Ch 14

(POV – Yuji)

CLANG!

CLANG!

Sparks flew as our kunai crashed together, metal screaming like it wanted blood. She fought like a ghost made of blades—every move clean, brutal, and beautiful in the worst way. Each strike was fast and purposeful. Her footwork was flawless, untouchable. I held her off with both hands on my kunai, arms shaking, every block numbing my bones.

"She's slicing him to pieces! Butterfly's got Night on the ropes!" someone roared from the crowd, but it was just noise behind the thunder in my head.

My eyes stayed locked on her. Early twenties. Pale skin. Sweat glittering under the arena lights. She was slight, fast, and packed with more force than a battering ram. She dipped low—my stomach dropped.

I recognized the setup.

A spinning kick came from my left, fast as a whip. I managed to block with a cross-arm guard, but it still sent me sliding across the floor, tearing open my knees and rattling my teeth.

Pain flared up my arms, sharp and hot, but I bit down on it. No time to feel. I lunged with a snarl, pretending to strike high with one blade and thrusting low with the other, trying to tag her thigh.

She caught the feint.

We clashed again—bone-jarring impact that rang through my skull. My fingers almost went numb.

"Night's trying to fight fire with fumes!" the announcer bellowed. "He's hanging by a thread!"

I was. She started pressing harder. Her slashes were like poetry—precise, controlled arcs that left fresh wounds in my arms and legs. My blood soaked the gravel. And she? Not a scratch. Just a blonde predator circling the kill.

She shifted again, lowering her hips—ready to grapple.

"You look like a dying animal," she hissed, her voice a venomous whisper as she circled me, her kunai held backward in her grip, the blade angled for a quick, lethal stab. Her eyes gleamed with cruel delight, a predator savoring the sight of broken prey. "Give up—you're already a corpse."

"Keep talking, bitch!" I spat, blood spraying from my split lips, the coppery taste flooding my mouth. "It's you who's going down!"

I lunged, my body screaming with every movement, but I forced myself to act with precision—I took a quick step to the right, a fake-out to trick her into reacting, then spun on my heel, slashing my kunai toward her ribs, the blade whistling through the air with deadly intent. But she saw right through me. She swayed her body to the side, her movements smooth and dance-like, flowing around me like water, and then drove her knee hard into my gut, the strike landing with a sickening thud that felt like a hammer smashing into my core. The air burst from my lungs in a ragged wheeze, my vision blurring as I doubled over, nausea clawing at my throat. Before I could recover, she hooked her leg behind mine with a swift, precise motion, pulling my feet out from under me in a single, cruel yank, sending me crashing to the floor.

My head slammed into the hard ground, a deafening ring erupting in my skull, the world tilting as pain radiated through my body like wildfire. I tried to roll away, to get up, but she was on me in an instant, her movements feral and relentless.

She straddled me, her weight pinning me to the dirt. One knee crushed my left arm into the ground, grinding down until my joint felt like it might snap, while her other foot pressed against my ribs, the pressure excruciating as she bore down, her heel threatening to shatter bone. Her kunai came down—not to my neck or heart, but to the tender underside of my jaw, the cold steel biting into my skin as she tilted my head back, forcing me into a vulnerable arch that left me frozen, one wrong move from death.

"Go on," she whispered, her voice a venomous purr, dripping with malice as her breath ghosted over my face. "Wiggle, you pathetic dog. I dare you. I'll carve your tongue out and feed it to the rats."

" There it is our crazy butterfly "

My heart thundered in my chest, a frantic drumbeat as sweat poured down my face, stinging the open cuts on my cheeks. Her grip tightened, and I felt her shift her weight—she was trying to twist my wrist, bending it backward to lock my arm in a painful hold that would leave me helpless. I had seconds before she'd break my wrist and end me.

Desperation surged through me. I snapped my free hand up, my fingers clawing at her arm, digging deep into the muscle of her forearm with a brutal grip, pressing hard into the sensitive spots to make her flinch. Her kunai trembled in her hand, her focus wavering for just a heartbeat as pain flashed across her face.

I didn't waste the opening.

With a guttural roar that tore from my throat, I twisted my hips, sliding my body to the side just enough to create space. In one fluid motion, I drove my kunai upward, slamming it into her thigh with all my strength. The blade sank deep, a sickening squelch echoing as it pierced muscle and scraped against bone.

"AGHHH—YOU FILTHY SCUM!" she screamed, her voice a raw, animalistic howl as she staggered back, her leg buckling beneath her, blood gushing from the wound in a crimson torrent.

"Bleed with me," I growled, ripping the blade free and rolling to my feet. My legs wobbled. Blood poured down both of us now. I didn't care. I pulled my stance together, barely breathing, ribs screaming.

I charged, throwing my whole body into a crushing elbow strike to her chest.

CRACK.

She reeled.

I almost collapsed. My chest was on fire. Her kick earlier had done damage—deep damage. But I wasn't stopping.

She ripped the kunai from her leg, blood gushing down to her boot. Her eyes locked on me—pure hate. She came again, blade flashing, hands blurring.

"I'm gonna end you slow!" she shrieked. "Piece by worthless piece!"

I tried to dodge. My legs folded. I hit the ground hard, too slow to recover.

She drove a punch into my face. I slammed back against the arena fence, metal biting into my spine.

Then came the onslaught.

Punches, elbows, hammering into my face, ribs, chest. I tried to guard—nothing worked. My arms wouldn't move. I tasted blood. My ribs cracked again. My world turned red, then black, then red again.

She grabbed my collar, yanked me upright. My feet barely touched the ground.

"Last chance," she spat. "Beg."

I spat blood in her face.

She screamed—and her knee rocketed into my jaw.

CRACK.

My head snapped back into the fence. Everything spun.

Then—

Silence.

Darkness.

Gone.