1059 Chapter 1059 First to Wake is…
Back to Kat. Amount of time passed, unclear
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After Lily and Lian passed out again Kat couldn’t find a reason to stay awake herself. Meng was drinking water more as a way to pass the time then anything else and Kat didn’t particularly feel like practicing and risking the chance she freaked Meng out with one of her abilities. Kat didn’t fear Meng at this point, and even if she was attacked, Kat was all but certain she could survive it.
That’s why, when she heard the grinding of metal on stone, Kat freaked out a little bit as she woke up, flames flaring to life until she realised it was just the door to the vault opening. Meng was watching with some interest regarding the identity of the door opening. It was still quite early on and the fact someone had managed to attune something in less then a day was impressive apparently.
So when the person who showed up was Voldar, Meng just sort of reacted. In a blink, Voldar was on the floor unconscious and Kat hadn’t made a move to help him. A quick glance inside the vault revealed three meditating figures surrounded by cocoons of light Kat could easily see through with her eyes. Meng closed the door again and dragged Voldar off to the side before Kat realised that she should probably say something, “So… um… what did you do to Voldar?”
“Oh I just knocked him out,” said Meng as she dumped the dwarf in a corner. “I don’t know how he managed to finish first though… must have some sort of artifact related bloodline or something. I picked something that was somewhat incompatible with him so the fact that he finished first is truly a surprise,”
“Well why did you knock him out?” asked Kat.
Meng shrugged, “I had a moment of panic, then decided that I just didn’t want to deal with it. The truth of the matter is, with all the nonsense that we’re about to be involved in? Voldar’s death would be a minor inconvenience at best. Really, the only reason he lives is because I remembered that killing my problems isn’t the first option, and that you would likely be displeased with my casual disregard for life…”
Kat felt her lips pull into a thin line for a few seconds before exhaling, “I feel like I should criticise some part of that thought process but if I’m not thinking emotionally, I cannot find anything wrong with what you just said. It’s all factual statements, and I really shouldn’t get mad at the child assassin for thinking killing is a good solution to her problems,”
.....
“I haven’t been a child in m-centuries,” said Meng as she crossed her hands under her breasts to make them look slightly more prominent, “I don’t feel like calling me a ‘child assassin’ is a particularly accurate title,”
Kat shrugged and said, “I’m more concerned with the fact that you were raised as a child assassin then that you aren’t technically one anymore, only by virtue of the fact you are no longer a child, not that you are no longer an assassin. I feel like that chain of logic demonstrates my problems. You were trained in such a way that killing people looks like a really easy way to solve your problems, and your morals either never existed, or were trained out of you so there’s not reason for me to try and bring them up. Honestly, it’s more sad then anything else,”
“I don’t need your putting,” huffed Meng.
“Eh, perhaps you don’t NEED it know, but I believe you might already have it. It’s an emotional response Meng, not something I can really control. Still, what we should be addressing is the plan for dealing with Voldar. We can’t just leave him unconscious forever,” said Kat.
“I would like to interject and say that as a Rank 4 master of illusions I CAN in fact keep him unconscious forever, or at least, so long that he’d die of old age before the spell ran out,” said Meng as she gave Voldar a few light kicks to prove a point. Kat just glared at her for a few moments.
“Right…” mumbled Kat. “Well… what IS the plan with him then?”
“Meh, probably to just leave him unconscious in town somewhere? I don’t really care Kat. He isn’t important to me, he isn’t important to my bosses, his backing is weak, and leaving him alive is barely an inconvenience. I have about as much care for him as I would a random sack of potatoes, except the potatoes can be put into a storage ring. You can deal with him however you want,” said Meng
*Guess I need to figure something out then. Dropping him off somewhere randomly in town isn’t horrible per say… I’m just not sure how I could do that and keep him reasonably safe. Perhaps leave that to Hromdir? Have Meng wake the guy before I leave? No that might take discussion time, discussion time Meng isn’t likely willing to waste once Bing and Feng are awake and it’s time to get moving.*
Kat shrugged that off, and checked her connection to Lily, but found the Memphis was still asleep. Kat wasn’t surprised but that turn of events, but now that she was awake, Kat didn’t feel tired at all and simply meditating didn’t seem all that entertaining. So with a sigh Kat started to do some katas with her fans out. “Oooh, fans, I trained with those for a while. I can give you a decent spar with my own set if you want?” offered Meng.
“Really? That would be quite nice… actually… is there space here for it?” Kat said, trailing off at the end as she took in just how small the room is.
Meng just shrugged, “Eh, it’s not a tonne of space but all the fans I have on me a mediocre quality at best so we couldn’t have a full powered spar anyway. If we did my weapons would shatter before either of us got close to our full speed. My fans are rated for Rank 3 cultivators at best, and fighting a demon as a Rank 4? It’s not something they could stand up to. Not even if I had kept them better maintained, which I haven’t”
“Why not?” asked Kat as she took a stance and brought her fans up by her face.
“Because I need weapons with history when I’m pretending to be someone else,” said Meng easily. “If I had the ability to properly care for my weapons, then I’d be more of a threat. However, mediocre repair and maintenance on old equipment makes me look like a cultivator from a mortal family using heirloom weapons, or perhaps I stole them with no idea how to care for them properly. I also don’t know how to use fans to the same level as some of my preferred weapons, so I can’t go for ‘fan prodigy’ with them.”
Kat flicked open her fans and world in, trying to get a slice on Meng’s fingers, but Meng just bashed Kat’s fans away easily, “First rule when duelling a fan user, keep your fans closed. Leaving them open makes them too easy a target, and keeping them as more solid blocks of metal provides both superior defence, as well as an easier time with offence,”
Kat frowned but did as she was instructed and the pair clashed. A whirlwind of arms and the occasional leg as they tried to make their way through the other’s defences. It didn’t really go anywhere for quite some time. With both combatants taking it easy and in such an enclosed space there really wasn’t much room for flourishes. That’s until, instead of block of slapping away one of Kat’s strikes, Meng let Kat’s arm slide forward past her guard.
Before Kat could capitalise though, Meng trapped Kat’s arm under her armpit and smiled, “Second rule when facing a fan user. If they keep the fans closed, use that to trap their arm. Now, technically I’m down an arm as well, but I’ve got much more control over your body. I think you might have more physical strength then me, so freeing yourself isn’t impossible, but it would take time I can use to brain you or slit your throat. Do you want an example?”
Kat shrugged, “Neither will kill me, so I’m not too worried about it, but if you want to use it as a teaching moment I don’t mind,”
Meng rolled her eyes, “Damn kids these days. If I said as much to anyone else, even with a healer on hand they’d be screaming abuse but you’re just straight up cool with letting someone who is still nominally an enemy slit your throat as part of a lesson because I asked?”
Kat shrugged, “I mean, when you can heal flesh wounds in seconds at most, the idea doesn’t bother me… though… now that I’m thinking about it properly it WOULD get me in trouble with Lily so I better now,”
“You are one strange demon Kat,” said Meng with a shake of her head.
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