Maids VS Apocalypse

Kicking the ground once more, Lara lunged forward. She didn’t allow the woman in red a moment of reprieve as she thrust and swung her spear, aiming at her opponent’s vitals with cold accuracy.

Though her long maid dress appeared to flutter randomly with each of her movements, That couldn’t be farther from the truth. The uniform had many traits, one of them being ensuring it always remains out of the way, never hindering its wearer’s movements.

Rather than a dress or a uniform, with how many enchantments it had battle armor would be a more accurate way to describe it. It was thanks to it that Lara was able to perform her Spear Arts without any worries.

Her opponent, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have any special clothing on. She evaded the attacks with difficulty all while holding a hand to the wound on her chest. She hadn’t received any damage after the first attack, but there was no telling how long that would last.

The woman in red tried to widen the distance between them while reaching into one of the pouches on her belt. She took out a glass bottle of some sort and removed the cork sealing it with her thumb, sending it flying at the maid.

Lara didn’t take her eyes off of the woman but the distance between them increased in the moment she used to deflect the small wooden lid. That wasn’t a problem, however, since all it took her was two steps to close the gaps.

In the short moment they were apart, the woman in red spilled the contents of the small bottle on her chest. A stream of vapor rose from the areas touched by the liquid and in an instant the wound caused by the maid’s spear closed.

"You sure are persistent!" The woman flung the empty bottle but the maid dodged it with ease. "Shouldn’t you focus on saving that master of yours!?"

Lara ignored the obvious provocation and continued her attacks. She barely slowed down since the first one thanks to her superior dhampir stamina, but her opponent was a normal human who couldn’t possibly keep up with such intensity.

The woman in red clicked her tongue, having noticed her speed falling. She could no longer dodge as well as she did before and Lara’s spear was grazing her clothes and skin more often with each subsequent attack.

She was clearly getting desperate so there was no telling when she might lash out. Lara didn’t let up, however. She intended to end things as fast as possible so she could go help her master, but it was due to her rashness that ended up making a crucial mistake.

So far the woman in red only dodged and made no attempt at a counterattack. That lured the maid into a false sense of security and caused her to be momentarily surprised when her opponent’s movement patterns changed abruptly.

Coating her arms in the glow of a fully activated Force Field, the woman in red parried Lara’s spear and closed in on her, thrusting a palm at her stomach.

Lara remained unfazed and blocked with her own Force Field, but the clash ended up pushing her back several meters. Her opponent leaped in the opposite direction at the same moment leading to the gap between them widening even more.

The moment her foot touched the floor, the maid shot forward. Nevertheless, the woman in red had the pause she needed to reform her halo and completely switch to the offense.

"Now-"a bizarre crimson pyramid appeared on her upper right "It’s my turn!"

A reddish-purple beam shot out of the crystal heading straight for Lara’s silver head. At that instant, rushing in appeared to be a mistake. There was no dodging a light beam at that distance.

The maid’s head seemed to pop like a balloon, turning into tiny specs that scattered in every direction, but something about the ease with which that happened felt off. Only when she saw the rest of the maid fade away did the woman realize she was looking at an afterimage.

"Wha-"

Lara had spun around a moment before, having predicted the beam’s trajectory. Her elegant move was followed by a sharp swing at her opponent’s legs, but the woman in red seemed to recover from her shock just in time to evade.

A second pyramid formed over her left shoulder as she retreated farther. Going by their translucent makeup, the way light reflected on their surface, and the laser shooting out of them, Lara had no doubt that they were some kind of crystal cannons.

As the crystals shined with the light of the next attack, Lara didn’t follow after the woman in red and instead slowed down. She tightened the grip on her spear and a mystical white glow manifested, wrapping itself around the spearhead in an instant.

Lara took a firm step forward and spun the spear once, its head drawing a white crescent that shot out toward the woman, carving a clean line through the ground.

Caught while attempting to leap backward once more, the woman in red found herself with no chance to evade the crescent. Doing so with nothing under her feet seemed impossible.

Before the white energy could hit her she raised her Force Field and kicked with her leg. The collision sent her body spinning out of the way and she was able to land safely, but a second crescent was already flying in her direction.

Lara didn’t stop at two; she took another step and shot a third one, then a fourth. She repeated the same move again and again, her crescents growing larger each time until their ends connected to form circles.

Though the attacks didn’t hit the target herself, they managed to destroy the red crystals hovering around her. Red shards scattered each time she tried to form new ones and the toll on her mind got worse each time.