Chapter: 524 – Eskau Clash

Tala looked around, taking in those who were around the arena. Some had obviously stopped to watch the whole encounter—and whatever was to come—while others merely seemed to be looking at the spectacle as they walked past. All told, there were quite a number of watchers now, though it was still less than fifty.

Still, that was a sizable number, considering those had simply gathered from having seen that the arena was in use as they had passed nearby.

As the elven Eskau took his place across from her, Tala decided to mess with the man a bit.

She pushed a bit of power into Flow, shifting it into the form of a glaive, the sparring scabbard changing shape with it.

Huh… I basically don’t even think about doing that to change Flow from a knife to a sword any more.

-Yeah. You just consider it ‘drawing Flow.’-

That made her happy for some reason, likely because it meant that the use of that power was becoming so ingrained.

Eskau Elnar frowned. “Is it more than the compact and expanded forms?”

She shrugged. “Seems so.”

“Interesting…” His eyes narrowed. “Shall we begin?”

“Same rules?” She put as much lack of concern in her voice as she could muster.

“Indeed.” He gave a slow nod, clearly already readying himself mentally for the clash.

“Then at your word.”

His eyebrows rose, her answer clearly throwing him off at least a bit. “Truly? You don’t wish a third party to call the start?”

She shrugged nonchalantly. “No, thank you.”

“Very well.” He took a deep breath, settling into a comfortable stance that reminded Tala of one used by those favoring slender, thrusting weapons. “Begin.”

His statement was so level that Tala almost missed the fact that it was to signal the start of the fight, but even so, she wasn’t caught unaware.

Flow spun in a protective circle, even as Eskau Elnar thrust forward, his weapon lancing out to cover the ten feet between them in a blink.

Flow shattered the attacking spear of wood, knocking the elf’s hand up and away, even as she spun inward, crouching low to lick out with Flow’s sheathed tip once, twice in quick succession.

Each time her opponent shifted his lead foot, not quite able to fully evade, but still taking only a grazing touch from Flow.

She knew that he’d have been seriously wounded by those cuts outside of this clash—without the sheath on Flow—but she also didn’t mind having to work for her victory.

She was still advancing, closing the distance between them with steady determination.

His much shorter weapon—magical extension aside—made him seem to have the advantage in close quarters. That, coupled with her glaive, made the seemingly wise choice be for her to maintain distance and harry him to take advantage of her perceived longer reach.

That was what he expected, if his movements were any indication.

Instead, she blasted forward. She struck six times—twice for each step forward—Flow shifting to a sword for the second pair, and a knife for the final.

Eskau Elnar skillfully deflected the glaive strikes, refusing to make those a contest of strength or momentum. He parried the sword blows with his protian weapon, the wood subtly shifting shape to enforce his defense, creating ablative layers that were blasted off to disperse the energy, even as his eyes began to widen. Then, his arm exploded with branches that grew interweaving into a shield that took the first knife strike, only to explode under Flow’s sheath-enforced kinetic blast the second time her knife struck home.

He reflexively closed his eyes against the flying shrapnel, clearly having expected the shield to give way.

She should have had the same disadvantage, but her eyes were already closed, her threefold sight granting her all the vision that she needed.

Continuing the motion of her last knife thrust, she delivered a wicked chop kick to the outside of his thigh, connecting with her shin with what should have been bone-breaking force.

Arcanes—especially Eskau—are made of sterner stuff, however, and he merely grunted, even as the muscle spasmed, marginally throwing off his recovering footwork.

At the same time that her kick connected, however, his weapon had lashed out with vines covered by thorns that were more like blades than spikes, but they were dulled for the match.

It tore at Tala even as he ripped it back toward himself. Though it didn’t do any actual damage due to the blunted edges. Even so, it did pull her off balance, and if it had been sharp?

Given the magics on it? He’d have opened me in a dozen places.

-Yeah, that would be hard to heal from… wear armor if you actually ever fight him.-

Absolutely.

The simple fact that the obvious pain her kick had caused him hadn’t dropped him, backed up the idea that he was a very experienced fighter.

His weapon contacting the side of her head a moment later showed why he was an Eskau.

It was in the form of a twisted, incredibly crooked branch, the pointed end extending far past where it should have reached, as a straight weapon.

That unexpected change in reach resulted in a hit that had her spitting out blood, even as she spun with the strike.

I’ve not fought Eskau in too long. I’m rusty on accounting for their more flexible weaponry. His seems to act like any plant he wants… or maybe that’s his concept?

-Other Eskau, but yeah, it could be either. You should knock him out to be sure.-

That made her smile. She finished her rotation to dissipate some of the power of the hit, dropping to one knee, and sweeping out with what had been her back leg.

The elf grunted even as the sweep to his already weakened leg took him to the ground.

Flow licked out, becoming a glaive to drive at his neck, but he managed to crunch up, out of the way, just in time to avoid taking a hit.

Tala ripped the weapon upward, but he was already rolling and twisting out of the way and away.

He got a hand under himself and launched upward even as Tala tore Flow into a sideways sweep, moving the weapon much faster and more dexterously than any mundane could have managed.

In mid-air, turning violently from the momentum he’d already had from his roll, he was still able to thrust his stick out at her, the protian weapon briefly becoming a spear of wood once more that Tala shifted and flowed around.

This time, she was watching for the change of shape—as she should have been all along—and when it became a whip once more, and tried to crack around her leg on the return, she was able to kick off the ground with the targeted foot, avoiding the vine and spoiling the strike.

Eskau Elnar landed, taking several sweeping steps back while his weapon raked the ground between them, clearly acting to create distance between them.

Tala pushed Flow into the form of a glaive and leaned against it, her breathing light and easy, a contented smile on her face despite the remnants of blood on her lips.

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The elf gave the smallest of winces as he settled his weight on his left leg, regarding her with something akin to horrified fascination, his breath not heavy, but also not nearly as easy as hers. “That was well struck.”

She shrugged. “If we weren’t sparring, you’d have torn me wide open in return.”

He regarded her for a long moment before asking, “Who are you?”

She straightened, Flow becoming a sword as easily as Tala took her next breath and grinned. “Your opponent.”

Then, she flickered.

She appeared behind him, Flow already at his throat, but to her surprise, his weapon was between hers and his flesh, even though his eyes were wider than ever.

They exchanged eight quick strikes as he fought to reposition and recover what he’d lost from her unexpected change in position.

He was just getting his feet underneath him, when Tala flickered again.

This time, she landed a solid blow on his left elbow, the blow knocking the limb so hard—through imparted kinetic force—that his shoulder popped out of its socket with an almost sickening sound.

The elf’s face went white, but if anything, he became more skilled, the pain seeming to sharpen his focus.

Roots and branches began shooting out of the ground to aid him in his assault—and try to buy him time in his defense—as Tala continued to engage with him.