28 XXVIII: Dragon vs. Snake.
After a full week of training and self-study, Seone felt much more powerful than he had been seven days ago, although that was simply because he had regained fine control over all of his abilities.
The young man was on the training field, it was late afternoon, and there was no one else present except Marie, who was fifty feet away from him. While Seone was wearing normal clothes except for his execution sword and two spin balls attached to his belt, Marie was fully prepared.
She wore silver armor with some modified details, most notably a metal ring on her forehead, as well as certain ornaments that gave her a more elegant and noble appearance. Her long hair waved in the breeze, and her brown eyes turned to amber reptilian eyes that stared at Seone.
"I know this whole drama of rewards and me pushing you further and further may seem annoying it must seem annoying to you," the girl spoke first, causing Seone to frown slightly.
"Yeah, I mean, you could tell me clearly if you want to fuck or not, why all the spinning? There will be annoyed readers if this ever gets written," Seone replied with a bit of humor, although the annoyed tone in his voice was quite clear.
"What can I tell you, I'm an arrogant bitch~ and as a woman influenced by the dragon aura, I've acquired some traits of that species, like some of their racial customs or the not-at-obsessive and unhealthy appreciation for gold" Marie started to slowly walk towards Seone, she held her sword in her hand and slowly started to unleash her Dragon Fear skill.
"So you wanted a capable and strong partner because you were horny?" asked Seone, a bit uncomfortable, in a way, he didn't understand what this girl wanted with these weird games, but hey, he was the type to stick his dick in crazy women...
Seone held his weapon with both hands, bloody vitality pouring out of his body, covering his hands and legs with a thin yet firm layer of energy. He also released his impulse to fight Marie's ability, at least so he wouldn't feel like a scared rabbit in front of a dangerous predator.
"Not exactly, let's just say that at first I got carried away by Ddraig's stupid advice on how a dragoness should behave, but then I thought, I'm a damn human, even if I transform into a full and true dragon in the future, the essence of my existence, my humanity, will always be there," the golden aura that represented her ascension to 'Draconic Serpent' emerged from Marie, pushing the air around her and thus demonstrating her power.
"So, what are we fighting for?" Seone finally asked, getting to the heart of the matter. His sword was covered in energy, increasing in hardness and sharpness.
"First of all, I asked you to prove yourself to me, and you more than did that, but that's exactly why I wanted to fight you for real, let's just say my hand was itching and I wanted a good fight. Besides, they say that people communicate better when they have a common language, don't you think that fighting is a good language? I've seen it in your eyes, that the desire to fight is always the same as mine, and even though we have different motives... I know how to recognize a fighting maniac like me.
That and the fact that I 'need' a dragon-like mating ritual to further integrate into my draconic nature, I am human, but I will not give up this new side of me that has given me so much strength," after finishing his words, she lunged at Seone, swinging her weapon in a horizontal slash.
Seone, on guard and prepared for the confrontation, performed a move he had learned this week. The vitality in his feet erupted and quickly pushed him backward as he positioned his sword to strike Marie's blade, announcing the beginning of the fight with the clash of metal.
A smile appeared on Seone's face as he acknowledged Marie's words, as arrogant as the woman was, he didn't mind, impressing a woman like that made him happy.
Skipping all those 'requirements' just to fuck and going straight to the 'action' now was a sign that he was doing things right.
Then they both began to fight, their swords clashing constantly even though it was contraindicated, but the energy covering their weapons mitigated any damage to their weapons, so they fought without worry. Marie showed her vast experience in battle, even though she came from a modern world, she had knowledge of close combat, which was an advantage.
She kicked Seone hard in the stomach, sending him back several meters. There was a slight furrow in the dirt of the training ground, showing the force of the attack, and even Seone had to catch his breath quickly, as all the air in his lungs had been expelled.
The boy slipped to the side with a movement technique, leaving residual images that were destroyed by a concentrated, thin beam of golden, laser-like energy coming from Marie's left hand.
"BOOST!" oh, a Sacred Gear like that could easily tip the balance of a match, so Seone let his vitality flow much faster to gain more power, at the cost of losing much more stamina.
Seone then ran towards Marie, his speed was much faster than before, and he hardly looked like a blur to anyone outside of the fight. Just before reaching Marie, Seone swung his sword upwards in a diagonal attack, using all the momentum he had built up, even though Marie quickly raised her guard, she took several steps backward due to the force of the impact.
Taking a step forward, Seone slashed horizontally, trying to wound an unbalanced Marie, but she reacted much faster than he thought, adopting a stance similar to Neo's in Matrix when he dodged countless bullets. She quickly turned her body to avoid a vertical slash from Seone, and the wind generated by the boy's sword blew away some leaves and small pebbles, indicating the tremendous power contained in that attack.
"I've found that I'm much more flexible and that's why I asked for modifications to my armor, what do you think?" said Marie in a mocking tone while she winked at Seone, who couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"Then you can do some more difficult poses," he replied in a somewhat amused tone, but the serious look in his eyes never disappeared.
Seone took a breath, the vitality in his legs bursting again as he lunged at Marie, leaving remnants behind, but this time the girl held back his attack, starting a close sword fight.
Sword fights were usually short, so it was no surprise that a few seconds after exchanging several dozen attacks, they separated, keeping a distance of five meters. The two looked at each other as they began to walk in circles, looking for an opening in their opponent.
"BOOST!" the Boosted Gear's shout resumed another exchange, but this time Seone was at a disadvantage in physical strength and speed, though his senses could keep up, he generally had a harder time reacting.
Marie's attacks became heavier and heavier as her power grew with each increase in her Sacred Gear, putting Seone at a real disadvantage. Their exchange ended with an elbow from Marie to Seone's nose, which began to bleed, then she received a kick to her left leg, causing her to lose her balance and be unable to defend herself as Marie raised her sword in the air, activating the magical effect on her sword.
Marie's sword, covered in a golden aura, began to emit a different kind of glow, a creamier, fuzzier glow. As she lowered her sword, a line-shaped light emerged from the weapon and struck Seone directly, knocking him back several dozen meters.
Seone noticed that although he was beaten, his body wasn't cut up, this was a fight to fuck, not to kill each other, so controlling the power was the key, but unlike the fight Seone had with Axel, here he could end up with broken bones and torn muscles.
"BOOST!" Marie's power increased again, her presence becoming somewhat oppressive, pushing the grass of the training field against the ground as if it couldn't withstand the girl's power.
Seone rolled on the ground, dodging one of Marie's kicks, then he stood up, his body sliding back several times to increase the distance to the blonde, but she kept chasing him, pressing him with her attacks, some of which landed.
But as Marie was about to lunge at him, Seone's vitality moved out of his limbs and pooled in his weapon, making it glow from the energy density that accumulated and condensed.
"Defensive Sword: Valhalla" Holding his sword in front of him like a shield, Seone resisted the full impact of Marie's lunge, causing her to lose impulse and show a look of shock.
"I haven't shown you all my abilities yet, and I was inspired by a certain series for the following," Seone told her, bending his legs as some of the energy from the attack had to travel through his body to be discharged into the ground, causing cracks in the earth.
"Defensive Sword: Counterattack" With a quick movement, Seone pushed Marie's sword away and swung his own, slashing from the bottom up, a red light caused by Seone's vitality exploded during the attack, sending Marie into the air.
It was a new technique inspired by a series Seone saw before he died, moreover, it was the beginning of a true counterattack combo, taking advantage of Marie's lack of support in the air, Seone concentrated the aura on his sword again, but this time it was a familiar attack.
"First Sword: Pressure" The arc of bloody red energy hit Marie full-on, she barely managed to shield herself with her sword, but the force of the attack sent her higher and higher.
"Third Sword: Execution," the red vitality in Seone's sword spread out like an illusionary sword, slicing down in Marie's direction, causing her to hit the ground hard. The rest of the energy hit the ground, and due to Seone's lack of experience with this attack, a split appeared on the ground.
Had Seone been more skilled with this attack, all the vitality from it would have been used to attack Marie, creating a devastating single-target attack that would not have destroyed the ground.
Without waiting for her reaction, Seone raised his sword into the air, but instead of attacking, he pumped the rest of his energy into his sword, causing it to vibrate and make cracking sounds, cracks appeared in its body, but he didn't care about that at that moment. Marie recovered much faster than he thought, after all, she had been strengthened and was much stronger than him now, all his previous attacks worked because he managed to catch the blonde unawares.
He knew he wouldn't have a similar opportunity, so he decided to give it his all in this last attack, so quickly his expression turned cold, his eyes flashing with murderous intent as he released his killer instinct and entered a state of mind full of murderous desire and a mentality bordering on psychopathic.
Marie saw the coldness in Seone's eyes, which made her shudder a little, she knew he was giving it his all, but she didn't want to lose like that either, at least she had to stand, and her Boosted Gear responded to her desire for a worthy fight, changing its shape to a tighter one, covering Marie's arm to just above her elbow, now with two green gems.
"BOOST!" Marie stood up, condensing all of her golden draconic aura into her Boosted Gear, giving it the appearance of an oriental dragon's head.
"Let's get this over with!" they both shouted as if they were connected.
Many powerful presences in the city had already noticed their fight, but this was the first time they paid attention as the energy emanating from both of them could be felt throughout the city.
The illusory image of a black cobra with red eyes and golden rings on its body appeared behind Seone as if it covered the young man's body with its gigantic figure.
Above their heads, a red vitality sword of enormous size condensed, gradually growing larger due to the energy Seone channeled through his battered weapon.
Meanwhile, the aura dragon condensed by Marie grew in size, surrounding the girl and letting out a terrible roar toward Seone, but the snake behind the boy hissed back, showing its forked tongue and slightly mocking eyes.
In a real battle, charging attacks would be a terrible idea, this wasn't your typical Shonen anime, but it was only passable under these circumstances because of what was really at stake here, they both had to show their best and 'mark' each other as a pair, so to speak.
"Special Sword Technique: Ragnarok," the energy sword swiftly descended towards Marie, who raised her left arm towards the incoming attack.
"Dragon Burst!" the golden dragon flew at the sword with its mouth open, letting out a roar that echoed through the city, the dragon's outstretched claws hitting the colossal red sword, causing a brief stalemate.
Both attacks paused, as if fighting to destroy the other, but soon ended in an explosion that echoed through the training ground, kicking up dust and chunks of rock that covered the entire scene. When the dust settled, Seone was holding a piece of his broken sword, pointing it at Marie's neck. They were both standing, but exhaustion was written all over their faces, as well as in their postures and heaving breaths.
"You... won," Marie said, her Boosted Gear was already back in her soul, and the power boosts had ended, leaving her much more exhausted than Seone, who had already recovered a bit due to his almost perfect power cycle with certain additional techniques, something he had recently completed.
"Even if you lost, I was just going to bite you, you know?" she continued speaking regardless of the edge resting on her neck, placing her hand on Seone's shoulder as if she wanted a place of support.
"But now that I've kicked your arrogance, you don't have any more buts and silly games, do you?" asked Seone after a short moment of silence.
"As long as you don't have any weird fetishes, we'll be fine," she joked after regaining a bit of her strength, although it would have been tremendously classic for her to pass out at this point, it was not something she allowed herself to do.
Seone let go of what was left of his sword, realizing with some sadness that he had lost a weapon that had seen him grow all this time, then Marie hugged him, then came up to his ear and whispered something that made Seone regain all his energy.
"Don't worry... you have a 'sword' that should be much more useful tonight, don't you think~"
