Thirteen

Ayumi rushes towards the demon and for the first time since the beginning of the fight she touches it and wounds it seriously. Now there is only one left.

A divided look. Theyla already had in mind to deal with this demon, a cloakless demon with a sword two sword lengths away from her. She dropped into a slight crouch and stood still, simply waiting. Her sword was still.

Every movement, every breath, every motion, and every swirl of wind around them became something to watch, an indication of where the next attack would occur, where her next attack should strike. Where his target would be in the next moment of this battle.

Only the space between them at that moment mattered. The demon was pacing back and forth, his sword already in motion, contrasting with Theyla's as she traced loops with the tip and completely ignoring the noise of my fight with the wolf in order to focus solely on him.

The battle began when one of them chose to attack, allowing for the unpredictability of the fight. It could start now, or after five minutes of feinting, or in the middle of the conversation, if one of them decided to start talking at some point. Which would have been an attractive option, actually, if it weren't for the fact that talking to the demon could be a one-on-one fight as well as a sword fight half the time. They didn't need to have a conversation battle now, not when they were actually fighting.

The demon stepped forward, blade swinging in a mock attack, an experimental probe in motion. Theyla launched herself directly into the attack. Left, right... she turned away, jumped back, closed in on the attack, and reversed once more. Simply avoiding the demon's quick parry, she slipped to the other side for a feint, and as he dodged the attack and responded, she took his downward motion on her angled blade, sending it skidding. Amidst the wolf's wild cries, they both retreated, breathless, and looked at each other grimly.

First engagement, first flurry of blows, and both had played it safe. This fight would continue until one of them scored a disabling blow, at this rate it would last far too long.

Theyla intended to win this fight, even if it took her until sunset. The demon swung his sword in a small gesture in front of her, a small sign of grim and defiant recognition.

Theyla quickly punished him for this unnecessary gesture with a fierce attack on his closest exposed side, forcing him to cut short his gesture and move to defend himself. It was a minor encounter, and it ended in a little step back.

But it had erased the temporary personal difference, and now they were both focused again, facing each other with the tight, precise fury of battle.

The demon lurked to the side and attacked, striking at her guards. Theyla would fend him off with tight defenses, go on the counter-offensive as soon as she had an opening, then disengage and retreat.

He moved around her, forward, backward and sideways, always in motion, his sword moving in an almost random pattern and his shifting gaze scanning the openings as she spun in place to follow his orbit.

The moving sword was a distraction and a diversionary tactic almost useless in pitched battle, but excellent for masking intentions in single combat. It could even be slightly mesmerizing on occasion.

The opposite tactic, of course, was simply to wait, poised, sword tilted in a basic defensive position, and remain as still and ready as possible, and that was what Theyla had chosen to do.

It was more difficult, the energy and adrenaline generated during the battle made it difficult to stand still, but it could also be subtle, confusing, and downright vicious when you finally exploded into action.

The attack could come from anywhere, and there could be a lethal amount of accumulated magical energy at play. Enough energy, in fact, to make anyone reckless... no doubt the demon, knew this as well as she did, he was already expecting her to outdo herself on the next attack.

So she made sure of that. A blow just a little too powerful, a step just a little too far, and he took the bait, repelling her attack and reversing her blow to cut her off when she was too close .

But she was already withdrawing her attack to parry his blow, kicking him before the blades even made contact.

The small private world of the two fighters, the moment after the demon saw the ploy just in time to avoid the blow . He jumped back, Theyla turned into a spring as she flipped her sword for a waist-high attack.

And now they were so close together that they were out of reach of the sword. Her weapon caught the demon's at the hilt as they came within arm's reach.

The safest thing for both of them to do was to disengage and wait for another chance if they could, but they had both experienced enough pitched battles to know that this was, in fact, the real fight.

Survival in battle was decided, primarily, by the skill and power of the attack, and if they disengaged now, there would simply be more ostentatious dancing around each other until one of them got close again.

And it was clear that they both wanted the other to fall more than they were afraid of falling themselves.

The demon slid his sword from its hilt, aiming for her legs. It made a downward motion toward his shoulder and neck. He threw himself to the side to avoid her. She went forward.

In the ensuing tangle, the demon's sword dug into her left leg, and she wedged her sword between his side and arm, ripping it sideways and slashing at his neck. He dodged and rolled over her before she could land a good blow, sending them both to the ground.

Theyla jumped against his roll and landed on top, driving his pommel into the back of her head with as much force as she dared. She rolled onto the demon's sword arm, pinning it between her weight and the ground. He grabbed the hilt of her sword with his free hand and yanked it out. Her legs were trapped, but not effectively.

Before he could gain control of his sword, she disengaged from his leg and kicked him in the shoulder, breaking free and tipping her backwards under the force of the blow. From his sword. He pulled it out and brought it back to strike her in the chest. She received the blow on her left arm as she rolled.

It was the perfect time to disengage ,or at least engage in an aggressive defensive policy. She turned the roll into a crouch. Before she could do more than raise her sword.

The demon had thrown itself forward, refusing to stop. His defensive move was not working. The next moment, he was back on his back, writhing, being hit in the shoulder while without a sword, Theyla gave him a blow on the head. A bit hard.

If the demon wasn't dead now, he was at least reasonably disabled. Theyla got up immediately, and turned towards her enemy with her sword turned to a protective angle. The demon was on the ground. He was finished, he was now in danger of dying.

It is at this moment that a teacher arrives, he sees the state of the demons that we had almost killed.

"You didn't fall on the right enemy, you could have died" he said before approaching us.

Sorry for the spelling mistakes.