--- [Luna’s perspective]

Victor won his match, so no matter what, I’ll have to do the same.

My opponent is Rin Nox; I’ve heard about her from Lett.

Apparently, they’ve met a couple times during exams.

From what I’ve gathered, she’s incredibly fast but equally weak and fragile.

Her specialty compensates for that by letting her coat her limbs in lightning to let her cut her opponents.

If all that is right, then one or two solid hits should be enough to win.

The issue is actually landing those hits…

If she really is as fast as Lett and the announcers make her out to be, then that might become a problem.

Still, there’s no doubt I’ll win.

It might just be a little tricky, that’s all.

“And now, for a match between the fastest person here, and the most well-rounded person here! Rin vs Luna! Begin!” – Bob

As soon as he finished his sentence, I start bleeding from my shoulder, and Rin is behind me.

Wow.

They didn’t lie…

Suddenly, another cut appears on my other shoulder, then one on my hip.

She’s dashing past me faster than I can perceive, leaving shallow wounds each time.

They might not be dangerous individually, but if this continues, I’ll eventually pass out from blood loss.

I transform my arms into longswords, then spin around, making it almost impossible to approach.

As expected, she’s keeping her distance, not wanting to take any major risks.

I try moving toward her while spinning, but she easily outmaneuvers me by circling around me and running to the other side of the arena.

It’s not that wide, so I can stop that from happening.

The swords grow longer, making my wingspan just long enough to make it impossible to run around me.

Suddenly, another cut appears on my thigh.

“Too slow.” – Rin

Did making my swords longer slow me down that much…?

I knew it would affect the rate at which I was spinning, but I didn’t think it would be enough for her to take advantage of…

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Blood spurts out from my flank as a new wound opens.

I need to change strategy; this isn’t working.

My arms change into two large tower shields and place them together in front of me.

I make them grow out, circling around me.

I’m fully protected, the only place she can attack me from is above, but I doubt she’s dumb enough to try that.

After all, when she’s in the air, she has no contact with the ground, so running away from me is impossible.

“Are you planning to stay like that forever?” – Rin

“Of course not, come in!” – Luna

I move the shields away from each other, making just enough room for her to enter.

If she’s confident enough in her speed, she can try to attack me now.

But if she can’t get in and out fast enough, I’ll catch her.

If that happens, the fight is over.

Now what will it be…

Will she attack, or not?

I wait a little while, she doesn’t attack.

I taunt her, she doesn’t attack…

I even widen the gap, but she still does not attack!

She obviously knows it’s a trap, and doesn’t want to risk losing just to prove how fast she is.

If I was in her position, I’d do the same.

But the problem now is that we’re in a stalemate.

She can’t attack because she knows she’ll likely lose the moment she does, and I can’t stop defending, or she’ll continue to get more hits on me.

Or at least that’s what it looks like…

She has already hurt me quite a bit; I have several open wounds leaking blood.

At this rate, it will still take a few minutes before it becomes a problem.

But if she’s willing to wait it out, it doesn’t matter how long.

I’m the one who needs to make a move, and she knows it.

But how should I do it?

I could try making my hands into whips, and violently lash them around.

That could work, but if she manages to dodge them and close the distance, I’m screwed.

By the time I’ll be able to transform my arms into something more suitable for close-quarters combat, she’ll have already cut me to pieces.

It could work, but it’s risky; I’ll save this as a last resort.

What else?

Wait…!

This is risky too, but I think I’ve got it!

I’m bad at transforming many individual parts of my body, especially into small things, so there’s a limit to how well I can pull this off…

Under my clothes, where she can’t see, I transform certain parts of my body into knives, giving me sharp edges.

If she attacks one of those spots, she’ll end up cutting herself up.

I undo the shield transformation, and instead turn my arms into spiked maces.

She zips past me, leaving behind yet another wound.

I swing one of my maces after her, but she is already gone by the time I attack.

She didn’t hit one of the knives, but I still need to continue attacking her.

I can’t let her know anything weird is going on; she has to think I’m just desperately trying to hit her with light, but powerful, weapons.

Just like before, she slits my skin and gets away before I can get to her.

She does it again.

And again.

And again…

If only I could make more knives…

If I could cover my entire body in sharp edges, she’d have no way to attack.

Her assault continues on, brutally messing up my body.

All my clothes are stained with blood; even my hair…

Breathing starts feeling more and more difficult with every passing second, and I’m starting to lose focus.

Just as all hope is lost, she hits one of the knives…!

“Agh!” – Rin

As she tried to cut me, the edge of the knife got between her ring and middle finger.

Due to her immense speed and low defense, it split her hand in two, all the way down to her wrist.

The shock and pain put her off guard for just a moment, but a moment is all I need.

I slam both maces into her back, and I feel her spine cracking.

As she falls to the ground, the announcers call the match, and the healers arrive to help her.

Not even a second later, she’s back to normal.

Just as quickly, they close all my wounds, making me as good as new.

“Good fight.” – Luna

Instead of responding, she clicks her tongue.

She’s clearly annoyed that she lost…

We walk down the stairs and enter our respective waiting rooms.

As I get in, I see a woman waiting for me.

“Who are you?” – Luna

“You’re covered in blood. In a tournament like this, that’s not uncommon. I’m here to clean the contestants up when that happens. With my specialty, it’ll only take a second.” – Woman