Hell. The sensation Yuki was feeling at the moment can only be described as such. It was hell. Every nerve, every muscle, even her bones felt like they were getting ripped apart and put back together. It was the most intense pain she had ever felt in her entire life and there seemed to be no end to it. Every ounce of her strength was being placed into remaining conscious. She gritted her teeth and saw Kaguya looking at her with some apprehension.

There was only one answer as to why she was experiencing such traumatic pain. She had overloaded. In her emotional distress, she had misbalanced the amount of mana and prana inside her body and she was currently paying the price for it.

“W-What the hell? What’s happening to Yuki?” Embla asked.

“She overloaded,” Pandora replied.

“F…” she couldn’t even finish her curse. Her fists clenched. She needed to get up. Yuki fought with every ounce of willpower she had in her being and forced herself to stand. She stumbled forward and fell to one knee. The pain… it’s too much! She thought as she closed her eyes.

“It seems that you’ve overloaded,” Kaguya said, limping towards her.

No shit, sherlock! But… I can’t lose here! Not to you of all people! Yuki thought as her red eyes opened to stare defiantly into Kaguya’s.

“There’s no use resisting anymore, Milady,” Kaguya said.

She shuffled over to Yuki, grabbing her blade along the way. Yuki watched in anticipation as Kaguya dragged her blade across the arena. Between the two, she had taken the most damage while Kaguya had suffered psychological exhaustion. If one of hem were to land a decisive blow… Yuki shook her head and waited. She only had one chance to turn this fight back in her favor.

“With this… it’s over,” Kaguya said. She raised her sword and brought it down with all her remaining might. A blow meant to knock Yuki unconscious and win her the match. However, as she did, a pain shot through her body, causing her swing to falter.

Yuki wasted no time and darted underneath her swing. Her fist shot upward like a rocket and impacted Kaguya’s jaw, sending her flying into the air.

She winced as her body struggled to maintain her upright position. Using her tails for balance, Yuki straightened herself slightly.

“Why?”

Yuki’s ears twitched in Kaguya’s direction.

“Why won’t you just go down!?” Kaguya yelled, slamming her fist on the ground. She focused her enraged face on the lady she once served.

“Because I can’t and I won’t. I won’t let my past overcome the present me. It’s time to let it go, Kaguya! If I’m able to accept my sins and move forward with them, then why can’t you?” Yuki retorted.

Kaguya let out an inhuman roar. She dropped her blade on the ground and splayed her fingers. Her nails grew longer and morphed into sharp claws. Her fangs became more prominent and her tails all swished violently behind her.

Beastification? Yuki thought as she watched the transformation unfold before her. However, she didn’t completely transform. Instead, Kaguya shot towards her.

Yuki immediately leaned her body back, narrowly avoiding a swipe from the girl’s claws. She went on the defensive, dodging each one of Kaguya’s swipes. I can’t use skills or reinforce my blows until my body gets my internalized ratio back into order, she thought.

Yuki jumped back, dodging a spike from Kaguya. She said nothing and instead extended her own claws. “If you’re going to fight like an animal, then at least do it in a way where you can hit me.”

“Shut up!” Kaguya yelled. She dashed towards her. Her speed caught Yuki offguard and the girl wasn’t able to dodge in time.

Yuki winced and bit down a yelp as she was slashed across the cheek by Kaguya. Four fresh scratch marks appeared on her cheek, leaking her blood onto the arena floor.

Kaguya followed up with another slash, aimed for the center of her midsection. However, Yuki was able to react in time. Her tail shot towards Kaguya’s hand, wrapping around her wrist. Using her strength, Yuki pulled Kaguya towards her. She slammed her fist into Kaguya’s face, causing her head to snap to the side.

She then lifted Kaguya with her tail and slammed her violently into the ground. Yuki raised her foot and brought it down to stomp on the small of Kaguya’s back.

But the fox kin was fast, even in her injured state. She quickly rolled away and got to her feet, wiping blood from her mouth. Her tongue rolled around inside and spit out a canine.

She growled and jumped into the air to perform a heel drop. Yuki raised her arms in an x-formation and blocked the attack. She was forced down to one knee and had to rely on her tails for support. Yuki roared with all her might and threw her off. She ran forward, while Kaguya was still recovering and tackled her. Getting on top, Yuki began to rain blows down on her former handmaiden.

“Get!” she threw a punch, causing Kaguya’s eye to swell.

“Over!” her next punch was blocked.

“It!” Yuki threw one more punch. However, Kaguya dodged it, causing Yuki’s fist to crack the floor.

“Get off me!” Kaguya yelled, launching her head forward and slamming into Yuki’s.

Yuki was knocked off and gripped her forehead in pain.

“This is all your fault! If we never went to that camp, this would have never happened!” Kaguya screamed as she tackled Yuki.

“My fault!?” Yuki yelled back. She blocked Kaguya’s punch. “I just wanted to go into town! Finding that kid was purely a… coincidence!” She planted her foot in Kaguya’s gut and pushed her off.

“Well you didn’t have to go to the camp! Now look at what happened! You’re being punched by your own maid for being an idiot!” Kaguya landed a blow on Yuki’s solar plexus, sending the girl sliding back and to her knee.

“Fuck off! It’s my job! You and Red keep telling me to be a good Princess! Well how the fuck am I supposed to do that if I don’t even know what my own country is like!” Yuki got back up, recovering quickly. She ducked underneath one of Kaguya’s punches and hit her on the side.

“From a book!” Kaguya turned around and tried to kick Yuki in the head.

Yuki deflected her punch. “A book only tells me so much! A book can’t tell me how people will react! Books can’t tell me what my people are thinking! Books only give me historical information to base my decisions on but what good are those decisions if I can’t get feedback on their outcomes because I’m holed up in some room all day!” She swung one of her tails in Kaguya’s direction.

In the stands, Red had a deadpan expression on his face. “Are they having a philosophical debate now of all times?”

Kaguya caught her tail but failed to see the second one. She was knocked to the ground by the force of the blow.

“Every day, people expected me to act like a caged bird. To be ignorant of how my own country worked or how the people I rule lived. I didn’t want that. You knew I wanted to be more! So why the hell did you try to coop me up! I want to be a ruler that people know will work in the mud with them! A ruler that everyone can rely on!” Yuki said.

“You’re too idealistic,” Kaguya said, chuckling.

“Maybe. But this idealistic bitch managed to expose the Gentry to her rulers. It might not have been the best way to do so, but… compared to what would happen later on because of this plague, I would take this chance over that,” Yuki said.

Kaguya remained silent as she got up and gripped her right arm.

“Let’s finish this, Kaguya,” Yuki said, dropping into a stance. I’m going to risk everything into this final blow. Screw my internal normalized ratio… She picked up her blades.

“Fine. Let’s,” her foe replied. Kaguya picked her sword off the ground and gripped it tightly. She raised her sword over her head and breathed in. The air around her began to swirl as she channeled the last of her prana into the sword.

She has enough Prana for a Transcendant Thrust? Yuki smiled. Of course, she’s the prodigious student of Eschamali. I should’ve known she would have enough for one more. Well then… I have one chance.

The two stood their grounds, neither making a move. The only sounds that could be heard where the cheers of the crowd and the swirling prana that now coated Kaguya’s katana.

The light glinted on Yuki’s swords. The two took off dashing towards each other at full speed. Yuki ignored the pain that shot through her body as she squeezed prana from her cells. Her speed rapidly increased as she disappeared in a burst of speed.

Kaguya narrowed her eyes as Yuki vanished. Truly, the speed of those who reached the level of Extinguishment is amazing but… Her eyes glowed brightly and a smile appeared on her face. She activated her Arts and accelerated her own time and moved faster than the normal flow of time.

Her grin grew wider when she saw Yuki moving slowly towards her.

“Checkmate, My Lady,” Kaguya said. She thrust her sword forward as time returned to normal. A massive vacuum wave tore its way to Yuki, engulfing her. Yuki let out a soundless scream as the wave’s countless microscopic air needles shredded her. The wave slammed into the barrier, causing it to warp and shake violently.

Kaguya watched silently as the vacuum died down and Yuki fell to the ground. Yuki made no attempts to get up and opted to lay there.

“Call the match,” Kaguya called out.

“When are you ever going to stop falling for that?”

Her eyes grew wide when she turned around and saw Yuki fading into existence behind her.

“Ho-” she had no time to finish her question. Yuki kneed her in the jaw and sent her flying into the air. As she was flying, Yuki grabbed Kaguya’s legs with her tails and slammed her into the ground before picking her up and throwing her towards the barrier. Black and violet lightning began to arc off Yuki’s body as her mana-prana ratio began to grow more unstable. However, she ignored the pain and shot towards Kaguya.

“Divided Impact!” Her body flickered as three clones appeared around her. She surrounded Kaguya on all sides and began to blitz her.

The fox kin could barely respond and defend herself as cuts began appearing all over her body.

Kaguya’s eyes glowed as she released a burst of mana from her body, knocking Yuki back. Her feral gaze fell upon the Princess as she charged towards her, blade poised to strike Yuki down.

Yuki said nothing and recovered quickly, dashing towards Kaguya. Their blades clashed, sending sparks everywhere. The two split apart and clashed again and again. The speed of their blows began to increase. And before the crowd knew it, the two vanished from everyone’s gaze.

A clash of sparks appeared in the middle of the arena.

Another one appeared off to the side.

A loud clang was heard as the two reappeared with Kaguya being pushed back by Yuki.

Yuki let out a tempered battlecry as she channeled what was left of her prana into pushing Kaguya back. She gritted her teeth and forced the swords to move.

The sound of metal being snapped was heard through the arena as Kaguya’s blade flew out of her hand and landed on the ground a distance behind her.

Yuki stepped forward, causing Kaguya to take a step back and swung her blades at her.

Kaguya closed her eyes in anticipation for the blow. However, the blow never landed. She cracked open an eye and saw that Yuki’s blades were inches from her chest.

“What are yo-!?” her eyes grew wide when Yuki quickly retracted her blades and rammed the butt of her sword into her solar plexus. She felt the air leave her lungs and had no time to react as Yuki grabbed her head and violently slammed it into the ground.

Yuki panted as she let go of Kaguya’s head and took a step back.

“I… give…,” Kaguya muttered.

“In a stunning final blow, Kaguya Tsukuyomi has forfeited! The winner is… Shirayuki Honokami of Memento Mori!” Azalea announced.

Yuki smiled as she fell flat on her butt. “Sorry for giving you a concussion.”

“It’s fine,” Kaguya muttered as she turned over. “I don’t think you did give me one. I just think I feel one coming on…”

Yuki stopped talking and turned to see her mother rushing in with the medics into the arena. The two were loaded into gurneys. As Yuki was being rushed out, she saw her mother walking alongside her.

Mizore looked down at her daughter with the most tender gaze that Yuki had ever seen on her.

“Go rest now,” Mizore said softly.

“Mom…?” Yuki whispered.

“Rest, Yuki. I’m proud of you.”

A small smile graced Yuki’s face as she finally let fatigue overtake her and she lost consciousness.

Atop the arena, Hati sat with a small smile on her face. "Well, when the moment's right, Sigrun's going on a little day trip." She got up from her chair and disappeared with the wind.