InterGalaxia (On Hold)

2.14

The candidates were shifting looks between themselves, highly confused. There were only ten candidates left, many of which had absolutely no battle prowess. Three directly dropped out, stating about this very problem being the reason why they did so. This left seven candidates to do the final round. The seven were escorted personally by General Long to a private and spacious courtyard in his personal Palace. He had long instructed his eunuch companion to arrange a series of weapons for the candidates to choose from. Apparently personal weapons were disallowed from being used, much to Chi YunQi's chagrin. While talking about this rule, he looked over her for a longer period of time before lightly sliding his eyes over her wrist. Shaking her wrist slightly so that the sleeves of her hanfu definitely covered her bracelet tattoo, Chi YunQi narrowed her eyes in retaliation. Long WeiFeng fumed at the edge of the courtyard, thinking that his brother was sending 'bedroom' eyes towards his Empress, he stood with clenched fists and a nasty glare directed towards the older man. 

The first candidate up for the challenge was the Right Minister's daughter, Lu MeiLi. For such a gentle name, she was rather gallant.  As a scholar's daughter, one pictured a delicate little Miss but she was hearty with short hair in a bob and soft armour graced her body. She had stood out amongst the crowd beforehand but now it's  clear that she came unexpectedly prepared. Selecting a spear from the weapons displayed, she took to the middle of the courtyard with swift and confident footfalls. General Long gazed at her in silent assessment before picking up a polearm, the Bo Staff. Lu MeiLi sneered in quiet disdain, believing this General to be a fool. Who would choose a polearm to find an opponent with a spear? A spear held the advantage as it held the piercing capability of a blade as well as the length and agile movements of a polearm. Chi YunQi silently nodded her head in admiration at the General's choice of weapon, something witnessed by the man out of the corner of his eye. General Long stood opposite Lu MeiLi, both opponents standing in form.

 Lu MeiLi's spear was lent up against the outside of her foot on the side of her body that her dominant hand was. The middle of the spear was gripped by her dominant hand at her waist and the top of the spear was rested on her shoulder, right next to her chest. With her opposite hand raised, she bowed before sinking her knees, lifting up the weapon in her hand. General Long, on the other hand, held out his staff horizontal to his body at shoulder height and with straight arms. Slowly flipping the staff down and tucking it under his armpit, General Long looked like he just rowed an imaginary boat with that motion. His dominant hand was holding the middle of the staff with his non-dominant hand gripping the staff just behind the other hand. He allowed the end of the staff past his hands to rest in his armpit and pointed the front end of the staff at his opponent. Grabbing her weapon's shaft at about ear height on the dominant half of her body, Lu MeiLi pulled the shaft across her shoulders towards her non-dominant side of their body with straight arms. This pose resembled a stance one would take for shooting an arrow but she was holding a spear instead of a bow. General Long also prepared himself, turning the staff in leisurely circles over one side of his body, his arm raised in a chicken wing with the staff spinning in a 360 next to his elbow, the staff crossing over his chest and his other arm in a chicken wing with the staff spinning next this elbow. While one arm was in a  chicken wing, the other was straightened so that the spinning force would pack a punch if one was hit.  

A gong sounded out and Lu MeiLi, who was within striking distance to her opponent, stepped all her weight onto her back leg, made sure to point the tip of the blade behind her shoulder and swung the spear horizontally as if to pierce the opponent's neck.  It was like her spear was a clock hand in the 9 o'clock position abruptly changing to a 6 o'clock position before bypassing its original position and straight to the 12 o'clock position all in one smooth move. Her hands gripped the end of the spear for maximum reach. Seeing the rapidly spinning staff in General Long's arms flip one-eighty so that the bottom end tapped the spear tip from underneath, Lu MeiLi slid the shaft up with her hands until one hand was at the end and the other just under the spearhead. She did this to lengthen her reach, sliding the hand at the top towards the middle as she pointed the tip towards the ground before swiping up to give the man a swift uppercut to the chin with the spearhead. This was happening so quickly that after General Long's initial counterattack, with the momentum of his continuous spinning, he directly pulled his pole down at the apex of a spin with enough force to try and embed the spear tip into the ground.