Ch 2.83: Shuffle


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Ten down, forty to go! This contestant’s physical strength seems unmatched so far, but certainly someone in this group can take down this fencing tyrant?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">ina let out a long breath of exhaustion. Since Prisma, she’d only had two points taken off her, but each of them was in thest two matches. Those people didn’t seem to know what they were doing either, but the toll of going nonstop for this long was starting to buildup for ina, and she could feel herself growing sluggish. <i><span style="font-weight:400">And I’m not even close to being done.</i>


    <span style="font-weight:400">But it was what it was. Shein was calling contestants up at breakneck speed, no time to breathe. ina had half a mind to just drop out now, leave everything to Carly, but that wasn’t okay. ina knew most of her exhaustion was from having to fight Prisma and then not getting a break afterwards. Even though ina was pretty confident that Carly would be better than anyone else other than Prisma, she couldn’t risk letting another somewhat skilled fighter make it to Carly and wear her out too. The only thing she could do was try her best, and hope was that Carly was deep enough in the lineup that she could finish everything off with little trouble after ina let her win.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Those hopes were dashed when her next opponent came up the stairs, Rain, the woman who had knocked ina out of the first round. The order was based on when people qualified, so if she was up next then Carly would be right after. And forced to fight every remaining opponent.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Fuck,” ina said, inhaling deeply as she raised her sword. She’d managed to sneak her way over to Prisma’s old side, the one where she could avoid at least facing the audience during her mandatory nude matches. She was doing her best to not think about that, not get distracted like she had before. <i><span style="font-weight:400">But I guess my time’s almost over, one way or another. </i><span style="font-weight:400">As bad as it was for their chances, she was d she’d get a break after letting Carly take over.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Like your outfit,” Rain said with a smug grin on her face as she raised her de. It wasn’t some half-assed stance like most of the other opponents either; she knew what she was doing at least a little bit.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Let’s get this over with,” ina replied.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Shein called start, and the two women jumped into action, shing des ringing out amongst the cheering of the crowd. Rain was probably the best duelist ina had faced besides Prisma, but her de was soon wrenched from her grip tumbling to the ground as ina stabbed into her stomach, maybe a little harder than she honestly needed to.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Like your fencing,” ina said, though there was no smug grin on her. Grinning took energy, energy she needed to conserve. Still, she took delight in seeing Rain tremble as she picked her sword up.


    <span style="font-weight:400">The next point was even shorter, a timid Rain barely engaging before ina rapped her arm with the de. ina was relieved that despite Rain having some basic knowledge, she still seemed mostly unskilled.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Going into the third point though, ina found herself struggling. Rain was still timid, scared to advance, but she wasn’t rolling over either, instead focused on defense. In a moment of impatience inamitted too far, tried to knock Rain’s sword aside, but fell victim to the same trick Prisma had pulled, Rain’s de spinning through the air, using her wrist as an anchor point anding back around to p ina on the side as Rain dodged the follow-through.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Friend of yours had some neat tricks. I learned a lot,” Rain said, her returning confidence littering her voice as ina gripped her sword handle.


    <span style="font-weight:400">The fourth point, the <i><span style="font-weight:400">final </i><span style="font-weight:400">point, wasn’t nearly as close. ina smacked Rain’s sword so hard it went clear across the stage and then gave her a light tap on the head before returning to her starting position.


    <span style="font-weight:400">That was bad, she knew. Disying so much strength was something that could easily call attention, and exhausted her further to boot, but after a moment of stunned silence Shein dered her the winner, and the crowd cheered. She was the favorite it appeared, so long as her continuing on meant they still had a naked woman on stage she supposed. <i><span style="font-weight:400">Sorry to disappoint, everyone. That’s going to be myst go.</i>


    <span style="font-weight:400">Carly was on stage less than a minuteter, and ina could feel the weight lifting off her shoulders just at the sight of her. It was like her muscles were rxing, her lungs filled with an infinite supply of air. <i><span style="font-weight:400">Freedom!</i>


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Can I just surrender?” ina asked before the match started


    <span style="font-weight:400">Shein frowned at the question, but took the microphone away from her face. “It’s not against the rules, but your fans will be disappointed.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Fine, then I—”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Don’t!” Carly said, face looking panicked. “ina, I can’t fight in this dress, and you’re better than me at this.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What?” ina said, confused. They hadn’t exactly nned for this eventuality, but Carly knew swords better than her by far.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“You can always take your dress off too,” Shein added.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Shut it, you! Carly, I’m <i><span style="font-weight:400">tired, </i><span style="font-weight:400">I’m not going to be able to—”


    <span style="font-weight:400">And then she realized it. She wasn’t tired, not at all. It was like that moment of uplifted spirits when Carly had walked on stage had cured herpletely.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Her eyes nced towards Carly’s wrist for just a second, seeing the glowing crystal bracelet. It was still there, but there was no doubt in ina’s mind, Carly had figured some way around it, and she had just used [Health] to take care of ina’s exhaustion.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Fine, I’ll do it.” ina said, still a little wary.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I surrender then,” Carly said, holding her sword out.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Shein hesitated for a moment, but then motioned for a bouncer toe take the de.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Friends, in a stunning disy of cowardice, this youngdy refuses to even fight the Naked Sword Demon! Will others be simrly bullied? Next contestant, number thirty-eight please!”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Carly handed the training sword and then walked over to ina, stopping to whisper in her ear. “I couldn’t get close until my match was up, but I’ll stay nearby now.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Let me sweat,” ina mumbled. “Make it look real.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Carly nodded and was off, ina feeling a surge of energy flowing through her, and not just physically either. With the mere threat of exhaustion gone, there was a new wind blowing throughout the building, one in her favor.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Still, she knew that wouldn’t be thest surprise of the night, and she was pretty sure Shein had one final trick. ina had done everything she could to prepare for that, but only time would tell if it was enough. All she could for now do was fight through this rotation of opponents.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Thirty-eight to go…”