Board Thread:What Would You Do?/@comment-32558333-20170729234822/@comment-33398500-20171024043723

Standing outside the village that has been my personal hell for the last several weeks, I watched as my ‘wife’ came out with her posse of friends, once again ready to ‘punish’ me for defying the village.

“WHO THE HELL GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO LEAVE ME!?” the angry voice of my ‘wife’ demanded.

“You did.” I spat bitterly. “You did when you decided to treat me as property rather than a human being... you did when you decided to take me prisoner then force yourself on me, not only in public, but putting it on display for your whole village to watch!” as I said this, she shook with growing rage as the rest of her village now formed a circle around me.

“If that’s the way you feel about it... then fight me!” she commanded, drawing her sword as she always did when I disobeyed her. Normally, I would either say no, or diffuse the situation, from time to time i’d managed to subdue her physically without combat, but I’d never actually fought her properly before. The others around her now watching, stone-faced as one of their househusbands dared deny not only his wife, but the village as well.

Up until this point, the walking stick I had at my side appeared just that, but sliding the cloth off of the side that I used to ease the grip, it was shown to be a long metal pole that I’d carried with me in my time as an adventurer. It packed a wallop, but usually wasn’t enough to kill, especially for mamono, who were often tougher than regular humans. “All right then... if you truly wish to fight... then let’s go...”

Advancing toward her as the villagers remained in a firm circle around the pair, I could hear the expected jeers from the others “Put this uppity bitch in his place!” “Take him down and keep him there!” “How do you want to punish him this time?” however, it didn’t get to me right now nearly as much as it usually did.

Rushing toward me, it was clear she meant to dispatch me quickly, holding her special sword that she always used when disciplining me, a demon realm metal blade similar to those used by redcaps, meant not to cause actual physical harm to the minder of her daughters. Striking in a deliberate fashion, it was clear she thought little of my ability to fight from my lack of actual attempts to.

That was a mistake.

As she charged me, I shifted to the side, easily avoiding her deliberate strike and catching the back of her legs with my staff, causing her to lose balance and fall, landing on her ass. “I know you’re better than that...” I then stated “...perhaps you should give me the same credit...”

“You really are too damned uppity!” my so-called wife responded, jumping back to her feet and charging me again, this time more carefully placing her strike to be able to adjust position if I struck back. Deflecting the oncoming blade with my staff, I aimed a strike to her middle which was then pushed back by her sword.

Provoking her wasn’t a good idea though, as I knew for a fact that she was stronger than I was, and with her pride as an amazoness to not be beaten by her husband on the line, she was going to go all out on me. Barely dodging the next strike she directed toward my shoulder, I moved to block the next hit toward my opposite shoulder only to feel a swift strike on my side burning now, staggering back as I attempted to recover, but the burning in my side was very distracting, and my next attempt to trip her up was easily evaded, earning me a strike to the face to send me flying back. “You know, I was PISSED when I saw you trying to leave... but right now... with your attempt to fight back... it’s kind of cute, honestly, that you would attempt to defy me like this... and my sisters get to watch you get put into your place...” she said smugly, walking toward me calmly.

Barely staggering to my feet in time to deflect a strike toward my hand, I shifted my weight to recover my balance and ended up landing a blow to her legs, again tripping up my wife who thought me completely defeated. “Heh... don’t count your chickens before they hatch... wow... that was terrible... losing focus...” I found myself commenting, shaking my head a bit as my amazoness wife let out a howl and again rushed toward me, this time missing the strike from her sheer aggravation, allowing me to land a strike on her side, leading into another with the other end of the staff to the shoulder of her weapon arm.

Seeing her drop her sword from the hit to her shoulder, the expression on her face told me far more than any words of hers might have, letting out a feral groan of rage as she now dove at me, sliding the pair of us across the ground as she now starting punching, swinging with the intention to pummel my face beyond any rhyme or reason: being disarmed had hit her right in the ego. “You. Don’t. Get. To. Do. This. To. Me!” she cried, each word matched by a punch of inhuman strength directed toward my face.

I could feel the bones in my arms bruising as I held them up to protect my face from her onslaught, not even stopping as one of her punches met my staff that I still held onto for dear life, the ring of fist striking steel and the slight spurt of blood that resulted from it not slowing her down in the slightest. If this kept up, she’d shatter the bones in both of my arms in a blind fury. There was only one thing to do.

Catching the length of my staff under my leg, I pushed down with the leg and pushed up with my arm as much as I could manage, the length of metal now striking her in the face, drawing a trickle of blood from her nose as she staggered back slightly, shaking worse than when they had first caught me.

Once she had stopped moving the circle closed on me, barely able to move after her brutal attack, the others now pinning me easily as one of them asked “Are you all right, sister? Shall we punish him in your stead?”

<p class="MsoNormal">Still shaking, I expected something along the lines of ‘smash that uppity bastard until his bones are shattered’ or something of the like, but then I realized that the blood wasn’t the only thing red on her face. “I can’t... believe it...” she started. “...I’d always assumed humans were weak and frail... it’s just how it is, you’re weaker than us, and you lack the will to devote yourself to training at all times... but you... you managed to hold your own, and turn me back again and again...”

<p class="MsoNormal">Her face said it all, even before she spoke, “My husband is worthy!” beaming down at me as she now pushed her sisters aside and straddled me “This is the first time I’d gotten so worked up in a battle, and it was GLORIOUS!” she then continued, tail wrapping around my leg. “You. Are. Going. To train. With. Me! You have to! There’s no getting around it!” astounded at her excitement after she had come within an inch of breaking my arms, I could do nothing but gape, awestruck by the sudden shift in mood. “...and then we can begin to have fun while still in the heat of battle!” face betraying her newfound mood.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Are you... all right... sister?” one of the others then asked, looking confused.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Of course I am!” she then responded, “In fact, I’ll show you...” she continued, now looking down at me and saying “Let’s see if you can prove worthy in love as well as war, hubby~” this was actually the first time she’d actually spoken to me with that sort of affection in her voice, as if the two of us practically trying to kill each other had truly made us a couple.

<p class="MsoNormal">After this incident, strangely, it seemed my role in the village, and in my wife’s home had shifted. I was still kept in the village, but by her demand, I helped her train, and then afterward, helped her recover from our training, (though admittedly, that left me more worn-out than the training). Strangely, other amazoness in the village began asking my wife to let me help train them, as apparently it was something of a novelty to them, though it resulted in the village giving me a strange sort of respect that was completely alien to any of their other actions toward me, though I doubt it’s possible to fully respect someone whom is still mounted in public for them to watch.

<p class="MsoNormal">This place will take some getting used to, but I feel less like a slave and more like an actual part of the group now, and this coming from my wife and I bloodying each other not just once, but now on a regular basis as combat could quickly get out-of-hand.

<p class="MsoNormal">These amazoness sure were strange...