Eve slowly backed up and then stood up, her hand still clutched at her throat, her cough finally easing. Cautiously, she bent down and hoisted Nightfall into her hands, leaving the other sword discarded on the ground.
The palm-eye tracked her movements like an apex predator ready to strike.
Eve readied her sword in an Ochs stance. The rough handle bit into her palms, leaving behind temporary marks. Across from her, the defilement's main arms flared out and rose just below her neck. The pale arm twitched and began to bend, loud cracking noises echoing through the arena.
Her eyes were gouged out, but she could definitely see through the new eye.
Then, the eye blinked.
Nothing happened for a few moments, then...
Blood filled Eve's mouth. Suddenly, air could enter through Eve's mouth while she had it closed; the teeth on her left side felt freezing cold from the new air passing right through them.
The eye opened back up.
What the fuck happened?
Blood from the new hole in her cheek started pouring down her neck, staining her brown chestpiece. The pain started burning in her face.
Eve's mind went through countless possibilities of what had just occurred, but the only thing she understood was that something had shot out of the eye and torn a clean streak straight through her cheek, almost hitting her carotid.
The pale hand began to twitch again.
Eve changed her stance; instead of using the Ochs stance, she shifted into a long-point stance, the tip of Nightfall aimed straight at the defilement. Eve pivoted her right foot inward.
The eye blinked. For a moment, nothing happened.
Then, a sharp sound echoed through Nightfall, and vibrations shook the blade violently. Behind her, two perfect half-circles appeared in the arena's stone walls, with almost a whole meter of space between them.
After the semi-circles appeared, Eve dashed to the left and started running to the opposite side of the arena. The defilement did the same, and they were both running in a straight line across the sand, their sights entirely focused on each other.
The pale arm cracked and the eye blinked, but this time it did the motion much faster.
Right after the eye blinked, and before it could launch the hit, Eve turned Nightfall sideways. The edges pointed outward, effectively making a small vertical shield out of the blade.
Then, BANG.
Eve's sprint came to a sudden stop because the hit landed heavily against the fuller of Nightfall. She was pushed back a few meters, while the woman gradually slowed her own sprint down.
I get it now. A two-phase attack. The arm has to bend, then the eye has to blink. After it released a straight beam of something, I took a damn huge gamble trying to catch the attack. But it was worth it-
An almost perfect circular hole appeared in Eve's obliques.
Huh?
"Did you really think I would be so predictable? Get your head out of the gutter. I can shoot these beams wherever I want to. The blinking was just a thing to distract you," the defilement stared back at her, completely expressionless.
But Eve didn't hear a word the woman said; her attention was entirely fixed on Nightfall. Its whispers had started again, but this time, they were far more demanding.
"Give me your ichor, lass. Bind yourself to me; you have no other choice if you want to live. I will give you what you desire: strength."
While Eve was the wielder of Nightfall, she was not the master of it. Every time the sword whispered, it wanted her blood—but now, the sword needed it.
The defilement realized that Eve was not paying attention to her, even though she had just gained a new hole in her side. "Foolish girl," she muttered under her breath.
Eve's attention snapped back to the woman.
I don't need its strength; I will win with my STRENGTH.
The woman started running toward her. The pale arm started cracking, and the eye began to blink rapidly.
Eve turned Nightfall on its side again, her vision entirely obstructed by her own sword. But the beam never came. The defilement's body stopped right in front of Nightfall, and only the woman's hair was visible because the blade was blocking Eve's view.
While Eve was blinded by her own guard, the woman readied her left leg and delivered a devastating kick directly to Eve's oblique—right where the new hole had just been opened.
Eve was momentarily pushed to her left, and Nightfall fell slightly to the side. She was left wide open.
The woman crashed her left elbow right on top of Eve's head, nearly cracking it open. Then, the pale arm grabbed Eve by the hair and held her firmly in place.
The defilement's right palm broke Eve's nose. Blood gushed from the broken bone, dribbling straight down into her mouth. Metal—she could taste only metal. Her mind went completely blank.
Then, a side elbow connected brutally with her chin, knocking her to the ground.
The defilement stood on top of her, looking down, a few torn pieces of Eve's hair still clutched in her pale arm.
"You disgust me! You showed such vigor, and now you are nothing more than a doll ready to be broken."
Eve didn't pay any attention to her words; her gaze focused only on Nightfall, which lay right next to her. The eyeball on the hilt of the sword stared blankly at her, waiting.
What's the point of relying on my power when my corpse will be filled with maggots?
Eve slowly touched the edge of Nightfall with her index finger, her eyes entirely hollow.
The defilement readied her foot on top of Eve's face, preparing to kill her by crushing her head into the dirt. Eve applied a bit of pressure to the edge of her sword, and a tiny bit of blood left the new wound on her finger.
"Welcome back... my Goddess of Hell," Nightfall whispered into her mind.
The defilement's foot crashed down on Eve's head, but to her surprise, her heel only slammed into empty sand. Eve was completely gone; in her place, only a small cloud of dust was left in her wake.
"Hmm, where did you go, butterfly?"
For a moment, nothing happened. The defilement looked to her left and right with the pale arm, searching the arena.
And just as the defilement was left wondering what happened, her head fell cleanly off her shoulders, landing softly in the sand. Her corpse followed right after, hitting the ground with a dull thud.
Eve stood behind her. With unbelievable, unnatural speed, she had managed to cut off her head. She had successfully won the fight.
"What a surprise, everyone! We had a truly wonderful fight from the ladi—"
The crowd gasped.
The announcer's words were cut completely short when the body of the defilement rose back up, entirely headless.
"What did I say, honey? I'm not so predictable. Come now, let mother hold you."
The headless corpse bent down and picked up her own severed head, cradling it in her arms like a gentle infant.
Eve's face contorted with pure wrath, and now, her irises shifted, turning from a deep blue to a piercing, bloody red.
The middle pale arm moved and landed on the detached head. The head smirked one last time.
"Since you proved worthy, I lied. I do have a name. It's Eva. But that doesn't matter; the wonder will consume me, whole, I might say. Sigh, this is the end for me. Yet it's your beginning. Remain... vigilant, if you will. Don't let the flies taint your wings, butterfly."
A massive circular hole suddenly appeared right in the center of the detached head. The headless corpse let the rotting remnants of the head fall uselessly to the ground.
Something began to violently twist inside the defilement's body. Her bones cracked and grinded to dust, tendons snapped, and muscles were torn wide open. The scapulae burst apart to make way, and two new holes appeared.
Two more pale arms began to emerge from her back. Both new arms floated in the air for a moment, then turned around to face Eve.
Two more pairs of eyes opened in the new palms.
Three eyes were now gazing back at Eve.
Nightfall whispered into Eve's mind, cold and absolute:
"Memento mori."