Awaken

Valentina looked dead ahead at her opponent. She couldn't look anywhere else, especially not at Cyrus. If she looked at his certainly terrified expression, she might rethink her plan. But the goal was to die, and she was waiting for Amber to make her move.

Which she wasn't doing. She was just standing there, hands in her pockets. This was some kind of psychological thing, probably. Something a Rosethorn like her would know about. Or she was waiting for her to attack. Get her full of bloodlust for a fair fight.

"Uhh, hello? You know you have to fight, right?" Leonie announced, annoyed. "If not, we'll probably just get the smilers out and see what they do."

Once the announcement was finished, Amber started walking slowly towards Valentina, swaying from left to right as she did so. She stood right in front of Valentina, not moving. Valentina stood still until she felt a cold pressure underneath her. She looked down, seeing a pool of darkness expanding under her. Amber flicked her left hand upwards, ensnaring her within the shadows.

She's dead, Amber guessed. Definitely dead. The shadow trap had spikes that would certainly impale someone. She let the shadows fall to the floor, and within was Valentina, still alive, and sightly shiny. Coated with metal.

"So you do want to live." Is all Amber said.

Valentina didn't even activate the metal by herself. When she felt the shadows sweep over her, the metal placed itself over her vital areas. Heart, head, all that. No wounds but a few small cuts.

"E-Excuse me?" Valentina asked.

"You want to live, right?" Amber asked. "It's obvious. Look at your supporters up there."

Valentina continued to look dead ahead at Amber, but she turned her head slightly with her shadows to the seats. She saw Cyrus in the front row with Odebode behind him. And while she couldn't make out their facial expressions, she saw Cyrus desperately clutching the stands.

"Fine. I'll fight you." Valentina said softly. She melted her arm into a mallet, swinging it at Amber's head.

Amber didn't bother dodging. If she was going to take this seriously, this was going to hurt. When the hammer hit her head, she was sent flying across the room into the wall.

She was definitely serious.

Amber stood back up, clutching her head as she did so. She sent her shadow out as Valentina ran toward her, moulding her mallet into two small throwing knives. Amber sent the shadow upwards as she threw both of them to block them, which worked. But once the shadows covered the metal, the metal sprang to life, slamming the living shadow to the floor. With nothing out of the way, Valentina leapt onto Amber, landing a knee onto her nose.

As Valentina fell back, she felt the ground underneath her fall slightly, and she fell onto her back. As she stood back up, the ground fell once again, causing her to stumble as Amber landed a punch into her face. She stumbled back, but as she finally got her footing, her own shadow slashed her leg, causing her to step back once again. She melted her arm for a small bit of support, moving another piece of metal in front of Amber's face and getting behind her. Amber attacked the metal in front of her with her shadows, but while Valentina was behind her, she quickly retracted the metal. Valentina sharpened her metal into an amateur looking blade, hoping to end this with a precise strike. Amber managed to turn around and jump back before the blade could do anything fatal, but it sunk into her shoulder enough to cause her to scream out loud and fall to the ground.

Amber looked at the wound Valentina put on her. She moved her shoulder when she was trying to get the blade out, and it ended up going down to her arm. She was losing blood, and fast. She wrapped her arm in shadows in an attempt to stop the bleeding, which didn't seem to be enough. She was already struggling to stand, so she needed to end this. Quickly.

Valentina readied her metal arm into a spear, to finish the fight.

"Thank you, Amber." She sighed. "For the opportunity to live."

As she thrust her spear, Amber shut her eye, preparing to go cold at any second.

"What the…Amber, what are you doing?" Valentina asked.

Amber looked up at a terrified Valentina, desperately trying to pull back her spear from whatever it was that clutched it. Amber lightly touched her face, feeling a ghostly black strand come out of her left eye socket. She stood up feeling something warm cover her wound. More of the shadowy stuff covering her body. She didn't feel drained anymore. In fact, she felt better than she ever had. Invigorated, even.

"What's going on down there, exactly?" Leonie asked, glancing at a monitor inside her control room. She watched as a sea of shadows washed over Amber. Her watch started buzzing, with a high-pitched beeping tone she had never heard. She checked it and froze at what the message was.

Urgent message from Mersache.

She opened it quickly, and Mersache's excited voice rang out from the watch.

"Leonie, I read up on everything you did last night. All I can say is…you are the best host this game ever had! The last twenty years have been worth it! I'll devise you a few days off, we'll discuss your rewards there."

Valentina stood still as Amber's transformation completed. Her entire body was coated in deep black, minus her right eye, which was a pale white.

"I'm sorry, Valentina." She said, her voice having a brand-new echo to go with her body. Valentina once again tried to summon her mallet and land a blow with it, only for Amber to instantly throw up a wall of shadows. The shadows swallowed the mallet, and Amber gathered more into her hand, landing a punch into Valentina's stomach, causing her to go flying to the other end of the arena. Once her movement stopped, the shadows wrapped around her legs, leaving her tied to the floor. Amber slowly glided over to Valentina on a small sea of shadows, dragging a shadow in her hand as she approached her.

"I'm sorry, Valentina." Amber repeated, letting go of the shadow she was holding.

It stopped in place for a brief second, and then went straight through her heart. The shadows lost their grip, and Valentina fell to the floor.

"And Valentina...loses?" Leonie asked from her podium. She saw Valentina's unmoving body. "And Valentina Nova-Vico places eleventh!

Amber felt the glow leave her eye, and then felt her grip on the shadows loosen, until they shed off her body. All the pain came back. Turns out her arm never stopped bleeding. She'd get medical attention soon; they wouldn't let her die. So she used her powers to cover Valentina's body in a veil of shadow, stop the cameras ogling her last moments.

"Thank…you." Valentina whispered slowly as the shadows draped over her.

"Don't mention it." Amber whispered. She tried to stay awake for as long as possible to let Valentina die in piece. But she felt her grip on the shadows weaken, and felt the blood leave her arm, as her vision got hazy.