Mirai charged, sprinting across the arena at the turtle. It shifted its position slightly, finding solid footing as the runes on its back glowed brightly and three small balls of water appeared in the air, orbiting around the turtle.

Mirai skidded to a halt, holding her sword defensively as a ball of water shot at her. The glowing outline of a skill appeared around her sword as she deflected the attack and the ball flew to the side, pulverizing a pile of bones.

The second and third blasts came next. Mirai dodged the first and slipped behind one of the large rib bones embedded in the arena, listening to it crack under the force of the blast.

The turtle’s runes went dark, and she understood that meant the skill was on cooldown. It wasn’t exactly clear how long the cooldown would last, so she rushed forward to begin her counterattack with whatever time she had. Considering the strength of the skill, Edgar guessed it would take at least as long as some of his higher powered skills—somewhere in the ten second ballpark at a minimum—and began counting in the back of his mind.

Mirai hurtled herself at the creature, sword drawn, but switched to a kick—clearly testing to see this would be as effective against the turtle’s large bone body as it had been against the small skeletons. However, as she entered melee attack range, the turtle pulled its head and legs into its shell.

She brought her heel down on the shell like a lumberjack’s axe, but the turtle’s shell held strong. It didn’t budge or show any damage. She ran around the shell, poking and prodding with her sword to find weaknesses, but there were none she could see. Her kick came off cooldown twice more and each time she tried attacking from a new angle. Finally, the runes on the turtle's back came alive and three fresh bullets of water formed, forcing Mirai to step away.

She parried and dodged until the three attacks were spent before approaching the turtle again, poking and prodding thoughtfully at the impenetrable defenses.

Clearly, this matchup was against her.

Clink-clink-clink-clink

Edgar glanced at the undead arena boss, who was watching the fight intently. Maybe he had seen her sword and guessed at ways to beat her? Regardless, it was looking like the turtle would wear down her stamina and her ability to dodge its attacks. If it managed to land even one of those attacks, that would probably be enough to end the fight.

Mirai had to adapt and do it quickly.

Edgar activated [Voice Chat], moving away from the arena boss platform so that he’d be out of ear shot.

“Hey, Mirai. Can you hear me?”

“Edgar? Why is your voice in my head?”

Mirai glanced up at him, pausing her attack for a moment.

“It’s one of my skills. I’ve never tried it before, but this seemed like a good opportunity.”

She sighed, “can’t deny this is a bad match up for me. This is gonna be rough.”

The turtle’s shell was once again glowing, its runes charged. Mirai ran away from the turtle, weaving through the arena to dodge the three bullets. The last one landed in a pile of bones, sending them spinning through the air.

“You can do this. You’re more than a match for this thing. All you have to do is find a way through its defenses. Remember what Raiden said about strengths? Use your strengths.”

“My greatest strength has to be my skill with a sword. I’ve trained with it my whole life. Practiced day in and day out. I can quarter an apple, for pharaoh’s sake, but what does it matter against a turtle? Its shell is too hard. Bone is a bad match for me. I was barely squeaking by against the skeletons already.”

“You can quarter an apple?”

“It’s a stupid party trick my mentor taught me, don’t ask… sigh… People do love it though.”

“People love watching you cut an apple?”

“Especially blindfolded.”

The turtle’s magical attack came off cooldown once again, sending Mirai scurrying away from the deadly bullets.

“Edgar, I…”

Edgar shook his head, “No. There has to be a way. I mean, with the amount of magic in your world, anything is possible.”

“Well, technically speaking, we’re in a rift, so this isn’t technically my world, or anyone’s world for that matter… except maybe yours, since you’re a Riftling…”

“You know what I mean…”

“Sigh… Clearly the kicks won’t work, so it's down to the sword skills… There has to be a way…”

“You can quarter an apple, of course there’s a way.”

Mirai groaned and danced around a bit more until the turtle completed its next barrage and then closed in, her sword glowing with skills. She attacked, shouting as she struck. She hacked, slashed, and stabbed relentlessly, dodging away in time for the turtle’s next attack. A few marks appeared on its shell, but it just wasn’t enough.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Mirai, maybe if you-”

“Not now, let me focus. I… I think I have an idea.”

“Like an epiphany? A new skill?”

“We’ll find out, but I’m going to need to focus.”

“Knock ‘em dead.” Edgar released his chat skill.

Mirai circled the turtle, dropping into a low stance. She frowned, intensely focused. He could see sweat beading on her face. The energy she was spending dodging the turtle’s attacks was starting to show. She was going to have to turn this fight around soon or risk running out of steam.

She drew in a deep breath and struck out at the turtle once, then twice. Her movements were slower and more intentional than they had been before. She managed one more strike before the turtle’s barrage forced her to dance away. After dodging the third bullet, she slipped and stumbled, but caught herself. As she recovered, her focus only deepened.

In some ways, Mirai’s efforts in this fight felt more like an athletic contest than a martial one. She was in the zone and determined to win. Edgar clenched his fists, willing her on. The obstacle was, in a way, a simple one—a strong defense.

She circled in, attacking the turtle with the same purposeful strikes, clang-clang-clang-clang. This time she managed four strikes before dancing away from the blasts of water.

As the turtle unleashed its’ water attacks, Edgar did a double take, noticing cracks in its shell spidering out from a point on its shell. All at once, he understood. She was attacking the turtle in the same spot, over and over, to break a hole in its armor.

He marveled at the precision. Only someone who had practiced with a sword their entire life could pull something like that off. Forget quartering an apple at a party. This was threading a needle—in the middle of a fight to the death—fifteen times in a row!

Edgar clenched his fists even tighter as she re-engaged, drenched in sweat and deeply focused.

Clang-clang-crack

The third strike landed with the sound of breaking bone as a crack split down the middle of the turtle’s shell and it fell in halves to either side. The runes on its back went dark and its body fell limp to the ground. Mirai stood there for a long moment, her breath heaving as she stared down at her defeated foe.

Essence flowed into her and she closed her eyes, savoring the hard won essence. It was a lot compared to the skeletons. She welcomed it in, feeling it swirl energetically in her core.

She could hear Edgar cheering and opened her eyes. The arena boss was pissed and slammed his fist down on the arm of his chair. His eyes burned for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure.

“Impressive… I guess I’ll have to try harder in the next rounds.”

The undead gestured at the scoreboard and a check mark appeared on the scoreboard in Mirai’s row for the first column.

“I’ll give you a minute to recover before the second round, while I think of some tougher opponents.”

The undead leaned back in its chair, stroking its chin thoughtfully.

Edgar ran across and down the stairs towards Mirai, shouting. When she turned towards him, her face was a contradiction. Tears were falling from her eyes even while she smiled.

“I did it. I was starting to think I couldn’t… That I was going to die.”

“I never doubted you for a second.”

She smiled deeper.

“Well, maybe for one second. That was a freaking tough fight, Mirai. I’m starting to see that’s the way things are here, though. In a rift, anyway. This place is really designed to kill us.”

She nodded. “It truly is.”

“I was expecting a level one rift to be easier, honestly.”

They turned, looking up at the undead area boss who was glaring down at them over what was left of his nose.

“And that was just round one.”

Mirai gestured with her hand and a screen appeared in front of Edgar.

Skill: [Moonlit Strike]

* Strike a single target with your sword. Leaves a [moon mark], which lasts for 1 minute, where further strikes have an increased chance for critical damage.

* Aspect: Moon

* Cost: Medium stamina

* Cooldown: 15 seconds

* Level: 0

* Experience to unlock leveling: 0%

“The strike that finished the turtle triggered an epiphany. I didn’t get a chance to try it, but it sounds like exactly what I need—an armor piercing skill.”

“Whoa, you can share screens with other people?”

“Of course!”

“You act like it’s so intuitive… In my world, there’s this thing called UX and by those standards, this system really sucks.”

“Sigh… You just think about it and gesture.”

“Whatever, I’ll try it later. Why do you think it’s moon aspected?”

Mirai glanced down at her sword. “My sword is moon aspected, so that must have influenced the epiphany.”

“That’s pretty wild. So if you use weapons with a certain aspect, that may influence the nature of the skills you can learn?”

Edgar scratched his chin, “I wonder if that applies to my claws and tail.”

Mirai shrugged, “I mean, I guess it’s possible that you yourself are aspected—since you are a Riftling—and your claws would just inherit that aspect. But, humans aren’t aspected, and I really doubt that you are.”

“That way you said Riftling right there.”

“What?”

“Say it again.”

“…Riftling…”

“Ugh, the disgust!! Cool it, will you? A guy’s pride can only take so much.”

“I’ve just never met a… someone like you, I guess.”

“Just wait until you see me eat some freaking—”

“What was that?”

“Nothing, nothing… Just thinking about… dinner, heh heh…”

She raised an eyebrow. “Uh-huh, Sure…”

~~~~~~~~~~

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