GD8 Jaune Arc Skill Vs. Cinder

Cinder snarled. It was almost in slow motion that she swung her arm forward, summoning a great gout of flame and hurling it towards me. I knew her thoughts as she did. I was no longer a Blacksmith, therefore my one defence against her fire was lost. In elevating myself, I'd weakened myself.

It was something well thought out.

And yet equally flawed.

Ducking low, I surged towards the fires, eyes flashing once as I shifted in a way I instinctively knew how. The words above my head changed – my perception of the world changed – and suddenly I was returned, a Blacksmith once more. My left hand touched my armour a second later and the heat was back, roaring to life as my armour turned bright red. All of it happened in the space of a few seconds and yet Cinder did not see it, her view obstructed by her own attack. I powered through it, emerging from the other side with an angry roar. Cinder backpedalled, panicked, and summoned her swords once more.

My mind clicked. New information, new strength, rushed into me. When our blades clashed, I was a Swordmaster once again.

And I was strong.

With grace I'd never before possessed, I slid into and around her guard, catching one of her blades on mine and bringing my hilt up, twisting her left arm aside and parrying her right with my cross guard. My left foot slid forward, between hers, and I jabbed the pommel of Crocea Mors into her face, stunning her. Following through, the blade came up and down, down onto her collarbone. Cinder screamed in pain and staggered back, blood pouring from the wound.

"How?" she gasped. "My cloth is the finest in Mistral. It should have blocked that!"

[...]

"Surrender, Cinder. You can't get past my defence as a Blacksmith, and as a Swordmaster I'll outpace you in melee. You can't win this fight."

Cinder's eyes flickered with some rare emotion. Fear. She knew she was in trouble and her attention shifted to her King. When it turned back to me, her expression was firm. Resigned. "I cannot."

"Fight his influence!"

"I cannot," she repeated. With a heavy sigh, Cinder leapt forward, engaging me once more. I blocked and parried, drawing her back. All the while I cursed in my head.

[...]

We traded blows at a furious pace. Cinder's blades rarely broke past my defence, but when they did I tanked them without concern, making her pay for each with another wound that bit deeper and deeper each time. If I could just knock her down, get past her, and reach her King, then I might be able to break his control over her. I could free her.

Cinder didn't make it easy. She figured out my plan early on and smiled softly, despite the brutal fight we were engaged in.

"Ever the Hero. Right, Jaune? You want to save me, even now."

I grit my teeth and caught her swords against mine, pushing back to lock her hands against her breasts.

"If you don't fight me properly, I'll kill you," she warned. "And then I shall go on to kill and kill. All in the name of my Kingdom. When shall I stop? Who shall try and stop me? Your friends, no doubt. I shall have to kill them as well."

My eyes flashed, and my sword turned into an almost ethereal state, phasing through her weapons and up towards her chin. "Rargh!"

Cinder broke away, leaning back at the last second to avoid certain death. She summoned some fire, but let it go when I shifted into a Blacksmith. Instead, she lunged back in, trying to take me before I could turn back.

The transition was all but immediate now, however. It cost me a little each time, and I could feel mental fatigue building up. Worse, my chest felt like it was on fire. Right across the wound Cinder caused. It hurt less when I was in my Blacksmith form, but progressively got worse when I was out of it. If this continued for much longer, I'd be in trouble.

If I failed here, everyone would be in trouble. Cinder could expand the wall of fire outwards – or have Phoenix kill everyone in the arena. I had no idea why she hadn't used it to attack me already but could only assume doing so would cause it to lose the cage it had built. Something Cinder couldn't afford to let happen.

"Kill him!" the King of Mistral roared. "Kill him!"

With a single nod, Cinder obeyed. Her swords joined as one – becoming one far longer and larger than mine. Each slash sent a wave of fire before and after it, burning the air, and my body. Not as intense as it had been before, but simultaneous, forcing me to choose between the defence of a Blacksmith and the offence of a Swordmaster, each time I changed a drain on my stamina.

Her flaming sword nicked and cauterised my cheek, burning a scar into it. I slammed a fist into her stomach, bending her double. Cinder's free hand gripped my shoulder. Flame roared to life and tore a scream from me. My Class changed and my armour super-heated. She fell back with a hiss. Her sword rose, my Class changed once more. My eyes glowed.

"Dividing Slash!" I roared.

Crocea Mors swept up. White light poured from it as it struck the sword, shearing it in two with not a hint of resistance. Too little so, in fact. I swung too hard and over-extended, and Cinder capitulated on the weakness by turning her now broken sword into a dagger, thrusting it under my breastplate, aiming for my stomach. I was barely able to twist aside and even then, the pain of her attack searing my flesh was indescribable.

Without thinking, I drove my forehead into hers. Cinder fell back with a grunt, staggering for a single step. My shoulder caught her chest a second later and she fell back, down onto one knee. Her sword came up, re-formed and ready to parry, but I ignored her entirely. I'd already rushed past, eyes set on the real target, the corpulent man who had essentially mind-raped a woman I respected into obedience.