Rupegia

Chapter 74: Measure of Strength – Part 1

Who'd have guessed that an elite force would be filled with battle freaks? Me neither.

Oritiki's angel wings increase in size and spread out. Hana copies her and spreads her own dragon wings. Hana's are unfortunately inferior to Oritiki's, but for this fight, they should be enough.

I can see that Oritiki also has [Wind Armor], but since they're both naked, its effectiveness isn't that great.

Hana hides her body and most of her face behind her black kite shield, then points her emerald bastard sword at Oritiki. She leans her body forward and lowers her stance to protect her legs, her most vulnerable area. She straps her shield to her arm to give her a more stable defense and to allow her to use both hands for her bastard sword if needed.

Hana's eyes mirror Oritiki's wildness. They're like two hungry beasts getting ready to kill each other, two forces of nature whose sole desire is to rip each other to pieces.

Oritiki grips her ornate golden glaive with both hands near the base, then points it forward. She's ready to exploit her reach advantage, which would otherwise be a death sentence for Hana if she didn't have her shield. Unfortunately for Oritiki, Hana's also very adept at fighting a glaive user from dueling with Ciel as much as she has.

"I'm ready," Oritiki says.

"I'm ready," Hana confirms.

"Alright… duel START!" Ciel gives the signal.

They carefully make their way towards each other, moving cautiously since neither of them knows much about the other's style.

Hana enters Oritiki's reach and receives a probing jab. She deflects it with her shield and tries to slash back in response, but her sword isn't long enough to touch Oritiki.

The prodding strikes from Oritiki continues as she analyzes Hana's skill. She predictably aims for Hana's legs, but my ferocious dragonkin is aware of her weak points and quickly dodges the attack.

Hana suddenly activates [Wind Shield] and pushes the golden glaive away, then jumps forward, getting inside Oritiki's guard. She strikes with her sword, but it's deflected by a shining shortsword, then Oritiki glides backward in a way that's very similar to mine.

Oritiki's golden sword finishes its transformation and stops glowing, then she [Switch]es it back to a glaive.

The attacks intensify, but both women are still fighting too conservatively to actually wound each other.

"You have some skill. I'd say your [Sword Use] is around twenty with a few points in a style, correct?" Oritiki asks while grinning.

"Yeah," Hana responds gruffly.

Oritiki's glaive starts to glow and give off "dangerous" mana. She's threatening to use [Beam]. The glow becomes so bright that it hurts to look at it, forcing Hana to go on the defensive.

She receives a slash on her shield arm's shoulder from not being able to properly see Oritiki's attacks, then jumps backward with the aid of her wings to think up a counter for them.

Blood seeps from her shallow wound and stains her sash. Her perfect, tanned skin has been damaged, making me feel anguished about her injury. I love making her feel pain, but I dislike wounding her during sparring. Now, seeing someone else wound her makes me so very displeased but also jealous. Knowing that she's not using [Pain Conversion] brings me some degree of comfort, but she's still enjoying the pain.

Hana continues dodging Oritiki for a few more seconds, then she suddenly stops, and her predatory dragon eyes narrow in determination. She understands that she has no counter for Oritiki's glow, so she'll fight fire with fire.

She casts [Ghost Lights] repeatedly.

Oritiki winces and retreats, then Hana immediately uses her wings to charge at full speed, kicking up a dust storm behind her with a single flap of her wings.

She enters Oritiki's reach and hides behind her shield, then activates [Wind Shield] while dropping low.

Oritiki dodges to the side as her glaive cuts into Hana's back, but in return, she receives a deep gouge in her thick-skinned lizard leg from a two-handed slash. [Wind Armor] is far too weak to have any meaningful effect against their clean strikes towards exposed flesh.

Hana stops casting and reforms her posture while Oritiki looks down at her leg with a frown. The wound is deep enough to cut into muscle, so she'll have to use her wings to move.

The gray stone patio is stained with the vibrant red blood dripping down from their wounds. The crowd is absolutely silent, too enthralled by the duel to even whisper among themselves.

Oritiki snorts, then the crazed grin returns to her face as she says, "Hmph, I underestimated your magic swordsman capabilities, but I'll be fighting you seriously from now on."

Hana laughs and shows her characteristic fearsome smile. "You'd better. I told you my spells because I want this duel to last," she growls a response.

"Do you have [Intimidate]?" Oritiki asks.

Hana nods. "I do."

Oritiki laughs heartily. "You should put more points into that skill. You're giving me chills."

Hana snorts and hides behind her shield again, so Oritiki enters her fighting stance too. The [Ghost Lights] assault returns, forcing Oritiki to squint.

Both of them are attacking each other's vision, but they soldier on and maintain their gazes on their opponent. Their eyes water from the strain, but there's no alternative; they can only endure it.

"Gods, aren't you an annoying enemy!" Hana taunts.

"You have the audacity to tell me that?!" Oritiki yells back, incredulous, then laughs out loud.

Hana grins, unnerving Oritiki for a split second. "Normally, my opponent would be completely blind by now. You're making me waste so much mana!"

"That makes two of us!" Oritiki yells, indignant.

Both of them have high "Endurance" and "Willpower," but no counter for the spells being used, making these kinds of physical illusions not very effective, but also impossible to negate. Hana's [Rainbow Crystal] increases the effectiveness of her spell, making it comparable to an Illusion mage initiate, but it's not enough to fully blind Oritiki.

Hana starts moving towards Oritiki again, who then raises her back hand to her cheek, aiming her golden glaive almost like a rifle. Hana immediately recognizes the danger. Her wings flap, and she charges forward.

Oritiki unleashed [Beam], aiming directly towards Hana's shield. [Dead Zone] diverts the spell, but not by much. It's one thing to divert a lightning bolt, but it's another thing entirely to divert photons coming at the speed of light.

An enchantment lights up along the patio's floor, and the [Beam] instantly fades into nothing well before it can hit the crowd.

Oritiki's spell intensifies when she feeds it even more mana as it clips Hana's shield. Fortunately, the spell doesn't have enough time to melt through it before Hana enters Oritiki's reach, forcing her to defend.

Oritiki dodges upwards, unscathed by Hana's charge. She stops in the air, well out of reach, then charges back down, using her wings just like Hana.

Her glaive strikes the black kite shield head-on and drives into the wood, almost getting stuck. It seems that this glaive also has a bit of Okross in it.

[Wind Shield] activates in the next split second and pushes Oritiki away, but that helps her retreat fast enough that Hana can't counter in time.

Oritiki charges twice again, but Hana manages to deflect the blade and preserve her shield. Each charge marks the patio with a thin, spotty line of blood that continues to drip from Oritiki's leg.

"Maybe trying to skewer me with your horn would be better!" Hana taunts. Oritiki huffs loudly, but the anger in her face quickly disappears, and she regains her stern glare.

On the fourth charge, Hana launches an [Earth Bullet] before the glaive reaches her, forcing Oritiki to defend. Then she charges upwards, and her sword arm splits into two as [Double Image] activates.

Oritiki flies backward, preferring to dodge the illusionary attack, but Hana gives chase, and they trade blows with each other.

"RAAAAAAH!" Hana yells in rage, showing why she gained the title "Thousand Strikes."

But in return, the leader of the Celestial Horns shows why they're an elite unit. She remains calm and focuses on her defense, managing a fighting retreat while Hana exhausts herself with a flurry of attacks that don't connect with her target.

Blood continues to seep from their wounded and sweaty bodies, then rains down after each attack.

Hana eventually gets a deep cut on her cheek, slicing cleanly through her emerald scales, but she still fails to reach Oritiki.

Oritiki tries to cast [Beam] again to get some breathing room, but Hana is keenly aware of the danger of that spell and pressures Oritiki even harder with [Wind Shield]. The enchantment keeps Hana safe, but it also makes it impossible for her attacks to reach Oritiki.

Hana decides to try something new. She hides behind her shield, then it suddenly splits into two as [Double Image] activates again. Oritiki doesn't know which one to strike, so she makes a sweeping horizontal slash, aiming to hit both of them at the same time.

The shield to the right was an illusion, and it perfectly hid Hana's attack. Her sword pierces through the illusion, and she stretches herself to the limit. She manages to stab into Oritiki's right ribs, but it doesn't pierce deep enough to puncture the lung. This time, [Wind Armor] was useful in reducing the effectiveness of the desperate attack.

Hana tries to widen the wound by slashing, but her attack is stopped by Oritiki's shortsword.

Hana casts [Telekinesis] on Oritiki's body, forcing her to stop in the air while allowing the sword to sink deeper into her ribs. But using this spell means that Hana stopped using [Ghost Lights], allowing Oritiki to clearly see her opponent.

Hana growls in pain as Oritiki's sword suddenly flashes and blinds her, then Oritiki bats her weapon away. Hana reflexively breathes fire in a wide plume to buy time for her eyes to recover, but Oritiki dodges the flames and flies to her flank with inhuman speed.

Hana detects the mana burst coming from Oritiki's wings and casts [Torrent] at its source while retreating. It hits Oritiki's left angel wing, breaking it and leaving it bent backward, but it does little to disrupt her flight.

Now able to clearly see her blind opponent, Oritiki flies upwards and makes a deadly, accurate chop towards Hana's neck, easily avoiding her shield. The blade sinks a centimeter through her skin before getting stopped by her neck guard.

"STOP!" Thor and I yell at the same time. Oritiki won; Hana would've been decapitated without the neck guard.

"NGHRAAAH!" Hana lets out a scream in frustration, and fire bursts from her mouth.

She holds her profusely bleeding neck and quickly drops to the ground.

Alissa's will enters my mind and makes me go towards Oritiki while Ciel rushes to Hana. I know that the Chimeras have fairly good healing knowledge, but they don't have an instant [Heal] like I do.

"May I touch you? I can cast [Heal] on you this way," I ask Oritiki with a gentle smile.

"Oh? Sure," she answers, then she suddenly coughs softly and spews blood; it splatters onto the floor before she can cover her mouth. "Apologies. I hate lung wounds…"

None of the blood got on me, so I'm fine. I touch her ribs, just below her massive, delicious, juicy, enticing black cow tits, and cast [Heal]. The wound closes instantly, not even leaving a scar behind. I immediately cast it again on her thigh, then on her broken wing that she straightened out herself, and finally, one last time on her whole body to handle any remaining wounds.

I find it rather odd that I'm using [Heal] on a "ghost," and it works. It's even more odd that it cost me much less than it normally would given the extent of her wounds. But certainly, the strangest thing is that she bleeds at all.

Through Alissa's eyes, I can see that Oritiki's husbands certainly don't like me touching her. Seeing them like this gives me a dark and very sadistic desire to steal Oritiki for myself.

Netorare is the forbidden fruit, but netori is its equally enticing cousin that's of legal age. I won't do it, though, because I'd be a massive asshole if I persuaded a married woman to cheat.

I go over to Hana and help clean all of the blood off of her body. Her sash will need some washing, though.

We recover her scales that were sliced off, and I apply [Regeneration] to them.

Oritiki comes over and extends her hand to Hana. "That was a glorious fight. Thank you for dueling me," she says.

Hana takes her offer, and they share a powerful handshake.

"Heh, I'll say the same, it was truly glorious. Thanks for the fight, but I'd rather not fight you again, at least not with magic," Hana responds and gives her a fearsome smile.

Oritiki rolls her eyes and chuckles. "Ugh, you don't have to say that twice. I think I can still see your [Ghost Lights] when I close my eyes."

The other Celestial Horns surround us to praise Hana and share some light banter with Oritiki.

"You're getting old, Oritiki! You almost got shit on!" The blue goat taunts.

Lina's Trivia: that's a Chimeric saying that implies an image of a bigger bird that's flying high shitting on a smaller bird that's flying low.

"Hey, hey, hey! Fighting without our Heavenly Armor is a completely different thing!" Oritiki barks.

For some reason, I feel like her white glowing armor would make it impossible for any of us to kill her.

After just a short minute, Hana's scales are shining again.

"You're both quite skilled healers," Oritiki comments as she observes us.

"Thank you," Ciel says with a smile.

Lina's Trivia: [Heal] became much more powerful after the Humanoid Gods ascended, so it wasn't the most common healing method of the time.

"Is that also a Domum specialty?" Oritiki asks.

"It's a land-dweller specialty," I reply, then I kiss Hana's cheek scales, and she makes them wave in happiness.

"So, who's next?" Paraaone asks, a hint of eagerness in his voice. He's a brown bull that acted as Oritiki's bodyguard when we first met.

"I'll be next," a new voice comes from behind us. We turn around and see Kaatohe Ngerua standing before us in a sassy posture with one hand on her hip. "And I want a duel with you," she continues and points a clawed finger at me. Her amber cat eyes stare at me intently with a mix of smugness and wildness.

I smile diplomatically and say, "It'd be my pleasure. What kind of fighter are you?"

"Magic swordswoman. My focus is on [Rush] and [Perfect Intake], but I can also use [Regeneration]. I use a longsword enchanted with [Shocking Touch], but it also has [Telekinesis] for deeper cuts," she answers.

Impressive.

"I'm a magic swordsman, too. I use [Telekinesis] to glide around the ground and strike. I can [Heal] myself, use [Constricting Vines], create javelins with [Vine Weapon], cast all early [Electric Magic] and [Space Magic], and the initial elemental and [Illusion Magic] spells. My shortsword is enchanted with [Double Strike]."

"And you can also summon elementals, too," Oritiki adds.

"Is there anything you can't do?" Kaatohe asks, but there's not much amusement in her voice, she's really annoyed, for some reason.

I smile wryly while the girls tease me through [Bind]. Ciel's face tells me exactly what she's thinking.

"Is that… true?" Thor asks, stunned.

"You'll know soon enough if it isn't," I calmly answer.

"I thought that your dragon wife was powerful, but you're ridiculous," Rei says, then exhales loudly through his nose.

Ciel's mouth twitches repeatedly. She's about to burst.

I take off my robe and let them all bask in my glorious body. I hear a few murmurs as they guess about where I got my scars, then Alissa starts retelling the story of each of them. I smile proudly and return my dick back to normal.

Kaatohe raises an eyebrow and casually asks, "Can't you leave it as it was before? It was rather attractive."

"It would distract me from our duel," I say with a smile.

"That'd make two of us." The casual way that she says this amuses me a little.

"Perhaps another time."

"Hmph. Fine."

I can't admit that I'm scared of my long cock getting targeted by her sword.

As we quickly warm up, I change my skill points around. I'd taken some from my sword skills to put them in [Reo Language]. Since I'm not going to be using [Godly Language] right now, I take ten points out of it and use them to return my sword skills to how they were before.

Kaatohe draws an ornate Kanal longsword, which glows with its characteristic blue light. It's been gilded with gold, making it look rather ceremonial.

I pull out my simple emerald fang sword and my old steel heater shield covered in emerald scales, then I enter my fighting stance. I grip my shield and point the brim forward, Viking style. My black kite shield is enchanted with [Wind Shield] and [Dead Zone], but it's too heavy for the style that I'm going for right now.

A large round shield would've worked better, but we only have kite and heater shields. Oh, well…

Kaatohe enters the fool's stance, her hands are level with her waist while her sword points down. Her body is slender, petite, and less defined than Alissa's, but I still find her extremely alluring. Her bronze skin, her cute breasts, her orange gentleman's mustache. She's a work of art.

She analyzes my stance, then her face softens into one of curiosity. "You're not going to use a spear?" She asks.

"Nope. Never touched a spear, actually."

She smiles smugly, looking slightly pleased. "A peasant's weapon," she says in a snobbish tone.

I chuckle softly, then our faces harden as we get ready for the duel.

"Would you allow me to cast [Perfect Intake] before we start?" She asks.

"Sure," I reply with a nod.

This will make things more interesting.

She chants for thirty seconds, then succeeds in casting it. Her chest inflates as she inhales deeply, then it stops moving, yet she doesn't suffocate. This spell gives her perfect oxygenation without the need to actively breathe. It's a strong sign about what her style will be like.

Gify, hit me with the good stuff.

Gih!

"I'm ready," she says.

Energy and excitement course through my veins. My dragonator threatens to harden, but I'm experienced enough to keep it under control. I'm ready to fight, to maim, to show them all who has the biggest dick around here!

"I'm ready," I say with a grunt.

"Alright, then… duel START!" Ciel gives the signal.

Kaatohe casts [Rush] and dashes towards me. Lighting crackles along the ground following her steps, and her blade rises up, ready to pierce me.

I slide to the side and defend with my shield. I hear the sound of her blade scraping against the scales, then I blindly slash low, aiming at her legs.

Lighting crackles, and I only cut through the air. I take a look at my shield and notice a cracked scale. Impressive.

Kaatohe immediately attacks again, and I'm put on the defensive, struggling to defend myself against her flurry of blows. My cheeks and shoulders are nicked, but it's nothing debilitating.

Her strikes get heavier and heavier as she gains momentum.

I cast [Lightning Bolt] to throw her off balance, and it hits her square in the chest. She growls and retreats to heal and give herself some time for the numbness to pass.

"Aren't you going to heal yourself?" She asks.

"Wouldn't that be unfair to you?" I ask back with a smirk.

She purrs like a cat and laughs once. "You're going to need every advantage you can get to defeat me."

I growl and point my sword at her. "I'll teach you not to underestimate others."

She opens her arms wide and grins smugly, showing her fangs. "This is why we're here: so that I can determine your worth."

Oh yeah? OH YEAH?!

The excitement is so great that I can't stop my cock from standing erect. It reminds me of when I dueled Yunia. I'm getting a strong desire to defeat her and make her mine in front of everyone.

Oh, wait, is this the dragon visions having an effect on me?

Gih.

Oh, well. I just pray that she isn't married.

I lick my lips and stare intently at her alluring body. "Then I won't hold back. I'll show you my everything."

"I've already seen your 'everything.'" She sends a glance to my cock.

"You haven't felt it, yet."

She chuckles and purrs sensually, sending a shiver of excitement through my spine, and my dragonator drips with precum.

Oh, my Gods, this place is going to make me go insane!

She switches to Andraste and speaks with a heavy, sexy accent, dragging the 'r's. "Then come, try me, human."

I'll come, alright.

I cast [Rush] and go on the offensive.

We clash and trade furious blows. At such a high speed, our accuracy plummets. However, our skill with the sword still matters, and hers is higher than mine. Even my [Soul Manipulation] isn't enough; it's too slow to catch her. I fail to get into her guard and receive a painful cut on my shield arm in return.

Her "Speed" and "Dexterity" are definitely higher, too. She might even have [Enhanced Reflexes], a very useful skill to pair with [Rush].

Her sword scrapes against my skin and it turns into a rainbow of color as [Rainbow Shield] reduces [Shocking Touch]'s power.

I cast [Constricting Vines] in front of me, and she retreats, giving me time to deal with the shock. My arm is numb, but it quickly recovers.

While I struggle to breathe, her chest remains unmoving. The only indication that she's under any physical stress is the sweat that's gathering on her bronze skin.

"You're slower than me; you can't win with just [Rush]," she says.

"Watch me," I respond with a grin.

I dual cast [Gravity Crush] and [Rush]. I growl with effort as a headache assaults me.

Kaatohe winces in pain, surprise stamped on her face. She takes too long to react, and I slash her chest. I avoid her breasts and open a diagonal wound right on her sternum.

She yells out in pain and finally interrupts my [Gravity Crush], then immediately counterattacks. The pain slows her down a little, and my relentless assault prevents her from using [Regeneration] to close the wound.

Then her face starts to warp in anger, and she hisses at me while showing her fangs. Her attacks suddenly become heavier and crack multiple scales on my shield.

I cast [Telekinesis] on her sword, making it lighter, and I angle my shield so that her attack slides off it, then I strike her sword with my own, forcing it upwards. Her face shifts to surprise again as her sword overshoots, leaving her open.

I lean forward and jab the brim of my shield at her snout. I try to follow up with my sword, but [Battlefield Perception] triggers, and I parry instead. Her sword comes back fiercely fast, and its tip hits my sword's hilt. I feel like a wall is crashing into me as its momentum is way too much for me to stop it.

I have the mechanical advantage by parrying at the hilt, but I can't even divert her strike to the side. My sword arm lowers, too weak to handle her attack.

I try to hold it back with [Telekinesis], but it's too little, too late. She drives the sword forward, and the tip cleaves into my shoulder. [Shocking Touch] immediately activates, and I completely lose the strength to hold her back.

The blade slices through my collarbone, and I scream out in agony. My vision goes dark and my body goes numb from the spell and the pain it inflicts.

NO, NOT YET!

"RAAAA~!" I howl in anger, and power courses through my body, giving me my second wind.

I'LL FUCKING DESTROY YOU!

Before she can remove her sword, I materialize a dragon scale hand from my shoulder and grip the blade, then I create a dagger-tail and stab her in the gut.

"Nghraow…" She lets out a groan of pain mixed with a meow.

I drop my shield and grab her by the throat, then I lift her off the ground and cast [Shocking Touch].

She somehow resists it and tries to pull the longsword back, but my scaled hand has a death grip on it.

I slam her onto the ground, and she finally lets go of the sword, then I mount her and choke her while I form another dragon scale fist and punch her in the face. She glares at me angrily and grabs my hand that's currently choking her, still trying to resist.

I regain a bit of my sanity and morph the dragon fist into a dagger-tail, then I lightly stab it into her neck.

"STOP!" Thor and Ciel yell.

I release her neck, and she gasps for air. I lurch forward from the pain and fatigue and nearly collapse on top of her. My shoulder is still bleeding profusely, so I immediately cast a [Heal] on it.

Her eyes then lower to my cock, which is pointing towards her face and so close to her snout that she can smell the precum. This makes me pause for a moment as I take in our currently horrifying situation. My white, bare chest and back are now completely stained red with my blood; my erect cock is right between her small breasts, covered in her blood from pressing against her still open chest wound; her bronze skin and leopard fur are thoroughly bloodied; and her long, pointy nipples are fully erect.

Ciel touches me and casts another [Heal] on my shoulder, finally closing it while leaving a scar behind.

Oh nice, new souvenir.

I chuckle and collapse beside Kaatohe. Ciel switches to healing her and closes all of her wounds and fixes her bleeding snout.

I finish healing myself, then Alissa kneels beside me and starts [Cleaning] all of the blood off of my skin.

After a few more seconds, Kaatohe is fully healed, then she starts purring, sounding quite content.

The others gather close around us to give us praise.

"That was a brutal fight," Rei comments.

"Magic swordsmen are quite deadly. I wasn't expecting anything less," Oritiki says and nods in satisfaction.

"I'd prefer if you didn't use [Entangling Vines] in our backyard," Thor complains. I then see that a few of the patio stones were uprooted by my vines.

Oops.

Kaatohe sits up as Ciel [Clean]s the blood off of her, then turns to me. Her expression is blank, still recovering from the brutality of our duel.

"So, have you measured my worth?" I ask with a cheeky smirk.

A smug smile slowly graces her lips, and she snorts. "Yes, I have."

"And what do I get?"

"The highest honor you can receive: my respect," she says in an exaggeratedly pompous tone, perfectly enunciating each word.

"Is that all? I was expecting something a little more… physical," I say in a low, deep tone.

She chuckles and gets up. "That's all… for now." Then she turns around and walks over to the pool. Her hips have gained a noticeable sway, giving the impression that she's dangling her tight, leopard ass in front of me. I stare intently at her curves and notice that her cunt is glistening with her lewdness.

"Hana, come with me, I need to fuck something," I demand.