Tough Match

The next opponent against who Crey had matched was a girl wearing a leather bodysuit. But instead of being tight and closed like those movie actresses, it supported hard protective plates on her thighs, legs, chest, and arms. Just from one look, it was clear that it wasn't just any random outfit, but an outfit meant for violent hand-to-hand skirmishes.

Her hair was tied up in a tight bun and an ordinary half tiger mask was hiding her features except for her red lips. She was holding a neon katana in her hand and was waiting patiently for her new opponent. The arena she had chosen was her personal favorite map of the frozen lake.

Suddenly the system announced a next match set and a figure was transported in front of her.

Crey appeared in a crouched position with his hands on his head. He was groaning for the worst timing of assigning the match as it happened just when he was about to change the pain parameters. The girl on the other end was taken aback by the stance of the new opponent, but she quickly got over it as she had seen more than weird opponents in her life. She quickly clicked for a 'skip' for preparation time and took a stance waiting for her opponent to do the same.

Because preparation time was nearly a minute, most of the players straight up skipped it to the actual fight therefore she was expecting the same. But she was in for disappointment for this time as Crey had no idea there was such a button on his screen. Soon she got confused as he kept squatting in the same position with gloominess radiating from his image like he was reconsidering his life choices.

Crey who was submerged in major disappointment in himself finally got over it as he stood up at the thirty-second marker. He first noticed the frozen and slippery lake surface. But his mind was still stuck at the blunder he had committed of pain sensitivity parameters.

He checked settings and as he expected they were locked for this fight. At this point, he seriously considered giving up on this match to avoid that wretched unreal pain. But right at this moment,

"Hey! Hit the skip, what are you waiting for? "

A sharp voice rang in his ears as only now he looked towards his opponent. From one look of her in a guarded stance, he understood that she was no newbie or casual like previous players. There was confusion in his mind, one part of his mind was saying to skip the match to avoid pain and the other very small part was gloating to see how much the professionals compare to him here. It was his 'arrogant' devil speaking in his mind,

'Because if he wants to, she would not be able to even touch him.'

Crey forcefully drowned this pretentious devil and its dangerous yet tempting suggestions. He began to look for the forfeit button resisting the inducement in his thoughts.

'Arrogance'...'Pride'..... ' Will to push forward'....'Facing challenges to grow'...'Fighting against all odds'...'Never Giving up'…..give him a break. He had given up on them a long time ago. Actually, he was never that kind of person from the start. He just wants to go with the flow, doing things with the least effort or where he could at least enjoy himself, right now at his age.

But to his dismay, there was only a skip button he could find which was at the right corner, but there was no mention of exit or forfeit. While here he was trying to locate the button, he was giving a weird impression to his opponent.

The girl with the username - 'TigerGotFangs', was confused as she saw her opponent 'SpinningOwl' ignore her advice and now was standing leisurely with a sword hanging down in one hand, his other hand on his waist, and his head looking up like he was browsing his character screen. First, she thought he was trying to take some screenshot or something but after a few seconds, there was no notification of him doing anything. It appeared like he was just standing there doing…...nothing.

How she could know that he was just looking through the screen trying to find the forfeit or exit button. The girl was flexible as very quickly she had given up all hope to figure out his weird antics, and the preparation time too was left only ten seconds when her speaker rang out,

"Umm...hello do you know how to forfeit the match?"

TigerGotFangs nearly lost her footing on slippery ice as she heard him. He wants to forfeit…..but right at this time timer hit 0 seconds and the system voice rang out,

"Match start!"

TigerGotFangs recovered her composure in just a half-second as she was not unfamiliar with various types of trash talk to demotivate fighters right before the match and she wouldn't be too surprised to know this is just another type of gimmick to gain an advantage mentally. And if he really is looking for a match forfeit she would help him by quickly taking him out.

A simple solution!

Crey, who was surprised by how quickly one minute went by, reacted by finally holding his sword up. Well if circumstances are really forcing him, what could he do? Other than to face her and try his best to not get hit.

It was the side-effect of constant daydreaming about different personalities and scenarios. Sometimes they do have a real effect on his real life. Like this time when he himself would never admit that that arrogant devil on his shoulder had really influenced him this time.

Crey used one hand to twirl his sword and then began to wait for her opponent to start. TigerGotFangs realizes his opponent's intention to wait for her - shot towards him like a bullet. She skidded past skillfully towards him, her katana gleaming with its angry red edges. Crey saw her coming towards him and slowly bent his knees as he suddenly realized how much difficult this is going to be - fighting without getting hurt.

"Don't daze out! "

An Abrupt shout woke Crey up like a cold splash of water. He found the katana past his sword just a couple of inches before his abdomen as she had arrived near him suddenly. He felt his breath becoming heavy,

'So fast! How?'

Exclaimed Crey in his mind as quickly pushed his one foot back which skidded on the slippery ice surface. He quickly shifted away to let hot katana whizz away just an inch away from his stomach.

TigerGotFangs seemed to have predicted it as she halted her dash abruptly using her front foot and used the motion to deliver a spinning kick to Crey. He was thrown to the distance due to being hit hard in the stomach.