Page 66 of Shattered & Returned

I broke from the mat, shoving through the ring of spectators. Mocking laughter followed. Dante’s voice boomed across the gym: “Running is a valid strategy.”

Toby gave chase, swearing like I’d personally offended her. She could’ve claimed victory, but no, she wanted blood.

Three students blocked my path. Toby lunged, her broadsword carving the air just shy of my spine. I whirled around as the dagger in my hand pulsed with sudden warmth. Pure instinct took over, and I pivoted and parried. Metal shrieked against metal, the impact vibrating up my arm, nearly numbing my fingers. The dagger shouldn’t have withstood that blow. Yet it did.

Toby blinked, thrown by my defense. That half-second hesitation was all I needed. I darted past her, scrambling back onto the mat, which I hoped would cushion my fall if it came to that.

My adversary advanced, her sword’s tip screeching against the ground. “Stop embarrassing yourself,” she spat. “Just take your beating!”

She launched into a flurry of attacks—overhead strike, side slash, forward thrust—each more vicious than the last.

Shit,she was relentless.

Somehow, I blocked the first strike, sidestepped the second, and barely avoided the third. My body moved with grace I’d never known I possessed, the dagger’s weight now natural in my hand. With each parry, the obsidian sigils flickered, a ghostly glow only I could see.

I blocked one devastating strike that nearly took my head off, our blades locking with a shriek of metal. Toby’s face was inches from mine, and the murderous gleam in her eyes left no doubt that she’d kill me here if allowed, both as punishment and revenge for Angelina.

Her trained muscles pressed down. My arms shook from the strain.

“First blood!” a spectator shouted, and the crowd chanted, “First blood!”

Toby suddenly disengaged, spinning with increased speed to strike at my blind side. I twisted away, but not fast enough. The tip of her blade sliced through my training gear and scraped across my ribs.

Shit,that hurt.

But when I glanced down…no blood. The cut fabric revealed unbroken skin beneath.

“Bloom!” Sindy shouted in urgency. “Just yield!”

“I yielded twice already!” I shouted back. “But she’s like a rabid dog with a bone!”

Fury twisted Toby’s features. She redoubled her efforts. Each blow drove me toward the mat’s edge. My arms went numb from the relentless impacts.

With no options left, I dropped to one knee as her sword whooshed overhead. In one desperate motion, I thrust upward, not to wound, just to create space. My dagger’s point caught her sleeve, ripping through the fabric.

A crimson line bloomed across her forearm.

First blood.

The gym fell silent. Then a voice cleaved through: “She’s cheating! She used magic!” Never mind that no one even knew what my magic was. Across the crowd, Sindy’s expression shifted between relief, suspicion, and something like newfound respect.

Toby stared at the thin red line on her forearm in disbelief. I stayed frozen in my half-crouch, dagger still raised, equally stunned.

“First blood goes to the newcomer,” Dante announced, stepping closer.

“Can we stop now?” I turned to him, my voice raw, my lips pinched.

“This is a challenge!” Toby spat, her face twisting. “First blood won’t end shit!”

“What if I just call you the winner?” I bargained. The thought of continuing this fight made my stomach churn. What was the point? “My ego isn’t that big.”

“You’re a disgrace, Bloom!” she snarled, as if I’d insulted her. The crowd buzzed like stirred hornets, their glares sharp enough to draw blood. “Just man up!”

“But I’m not a man,” I protested, though I wisely swallowed the explanation that I didn’t have a dick.

“Match continues,” Dante drawled, inspecting his thumb nail. “Rise to the occasion,Carrot.”

Every fiber of me wanted to snap back with something crude, like “rise to my butthole,” but years of proper upbringing left me wordless. My fingers tightened around the dagger’s hilt, its welcome warmth pulsing up my arm, the only comfort in this nightmare.

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