[Colossal effort of Will detected. +2 Will.] [Soul damage successfully repaired.] [Essence Forged Zweihander (Soulbound) - A weapon, forged once by ancient Dwarves and forged again by a young warrior and blacksmith working as one. The soul of a human adds structure and form, suffusing it with the will of the user. The blade now forever thirsts for the fires of heat and soul that created it, causing it to constantly draw heat from its surroundings. +12 Strength, +6 Toughness, +6 Endurance, +1 Will, Unbreaking.]

Lauren and Lynn headed to sleep already, but I decided to take a bit to accustom myself with the zweihander again… but that mostly manifests as me studying every inch of it.

There’s always been something about beautiful weaponry that intrigues me. It’s designed for killing, yet stand on their own as a testament to creation. I don’t think we deserved to make something like this, but I’m glad we did... even if it took the system’s help.

“If you don’t sleep, you’re definitely going to lose the competition.” Lynn appears in the entryway, and the soft glow from the forge illuminates her features in a way much like candlelight. Tom takes no notice, as he remains too involved in his work to care. Our joint effort really inspired him.

“Yeah… I know.” I smirk at her. “Look at you, sacrificing sleep just to make sure I rest as well. With that kind of attitude, I’d almost believe you want me to win.”

She laughs softly, barely audible over the clanging of the hammer. “You are well aware that both of us would prefer that. For all Lauren’s vigor, she knows she’s too hot headed to lead. Plus, her combat style forces her to remain hidden for most of combat… that doesn’t work well for coordinating.” I expect her to continue, but she stops with just that.

Fine, I’ll bite. “And why not you?” Her face falls slightly. “I… could never do what you did.”

“Holding onto a burning piece of metal? Yeah, doing that is a sign of insanity, not leadership.”

“Confronting Dean.” A small silence falls between us, punctuated by the rhythmic blows of Tom’s forging.

“There was no option. If I refused, I believe he would have… probably forced the point.” I cringe during the last part. I had worried he would just start killing people until I complied. Or just killed me to make a point. There was so much violence in his eyes…

She casts her eyes to the floor. “Those who face death are not forced to do so gracefully. You could have run, ordered us to fight… begged? I don’t know. There were options, and I’m sure you were aware of some of them. I think you acted as you did because, for you, it was the only choice… and for me, it wasn’t. How many other lives is your life worth?”

“... Don’t ask that question.”

“Hmm? I thought hero types liked stroking their ego. I expected a ‘zero’, or even ‘one’ if you were feeling confident.”

I look her in the eye, a hard expression on my face, but say nothing.

“Those eyes… you give me goosebumps.” I relax slightly. “Sorry.” She shakes her head, smiling.

“You don’t think you’re a hero. You know you aren’t. But you act like one anyway. Why?”

I heave a tired sigh. “If you can find a way to get some alcohol, and share it with me, I’ll talk to you about that.”

Her eyebrows raise. “You need alcohol to open up? I wouldn’t have guessed.”

“It’s… more that I’ll do a poor job of explaining it if we aren’t both drunk. I’d answer your questions, but I think you’d get the wrong idea from the answer.”

“I think I get it.” She says, flatly, but a sly grin spreads a moment later. “You just want to get me drunk.”

“Pfft. Way to break the mood. You sound just like Lauren. You’re not going to start flirting with me too, are you?”

“What can I say, it’s fun, not complicated, and I have control over it.” The last part leaves a bad taste in my mouth to hear. Nate... She continues, heedless of my reaction: “It’s fine in doses, just as long as you know not to read anything into it.” Not the nicest thing to hear, but it’s good. I don’t want complicated either. I smile at her. “I don’t mind in the slightest. It’s… relaxing. Normal. One of the few normal things we still have in this place.” It’s funny that I would think that, considering how awkward I used to be with people… especially new people. I don’t remember specifics from life before the system, but I do remember that.

“Oh? Well, in that case, you wouldn’t mind coming to be with me, would you?”

“Ha ha, god damnit. Was this whole conversation just a lead up for that?” She flashes me a smile as she turns and heads down the hall. With a light laugh, I sheath my newly reforged sword and follow her.

---

“Rise and shine! Time to get your ass kicked!”

I groan in reply. The… not morning, but ‘morning’ for me has come far too rapidly. My body feels like it should be creaking and moaning every time I move it… the stress from taking that strike, and the soul damage, has left my body deeply unhappy. Fortunately, the magic power of Energy quickly wipes away many of the aches and pains, leaving some that don’t seem to have an Energetic presence. Pain from having my soul put back together, probably. Nothing I can’t handle, and it’s far better than those coughing fits.

“C’mon, or we’ll disqualify you for gross laziness. Dereliction of duty!”

I shoot her a glare that closely embodies how awful I feel, which evokes a heartwarming and innocent smile from my tormenter.

“Did you rest well, Predator?” “Oh, hey Kaythe. I didn’t, but that’s to be expected. Too much to do, too little time.” He wraps around my shoulders, poised to attack at a moment’s notice. He’s adorable.

I pull on my sword, stop by Tom to grab a wooden practice sword (I really need to do something nice for Marie), and walk outside, waving to Lorian’s group guarding the entrance. Lauren and Lynn are waiting around in the valley, and we walk together a small distance away. No need to attract the Carnines with sounds of fighting. We spot the pile of corpses that Dean left, which nobody deigned to touch. I can’t say I blame them… but I make a mental note to pick through it for the loot he had mentioned, after the competition.

I carve a circle in the grass to serve as our boundaries, and we draw blades of grass to see who will fight first. I pull one short one, and Lynn pulls the other.

“Well. This should be quite interesting, don’t you think?”

“Your bow versus my sword, in this range? Just try not to lose too quickly.”

She produces a quiver of stone arrows with blunted tips. “We shall see.”

I grin at her. “You lose if you step outside the line, yield, or go unconscious. Be smart, yield before that last one happens, we don’t want to risk serious injury.”

“Sounds fair. Ready?”

“Ready.”

I launch forward immediately, using a burst of Fortify speed to cross the distance to Lynn in less than a second. She simultaneously jumps away, smoothly drawing an arrow and sniping me in the foot. It bounces off, almost harmlessly, but I stumble slightly, and she proceeds to send arrow after arrow hurtling towards me at absurd speeds. Fine, we’ll do this the slow way.

I stop burning Energy and instead enter River’s Flow and slowly work my way towards her through her hail of arrows. Though I manage to dodge or deflect most of them, she gets me with far more hits than I’m comfortable with. If those were real arrows, I’d be in trouble. However, I also wouldn’t be hounding her as much. I can safely rely on my Natural Toughness Skill to blunt the damage, allowing myself to tank hits that I could have avoided in order to save Stamina and rush her more effectively.

As the battle trance deepens, her impressive array of what must be evasion Skills serve to save her by smaller margins. I approach with a swing, and she’s suddenly an extra foot to the right, just out of way. I thrust, she springs eight feet into the air, soaring over my head. Her advantage lies in the fact that I’ve never fought a ranged enemy in earnest, and I’ve only ever defended against Zathis’ ranged attacks. She’s just so damn fast… but I’m speeding up.

I close in, covering as many avenues of escape as I can, and prepared for all the rest. A shot flies at my face as she attempts to screen another leap over my head, but my sword deflects the shot, and my hand catches her foot. I twist and slam her back onto the ground, knocking the breath from her lungs, but as I move to put my sword at her neck, another arrow is already knocked in her bow.

She’s on the fucking ground, having just been slammed into the ground, and she’s still attacking?! The shot goes straight for my head, dead center, and it’s only because my battle trance has brought me to the point where time is crawling by that I’m able to twist my face, then my body, to move with the force of the shot and use extremely fine movements to deflect it with my fucking skull.

I whip around, completing the maneuver and placing my sword at her throat with… maybe a little more force than needed. Blood starts to stream from the cut on my forehead.

“Yield?” I huff, letting the River’s Flow fade from my mind so I can heal the cut.

She looks at me for a moment, breathing heavily, and considers… but ultimately shakes her head. “Yield. You win.”

“Thank fuck.”