She moved like a lightning bolt, so fast my eyes could barely track her.
The massive scythe sliced through the air in a perfect, crimson arc, and I only had a fraction of a second to raise my sword in defense.
The impact was brutal.
I was hurled backward, my boots scraping fiercely against the smooth metal floor of the training room as I desperately tried to stop my momentum.
But, before I had even fully regained my balance, I was already lunging back at her.
The sound of our blades clashing echoed through the chamber like metallic thunder.
She had the absolute advantage over me.
Using the very inertia of my defense, the girl slid her hands down the scythe's shaft, spun the weapon behind her back without losing a millimeter of speed, and brought down a new diagonal slash straight toward my legs.
Everything about her was cold.
She didn't pull her shoulder back before attacking, didn't telegraph her movements, and left no openings.
If I dodged to the right, the simple rotation of her body already placed her in the exact position to follow up with a thrust using the blunt base of the shaft straight into my sternum.
She wasn't there to trade blows, test my guard, or measure strength.
She was looking to tear my head off with every millisecond of contact.
It was as if every attack existed for a single purpose:
To kill.
*Damn... she's way too fast,* I thought, forcing my burning lungs to pull in air. *And her defense... is flawless.*
She spun the enormous scythe in fluid circles, each rotation creating an almost invisible, impenetrable barrier around her body.
My attacks simply couldn't break through.
The sound of the scythe's steel cutting through the air burned my ears like blazing metal.
It looked like she was dancing. But it was a dance of death.
I abruptly changed strategies, aiming for low strikes, sweeps, desperate feints.
Nothing worked.
It was like fighting a living storm.
I advanced, attempting a simple thrust.
The girl didn't even look at my sword. She flicked her wrist, smacking the scythe's shaft against my blade to disarm me, and in the same fluid motion, the scythe bypassed my head and hooked the back of my neck.
A sharp pull backward. The cold metal tore through my throat.
The room's light flashed blood red.
The system's robotic voice echoed: *[Critical Failure. Simulation restarted.]*
The next millisecond, the scenery reset.
She was five steps away, in the same static stance.
I respawned panting in the center of the room. I shifted my stance. I tried to sweep her legs with a low slash.
She didn't retreat; she just took a short, perfect leap. In mid-air, the red blade descended in a flawless vertical arc. The steel broke my defense and tore from my shoulder down to the center of my chest in a fraction of a second.
*[Simulation restarted.]*
I came back taking a deep breath, frustrated. I went on the offensive. I unleashed a storm of horizontal and vertical slashes, forcing her back two steps.
*I found an opening!* I thought, raising my sword for the finishing blow.
Amateur mistake.
Her retreat was a trap. The girl used the distance to sweep the scythe low across the floor, smashing the weapon's iron base against my supporting knee. My bones cracked and I fell to my knees.
The weapon's momentum continued upward, decapitating me with a dry hum before my body even touched the floor.
*[Simulation restarted.]*
I backed away on the next attempt, trying to study her range and keep my distance.
Another fatal error.
The redhead's face remained completely motionless, but she slid her boot forward, twisted her torso, and hurled the entire scythe like a colossal boomerang. I tried to dodge, but the spinning radius was massive.
The rotating blade buried itself straight into my stomach, dragging my body with its inertia and pinning me violently against the laboratory's metal wall.
*[Simulation restarted.]*
My mind was boiling.
I channeled my aura into the sword from the very first second. I charged, expecting the lateral slash she loved to use so much.
When the red steel came hurtling toward my waist, I leaped over the blade, aiming a fatal strike straight at her head.
But she was no longer there.
The inertia of the scythe cutting through empty air pulled her into a reverse spin.
Before the soles of my boots could even touch the floor, the dense metal shaft slammed upwards into my ribs, breaking my posture in mid-air. In a continuous lever motion, the tip of the scythe surged up and pierced my back, piercing right through my heart.
*[Simulation restarted.]*
I tried to fight dirty.
I intentionally dropped my sword, dodged a horizontal slash, and dove to grab her scythe's shaft with both hands, trying to lock the weapon down.
I succeeded. But her expression didn't change a millimeter.
She didn't try to yank the weapon back. Instead, she used my own weight against me.
She let go of the scythe, planted both hands on my outstretched shoulders, vaulted up using my chest as a springboard, and snapped my neck with an absurd flying knee.
*[Simulation restarted.]*
Sweat was already stinging my eyes.
I opted for absolute defense. Focus solely on blocking. The scythe came from above, a crushing vertical strike.
I raised the sword with both hands to catch the impact.
But the impact never came.
The girl released the weapon in mid-air. The scythe continued falling strictly on inertia, tapping against my guard harmlessly. But the sheer lack of attacking weight threw my balance forward.
The redhead slipped beneath my blind defense, caught her own scythe before it hit the ground, and with an impossible upward spin, the red blade tore from my groin straight up to my chin.
*[Simulation restarted.]*
*[Simulation restarted.]*
*[Simulation restarted.]*
The machine's mechanical voice became a torturous mantra. The physical fatigue was real, crushing. Never in my entire life had I been pushed so deep into the abyss of exhaustion.
"Four hundred..." I muttered, utterly exhausted as I fell to my knees on the cold floor, using the sword as a crutch. "Four hundred times..."
My entire body trembled, completely drenched in sweat and dried blood.
The air smelled like hot metal and ozone.
The floor, now covered in fresh cracks, scorch marks, and holes, silently carried the evidence of every single one of my defeats.
"I didn't win a single time..." I gasped, staring at the bluish hologram as it slowly began to dissolve into particles of light. "Even so... that was the best training of my life."
I let the dull sword fall heavily onto the metal floor.
Dragging my feet, I walked over to the bench in the corner of the room and collapsed onto it, staring up at the training center's glowing ceiling.
My body burned and screamed for rest.
The girl's hologram flickered one last time, perfectly still, as though watching me in silence, before finally disappearing into thin air.
"Who are you... scythe girl?" I whispered, letting out a small, exhausted smile.
My eyelids grew unbearably heavy.
My torn muscles finally gave in to the fatigue.
And right there, surrounded by the smell of iron and absolute exhaustion, I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.