By the time Leta had gotten the alert that her diaphragm had been repaired, John had gone over to his cadre of allies, who were all giving him firm slaps on the back and congratulating him.

He looked back at her with the air of a marathon gold medalist curiously turning to see who come in second place, only to pause when he saw that she wasn’t crying in pain or passed out from the internal damage his blow had caused.

Instead, she was… snickering?

A slow chuckle was building in her chest, which, coupled with the blossoming red stain between her plate armor, made her look like a madwoman.

John glanced at De Mar, then back at her. “Call the duel, Judge. Let this be over.”

“She has not forfeited.” Atreus responded coldly, fixing the Miner with a hard stare, “Nor has she been incapacitated. The duel continues.”

John argued back, “She’s been stabbed through and is bleeding out.” he pointing a bloody push dagger in her direction, “She’s not fit to continue fighting. She’s out of of this match.”

“How confident are you in that assessment?” Allister chuckled menacingly.

The crowd turned back to Leta with confusion as Leta whipped a tear from her eye.

“Sorry. Inside joke. You should have been there when I broke every bone in my body being thrown from a car.”

With a pain-filled moan, she rolled to her knees before rising up on shaky feet with a smile.

“That was a good shot, though.” She rotated her arm and was happy to discover her muscles were barely sore by now. “The Minotaur hit harder, but that was still a great hit.”

John looked absolutely puzzled at her words, but she paid him no mind. She tuned back to Atreus and held up her left side, where a gap in the armor seam was visible.

“Can you help take this off?”

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She didn’t miss the smirk on his face this time as Atreus gave her a slight bow. “Of course, your Majesty.”

He stepped forward and expertly pried the two sides of the chest armor off her. Without a base to latch onto, her shoulder pauldrons were removed as well, until her only form of upper body protection was the sports bra and tank top she’d been wearing earlier.

There was an unmistakable dark stain on her grey shirt, but it was dry and crusty, as if she’d been stabbed hours ago and not moments.

Absently, Leta pinched the fabric and pulled it up, revealing her toned abdominal muscle until the stab wound a thumb length beneath her sports bra came into view.

Only… there wasn’t a wound.

What had once been a deep hole of blood and bone was now a puckered scar that looked as if it was several weeks into recovery. There wasn’t even a bruise to be seen despite how hard she’d been punched.

The crowd gasped and gawked as they watched the two sides of the wound come together like puckering lips melting into one, the red mass transforming to scar tissue in a moment before that, too, faded until all that was left was smooth skin free of any blemish.

[Bleeding status has been removed.]

[Stamina and constitution have returned to normal levels.]

Bonnie had picked the daggers she’d dropped up and presented them between her teeth, her tail wagging with delight.

“Good girl.” Leta ruffled the wolf’s ears before taking her weapons and gesturing with her head for the wolf to join Allister on the sideline.

Leta sighed, giving a shocked and pale-faced John an almost apologetic smile. “I was starting to like this shirt, too. Oh, well. Shall we get back to it?”

“Oh, shit.” Someone in the crowd exclaimed, “He’s screwed.”

John wasn’t as quick to brandish his weapons this time as he was when the duel began. His brows furrowed as his eyes kept flickering down to where he’d stabbed her before, then back up into her swirling blue eyes.

“I…I stuck you.” He stammered.

“Oh,” she glanced down at the blood stain on her shirt, “Yeah, you did.”

His mouth opened, then shut before he tried again, but all that he could get past his lips was a shaky, “H-how?”

Leta shrugged. “Honestly? Basically, being close to immortality isn’t as fun as it sounds. I’ve had every bone in my body broken at least once. Some twice. I’ve had my throat nearly torn out. I’ve been impaled. I’ve almost been drowned by a Nixie. And that’s all in the last few days. It hurts. A lot. But, hey! They say pain is temporary.”

John’s already pale face turned white as she twirled the daggers in her hands and gestured with one tip for him to come forward, something he didn’t do immediately.

“Where’s that bravado from earlier?” She asked innocently, batting her eyes like a child asking why the sky was blue. “I’d really been looking forward to this.”

‘Fear my potential.’ The rage inside her whispered fervently. “You might have stamina, but nothing outlasts eternity. You cannot control nor command a force of nature. I am a storm cloaked in the guise of human flesh, and my victory will not be denied.’