MaxLennox Short: Swordplay
"Have you ever handled a sword before, Colonel?"
Lennox shot him a small smirk but Max remained serious rotating his weapon dangerously slow to display his patience and experience with it. He got a humored reply. "I think I've had some time to figure one out, Captain."
"Yeah, I'll take that as a no," the pirate-themed criminal quipped back, sliding his metal clawed fingers over the edge of the blade with a few sparks shimmering off it. "A sword might not be as conventional as a gun but if you know how to use it, it can be far deadlier. Granted, it usually requires close range to get the best results. So, try your luck."
Lennox started swinging it like a hellion to flaunt his bravery and prowess. Max stepped back a few feet before barely swinging in return. The sword was slapped from Lennox's hand by the other effortlessly while Max held a bored expression. The soldier looked between his disarmed hand and the man who seemed very disappointed in him.
"I don't know how many pirate movies you've seen but that's not what we did most of the time."
Will frowned, "Then what did you do in swordfights?"
"Well, for starters, there wasn't a ton of swordfighting as you thought. These blades, like katanas, were meant to kill, gut, and sever. The point of a fight is to destroy your enemy, not showboat. Not to say at risk of our lives we didn't use our swords to block deadly blows and protect ourselves in that manner, it was just rarer than Hollywood made it out to be. You aim to end it as fast as possible because the opponent can and will kill you rather than play along. And trust me, I saw plenty of gruesome deaths from people who wanted nothing less but to see you bleed out from every orifice in seconds," Max said.
"Most things of the past are exaggerated, especially when you only have written words to go by. I mean the swords can take a good amount of tension but in the long run, they aren't designed for constant confrontation. Now, come at me again. Less showing off, more strategy. Let's go."
Lennox grabbed his sword and held it firmly, not doing anything but concentrating on Max. Suddenly, the pirate lunged and swung viciously. He knew he frightened the soldier who blocked one strike and was left open by the rebound. Max's sword stopped centimeters short from his jugular with a dark expression.
"You're dead," he proclaimed. "Again."
He smirked at the frustration on the soldier's face who reset his position and was beginning to display rage inside. Good, he needed Will to show him desperation where his life depended on it. Lennox was the first to move. Max blocked immediately but in the same motion swung his foot around to catch Lennox's and kick it out for him to fall, placing the sword tip this time propped exactly where his heart was where he would have impaled the man.
Lennox tried to read his stance the third time, tried to counter too quick and move in the same second to beat him. Max shifted to the side away from the strike zone immediately but brought his sword up to skim the soldier's shirt and had the blade between both of them which made the latter panic for a brief second. Had it breached, the sword would have went into Lennox's gut and forced up through the body until the tip of the blade was sticking up his throat or buried in the brain. Instead, Max let the blade linger vertical, inches from Will's nose making him realize just how easy it would be to kill him from his perspective. The pirate smirked at the horror setting into those alluring brown eyes of his.
The red tint in Lennox's face just made Max's smugness grow. He tried again...and again. Lennox either left himself open trying to attack too much or defended himself mostly but allowed Max to counter where he had a blind spot in his focus of protecting his vitals which ended up opening him to being killed after being caught off guard. By the eighth time, He could see just how deranged and ragged the American Colonel truly had become in so many loses. He liked the feral determination.
Max waited for Lennox, who glared at him with hatred, to make his first move. He expected the man to try either attacking directly or trying to dupe him into a blindside. He calculated everything this inexperienced soldier could pull ready to humiliate him until he forfeited entirely. One strike immediately had Max on the defensive and about to lunge for Lennox's weak recoil when he found the latter immediately backed off and kept a stern stance guarding himself by only bearing his right side and keeping all other parts out of reach. Okay then. Max narrowed his eyes a little at the save. If he struck with little bared, a true enemy could potentially lunge in counter and strike him by a side stab or upwards. He naturally refused to try it even though Lennox was no pirate killer.
They stood at a stalemate for a second before Will swiped and he deflected. But Lennox didn't try to go for an immediate kill like he had been, he made Max deflect again and again. His sword was not happy with being used more than normal in such a manner. They weren't kill strikes but they were testing him. Why was Will testing the fight? That only delayed the inevitable. The fourth strike made Max retaliate but instead of Will deflecting or moving to the side like he assumed to open him to a better chance of defeat, the other man grabbed his arm with his free hand to pull him leaning forward and used the momentum to roll over Max's back in an unexpected move. Before Max could whip around, Lennox immediately swung his leg out upon landing and swiped Max off his feet. The pirate groaned hitting his back on the ground but tensed instantly when Lennox's sword hovered over his neck with the man standing over him.
The exchange of silent eye contact had Max stunned and Lennox not gloating but rather solemn, only ushering the words, "You're dead."
A twinge of arousal and pride swelled in Max being finally upstaged. But the game wasn't truly over until he was actually dead...
Max suddenly pushed the sword to the side and in the same millisecond turned to twist his legs in a break swipe to force Lennox to fall again to the side of him before rolling over onto him. He pinned the wrist holding the sword to disarm his enemy and gripped the other with a purr.
"Technically, you had the chance to kill me but you didn't see it through in time. I'm still alive."
Max chuckled and leaned in close to hover his lips to Lennox. "Practice makes perfect, Colonel."
