Ch 2.83: Shuffle

“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?”

Elaina let out a long breath of exhaustion. Since Prisma, she’d only had two points taken off her, but each of them was in the last 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 Elaina, and she could feel herself growing sluggish. And I’m not even close to being done.

But it was what it was. Shein was calling contestants up at breakneck speed, no time to breathe. Elaina had half a mind to just drop out now, leave everything to Carly, but that wasn’t okay. Elaina knew most of her exhaustion was from having to fight Prisma and then not getting a break afterwards. Even though Elaina 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 Elaina let her win.

Those hopes were dashed when her next opponent came up the stairs, Rain, the woman who had knocked Elaina 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.

“Fuck,” Elaina 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. But I guess my time’s almost over, one way or another. As bad as it was for their chances, she was glad she’d get a break after letting Carly take over.

“Like your outfit,” Rain said with a smug grin on her face as she raised her blade. 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.

“Let’s get this over with,” Elaina replied.

Shein called start, and the two women jumped into action, clashing blades ringing out amongst the cheering of the crowd. Rain was probably the best duelist Elaina had faced besides Prisma, but her blade was soon wrenched from her grip tumbling to the ground as Elaina stabbed into her stomach, maybe a little harder than she honestly needed to.

“Like your fencing,” Elaina 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.

The next point was even shorter, a timid Rain barely engaging before Elaina rapped her arm with the blade. Elaina was relieved that despite Rain having some basic knowledge, she still seemed mostly unskilled.

Going into the third point though, Elaina 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 Elaina committed too far, tried to knock Rain’s sword aside, but fell victim to the same trick Prisma had pulled, Rain’s blade spinning through the air, using her wrist as an anchor point and coming back around to slap Elaina on the side as Rain dodged the follow-through.

“Friend of yours had some neat tricks. I learned a lot,” Rain said, her returning confidence littering her voice as Elaina gripped her sword handle.

The fourth point, the final point, wasn’t nearly as close. Elaina 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.

That was bad, she knew. Displaying so much strength was something that could easily call attention, and exhausted her further to boot, but after a moment of stunned silence Shein declared 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. Sorry to disappoint, everyone. That’s going to be my last go.

Carly was on stage less than a minute later, and Elaina could feel the weight lifting off her shoulders just at the sight of her. It was like her muscles were relaxing, her lungs filled with an infinite supply of air. Freedom!

“Can I just surrender?” Elaina asked before the match started

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.”

“Fine, then I—”

“Don’t!” Carly said, face looking panicked. “Elaina, I can’t fight in this dress, and you’re better than me at this.”

“What?” Elaina said, confused. They hadn’t exactly planned for this eventuality, but Carly knew swords better than her by far.

“You can always take your dress off too,” Shein added.

“Shut it, you! Carly, I’m tired, I’m not going to be able to—”

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 her completely.

Her eyes glanced towards Carly’s wrist for just a second, seeing the glowing crystal bracelet. It was still there, but there was no doubt in Elaina’s mind, Carly had figured some way around it, and she had just used [Health] to take care of Elaina’s exhaustion.

“Fine, I’ll do it.” Elaina said, still a little wary.

“I surrender then,” Carly said, holding her sword out.

Shein hesitated for a moment, but then motioned for a bouncer to come take the blade.

“Friends, in a stunning display of cowardice, this young lady refuses to even fight the Naked Sword Demon! Will others be similarly bullied? Next contestant, number thirty-eight please!”

Carly handed the training sword and then walked over to Elaina, stopping to whisper in her ear. “I couldn’t get close until my match was up, but I’ll stay nearby now.”

“Let me sweat,” Elaina mumbled. “Make it look real.”

Carly nodded and was off, Elaina 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.

Still, she knew that wouldn’t be the last surprise of the night, and she was pretty sure Shein had one final trick. Elaina 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.

“Thirty-eight to go…”