Chapter 308 (1/2)
Chapter 308
–Aegir POV–
「So, what kind of contest are we having?」
Sekrit asks while glaring at me .
Her eyes are filled with determination and she’ll probably comply with whatever I say .
Of course I’m not going to trick her into a disadvantageous match .
「This is a contest with something important on the line . Having a running or swimming contest would be too boring . 」
With that said, I throw a knife at the woman’s feet .
「Let’s decide things using a way we’re both the most familiar with . 」
Sekrit picks up the knife and inspects it . It isn’t the best knife ever, but it’s not c.r.a.ppy either .
After looking over the object, she sneers at me .
「I thought you were a more promising man than that, but I guess that’s how cowardly you are . 1」
What is she unhappy about? Besides, I have no intention for my a.s.shole to be loosened .
「Giving me only a tiny knife while you have a large sword and s.h.i.+eld, what a great hero you are . 」
The smile on Sekrit’s face did not show any signs that she’s giving up as she holds the knife in a reverse grip and gets into a lower stance .
Aah, is that what caused her to misunderstand?
She is only wearing ragged clothes and wielding a small knife whereas I’ve got armor around my body and equipped with both sword and s.h.i.+eld .
「Come now, don’t be stupid . I won’t do something as mean as that . 」
I unarm myself by entrusting my longsword to Celia and my s.h.i.+eld to Ivanna .
「Gyah! I-it’s crus.h.i.+ng me!」
「What’s with this s.h.i.+eld!? Someone lend me a hand! I’m being crushed!」
c.r.a.p, I handed my weapons off to them like they were regular weapons .
Soldiers rush to each of the girls, helping them carry the heavy objects two people at a time .
Sekrit seemed a little relieved when she sees me abandon my sword and s.h.i.+eld .
「I’m fine to think that you’ll be competing with only a knife too?」
「No, I won’t . 」
I shake my head .
「I’m fine being unarmed . 」
「What did you say?」
Her beautiful dark-skinned face distorts in confusion .
「Are you mocking me?」
「That’s not it . 」
I undo the string of my armor and take it off my body .
「Please, that’s enough!」
Celia, after getting saved from under my longsword, lets out a scream-like plea .
Sorry, but this is the only way for me to fight Sekrit on equal terms .
「The rules are simple, it’ll be a one-on-one fight where the first to incapacitate the opponent will be the winner . Are you fine with that?」
Sekrit’s eyes were drawn upward as she stares at me .
「That works . However, let me hear your intentions first . 」
It looks like she isn’t pleased with the fact that I’m weaponless .
「The things we’re wagering are different . If I lose, I’m only going to be letting you escape while if you lose, you’ll be surrendering to me . Wouldn’t it actually be unfair if we fought using the same tools?」
I also have another hidden reason for this .
The condition for winning is to render the opponent unable to fight . Naturally that would mean Sekrit’s fastest way to win would be to kill me with the knife .
However, I have to disable Sekrit without harming her . In any case, I can’t use weapons .
「Then would you like it if I used sword?」
「Hey! I won’t allow that!」
Ivanna, who was saved from under the s.h.i.+eld, shouts her objection .
「Like I’ll need any further handicaps . 」
Sekrit looks like she still isn’t satisfied with the result .
I don’t think it’s that unfair though .
「If I win, I won’t tolerate you running away like you did this time . I’ll have you surrender completely . 」
「……」
I continue speaking in front of the silent Sekrit .
「 I’m not going to treat you horribly after you surrender . We’ll just make love over and over until you eventually get pregnant . You’ll become my woman, you’ll become a mother…… and then I’ll make you want to live with me regardless of the promise to surrender . 」
「……how repulsive . Those are your words . You better not complain later . 」
Sekrit lowers her hips and holds her knife with the blade pointing down .
She inhales deeply before stopping her breathing altogether .
「……Hup!」
The sound of her breath signalled the start of the fight .
Sekrit leaps forward as fast the speed of wind .
The five meter distance between us was reduced to zero in the blink of an eye .
「Using your head?」
Normally, one would attack by simply thrusting the knife in front after charging forward .
However Sekrit is running at me with her head lowered .
「How surprising . 」
My strategy is to grab a hold of her, bring her to the ground and hold her there .
I’ve fought Sekrit once on the Leviathan before so I have a rough idea of her ability .
Her speed, her agility, and strength are all at a high level .
Anybody experiencing her speed initially will find it hard for their eyes to follow and her agility makes one doubt whether she is actually human .
Meanwhile, her strength is certainly greater than that of an average man, though not enough to compete with me .
If I can seize her and pin her down, I can decide things then and there .
If she came at me with her knife, I was thinking to grab her sleeve and throw her to the floor, but I’ll have to change my method slightly since she’s charging head-first .
I try to grab her collar and pull her down, but it doesn’t go so as I expect .
Right before my hand reached her collar, she thrusts the knife up from a low position .
Despite the attack coming from a position where not much power could be put behind it, the strike had quite a bit of momentum . I can’t take that head-on .
I’m impressed how she can pull off such an abnormal attack .
I had no choice but to withdraw my hand and back away . That prompted the woman to go from a full speed sprint to a sudden stop .
A sharp knife is swung at me when I’m adjusting my balance and looking to make another attempt at her .
「Nn!?」
I unconsciously let out a sound in surprise .
Even though she seemed to have stopped completely, I’m a.s.saulted with a powerful slash .
It isn’t a feint where the attack has no force behind it . She could possibly have cut my neck if the slash landed .
「Uuu…… I can’t watch anymore!」
Celia and Ivanna are watching with bated breath .
It might just be a contest, but Celia has a tendency to rush out and help me whenever she sees me at a disadvantage .
I have to work harder so that doesn’t happen .
「Looking away, are we?」
Her knife targets me at the same time I hear her words, no, the words came after the knife .
Seeing the same attack many times already, I should be able to dodge it now――
「Guh……」
Failing to dodge, the knife reaches my body . It was a minor cut on my side .
No, it wasn’t a shallow wound . If I didn’t flex my muscles, the blade probably would have hit a nasty place .
I answer Celia’s ear-piercing scream with a grin and also a.s.sure her I’m fine . At this rate, she’ll jump in with her sword .
「Nevertheless, you move in such a strange way . 」
I felt a hint of that during our very first fight .
Her movements are terrifyingly quick, although my eyes are gradually getting used to them after so many repet.i.tions .
I was aiming to barely avoid that last strike too . She just stretched her arm at the last moment .
「……」
Sekrit expressionlessly gets ready for her next attack .
As expected, she’s not going to reveal the underlying secret willingly .
After putting some distance between us, she pulls her arm back and jumps forward again .
I don’t know how her arm will move .
Similar to the previous instance, I move as if trying to dodge by a hair’s breadth and wait for Sekrit’s arm to extend .
That’s when I close the distance and grab her arm .
「What the-!?」
Sekrit gasps in surprise .
I don’t know how her arm stretches, but once I know it does, I can evade it .
She’s using a knife, which compared to me when I’m barehanded, doesn’t really increase her reach by much .
I ignore the pain from being scratched and topple her to the ground .
「Agh!」
With me on top, she couldn’t get into a good position to land safely and gets the wind knocked out of her lungs .
I’ll hold her down like this and have her surrender .
「……don’t think I’ll―― let you win like this!」
By the time I notice her struggling beneath me, I feel pain shoot up from my crotch .
「Guh!」
She skillfully twists her body and knees me in the b.a.l.l.s .
Naturally, I feel myself become weak and Sekrit manages to roll out from under me .
「It looks like your b.a.l.l.s aren’t trained like your rod is!」
I smile wryly and stand up as Sekrit elates at her small victory .
「You got me . To think I’d loosen my grip just from that, I still have a long ways to go . 」
「Didn’t it make a loud sound? I thought for sure they were crushed . 」
「He can stand normally after a kick to the b.a.l.l.s like that…… that’s unbelievable as a man . 」
I get back into a stance while ignoring the spectating soldiers .
A smile forms on my face .
Being hit in the family jewels like that hurts, but I understood various things from that exchange just now .
About how her arm seems to stretch and her irregular movements too .
The woman runs in again for a third attack .
Straying away from standard procedure, I take my eyes away from her legs and focus only on her upper body .
Her last step was with the left foot . Normally that would mean her attack will come from the right .
However I won’t take any action yet .
「s.h.i.+-!」
Her right shoulder pulls back slightly in timing with that exhaling sound .
I swiftly extend my arm to the left . Sekrit’s knife is knocked out of her hand by my arm before her swing completes and the blade dances in the air .
「What!?」
Now it’s my turn to return the favor and charge at her .
The force of her arm being brushed away caused her upper body to be completely open .
It might seem easy to push her down, but I keep my eyes on her legs .
「Hrgh!」
A sharp kick aims for my chin despite her unbalanced state .
「It’s over . 」
「Uu!?」
Reading her like a book, I grab that leg she whips out and throw her .
Sekrit is in position to land safely, though she couldn’t kill all of the momentum from the crash after flying up close to four meters in the air .
「Gahoh! Gobh!」
She stands up while coughing .
There’s no time to waste suffering during a fight . She should know this too having lived her life on the battlefield .
I’m glad she landed safely .
To be honest, I felt like I threw her too hard . It would have been bad if she got injured from that .
With that feeling of relief, I wrap my arms tightly around Sekrit .
「A……ghgh……」
Like this, nothing else she uses matters except strength .
Her arms are being held down too so Sekrit could only writhe around helplessly .
「Guh…… why…… was my attack…… predicted……」
I tighten my grip .
She is pretty strong so any laxity and she’ll escape . If I squeeze too hard, her backbone might snap, so it’s hard to adjust my strength .
「Now go to sleep . And then become my woman . 」
I tighten up a little more and then Sekrit’s entire body eventually goes limp .
「We have a winner!」
I’ve forgotten the existence of the referee up until just now when he declared my victory and the end of the match .
I gently lay the unconscious Sekrit down .
Celia comes running with bandages and ointment .
「You really made me sweat . Is your side and…… you know, that thing alright?」
「Yeah . It’s just a minor scratch . 」
I put my hand on Celia’s head and ruffle her hair .
She quickly combs it tidily . This exchange calms me every time .
「That was an incredible fight . Regardless, she had such weird movements . It looked like you saw through them in the end though . 」
Ivanna also comes over .
We won’t be fighting against Sekrit again so maybe I should reveal the trick .
「The secret is in her supple body . Sekrit’s body is unbelievably limber . 」
The reason her arm seems to stretch is because she’s twisting her body further when she’s in a normal attacking position .
Her irregular movements is because her lower body and upper body are moving independently from each other .
As she s.h.i.+fts her centre of gravity to the left, her attack comes from the right, so it’s hard to predict her moves just by looking at her legs or hips .
Even without putting all her weight behind attacks, they’re still powerful because of how much she flexes her body .
「I see…… did you discover that when you held her down?」
「Yeah, it’s impossible for a normal human to have kicked my crotch from that position . Pretty superhuman, right?」
I softly brush Sekrit’s hair .
「In any case, she’s mine now…… fufufu, with such a flexible body, I might be able to do this and that with her . 」
Celia and Ivanna look coldly at me .
「Just letting you know, I’m still not satisfied with this . I won’t say anything about what you do with that woman, whether you’re going to make her into your toy or not, but it’s a different story if you take her back to Goldonia . It’s possible she could bare her fangs at the Federation again at any time!」
Ivanna roars .
Well, we can think about that later .
「Uuunh……」
Sekrit wakes up on the bed of the s.h.i.+p heading back to White City .
「So you’re awake . How does your body feel?」
She jumps up from bed when she sees me laying beside her .
Then she remembers the conclusion of the contest we had and lays back down powerlessly .
「Right, I lost . To a half-naked, unarmed man…… hmpf, what a strong man you are . 」
I hug the woman without responding .
「That’s how it is . You might be unwilling, but I’ll have you submit to me . In other words, you’ll become my woman . 」
Sekrit looked like she was about to say something, only to swallow her words in resignation .
「I guess this is where it all ends for me . So, what did you do? Did you devour my body while I was sleeping?」
She flips up the futon and looks back and forth from her naked body to my naked body .
I’m not going to f.u.c.k a girl while she’s asleep .
I just wanted to sleep together with her while naked, that’s all . I thought it would be weird if she was the only one naked, so I also took my clothes off .
「I want to hear your story first . 」
「Huh?」
Sekrit’s eyes widen . What a cute face she’s making .
「Tell me what led you to this point . Tell me where you were born, how you lived, how you fought . I want to learn everything about you . 」
I cover her hand with mine and look into her eyes .
「What good is telling you all that?」
「I’m aiming for your heart . 」
I embrace Sekrit and welcome her into my chest .
She resists briefly on instinct before remembering her promise and becoming docile .
「It looked like you were about to get away, and if you took a rebellious att.i.tude on top of that, Ivanna might not have let you leave the Federation, which is why I had you promise to surrender……」
I touch her b.r.e.a.s.t.s softly .
Sekrit doesn’t respond, her eyes urging me to continue talking .
「Having you surrender isn’t enough for me . I want you to fall in love for me from the bottom of your heart . 」
「How stupid . 」
I keep going .
「To lay on my chest happily at night, forget about the promise and love me . I want you to be that kind of woman . 」
「Then you just have to order that . I promised to surrender, I can at least act that way . 」
I shake my head .
「I want to make you become that way with my charm as a man . For that sake, can’t you give me a chance to know more about you?」
I get on top of Sekrit and begin caressing the nape of her neck .
She probably won’t open up that easily, so I’ll have to get her in the mood by showing love to her body .
「……stop it . 」
She pushes on my head down, lies spread-eagle on the bed in a manly manner and starts to talk while staring up at the ceiling .
「Let me tell you a little fairytale . It’s an unpleasant one . Prepare yourself . 」
That was easier than I thought . But from the looks of things, it doesn’t seem like a happy story .