Chapter 39: Really, Mommy Issues? Selene vs Manasseh! (2)
As an inexperienced swordsman, she didn't need to be told twice in how slowness against a veteran of the night could mean a swift end to her life. The clang of steel against claws echoed through the hall as Selene's blade met Manasseh's swift counter. The vampire's hand shot out, coated in the gossamer threads of spider silk, and the air crackled with holy power against the unholy fabric.
Exchanges of steel and claw filled the room, the rhythm of their clashes punctuated by Selene's grunts of effort and Manasseh's chuckles of amusement. Left strike, followed by upward swing, spiralling for a downward thrust, Selene's blade sang a choir of holiness, while Manasseh's silk danced a macabre ballet of her kin's somber tenderness. As the sword bounced and cut through the wooden tables and pillars like mache, the recoil rebounding the knight's step, as she felt the tremble of the runes behind her, Lady Adil's glare, a silent guardian in this moonlit battle.
Another swing from side right to left, the air seething under the pressure as the claw met the exchange, Selene lunged forward with a fist on her waist, as she sent a high punch with the momentum, the vampire's chin grazed despite her head tilting, before wasting no time to launch a fist of her own, as Selene's cheek caved in like jelly, the punch drilling further before hurling her body upward into the air.
...eh? Did she really get punched so hard she is sent flying? The knight in the air straitened her reddened cheek with her cackled chin, as she flipped and landed with feather-steps. She checked, good, the sword is not stolen, her palm was steady, before she dashed in for another round of exchange of will, twenty years of swordsmanship against decades-old beastly instinct.
The result...was obvious. As another downward swing clunked on the pillar, followed by a thrust that was pulled back with webs instead of claw, an crooked elbow dashed her chest as she stumbled back only to be greeted a fist on her stomach and a slap...a slap? A slap on her other cheek. Selene sobbed, the humiliation of being toyed by Demond her mentor flushed her memory as the tears threatened to spill to her reddened cheek's', before she swung her sword to meet another claw. The exchanges were not exchanges from here on out, but only one-sided light punches and slaps that fuelled her further and further with humiliation. The chuckles by the vampire did not help, as if finding enjoyment for an adult playing against a child and winning.
This isn't it. I'll lose at this rate. Swinging from high left to low right for another parry, the young knight jumped backwards as she grabbed a chair scarred by the battle, before hurling it at the vampire with surprising strength. The chair shattered into splinters as it collided with Manasseh's silken claw, her vision momentarily obscured by the explosion of wood.
The young knight took this opportunity to dash towards the exit, the sound of shattering wood a temporary respite from the symphony of clanging steel and bulging mana. As Selene reached the door, she could feel the coldness of the runes pulsing against her skin, a silent promise of her mother's protection.
Yet underscoring that protection was a mere thread of silk clinging to Selene's armor, a sly reminder of the vampire's proximity. Manasseh had anticipated the girl's retreat, her eyes gleaming with the thrill of a well-anitcipated hunt. The silk unfurled from her claw, wrapping around Selene's wrist like a serpent and yanking her back into the fray with surprising force. The chair's impact had barely registered as a disturbance.
Selene, however, prepared for this, as mana surged through her throat. Demond's whipping that costed her a trip in the air last time lashed out as naturally as countless times before, the sage's