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Post by Chardonnay on Aug 22, 2021 21:48:42 GMT -8
Unfortunately, her determination could only accompany her for one more turn. After her palm strikes made contact on the tuffle’s chest, he immediately answered back with the same technique followed by a front kick which sent the girl flying to a nearby tree. The strikes on her chest were enough to stifle her breathing, thus there was not enough time to even dodge the kick. The tears that Chardonnay was holding back a while ago flowed out at the same time as she spat blood out of her mouth before she was slammed into the trunk of a large oak tree. While she heard her friend’s compliment before his attack, she found it a bit unbelievable since none of her offenses actually made an impact on him. There wasn’t even a graze or scratch, he was perfectly fine. He was just being modest because… because he was nice, and he probably wanted to cheer up the baroness even in such a predicament. Of course, Chardonnay wouldn't take this against Val, after all, she agreed to train with him. But if there were any lessons that she could learn from this duel, it would be "never trust a friend would go easy on you", since she thought it would be an even match. Yet, the tuffle made it clear that it wasn't the case, he went all out on her as if they were in lethal combat. “Go...men…” was the only word the little girl could mutter before finally passing out. She addressed it to Valentus feeling sorry that the redhead knight wasted his time on someone as weak as her, and that she did not meet his expectations. [282/2,814] Valentus
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Post by Valentus on Aug 23, 2021 13:27:47 GMT -8
Okay... that was definitely not a good idea. What was he thinking, seeing that the Baroness was about to cry and then following it up with a barrage of attacks intent for a martial artist?!
Valentus regretted the final step-kick almost as soon as he sent it - the girl was ready to give up already, and yet he laid the finishing blow and knocked her hard enough to slam her body into the nearest tree. There, struggling to stay up, Chardonnay muttered the last words she could before her consciousness finally gave in. For the past few seconds, Valentus watched the scene with shock, and then rushed forward without hesitation.
"Char!"
The Tuffle caught her right as she was about to collapse to the ground and lifted her up, holding the girl in his arms. From up close, no longer having to focus on the battle instead of inspecting his opponent, he could easily tell that he left Chardonnay in much worse condition than he anticipated. Where was the friendly spar in all of this?
He could always find excuses, like that Valentus wasn't sure how to balance the fact that she was a child with the fact that she was a trained fighter, and so ended up leaning too much towards the latter - but they were really just excuses.
Valentus' eyes suddenly glared to the side. "Paizu! Help her!" The fairy, meanwhile, was not particularly phased by Chardonnay's condition - and, in fact, when she saw the small Baroness get kicked straight to the nearest tree, she squealed at the excitement and brutality. Hearing the Tuffle's call to aid her, however, Paizu rolled her eyes and began acting like she was inspecting her nails.
"Oh, that's so terrible... But, alas, without a contract, there is not much I can offer, and, besides, as a fairy of the Forest of Terror, I-"
"Cut that out, right now!" Valentus suddenly yelled. "We both know that's not how your curse works!" Finally, what mattered more about anything petty or childish from Paizu was that a friend of his was hurt, and in his arms, and in need of immediate medical attention. Seeing that excusing herself out of work was not going to happen, the fairy sighed, took off, and began circling around Chardonnay. Her wings began to glow as she cast a spell, transferring magic to the Baroness to soothe her pain and mend her wounds.
"Please be okay, please be okay... I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gone so far..." Valentus mumbled under his breath.
(422 words, total 3100)
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Post by Chardonnay on Aug 23, 2021 18:57:43 GMT -8
In her subconscious, Chardonnay could only hear a faint voice calling out to her. In the darkness, she could feel someone was holding her tenderly and with great care. There seemed to be some kind of argument going on in the background but whoever these gentle hands belonged to surely was no threat. Not a little later, she could feel a warm sensation covering her body. She felt light, and the poison that was coursing through her veins was gradually neutralized; her tensed muscles began to relax and her breathing became normal again. Slowly, she opened her eyes, everything was blurry at first and she could barely make out the outline of the redhead tuffle caressing her at the time. She blinked a couple of times, recalling what happened in the previous minutes that had passed. Remembering that she was in a spar with her friend, she abruptly shot up punching the knight on his face. Realizing that the battle had long since concluded and that she ended up defeated, she would approach Valentus to soothe his face, cupping his cheeks as she apologized, “I-Im sorry, Mr. Valentus. I didn’t mean to… to hurt you,” she would then break away and sit next to him, offering her gratitude. “T-thank you… for training with me. It was not the kind of duel I expected but it would be a good benchmark to test my skills. I still have a long way to go.” It was difficult to gauge her abilities with an invisible opponent, so sparring with someone was truly advantageous. However, it was different from her experience with Sakuya since they were already familiar with each other's styles. This training with her tuffle friend surely added insights on what to improve with her skills. The baroness would then face the tuffle again with a smile, “Thank you for healing me as well.” Feeling rather energized, she would rise to her feet and help the knight to stand up as they decided to go back to the town, “Since we’re done with our spar, would you like to go to the village with me? I can show you around… and you must be hungry after that fight, we could grab something to eat as well.”[376/3,190] Valentus
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Post by Valentus on Aug 24, 2021 6:46:55 GMT -8
Seeing Chardonnay slowly open her eyes immediately left Valentus relieved, and the Tuffle flashed a faint smile. For a second. The next thing he knew, a bitter punch struck him right in between his eyes - it caught him completely out of guard and immediately broke his balance, leaving him falling on his bottom. It got Valentus to drop Chardonnay from his arms as well, all accompanied by Paizu flying aside and giggling herself off at the incident.
"Ah... No, no, don't worry, it's fine... and probably deserved..." the Tuffle mumbled under his breath, rubbing the upper part of his nose, where the pain was ringing the most, with his thumb and index finger. If anything, he was the one who should be apologizing to the girl for what he did to her just moments ago. Thankfully, in the end, Chardonnay was not that bothered over the pain he had inflicted and chose to stay optimistic - she will take the lessons she has learned during the spar to heart. Valentus took an easier breath, and cracked a faint smile.
"I can't claim to be a great unarmed fighter, I've always been more comfortable with using a sword, and sometimes a pistol," the Tuffle explained, and picked up his weapon from the patch of grass he tossed it down to right before their spar began - the sheathed blade was now attached to his belt again. "But I will be able to teach you all that I can from now on. Self defense techniques, so on... it'll all help you for sure. Just blasting foes with energy will only take you so far."
While Chardonnay helped Valentus up back on his feet, Paizu stopped in the air, floating and folding her arms with a scoff. "Don't thank this boy scout that you're awake now - thank the generous and, dare I say, beautiful Paizu."
Valentus, meanwhile, turned his attention to the girl. "I'd be glad, Cha-I mean, Miss Chardonnay. I haven't been in this part of the world before, so I certainly don't know what to expect..."
(343 words, total 3443)
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