Part 18
"Status report?" asked Zoen, walking towards the girls.
Cyeen walked funny,
"My hand, can't you see?!"
Jess proudly held out ten fingers.
"Ten shield hit pointz left. Not eveen a scaratch."
Cyeen cut the proud Jess off.
"I said my hand! Zoen patch it up now!"
The guy quickly rushed to the girls aid, ripping out a piece of cloth from the dead officer next to them. The noble girl let out a groan as her hand was bandaged up tightly.
Zoen tilted his head.
"Such a large wound, I'd say give it a week to heal."
Cyeen couldn't believe she would hear something so outrageous.
"A week?! When my shield regenerates back up it should fix this in seconds!"
The guy shook his head.
"Your shield cannot regenerate while you have an open wound. Those hit points we talk about are about how much your shield can regenerate your body, it doesn't have hit points of it's own."
Cyeen rolled her eyes.
"Whoa thanks doctor, I definitely did ask for that."
Jess lifted her hand.
"So why doez it protecc vital organs?"
Zoen felt a little sad about sarcastically being called a doctor.
"It just regenerates really fast and is thicker in those spots. How come you two don't know these?"
Jess put her hand down.
"Maybe because ya ar the only nerd heire?"
"And the officers?" spoke Cyeen with her teeth gritted, interrupting the demon.
Zoen put his head down.
"All dead. We didn't have a choice, they saw your face."
"Damn." murmered Cyeen. "So do we bury them now?"
Zoen nodded. The siblings normally didn't bury their kills but he knew he had to gain some worth in Cyeen's eye. He really wanted to secure those positions. They silenty dug three adult sized graves before burying the deceased officers next to each other. Zoen whispered some prayers in the name of these officers which he didn't care much about. Upon joining the girls, he saw Jess laughing her butt off.
"Wait where is it?" asked Cyeen in worry. She was looking everywhere on her clothes.
Zoen looked at the noble in confusion. What is she doing? He carefully examined her before realising. As he saw the thing Jess looked at, he barely held himself from laughing.
"It's on your back, Cyeen." he said calmly.
Cyeen finally touched behind her back, feeling her bare skin. No no no no. She had managed to tear the back of her tunic. It wasn't a small tear aswell, it was almost splitting the tunic in half. The noble hurried over to the horses, took her bag before disappearing into the woods. Jess and Zoen knew what that meant, they were finally going to see the thing Cyeen bought. Jess just wanted to make fun of it while Zoen was actually curious.
Just a few moments later, a violet haired individual emerged back from the woods. And what she had on her was...
"A cyan sundress? Izn't cyan an expensive coolor?" asked Jess.
"Usually. I don't think your pirate brain can understand this, but didn't you ever take a look around Bami? There were stuff painted in cyan everywhere. Meaning, cyan was a cheap color to produce there."
Jess scoffed in understanding. At a closer look, the sundress had wider than usual hamstrings and didn't have any sleeves. It had some strings to tighten it just above her hips, marking where the skirt part started. The sundress ended just above her knees. It looked to be tailored to minimize the hindrance normal clothing has to the movement speed. Above everything else, the sundress not having anything covering her arms brought out the noble's muscles forward. Her arms weren't that buff but were still noticeable.
"How do I look?" she asked.
Jess actually liked the way it looked.
"Terribel."
Zoen didn't have much of an opinion on it so he just shrugged. Cyeen's face dropped. If you weren't going to like it why bother pestering me about it? She hopped on her horse and fixed the skirt part.
"Let's just go."
The siblings followed her a second later.
***
Cyeen still felt the shame of losing hours after the fight. She thought of ways to improve herself which all sooner or later involved Jess. While deep in thought, Zoen pulled his horse next to Cyeen.
"Cyeen, I think you should be wearing the flower mask at all times. Then we wouldn't be forced to eliminate any other people."
The noble sighed.
"It's a good idea, really. I trust you not to kill them but Jess might. I never saw her show restraint against an opponent."
Zoen giggled awkwardly.
"Well, she did show some restraint in the close past. Against you, on the ship. She didn't want you badly damaged for the... you know?"
Her face dropped even further.
"That explains how I managed to land a few hits on her. Demons are just way too strong. It's unfair."
"Demons? Well, they are equal in power to humans. It's just Jess, I have never seen her lose a one on one. She's an absolute beast, I can agree on that."
"Hey Cyee Flameberg!" yelled Jess from behind, with a sword in her hand. It was a flameberge. "Dis you?"
Cyeen yelled back, "Not an original joke, Jess. And yes, our family name comes from the sword flameberge."
Zoen tilted his head.
"Really? Do you mind explaining?"
"Of course I can. Just call your stupid sister to us. I don't like how she's following us from behind all the time."
"Well, that's for safety reasons but sure." He turned back and loudly whistled, causing Jess to come galloping.
The noble cleared her throat.
"Listen here you two, I'll explain this only once."
Cyeen suprisingly managed to make Jess sit patiently. She waited for her confusion to vanish before starting.
"Ten years before Setina was founded, existed a soon to be queen. She was a commander who was fed up with the rule of the current queen. That commander amassed an army of thousands, sinking fear into the hearts of whoever dared to even look at their way let alone cross it. Next to the queen were twelve sword masters. Solantoaris the broadsword master, Uinas the scimitar master, Levney the flameberge master, Enraion the longsword master and her brother Zatraion the claymore master. The other seven, I didn't care enough to learn about them. After years of war, the commander had won, declaring herself as the new queen. After the war, she bestowed the twelve sword masters with nobility. Levney, my ancestor, received a coastal duchy called Enidia. Ever since her, the heirship has been passed to the... daughter... that... wields... the flameberge... the best..."
Cyeen froze up in realisation. Click. The tree next to Cyeen got decimated in an instant. Her hand began shaking out of unfiltered rage. Both the siblings had stopped their horses to check on the noble. Cyeen talked without lifting her head up.
"Lead the way, Zoen."
***
Blood was gushing out of her index finger which she ignored to keep on biting whatever was left of her nail. Her horse followed the others on it's own as her hands were not gripping the reins. You got to be kidding me. I lost my rights to the heirship just because I couldn't summon a flameberge?! Zenith, once I return I'll shove a flameberge right up your...
"You okay buddy?"
Cyeen turned to her left to see a hand on her shoulder. Zoen looked at her with genuine worry.
Cyeen spoke in a hostile tone,
"What do you think? My birthright was taken from me for something as puny as this. How could I be okay?"
The guy smiled.
"I guess that means you belong to the orphan category like me and Jess."
Cyeen stopped biting her nail to look up at Zoen with a furrowed eyebrow.
"What, no? I didn't get disowned? It's means my mother disregarded my right to be the heir."
Zoen sucked his lips in.
"Oooh, my bad my bad. I'm not exactly a noble expert."
A giggle left her mouth.
"You big fat liar."
Zoen lifted his hands up in fake guilt before smiling and going back to the front of the group. Cyeen realised she let go of her nail. No one had actually managed to do that before.
She most likely had judged the siblings terribly wrong. They didn't look like the type to pillage without reason, especially Zoen. It was clear as day that he wouldn't hurt a fly if not to protect the ones he cared about. Jess was still as mysterious as she was, but a voice in her head was telling Cyeen she'd learn more about Jess the more they traveled together. Hey, don't put your own opinions into my head. Thought Cyeen.
"We stop here for the night girls." said Zoen, who was nudged roughly by Jess. "Sorry, I meant ladies."
With that, they all hopped off their horses and tied them to seperate trees.
A silhouette with sharp horns appeared out of thin air next to Cyeen, whispering in an eerie tone.
"Com widt me when ya ar done with yar tent."
Jess disappeared as quietly as she appeared, leaving Cyeen to pitch her tent by herself. The noble had picked up a few tips to survive out in the wild from Zoen, allowing her to pitch the tent. She tossed her bag inside it and went up to the demon still struggling to pitch her tent.
"Now what?" said Cyeen.
Jess looked surprised, she was really fast at setting up the tent this time.
"Wel uuuh... Hepl me with me tent then I will tirain ya."
Cyeen agreed to help her. She'd do almost anything if it would help her get as powerful as possible as soon as possible. Since two people were trying to pitch a single tent at the same time — they kept messing with each others work. After a ton of "hey!"s from both the parties, they left the camp site and found themselves an open area to start Cyeen's training. Jess instructed the noble to face her about ten meters away. Cyeen did as she was told and upon turning back she was met with the sight of Jess holding a flameberge with both hands.
"Ya wanna learn?"
Cyeen's eye narrowed.
"Sure do."
Jess held the heavy sword by the hilt, one hand close to the bottom and the other below the guard, avoiding holding it from under it's parrying hooks.
"Flameberges ar heavier dhan the avirage essence weapin so it'z mostly used for difensive purposes. But I will show you how to use it in activ combat. The way I hold it ryight now iz the optimal one for heaviy damge. This sword is good against long ryange melees so use it only if yar against a pike or spear."
Cyeen copied the exact grip Jess had on the sword.
"So nyext is what ya can do with it. For guards, field guard and plow. What wi ar doing nyow is the plow. Put one hand belowz the parrying hooks for the field guard. Field guard is faster so I recomend it for difense. Do not cross handle a sword this big. Ya can do all deez movez from both guards but I recomend field guard fo you. Yar fightin style is preety fast."
The demon cleared her throat, temporarily bettering her accent. While waiting for her, Cyeen changed her guard into the field guard.
"First, dhe thrust. A fencing step is enought for it. The strikes are de same old; upper left to bottomz right or vice versa. Yar weapin is heavy so just adjust. Then there'z driving through the cross from above. Long nayme I know. Ya basically do a slash from bottom left to upper right then quickly rotate it above yar head to do an upper left to bottom right. Ya need some distanse for this, so thrust before it. That'z all I know about it so let's just get to it."
Cyeen imagined everything Jess taught her to create a quick combo in her head. The noble closed the distance between them, thrusted first, then followed it up with a slash before thrusting from above her head followed up by drive through the cross from above. Although all her attacks were getting parried, she noticed the demon falling behind because of her grip on the hilt. This interaction indirectly taught her different ways to use a single weapon.
The demon threw a straight kick that got blocked by Cyeen's curvy sword that caused the noble gain the tempo of the battle.
Jess's hits were hitting harder than Cyeen, making the noble's arms ache any time their blades met. They quit fighting after both of them became sweaty messes.
Jess lifted her hand.
"It'z a draw, lookz like I lack trainin' with this variation."
Cyeen wiped her forehead.
"Sure, I can accept a draw."
Both of them dismissed their weapons while heading back to the temporary camp. Cyeen held Jess's arm.
"Wait, I want to test something."
An image of a full body with a dagger inside a circle appeared in Cyeen's mind, which translated into the move that officer pulled on her. Only this time it was directed towards the demon. Countless knives stabbed the demon from inside her shield.
"YA JERK! WHEN DID I GIVE YA PERMISION?!" she yanked her arm away. Rubbing all over her body. She actually felt this move down to her bones even though her shield regenerated the wounds for her. Where did she even learn that from? Thought the demon, walking away.
Cyeen moved her lips in unease. That consumed nearly as much essence as ten blasters. It's not that efficienct. She followed Jess shortly afterwards.
A voice from somewhere unfamiliar was heard by Cyeen, making her ears ring once again...
A classroom... Looked pretty advanced, nothing like those of that existed in Lianite. She went out the door to see a trash bag made out of plastic. What the hell is that material? The noble walked further, reaching an outside section with give or take thirty dummies. They seemed to be imbued with essence under unnatural conditions. Why am I being sent to these places? She chopped the head off the first dummy she saw.
"Heloooo, ya alive?"
It was Jess, she had returned back to the real world. That confirms my theory, it only happens when I'm exhausted. She realised she was face to face with Jess. The demon shook her again.
"Sleep alreadiy! Othawise ya will be sleepin on ya shift"