Chapter 346 - 346 Trash Talking Before A Match?
Once everyone had moved to the side of the tent, Uncle tapped the ground and the sound from the brother's argument dimmed completely, Uncle continued speaking. "Now that our young hopefuls for Wrath membership have been introduced, let me reveal your instructors." Uncle said while gesturing with his beard towards Kat and Kamiko.
"These two will be your opponents. They are on punishment duty so don't feel too bad if you are a bit rough with them. Still, either party can surrender at any time. For Kamiko, the shorter one, we will be fighting till first blood, and for Kat you have essentially free reign, though surrender is still acceptable. If you have a problem with that, you can introduce your own conditions before the match if needed.
"Kat has impressive enough regeneration, that, essentially nothing will count as a major wound, so having that be the end of combat is a major handicap for you… hmm, do I still refer to you as a set of six with those two over there?" Uncle shrugged. "Any questions?"
"YEAH!" shouted Rock, her voice shocking Kat with how normal it sounded, just another weird thing about her body. She almost seemed to have a light British accent, and while she was shouting, her voice was very smooth and likely was soft spoken when she wasn't trying too hard. "Why do we have to fight flooz-" Rock's insult was cut off when Seralina slammed the end of her tail into Rock's head.
"Can you not insult them right before a fight?" said Seralina. Kat was surprised she sounded normal after the events with Kara, she even had the same forked tongue. *I guess she just prefers to sound normal? Or maybe she worked hard to actually sound normal? I'm not sure.*
Rock rubbed the back of her head a little before whipping around to glare at Seralina "Why should I care about fighting two Succslu-" Seralina's tail slammed into Rock again, this time from the front.
"First off. As a Lamia, I have some Succubi blood as well, so you're insulting me. Second, your grandmother was born a Succubus, and she is a great woman. Thirdly THEY ARE RANK 2 YOU IDIOT" hissed Seralina.
"I don't see why any of that matters. My dear old granny ran off to fu-" Rock's tirade was once again interrupted by Seralina, though this time, her tail was caught. Didn't stop the follow up slap though.
"Your grandfather was a horrible man, and she deserved better, but we are not here to air your dirty laundry. We are here to fight Rank 2 opponents. We were told this, very clearly, and they deserve the respect of a fellow combatant even if you think less of them for their heritage. Which is so outdated I'm surprised anyone even considered it when only around half of the race performs that kind of work, IF even that much" said Seralina calmly as if scolding a child.
Meron and Sekron, were at this point, sharing a look Kat didn't really understand, and were slowly backing away from the two girls to hide behind Uncle. Kat couldn't say it was a bad plan, but she did notice Seralina's eyes were tracking them, so it wasn't as subtle as they may have hoped.
"What's the point of fighting someone that's Rank 2 if they are so weak, they can barely spread their legs right!" shouted Rock.
Seralina sighed and gave Rock a look. Rock stared back. Seralina lined up for a punch, that was rather slow, which was easily blocked by Rock… until Seralina smashed her in the back of the head with her tail, sending Rock's head forward into her hand.
"Please Rock, have some decorum. I've known you for ten years, and I still don't get what your problem is with them. I've never pressured you to talk about it, and I'm not starting now, but can you please at least pretend not to hate everything about two girls I'm sure are perfectly nice" asked Seralina, with a sad tone knowing her advice wasn't going to be taken seriously.
"Well, I'll say it again? Why should I?" sneered Rock.
Kat gave Kamiko a look, 'You want her or me' with Kamiko inclining her head towards Kat suggesting she take care of it. *I'm surprised she figured that one out. I guess body language isn't too different here.* Kat gave a raised eyebrow to Uncle who turned a tiny part of his beard into a thumbs up.
Kat started to walk slowly forward. She saw that Seralina's eyes instantly noticed the movement, but Rock wasn't even trying to pay attention to her surroundings. Seralina, seeing Kat's approach tried once more to reason with Rock, "Look, we are about to spar, maybe you can just tone it down a bit…"
Before Seralina could finish her sentence Rock butted in. "No, Sera, I don't think I will. If you can't see what the problem with them is, then maybe we shouldn't be friends. Clearly, you'd rather be off doing other things then sparring with me. Perhaps your heritage is catching up to you"
*You know.* Thought Kat calmly, letting the racial insults wash over her. *I really do wonder if I'm weird for still never thinking of sex, or if the whole thing is overblown? Actually… maybe it's cultural? I mean, Kamiko seems much too adorable to be thinking about it. Gramps made sure all of us at the orphanage knew what it was and what it entailed… and he at least put some effort in unlike the sex-ed classes, but other than that it just doesn't really seem important?*
*Unless… is Rock making a big deal because that's what she wants instead of a good fight? Nah that's silly.* Kat continued her walk until she was right behind Rock. Seralina just gave a soft sigh. She didn't look overly hurt by Rock's words about their friendship, making Kat think this was perhaps a common occurrence. Clearing her throat, Kat smiled as Rock whipped around and into a combat stance.
"What do you want?" growled Rock. Her growling actually sounded like grinding rocks instead of her normally soft voice.
"Well, I thought I'd offer you a chance to take a shot. You seem to have such a problem with 'my kind' after all. If I'm really as bad as you say surely you can take me out with just a punch?" said Kat with a smile. *As if. I bet I can dodge anything she throws at me, and I'm pretty sure that I could tank some hits anyway. Well, I haven't seen her fight, but I mean really, my regen will take care of it if it's even that bad.*
"Ha, as if I trust you not to go running away with your tail between your legs" said Rock mockingly.
Kat felt something in her energy twinge, as it started to churn in her gut, spinning much faster than normal, and almost like it was getting ready to break out. *Really? That counts as insulting my tail does it? God dammit I can't believe that counts.* Seralina watched as Kat's eyes flashed at the insult, and paled a bit as she realised that somehow Rock must have hit on Kat's trigger somehow.
*Don't punch her in the face.* "I will not move my feet from this spot. Take a shot." said Kat. *Don't punch her in the face. It isn't worth the effort.*
Rock didn't need any more encouragement, she bounced on her feet a few times before swinging out towards Kat's face, going right for her nose. It was so slow, that when Kat reflexively activated her enhanced cognition, the fist practically stopped moving.
Kat rolled her eyes and bent backwards just enough for Rock's hand to sail easily over her head. When Rock pulled her fist back, and Kat returned to her full height Rock said. "Hey! You dodged!"
"Well, yeah," said Kat "I said I wouldn't move my feet from this spot, and I didn't. You missed, and it wasn't even close."
Rock growled and threw another punch at Kat as if the first one was a fluke or something. Seeing the fist coming again, Kat just moved her face slightly to the side and pushed her energy into her face. Rock's fist impacted right next to Kat's eye, and she felt the skin breaking under the heavy fist.
It wasn't much power though, and her head stayed perfectly still, bone not even creaking. Kat then slowly turned her face forward again, easily pushing away Rock's arm with her neck alone. The damage had already been healed at this point and Kat looked into Rock's eyes and said. "Do you still plan to insult me?"
Rock gulped, but Kat continued.. "And I mean, honestly, I could probably take it if it was just me, but Kamiko is a sweet girl, and you're being really rude to her, and your friend who's just trying to help you. Was the punch worth it? You feel strong now?"