||Redemption|| Yu-Gi-Oh! x Reader

|Chapter 5| |Seto|

"Give up now" the man spat at you and you adopted a defence position.

You'd done all the training, you could take one man you told yourself, he wouldn't be expecting you to be able to fight and you wouldn't of been sent had you not been ready. Steeling your nerves you began your offensive with a series of quick attacks the sound of metal clanging off metal heard against the background of roaring beasts. Your adrenaline pumped and pushed you to react quicker, to sharpen your senses, it was fight or flight and you didn't have an option to flee. Narrowly avoiding a jab which would have put a nice gash in your arm you hit back twisting the spear to hit the man squarely in the stomach, winding him with the blunt end. He doubled over making it easy to get him on the ground. He moved to use his dagger again but you reacted quickly slamming your foot down on his wrist. He cried out in pain releasing the dagger which you kicked away, he moved next to try to push himself up and you raised your foot again kicking him sharply across the face. You pointed the blade of your spear at his neck and glared.

"Give it up" you spat.

When you were satisfied he was listening you looked up to see Seto finish things up, the ka defeated and the man fell to the ground writhing in agony. With two men down with relative ease the others tried to make their escape running into the cold embrace of the waiting soldiers. Your heart race thundered as the men were rounded up and carted out one by one. A hand was placed on your shoulder and you jumped snapping your head round ready to fight again.

"Relax Sekhmet..." Priest Seto spoke and then patted you once on the back "not bad for a first battle" he smirked.

The offhanded compliment would've shocked you more were you not dealing with the reality of the situation. For the entire ride back to the palace you gripped the fabric of Seto's tunic loosely, much more loosely than you had on previous trips. He put it down to you adjusting to riding but in reality you were in a daze. The weight of battle, of fighting, of how serious this position was hit you, really hit you. Sure you had known that danger was inevitable, that having to injure offenders came with the territory. But it was so easy to tell yourself that in the comfort of training grounds, with practice battles that had no real risk. It was something completely different to actually being on the field and having to fight. The ordeal had really driven home what you were training to be and you turned your head to look at the prisoners, the soldiers but not really seeing them, like it all blurred.

It wasn't like it was your first scrap, but drunk men weren't exactly known as good fighters nor were they summoning monsters up to terrorise you. It was definitely something you would have to adjust to. When you returned to the palace the men you'd captured were brought to the dungeons pending their trial, from there their punishment would be decided. Priest Seto watched as they were brought down one by one.

"You're dismissed for now, good work today" he said tonelessly.

"Thank you" you muttered in response and scampered off.

You decided to go to the baths, hoping the warm water would help the leftover adrenaline dissipate, you felt utterly drained after the encounter and the waters helped to relax you and you closed your eyes and let out a breath. Amazingly you managed to clear your head thinking of blank nothingness as you took your time. Other voices cut your blissful silence short and you opened your eyes to shoot a glare at two girls who giggled with each other and used one of the other baths. If they were going to whisper and giggle the entire time you weren't going to get peace.

Taking that as your queue to leave, after all you had lazed around for considerable time, you got out, dried yourself and made your way to your room. Running a hand through your hair you ungracefully fell onto your bed staring at the ceiling. It seemed like hours passed and you were left alone in your room until a knock at the door forced you to get up and see what your caller wanted. A guard made himself known.