Godslayer Lysette: Chapter 247

Chapter 247: Rayleigh’s Might

Rayleigh stood triumphantly along the eastern edge of the sparring fields south of Ciricu.  She pulled out a kunai and held it in a reverse grip in her left hand, while in her right, she generated another out of nothing but solidified air which was faintly visible against the sun’s glow.  She dropped down into a fighting stance, her right arm forward to parry oncoming attacks, and left held back to counterattack.

Lysette raised her hand.  “I’ll intervene if there are any lethal attacks, but other than that, the rules are as you know.  Fight until one side either yields or is incapacitated, all techniques are permissible, and there will be no ring-out condition in this contest.  You three may begin when ready.”

“Alright, you two,” Rayleigh said.  “I’ll give you a minute to come up with a strategy.  But after that, I’m going to attack.  And friends or not, but I will not be going easy on you either.  So you better honor me in the same way, or I’m going to be pissed.”

Lilia and Kiarra shared a few words among each other which Lysette did her best not to listen into, mostly for the surprise.  Rayleigh and Serrena, on the other hand, both perked up their ears while the former grinned.  After exactly forty-eight seconds, Kiarra grew her hair down to the ground and sliced off about two feet off the bottom, sharpening her new locks into hundreds of keratin javelins.

She hurled her weapons in groups of four, using her Cultivation to guide her attacks’ approaches as she closed the distance between herself and Rayleigh.  Rayleigh, for her part, batted away the attacks with ease, not showing even the slightest hint of effort as her air blade batted aside the hairy spears and shredded them into flimsy locks which fell limply onto the ground at her feet.

Rayleigh charged forward into the onslaught, throwing myriad needles of air against Kiarra’s hairwall.  But Kiarra’s defenses held firm, absorbing the spiny assault, though not without frizzing up.

Kiarra switched tactics, growing her hair into a single quarterstaff about six feet in length and spun it around to block and deflect the wave of air slamming into her.  She grimaced, buckling her legs down and tilted her spinning staff upward to divert Rayleigh’s attack.  As sweat beaded down Kiarra’s face, Lilia fired hundreds of water bullets from behind her.

Lilia’s attack pelted Rayleigh’s body, cutting her skin and blunting her attack.  Lilia kept firing as Kiarra closed the gap.  But as soon as Kiarra got within striking distance of her adversary, Rayleigh smirked and unleashed a barrage of pressurized air which assailed Kiarra from every side.

Kiarra grimaced as she was pounded by Rayleigh’s attacks, but she shielded herself with a hardened shell and continued toward her adversary.  Lilia joined her ally, coating her body in a watery veil and pushing through the intense winds swirling about Rayleigh.

“Who do you think is going to win?” Mirae messaged Lysette.

“Rayleigh has the advantage.  And a pretty overwhelming one at that.  Lilia’s attacks only dealt superficial damage, whereas Rayleigh is wearing Kiarra down to a significant degree.  And while Rayleigh has used more of her stamina, her reserves are more than double those of either of the other two.”

“Do you think you should have invited Nicholas to join in as well?”

“No.  This is good training for the both of them.”

“I don’t understand, love.”

“Kiarra and Lilia are two of the weaker members of our team.  That means they’re going to frequently be fighting adversaries far stronger than either of them.  And I want them to get practice fighting against a stronger opponent, to get them to power through adversity and persevere when the odds are stacked against them.”

“Like you against Alan earlier?”

“Exactly.  For them, it’s about how long they last.  For Rayleigh, it’s to make sure she doesn’t get overconfident and make the same mistake I was able to exploit against him.  The same mistake I’ve made on several occasions.”

“It’s not a mistake to offer your opponents a chance to surrender, Lyse,” Mirae interjected.  “I don’t want you to keep following Karchek’s path down a road I don’t want to follow, killing people who have surrendered and are at your mercy just because they might be… what was the word Saffron used?  Perfidious?”

“I don’t want to either, love.  But I’m not sure I’d be able to forgive myself if someone I care about gets–”

“Then don’t, love.  Continue to work to give us all the strength to defend ourselves, as you had claimed you wanted to do earlier.  That’s why you’re having them spar right now, isn’t it?  To teach them how to better defend themselves?”

“And yet, this is why I’m worried that my idealistic Reciprocity might just doom us all.  Because when it comes to battles with Cultivators, four is more than two twos.  Mirette’s strength is testament to that as much as Rayleigh’s demonstration.  And no one else can fuse but the two of us.”

“Speaking of Mirette, I think they absorbed Alan’s Hope as their Domain after they drained him.”

“You’re not the only one, Mirae.  I noticed a certain power behind the word when I was thinking about it earlier this morning.  We should probably operate under the assumption that when a demon absorbs a deity’s Divine Spark, they take over their Domain as well.”

“That does pose a problem that I hadn’t considered.  What if you, or worse, Mirette, absorbs a truly vile Domain, like Torture or Death?  Or one that resonates strongly with your demonic side like Domination?  We’ve already seen that Alan can twist something as positive as Hope, and I’m not going to risk the love of my life falling further into depravity on power’s altar!”

“I’ll–”

“Don’t you dare say that you’ll ‘look into it.’  I remember what Solanna said yesterday about what that phrase means.”

Lysette took a deep breath.  “We need some more information and a better understanding.  Shall we do some joint Cultivation after the match?”

Mirae nodded.  “I won’t be letting you off, Lyse!”

“I appreciate it, Mirae.”  Lysette gripped her love’s hand snugly as the couple turned their primary attention back to the fight.

Lilia had taken the front from Kiarra, fighting defensively against Rayleigh’s vicious aerial dance of blades.  She had shifted her watery cloak into an octopodal form, catching what air blades she could with hydrous tentacles.  But far more of Rayleigh’s attacks were scoring hits, cutting Lilia’s attacks to ribbons so quickly that she could barely maintain her technique, let alone do more than irritate Serrena’s disciple.

Kiarra, meanwhile, was employing the same technique she used during her duel with Lysette some six months ago, drooping more and more hair over the ground all around.  Only this time, she did so over a far wider area— a circle of about a hundred yards in diameter centered upon herself.  And, with no small exertion of effort, the hair all around twisted shape, forming what could have passed for myriad toothy maws, chomping rabidly toward Rayleigh.

Kiarra attacked, loosing her hair from every direction.  Hair in the shape of shurikens, spears, and knives encroaching upon Rayleigh from all sides.  Rayleigh dodged with alacrity, blasting away the hairy shrapnel as far as Kiarra could generate it.  Although Rayleigh was starting to show signs of fatigue for the first time, Kiarra was completely winded underneath her keratinous sarcophagus, continuing her assault through sheer willpower alone.

In the midst of the chaos, however, Lilia had managed to grab hold of Rayleigh’s leg and was attempting to fling her down to the surface where Kiarra’s hair still nommed ravenously.  Rayleigh, meanwhile, had taken to trying to evaporate Lilia’s binding with flame jets that Serrena had no doubt grafted onto her Spark, but she was unable to fully wrest herself free.  She tugged herself loose, but Lilia grabbed on to her left arm next and again tried to yank her to the ground.

Kiarra was barely standing at this point, but she charged forward in a full sprint despite what must’ve been a considerable amount of pain in her throat and lungs and legs, retracting her hair back to waist-length and leaping into the air after Rayleigh.

Nicholas looked on in awe, watching as his girlfriend batted away Rayleigh’s onslaught with that tiny sliver of strength she still possessed.  Kiarra suffered no small number of cuts and tears throughout her upper body as she powered through, but she did power through despite her injuries.  And for that Lysette shared in Nicholas’s pride.

But it was for naught.  Right when Kiarra got within striking distance, Rayleigh let out a scream so loud it shook the trees and ensured that anyone in Ciricu who was enjoying a lazy morning was now wide awake.  Kiarra crumpled to the ground, screaming in pain and clutching her ears from the overwhelming sound— a shockwave so powerful that the pressure differential itself forced Kiarra back to the ground.  It broke Lilia’s watery shroud on contact, sending her crumpling as well.  Even Nicholas was keeling over from the sidelines, and Lysette teleported him a short distance away until Rayleigh’s scream subsided.

Lysette teleported twice.  First to bring Nicholas close to Kiarra, that the two might tend to each other, then to Rayleigh, holding a blade of flame to her throat.

“Hey!  What the shit!  I thought this fight was between me and the two of them!”

“This is a lesson for you, Rayleigh.  When you fight, fight decisively.  There are times when you’ll need to conserve your stamina for unforeseen circumstances in the midst of battle.  But there are just as many circumstances when your opponents are trying to buy time to bring in reinforcements.  Reinforcements who will grind your best-laid plans to dust, and you along with them.

“You were enjoying yourself, and there’s no shame in that.  But fight to win, not to toy with your opponents unless you’re confident enough to bank your life on your decision.”

“I understand, Lyse.  Please let me go now?”

Lysette nodded and retracted her technique, then warped to where Lilia and Kiarra lay whimpering.  She pulsed her regenerative aura through the two several times, stitching up their broken eardrums and working to refill their completely drained stamina.  After about two minutes, the two combatants sat up, at which point Mirae went to console Lilia while Nicholas went to check up on Kiarra.

“You okay, Kia?” Nicholas asked.  “Do I need to kiss you to help you feel any better?”

“Hmph.  That’s pretty smooth.  And, after.  Still pissed about losing so badly.”

“Don’t be,” Lysette said.  “I intentionally put you and Lilia in a battle I didn’t think you could win.  Specifically because I wanted to test your tenacity and resolve.  I wanted to see how you two would fight together, and how long you’d last against a foe more powerful than the both of you.”

“I hope we fought well enough for your praise,” Lilia said.

“Ugh, Lilia,” Kiarra said.  “We should not be fighting for her praise!  We should be fighting for our honor and pride as Cultivators.”

“No, that’s not right either,” Mirae said.  They pointed to Ciricu just to the north, at the bottom of the foothills.  “We fight for all of their sakes.  And hopefully, when everything is all said and done and peace returns to Aimarion, we won’t have to fight at all anymore.”

Lilia nodded solemnly, reverence in her eyes.  “As my deity demands.” 

“I wish it would be so easy.  That we could live and let live,” Lysette said.  “Unfortunately, I’m fairly certain that we’ll be attacked many more times before this war is over.”

“You will defend us, right?” Nicholas asked.

“With all that I am,” Lysette said.  “But I alone can’t do so.  I need each and every one of you to do your part.”

“Speaking of,” Mirae said.  “We have something we need to do.  Lilia, are you and Kiarra both feeling okay?”

“Still a bit of ringing in my ears,” Lilia said.  “But nothing that won’t go away on its own.”

Kiarra responded with a nod of concurrence.

“Alright,” Mirae interjected, pulling Lysette’s hand.  “If anyone needs us desperately, we’ll be in our room.  Otherwise, we’ll see you all this afternoon or maybe tonight.”

Chapter 246: https://www.patreon.com/posts/114484664

Table of Contents: https://www.patreon.com/posts/101896170

Chapter 248: https://www.patreon.com/posts/114617204