fighting on glass

It has now been forty-two hours since the survival round of the Grava Academy tournament started. On Frost Island, another snowstorm started during the night. With the snowstorm still going on, the sun rises on the island. Selena walks out of a cave after using it to sleep in.

"The snowstorm is still going. Is it ever going to end? I'm pretty sure the second day of the survival mode is almost over by now."

Selena starts to walk through the snowstorm.

"I got to keep on moving or I might get caught off guard."

Selena suddenly stopped walking.

"Wait, it can't be."

Selena closes her right eye and releases a mental projection. A blue, transparent version of Selena comes out of her body and flies over to a rock not too far away from her. When the mind protection looks behind the rock, it sees a 6'1 light-skinned girl wearing black religious robes. She has long black hair that is being held in place by a clip.

Selena brings the mind projection back to her.

"I thought I felt some brain activity happening in that direction. I wonder how long she has been waiting there."

Selena starts to read the girl's mind from where she's standing.

"Hmm, interesting."

Selena kicks up a rock next to her and kicks it again at the snow in front of her. When the rock hits the snow, vines come out and wrap around the rock.

"You're probably wondering how I knew that trap was there, Aria, the number five of class four."

Aria comes out from behind the rock she was hiding behind.

"No, actually. I knew I was coming up against you, so I was prepared for the worst. Selena the number two of class one."

"Oh, so you know who I am."

"Of course I do; other than Paul, you're the most talked-about student in the school. They even call you the brain of class one, which I see you're living up to."

"Oh yes, my nickname. I don't know why people call me that. My classmates think well on their own."

"Wow, you're pretty modest, aren't you? Everyone knows how smart you are compared to everyone around you."

"No, Aurora has me beat on most days."

Aria smiles at hearing Selena's words.

"Let's have a battle with not too much bloodshed. I'm more of a peaceful woman, so fighting isn't really my thing."

The second Aria says that Selena reads Aria's mind.

"I'm going to kill this bitch!"

"Wow, you're a really good actor; you almost fooled me with that performance. Bravo!"

Aria grits her teeth and uses the accelerate technique to get closer to Selena.

"Go to hell, you bitch!"

Selena parries Aria's punch and uses her left palm to push Aria back.

"You won't be able to get the drop on me just like that."

Aria lands on her feet and throws multiple knives at Selena from the pouch attached to her belt.

Using her mind reading Selena sees this coming and gracefully dodges the knives. Selena plants her feet on the snow, and instantly a strange green gas sprays out of the ground.

"What!"

"It seems my plan is finally coming into effect! With my powers, I laid a bunch of traps all across this area, but you already knew that by reading my mind. So to counter that, I used this right here!"

Aria pulls out a bottle of pills from her pocket.

"These blanking pills are special pills that make your memory go blank at random spots in the last twenty-four hours."

"Yes, I already know all that. With blanks in your memory, you can't remember all the places you placed a trap, so that means I won't be able to avoid all the traps because even you don't know where they all are."

"Oh right, I guess you can just read my mind and know all that."

"You know this plan wasn't thought all the way through. What if you forgot the part where you were targeting me?"

"Oh well, it doesn't matter now because you're finished!"

Selena starts to cough aggressively.

"Wait, I'm getting weaker!"

"Oh, I'm guessing you didn't get enough time to read my mind on that part. What you just inhaled are anti-OGI toxins."

"What!"

"Yep, my power trap allows me to absorb different stuff and make a trap out of it. Then I can add them to my pool of traps. You know today must be my lucky day because that trap right there might be my strongest one, you know, with traps being random and all."

Selena falls to her knees. Her vision starts to get shaky, and her eyes start to get bags under them.

"These toxins have completely blocked me from using OGI, but I only inhaled a little bit. I'd give it three. No, five minutes before I can use OGI again."

Selena stands up and starts putting her hair in a ponytail. She then breaks the heels on her high heels. The high heels instantly turn into flat-footed shoes.

"The others are probably fighting their hardest in this tournament so they can get back what they deserve."

Selena tears off her dress to reveal the exercise band and shorts under it.

"How could I lay down and give up here?"

Selena gets into a strong fighting stance.

"Selena battle mode!"

Selena rushes toward Aria.

"Oh, so you're not giving up, stupid bitch!"

Selena jumps up and over Aria. Selena kicks Aria in the back of the head, which causes her to fall forward. When she hits the snow, an explosion happens under her.

"Ahhh!"

Selena lands on the snow with a face of modest confidence and instantly starts to think to herself.

"It may be true that I can't use OGI right now or read your mind, but what I do have is the combat strength I spent years developing. I might not know where all the traps are, but I remember the traps you remember, so if I just play to my cards, I can win."

Aria gets up with many scratches on her torso.

"You must be so proud of yourself! Well, tell you what bitch you're going to lose this battle!"

Aria uses the accelerate technique to get in front of Selena. Selena barely dodges Aria's punch. The punch leaves a huge gaping cut on her cheek and causes Selena to step back.

"You don't look so confident anymore, do you? Without OGI, there's no way you can keep up with me!"

Selena's foot lands on the ground.

"Oh no!"

Selena moves, but it's too late. A sharp spear of earth rises from the ground and takes a chunk of skin off Selena's right leg and shoulder.

"Oops, I forgot about the part where I can't kill you. Try not to die, bitch!"

Selena smiles at Aria's remark.

"The fuck are you smiling at?"

Selena jumps up and grabs Aria by the neck with both of her arms.

"I advise you to avoid falling into your own trap."

With Aria's neck in between her arms, Selena spins and slams Aria onto the snow. Once she hits the snow, Aria rolls away from Selena.

"I told you to be careful."

A metal drill comes out of the ground under Aria.

"That bitch!"

Aria focuses a lot of OGI on the flex technique in her back. She is able to stop the drill from stabbing straight through. Aria quickly jumps off of the drill. Even with her efforts, the drill still leaves a twisted-up wound on her back.

"So you're trying to kill me now."

"Kill? No, I'm just playing your game. You scattered traps all around this area and even made a plan to counter my mind-reading. I don't plan to lose, so I'll beat you at your own game."

The snowstorm starts to calm down, allowing the two girls to see each other better.

"And don't worry, if you were to get badly hurt, you would get teleported back to the auditorium. Plus, if you were to die, it would be from your own attack, not mine."

Selena gets into a fighting stance and starts smiling. Aria, seeing this, starts to chuckle.

"This bitch might be crazier than me!"

The two girls stared each other down. Selena starts looking at the snow leading to Aria.

"There are three spots I know for a fact don't have any traps. I'd say that in two minutes, I will be able to use OGI again. So I must stall until then."

Selena closes her right eye and sees that her health bar is a quarter full.

"I can't take another full-on hit, or it's back to the auditorium for me."

Selena looks over at a tree next to Aria.

A full minute passes and Aria gets annoyed by the standing.

"Wait, I see what you're doing. You're waiting for your OGI to come back. Well, it's not happening! I might not know where all the traps are, but fuck it!"

Aria takes a step, and Selena rushes towards her. She jumps from spot to spot, making sure she doesn't encounter any traps.

"Thanks for waiting! You're such a dear Aria!"

Selena jumps toward Aria.

"Don't mock me, you bitch!"

Aria puts her right hand on the ground and quickly lifts it.

"Now that you're mid-air, you have no choice but to land right here and get hit by this trap!"

"That's what you think."

Selena lands on Aria's face and uses it to jump to the skinny tree next to her.

"From my knowledge, you can put traps anywhere, but with how much brain capability you have shown me in this battle, I calculated there would be a 30% chance you would be smart enough to place a trap on the tree, and it seems the 70% won. Now enjoy that trap next to you."

Chains come out of the snow and wrap around Aria.

"Damn it, stop using my traps against me, you bitch!"

"Oh wow, that's a perfect trap for my situation."

Selena lands in front of Aria and starts hitting her with a barrage of punches to the face.

"I'll just keep punching you until your health bar gets low."

Selena punches Aria over and over again until her face is left bloody.

"Get away from me, you bitch!"

Aria uses the flex technique to break out of the chains. Selena instantly jumps back to a spot with no traps.

"Don't get coky, bitch!"

Aria rushes towards Selena with a face of anger. At the same time, Selena starts to feel a surge of OGI flow through her body.

"It seems I'm back on."

Selena instantly enters Aria's mind.

"What the hell!"

In the eyes of Aria, Selena disappears. Aria lands on the snow and starts looking around.

"Come out of hiding, bitch!"

To her left, she sees Selena smiling and waving at her.

"I see you, bitch!"

Aria rushes over to Selena and punches her. When she hits her, her hand goes right through her chest, but to Aria, it feels like she has hit nothing. There's not even a change to Selena whatsoever.

"The fuck, I know I hit you!"

Aria starts punching Selena over and over again, but just like the first time, nothing happens.

"Is this some type of trick?"

Aria walks into Selena, and when she does, multiple needles pierce her body.

Aria looks around and sees that the Selena in front of her has disappeared, but when she looks to her left, she sees that Selena is standing in the same spot as before.

"How did you?"

"Well, I used one of my favorite attacks. Mind misdirection. All I had to do was change your vision to see what I wanted you to see and get you to step on your trap."

"You bi—"

Aria vanishes when her health bar gets too low. With her being sent back to the auditorium, all her traps deactivate, making it safe to walk around.

"You know, only if she was a bit smarter, she could be an actual challenge with that power, but no matter."

Selena looks over at her torn-apart dress lying in the snow. Another snowstorm starts to kick up.

"I should've just taken the dress off."

Chapter 93 end