Chapter 76

It was finally D-day.

“You look nervous,” Sunshine said beside me.

And she was right. My legs were shaking so fast it felt like I had been set on vibrate. My palms were sweating profusely, and I was near hyperventilation. And for a good reason.

“Of course I am,” I replied. “This is my first time.”

“What? Fighting a friend?” she asked, gazing at me questioningly, as if she wasn’t sure of it herself.

“Something like that,” I said. Were we even friends? What made one friends? “The last time I was in the finals, I lost.”

She chuckled at that, and I gave her the most evil glare I could manage under the circumstances.

“Come on, there are only two possible outcomes. Look at it this way, at least you can’t do worse than the last time.”

“Was that meant to encourage me?”

“Yes?”

I just shook my head as I tried to calm my wayward legs, wiping off my sweaty palms on my trousers. Not that it helped me at all. Why did we have to wait for so long before they called us to the arena? I knew it was the finals and they wanted to prime the spectators as much as they could before the fight finally began. But still.

I stood up and began pacing in the waiting room. Sunshine stared at me for a while before she laid back on the wall. Maybe her presence was adding to my nerves. Why hadn’t they segregated us? They had enough waiting rooms for that. They must have. It was the Counties after all.

By the time we were called to the arena, it felt like I had walked for kilometers, effectively eating through some of my [Stamina].

I went in first, with Sunshine coming a few moments later. Everything that happened was a blur to me, up until I found myself facing Sunshine on the opposite side. Then time slowed down as everything came rushing in, bringing into focus where I was. In the arena, for the finals. Which were about to start.

“You’ll go easy on me, right?” I asked as I instinctively took a step back.

She threw me that cute smile I was getting used to, bashing her large eyes at me as she tilted her head to the side. For a moment, just a brief moment, I relaxed.

Then her face contorted into something feral, and the words that came out of her mouth matched it perfectly. “You’re going down.”

I quickly took a few steps back, raising my hands as if to push her back. “What happened to our friendship? Wait… you’re the one that took out dual swords.”

Why was I even saying that? I knew that already, in fact, I had known that for some time. What was happening?

“She was such a tasty meal,” she said, running her tongue over her definitely elongated canines.

This Sunshine… I should have most definitely watched her prior fights. “Where is the adorable you?”

This monster, and that was what she had become, there was no way I could win against. Any little lingering hope I had had about winning the fight quickly evaporated as the fight was called.

“Adorableness helps no one in the arena.”

I thought she would rash me at the start of the fight, but she stayed rooted to her position while I kept taking steps back, away from her. But somehow, I never seemed to be getting away, in fact, it felt like the distance shrunk with each step I took.

Before long, my back hit something solid. I turned my head to check what it was, only to find myself at the edge of the arena. I quickly faced my opponent again.

“Oh.”

Such a stupid mistake.

I found myself face to face with Sunshine, and with her eyes so close, I could see that the pupils had enlarged, with what little of the iris that remained having turned a golden color. Just like a cat. In that moment, I couldn’t recall what her original eye color had been.

Somehow, I managed to evade her fist as it came for my head, clashing to the arena wall with a loud thud. It made me remember the one and only time I had punched with all the power I could master, and the result of that punch.

I visibly shivered from the memory as I tried to create space between us. But she pursued.

Punch. Punch. Round kick. Punch. Punch.

On and on it went, over and over again. And it was all I could do to avoid getting smashed into the arena. Each fist, or leg, that whizzed past me disturbed the air itself so much that it felt like she was glazing me. And my [Health] was dropping accordingly. Not by much, but enough to know that I was in trouble.

I had a rule, which I mostly used in my previous life, that the faster I realized whether I could win a fight or not, the higher my chances of getting out of the fight whole. Here in the Realm of Mesily, that rule had somehow become muddled because of the potions, magic, and not to forget being involved in The Grand Competition.

Now that rule was roughly brought into focus as every part of me was screaming for me to run. Not that Sunshine would let me do that, or the arena itself. Was it possible to forfeit the fight? I definitely should have asked about that.

As fast as we had engaged, more like I had been attacked, we took a breather. I was already panting, hard, with a sheen of sweat already on me. I wasn’t sure if Sunshine was faster than I was, or that she just had better reflexes, but for that brief engagement, there was nothing I could do to her.

‘Staff.’

“What?” I asked in surprise before realizing that it had been Clare.

‘Use your staff.’

They might not have said it, but I heard the unspoken ‘idiot’ in their statement. I looked down at my right hand, at my staff, wondering, had I really not used the staff at all? I must not have, if Clare felt the need to remind me.

I looked up, staring at Sunshine as she appeared ready to resume our fight. She looked nothing like the cute adorable girl I had first met in the gym. No, right in front of me was a feral predator, and I was its prey.

I threw two [Hurtling Projectile]s at her, one after the other, as she dashed for me. But she whipped through them, so quick and light on her feet that she seemed more like a shadow to me. I braced myself, striking at her as her momentum brought her right into my reach.

It was like hitting a wall, a very thick concrete wall. My staff bounced off without effect, the rebound force numbing my arms all the way to the shoulders. I ducked under her kick only to find the other leg already coming for my head.

I swung my head away as fast as I could, but the kick still got me, just inside my shoulder. It picked me up as if I were I rag doll, and threw me backward sprawling. I managed to land on my feet, only to be met by another kick to the side of my torso.

Use the staff!? Some advice that had been. It had proved ineffective, allowing her to land the first hits of the fight. On the bright side, I had managed a somewhat perfect backflip for the first time. Though unwittingly. Come to think of it, ever since the attack began, she hadn’t touched the arena ground. All those kicks without even touching the ground, what was she?

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As I landed, Sunshine was moving again, and she was on me, already punching and kicking at me. Instinct took over, my staff whirling and twisting in my hands as I redirected and parried as much as I could.

I had known that she was nothing to be trifled with, but this was something else altogether. With a sweep, my staff came up, deflecting yet another attack. I saw her eyes begin to glow and I knew things were about to get bad, worse. The punch from her was simmering, her hand covered by a whitish-pink hue as it sailed for me. The attack missed me by a hairs-width and burst through the arena, tearing the ground behind me asunder.

I used [Fast Dash] to get away from her, but she was already after me, bounding across the crevice left behind by her previous attack like a rabid animal, her eyes two glowing orbs that made her look more like a demon possessed.

I threw [Fire Ball]s at her as I retreated, but she walked through them like they were nothing. Is there some kind of Mana resistance? Does she have it? That’s just cheating!

As she reached me, I threw up my [Mana Shield], pouring all I had learnt about shields into creating it. I knew there was no way she would miss a second time, and I couldn’t possibly take such an attack and live.

As her punch made contact with my shield, I wished to all that was true in Mesily for it to hold, and it did. Just for a split second before it cracked, and I rolled out of the way as another crevice was created, crisscrossing with the old one.

How does she have that much firepower? I couldn’t even begin to comprehend how she was working her Mana to create such devastating attacks. In the next instant, she was upon me.

This time, I wasn’t quick enough, her punch caught me on my left arm, and it bend back into itself, completely out of commission. There was no pain to it though, only a numbness that felt oddly soothing.

I grabbed the staff tighter with my remaining useful arm, swinging and shoving at her with all the agility and strength I could master, while she hammered at me with those earth-shattering punches of hers.

I managed to avoid getting caught again, while I used [Staff Strike] on nearly all my attacks. I was paying dearly with my Mana, but after the first few to connect, she began avoiding them, which was good for me as it reduced the number of attacks she threw at me.

The constantly flopping arm was causing much unneeded distractions. Without thinking much about it, I directed some of my Mana to the arm, with intention to hold it steady. Somehow, it worked, but I wasn’t fool enough to try using the arm in the fight.

With that taken care of, I returned all my attention back to the fight, putting my everything into scoring more hits on her. She had eaten away a lot of my [Health] and I intended to return the favor.

When I found myself in the realm of slow motion, I was both exalted and disappointed at the same time. I hated myself for not having made the breakthrough before the fight, but the hate was solely pushed to the back of my mind as Sunshine’s attacks became more manageable.

I pressed my attack then, relying on my added reach to push her back. I used [Earth Grab] as much as I could, but she avoided them all, proving to be the nimblest opponent I had faced. She drew back with an almost liquid grace, all the time keeping that feral snarl fully directed at me.

It fueled my drive to have her crippled as she had me, striking forward in a controlled frenzy. At least I thought it was controlled. Even still, I knew I was at a disadvantage. And a big one at that. Even in the best of days, I was no match for her. She moved like an apparition, weaving through my sweeps and strikes so terribly I felt like screaming in fury, worse still when she managed to go on attack.

She nearly scored a hit on my face, only managing a glaze but I could feel the skin on my cheek smarting from the blow. I embraced the pain, using it fuel myself forward for another attack. I so much wanted to snarl back at her, but I knew I couldn’t afford to lose my composure, when that happened, then I will surely have lost the fight.

I landed hit after hit in quick succession, pushing forward as she gave ground, only to find myself within her reach. And she didn’t miss the chance, going on the attack almost instantly.

Things changed so fast I didn’t have the time to [Fast Dash] out of my predicament. Not that I thought I had enough Mana left for a meaningful [Fast Dash]. I focused all my efforts in avoiding getting hit, but she was relentless. I might have been faster than her, just barely though and the bottleneck struggle wasn’t helping me at all.

I didn’t understand what the issue was; the only Attribute left at the bottleneck was [Constitution] and I didn’t see how it made doing things that had come easily before so much harder. I was of the opinion that the bottleneck was just a System enforced thing, not something that was actually true.

As the confrontation heated up, our defenses began failing, allowing us to land more hits than I was comfortable with. I had been in the training facility with Sunshine a couple times, I was painfully aware that she was stronger than me. And without [Staff Strike], my loss was imminent.

As if to confirm my assessment of the situation, I felt several of my ribs break as a blow connected with my chest. She was so close that my staff and become effectively useless, raining blow after blow on me. I tried a punch with my left arm, but it was nothing but a slap to her. In fear of losing the fight, I forced the last of my Mana through the arm, agonizing pain welling up as it went through, and activated a [Fire Ball] between us.

The explosion that came after was meagre, but it was enough to send us tumbling a few meters from each other. I didn’t hesitate, downing my [Health] and [Stamina] potions immediately.

…

“Are you trying to kill me?” I asked as the [Health] potion took effect, melding my bones and repairing what it could of my battered body.

“No. I’m trying to win,” she said, having taken potions of her own, the only saving grace I had gotten. I was immensely pleased that my attacks were actually inflicting more damage than I thought. “Besides, if you are going to be in the Duchies, you need to be able to handle this much. Things will only get harder from here on out.”

She grinned at me then, and I knew we were about to resume the death fight. Oh Mesily, why did I sign up for this competition?

I quickly took my [Mana] potion in anticipation of another grueling engagement, and not a moment too soon.

We rushed each other, colliding in a series of attacks, with none gaining the upper hand. Quickly enough, I found myself in the realm of slow motion again, but the resistance went by as soon as it began, and I knew that finally [Constitution] and broken through to level 40.

Things didn’t change much. Only the strain, the drawback to pushing myself so hard, disappeared. I was back to fighting freely, feeling my body respond as fluidly as I wanted it to. I couldn’t tell whether anything had changed though, and frankly I didn’t care. I was just glad I no longer had to focus on pushing through the strain.

Without the bottleneck hindrance, I focused all my efforts into winning the fight. The faster it went, the more likely I was to win it. She had me on [Health], we were square on [Mana] and I had her on [Stamina]. But that didn’t mean I was interested in prolonging the fight. I wanted to focus more on attacking aggressively.

So I pushed on, attacking time and time again. She stumbled, and I swept back in a smooth motion, bringing my staff hard on her hand, with the intent of taking it out of commission like she had done to me before. I had never achieved it before, the best I had done was crippling a leg, but that had involved using [Earth Grab] and [Hurtling Projectile] in conjunction. And an enormous amount of luck. I didn’t think I could accomplish that now; true, the Skills had levelled up a lot since then, but so had my opponents. I couldn’t even recall the last time I caught anyone with [Earth Grab].

The only thing that effort earned me was a snarl from Sunshine. She shook the hand, returning attacks of her own like nothing had happened. But try as she might, I was having better luck this time around.

I used my staff into full effect, keeping her out reach as I attacked relentlessly. Each time she tried to get in, she paid a hefty price as I fueled my staff with [Staff Strike]. Maybe she landed a few hits of her own, but they were few and barely had the power behind them that I had experienced before. I wasn’t sure whether I had gotten better at redirecting her attacks, or she was holding back, waiting for the right moment to unleash hell on earth. Or me, in this case.

Every time I landed a good hit, I quaked inside in glee, but never letting it show on the outside. I pushed her throughout the arena, never letting her have any breathing room. Part of me was scared if I let go of my upper hand, even if for just a moment, I would never have it back. The phantom tingling in my left arm was a constant reminder of what she was capable of when she put her mind to it.

So I pushed. And pushed. She swerved left, and I went left. She ducked and I went low. She jumped, and I went high.

I began to notice that I wasn’t landing attacks as I had at the beginning. Panic welled up in me as I quickly checked my [Status], only to find that my [Stamina] was still above half. Then a new kind of panic set in as I realized what was happening. She was getting faster. More agile. Either she had leveled up, or she was done holding back.

Neither of those options were good for me.

She knocked my staff aside, closing the distance between us. But I reacted quickly, rolling under and past her. I turned immediately, swinging my staff with me, only to meet air as she leaned back. I threw a [Fire Ball] at her, she gracefully sidestepped, moving in on me again.

I tried desperately to bring the staff between us, but she knocked it aside, again. And closed in fast. I brought up my [Mana Shield] just as fast, and followed it up with a [Wind Gust] as the shield cracked and dissipated with the first punch.

The [Wind Gust] pushed her back a little, enough for me to attack with my staff. She danced through the strikes and whirls, before she stopped suddenly, with my staff in her hand.

I tried pulling back, but she wouldn’t give. Two hands against her one and I couldn’t win. I decided to push her instead, but it was like pushing against a wall. I used Mana to enhance my strength, and I finally managed to pull the staff a little.

She reacted fast, bringing her other hand to the staff and jerking it roughly from my hands.

I stared dumbfondedly as she ungainly swung the staff, testing. She then shook her head, brought her hands a third away from its ends, and then brought the staff down on her knee.

The first two times, nothing happened. But on the third try, it broke in half. And I felt something in me disappear as I lost connection with the staff as the Mana channels in it were destroyed, and the Mana slowly dissipated away.

She unceremoniously threw the two pieces aside, and then turned to face me, a murderous grin splitting her face.