32 Introducing the dance of death

Dahlia had a couple questions. First of all, what the hell led Lilli to believe she could make her decent, let alone 'the best'? Next question. What in the world are those weapons? They're swords but… they certainly weren't typical. It didn't look like they belonged together at all.

In the left hand, a smaller sword was being dangled nonchalantly. It looked like a rapier but… slightly stockier and with its blade cut in half? It ended in a point, so that couldn't be the case, but other than the length, everything else looked like a standard basket hilt rapier.

In Lilli's other hand was something that made Dahlia incredibly uncomfortable. 'She wants me to swing that thing around? How? Did she not witness my test results first hand?!' The woman held it like it was a feather, but even at a glance, Dahlia could tell the thing was far heavier than she would like. It was a long, broad, and curved blade. A scimitar, and a fairly weighty one at that.

The confusion was so clearly displayed on her face that the commander just laughed and raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, so you have questions, right? I'll go over as much as you like"

Dahlia took a moment to gather her thoughts. There were a few questions but in all honesty she really wanted to sate her curiosity, so she decided to ask potentially the least important thing first. Pointing to the rapier thing, she cocked her head in confusion.

"What exactly is that?"

Smiling and beginning to swing the sword around, Lilli recalled the history like a fond memory.

"This is a Doravich Rapier, it was actually first made in the Lukresh grand duchy, though not in the way you might expect. See, the original one of these was exactly what the weapon looks like; a broken rapier.

During a conquest of The Empire into the Doravich Foothills, they were leading a small army to rout all the monsters in the region. Against all expectations though, a clan of kobolds were able to hold them off for ages and in that time the kobolds, which lacked an efficient means of smithing, ended up stealing the enemy rapiers and breaking them in half to suit their small stature.

I should note… just because you're small, it doesn't mean I'm comparing you to a two foot tall kobold. Where they used them as primary weapons, the Doravich Rapier became recognized as a potential off hand weapon in other circles. Now, although uncommon, it's a weapon that has its place. Kinda amazing how a little clan of kobolds were able to ingrain something in history."

Dahlia had quite genuinely enjoyed the little history lesson. The Doravich Hills conquest was something that she read about before, but the texts only focussed on the reasons and results, and not on how those results were achieved. It still left her wondering why that weapon was chosen over others, but that might best be asked a bit later.

"So, other than the weird rapier, what about the giant sword? There's not a snowball's chance in hell that I can just twirl around with that thing like it's nothing."

Lilli didn't seem upset at all by Dahlia's rejection; in fact she gave a quick nod as if agreeing with her. With sword in hand, she began to spin it around in a flashy display, stopping in front of the girl before showing a sly grin.

"So you don't want to swing it around huh? Well… you just happen to be in luck because what I just did there was flashy but had little substance. Of course, there are legitimate styles that use a continuously moving blade, but that's not what I want to teach you. Instead… here, try to approach me. I'll move slow but try to touch me, or even get close"

Dahlia frowned at that. Clearly this was meant to be a demonstration, but it felt like it was just going to shame her for lacking skill. Shrugging, she decided to try her best. Looking forward, the scimitar was down, with the arm looking quite relaxed. Only a faint tension could be seen that directed the tip of the curved sword towards Dahlia's body.

The positioning wasn't very notable, and didn't feel particularly hostile either, but the moment she took a step in and got within range, the tip of the blunted weapon pressed against her thigh. Looking at the commander, her hand had barely shifted and she still showed almost no signs of effort. She just stood there and gave an almost questioning smile, as if asking why she paused.

Dahlia tried to pivot around the point and get in closer, but as the tip left her thigh, the dull blade edge met her and ran smoothly across her leg. Frowning, she took a couple steps back.

"Just to clarify girl, what you just saw with the blade sliding across your leg there, that small movement would have lost you half a leg. We're not done with this exercise, but I want you to understand that swords like this rarely leave scratches. They are heavy and, because their centre of gravity is so high, it makes them awkward to swing or block with. However, once contact is made, that high centre of gravity suddenly works its magic and it cuts flesh like a hot knife through butter. Now… continue!"

The new information was still being processed, but Dahlia was starting to understand why Lilli may have recommended this weapon. From the sounds of it, the weapon was heavy and awkward for the precise purpose of letting the sword do the work for her. The way the commander had also moved so far seemed effortless.

Nodding to herself and starting to understand a bit better, she started to pay attention to the tip of the curved sword. She moved and ever so faintly the tip shifted to match her, almost always pointing at a thigh or her torso. Finally, she decided to just try to outspeed the scimitar. The plan was to lunge. Maybe if the target was her thighs, she might be able to reach past before Lilli could adjust. That was the plan.

What ended up happening was that there was immediately a scimitar tip placed on her wrist, effectively pinning it and preventing it from moving forward. Then, presumably as a final part of the demonstration, the commander slipped the tip past and the blade slashed her forearm as Lilli stepped forward and proceeded to pull the blade forward in a fluid motion that ended with it at Dahlia's throat.

It wasn't like Lilli had disregarded her promise. She had never moved particularly fast. Everything that happened occurred from a few simple steps and some minor adjustments to the sword's angle, but just that was enough to fully restrain Dahlia. Even despite Dahlia's inexperience in fighting, her rapid comprehension abilities were working in overdrive and she was starting to piece everything together.

"This style of fighting… despite the big sword, it's actually about reading your opponent and positioning, right? So long as you position correctly then the sword itself does the cutting?"

Nodding along, Lilli gave a little thumbs up. She was happy her new student wasn't slow on the uptake.

"Right, what you said is exactly correct! During our tests, I figured that this weapon is ideal for you while having something in the offhand, although not necessary, would only be a benefit. Traditional scimitar combat might leave the other hand free, use a buckler, or a dagger. I just settled on the Doravich Rapier due to its ability to guard your hands as well as improve your ability to control spacing."

She rubbed her chin, trying to think over how best to introduce things. It was only the first day, so this wasn't that important, but she feared that with how smart the girl was, an incorrect explanation and introduction may lead to fundamental problems later on. Lilli feared that one misstep on her part might lead to Dahlia rapidly learning with an incorrect assumption. Finally, she just settled on being as straightforward as possible.

"Ok, so what you need to know going forward is that scimitars, despite being long, are actually relatively close combat weapons. Their curvature makes it so you need to be close if you want to stab or slice your target. Also, like I said before, their awkward weight means blocking with them is a bad idea. You will almost always want to pin their limbs with the tip or blade and that will be your primary defence."

She gestured over to the small half rapier.

"That is what makes up for your mistakes or helps you deal with multiple enemies. It's rigid enough to block attacks but is particularly suited for parrying or using the tip for pinning and spacing. The combat style I'm going to teach you is dynamic and heavily responsive based on the enemy. No hiding behind a shield or polearm and no overpowering with brute force. I know you're smart enough and reactive enough to be able to pull this off, so all you need is practice."

Dahlia was nodding along with every word. Honestly, although she had reservations at first, the style Lilli described sounded exciting; it would be like every fight was its own little brain teaser. She also thought back to how the commander had moved in those last moments. Her steps had been slow but everything was effective. The blade flashed and almost curled around her body as it went to cut her, like a razor sharp boa constrictor.

The centre of gravity so far up the blade may have made it awkward to block with, but it allowed the tip to shift, redirect, and glide with a mercurial elegance. Between the hypnotising blade and the languid footwork, it was like the whole combat style was a dance of death and something about that genuinely excited Dahlia.

There was only one nagging question that she had.

"What about armour? I can already imagine how the tip might snake around and bypass a shield, but armour basically totally counters this, no? The blade and tip may be sharp, but that's worthless if I just slide off. Not to mention the idea of pinning libs doesn't work if they can ignore the threat."

The commander raised an eyebrow at that. She caught on remarkably fast and it was actually a little jarring to have a student with so much intuition.

"Uhh, yeah… So you're right for the most part. Most armour had chinks that are weak points, typically in the joints and you can target those, but otherwise you're completely correct. The scimitar was originally developed in the sultanate where heavy armour is a death sentence due to their heat. For you though, many fighters in the empire use armour. If they are assassins, it's far less likely, but still. In this case, the rapier and scimitar tip are both capable of acting as mail piercers, but against something like platemail, you need to have a different strategy."

She took a couple of steps over to where a suit of armour was placed on a training dummy and she began to run her fingers along the edges of the plates.

"Dahlia, I'm not going to tell you how to cast magic. My own fighting style has warped my style of casting far outside the norm. However, from what I understand, your aspect has something to do with forests. I settled on this fighting style with that in mind. Do you see how the plates of this armour shift and overlap? People have bodies, they aren't immoble or lack anatomy. So the armour they wear needs to move with them. When we're done, I'm going to want you to have learned to imbue your weapons with your nature element and with that you can use your magic to manually tear apart armour. I think that should more or less answer your concerns?"

Dahlia tried to imagine that. Images of vines tearing apart armour flashed through her mind, or branches and roots forming under the armour while her enemy was still trapped inside. The addition of magic to her swordwork made so many more things possible and many of those new possibilities were shockingly cruel.

It was a strange sensation. She had been on the receiving end of others' cruelty for far too long and if anything she ought to have a firm rejection to the idea of inflicting it upon others, but… Rather than being dismayed, Dahlia found the thought enticing.

It was in her nature to be shy and reserved with others and when it came to day to day relations, sadism was far from her mind. If anything, thinking back to how she desired to be possessed by Valentina or how she loved the sensation of getting bitten, there was a pretty high chance she was a submissive masochist.

This seemed to change though when she thought of combat. Just imagining an enemy who threatened her life, or even worse threatened Valentina's life, filled Dahlia with a sudden wave of rage. A thirst for bloodshed and pain. How dare they? How dare they even consider laying their hands on *her* woman. Suddenly the thought of growing a tree within someone's armour didn't seem so cruel. If anything, it was too soft for what scum deserved. Then that thought process was put on pause.

'W-what was that? I've never felt like that before, even when I was beaten by my parents, I never felt anger like that. It was always just sorrow and fear, so what the hell is all the rage from?'

Thinking things through, she found that the idea of inflicting pain on others didn't seem to resonate with her. Blood and pain, by themselves, were things Dahlia would prefer to avoid and she found no appeal there. But when she started to think of enemies. Those who threatened her life, her happiness, and her love, that's when her blood started boiling. 'How dare anyone take anything from me or my love?' Such thoughts quickly ran rampant and, where once there was no bloodlust, suddenly a river couldn't quench her thirst for blood.

It was like a switch had been flicked and the 'on' state read 'ruthless vengeance'. As though any sin intended to be committed against herself or Valentina ought to be repaid a thousand-fold, even if it was only a thought in the enemy's mind. Despite the jarring nature of these new emotions though, Dahlia didn't fear them. Rather, they seemed comfortable. Correct. As if she would be disgusted with herself if she didn't have such a response to those that threatened herself or her partner.

There was a degree of comfort that came from understanding these new emotions though. A part of her was terrified that, given a situation where she would need to kill, she wouldn't have the wearwithal to go through with it. That she would hesitate and it would lead to her death. Now though, she knew that wouldn't happen. Her combat abilities still needed to be trained, but she now knew that her resolve would not falter.

She thought of the Archduchess. *Her* Archduchess. Imagining the woman's beauty, comforting presence, unyielding lust, and never ending affection, she felt like her heart would burst. Yes, she would protect her. She would never let harm befall what they had and if she needed to, she would let endless others suffer if it meant that they could remain happy.

Finally, Dahlia turned to look back at the commander. Although she had certainly been absorbed in her thoughts, only about five seconds had passed and Dahlia played it off as just needing a moment to think. She smiled, agreed with the proposal to use her magic as suggested, and they settled the end of the day's session a little early so that Dahlia could prepare for her tour with Valentina.

They had separated without issue and things seemed fine, at least to Dahlia, but that wasn't the same for the two women that had accompanied her. You don't get into such high positions within the castle without having impeccable skills at reading others, and both Lilli and Bessie were able to feel that sudden sense of resolute bloodlust coming from the girl.

The commander recognized it as similar to some of the worst enemies she had faced on the battlefield, and it both frightened her as well as filled her with anticipation to be able to teach such a disciple. Bessie however had a bit more insight. That bloodlust, paired with how she reacted to even the mention of the Archduchess led the maid to come to an understanding.

Her thoughts flashed back to the over-possessiveness that Valentina had shown previously and immediately was able to put two and two together. Where before she was frightened because she feared that Dahlia wouldn't be able to handle the vampiress' obsession, now her fears were directed in a new direction.

'These two are dangerous. Their obsession is to the point I think they might either tear eachother apart, or tear the world apart around them. I need to be careful or I'll get caught in the crossfire. And most concerning of all, I think they're still in the early stages. What'll happen if things escalate?'

A shiver ran through her as she continued to lead Dahlia back to her room. Hearing the girl hum off key to herself made her smile and finally she just sighed.

'Oh well. Whether their love burns eachother or the whole world, I'll be by their side the whole time, watching the events unfold like I'm watching a tornado rage beside me. It will be beautiful, terrifying, and I'll love every moment.'