>>5361991>>5362033>>5362060>>5362062"You're pretty good, but it's best not to try these combos just to show off, otherwise I might just start doing the same."
Closing your eyes and pushing your Od reading into overdrive, you taunt her by even dodging the punches and kicks she attempted to throw after each parry.
"Stay still! Since when were you this slippery!?"
"You may have not seen me fight in recent years, but there's a reason I could handle my own against Guts back in the day." You open your eyes and twirl behind her as she barely has enough time to turn and block.
"This strategy is good against other humans, but remember that we'll be fighting heavyweights only eventually. Some apostles won't even have human characteristics to exploit, so it's best to develop some other tactics for--" You stop yourself from cutting through Casca's chest piece as she freezes by the mention of the word apostle.
Falling down on her knees, she holds her head and trembles with fearful gasps, you walk over to calm her down.
"I'm sorry. I should have known better not to mention them in front of you..."
"No! I can keep going... Just ignore this mishap..." She tries to brush it off, but the secretion coming out of her arms is proof enough that her traumas are having a physical reaction on her rash.
"Casca, please..." You appeal to her empathy. "I know you want to get over what happened, but right now, you need to respect your own limits..."
"This is infuriating! I don't want to freeze every time I see him fighting all those monsters by himself again... He wouldn't be suspended in iron stitches if he wasn't taking so many wounds in my stead! What good is a commander who can't stare at an enemy without freaking out like a child!?"
A look at Casca prickled forearm reminds you of how much serum intake she needs just to hold onto her sanity. To only see your lover from afar, to never interact with him directly, and to only be near him when he's half dead is to suffer immensely. Two years of being absent should not have been that much, but with this everchanging scenery, to Casca, it should feel like 200.
"Let's do something else, your shoves might work if your axe can still manipulate weight and terrain. Plus, I need to learn how these undines work too."
Excusing yourself to check on how much mandragoran serum you had... You saw that even when mixing it with water, the vial only contained enough for a week... Without it, they would only last a few days until the withdrawal symptoms worsened into worse diseases.
The bad news were so worrying that you almost forgot to notice the handle of the Trident already showing its 3 spikes without you touching it, wondering why that was happening, you brought it out as Schierke explained things to you:
