We stood on edge, scanning the shadows between the buildings.
I didn't know from which side she would appear.
From the flank.
From behind.
Or maybe she would launch herself from a window again, like last time.
Mark slowly shifted behind my back.
"Listen…" I whispered. "If she jumps from behind, I won't be able to cover you at all."
I gestured briefly. "Stand to the side. At least then we'll have a chance to react."
"But she said she'd attack from that direction…"
"Who knows," I muttered. "She might be lying on purpose. Or just messing with us."
He hesitated, then stepped to my right and took position beside me.
We froze.
Then Mark spoke again, uncertain:
"Hey… if I hit her with the blades… she'll be okay, right?"
I turned my head.
"You're only thinking about that now?"
"Why didn't you ask earlier?"
He stared at the weapons in his hands.
The blades shimmered dark red, as if frozen blood flowed inside them.
"It just… looks too real now," he admitted. "It's scary. What if it's like stabbing someone?"
"Stop it," I said more sharply than I intended. "We just need to touch her. That's it."
"I'm sure nothing dangerous will happen."
"But she said the pain feels real…"
"Yes," I nodded. "Which means it'll hurt. For us too."
I didn't finish the sentence.
Something slammed hard into my shield.
I staggered back—and instantly realized it was her.
Angelina flashed past us, struck in a sharp lunge, and vanished as if she'd dissolved into the air.
"Damn…" Mark breathed.
"We lost focus," I said. "Pull yourself together."
As if answering me—another burst of movement.
A hit.
I stumbled back again, the shield humming under the strain, and Mark lost his footing and fell.
"Get up!" I barked. "Now!"
"Y-yeah…" he muttered, scrambling to his feet.
And then I saw her.
Angelina charged straight at us with a sword.
A direct strike.
I took it on the shield, but the impact still threw us backward.
I glanced instinctively at the interface.
**Shield Integrity: 70%.**
"Shit…" I exhaled. "She's already taken thirty percent."
Angelina stopped and looked at us with irritation.
"Are you going to do anything at all?" she snapped. "Or are you just going to stand there and freeze?"
"I'll drop you in a couple more exchanges."
She shifted her gaze to Mark.
"You're supposed to at least try to hit me. Remember?"
"Yeah, I know!" he burst out. "It's just—"
She attacked again.
Mark twitched, tried to lunge—late, hesitant.
It looked so clumsy my chest tightened watching it.
Angelina hopped back effortlessly.
"Seriously?" she smirked. "You're just going to hide behind him?"
"His shield isn't infinite. I'll break it soon."
"You're too strong!" Mark shouted. "We can't do anything against you!"
"Of course you can't," she replied calmly.
"Now tell me, kid—what task did I give you?"
"You said to touch you!" he yelled. "And now you're saying we can't do anything!"
"Enough talking."
She lunged again.
Strike after strike.
I absorbed them with the shield, retreating closer and closer to the corner between a wall and a door.
"Get out from behind the shield!" she shouted. "Right! Left!"
"I only have a sword!"
"I'm trying!" Mark snapped back.
"No," she said coldly. "You're hiding."
And at that moment I understood:
if I kept standing there just absorbing hits, we would lose.
When she rushed me again, I changed the angle sharply.
Not straight on—tilted.
Her blade slid off.
She flew past us.
Angelina kept her balance, turned, and looked at me with narrowed eyes.
"Not bad," she admitted. "But it's still not enough."
She started pressing us again, step by step forcing us into the corner.
Mark tried to do something.
Awkwardly.
Too cautiously.
It looked so pitiful I barely suppressed a nervous laugh.
And yet…
I couldn't believe I was actually standing here.
In the matrix.
Under the blows of someone many times stronger than me.
I stood rigid, shield raised.
Shoulders tense, body slightly forward. The shield covered both of us almost completely, and Mark peeked out from behind it, careful not to expose himself.
We were trapped.
Not quite an alley—more like a dead end.
A building door on one side.
A solid wall on the other.
We backed closer and closer to it.
"I can't!" Mark gasped. "I'm pinned! We need to push her back!"
"I can't either," I growled through clenched teeth. "She's too strong."
Angelina smirked.
"I told you. Minimum thirty in strength."
"Against my one-fifty, you don't stand a chance."
"Then why are you yelling at us to touch you?!" Mark screamed. "You're contradicting yourself!"
"I'm giving you one last chance," she said evenly.
I glanced at the indicators.
"Thirty percent shield…" I muttered.
She stepped back slightly.
"All right," Angelina said. "Now it'll be unexpected. Watch closely."
She began to move. Fast. In bursts.
I couldn't tell where the next strike would come from.
And then I knew: if I didn't act now, the shield would fall.
She accelerated.
And I decided.
I pushed off the asphalt and ran straight at her.
Didn't retreat.
Didn't turtle up.
I put everything I had into it and slammed the shield forward.
The hit landed cleanly.
Angelina was thrown sideways, crashed through a wall, and flew into the building.
"What the hell…" Mark whispered. "Is she okay?"
Angelina stood up almost immediately. Brushed herself off.
"Are you idiots?" she roared. "I told you to attack me!"
"I was defending," I said grimly. "That's also a strategy."
"I'll strangle you little brats," she hissed.
"We need to run," Mark whispered.
"Stay," Angelina said. "I'm not done with you."
She attacked again.
I charged to meet her again.
"Won't work this time!" she shouted.
She leapt from above.
At the last moment, I raised the shield overhead.
The impact was monstrous.
She slammed the shield down, pinning me to the ground with her foot, putting all her weight into it, and looked at Mark.
"And now you, little bastard."
"Either you attack me, or I knock you out of the system with one hit."
"I—I'll attack!" he stammered. "Just… wait… I need to figure out where…"
"Just hit already," she said impatiently. "I'm standing right here."
I tried to rise.
No chance.
"Stay down," she said calmly. "You won't get up. Not against my strength."
She was stronger. Much stronger.
But I realized something else.
Balance.
If I pulled—
"Attack on my signal," I said through clenched teeth.
"What are you scheming now?" she scoffed.
"You'll see," I breathed.
"Now."
"Go!"
Mark rushed her. His movements were clumsy, jerky—but he committed.
Angelina turned, ready to deflect.
And at that exact moment, I yanked the shield with everything I had left.
A sharp pull.
She lost her balance.
And Mark clipped her.
A glancing hit.
Her arm.
He flew past and stopped, staring in disbelief.
A notification popped up.
"Oh… nice," he breathed. "I hit you!"
"Yes, idiot," Angelina said. "You hit me."
She looked at us, tired.
"Again. Because whatever that was—it was a mess."
Mark turned to me.
"Hey… do hits like that give points too?"
"Yes," she answered. "Every contact."
"How much did I get?"
"Sixty…"
I laughed under the shield.
"That's ten more than you got punching the crystal," Angelina snorted.
"Right…" Mark nodded. "Maybe I should just punch?"
"You were afraid to hit me with the blades?" she squinted.
"Yes…"
She stepped up and struck his arm sharply.
Mark yelped and jumped back.
"Damn! That hurt!"
"But look," she said.
He looked.
His arm was intact.
"Physically, you don't get injured," Angelina said. "But the pain is real."
"I got one hundred seventy points from your hit."
"And my 'awesome' lunge only gave sixty?" he muttered.
"I have more strength," she shrugged. "That's why arenas always match equal levels."
She looked at us.
"Newbies fight thirty versus thirty."
"Strength and endurance. Everything else is up to you."
Mark smirked.
"So we train up and become pro arena players?" he said, twirling his daggers awkwardly.
"Pros are two hundred-plus strength," she replied calmly. "You won't reach that in a lifetime."
"Oh come on," Mark snorted. "Two hundred is third sector."
"They only have strength and endurance that high," she nodded. "Everything else is dead."
She exhaled.
"All right."
"Again."
"And come up with something smarter."
I raised the shield.
I didn't know where this would lead.
But I was going all the way.