suggestion by _yu11 !
It was a conquer match. That’s it. No tricks. No payloads to push, no maps to memorize, mostly no targeting for a kill. All you had to do was stand in the zone and not leave it. Stay there long enough, and the score ticks up.
You could do that. That was fine.
And to be fair, you were doing exactly that. Quite successfully, even. Your entire team had rushed off in different directions like feral animals the second the match started, leaving you behind with the point and zero opposition. Luck was on your side: everyone else was busy trying to outdo each other somewhere else on the map.
That’s what you told yourself, anyway, as the chaos of battle played out just out of sight. Clashing blades, shouted callouts, streaks of color from projectiles slicing through the air—none of it was your problem. Not right now, at least.
Until the air shifted.
And then suddenly, you weren’t feeling very competent at all.
A blur moved at the edge of your vision. Fast. Metallic.
And just like that, Katana was there.
You’d heard about him. Seen him, maybe. A little mysterious, face obscured by the mask branded by Thieves’ Den. A lot terrifying, being the kind of guy who didn’t waste energy on words. You half-expected him to immediately lunge, but he didn’t. He walked straight into the point with that unnerving calm that made your skin feel too tight.
And without a single warning, he swung.
You barely managed to get out of the way.
What followed could be loosely described as a fight—if you were feeling generous.
Katana moved like he’d studied this exact moment a dozen times in a dream. Every strike was perfect. Sharp, clean, efficient. Like he wasn’t even trying, just executing a sequence that had already been decided.
Meanwhile, you were making sounds that definitely didn’t qualify as heroic. Parrying, stumbling, backpedaling. Trying your best not to die in a flurry of very injuring consequences. Trying to dash away from each slash.
It was kind of working. Not well, but still.
Weapons clashed again and again—his blade moving with precision, yours with desperation. You weren’t sure how long it lasted, but at one point your hands stopped listening to your brain, and a swing went a little too wide.
And, with that, hit something.
It wasn’t his sword. It wasn’t even Katana.
Your weapon awkwardly edged into a space too tightly. You yanked back without thinking, in pure adrenaline. There was a tug, a snag, and then—
A surge of white and red flying past.
Katana inhaled sharply. You blinked. Your weapon had pulled something else loose with it.
And as quickly as it happened, he dropped his blade to the side. His arm snapped up, covering his face. Not attacking, not countering. Just.. hiding. You adjusted your grip on your weapon, clearing your throat, and did absolutely nothing in uncertainty.
You might’ve pulled off his mask. Or.. something. You weren’t even sure. You hadn’t meant to. You were just trying not to get sliced in half, and it ended in quite an awkward.. predicament.
The silence carried on between the two of you, making the battles in the background blur into static.