As the punk rock dressed knife thrower named Dot was starting to throw her first knife, time seemed to move at a snail's pace. In her injured state with a bleeding arm and a brutal head injury, Amethyst was in her keeled position, watching as the first of what seemed like a dozen knives was being thrown towards her. She stayed where she was, not having the energy to move, and even if she could muster up any, she didn't like her options. She wasn't sure if she could go against Dot in her current state. If Dot only had one or two knives, then maybe she could carve out a win. But at this moment, she knew she was beat.

Doubt touched her soul, and that feeling compelled her to throw in the towel. But before she did, a familiar voice rang in her ears. "Are you seriously going to give up so easily?" Amethyst, hearing the voice, made her pause. It was the voice of a woman, a woman she known a long time ago, the name "Trina." Slipped past Amethyst's lips before she even realized it, the words the voice spoke where words Trina had asked the purple-haired girl before while training her. In an instant, it felt like Amethyst was transported to years in the past.

She was back in the body of a little girl; her hair wasn't purple then, it was brown. She was small and weak, her body covered in bruises. In a plain field, her back was to a tree, standing across from her was a woman, a woman that wore silver armor holding a long sword in only one hand. This woman had gray eyes and long purple hair tied in a braid that fell down her back.

Amethyst remembered the woman took a step towards her then asked her question once again. "I said, are you really going to give up so easily, Amethyst? How do you expect to beat a warrior such as myself or, quite frankly, anyone if you start chickening out once you've backed into a corner?" The young Amethyst didn't answer; she just sat there with a furrowed brow staring back at the purple-haired warrior.

Looking at that grizzled look, the purple-haired woman named Trina laughed historically. "If looks could kill, girl, I'd be dead twice over. But giving me a look like that won't do anything for you. It won't beat me; it won't save you from danger." Trina brandished the sword she held in her hand. "And also, a look like that won't get you this sword." In that moment, Amethyst was reminded why she was here, why she decided to enter this exam. She wanted to grow even stronger, beat her, get that sword, and she couldn't do that if she quit now.

"Damnit," Amethyst thought as she gritted her teeth. "I hated when she was right. Even after all these years, I still chicken out when my backs to the wall." Amethyst cursed her own weakness as she reached for the knife still stabbed in her right arm. As she pulled it out, she smiled and answered the voice from years ago. "Am I gonna give up so easily? No, I'm not." As time started to flow normally again, the knife that Dot had thrown darted its way to Amethyst. At the same time, wasting not a second, Amethyst pulled the knife from her arm and threw it in the direction of Dot's thrown knife. Both knives collided in the air.

When her knife missed its mark, this surprised Dot. And that wasn't the only thing that did. After the two knives collided, Amethyst, who had been kneeling the entire time, shot to her feet, making a mad dash towards her opponent with a sharp and fierce look in her eyes. Dot smirked as she threw two more knives towards Amethyst. "Caught your second wind, I see," she uttered to the purple-haired girl.

Amethyst didn't waste time or energy dodging or blocking the incoming attack. No, she angled her shoulder, exposing it to the knives, and they pierced her. Only moments later, "Is she insane?" Jake screamed, captivated by the fight. Zack disagreed with this statement. "No, she's just eliminating all useless movement like Jake." Zack was being drawn in by the fight, and he wasn't the only one.

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Unlike the first match, every applicant and assistant were watching this match closely, especially the blonde-haired applicant who first fought Amethyst. He was watching very closely. When the two knives pierced Amethyst's skin, she fought through the pain and then slashed at Dot. The slash was fearsome, and if the knife thrower hadn't dodged at the last second, she would probably be dead.

Dot slid on the ground, then jumped back, trying to put some distance between them. But Amethyst was on her like white on rice, slashing at her over and over. Each attack got just a bit faster than the last, so much so that Dot couldn't dodge without taking a cut or two. And that wasn't the only thing because Dot couldn't get some distance. She couldn't throw her knives, and this exposed her own weakness in close-quarters combat. While she was attacking furiously, Amethyst's mind was full of her own thoughts. 'Don't waste time just move, keep going, fight through the pain. Don't even waste time thinking of it, just keep going. She outdoes me in speed, but I outdo her in skill. If I stay on her like this, she can't throw those knives.'

Amethyst thrust her rapier, and Dot once again managed to dodge, but not without great damage. The attack gave her a large gash on her arm; this one gushed a good amount of blood. Dot gritted her teeth, then she screamed out, 'You fucking bitch!' She angled her right arm back, trying to get it at the right angle to throw a knife, but Amethyst was quicker. She stepped in closer, then swung, slashing at Dot's wrist. The attack was shallow, but it hurt. Dot couldn't help but let a few knives that she had in her right hand fall to the ground.

Before she could retaliate or even snap back, Amethyst spun, then kicked Dot right in the stomach, flinging her backward. 'Damn, that had to hurt,' Zack excitedly examined, 'but she gave up her advantage. She should have stayed in close quarters.' This was a thought that Dot would soon share. After being kicked back, Dot was knocked close to the ring's edge, but not close enough to fall off. She was hunched over, coughing, but she was snapping back, 'Damn it, that hurt. But that kick to the gut knocked me away from her, so I should have some distance to throw my knives. You idiot, you just handed me the win.'

Dot lifted her head, getting ready to throw the knives in her right hand. But when she lifted her head, her eyes landed on something – something moving very quickly towards her. It was so fast that she didn't get a good look at the thing until it had pierced through her left shoulder. Hot pain came from her shoulder as the knives in her left hand all fell to the ground. Dot looked down at her newly acquired wound; she saw a sword sticking out of it – Amethyst's rapier.

Before Dot could throw her knives, Amethyst took a play from her book and threw her own weapon. The action left Dot frozen, leaving her wide open to an attack. Amethyst pounced the way a predator would when they saw prey. She easily and quickly closed the distance between the two, then she reached out and grabbed her rapier and pulled it out of its pin cushion. Blood filled the air as Dot began to slowly fall backwards, as if she started to lose her balance.

Amethyst put her sword in a thrusting position. At this moment, even with a bad head injury, an injured right arm, and now two knives in her shoulder, Amethyst felt nothing. Not a bit of pain – a focus on her goal to defeat Dot. Her focus on her goal to gain more power, to gain more skill so she could beat her, so she could get that sword – all of that drowned out the agony her body was going through. Amethyst knew somewhere in her heart that her opponent wasn't the type to tap out. She knew she wouldn't give up.

So, Amethyst decided if she was going to win this match, if she was to succeed, she would have to kill Dot. Amethyst took a single step forward, then thrusted her sword faster than lightning. She was aiming for her opponent's neck. Dot's eyes went wide seeing the incoming attack. While watching this, Zack said decisively, 'It's over.'

Once Amethyst's thrusting motion was finished, she looked at her opponent and noticed something was off. Her attack, her final attack, didn't land. It didn't pierce her throat; it stopped just short. Her rapier was barely touching Dot. Confusion hit Amethyst. 'What the hell is happening?' she thought. 'How could I misread my attack? I knew for sure I'd hit her.'

While confused by what was happening, a scream could be heard all throughout the auditorium. The screaming was aimed at Amethyst. This caught her attention. The screaming voice yelled, 'Watch out, dumb ass!' Amethyst turned her head slightly to see the person screaming at her, and it was him – the blonde boy she had fought in the second phase. This confused her more. Why was he yelling at her? But she would soon understand.

Before Amethyst could react to whatever the blonde boy was screaming for, she felt something stab her in her lower back. Before she could feel the pain, something else pierced her in her upper back, then another, then another, then another. Amethyst felt her body being pierced six times. She lost her grip on her sword. Amethyst started to fall forward, and as her and her sword were falling to the ground, Amethyst's mind was filled with the same thought: 'What the hell is going on?'"