together.
Placing my hand against my mangled knee, I began to heal it as I watched Jahi begin to fight Nirinia one on one, their blades colliding together as they both sent heavy attacks towards one another, but the speed and advantage of the shield placed Nirinia above Jahi in this spar.
When Jahi stabbed her blade towards Nirinia's midriff, the Djinn angled her shield to the side and allowed the great sword to slide along its surface, making Jahi stumble forwards into the awaiting Dadao, which pressed itself against the Demoness' throat.
We all stopped when we saw that, knowing that with Jahi 'dead' the rest of us would fall quickly again, so we called it there.
"Not too bad, but..."
Looking back towards us, Nirinia pursed her lips before shrugging, saying "Kat, Leone, I guess that wasn't too fair considering you're both magically inclined and those are new weapons, but..."
"The real world won't care that we've never used these."
Nirinia nodded at Leone's words, adding "Nor will it care if you're out of mana or you are in some area that prevents magic. So... yeah, you two need to get accustomed to those weapons, or figure out if you just don't like them."
Healing my knee, I nodded as I gingerly got to my feet, slowly adding weight to the limb before feeling like it was back to normal.
"I'd like to go first then, Nirinia."
The Djinn nodded and stepped aside, whilst Anput, Leone and Jahi gave us some more space, the three muttering quietly to one another before the Jackalkin and Vampire faced the Demoness with their weapons raised.
Looking down at the rapier in my hand, I stared at it for a few moments before nodding, approaching Nirinia and signifying my readiness.
Like before, she started the match with the clang of her blade against her buckler before standing still, giving me the first move.
Bouncing on my feet for a moment, I prepared myself to lean entirely into speed as I gave the rapier a swish, right as I shot forwards, my right hand raised and lancing the rapier towards her throat.
When I saw the buckler getting raised, I pulled back on my rapier and sent a thrust towards her hand next, trying to disarm her of her Dadao or at least damage her hand a bit to give myself some breathing room.
Of course, whilst I was fast, Nirinia was faster, her hand lifting slightly as she angled her Dadao towards my chest, about to stab me straight in the sternum... if I hadn't dashed beneath her arm and slid behind her, the rapier scoring thin cuts across her back as I stabbed it forwards a dozen times in just a second or so.
Before she could turn and respond, I jumped back and reset the encounter, making the Djinn smile wryly at me as she muttered "Slippery little puppy aren't you, Kat? Quite quick too..."
Smirking at that, I lunged forwards and returned to attacking, deciding that making the Djinn go on the defensive would be best for me, since it opened up more opportunities for me to act first and plan out my moves.
For a few minutes I did just that, stabbing the rapier out towards her armored torso and trying to get the blade to land somewhere lethal so that I could win, but the problem that I discovered with the rapier was just how close I was to my enemy, and whilst I was accustomed to utilizing daggers, the lack of versatility with the rapier ended up causing my defeat, though that was certainly a user error and not the weapon itself.
I was too used to slashing with weighted blades and not only stabbing with something light, but...
"If you had magic during that fight, it'd be much different."
I nodded at Nirinia, the Djinn resting her Dadao atop her shoulder as she looked down at me.
"With Wind Mana across the blade, you could probably gain some good cutting power whilst also amplifying your thrusting power by a good deal. But..."
"Without mana I need to learn to use it better, yeah... It wasn't that bad though."
She nodded, before gesturing for me to switch out with one of the others.
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