The Reborn Witch had a nice 'Tea Time' with the Dragon Queen today-Chapter 39: Really, Mommy Issues? Selene vs Manasseh! (2)

As an inexperienced swordsman, she didn't need to be told twice in how slowness against a veteran of the night could mean a swift end to her life. The clang of steel against claws echoed through the hall as Selene's blade met Manasseh's swift counter. The vampire's hand shot out, coated in the gossamer threads of spider silk, and the air crackled with holy power against the unholy fabric.

Exchanges of steel and claw filled the room, the rhythm of their clashes punctuated by Selene's grunts of effort and Manasseh's chuckles of amusement. Left strike, followed by upward swing, spiralling for a downward thrust, Selene's blade sang a choir of holiness, while Manasseh's silk danced a macabre ballet of her kin's somber tenderness. As the sword bounced and cut through the wooden tables and pillars like mache, the recoil rebounding the knight's step, as she felt the tremble of the runes behind her, Lady Adil's glare, a silent guardian in this moonlit battle.

Another swing from side right to left, the air seething under the pressure as the claw met the exchange, Selene lunged forward with a fist on her waist, as she sent a high punch with the momentum, the vampire's chin grazed despite her head tilting, before wasting no time to launch a fist of her own, as Selene's cheek caved in like jelly, the punch drilling further before hurling her body upward into the air.

...eh? Did she really get punched so hard she is sent flying? The knight in the air straitened her reddened cheek with her cackled chin, as she flipped and landed with feather-steps. She checked, good, the sword is not stolen, her palm was steady, before she dashed in for another round of exchange of will, twenty years of swordsmanship against decades-old beastly instinct.

The result...was obvious. As another downward swing clunked on the pillar, followed by a thrust that was pulled back with webs instead of claw, an crooked elbow dashed her chest as she stumbled back only to be greeted a fist on her stomach and a slap...a slap? A slap on her other cheek. Selene sobbed, the humiliation of being toyed by Demond her mentor flushed her memory as the tears threatened to spill to her reddened cheek's', before she swung her sword to meet another claw. The exchanges were not exchanges from here on out, but only one-sided light punches and slaps that fuelled her further and further with humiliation. The chuckles by the vampire did not help, as if finding enjoyment for an adult playing against a child and winning.

This isn't it. I'll lose at this rate. Swinging from high left to low right for another parry, the young knight jumped backwards as she grabbed a chair scarred by the battle, before hurling it at the vampire with surprising strength. The chair shattered into splinters as it collided with Manasseh's silken claw, her vision momentarily obscured by the explosion of wood.

The young knight took this opportunity to dash towards the exit, the sound of shattering wood a temporary respite from the symphony of clanging steel and bulging mana. As Selene reached the door, she could feel the coldness of the runes pulsing against her skin, a silent promise of her mother's protection.

Yet underscoring that protection was a mere thread of silk clinging to Selene's armor, a sly reminder of the vampire's proximity. Manasseh had anticipated the girl's retreat, her eyes gleaming with the thrill of a well-anitcipated hunt. The silk unfurled from her claw, wrapping around Selene's wrist like a serpent and yanking her back into the fray with surprising force. The chair's impact had barely registered as a disturbance.

Selene, however, prepared for this, as mana surged through her throat. Demond's whipping that costed her a trip in the air last time lashed out as naturally as countless times before, the sage's resonated through the air, as she told of a tale for the first time, a spell that could shatter the very fabric of the dark. Her eyes glowed a fiery determination with her free hand outstretched, palm flat against the spider silk clinging to her wrist, as she shouted the incantation.

"Flame stretched. Path ignited. Ignis Guide!" Selene's incantation echoed through the hall, her palm blazing with a fiery light. The spider silk recoiled as if stung, before a spark of flame lit from her a palm. As if micmicing the serpent against the serpent, the flame circled around the holding, as it trailed upon the thin, silken path back to Manasseh's hand.

Nonchalantly, Selene narrowed her eyes in amusement, before her other silken claw dug into the arm with the silk, rubbing through the muscles as it tore it off. The pain was bearable, a mere irritant to Manasseh's heightened senses. As the young knight gasped and panicked for another chant, another silk shot out, wrapping around Selene's neck, lifting her off the air then sliding her across the ground, the girl's eyes bulging with fear and shock, as she was pulled to her captor once again. The loose hand returning as if never hurt, taunting the girl's clumsiness for forgetting the vampire's uniqueness.

Desperation grew in Selene's eyes as she was hoisted into the air by the unyielding spider silk, her feet dangling just above the cold stone floor. The pressure on her throat tightened, cutting off her air supply, as the blue veins in Manasseh's eyes grew more pronounced, the power of the stolen mana pulsing within her. The vampire's grin grew wider, revealing the extent of her power, a stark contrast to Selene's dwindling strength.

"Not utilising your druid blood, I see?" Manasseh mused, her grip on the silk tightening slightly. Selene's eyes watered as she struggled to breathe, her hands grasping at the unyielding thread around her neck. Her feet kicked the air, trying to find purchase, but her body was too weak against the vampire's supernatural strength.

"Relax. I have no intention to kill you. Aril's damnable runes...were alive. Yes, alive. So, if my intent just focused on 'defending myself', rather than killing or hurting or holding you hostage, she likely won't know." Manasseh's tone grew unbearably cackling as she leaned into Selene's ear, her grip on the silk tightening as the shimmering fog into her ears seeped into her terrified mind, as if angered by even thinking of the runes.

"Mother...Mother..." Selene's voice was a strangled whimper, her eyes flickering with a mix of anger and desperation. The room swam before her, the edges of her vision going dark as the silk around her neck tightened further.

"Hic...hic...why..." Selene's words came out in strained hitches as she tried to form coherent sentences, her eyes watering and her face reddening from the lack of oxygen. Tears rolled down her cheeks, if she would have known, she would have read more of Uncle Demond's stupidly lewd manga, rather than facing an opponent that would crack her neck with a crunch.

Yet with the ease shrugging off a fly, Manasseh's hand then let go, the daughter of the acolyte dropping to the ground like a ragdoll, gasping for breath. The vampire took a step back, watching Selene with a mix of curiosity and something akin to pity. Killing her might bring Adil here, and it is not yet time to face that disgraced Druid yet.

"Why what, little one?" she asked, her voice softer than the knight had ever heard before.

Selene rolled on the ground to the side, her eyes closed, tears mixing with the dust and grime from the floor. It was a comical sight, but the vampire's expression remained unchanged, her eyes studying Selene as if she were a rare insect.

"Not...not telling you..." Selene rasped out, her throat raw from the constriction. She pushed herself against the pillar, her eyes never leaving Manasseh. The runes hummed of danger, yet no sounds escape the hall , Manasseh's Barrier at work.

"How quaint. I was sure I heard a heartbreak." Manasseh's tone remained light, a stark contrast to Selene's gasping for air. "But, I assure you, your mother's love for you is as fierce as her thirst for vengeance. It's just... complicated, entangled and messy. If my kins were...'interrogated', she would be sure I won't kill you out of spite, and I would be sure she won't intervene if I did. But here we are, playing a game of cat and mouse."

Manasseh's mindset was always encapsulated by her obsession with 'cold necessity', reflected in the sacrifices from the pieces of 'Autopsy Report' now on the floor. She watched Selene's struggle with detachment, her eyes dimming to a less vibrant blue as the Alice's power waned. The girl's humanity was a mere inconvenience in her quest to free her ancestor's spirit, yet she found an odd sense of kinship in her commitment for her mother, as the knight clung to the pillar's runes like a lifeline, the purpose for her comical rolling.

"Say, why don't we have a chat tomorrow, when you're feeling a bit more... alive?" Manasseh suggested with a smirk, her eyes flicking to the shattered chair and the destroyed autopsy report.

"Is it...about the peace you mentioned?" Even with her voice hoarse, Selene managed to spit out the words with a hint of defiance, and hope for reconciliation, her wanton eyes never leaving Manasseh's.

Manasseh's eyes narrowed at the word. Peace, as if the stern reminder from the runes on the white stones below her feet didn't already screech through her very existence. "Absolutely not, but I would allow you a chance instead. In the town square where a cookie shop by the name 'Cherry's Bliss' used to stand. I've always had a taste for irony. But for now, I'm afraid I must bid you adieu. Your mother's runes are about to rumble, and I wouldn't want to be caught in her wrath. After all, even a vampire with obscure tinge of a dragon's power has limitations."

With a flourish, she disappeared into the shadows, leaving Selene choking on the floor. The young knight coughed and sputtered, her eyes watering as she took in ragged breaths. She felt a strange mix of anger, fear, and... was that pity? For the vampire who had just tried to kill her?

The young knight sprawled on the ground as she stared up at the ceiling, her eyes still watering from the silk's constriction. Her thoughts raced with the revelations of the night. The horror of the experiments, her mother's potential complicity, and the bizarre encounter with Manasseh. Selene's mind was a whirlwind of emotions, torn between the duty to her mother and the compassion she felt for the vampires who suffered.

In the end, though, she sighed. She is a mere, may she be repeated, a mere 21-year-old girl who loved to hide romance novels instead of scriptures under her bed. She couldn't fathom the depth of the situation, the gravity of the words the vampire had spoken. Her mother's love for her, for all the knights and for peace, was always a force that drived her actions.

In the end, nothing has changed. Confused. Battered. Rekt. Waiting for adults to swoop in to save the town. Will there be one day she is carried like a normal bride or be the hero like Alice did?

"...well, come on come on...just a regular Tuesday before I can go home and read manga, right?" She sighed as she glanced at the tattered report, one that her sword has sliced through like the sharpened leaves from her mother's wrath. Selene's fingers brushed the torn report-and the dragon-scale emblem hidden beneath, the white scale shimmering compared to Adrei's red royal seal, the jagged edge posing the unique arrogance from the Dragon's Elder Council.

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