The Red Hand

Chapter 179 – Eris v. Hishya.

The two warriors clashed as they zipped around the makeshift arena, their weapons striking against one another, creating a loud clang and causing a shockwave to erupt from their contact points.

"Oh?" Hishya smirked. "I guess you're a bit stronger than last time."

{I actually felt those hits, Eris. Not bad. But its gonna take more than than to beat me.} (Hishya)

"Allow me to show you just how strong I've gotten!" Eris's put more power into her glaive, and the two rocketed around the arena at awesome speed.

*CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*

The pace of their movement easily eclipsed anything the other players had seen, and there was a general sense of awe as the two high-ranking players traded blows. Each was a master of their respective weapons, and despite Eris's reach giving her an advantage, Hishya never relented.

{She's a slippery bastard! Not surprising considering she's a lizard!} Eris thought as she barely dodged Sun Strike's tip. She assumed that keeping Hishya at a distance would be easier, but the Dragon's speed and footwork were making that difficult. As such, Eris had to rely on parrying and blocking with the glaive's shaft, something she wasn't comfortable with.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

"Come on, Eris!" Hishya chided her as she pressed her assault. "Move that hunk of metal out of the way and let me get a few hits in!" The Dragon slammed her blade down, locking Eris in place. "Where did all that bravado go? I thought you were suppose to beat me?!?" The dragon's bad habits where showing, and she'd already gotten into her harassment and mocking phase.

{This is crazy! Even with my damage reduction from rage, I can still feel each blow ripple throughout my entire body!} (Eris)

Wanting to get some distance, Eris jerked her glaive to deflect Hishya's blade off to the side, before reversing course and smacking her upside the head with the butt of the glaive and shuffling backward.

"Nice block, lizard!" Eris laughed as she smashed the tip of the glaive into the ground sending a shock wave towards Hishya. Such a small blast wasn't enough to even phase the dragon, and she easily swatted it away with a swish of her blade.

"I hope those tiny blasts weren't your only long-range attack." Hishya laughed. “I've seen Akagi sneeze with more oomph than that!”

{Though without my fire, I can't exactly do much at range either.} Sun Strike's ranged attacks were classed as fire, something both she and Eris were immune to.

"Oh, don't worry, I've got plenty of tricks up my sleeve." Eris smirked as she took a stance and moved in closer. This time she wanted to put her glaives reach to good work and tried to keep herself at enough of a distance to parry and deflect Hishya's blade away with ease.

{If I can just get her into a position where I can throw her off balance, I might be able to take her out in one single swift motion. I've got enough strength to pound through that armor, and with my glaive skills, I should be able to knock her out in one hit if I can get a clean blow on her head or upper body..} (Eris)

But that was easier said than done, and she knew that. Hishya was no easy opponent, and her natural power alongside her skill with her sword, meant that tripping her up was going to be difficult, if not impossible.

The two inched closer to one another before they resumed their duel. This time, rather than zipping around at high speed, a comparably 'slow' engagement between them occurred. Barely moving from their spots, the two warriors clashed their weapons together at the midpoint of the arena, with Eris using her glaive's length to keep Hishya from getting closer. It seemed that the two had fallen into a rhythm with Hishya deflecting every attempt by Eris to land a blow while Eris thwarted the dragon's attempt to sneak past her guard.

{Nice, now we just need to keep this up. Hishya isn't the kind of girl to like such a slow paced and methodical battle, nor is her kit set up for this kind of engagement.} (Eris)

With no magic available, Hishya's options were limited, and Eris appeared to have the upper hand as every now and then a few blows from her glaive would strike home, and blood started to spill from cuts on Hishya's face.

{This is where I've wanted you. All that power doesn't mean a damn thing if you can't hit me! Prepare to be ground down by my defenses you lizard!} (Eris)

However despite the incoming damage, Hishya never seemed to flinch. No matter how much blood poured from her wounds, her eyes stayed focused on her opponent, darting side to side as she scanned for any openings. After several minutes of back and forth, and a number of injuries on her face and hands, Hishya's mouth curled into a nasty smile.

{Let's see how you handle this, Eris.} (Hishya)

Slowly, the Dragon began to inhale a large quantity of air. Eris was too focused on the clash of their weapons to notice as Hishya pursed her lips.

{As Akagi told Kana, weapons aren't the only thing your opponents can use in a fight!} Once she was ready, Hishya let out a blast of Dragon fire from her lips. Naturally, Eris wouldn't take damage from such an attack, but that wasn't the point. The sudden eruption of volcanic fire from her opponent caused Eris to flinch as her vision was filled with hot flames.

{What the fuck?!?} (Eris)

The audience watched in awe as Eris was engulfed in Hishya's breath with some questioning the point, though Superbia and Akagi knew exactly what was going on.

{Thank god she's immune to fire...} (Ayame)

Taking advantage of Eris's confusion, Hishya knocked her glaive out of the way as she continued to breathe fire before slashing Eris across the chest, and carving a deep wound.

"YOU BITCH!" Eris screamed as she swung her glaive wildly. Hishya backed off and ended her breath attack, revealing a very wounded and angry Eris. Now, barbarians didn't feel pain while in their enraged state, but that didn't mean Eris wasn't angry at what just happened. She could tell her wounds were severe and the fact that she was just played, only served to piss her off even more.

*BLECK!*

Eris coughed up a bit of blood. Sun Strike hadn't gone very deep, but her wound was severe. The only reason Akagi didn't call the match here was because she knew Eris's rage wouldn't allow her to die from that attack.

{That attack... that honestly might have killed me if not for my barbarian BS.} Eris was struggling to breathe. She might not have taken damage from the fire, but the blade managed caused damage to her lungs via its impact. {Fucking hell Hishya! What kind of insane power did becoming a dragon give you?!?} (Eris)

"Still standing?" Hishya was genuinely impressed. "I put a lot of power into that attack. I guess it's true what they say about barbs, you're too angry to die. HA!" She giggled at her own stupid joke.

{Still, its impressive you managed to stay conscious after that. For a brief moment before my strike connected I unleashed around 90% of my power to make that attack as strong as I could without risking going on a rampage, and she STILL took it. Eris, you really are one hell of a fighter.} (Hishya)

"Keep laughing, lizard." Eris retorted as she wiped the blood from her wips. "I'll be giving you a nice big gash to pay you back!" She pointed her glaive at Hishya.

{I say that, but I'm not entirely sure how much longer I can go on. That strike did massive damage, and rage might be powerful, but it's not going to keep me going forever.} (Eris)

Rage lasted for a few minutes, and once it dropped, its user would immediately be slammed with all the pain and effects it was negating. If this happened mid-fight, that would be the end for Eris.

Deciding that ended this battle as soon as possible was her only hope of achieving victory, Eris decided to try something she'd used on other opponents in the past. She took a deep breath and shook off her disorientation before sending a barrage of shock waves from her glaive towards Hishya.

The dragon easily dodged the relatively weak attacks, but damage wasn't the point of these strikes. While mobile, the attacks still left Hishya momentarily off balance and seemingly vulnerable. Seeing an opportunity after the dragon momentarily stumbled, Eris moved forward in a flash, closing the gap between her and Hishya before swinging her glaive horizontally in an attempt to sweep the dragon's legs out from under her and knock her prone.

{Now I've got you!} (Eris)

"A nice try, but that won't work on me!" Hishya laughed as, rather than attempt to dodge the leg sweep, she lifted her right foot and slammed down on the tip of the glaive, pinning it under her boot and trapping Eris.

"You fucking stepped on it?!?" Eris was shocked to see Hishya attempt such a dangerous maneuver.

{That's an insanely dangerous move! If she was too slow, I'd have done serious damage to her other leg!} Eris was momentarily stunned by Hishya's bold move.

{Getting your opponent off balance and then sweeping their legs out from under them with a polearm is a textbook move. However, that means it's also predictable, Eris. Do you really think I'd fall for that old trick?} Hishya had vastly more PvP experience than Eris, and hers wasn't just in training sessions. She'd fought real battles against real people, and the dragon was far more experienced in life or death battles than Eris.

Eris tugged at her glaive in an attempt to free it, but this was all for not as the dragon wasn't about to let it go that easily. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Hishya pushed herself up and onto the glaive and brought down Sun Strike, leaving Eris with a decision. Either take the blow and attempt to remove her glaive, or let the weapon go and back off. She could resummon it at will, but there was a chance that Hishya would finish her off before she got that chance, and being without a weapon in a duel for even that brief window could prove fatal.

The two options bounced in her mind as Hishya's blade grew closer until Eris, afraid of the damage from the blade, decided to release her glaive and back off.

{Not exactly like she had much choice since taking another hit wasn't viable. However, this is the end.} (Akagi)

Akagi was correct in her assessment. For the moment Eris moved backward, Hishya increased her speed. In that brief moment, she activated nearly 95% of her power, her body becoming covered in purple scales as she flashed forward.

"And that's that, Eris." Hishya said smugly as her blade was pressed against the barbarian's neck.

Eris's eyes slowly drifted downward as she looked at Sun Strike, an all too familiar sight as something similar usually happened when the two dueled. Seeing this, Eris knew that there was nothing she could do in this situation except surrender.

"I... you win..." Eris said with a smile.

"Good." Hishya's bad attitude flashed through for a moment until she retracted her power. "That was an excellent fight, Eris. I enjoyed that."

"Yeah, I did-" Eris suddenly stopped talking as she fell backward onto the ground unconscious.

"Oh, yeah..." Hishya turned to Akagi. "Mind healing her before she dies?" She gave a wry laugh as she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.