Chapter 5 “Bloody Fog”

"I think I've had enough of your shit," she said, charging at him with her sword.

Lucian braced himself as she closed in on him, but just as he thought she was going to attack he saw her raise her shield and jump into the air. He couldn't believe his eyes as she landed on top of him, knocking him onto his back.

He struggled to get up, but the woman grabbed him by the throat and pinned him to the floor.

"Don't bother," she said, "you can't even beat me with your pathetic strength."

With that, she raised her sword high above her head and brought it down hard on his head.

***

The sound of metal hitting bone echoed throughout the arena.

Lucian's vision blurred as he felt warm blood trickling down his forehead.

He groaned in pain and tried to lift his hand to wipe the blood away. His fingers wouldn't cooperate.

"Ha ha, I told you… you were weak," the woman laughed.

Lucian's vision started to fade as the world around him grew darker and darker.

"Ahh..." he whispered as he felt his consciousness slipping away.

I-I can't lose here.

A small spark ignited deep within his soul. It burned brightly and illuminated everything in sight. Lucian blinked rapidly, clearing his vision and looking straight ahead.

The woman was standing over him with a satisfied grin on her face.

He pushed himself up against her legs with all the remaining strength in his arms. He grunted in pain and threw his sword at her feet, hoping that would distract her long enough for him to get up.

Unfortunately, it didn't work.

The woman picked up the sword and held it in front of her, pointing it at him. Her lips curled upward into a sinister smile.

"Oh, I see someone has finally realized that they cannot defeat me. That makes two of us now," she taunted.

She lifted her foot off of Lucian's chest and stood up. She reached behind her neck and pulled out a knife.

"Let's end this quickly, shall we? I'm getting bored already," she said, raising her sword toward him.

Lucian rolled backwards as fast as he could and grabbed hold of his fallen Katana, As soon as he did he swung it upwards, aiming for her stomach.

His blade sliced through her tunic without touching her skin.

Her body shuddered slightly, but she kept smiling.

"Not bad," she commented.

Just as she finished speaking, Lucian took advantage of her distraction to pull himself to his knees.

He grabbed her ankles and yanked them outward as hard as he could. With a grunt of effort, he flipped the woman over his shoulder, sending her crashing to the ground on top of his sword.

She let out a surprised scream, but Lucian ignored her and jumped forward, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her close to him. Then, with all his might, he punched her square in the jaw.

The force sent her a few feet back from where Lucian initially punched her.

Blood poured from her nose and mouth. Her hands clutched at the side of her head and she moaned in agony.

Without giving her any more time Lucian ran towards her, swinging his katana at her neck.

She dodged easily, turning around in midair and landing next to Lucian with her sword still pointed at his heart.

He dropped down and slid under her guard. Then with one swing, he severed her wrist cleanly. The sound of bone breaking reverberated throughout the arena as her weapon clattered across the floor.

The woman's eyes widened and she let out a shriek as Lucian stood up behind her with the blade pressed against the back of her neck.

He gripped the handle tightly and pushed it downward until it penetrated deeply between her shoulder blades. Blood gushed out of the wound.

She then swung her arm forward, trying desperately to push the blade out from underneath herself. However, Lucian held onto it firmly, refusing to allow it to budge.

She then tried to attack Lucian with her free hand, but he blocked the strike with the flat of his blade, preventing it from reaching him.

Instead of waiting for Lucian to pull his sword out of her shoulder, she swung her other arm forward, aiming to crush him in a bear hug from behind.

Lucian spun around well pulling out his sword as he brought his sword down with full force, striking the woman square in the chest with a sickening thud. Her body flew backward, slamming into one of the pillars that supported the ceiling above them. It was made of wood covered in blood.

Instead of the blood being splattered onto the wood and staying there all of the blood that was on the ground started to form a thick cloud that spread across the entire area like fog. It was difficult to see in front of your face as Lucian walked around, but there was enough light from the arena to see the path ahead. 

The cloud was growing thicker by the second as the Woman's body was getting healed instead of just being a smoke screen it was also slowly seeping into the woman and healing her wounds. It had taken less than a minute since Lucian first landed a blow on her before she had already regenerated all of her wounds.

Okay, that is beyond Broken… is that a Trait? Lucian thought silently as he stared at her bloody body with wide eyes. 

Instead of waiting for her to make a move and become fully healed, Lucian quickly moved in front of her and kicked off the pillar, flipping through the air and landing directly behind her.

Without hesitation, he plunged his sword deep into the woman's stomach, twisting it and pushing it deeper inside. A loud crack echoed throughout the stadium as the tip broke through her ribs and pierced her spine.

Her body arced backwards and crashed into the wall behind her. Lucian then pulled the sword free.

"What is your name?" he demanded coldly as he looked down at her body.

"Hah! My name doesn't matter! As long as I win…" she wheezed out in a low growl before her body started healing at an incredible rate every wound that Lucian caused even the most recent wounds was healing at a rate that was seeable to the naked eye. 

Well, she was there she then released a thick cloud of Bloody fog that kept surrounding the area instead of surrounding the whole area it was surrounding her hands and feet as well as a little more in a few places along the way and placed them onto the wounds that she had.

Then she took a step away from me. She then reached down and picked up one of her own sword and shield as she looked straight at me. I was amazed at her speed and accuracy in wielding both weapons at once, it almost seemed impossible. But I couldn't afford to lose focus now, I needed to kill this woman before she recovered completely. Lucian thought.

'okay think…. She can't be immortal so there should either be a time limit or a restriction on how much damage you can inflict upon someone before they recover.'

A timer? That sounds possible, but what happens if I run out of time? 

If I am correct, she shouldn't be able to regenerate herself unless she has the Trait to heal instantly or she is a monster. Either way, it means that she cannot keep regenerating indefinitely until her wounds are healed, otherwise I would've died during my fight with her earlier.

She isn't a Monster and she doesn't have instant regeneration. So she probably has a limited amount of health that needs to be replenished after taking too much damage.

That's true. Maybe there is a time limit or maybe there is a maximum number of times she can regenerate per day.

Either way, she definitely can't keep regenerating endlessly without dying. I need to find out exactly how many times I'll be able to hurt her.

He looked at the woman's face and saw the anger and hate burning within her eyes as she glared at him. Her hatred was palpable and clear.

Lucian smiled and raised his katana high above him before slamming it down on the ground in front of the woman. There was a loud clang and sparks flew everywhere as the blade met the stone floor.

"Time to end this," Lucian muttered before jumping forward and slashing down hard at the woman. His attack was fast and powerful but still didn't manage to land a hit. Instead, the woman parried the blow and countered with a quick slash of her own. However, the move caught Lucian off guard and he barely managed to avoid getting cut across the chest.

Well, looks like she's faster than I thought…

Lucian gritted his teeth and readied himself for another strike, however, the woman suddenly stopped moving. A moment later, blood began to seep through the cracks of her armour and she collapsed onto the ground.

No way! She just used her ability to heal! How?!

Before Lucian could react, the woman stood up quickly and rushed towards him. Before Lucian could dodge, the woman swung her sword at him again and yet another loud sound echoed throughout the hall as the two blades collided.

Damn it! Why does she have such a strong defence? Is there nothing I can use to counter her? Lucian cursed under his breath as he desperately tried to figure out what to do next.

There is one thing that I've noticed she's no longer healing.

Lucian glanced over to look at the woman, her face twisted into a scowl as her eyes narrowed. Her body tensed up as it prepared for another round of combat and Lucian took advantage of that moment to attack. 

He thrusted forward with his blade in an attempt to slice her in half. Just as the tip of his blade was about to pass her abdomen, the woman jumped backwards and rolled on the ground to avoid it. The moment she landed, Lucian's sword bounced off the ground causing him to stumble a few steps back. 

Damnit! Why did she move so fast? I thought my weapon was sharp enough to penetrate her skin! Now that I think about it, her armour also seems too thin for her to have this much strength in it.

I guess it makes sense though. It looks like all that she has is a light piece of armour that is just meant to protect her from weak attacks like arrows or slashes. 

So I should focus more on hitting her harder than her armor can block. That's probably why she's been avoiding my attacks so far. As Lucian kept thinking about what to do next, the woman stood up and faced Lucian with a grin across her lips. She charged forward and swung her sword again.

I don't know how much longer I can keep dodging all her attacks...

Lucian gritted his teeth as he readied himself for another swing. As he expected, the woman attacked with her sword, but this time he wasn't going to let it happen again. Lucian dodged the blow before swinging his own sword back. The two swords clashed together before Lucian could pull back his blade. 

He held tight onto his grip and pushed hard on it while holding his breath as he watched closely for the slightest movement. And then, there it was. He saw the moment when the woman realized that he had seen through her plan and decided to change it. Suddenly the woman's sword was thrown sideways by a blur of movement and Lucian's blade connected with her arm. 

With a dull thud, it sounded like both their weapons had hit something solid. However, it didn't matter whether it had actually hit flesh or not since he now had a clear view of her face. His eyes widened as he looked upon her face.

She's beautiful... I wonder how she looks without that mask and helmet...

With a quick swipe of his sword, Lucian cut off her head in an instant. He stared down at her as he pulled back his blade and stared at what had just happened before him.

Instead of her body turning limp and falling to the ground it all turned it light particles before disappearing entirely. There was no blood, no gore, and no sign that she ever existed at all. What the hell...? Did I kill someone? Was it really her?

["Congratulation's you have won your first Match"]

Lucian could see a blue translucent screen in front of him as well as several small white dots scattered around it. Each dot represented a player in the match. 

All the players were fighting each other to determine the winner of the current battle. The system had already determined who won the fight based on the damage inflicted and the number of kills made during the match. The winner of the match received points depending on their rank, whereas the loser lost them.

Under Lucian's feet, a magic circle appeared that glowed purple before vanishing in an instant. This was an effect unique to the game. 

A magic circle appeared that would disappear immediately after the match ended. If anyone touched it while it was there, they would receive a warning, and then they would also lose a certain amount of points depending on how close they had come to touching it. This feature was implemented to prevent people from abusing the game by intentionally running into the magic circle, causing damage to themselves

What greeted him was 2 people the girl that he just fought who looked at him with a cold expression and another guy with short silver hair. Both were armed with swords and looked ready for combat as well as Lucian could tell.