Dueling Under the Warped Night - Part 1

Common sense dictated that a duel would be over in very few exchanges. Incapacitating someone was relatively easy even if both sides had the same capabilities. Any misstep was enough to put an end to the battle, and it wasn't uncommon for such a misstep to happen right away.

But that was only common sense. And neither side of the fight happening at the Heartcrusher obliged to such.

In a common-sense view, Anna was at disadvantage here. her weapons weren't very fit for melee and she was outmatched in strength and speed even if their techniques seemed to be on the same level. If it wasn't for the fact that she simply wouldn't go down no matter the damage was all that evened the field.

On the other side, though, even when she would manage to slot some shells or a stab on Corsair, the half-dragon was way too resistant to that. Even after more than ten exchanges, all the damage was on the scratch level.

This also meant that, after more than ten exchanges, all that took damage in this duel was their surroundings.

“Kinda preposterous of ya to call fer a duel and’ve yer goons interfere, ay?” The rifle-armed inquisitor mocked her opponent while dodging another slash and an incoming wave of bullets. And then, while in the same move, she blew up the manned machine gun with a grenade.

It was the sixth crewmate to try something similar, and also the sixth one to lose his gun. She was even trying to not kill them, but it was hard to be sure in this situation. Having them support their captain at least helped her with disabling the ship. But it was still a pain in the ass.

“Preposterous? But you're doing the same, are you not? I don't see the kitsune that was with you earlier... Are you buying time or underestimating me though? I can see that our styles are the same, even if mine's half-improvised and you're trying to avoid using yours...”

For a moment, the dragon’s words made Anna stop in her tracks. She was aware of the similarities between what she knew and how this woman was fighting, but it shouldn’t work like this. But worse than that, it meant that Corsair was holding back right now.

In the Federation, firearms took first place in any military force, but there was an exception. A certain martial style that focused on pairing blade and ranged attacks under certain conditions. A very rare sword school that was only known by the family that created it and only existed because their biggest weapon was a sword.

The school created by the hero to defeat the demon lord and developed by his successors for the same objective.

Something Anna knew very well, but never used out of spite. Although she knew that it was impossible to fully avoid something she trained to do for so long. And something a random demon wouldn’t be able to learn no matter what.

“No need to be so surprised, my dear inquisitor. Mine’s more like a cheap copy than the real one, you see? It's not easy to find someone to teach the Solomon School, but I'm good at observing.” The blue-haired lady stowed her main hand sword and instead moved to the flintlock pistol that was also holstered on her back. “Should I show you to see if you can pinpoint the errors?”

“If ya wanna use such a bad taste technique, so be mah’ guest, please. I’ve long learned that blade’s ain’t that fun, and wouldn’t be against teachin’ some random demon ‘bout it too.”

“Oho? That’s how it is then? And here I thought we were fans of the same thing…” The mature hero fangirl gave a fake dejected sigh as she waited for Anna to reload and then continued. “I guess we won’t be seeing eye-to-eye today… Not that I’d like to look to this annoying golden one you have.”

“Y’know stallin’ fer time’ll help me, ay?” The girl draining energy from all her foes asked with a cocky smirk on her face. All she managed to get in answer was almost the same kind of expression though and an even more condescending answer.

“I’m seeing if you can ever even the field.”

The next instant, Corsair suddenly sped up. Enough to make Anna almost lose sight of her. But even if she could see, her body wasn't fast enough to react to it.

All she could manage against the lighting speed thrust was dodge as to lower the damage. And in this case, doing so was the same as taking the thrust head-on to dodge the shot that would follow.

She then used the momentaneous opening made by the missed flintlock shot to spin her impaled body and fire the shotgun on her hip. Blowing Corsair away at the expense of a sword to the chest and a worsened cut caused by her own movements.

The redhead had managed to steal one of her opponent's blades with it, even if it was the only real damage that the dragon lady seemed to have received as she got up again. Her clothes were a little battered now, but that was all.

“I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect you to go with this path. I mean, it works and all, but fighting like this is suicide even with those weird healing drugs you people have, isn’t it?”

“I see yer a li’l bit outdated… This the best way to fight against somethin' as predictable as this bullshit.” The redhead smirked again as she removed the short blade from her belly and threw it into her bag before taking and injecting one of her doses of elixir. “And also, this one’s mah’ first dose today.”

Elixir was basically a lump of liquified spiritual energy and injecting it on would make any human body go into overdrive, meaning that everything would work better and faster. Then the side-effects would hit and one wouldn’t be able to tell if it was worth, but it worked a little different to Anna. She was able to recover just by burning the excess energy she would get from elixir, and her eye also had the same effect, even if in a less powerful way.

Elixir was also much more damaging, violent and her body was unable to enjoy most of the benefits, but that was being the point.

Still, with both combined, Anna had now an even more frightening healing speed. Even Corsair was unable to keep her expression of disinterest as she watched the hole in the girl’s belly close in a few seconds.

She didn’t need to know that this one shot was almost enough to put Anna in enough pain to faint on the spot though.

Other effects also included delirium, disconnection between will and body, loss of nerve function, and destruction of muscular tissue. Luckily, only one of these could affect Anna's body.

Without waiting for any sign other than the smile on the redhead's face, Corsair charged once more. She was still too fast for a good reaction and the incoming slash was likely enough to bisect Anna, but all she cared about was the pistol.

Instead of dodging or anything of the kind, she stepped forward with both her hands on the musket, firing right as the bayonet connected and sending the dragon back by the sudden explosion.

“It seems I underestimated you...” The blue dragon conceded this much while wiping the irrelevant stream of blood on her mouth caused by the last barrage. In deference to her, the redhead was holding a barely attached arm as it reconnected itself at a worrying speed. “But tell me, is this all due to your bothersome magical eye? I’m sure this one side-effect was never reported, and I got all the archives about it.”

“Will ya tell me all ‘bout yer fencin’ if I answer ya? I ain’t one to give information fer free…”

“I’m not against it, but it would be no fun, wouldn’t it?”

“It’s more ‘bout tellin’ ya that you’ll never defeat me. It simply ain’t possible, gotcha?”

“Heh! Very cocky of you, human girl. I can accept that your regeneration is impressive, but it isn’t as if I never saw this kind of thing...” Corsair went on with a tone that seemed to be reminiscing older foes. “All I have to do is end you before you can recover, right? And that’s easy to do… Especially when you give me the time like this.”

As she spoke, a buzzing sound started to surround her tail and the few scaly spots on her body. And then, sparks came from these same spots, growing in power as the seconds went by and the night sky closed with dark clouds.

Meanwhile, all Anna was thinking was that she was lucky today. It would be a pain if this woman's blue was from a blizzard dragon instead of a storm one.

“Yer real funny, pirate lady… But it’s funnier this way, so who cares, ‘aight?” The smirking inquisitor spoke as she made the calculations to what was to come. In her mind, and by how much Corsair was crackling, this would be as powerful as the biggest smite she ever saw.

That one had even managed to do a number on her, even if she was much younger at the time.

But either way, it was as good of a chance as it would ever be, so holding it out and moving one was for the best. And it wasn’t as if her foe was the only one stalling for a huge attack either way. So she dropped her ammo bag to the side for safety as if nothing was happening.

“Light it up, fox.”

And on her signal, two very close and very different explosions ravaged the Heartcrusher’s deck.