Resurgence

Divergence

Rain

(During Just So You Know, after the death of Glutton)

As the Pig King's head fell to the ground, Rain felt surprisingly at peace. He had thought that, after so much fighting, he would be all worn out. But he welcomed the peace. The hardest part was yet to come.

Rain started to turn to continue further into the fortress and saw something that made him freeze. It was her. On the other side of the platform stood Abigail, or as she was called now, the Nether Princess.

She stood tall, face expressionless, with her white eyes shining brightly. Though she showed no sign of emotion, Rain could tell that she still didn't recognize him.

Rain felt like his heart was being torn in two. He didn't want to fight her, but he knew he must. He readied his weapons for battle and stepped forward to meet her.

In a flash, she was charging at Rain with inhuman speed. She crossed the distance between them in seconds, twirling her spear as she ran. She swung at him so fast that her spear was only a blur.

Rain let his instincts take over and was moving before the strike was launched. He intercepted the spear with one of his swords, stopping it dead.

He met her eyes and saw a flicker of surprise, before she returned to that emotionless mask. She had never seen his fighting skills, as when they fought at Glacierford, Rain had been in shock, and had not really even fought back.

Rain then launched an attack of his own, equaling her strength and speed. He tried to slip past her guard where it was the weakest, going for her legs. She parried easily and retreated, more wary now.

They circled each other before Rain launched himself forward. He attempted a move that Ser Patrick had taught him, a simultaneous high and low strike, to try and throw her off.

The Princess blocked both strikes with a quick twist of her spear. She followed that into a spinning horizontal strike aimed for Rain's knees.

Rain jumped over the strike, taking the opportunity to launch himself over Abigail's head in an attempt to confuse her. He tried a swipe at her unprotected back, hoping that she was still unsure about where he was.

She anticipated his move however, spinning around, knocking one of his swords out of his hand.

The fight continued for a few minutes, showing Rain that, in his weakened state, the Nether Princess was his equal in skill. If he wanted to win, he would have to improvise.

At that moment, Abigail tried two quick stabs at Rain's chest. Seeing an opportunity, Rain blocked both of the strikes, while pretending that the second one had gotten through.

Rain fell onto his knees, feigning weakness. He counted on the fact that the Princess would come in for the kill, though part of him hoped that she wouldn't.

She did however, coming in with a fatal overhead blow to his head.

Seeing his chance, Rain drove upward, knocking the spear out of her hands. He forced her back, driving her to the ground. With the Nether Princess disarmed and at his mercy, Rain lifted his blade for the kill.