Page 96 of Raze
Kellan squeezes my shoulders and walks around the dome withme to the one and only door that leads inside it.
“Give it up for your next fighters!”
I take a deep breath and flex my hands. I can do this. I’ve seen what some of the others can do, but if I can somehow bring the fight back to hand-to-hand combat like a few of the fights I’d just watched, that’s my chance.
“You’ve got this, beautiful. Just remember everything I taught you, and don’t lose your head in the moment. If you need to stop and think, then make that time and do it. This isn’t a battle of strength. It’s a battle of thinking on your feet with what you have, what they have, and whatever’s available around you.”
I nod and take another breath. “Okay.”
He grins and opens the door for me. “Go be a badass, Ruin.”
I smirk while walking through the door and shoot over my shoulder, “Try not to nut in your pants while watching.”
Kellan howls with laughter and smacks his chest. “Sorry, but no promises on that.”
I laugh and keep moving to the marker on the floor for the start position. The guy across from me takes up his spot and assesses me from head to toe.
“Ruin, huh?”
I shift my feet for better balance and raise my hands up at the ready. “That’s me. I hope you’re not too knightly to just let a lady win.”
He scoffs and drops his hands at his sides, his fingers open but curved as if they’re ready to catch something. “There are no ladies here. Justwarriors.”
My lips tug into a smile.Damn. I like this guy.
The horn blasts, and I watch as glowing red weapons appear in each of his hands in an instant.
Well. Fuck me.
I silently curse Kellan for not preparing me better for this before throwing me to the wolves, but there’s no more time for that when Knight rushes me with his weapons.
I do the only thing I can do when unarmed and run. When I keep my distance, sadly just running from him with no move to counterattack, he switches up his swords for a halberd that crosses the distance between us. He swings it at me, and I dive over it, then roll to dodge his strike downward.
Shit on a stick. I’m literally a sitting duck, just waiting for him to hit me with one of his weapons when I lose all stamina from running around this huge space. I need to find a way to switch to the offensive.
He comes around with the halberd again, and this time, when I dodge, I bend myself out of the way and then take a chance and grab the pole. It’s warm and feels like micro zaps of electricity against my skin, but it’s not unpleasant. Best of all, Icantouch it.
I shove it back at him, trying to dislodge his hold on it, but he doesn’t relent. We’re both tugging on the weapon between us and then I move down it toward him to close the distance.
The halberd vanishes, and two more short swords appear in his hands. His arms sweep down at me in alternating patterns, and I’m forced back, but he tosses something behind me, and just as I turn to look at it, I trip on it instead and fall on my back.
Knight pounces over me, holding the one short sword left in his hand and holding it at my neck. “Yield!”
I growl and thrash under him, but he’s sitting above my waist where my legs can’t reach him. I can’t lose like this. I’ve barely even showed them what I’m capable of.
My gift heats in my gut and snakes up to my hands. I grab his blade, and it shatters as soon as I touch it.
He jumps back from me and my hands, and even through all the surrounding noise, I can hear Kellan’s deep voice whooping from one side of the cage.
I get back on my feet, holding my gift in my hands and raising them up in front of me, open and waiting for his next attack. Knight has called in another short sword and flips it in one hand in a circle.
“Took you long enough to reveal your gift,” he shouts.
I smirk and shrug. “I was hoping to not have to use it.”
He crouches, and I mirror him. “Kind of arrogant, aren’t you?”
“Nope. It was just wishful thinking,” I quip. He looks confused by that for a second, and then he’s running toward me. I spread my gift down my arm, feeding it more and more until my arm’s glowing a faint red and it feels like I’ve buried my arm in hot coals.
