Chapter 24: Golden Disk
After getting a decent meal in and some better clothing, the two young warriors found themselves standing across from each other. They may have been wielding dull weapons, but both seemed to be taking this seriously.
Stahl hadn’t actually been prepared to fight Aster yet, but she did remember enough about his previous fights to give her a decent idea on what to expect. Stahl had agreed to a five point match with the boy.
Pretty well the basic match rules, but she encouraged unlimited use of bloodskills. She wanted to see that shield... And maybe prove some points. The she-wolf raised her blades above her head as she crouched into stance. Aster was going to come at her, she just knew it. And she was correct.
Aster recognized the trap. The she-wolf was either testing him, or underestimating him. The stance was one of the basics. Strike down on an opponents weapon, strike in. Javis had beaten him with it many times. Fine. If she wanted to see if he could deal with it...
Aster rushed forward, running right down the she-wolf’s center. Right where he was supposed to be. He thrust his staff forward, and two blades came down on either side as expected.
Aster let his staff fall forward with both swords, stomped on the blades, and pushed the back of his staff forward to catch the she-wolf in the center.
Stahl surprised him by simply releasing both swords, and catching his staff mid-swing, just inches from her face. That millisecond seemed to last a lot longer to both of them while they just stared at each other for the shortest moment.
Aster almost didn’t see the knee coming from the right until it was too late.
Using his left hand, Aster forced a shield up just in time, covering his ribs from the impact only to still get knocked back a few feet, landing on his back with a small grunt. He never took his eyes off the she-wolf. He wouldn’t make that mistake twice.