Chapter 45 – Hour of the defining duel
Nova, having unceremoniously fainted from hearing the shocking news about her upcoming role as a stage dancer, promptly lies unconscious on top of the ambassador's bed with Morgana kneeling by her side like a mother hen. "C-can ya hear me, luv? Oh, ya lookin' so pale..." She worriedly says, using both of her palms to fan the elf's face.
"Yo, Nov-Nov, wake up!" Pink shouts, leaning in from the opposite side to insistently poke her cheek. "You are scaring me... Heeeeey, come on, wake up! Ugh, wake up now, you itty bitty tittied, pointy-eared dork!" She grunts, reaching down to hold one of Nova's small breasts and roughly squeeze on it in frustration... activating an automatic reflex action on the elf's arm and earning herself a strong, sudden punch to the face that makes her land butt-first on the floor.
"...I refuse! I-I can't dance in front of a crowd!" She immediately gasps the second her eyes open up again, rising into a seated position, seemingly having been able to regain consciousness from the impertinent stimulus on her chest. "I... I... I just can't!"
"Don't be a drama queen, you'll do great!" The orc simply says, waving his hand in the air dismissively.
"Drama queen!? You are-"
"Waaaaah, ya almost gave me a heart attack! I'm so glad ya are feelin' better, luv! I was so worried..." Morgana interrupts the grumpy girl before she can begin ranting, hugging her tightly and repeatedly caressing her long silver hair. Nova makes an attempt to complain at first, but then simply resigns herself and allows the doting woman to hold her close.
"Uh, I'm fine too, by the way..." Pink mumbles after some seconds, a bit woozy as she rises from the floor, holding her sore jaw in place. "Girl, you weigh like twenty pounds, how do you punch so hard...?"
"Aww, I'm so sorry ya got hurt... Think a hug could help?" The ogre woman sweetly asks, holding her free hand towards the pouty succubus.
"...You know what, Morgs? Yeah, I do~." Pink's discomfort is quickly replaced by a smirk, giggling happily as she bounces towards the tall red woman on the bed and joins the warm embrace, eagerly rubbing her face against her pillowy, comforting bust. "Oh-hoho, I'm feeling better already!"
"Hmmmm, look at that..." The orc ambassador rubs his hands together, the crotch area of his pants starting to bulge at the sight of the three gorgeous contrasting women cuddling together on top of his mattress. "Maybe before going to that brat I could-"
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Powerful, ear-shattering booming knocks suddenly flood the suite, making it seem like someone was furiously striking a battering ram against the door instead of using their hand.
"Gaaaaah, relax! I'm coming, I'm coming!" The orc exclaims, hurrying towards the door and opening it to face the aggressive visitor on the other side. "...Hey, Juli! What's up?"
The tall blonde's pursed lips quiver, thick eyebrows furrowing as much as humanly possible... Juliette, as huge and strong as an ox, yet not nearly as docile as those kinds of creatures, has to utilize every scarce bit of self-control left in her being to not strangle the orc ambassador the second the cute little problematic nickname carelessly comes out of his lips yet once again.
"Oh, 'ello, captain!" Morgana cheerfully waves her hand from her position on the ambassador's bed. "Nice to see ya again!"
Pink momentarily stops burying her face in the ogre's soft tits to look back at the woman. "Is that the muscle-chick Orok wants to fuck!? Nice~."
"Don't be so loud, idiot..." Nova grunts, grabbing a handful of the succubus' pink hair and forcibly bringing her face back towards Morgana's chest in an attempt to muffle her.
"We are having our duel. Right now." Juliette orders bluntly, her angry baby-blue eyes unwaveringly fixed on the orc's pair.
"Gah, I mean... I'm a bit busy now. Do you mind if we do this another day?"
The woman outright growls like a feral beast, taking a step forth and grabbing the collar of Orok's shirt. "Grrrrrrrrrr, I'm not asking! I said we are having our duel. RIGHT NOW!"
"J-jeez, alright... If you want to have your ass kicked that badly..." The orc sighs, giving the majestic blade hanging from his hip a small, quick pat. "I needed to try this thing, anyway."
"Hey, you promised me you'd give that sword to Grace! Y-you are committing a crime!"
"Ugh, fine. I'll be a good boy and go hand it over to her right now if you want..." Orok makes a pause, cheekily smirking. "But that'll probably take a while because Grace is always busy, so our duel will have to wait until tomorrow... What a shame, Juli..."
"Aggghhh, you shameless criminal no-good manipulative disrespectful scum!" Juliette barks, reasoning lost in favor of a state of impulsive outrage, harshly gripping the orc's collar and practically dragging him out of the room. "No... this ends now! I'm going to enjoy wiping that disgusting smug expression off your face!"
"W-we should stop this... right...?" Morgana nervously stammers, constantly glancing at the girls by her sides.
The trio, along with a large crowd of spectating soldiers, lean against the wooden fences separating the swordfighting arena-like circular enclosure from the rest of the training yard. Inside it, Orok and Juliette stand a few feet away at opposite sides, facing each other with their weapons ready, expectantly awaiting for the go-ahead.
The late afternoon sun stands right by the horizon, selflessly offering its last rays of the day to illuminate the duel. The soldiers surrounding the arena exchange murmurs amongst themselves, varying in ranks yet all equally as confused as to why their captain is challenging a foreign diplomat to a battle... Except for the very small bunch who heard the scandalous rumor, of course, who seem really interested in the event yet also absolutely mortified as for the different hypothetical reasons for it to be happening...
"Listen, Morgana, if you want to go and step between them, you are free to do so." Nova sighs, clearly irritated by the situation. "But you shouldn't bother, it's useless."
The ogre pouts. "Uh..." She hesitates, twiddling her fingers together.
"I can't see anything!" Pink exclaims in frustration, too short to observe over the wooden fences. The succubus keeps jumping up and down and fluttering the useless tiny wings on her back in a futile attempt to go a bit higher, barely able to get a glimpse. "Mooorgs, carry me over your shoulders!" She suddenly commands, tugging on the tall red-skinned woman's sleeve to get her attention.
As the ogre dutifully crouches to boost the girl upwards, some distance away, a group of four soldiers, the same ones who were 'heroically rescued' by the orc back in the succubi cave days ago, talk to each other. "Hey, look who it is!" One of them says, pointing at the ambassador.
"Him!? He is the one who is going to fight the captain...? What the fuck is going on here?"
"Hmm, he did seem very peculiar... If you ask me, I believe the ox must have a very good reason for this."
"Listen, regardless of that, he saved our lives. We are back with our families because of him." Another one respectfully adds, all of them looking way healthier than they were as breeding pets. "Once this is done, we need to properly thank-"
Before the man could finish his sentence, he is interrupted by a loud gasp from the fourth soldier of the group. Horrorized expression plastered on his face as he notices the presence of the pink-haired succubus in the crowd, towering over the other soldiers. "Damn! T-they came back for us! Ruuuuun!" He yells, hurrying away as fast as his legs allow him to, prompting his startled friends to quickly follow after him, stumbling over each other...
"Don't be a pushover." Nova simply says, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms as she looks at the altruistic ogre next to her. "She'll turn into a little dictator if you allow her to."
"Oh, I don't think I'm bein' a pushover, luv... I really enjoy assistin' people!" Morgana smiles brightly, holding Pink's legs as she remains seated atop her shoulders. "Tee-hee, it makes me feel great! Gives me sum warm, fuzzy feeling' in me stomach."
"That's, uh... That's alright, just don't let people take advantage of you, okay...?"
"Yo, shut up, girls! It's about to start!" Pink shushes the pair of women, excitedly watching as a young soldier enters the arena and takes position between the two brawny fighters.
He takes a moment to clear his throat before addressing the public, doing the best he can to mask his disorientation. "As you all have noticed, Captain Juliette Shaw has decided to... uh, challenge ambassador Orok Stonefist of Garro to a public showdown with the intent of, in her own words, defending her honor..." He makes a small pause, taking a quick glance at his captain before continuing. "I must remind the spectators that the rules and arrangements that apply on this fight, according to our code of chivalry, make it classify as an honorable duel instead of just a clandestine brawl. I must also remind you that betting is illegal in these events and could be punished with a fine of-"
"Hey, get on with it!" The orc impatiently grunts.
"Ugh... The duel will finalize when one of the participants finds themselves forced to surrender, receives a major injury, or loses their weapon. May the most skilled fighter come out victorious." He states, hurrying away from the arena and getting himself to a safe spot before loudly exclaiming a simple yet decisive... "Begin!"
With the duel officially initiated, only milliseconds pass before Juliette's long, thick greatsword powerfully slashes vertically onto the orc's direction, missing just by a hair as he skillfully manages to bounce to the side at the last second. "Agh! Stay still, you coward!" The furious blonde roars, immediately swinging her weapon once more at her opponent. This time, he uses his own weapon to block the attack, loud metallic sounds ringing as their blades clash, bright sparks flying everywhere.
The ambassador's elegant sword, small compared to the captain's massive two-hander, does a surprisingly fantastic job stopping every enraged strike thrown its way... The spectating crowd now erupts into chaos, the screams and gestures from the excited soldiers adding to the intense atmosphere and causing Juliette to fight with even more vigor.
"Gah! Y-you are making me sweat!" Orok pants, reduced to just blocking and dodging the captain's brutal and seemingly endless attacks, unable to find any kind of opening to strike back. "You really were way more prepared this time...!"
Along with the public, Pink fiercely waves her balled-up fists up and down as she watches the combat draw out, adrenaline rushing through her tiny body just by witnessing it. "Don't just stand around like that, big guy! Do something already!" She frustratedly screams.
Below the succubus, Morgana, like usual, closes her eyes to shield them from the pointless violence, trying her best to not start weeping. Simultaneously, Nova tightly holds onto the wooden fence in front of her, the expression on her face one of utter, undeniable worry, with her long twitchy elven ears noticeably folded down and her glasses starting to fog up from her anxious breathing. "Come on, you idiot... Don't get hurt..." She softly mumbles.
"Marvelous! You did a fantastic job." Olivia proudly exclaims, seated in front of her desk with Princess Francesca's handmaiden standing close. Both women inside one of the most private of rooms of the gigantic castle, one that was promptly claimed long ago as an office by the royal advisor... Atop the woman's desk, presented like it was some sort of important stolen artifact, lays a small light-purple book with different childish, glittery adornments all around its cover, along with a very threatening label that simply states:
do not open under any circumstances if you are not Princess Francesca!!! >:C
The forbidden Princess' diary... The place to discard her most obscure thoughts since she was a child... Olivia rubs her hands with excitement, her large smile never leaving her red lips. "Now then, I have to kindly ask you to-"
"I... uh, I-I don't believe this is the right thing to do, Madam..." The handmaiden nervously stammers, repeatedly glancing back over her shoulder at the closed door in the back of the room.
"Oh, I assure you it is! I agree that young ladies have the right to keep secrets... But I really need to verify something, to make sure I'm not, well... drawing the wrong conclusions, like my dear husband thinks." Olivia continues smiling, holding the diary without any hesitation and starting to curiously examine its decorated front.
"Y-yes, I know that... But what I mean is that if the princess finds out I did this for you, she'll... s-she'll definitely..."
"That's why she'll never find out." She calmly says. "You've already taken it, haven't you? So let's do this quickly and then you can go return it to the exact same place you found it, before our young princess finishes her bath."
"I just... Y-yes Madam..."
"Perfect. One would expect you to be a lot more chipper, considering the very generous pay raise you are receiving for this..." The advisor softly chuckles. "Now that's settled, please turn around, cover your eyes, and take three steps forward."
The handmaiden timidly nods, following the orders with the utmost obedience, finding herself away from the desk and unable to even infer what the contents of the diary could be. "Like this...?"
"Exactly like that." She says, finally opening the light-purple diary and taking a look inside. As much as she would love to exhaustively snoop through each annotation and scribble, she has to skip towards the most recent entries, not wanting the teenager to finish her royal, afternoon bubble bath and find her private journal gone...
dear diary! :3 today i bought the cutest-
No.
dear diary, i just need to vent a little... father is pathetic... i miss mom too, but that doesn't mean it's okay to act like-
Hmm... No...
DIARY. UGH I SWEAR, OLIVIA IS SO ANNOYING, TODAY SHE-
Ha, nope.
dear diary... HE IS SO HOT!! i swear my heart has been pounding all day... i never felt like this before, i think i'm in love!!! <3 <3 <3
Well, getting closer... Yet it still doesn't mention who-
Francesca Stonefist. Orok of Malena. they sound sooo perfect!! :O we are meant for each other... i should be his wife, not that stupid elf BITCH!!!!! four eyed knife eared prostitute
Doodled next to the handwriting, and surrounded by various hearts, is an exaggeratedly flattering depiction of the gigantic ambassador wearing a tuxedo and the tiny ginger standing next to him in a wedding dress... Oh, and the elf assistant decapitated in the distance, with crosses over her eyes and her tongue sticking out. Classic...
"Heh." Olivia isn't able to hide her amusement. 'Need any more proof, Amadeus?' Is what she would love to say to her husband, maybe accompanied by a cocky grin... That orc is good, extremely good. It's going to be difficult to stop him, but she always loved a challenge.
"Well, I think I'm done looking. Fortunately, there was nothing to worry about after all. What a relief!" The advisor lies, finally closing the diary with an elegant flick of her wrist and rising from her desk. "Now you can go return this thing. Remember, exact same place where you found it... And no peeking, darling. I'll know." She ends her sentence with a rather ominous voice tone and expression, making intense visual contact with the handmaiden as she walks right in front of her and passes the diary onto her shaky hands.
"O-of course, Madam...!"
"Attagirl." Olivia smirks again, domineeringly resting her hand over the handmaiden's shoulder and guiding her towards the door of the office... However, just as they step into the hallway, they are surprised to find Ser Frederik, Grace's husband, patiently leaning against the wall and waiting.
"Ladies." He greets both women with a polite bow of his head. The handmaiden lets out a little gasp, very unsubtly hiding the light-purple diary behind her back. Though luckily, the man seems to overlook it for now... "Do you have a minute, Olivia?"
"Certainly, knight." She responds, clasping her hands over her front while, at the same time, discreetly indicating to the handmaiden to leave with a slight tilt of her head. The woman promptly catches on and slips away as quickly as possible. "I hope everything is alright."
"It is, thank you for your concern. I just felt the urge to report a... 'strange situation' that's occurring right now at the training grounds that you might not know of..."
Juliette's messy golden mane swings around with each of her attacks, beads of sweat flying all over the place, the muscles on her thick uncovered arms bulging as she just keeps assaulting the orc from every direction with her greatsword, fighting like she was possessed by a choleric spirit of vengeance. "SURRENDER NOW!"
"L-let's take a break." Orok struggles to breathe, the duel dragging on way longer than any of the previous quick little brawls he had with the woman. Despite his efforts, he finds himself still unable to land a single blow, only managing to defend himself. "I... uh, remember when I licked your abs, Juli? Wasn't that-"
"AAARRRGGGHHH!"
The exhausted ambassador's attempt to put the woman nervous terribly backfires as, with a primal roar, Juliette gathers the strength needed to unleash her most devastating strike yet, sending her rival stumbling to the ground as it clashes against his guard. "Gah, shit!" He curses, clutching his sword tightly as he struggles to regain his footing. The towering figure of Captain Juliette menacingly looms over him, eyes ablaze as she closes in...
The crowd goes completely crazy at the turn of events, screaming their lungs out and climbing onto the wooden fences to watch closer.
"I told you to surrender!" Juliette hisses, both hands firmly gripping the hilt of her long weapon as she brings it high above her head, preparing to deliver the final blow.
"Sex is at stake..." The orc softly groans, determination intensely growing on him as he gazes upwards at the tall, muscular beauty he really wants to bed tonight. "...So I can't lose!"
The greatsword brutally comes downward in a straight line, slicing through the air with a loud whooshing sound. Orok, ignoring his current weariness, decides to make yet another attempt at defending himself, raising his extravagant sword to fend off the furious attack... This time, however, his blade seems to start radiating a bright yellowish color, the ornate light-colored steel now tinted golden as something... divine seems to awaken.
As the blades meet, what should be a clanking sound is replaced by a resounding thud... Juliette's thick imposing greatsword pitifully shatters upon contact like it was a little toothpick, dividing itself into two equal parts. One fragment remains lodged against the hilt of the destroyed weapon, that the astonished woman still holds, while the other is sent flying into the air, eventually landing a good distance away from the arena...