The clock hand beside the elf’s ear stopped moving. The ticking above the clock arena vanished. Only the golden second hand beneath their feet inside the deep blue arena continued turning stubbornly.
During the first minute of Lightchaser’s silent contemplation, Rita waited patiently.
During the second minute, Rita frowned up at the sky, tapping the ground lightly with the tip of her foot.
During the third minute, Rita clasped her hands behind her back and paced in a small circle. She began to suspect Lightchaser might be ssing with her. But then again, this was Lightchaser. Surely she would not stoop to that.
During the fourth minute, Rita noticed that Unchanged Fate was about to expire. She leaned forward slightly and whispered in the smallest possible voice.
"Lightchaser. Wake up. It’s morning."
The only response was silence.
Maybe Lightchaser really was in the middle of so breakthrough.
After all, realizing that the word you believed summarized your entire life suddenly no longer applied would shake anyone.
Rita’s expression turned serious and she quieted again.
She did want to win. Of course she did.
But compared to Lightchaser rediscovering her divine talent word, the outco of a single match suddenly felt less important.
Besides, only if Lightchaser successfully reignited her divine talent and used it on Rita could Wildfire Reignite trigger its second phase.
Five minutes passed.
Unchanged Fate ended.
Rita let out a silent sigh with her hands still behind her back.
At that exact mont, Lightchaser opened her eyes.
The elf rubbed the corner of her eye and complained.
"Why didn’t you wake up?"
Rita stared at her.
"...You’ve got to be kidding."
Lightchaser twirled the dagger between her fingers in a neat flourish and smiled.
"Student, today’s lesson. Never let what you think you know about soone influence how you fight them."
Rita was still processing the shock of Lightchaser pulling such a childish trick.
"Whoever you are," she said slowly, "please climb down from Lightchaser’s body."
Lightchaser barked out a laugh.
Teasing her student clearly put her in a good mood.
"Let’s continue."
The elf rushed forward with her dagger.
Ti began spinning rapidly again beside her ear. Lightchaser reentered her accelerated state.
Rita retreated quickly.
With a flick of her right hand, the white petal dagger shot into the sky and exploded into a rain of flowers.
Flower Crown Murder.
Threads of lightning stretched between the falling petals.
In the blink of an eye, a dense web of lightning filled the entire clock arena. Crackling arcs of electricity ford a glowing net, trapping both Lightchaser and Rita inside.
After the Funeral.
Lightchaser halted instantly, but her earlier montum had been too fast. Most of her body collided with the delicate lightning web.
Dozens of brilliant golden strands wrapped around the elf at once. Each strand connected two white petals.
Strangle and drain.
Her health dropped rapidly by dozens of points.
A frost ring exploded outward.
The lightning net did not move.
Lightchaser stopped resisting. She vanished.
One mont she was tangled in the web.
The next she was gone from the arena entirely.
Rita let her arms hang loosely at her sides, standing quietly inside the lightning net as she waited for the ambush she knew was coming.
She listened to every sound around her and spoke softly.
"Back in Binast, I was the one who hid in the shadows, waiting for the right mont to strike."
"You were always impatient. But during training matches you could stand there forever without getting annoyed."
"Waiting for your opponent to make the first move felt like sothing only the strong had the right to do."
"Every ti I saw you standing there calmly waiting for to attack, I thought that soday I’d beco stronger than you."
"And then I’d be the one standing still, waiting for your attack to co."
Her voice echoed faintly across the arena.
There were still plenty of spectators on the stands.
But Rita could not stop the emotions rising in her chest.
She had flipped countless coins just to revisit those mories. To see Binast again. To see Nivalis and B80 again.
No matter how many tis she replayed them, they never got old.
"One ti I was taking a class in Trash Street. You stepped out for a while."
"The teacher asked if I was working so hard because I had so grand dream."
"I told him my dream was to defeat Lightchaser."
"He told to pick another one. Said that dream was too common and had basically zero chance of success."
"At the ti I didn’t understand what he ant."
"Later I found out that one of his students had been in the sa class as you."
"During those years every student’s dream sohow involved you."
Rita flexed her fingers.
Lightning and petals reford into two swords in her hands.
"Teachers in Trash Street loved asking young people about their dreams."
"Later soone asked again."
"So I gave a less popular answer."
"I said I wanted to recreate the Lightchaser mont."
"They still frowned."
"So I told them my previous dream had been defeating Lightchaser."
"And after that, the conversation usually ended."
"In the eyes of people who knew you, beating you sounded even more unrealistic than recreating the Lightchaser mont."
"In fact, even after I beat you on Cat’s Ideal, it didn’t feel like my dream had co true."
"Because I knew one loss would never stop you."
A golden sword crossed paths with a dagger shaped like a clock hand beside Rita’s ear.
Lightchaser’s voice appeared behind her.
"So you finally decided to use swords?"
"You found your divine talent word, didn’t you?" Rita said firmly.
Lightchaser might skip a fight if both sides were effectively wasting ti due to special conditions.
But she would say it directly.
She would not pretend to sleep.
She had definitely realized sothing.
So why had she not activated it?
Sword and dagger clashed nearly a hundred tis in seconds.
Lightchaser’s speed was terrifying.
Rita could only block by predicting her attack paths ahead of ti.
She looked hurried and ssy.
But every single strike was stopped.
Every collision rang out with thunder and the echo of a ticking clock.
Rita had already adapted to the rhythm of Lightchaser’s attacks.
Lightchaser was a genius.
But so was she.
Only the golden sword remained in Rita’s hand now.
Flower Crown Murder had completely dispersed, petals floating around her.
Whenever an attack slipped past her guard, nearby petals would whip over like they were caught in a sudden gust and deflect the strike.
Defensive combat skill.
Crown of Flowers.
Lightchaser did not deny Rita’s guess.
Instead she smiled with interest.
"So what do you think my divine talent word is?"
"Lightchaser," Rita answered without hesitation.
Nothing else summarized her life better than her own na.
Just like Lynx Duke had nad the final fairy tale of his life after himself.
Lightchaser’s divine talent word should be herself.
Whenever Rita walked into Trash Street and people spoke about Lightchaser, their voices carried a focus they did not even realize they had.
Lightchaser represented an entire era.
Love her or hate her, no one who had heard her na could ever forget it.
"Yes. There’s no other choice besides my na."
Lightchaser’s dagger spun faster and faster as she spoke lightly.
"Then why don’t you use it?" Rita asked.
"Because I’m waiting for your divine talent word."
Lightchaser’s voice carried a teasing smile.
"Waiting is a privilege reserved for the strong."
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