Fire Knight Katrina Ch. 11

Chapter 11: Wet and Furious

The scantily clad waitress told the truth, Katrina realized that as soon as she saw the canal just outside the trade district. A thick layer of ice shone under the sunlight as if it was winter, despite the temperature being warm enough to completely forget about clothes.

"It's... Not melting," Sophia remarked carefully, trying to distract herself from all the stares people from the nearby market gave her.

"Must be magical ice, fancy-schmancy," Katrina squatted near the canal's edge and knocked on the solid substance.

In the next second, the girl lit up her fist and struck as hard as she could. The ice cracked under her muscular arm, but didn't react to the fire at all. A couple of fireballs didn't help either. It made sense, albeit this comforted neither of the girls. While wielders' powers abided by the rules of nature and the specific reactions between elements, mages could fuel their spells with mana to make them the way they wanted, ignoring natural laws. This ice was a fine example of that, it seemed like its temperature was fixed by the hydromancer's spell, and neither sun nor fire could do anything about it.

"Hm, well, that's an issue," Katrina sprung up, her round boobs bouncing along, "I thought someone who freezes stuff would be the easiest to deal with... But alas."

Then, the girls heard whispers coming from behind them and turned around to see about a dozen of people, their stares fixed on the two naked bodies.

"What's wrong?" Katrina smirked, "no worries, you can gawk at us however long you'd like!"

"Excuse me, miss," one richly-dressed man frowned, "you are certainly beautiful, but we aren't here for that. We need water to drink, and with the canal not working, we can't get any. I wanted to ask how long it'll take you to fix the problem, that's all."

"Oh," the redhead scratched her head awkwardly, "well, no worries about that either. We're thinking about solutions as we speak."

Yes, Katrina thought, she didn't have any right to forget that these people needed her and the sunwielder to survive. It was time for some serious thinking.

"Hey, Sophia... Could you rub my shoulders, please?" The redhead asked in a surprisingly cute tone, causing the sunwielder to blush a little.

"I'm just thinking better that way," Katrina smiled.

"Oh, sure," The blonde reluctantly took her hands off her privates and started massaging the knight. It felt a bit awkward after that day at the brothel, about which Sophia still kept silence, but she threw these thoughts away for the sake of their mission.

"No sight of the hydromancer herself, though?" The redhead asked the nearby crowd.

"Not at all," they replied in a defeated tone, "though she was seen a couple of times earlier this week... Villagers have been saying things about a girl with "shark-like features" swimming in the canals. Said that she taunted them, took suggestive poses and shot streams of water when they tried to approach her. Nothing beyond that, however."

"So nobody has any idea where she could be?" Katrina was immersed in her thoughts.

"Well, what are the chances that she's right there?" Redhead suddenly pointed at the canal a minute later.

"Here?" Sophia asked.

"Yes... A bit suspicious that a mage could keep such a large body of water completely frozen for so long. This must be a challenging spell to pull off, and if that's so, the hydromancer must be somewhere..."

Katrina stepped onto the ice and instantly slipped with her bare feet, falling down to all fours with her naked backside lifted up and pointed right at the audience.

"Is this... A part of your plan?" One of the folks scratched his head.

"No, now stop standing over my shoulder and let me do my job," Katrina replied harshly as she ignited her legs and began sliding on the canal's icy surface.

There had to be some sort of a trick in this whole construction, the ice block simply couldn't exist on its own. But how could the hydromancer pull this off? Katrina made her best to look through the ice and try to feel whether something was off, hitting and cutting it here and there. She was almost ready to give up when she heard a sudden crack at the very center of the frozen canal.

"Of course," the redhead slammed her forehead, "where else could the caster be?"

The girl carefully approached the center, then grabbed her sword in such a way that the handle was looking downward and striked. Her strength drove the weapon down through the ice, causing it to break and shatter into small pieces. Then, Katrina felt it, the sword hit something else. Something softer and warmer, which could only be flesh.

"Ouch!" A female scream made its way out of the icy hole, and a series of cracking that followed made Katrina jump away.

The icy surface broke apart with a deafening sound, launching its pieces everywhere.

"Get down!" Katrina commanded as she took cover along with her naked friend.

When it was over, a figure rose to the top of the canal and confidently stood up near its edge, landing her hands on her feminine hips. Katrina smirked when seeing her while Sophia just gasped: it was a beautiful woman, not much older than the firewielder herself, who was also completely nude. Her short white hair barely concealed the gaze of her murky, devilish eyes, and her body... While it was toned and beautiful, it was also incredibly weird. The hydromancer's skin was as blue as the clear sky, her limbs had claws on them along with a couple of fins, behind her back there was a tail of a shark, and on both sides of her neck, there were gills which slightly moved each time she took a breath. It almost looked like she was a shapeshifting mage who got stuck mid-transformation.

"Ow-ow-ow," the sharkgirl rubbed her forehead, "gods, why did you have to do that, you meanie? I slept so well!"

"You slept in the public canal which made it impossible for the folks to get water," Katrina grabbed her sword and stood upright.

"The water?" The hydromancer erupted into a feat of crazy laughter, "it doesn't belong to you, landlubber! The water is our great mother, its domain is the entire world and its power is limitless. You thought you could simply trap it and bend its will? Think again!"

"Alright, I see this curse didn't treat you kindly," the nude knight assumed a defensive stance, "but let's not resort to violence right away. We can help you, make you normal again, just unfreeze this canal and come with us, it'll all be over soon."

"Normal? Ho-ho-ho," she bit her lip, revealing a set of sharp, pointy teeth, "you think I want to become a dry, land-walking scum again? I'm a woman of the waves now!" She lifted her arms up, causing her breasts to bounce, "no one is my master now except for my mother water! Now, you two must be less dumb than those around you, at least you decided not to wear those stupid rags which are useless underwater. I think you should dive in with me, we'll share this bath and please our ancestors!"

"Last warning," Katrina's voice was hard as steel, she ignited her trusted sword and looked right into the hydromancer's eyes.

But the mage didn't react as she'd hoped. Instead, the shark's murky gaze became full of irrational, premordial rage.

"I'll douse your flame forever, filthy traitor!"

Suddenly, the girl's beautiful body began to shift and turn, falling apart as it slowly turned into liquid. Katrina threw a fireball at her, but it vaporized upon reaching her and went up with loud sizzling. The firewielder was ready to block when the shark charged forward like a giant ball of cold water. Yet, it didn't go for her.

"Sophia, look out!" Katrina screamed as she hydromancer neared the blonde's face.

The sunwielder wasn't fast enough. The shark's body became solid again as she bolted forward. She was now in the sitting position, carried forward by a large wave. Her legs were spreaded wide, revealing the girl's moist pussy. Before the priestess knew it, her face was caught between the shark's legs, hit at full speed by this very unconventional weapon.

"Ah!" Sophie gasped as she fell down to the road with her face all wet, "keep that... Thing... Out of my face!"

"Too much for you?" The hydromancer did an amazing backflip in the air as she turned back into liquid, "how about your friend over here?"

The living stream of water went for Katrina, yet she dodged and sent a firewave right at the enemy. Again, nothing but vapor. The shark attacked again, Katrina parried with her sword and the air around got filled with loud sizzling.

"So that's how it is. Fire and water, mortal enemies," the redhead commented as she hit the girl's tail.

The fire evaporated the water and the blade reached its destination, leaving a bloody cut.

"Oh, what a bitch you are!" The hydromancer cried out hysterically and sent a giant stream of water right at Katrina.

The liquid hit the redhead like a geyser eruption, plunging her into a wall of a nearby market tent which collapsed upon impact. Unfortunately for the firewielder, the place sold glasses and bottles which got loudly crashed as well, littering the nude girl's body with pointy shards. Katrina let out a pained scream, feeling like a thousand needles just pierced her bare flesh. Still, she got up and readied her weapon, commanding the townsfolk to flee. Sophia jumped on the shark's back, attempting to blind her with the sunlight, but the enemy was quick and nimble. In a moment, the shark turned into water and punched the blonde up, sending her flying over a dozen meters into the sky.

"Oh the gods!" Katrina shouted as she bolted forward.

She barely had enough time to kick a cart full of vegetables forward so Sophia wouldn't land on the pavement. The priestess landed right into it, crushing several hundred tomatoes in the process.

"You alright?" the firewielder asked her friend, who was covered in tomato goo from head to toe.

"Reasonably," she replied, her eyes getting bigger upon seeing the redhead's wounds, "but you're not!"

"I'll manage. Fight now, heal after," Katrina confidently replied, hissing from the pain.

The hydromancer wasn't about to stop and soon charged again. Katrina was thinking on her feet and kicked forward a barrel half-full of some liquid. As the shark dashed forward she crashed it, her water getting mixed up with the contents of the barrel. Turned out it was vinegar, which caused the hydromancer to let out a pained scream and morph back into solid material. Katrina used it and sent another fireball, then the second and the third, but the shark raised a wall of pure ice and blocked all of them.

"We need to think of something!" Sunwielder cried out.

"True. Go look for some other barrels to disrupt her attacks, I'll hold this looney off!"

Before leaving, Sophia managed to blind the hydromancer just as she peeked out of her cover. It was a nice way to give Katrina more time, but alas, the shark was still too quick to catch her. She must've been very skilled even before the curse took over the town. While the redhead kept fighting, the priestess passed carriage after carriage, looking for something useful.

"Hey-hey, are you wounded?" She heard a deep male voice.

A single merchant was standing behind his counter while everyone else was already running away in the distance. He was a large middle-aged man with a large mustache, a confident posture, and a surprisingly calm gaze, given the situation.

"No, I'm fine. It's tomato gore, I mean tomato goo... Uh, long story!" Sophia began to patter with gestures, totally forgetting to cover her bouncing breasts, "we are fighting a crazed mage here, sir. You'd better evacuate immediately, the situation is tough!"

"Well, I think I'll manage," he replied slowly, no hint of fear in his voice, "you are helping that pretty redhead knight, are you not? Maybe you need help?

"I... What's in these barrels?!" Sophia pointed at the stash behind the merchant's back.

"Oh, only the finest wine one could find in Zardiw nowadays!" He said with pride, "I can pour you some, if you have time."

"A-actually... I need all of it!" She exclaimed, managing to surprise the man for the first time during their talk.

Katrina kept dodging hits and landing some of her own. The marketplace was filling with vapor and sizzling as the hydromancer and firewielder continued their fierce battle. They were like two beasts at each other's throats, each one waiting for another to make the slightest mistake to land the final blow. It could all be over in one second. The redhead kept that in mind while she led the shark to the wine tent.

"Go, now!" Sophia commanded, after which the man reluctantly complied and knocked some barrels over, soaking his little store with alcohol.

The shark let out a hysterical scream and dashed forward, Katrina barely ducked and avoided the hit. It was too late when the hydromancer realized she was flying right into gallons of red wine which was about to mix with her water. With a loud sound the barrels were crashed and the drinks flew out of them, the hydromancer fell down as well and got engulfed by the alcoholic wave.

"What the... Hic!" She got up as a humanoid again, her movements slow and poorly coordinated, "did you... Hic! Do?!"

"Seemed to me like it worked," the man twirled his mustache, "nice to meet you again, girl."

"Yes, Jorgon, nice to see you too," Katrina barely caught her breath.

The sunwielder managed to heal some of the redhead's wounds, but it quickly got obvious that the shark wasn't done. Even if drunk and hazy, she'll keep fighting for her insane ideas. This time, however, Katrina was sure she could counterattack effectively... Until she realized that the girl changed the tactic. Before the naked duo could blink, a dozen of frozen shards were launched towards them at high speed. Many missed, because their owner couldn't see straight, but one got right into Sophia's leg and made her cry out in pain.

"Damnit! Jorgon, take care of her, I'll finish this witch!

"Just... Don't kill her..." Sophia desperately gasped for air as she felt the pain spreading across her body, "remember, it's not her fault..."

"Sure, sunny," Katrina smiled, then turned towards the enemy with a quick lunge.

The strike was meant to be non-lethal, but quite painful. It'd make the shark fall down and make her safe to be detained, the only issue was landing it... Katrina was about to strike, but stopped midway as she realized the wine under her feet suddenly became solid. The redhead jumped away just as the hydromancer turned the liquid into a flurry of ice spikes.

"Too slow, you gotta drink less!" Katrina hit the hydromancer with her leg, causing her to fall through the tent's wall and onto the pavement.

The final blow was ready to be delivered and the redhead didn't hesitate. Strike! It should've hit the soft flesh, but instead rebounded as if meeting a stone. The firewielder gasped in surprise, then saw her enemy's skin becoming white and hard as a rock. She just covered her nude body in a solid layer of ice and used it as an armor.

"Damnit, will you stop already?!" The redhead sent another firewave, her eyes full of rage.

It hit the sharkgirl, but did nothing. The ice was immune to any sort of heat, firewielding was of no use.

"Mother water... Takes many forms... Hic!" The hydromancer, technically still nude but also not quite, formed a giant ice lance in her hand.

Attack! Katrina parried, loud clinking echoed throughout the marketplace. The hydromancer didn't stop, however, and kept trying. Her hits were clumsy and slow, she truly fought like a complete drunk after that wine, so none landed. But Katrina couldn't harm her as well, even trying to break the ice didn't work this time, it was way too solid. The redhead began thinking of ways to end this and knocked the hydromancer back toward a meat store. With a loud clung the shark broke it in half and a bunch of salt got sprayed over her ice costume.

Katrina looked at it for a moment when she realized that this place started melting a little. It was barely noticeable, but her ice got affected by the salt. She made it immune to the heat, but forgot about this aspect of the ice! And it seems like now the shark was so drunk that she didn't even notice. It was a chance. Katrina began looking around, surely someone here must've sold salt. And soon enough she found it, a whole cart of bags full of salt standing just nearby! They were all close but so thin that one decisive hit would break them all open and release all the substance onto the unlucky victim. It wasn't hard to lure the hydromancer to the cart, she barely understood where she was going anyway. Then, as they kept hitting and parrying, Katrina thought about the way to pull this off.

It had to be quick and done in a single second, otherwise the looney will understand what's going on and Katrina won't have enough time to hit her once the ice starts melting. There was only one way to effectively use this moment, and it was dreadful. Katrina's naked, beautiful body was filled with dozens of little yet hurting and bleeding wounds. She knew well how the salt felt even on one such cut, but when it's your entire body...

Katrina once again looked around to realize that there was no other way, as the city guard wouldn't help with their swords and the marketplace would be ruined before they'd come up with something different. Taking a deep breath, Katrina took the position right near the carriage, where the bags were ready to get ripped apart. Another missed hit from the hydromancer gave her a window of opportunity.

"Gods, help me!" Katrina screamed as she crashed into the enemy with her entire body and drove her into the carriage, landing both of them into a flurry of little white crystals.

The carriage's wheels fell off from the impact, the crashing sound filled the area as a giant cloud of salt covered both naked bodies from head to toe. Katrina screamed like a banshee, feeling every single one of her wounds stinging and burning with pain as if she was engulfed by the hellfire itself. Barely collecting herself, she grabbed the sword and prepared for the final strike.

"Wha... Hicc! What?!" The hydromancer didn't even feel anything, still drunk as a skunk, but her costume certainly did.

Droplets of water began pouring down from it and, before the sharkgirl knew it, her armor became a lot thinner than before.

"Finally!" Katrina screamed at the edge of her nerves, driving the sword's handle right into the enemy's head.

Crash! The ice helmet got destroyed by the swift strike, and the hydromancer spit blood as her head was hit with extreme force. The naked wizard silently fell down, the rest of her armor crashing into pieces when she met the pavement. She was done for. Katrina fell down to one knee and started gasping for air.

"Damnit, it hurts so much!" She exclaimed, but kept her composure. Hurt, but undefeated.

"Sophia! I need help!" These words seemed to leave the girl's mouth on their own as her brain was screaming at her about the stinging pain.

What came afterward was a long and thorough healing for both of the nude heroes. The magic itself wasn't enough, however, and Katrina still had to spend several long hours at Zardiw's medical ward, when each of the glass shards was removed from her nude body one by one. It was a grueling experience that perfectly illustrated that being a warrior wasn't just about victories and glory, you also had to pay for it all. Still, in the eyes of Katrina all of that was worth it. She even got a little new scar today, which she liked a lot, since it made her look even fiercer. Overall, the firewielder felt surprisingly good about today's experience... Mayhaps challenging flesh this way was more useful than she thought.

"Maybe now you'll consider wearing at least... Something? For protection, at least?" The local healer woman, who was covered pretty much entirely except for her face, told Katrina as she finished with her wounds.