NOVEL NEXT Ch 2.85: Card
Elaina knew only one thing, that the final match of the tournament wasn’t about to be decided by fencing skills.
“You don’t look that surprised,” Shein said. “Though I guess you did point out earlier that I like to do things on my own.
“I knew you weren’t going to let go of the Temmie, so it was obvious something was up. Even easier to piece together once you made it clear employees could be contestants, but I had a feeling before then.”
“Aye, you always have to have a trump card. So, are you going to raise your blade, or are you just going to give up?”
“One last time,” Elaina said, walking forward and holding her wrist up. “Trade with me.”
Shein rolled her eyes, but tucked her sword under her arm and started walking to meet Elaina at the center of the stage. “You wound me, that you think I would cheat, use an aspect in a duel. But since it’ll be the one chance the crowd gets to see fully, completely naked, I’ll humor you once more.”
Elaina tucked her own sword away in her arm and undid the bracelet, feeling everything flood into her. [Humiliation Factor] was as a maximum, even after all this time. Her nakedness, Shein’s comments, the reality of what she was doing was finally settling in for the first time, finally real thanks to the feeling of the skill. It was humiliating, frightening, mortifying, every terrible, wonderful emotion Elaina had been reevaluating her relationship with lately all at once, and it was driving her hormones wild, clouding her brain with daydreams far more distracting than any mental exhaustion she had
She only had a moment. The seed she’d planted earlier was still there, so she locked herself in place, activating [Personal Restraint for only a moment, one where she instantly burned all of her mana, willing that seed to grow. She had been too afraid to try it before now—too risky to do on one of her friends—but this first time had to work.
Shein let out a long yawn as they traded bracelets, taking a moment to wipe her eyes and blink rapidly before locking the new one back on her wrist as Elaina did the same. “Mille, start us off, please.”
“Start!”
Defend long enough, that was Elaina’s goal. With that in mind, she stepped back as her first move, but when Shein’s sword remained visible Elaina knew she had to take advantage of that. They clashed together, Shein looking surprised by Elaina’s quick burst of speed. There wasn’t a point in holding back anymore, no reason to try and hide her true skills, so Elaina twisted her sword around, taking advantage of the bind they were in and knocking it to the ground before throwing a quick stab into Shein’s torso.
“You’re honestly very skilled,” Shein said as she collected her sword again. “But surely you know you can’t win?”
“We’ll see,” Elaina said. They returned to their positions, and Mille called start again.
This time was more of what Elaina expected. Shein’s blade disappeared the moment start was called, and Shein herself flew forward in the same instant. It still wasn’t all a lost cause though. Elaina was prepared for the trick this time, could still make some sense of where the weapon was just by watching Shein’s hand. She was able to block the first two strikes, and if she could get the blades to bind again she’d be able to manipulate Shein’s with overwhelming strength regardless of visibility.
But the third strike was too elusive to catch, a feint that Elaina tried too hard to cover every possibly range of that slipped by her defenses. Whether by and inch or a mile she didn’t know, but Elaina knew she’d been hit regardless.
“Point!” Mille said.
“I appreciate you giving the crowd one last show,” Shein said as she walked back and took a deep breath. Her eyelids were finally starting to droop. “Honestly, setting this whole thing up I imagined some uproar when it was revealed I was the final contestant, the ‘her’ you have to poke three times to win. But the crowd’s so distracted by you that I don’t think anyone even cares.”
“Only the person who makes it to the end has a right to be pissed anyway,” Elaina said.
“Start!”
Shein was slower now, Elaina could tell. So it is working. Once again the blade was invisible, but Shein’s approach wasn’t as lightning fast this time, easier to read. Still, an invisible blade is always a formidable threat, and even with the speed differential amplified she wasn’t able to find an opening, struggling to play defense just by focusing on footwork and avoidance. Fuck, even when she’s this slow I can’t get in! Prisma would be able to…
That was it. Elaina moved her focus away from Shein’s wrist. That was a deceptive tool after all, a pointer to a general area the blade could be depending on how the angle and strength of Shein was holding the sword, but Shein’s eyes didn’t lie. They didn’t reveal the location of the blade, but they revealed her intent, her will in this battle. With that, Elaina was able to parry effortlessly, plant her feet still and maintain her ground while she defended, until finally she saw it in Shein’s eyes, the wide cut Shein was about to make, the cut that Elaina could beat her to.
“Point!”
Elaina caught Shein’s attack right after finishing her own, just out of habit, but it was already too late for Shein at that point anyway. The woman stared down at her sword as it popped back into existence. Elaina still wasn’t sure of exactly how it worked, but she was sure of one thing, that it was only invisible to her. She could hear the crowd chanting her new embarrassing nickname, knew they were on her side at this point. If they could see the obvious cheating, there would be a riot.
Still, knowledge of that didn’t stop the inevitable. She was up two to one, and she knew what to expect as Mille called, “Start!”
Shein disappeared entirely. Elaina had half a mind to throw a miracle-seeking thrust into thin air, but she knew better than that. She retreated as far as she could, swiping at the air as fast as she could, as randomly as she could in a feeble attempt to hopefully just barely graze her invisible opponent. I probably look ridiculous right now.
“Point!” Elaina winced as she felt it, the training blade poking her right in the navel.
Shein came back into view, grinning as she pulled the weapon out of Elaina’s belly-button. “I honestly wouldn’t mind sticking it in some other holes of yours too, but even I wouldn’t do that without permission.”
Elaina swallowed, eyeing the sword as Shein pointed it just a bit lower. “You know I have no interest in that, right?”
“And you know I can tell that isn’t just sweat between your thighs, right?”
Elaina pursed her lips, feeling herself blush. But this was good, actually. Anything to keep Shein occupied for a moment. Gods, how much longer is it going to take?
“Maybe I could be tempted,” Elaina said, barely believing the words coming out of her mouth, “but if I was, it wouldn’t be from someone who cheats at games she designed herself.”
Shein sighed, shaking her head and turning away. “I told you, cheating’s the norm. Getting caught is the problem.”
Elaina followed, dragging her feet as she made her way over to her starting position.
“Hurry up and let’s finish this,” Shein said, yawning again. “I’m getting awfully tired.”
“Oh?” Elaina said, taking every possible inch as slow as she could. “Why might that be?”
Shein was left puzzled at that, squinting at Elaina. Or was that just her eyes drooping again? Some semblance of realization overtook her right as Elaina was stepping into position, and she glanced around in a panic. “The Health girl? I had her removed though…”
“Start!”
“No, Mille…” Shein’s protest was too late. Elaina was already on the move, and Shein could barely move her arm by now.
She dropped her sword the same instant Elaina’s struck her stomach.
There was silence as the building took in what happened, followed by Mille muttering into the microphone, “P— point!”
The sea of cheers raged as the crowd’s darling contestant won, but Shein just stared up, eyes barely even open. “How?” she asked.
“Always have a trump card,” Elaina answered, unable to help smiling.
And then Shein collapsed to the floor, and everything went to shit.