7.122 - Coliseum VI

"We're all victims of our emotions, it's what makes us human," Elida said with a shrug. "And I do know how to push buttons. My oh my, though, you really took advantage of me."

Coming down from her high, Natalie realized that maybe antagonizing the champion of Rage as indulgently as she had might have been a terrible idea. Frankly, she'd known from early on that Elida was goading her, but even so, how couldn't she react when she started saying those awful things about her teammates?

Never mind her arousal. When it came to controlling her lust combined with Elida's skill for provocation, Natalie simply hadn't stood a chance— exploited by her very nature.

She was almost okay with losing, the throat-fucking and humiliation had been so gratifying.

Elida took a deep breath in, and let it out slowly. She smiled.

"Alright then. Let's begin."

Natalie grabbed her hammer and walked to her end of the arena, her stomach sinking as she went. There was nothing quite like the sensation of consequences looming right after blissfully doing something she knew she shouldn't have.

She shook those thoughts away. Going into a fight with the mentality that she'd screwed herself would lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy. Confidence was half the battle. She had to visualize herself winning or it wouldn't happen.

Maybe Elida had a berserker-style skill that made her stronger the angrier she was—she'd seen hints of that throughout their adventures. But all skills had limits. Natalie should still have the advantage.

If she had a skill that needed a certain level of anger, or perhaps a 'revenge' themed ability, which Natalie had qualified for by face-fucking Elida in front of a crowd while shit-talking the whole time?

Well, she would be ready for anything, as she was in any dungeon fight.

The timer counted down. Natalie's grip tightened and she got into position, ready to explode forward.

Zero.

She charged.

The fight started the same as the first, with Natalie setting the tempo and charging so wildly that Elida had no choice but to focus on evasion.

Elida was faster than before. So much so that Natalie confirmed without a doubt that she had triggered an anger-based stat bonus.

But that couldn't be it. Elida wouldn't have seemed so satisfied at her victory earlier just for this. Whatever Elida had up her sleeve, it was more than a strong stat boost. This part was just a bonus.

If she had to guess, Elida had a Rage resource, and she had filled it up enough to activate a skill. Natalie had something like that, after all. Or maybe it was vengeance based? That also seemed fitting, now that she knew more about Elida.

What that skill might actually be, though? Only the heavens knew. She had to be ready for anything, impossible as such a thing was.

Elida was a brilliant fighter, a scion of one of the five major houses and likely their year's most skilled student, with only a handful of people maybe competing for that title.

Which meant after fighting Natalie in the round prior, any advantages created by the element of surprise had disappeared. Elida had created a fresh model of Natalie's capabilities in her head, and knew exactly how to exploit the limits of her abilities.

She tried summoning [Illusions]; Elida saw through them. She tried feinting and following up with [Insatiable Strikes]; the attack barely missed, and the skill fizzled, going on cooldown. She tried simple weapon play: Elida stayed ever out of reach.

All that said, Elida couldn't find her own openings. Natalie relentlessly set the tempo, and with an eight-foot weapon swinging in enormous arcs, Elida couldn't jump in and land a solid strike to a vital area. She scored a few grazing hits, admittedly, but Natalie was a tank: her Tenacity and HP mitigated the attacks to bare scrapes of red, a slow trickle of blood dripping down her arm, thigh, and calf.

The fight continued for a minute. Then a second. And a third. It was an immense length of time considering the speed they moved at. Panting, Natalie withdrew, and she knew Elida was tiring out too. But between them, Natalie was draining faster. She needed to end this somehow.

And when would Elida play her hand? She was hiding something still. Surely.

Almost as if they were sharing a mind, they broke away, both of them panting and breathing hard. Natalie happily accepted the short break as they considered each other—recovering stamina was more important for her than Elida.

Elida called out, "Fun fact. Thousands of years ago, when humans were still running around with stone spears and loincloths," her eyes flicked to Natalie's crotch, lips curling at the irony, "we were persistence hunters. You know what that term means, right? You seem like the sort of girl who skipped class."

Unfortunately, Elida had her pegged.

"Poke the great lumbering beast over and over," Elida continued, "chase it down, tire it out. Wait for it to succumb to blood loss or exhaustion. I find the irony amusing considering what you're wearing. You're both cavewoman and lumbering beast, in this instance."

Breathing heavily, Natalie analyzed the words. She didn't understand them, or rather, what Elida's point was. Her plan couldn't be simply wearing her out. Could it? Eventually, Natalie would land one of the activation blows for [Insatiable Strikes], and the fight would be over. She'd missed by the skin of her teeth the past two times. Her breathing might be coming in heaves, but she would succeed before exhaustion claimed her.

"That's not actually relevant, I just found it amusing," Elida said. "Besides how, bit by bit, little amounts add up." She tutted. "You shouldn't have stayed in one place. Not that I blame you. How could you have known?"

A hot sensation seared through both of her calves, and her eyes jerked down.

A red spike had passed straight through both of her legs.

Her brain didn't process what she saw. The spike seemed to have originated from … the small pool of blood that had been dripping down her arm and thigh while Elida had been talking?

What?

Elida had blood magic?

She had looked away from her opponent, creating a fraction of an opening, but instincts honed from thousands of fights had Natalie jerking her head sideways. A throwing dagger sailed through the air where her face had been.

"Ah. Worth a shot," Elida said. "At least you fell for the first part."

Natalie staggered backward, breaking the blood spike, but the damage had been done. Her lower legs seared with pain: the spike had gone through her bones, she was pretty sure.

How? Her HP hadn't been that low. And she had an incredible Tenacity stat. It made no sense.

She wasn't disabled. The spike had been tiny. But still, it had pierced all the way through. She was in an awful position now. Each step made her gasp in pain. Her legs threatened to not support her weight at all.

This was bullshit! She had known she needed to be ready for anything, but that? There was zero way she could have known. And, again, her HP hadn't been low! She'd only taken a few scratches.

The attack ignored defenses? Both stats and HP? Items too, maybe? That was truly absurd, if so.

"Oh? Only you're allowed to have unfair abilities?" Elida drawled, likely sensing her train of thought. "Miss 'I can boost my skills to an absurd degree whenever I want'. And never mind whatever else you have going on, with that absurd jump in strength. You grew far more than a level up from three to four should account for."

She strafed idly to the side, circling her, daggers held low and posture relaxed, happy to not pursue.

Natalie was bleeding out, after all. Why rush? She had truly become the injured, lumbering beast Elida had mentioned.

"This fight is a formality now. That isn't arrogance speaking, it's the evaluation of a professional." She sounded like she was enjoying herself. "Just lie down and die, Natalie. This will be unpleasant otherwise. I can't make it as clean as you did for me. I'm a forgiving woman though, believe it or not, so I'll settle for a dagger through the eye, if you ask nicely."

Natalie gritted her teeth. "Go fuck yourself."

Elida smiled. "I expected nothing less."

Natalie forced herself to charge, since her only hope was somehow ending the fight quickly.

She hadn't been able to chase Elida down when she'd been in peak condition. Obviously, she had little success now.

The pain lancing through her legs was excruciating.

The next few minutes were, indeed, miserable. Natalie couldn't keep up, and Elida delighted in her revenge—Natalie knew she was only to blame for how this fight had gone. Simply reaping her poor control from the minutes prior.

Then again. She really, truly could not have predicted that skill.

Elida played the fight cautiously, only sneaking in when she could, happy to take as long as needed. Or perhaps enjoying dragging the fight out.

Death by a thousand cuts. Not a pleasant way to go. Her vision started to darken, and her limbs felt heavy. Attacks became weak and flailing.

Elida still didn't step in and end it, though she could've. She took no risks whatsoever. Why would she?

"Good effort though," Elida said condescendingly, smirking at her just as she lost consciousness.