D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

The next fight wasn't anything special, it was certainly closer then Bodeir's fight, but it was just two swordsman attacking each other at high speed for a while. Nobody in the room where swordsman themselves, so it wasn't like they could appreciate the skill that went into the fight… well, assuming that there was skill. The fight ended when one of the competitors swords broke so… they might've just been hitting each other as hard as they could. Hard to tell really.

That changed when Bing said, "Lian's fighting!"

Everyone else in the room focused on the area on the arena that Bing was pointing to. Kat and Lily were surprised at Lian's appearance. If 'goth' was in the dictionary Lian would be the example picture. Instead of pale skin like Kat, Lian's leaned more towards an ashy grey… where it could be seen. Most of her skin was covered, her legs were covered by black tights… but Lily couldn't appreciate them properly because Lian was also wearing a thick black skirt and black boots. So even if the skirt lifted a bit when she walked, the boots hid most of the rest… and the slither of leggings that were visible hardly did anything for the leg obsessed lesbian.

Her hair was black as midnight with purple highlights on the underside, and her top fit the same pattern, a black base, long sleeves, and a faint pattern of roses with just their outlines done in a dark purple. Her chest was… modest. Very modest. Only the low cut on the outfit let her show of her a-cup breasts… but they were still covered by a thing layer of black fabric made to look like a tightly wound spiderweb.

Finally, Lian's face. It was marked by black makeup that surrounded her rather normal looking green eyes. Black onyx earrings hung from her ever so slightly pointed ears. Instead of having them pierced though, Lian had chosen to use clip-on earrings. It begged the question of why she'd wear them during a fight, perhaps Bing would know. Her lips were nearly black as well, but they didn't get as dark as her hair or makeup around her eyes.

Her weapon was strange. She had a zither, a guzheng to be specific… but Kat wouldn't have recognised either of those terms. What she saw, was a moderately sized string instrument that is to be played while sitting down and the instrument itself is horizontal. This guzheng had 25 strings… and Kat didn't really know if that was significant or not. The whole thing was about as tall as Lian, and slightly smaller then Kat.

Lian's opponent was much less interesting. It was someone who might have been from Bodeir's sect. They were a mountain elf much like Bodeir, but their most noticeable feature was their missing arm. They wore mostly standard cultivator's robes but the sleeve had been rather untastefully ripped off. It was clear the rip in the robes wasn't recent. The elf moved with enough grace and poise that could never be recovered in such a short time had the arm been lost today. On their back was a longsword in a leather sheath.

As everyone in the booth was getting ready for the showdown, there was a knock on the door. Lily instantly transformed and then went to move… only to remember she was already on Kat's lap and that was a perfectly reasonable place for a normal familiar to be, so she just happily snuggled up. Sue, in a moment of panic, grabbed the nearest thing to her… which was Bing of course. Bing, not seeing Sue was a problem didn't resist and was pulled face first into Sue's large boobs.

Embarrassingly for Bing and Sue, the whoever was at the door didn't wait for any sign they'd been heard or were allowed in. They just swept the door open. It was someone in a fluffy butler uniform. They took one look at Bing, raised a single eyebrow and then waited. Nobody moved or said anything for a few moments. Bing trying to chase the gay thoughts from her head, Sue trying to fight of the embarrassment of her instinctual reactions. Kat and Lily… well they didn't really see the need to do anything.

Then the butler walked up to Bing and grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and started hauling her away, "WAIT LIAN IS FIGHTING!" retorted Bing as she struggled in the butler's grasp. Of course, it was silly to think her clothes would hold up to her full strength, so the fact she was letting herself get pulled along pretty much said everything it needed to.

"I am afraid young mistress, that you have an upcoming match," explained the butler with a calm that seemed rather at odds with Bing's chaotic looking struggles.

"Can't we delay it or something? I want to see Lian fight! I didn't even know she'd be in this arena! Please!" begged Bing again.

The butler didn't stop though and they were already rounding the corner, "I am afraid not young mistress. I was order to get you and I cannot refute those orders at this time,"

"Wait but what about-" started Bing but before Kat and Sue could hear the end of the conversation the door slammed shut, blocking the sound from the hallway completely.

The three left in the room just sort of stared at the door for a few moments as they ignored the announcer hyping up the contestants in the background. "Is it weird I feel a little bad I didn't help her?" asked Sue.

"I mean… I feel the same even though if she really wanted to get away, I'm pretty sure she could have," answered Kat. Lily gave a solid nod, to show her agreement as well.

"Yeah… I wonder if the butler dude was stronger then her… or if she was just being dramatic about it…" pondered Kat.

"Could be either, maybe both?" suggested Sue. "I'd if I had to pick one she was just being dramatic,"

With that confirmed everyone turned back to the arena where the fight had already started. Lian had taken to sitting on the floor while 'Solo' the one-armed swordsman glared at her from afar. There was an obvious black circle around Lian and much less obvious patches of darkness that seemed to have sunk into the arena. There was also a general haze in the air that seemed to not really be doing anything. Lian had her hand on the instrument, and Solo had their sword at the ready.

Lian plucked at the strings of her zither, playing a morose tune as black dots seemed to flow from her place on the floor. Solo growled at them before slashing through one that passed nearby. It split harmlessly and dissipated as the fragments continued to fly past. Moving forward carefully, Solo tapped the patches of darkness with the tip of his sword and they all seemed to pop.

Gaining confidence, he continued moving forward at a walking pace, sliding quickly to the side whenever Lian sent a new wave of black dots after him. It looked like whatever Lian's plan was, it wasn't working as Solo reached a few steps away from her seated position. She hadn't made a move to retreat or advanced… when suddenly a discordant note wrong from her instrument, as if one of the strings had snapped.

The arena shuddered, and Solo went flying backwards. His clothing had somehow been shredded and his arms were covered in little holes, dripping blood. Solo wasn't going to let a little injury like that stop him though. He slammed his sword into the stone arena halting his backwards momentum.

Right as his feet reached the floor though, another sour note rang out, this time he was thrown into the air. Not willing to just go along with things, Solo flipped and seemed to kick of the air shooting straight towards Lian. She looked unworried even as Solo sword headed straight for his neck.

Lian played a harmony of three cords right as the sword reached the line in the sand. The notes rang like a gong out across the arena as Solo seemed to freeze in the air. Lian didn't show any joy at this, nor any fear when the barrier around her started to crack. She simply kept playing notes one after the other, building to something big. Solo glared, and his aura flared up the tip of his sword shone and he pushed on.

The shield cracked. Yet Lian didn't falter. One last strum of the zither and Solo dropped in place like a puppet with no strings. His sword clattered to the ground as blood exploded from the numerous holes he already had in his body. Lian turned to the announcer and waited for him to call the match.

He said nothing, and she whipped around to see Solo gritting his teeth and struggling back to his feet. Lian quick as a flash smacked him over the head with her zither and he collapsed back into the ground, going still.