Chapter 11
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One clash.
That's what all it took for the King of Spades to dispatch anyone who dared challenge her. Of course no one could testify if this was true, for everyone who crossed blades with her was already in the afterlife. The only ones who knew for sure were the other Kings, and maybe some of their aides.
Spades claims she likes to kill them swiftly, for the last gasp they make before they succumb to death were music to her ears. But the King of Hearts would say that Spades killed her opponents the way she does because if the battle went the distance, Spades would surely lose, that she was weak.
She did not take that remark lightly, even if Hearts admitted that it was only a joke. Because she knew that Heart's assumptions were partly true. She was weak. In fact there were times when she was blind-sided by the enemy. If not for the King of Diamonds, she surely would have perished.
She learned from her mistakes, and fought better everytime they tried to conquer a kingdom. But her skill could still not be compared to her comrades' skills, and would often be teased by them, especially by the tow younger ones.
She seemed to have let it go, but deep inside she was plotting on how to get even with Hearts for her everything, and for Spades, being the one to end Heart's life still wouldn't be enough. And once she was done with her, Clubs will be next in line.
She kept her tears from falling, until the day she thought she has removed Hearts from her life.
Yes, there were tears of joy as she watched Hearts' body falling down the chasm, but she was not satisfied.
Subconsciously she wanted to kill Hearts they way she used to kill: swiftly, with her sword cutting her across the chest, seeing her attempt to keep on living, no matter how futile it is. But she also wanted to prove to Hearts that she can also win long battles.
She did not know what she really wanted.
This time, however, she had the luxury to do either or both, for in front of her stood an injured King of Hearts holding only a dagger to defend herself.
The two circled each other, trying to read what her opponent was planning. Spades anticipated that Hearts would make the first move, because she always does, and she was right. Despite being wounded, Hearts didn't show any signs that she slowed down. Spades was ready and met her.
Their weapons clashed. There was only a single sound of blades grinding each other, and a few seconds later the two warriors were apart.
As expected, Hearts would not go down easily. There were some cuts on her arms and she just shrugged them off like they were insect bites. Spades didn't escape unscathed herself, as a bloodless cut became visible on her cheek. But what surprised her was that Hearts' dagger was still in one piece, and without any signs of damage.
"That's quite a weapon you have there. It's the first time Fleshrender didn't cut something in pieces." she told Hearts.
"Even I am surprised. That weapon looks like it could cut a castle's door wide open with one stroke. Perhaps the one who made this dagger is better than the one who made that sword of yours."
Hearts didn't waste any time. She pressed on the attack but Spades was able to defend effortlessly. Seeing that she could fend off Hearts' attack gave Spades more confidence. She realized that all training she did before and after Hearts was declared dead was paying off. She knew that she could take her on.
She used the men in her dungeon to improve her skills. Sometimes she would take on one, sometimes as many as twenty. She supplied them with variety of weapons to choose from, just to make the odds a bit more even. And to keep the men motivated, she told that that if any of them could successfully disarm her, she would give him freedom...or let him do whatever he wanted with her body for a whole day.
The first one who was successful chose freedom. Spades was quite insulted by his choice but she kept her word. She set him free...but she cut off his manhood first before he was allowed to leave.
It was quite a while before someone was able to disarm her but little did they know that Spades lost on purpose so she was curious how it felt to be violated by a man. And like the warriors who tried to face Spades in a duel, he did not live to tell the tale...even if Spades enjoyed it.
Spades snapped out of reminisce just in time to avoid one of Hearts' attacks. She noticed that her injury was taking its toll, for Hearts was already breathing through her mouth and sweating heavily. It won't be long before her victory.
Hearts was right in saying that she finished her opponents quickly because she was weak. But another reason was that she wanted to avoid using any of her techniques, not even showing it to the other Kings, for she felt that there will come a time when they will have a face each other. She did not want them to know how to defend her techniques.
She started to hold her sword differently. She reversed the grip and now the tip of her sword faced the ground. Her first strike at Maimi using that style was blocked. But it was alright, because Spades was just trying to determine her reach. She attacked Maimi in a similar fashion and as expected Maimi, was able to block it again. She noticed, however, that it felt like she was attacked twice, and that her armor was slowly getting chopped off. Despite Maimi being able to block successfully, Spades continued to attack.
Maimi tried to figure out how Spades' technique worked but she her injuries started to show its effects. She got cornered and with her back against a tree, she saw how Spades' unorthodox style worked. She parried the initial strike that was made by the unusual grip and there she saw that Spades would switch to the normal way of holding the sword as she pulled her arm back, creating a follow-up attack.
Spades knew that Maimi already figured out how her technique works so during the follow-up slash of the next attack, she didn't aim for the dagger anymore, instead she maneuvered her sword straight for Maimi's neck.
Maimi could not block it, for this time, the swing had enough for to cut through her arm. If she parried it, it would just divert the direction of the blade and cut her from the forehead. She was done for.
But before Spades' blade could make contact with any part of Maimi's body...
"Stop!"
The King looked at the person who ordered her to halt.
"Hnn? How dare you interrupt my moment of glory! What do you want?!!!~" the King asked her as she backed away from Maimi.
"I'm just here to get my knife back." the woman answered.
"Tsk. Here you go." Maimi said as she tossed the dagger in front of a woman. "And I thought you were here to save me."
"Nah, I'm just really here for the dagger. This is the very first weapon I made and it has a lot of value. But I'm not here just to leave you die too." replied the woman as she tossed something back to Maimi. "Use that."
Maimi took a look at the object the blacksmith gave her. It had the same length as the dagger she held earlier. She checked which part of the rod was the scabbard but there was no scabbard, and there was no blade.
"Nice. I obviously have a handicap and you give me a make-believe phallus to fight this hateful woman. How am I supposed to defeat her with it? Stuff this in her..."
"Yes. That is how exactly you should...wait, what? That is not a make-believe phallus! That is a sword! Good lord..."
"If this is a sword, where's the blade?"
"Make one."
"I'm not a blacksmith!"
"That's not my problem."
"Talk time's over!"
The conversation was cut short when an impatient King of Spades began a new assault on Maimi. Maimi blocked using the object in her hands. Like the dagger, Spades' sword didn't do any damage to the 'make-believe phallus' that Maimi held and that made her more irritated.
Maimi tried to think of a tactic but she was not comfortable fighting using a non-bladed weapon. She looked at Aya and then she remembered her words:
Make one
Maimi closed her eyes and raised the rod in the air. She tired to visualize what kind of blade she wanted and as she opened her eyes, a torrent of flame burst out from the tip of the rod. The torrent was taller than any of the trees in the forest and after a few seconds, the torrent turned solid. Like fire, it didn't have a definite shape but its edges were extremely sharp and would cut anything in its way. The blade was huge but Maimi was able to handle it with ease.
"That's...ugly. Try again." Aya said as she covered her face with a palm.
"Easy for you to say..."
Maimi didn't have time to try for the King of Spades was already in front of her. The King swung her sword with both of her hands. Maimi reacted by swinging her new weapon to meet the King's blade. But unlike their first clash, Maimi's blade didn't make it in one piece. It shattered as soon at it made contact with Spades'.
Spades laughed uncontrollably as she watched the fragments of Maimi's blade falling on the ground. She didn't waste any more time and prepared to finish Maimi off. She gave one last look at her enemy as she was about to cut her in half. Her sword was inches away from Maimi's scalp but something was stopping her from driving it in. Maimi blocked it with something.
"Now that's what I'm talking about. I couldn't have done better myself..." she heard Aya say.
Spades backed away from Maimi to assess the situation. She was sure that she broke the blade of Maimi's sword a few seconds ago but as she looked closer, it wasn't completely destroyed. Some of it remained. Actually there was another blade under the one she broke, some parts of the first blade still clinging on it.
This blade was shaped symmetrically, almost looking like the standard-issue ones given to knights. A simple blade. No designs. No carvings. No fancy whatever. It's just a blade created for one purpose: to kill.
Maimi shook off the remains of the previous blade before going into a fighting stance. Spades raised an eyebrow after seeing Maimi hold the sword with the backhand grip, the same technique she herself used earlier. Maimi began her assault but Spades was able to block them. She could feel, however, the difference in speed and power with each of Maimi's blows compared to hers.
"How long are you going to use your left hand? Finish this already. We'll be waiting for you on the cabin."
"Are you sure you're just a blacksmith? You have excellent fighting sense, it would be a waste if you didn't put it to good use." replied Maimi as she finally held her weapon with her right hand.
If Aya didn't mention it, Spades would not have noticed that Maimi was using her left hand the whole time. She knows that the King of Hearts is right-handed, that she would only use her left hand to scratch her back. It was then she realized the whole truth, that even she has improved her skills, she still couldn't get past the power of Hearts' left hand, and that Hearts could have been possibly just playing with her. Then she also noticed that there were some small cracks on her blade, and she was sure that those were caused by Maimi's attacks.
It made her furious. That was her only chance to get rid of her. If she couldn't finish of an injured King of Hearts, what more if she faced a fully recovered one. She was so close to victory, only to be foiled at the last minute. She blamed herself for letting Aya stop her earlier, for letting her give Maimi a new weapon. It was too late. She could not turn back time. She had to deal with what was in front of her right now.
Both of them knew that this will be the last clash. Like how their duel started, they began circling each other.
But unlike how it started, it was Spades who made the first move.
She held her sword with both hands and swung with all that she's got. Maimi, using only her right hand, did the same.
Spades' sword broke in two, and Maimi pointed her sword to the King's face even before the pointed half of the sword touched the ground.
"Leave. Before I change my mind."
The King didn't budge. She stood still until Maimi put down her sword and turned her back at her.
The King of Spades hasn't cried for a long time. She has been humiliated even before she was a King but she didn't cry. She has been through a lot worse than this but she didn't cry. But as she watched Maimi's back slowly moving away from her, she felt something wet run down her face. And she was sure those weren't tears. She wiped it with her hand and saw something...red. It was blood. She closed her other eye and all that she could see was darkness. All the blood was coming from her eyes.
Silence
But it was soon followed by a shriek. A shriek so loud that all the glassware in Aya's cabin shattered. So loud that the King of Diamonds heard it in Chanponchan, that Yuko, Natsumi, and all the others heard it in their camp. It also woke up the King of Clubs, who was recovering from Crosshair Turtle's poisoned dagger. Aya covered her ears to avoid getting deaf but the person closest to Spades' wail didn't even bother covering her ears. She was enjoying it.
In a fit of rage, Spades ran towards Maimi and attempted to strike her with her broken sword. But Maimi was prepared. She turned around and swung her weapon in one motion. The other half of Spades' sword fell on the ground, with one of her hands still holding on to it.
Spades dropped on her knees. First, one of her eyes. Now one of her hands got severed. Still, there were no tears that escaped the King. Maimi , standing in front of her, looked at the King, probably for the last time, for her sword was raised over her head to put her out of her misery. But before Maimi could deliver the verdict, she was struck by an invisible force that threw her deeper into the woods.
Out of nowhere, a figure garbed in black suddenly appeared beside the King of Spades. The woman slapped the King and told her to pick up the pieces of her sword.
"Your skills in making weapons haven't changed. You still make the best ones." the figure said.
"M-Miki?" asked Aya.
She didn't get a response while she watched the King and the woman vanish into thin air.
Aya headed to the woods to look for Maimi. She found her trying to pull the sword out of a tree.
"Where is she?" Maimi asked her.
"Someone rescued her. I'll take care of that." Aya said as pulled the sword out without even breaking a sweat.
"That's a nice sword."
"I was commissioned by the academy to make this weapon, but I never had the chance to complete it. I was only able to finish it after all of them were dead. I had difficulty in completing it, since it was under strict order that only a specific list of people should be allowed to use it. Among it is the Academy's head, the heir to the Kiban bloodline, the Makiheir, and a few more. Don't know who you are in the list though. But I see that you are qualified to use it, so it's yours. It's is called the Magusedge. The blade is created from your will."
"Will?"
"The strongest will can break the sharpest blade but can the sharpest blade even scratch the weakest of will? That was the concept. I'm not sure if was able to make it right though."
"You don't look like a person who makes a lot of mistakes."
"Yes. But there was one that I believe caused all of this."
"I will use this sword the way those people who were on that list would have used it."
"Very well. But one last thing."
"What is it?"
"The sword is still incomplete. There's one more ritual that has to be performed."
"And that is?"
"You have to give it a soul."
"A soul? But there's only the two of us here. Wait, are you trying to tell me to..."
Aya didn't speak and replied with a nod. Maimi knew what she was supposed to do.
"I...I don't know if I can..."
"Do it. I can rest in peace now that I know that my greatest creation is in good hands." Aya said as she went down on her knees. "There is no other person who is more qualified to use that weapon than you, Maimi."
Maimi raised the Magusedge and prepared to carry out Aya's request. Aya closed her eyes and smiled as she waited for the blade to cut through her flesh. She opened her eyes when she felt something splatter on her clothes.
Maimi held the blade of the sword with both of her hands. Blood flowed down the handle and created a small puddle on the ground.
"I am my sword and my sword is I. We are one..." as Maimi said those words, the blade of the sword turned into the color of her blood.
"That's enough!" shouted Aya. The sword slipped away slowly from Maimi's hands. Maimi dropped on her knees and was ready to fall on he ground but she landed on Aya's shoulder. "I told you to kill me. Why didn't you do it?!"
"No one else needs to die to complete this ritual. But if someone has to die, it would be better if it was me."
"Silly girl. I was just testing if you were really ready to kill me. Because if you did, I would have killed you with the dagger first."
"Well damn you then Aya! Damn you to hell!"
"Hahaha. It wasn't in vain though. Because now you will be the only person who can ever use the Magusedge. We have one big problem though."
"What?"
"Who's going to stop your hands from bleeding?"
"..."
===
"Are you sure that you're not going with us Aya? The Kings might come after you again." Airi told her.
"Nah. I can take care of myself. You guys have your own problems in your camp so you dont have to worry about mine." answered Aya. "You can tell Yuko that she owes me a lot of gold...by the way...Risako, please give this to Miyabi. I promised her that I'd make her a weapon before so here it is." she said as she handed something a meter long wrapped with cloth.
"Thank you, Mistress Aya. I will make sure that Master gets it."
"It's a make-believe phallus, isn't it?" asked Maimi.
"Well...it does have a lot of uses..."
"Wait, what's a phallus?" Airi asked while giving Aya and Maimi an innocent and curious look.
The two of them looked at each other and started laughing. Airi, who still didn't have a clue joined in their laughter. Risako started to laugh too but...
"Yeah, what is a phallus?" she also asked.
"Wait, you two really don't know?" asked Aya.
Airi and Risako shook their heads.
"Then you two should ask Yuko when you get back to camp...wait, I think even she doesn't know what it is and how it looks like!"
~~~
And so, Aya bid farewell to the three as they headed back to the resistance camp. She would surely miss their company.
She headed back to her cabin and returned back to being alone...
===
"Maimi."
"W-who's there?"
"Maimi."
"Show yourself!"
Maimi drew out her sword and looked for the one calling her name. The dark skies didn't aid her in finding the owner of the voice.
"You should stop this façade, Maimi. Come back to us."
"Who are you?!!!"
"It's me Erika." the voice said. Maimi traced it and the girl was sitting on a tree's branch. "Stop this act."
"Act?" Maimi said as slashed the branch where Erika was sitting on. Erika jumped out of the way and transferred to another tree.
"Yes. I will be honest with you. Your acting. It sucks. A lot. Don't kill me."
"Who are you to tell me to stop what I'm doing?!" asked Maimi as she attacked Erika once more.
Erika got down from the tree but Maimi was waiting for her. Erika didn't bother to dodge or block Maimi's attack. Her sword was a few inches away from her face and didn't get any closer. Erika held Maimi's on the arm to lower her sword. She went as close as cheek to cheek with Maimi.
"I knew you couldn't." she whispered.
"What do you want from me?"
"I told you earlier. Stop this act. It's not fun anymore."
"Not fun?!" Maimi said as she pushed Erika away. "Who are you to tell me what's fun or not?!"
"I was just..."
"Erika, I can't stop now. This is the most fun I ever had in my entire life!!!"