Lexi fell heavily into a waiting chair. A nearby attendant gave her a glance, but Lexi waved her off. The sound of combat echoed down the hallway as the next match began. Lexi listened idly for a time, allowing her breathing to fade back to a steady rhythm, before she reached down and touched the puncture in her armor.

The wound hadn’t been deep, and the pain had faded significantly since she had left the arena, but it was still there. Gently, she massaged the bruised skin, kneading away as much of the pain as she could. She had used up more energy than she would have liked in the first round, but there was no helping that now. She could only look forward, towards the next battle.

In what seemed like an impossibly short amount of time, the other matches came to an end, and just as she had begun to grow comfortable Octavious's voice drew her attention.

"Craig Hauz of Trinst versus Alexis Shadowhart of Voy!"

With a soft sigh, Lexi pushed herself out of the chair and drew Nightmare. Holding the blade lightly in her hand, she entered the arena.

The ground was stained with blood. Some had already dried, but much more was fresh, pooling on the ground and rippling with the brisk, winter wind that had begun to whip through the town.

Reaching up, Lexi adjusted her scarf.

"BEGIN!"

Craig charged at her before Octavious's words had finished echoing through the arena. He was a slender man, dark skinned with a shaved head. He moved with impressive speed; a short sword held in his left hand stretched out before him. Lexi stepped forward to break his momentum.

Their blades met with a loud crash of steel and Lexi felt a sharp pain on her leg. Stumbling back in surprise she swung Nightmare up to block Craig's next attack. Again, their blades met, but Lexi felt another strike, this one across her stomach. The wound was shallow, but it burned all the same.

Bounding back, Lexi spun Nightmare around defensively to ward off a third attack. Craig allowed her the distance as he hopped from side to side, his short sword spinning around and around, his right arm held outstretched behind his back. It was not an uncommon dueling stance, but something about it caught Lexi’s attention.

His wrist was bent in an unnatural fashion, curled around, almost as if…

“I see,” Lexi muttered to herself before she lunged forward. In two steps she had brought herself into striking distance.

As expected, Craig blocked her attack, his blade locking against hers. Lexi only allowed the contact to last for the briefest of moments as she abruptly disengaged, and narrowly avoided the slash from Craig’s right hand.

In that moment, Lexi was able to clearly see the second knife that Craig kept hidden in his right hand. It was a long blade, extremely thin and just as light. A weapon meant for speed. As he fell back a step, he returned the blade to its earlier position, his hand curling over and pressing the blade flat against the underside of his arm.

Lexi pivoted as Craig began to run, circling around her, looking for an opening. With Nightmare’s extended length, she kept him at bay as she began to formulate a plan. But as if reading her mind, Craig suddenly charged.

He erased the distance between them with surprising swiftness and landed another glancing blow on Lexi. This one failed to penetrate the thin piece of armour over her chest, but only barely. The weapon was well made and honed to a razor edge.

Craig's skill was on full display as he danced around Lexi, forcing her to accept another cut to the leg. Lexi stabbed Nightmare towards him in response, but he blocked the strike and punched forwards with his right blade. Unable to bring nightmare back in time, Lexi was forced to take a hasty step back. Craig stepped into the space and pressed his advantage. When Lexi tried to bring Nightmare back around, he again blocked the attack, locking her sword in place before thrusting forward with his right hand.

The blade traveled on a bee line towards her head. Eyes wide, and with no other option, Lexi threw up her left arm.

The tip of the knife clashed against her gauntlet. The armour held for a fraction of a second before the tip pierced through and into her flesh. Lexi screamed and ripped her arm back in pain. With a flurry of thrusts, she managed to drive Craig away. He confidently skipped back a few steps and bounced on the balls of his feet before returning on the offensive.

'He's too fast' Lexi realized as she did everything, and anything, she could manage to avoid taking any more damage. Nightmare flashed through the air at dizzying speeds, but it still wasn’t enough as she received a harsh cut to the hip followed be another against her chest guard, this one coming ever closer to breaking through the armor before he went, forcing her to hop away.

He allowed her the reprieve, holding his arms out and ready as he bounced from one foot to the other.

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She ground her teeth in frustration. Even though she knew what he was going to do, she could not counter it, not without exposing herself. If she ignored the first attack, he would simply stab her, but to block meant to give him ample opportunity to strike. Even if he couldn't easily land a killing blow, he was already beginning to focus on her legs.

Lexi was suddenly reminded of a book on wolves she had once read. How they would slowly wear down their prey, taking out its legs until it couldn’t even stand…Couldn’t even move…

She needed a way to block his follow up attack.

Or… she needed to put Craig on equal footing with her.

Lexi's brow furrowed for a moment before her posture relaxed and a smile slipped onto her face. Taking in a deep breath, she lifted up Nightmare with both hands high above her head. Craig bounced one more time before lunging forward. Again, he held his left hand in front of him, the right held back, ready to thrust forward and strike.

Lexi waited until Craig was only a few sword lengths away before she stepped forward… and flung Nightmare with all her might!

Craig came to a skidding halt and swung both his blades up, knocking Nightmare high into the air. But even as he saved himself from being impaled from the surprise attack, he could not save himself from Lexi. The girl hurtled towards him, launching into the air and slamming both of her knees into his exposed chest.

With an ‘oomph’ he was knocked back half a dozen steps, the breath knocked from his lungs. Gasping, he brought his weapons down to defend, but Lexi was already in front of him. She blocked the attack with her gauntlets. The blades scratched against the hardened leather, but without the full force of a thrust behind them, they lacked enough force to penetrate.

Lexi grinned behind her scarf. Swinging her fist up she landed a hard uppercut to Craig's jaw. The bones in his neck popped in protest as his head was snapped back violently. Lexi heard Nightmare land on the ground, just to her left. Craig swiped at her and Lexi ducked to the side, cracking him hard in the ribs with a quick punch.

Though he was in pain and reeling from the surprise attack, Craig did not panic. Spinning with Lexi, he reversed his grip on his knives and brought them both hammering down. Just as Lexi had expected. Almost casually, she caught him by the wrists with a vicelike grip, but she made no attempt to push back, simply angling his attacks harmlessly off to the side as she fell backwards.

Still holding tight to Craig’s wrists, she tucked into a half roll. Just as her back touched the ground, she pulled her legs in tight and lodged her feet firmly into Craig’s stomach. His eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen.

"Up you go!" Lexi gritted out as she kicked out with all of her strength.

Craig let out a shout as he was launched bodily into the air. His limbs flailed as he struggled, and failed, to regain his balance before he came crashing down, face first, to the earth. Groaning, he started to roll onto his side when Lexi's boot connected with his face. There was enough force behind the kick to roll him across the ground. Staggered, he started to push himself into his hands and knees when Lexi’s foot caught his right hand, kicking the sword free and sending it skittering across the ground.

As he slipped back down, Lexi didn’t relent. She dove towards Craig, landing knee first onto his chest. He swung his arm up, the knife slashing the air between them. Lexi leaned back to avoid the attack before falling forward and slamming her elbow into his face. Blood burst from Craig's nose, but he was still able to swing his empty-handed fist and land a solid blow to Lexi's cheek.

She was sent rolling to the side.

Blinking away the stars, she kept her eyes on Craig as she thrust out her arm, running her fingers across the ground until she felt the familiar feel of Nightmare's pommel. Wrapping her thin fingers around the hilt she launched herself towards Craig, swinging Nightmare upwards. Craig jumped back to avoid the strike before leaning forward to return.

Her momentum carrying her forward, Lexi dropped to the ground, sliding across the bloodstained earth, and sliding feet first into Craig’s legs. He let out a strangled cry as his feet were kicked out from under him and he hung suspended in the air for a moment.

With a savage cry, Lexi thrust Nightmare straight up and the blade tore through his stomach. On instinct, his hands went to grasp at the weapon, dropping his knife as he did so. With a deft move, Lexi caught the blade. With cold precision, she spun the blade around once before slamming it into the side of Craig’s head, just above the ear.

His body went still and slowly continued its journey down the length of Nightmare’s blade until he was fully collapsed on top of Lexi. Grunting, Lexi pushed him onto his side and pulled both of her weapons free. Working her way back to her feet, she dropped the knife and sheathed Nightmare.

Taking in a deep breath, she turned to the roaring crowd and gave a single salute before she limped out of the arena.

xXx

Makina's mood had improved dramatically with Lexi’s back to back wins. To add to this, she had also acquired a large bowl of shaved ice, a treat that she had enhanced by absolutely smothering it with cherry juice that was currently running down her chin. With a sniff she reached out, nabbed the edge of Cross's scarf and dragged it across her mouth.

"Hey!" Cross growled as he realized what the diminutive Goddess had done. He tugged his scarf from her hand.

"What?" Makina grabbed at the scarf again. "This is your fault for failing to get me something adequate to cleanse myself with. You are lucky I don't smite you for such an oversight."

Cross's face grew hot as he heard Alice giggle. He fixed his eyes firmly on the current combatants, giving up as Makina continued to use his scarf as an impromptu napkin.

"It seems like you really are having fun here," Alice said.

Cross twisted his mouth and continued to watch the match.

Alice laughed and ruffled his hair before calling over his head to Jiana.

"Lexi is doing quite well."

Jiana nodded. "Competition suits Alexis. It is rare she gets to experience this many equally skilled opponents. She is doing much better this year.”

“What did she struggle with in the past?” Alice tapped a finger to her chin. “Pacing?”

“Indeed.”

"Pacing?" Makina asked, taking a rare break from stuffing her face as she looked to Alice for explanation.

"Tournaments like the Dance are unique because they require you to fight consecutive bouts with very little time to rest between them. If Lexi were to go all out in her first match, she would not have the energy to fight all the way to the end. But she can also not allow herself to get caught slacking off. A balance must be struck.”

"I see." Makina bit into her treat. "So, there is more strategy involved here than simply attacking."

"Much more," Alice said with a small smile. "Though, that is true in any situation. Things are never as simple as they seem on the surface. Right, Cross?”

Cross glanced at her. Those moss-green eyes stared right back, a difficult to define expression that didn’t quite match the smile that still played on her lips. After a moment he gave a small nod.

As he looked away, her hand once again found its way to his hair, her fingers lightly playing against his scalp. He made no effort to push her away.