NOVEL NEXT Chapter 228: Which One of Us Lost?
‘Thanks for the idea, Lu.’ My brother was already staggering, getting his face smashed in and bouncing off the wall. After a few hard hits, she stopped again and stared at him. He was breathing heavily, and his left arm was hanging low as he raised his hands, but he was still conscious at least.
She growled, throwing another punch to end it all but despite how crippled he looked his brain was still sharp. As I started running back over he baited her strike to his right before ducking left, blocking a knee to his stomach before taking a hook to his shoulder that pinned him against the wall and cracked it.
His arms both fell limp but before she threw another punch I was on her back, wrapping the laces around her neck and pushing on her back with my knee to increase the tension. She reached for me but I just wrapped the lace around her hand, locking it in place as well and hooking my heel on her elbow. ‘Come on… Do it already…’ She lowered her shoulder and slammed me into Airsidh but I held on… My brother though… He was out cold.
Instead of reaching for me with her other arm, she grabbed her tied-up wrist and pulled on it with all her might.
I pulled myself up to her other arm and wrapped the lace around it as well before looping it around her neck one last time, wrapping the end around my hand to secure my grip as she slammed me into the wall. ‘Just go to sleep already!’ I held on, pulling tighter on the laces and watching the veins on her neck nearly pop out as her whole head started to turn bright red, faintly showing through her deeply tanned skin. ‘Come on…’
She bucked around like a wild horse nearly throwing me off and starting to make me nauseous, if not only because it was disorienting how my eyes always seemed to view everything as if they were level to the ground. ‘Come on…’ “AIR, GET UP ALREADY! AND MOVE LU OUT OF THE WAY!”
I wasn’t sure if my words would reach him, but he managed to regain consciousness surprisingly fast, and despite his battered and swollen body, as soon as he came too he started running… All be it slower than he usually did. Either way, he moved her out of the courtyard before she got stepped on or worse as Grama's rampage seemed to carry on forever. ‘Just do it already!’
Finally starting to run on fumes, she jumped into the air, aiming to land directly on top of me, but it was a move I had seen before and one that only secured my victory. ‘Finally…’ I used my heel that was wrapped around her arm to leverage myself around her shoulder, driving my other knee into her chest as she fell. The only thing that hit the stone tiles was her back. She jerked around, lifting her feet to try and throw me off but I back kicked one of her thighs. She jerked again but her body had lost almost all power, one final twitch, and her whole body went limp.
I loosed my grip and finally let my body relax slowly getting flashbacks to when I killed the ghoul. The feeling wasn’t nearly as overwhelming though.
Less than half a minute later she snapped her eyes open, only drawing a closer comparison and making me flinch back.
She didn’t move, just let out a deep sigh. “So I lost then did I?” She chuckled. “Ahh… It was a good fight though.”
I slowly worked myself back up to my feet. “You call this sparing…” I looked over at my siblings. Lu still hadn’t woken up, and with how hurt Airsidh was I almost felt bad at how minor my injuries were in comparison.
Grama slowly sat up, stone dust and fragments falling off her skin. “Sorry about that… I wasn’t planning on going into a blood rage.” She chuckled again. “You look like you handled it well though.”
I scratched my head, running my hand through my sweaty hair. “Yeah, well… I’m fine anyway…”
Lu finally came too, holding her head and tightly closing her eyes, scrunching up her face like a little chipmunk. She let out a long groan, but it was good to hear she was ok…ish…
Grama jumped to her feet sitting in a deep squat like she was ready to pounce on someone. “They look like normal though…”
My brother came back over with a grin. “But which one of us lost?” He asked snarkily.
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah yeah… You haven’t improved at all though. Siya has some good fighting skills and is surprisingly careful. Although, because she’s so talented, she’s probably the one you have to worry about, because she’ll no doubt be taking on bigger fights.
Lu slowly stood up, the top of her dress falling down with all of the laces either torn or unknotted, hanging from her waist. “Uh… Lu…” I muttered, pointing.
She didn’t seem to have a problem with it though since her chest was wrapped. “Hey, this actually feels pretty good.” She muttered moving her shoulders and twisting at the waist.
Airsidh just sighed. “I can worry about both of them...” He said walking over and pulling her top up, replacing the small leather straps that held the back and front together above her shoulders. She groaned and pouted, but didn’t fight it, or even complain, even if her face said it all.
‘Literally the perfect child…’
I slowly found a wall to lean on and sat down to rest for a minute. “This was supposed to just be a spar right? So… Did you have to take it so far? I mean… Lu could have been really hurt…”
She sighed… “The thought crossed my mind when I woke up just how dangerous this was, but it’s not like I can control it. I slip into that state naturally when I feel too much pain, or nearly lose consciousness.” She adjusted her pants. “That throw you pulled off really took me out of it. Although… That’s my fault, not yours.”
‘It sounds like it’s my fault… But ok…’
“I can still control myself to some extent, even in that state. Although, it requires me holding back a lot.”
“You better be joking…”
She chuckled. “Nope, sorry. I’m really glad I didn’t hurt anyone too bad though. I’ll have to fight you one-on-one from now on.”
Airsidh finished re-lacing Lu’s dress and her scowl remained for a while as we treated all our wounds before rigging up the carriage to continue on our way.
I wasn’t sure how great it would be in the end, but she held up her end of the bargain and gave me some clothes… Because of how much muscle she had they were even more oversized than my brother's clothes, but they were made from a really nice soft fabric, which made sense I suppose. If you didn’t wear anything underneath… You’d want your clothes to be soft. In theory I could always find a tailor to adjust them I suppose.
‘First, my blood boils and then I start sweating mucus, then I get beaten to a pulp… I really hope the rest of the trip is smoother…’