Chapter 208 - Doing Things Her Own Way (2/2)
The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.
The traditions, laws, social norms, and cultural beliefs all spoke of a rigid society built upon a clearly defined hierarchy and a deliberate, brutal adherence to order above all else.
”...Is it really such a difficult thing to accept? That this would eventually happen? You would go so far as to entertain the thought that some trickery is afoot rather than accept the truth!” said Reed, as he rose up from his seat, furious.
His contentious attitude generated a low murmur of hushed talks and visible disapproval from the elders and the guests. Itotia immediately pulled on Reed's arm, as she whispered for him to sit down, but her pleas once again fell on deaf ears.
An impetuous sneer formed his lips and he said, ”Do my words offend you? Good. Besmirch her honor again and I will face the lot of you myself after this duel, mark my words...!”
If Reed was going to make amends with these people, then he would do it on his own terms. He was not an Ancient Mulian, nor would he ever be. Any pretense of kinship with them was impossible for Reed, even if he was capable of forgiveness.
”If not, then hold your tongues and keep your dishonorable thoughts to yourselves...
There was no better time to make his stance clear than now, even if it was a little flashier than he intended. Still, he had no guilty feelings about what he said.
...Well, he did feel a little bit guilty considering he stole a bit of Lu'um's spotlight, but thought it better to support her now before anyone got any funny ideas.
He wasn't about to let the old fogeys invalidate Lu'um's moment of glory with some bullshit argument later on. Reed was determined to force them to accept whatever the outcome of the duel would be, even if it cost him some of their good-will in the near future...
For the briefest of moments, Ulbo felt his soul leave his body as he observed the spectacle unfold before him. It was as if he had been transported back in time to a certain night, much like this one.
Many, many lifetimes ago a royal princess had once proclaimed a similar threat, to many of the very same people present tonight. Hence, Ulbo was not alone in feeling a powerful sense of... nostalgia.
He really is so much like his mother it's positively uncanny, thought Ulbo as he observed Reed's imperious figure.
In any other situation, Lu'um would've probably melted into a puddle of happiness, but she did not have even the slightest amount of spare time to spend; only a single distraction was enough to doom her against her mother.
And though it felt good having landed a solid hit on her, Lu'um knew better than to let herself get comfortable in this fight. She was up against a woman who had not only mastered the art of combat but had also written most of the books on the subject.
She had gotten a freebie by revealing her real strength, but the same trick wouldn't work again on Shaali. Lu'um knew that her mother would her strength take into account and mitigate the power behind her strikes with her terrifying skills.
If only, if only... How delightful would it be if I could just club her within an inch of death? Alas...
Hell, the only reason Lu'um had lasted this long in the fight was because of her freakish physicality. To be sure, she was no slouch when it came to her sword techniques, but beating the old hag in a battle of pure technique was too big a hurdle, even for her.
In fact, she had nearly died a couple of times during the fight. Some of the movements her mother had used were downright fiendish.
Feints within feints within feints, constant mind games by purposefully incorporating flaws in her techniques, and a hyper-aggressive fighting style devised to not give Lu'um even a single second of respite in the fight.
Shaali's combat doctrine was to break her Lu'um — physically taxing her through never-ending attacks and burdening her with a fighting style meant to break her mind.
Were it not for Lu'um's absurdly fast reflexes and her beast-like intuition when it came to her mother, she would've had her head lopped off a dozen times over ten minutes ago.
And as if in response to her thoughts, the tip of a pitch-black sword danced across the surface of her forehead, a thumb's length away from piercing the spot between her eyebrows.
Though Shaali did not possess the same extraordinary endurance, strength, or reflexes as her daughter, she was by no means a pushover either. They both came from the same family, after all. Expecting anything less of her would be a grievous mistake.
Unfortunately, a battle of attrition would be impossible against her mother. She had the same c.o.c.kroach-like vitality, so it'd be several days before she'd tire her to the point of exhaustion. And she was not likely to make any slips-ups again after getting humiliated.
Every gear in Lu'um's mind was screaming at her, telling her that she was going to switch the blade over to her right hand, to create a momentary distraction — either to disarm her or to give her a chance to perform an overhand palm strike to bash her skull into tiny little pieces.
But then, the answer to her problems struck her like a lightning bolt, and she made an attempt at cleaving off Shaali's left arm with all the strength she could muster. A furious black streak almost connected with her shoulder, but Shaali hurriedly moved to intercept.
The Lu'um's blade lightly kissed her mother's skin, drawing the first blood of the duel, but it went no further than a millimeter into her shoulder. It was a failed attempt, but it also created an... interesting situation.
They had entered a complete deadlock — Shaali had one of her hands occupied in stopping the blade digging into her shoulder, and the other hand was preoccupied with stopping Lu'um from stealing her own blade.
It wasn't a particularly honorable thing to do in a sword fight, but then again... Lu'um wasn't interested in following the rules anymore. Besides, it stopped being an honorable duel the moment they decided to seriously kill one another.
So she was going to do as she pleased from now on...
And kill her mother the old-fashioned way, just as nature itself intended from the beginning.