Free Web NovelThe voice didn't respond right away. She just looked at Matt.
Then at the black sword in his hand.
Then at the guns lying in the grass. One to the left. The other to the right.
Five minutes.
The phrase sounded short.
Ridiculously short.
But after watching how Matt had moved just a few seconds ago, five minutes felt like a sentence.
The voice swallowed.
"I can't fight you yet…"
Matt's expression didn't change.
"Yes you can."
"I'm not ready."
"You don't need to beat me."
The voice pressed a hand against her stomach, still aching from the previous hit.
"You knocked me to the ground with a single punch…"
"That's exactly why I'm not asking you to win."
Matt raised the sword slightly.
"I'm asking you to last."
The voice breathed with difficulty.
Last.
That sounded a little less impossible.
Not much.
But a little.
She got up clumsily, one knee on the grass. Her fingers reached for the light gun first.
Matt didn't move.
That made her more nervous.
He wasn't attacking.
Wasn't pressing her.
Just waiting, as if he wanted to give her time.
That was worse.
The voice picked up the light gun. Then reached out her other hand toward the heavy one.
Matt took a step.
The voice froze.
Matt stopped immediately.
"Mistake."
She looked up.
"What?"
"You were staring at my leg."
The voice blinked, confused.
Matt spoke calmly, without mockery:
"If you're trying to recover a weapon, you can't stop watching me completely. But you also can't freeze just because I take a step."
The voice pressed her lips together.
"I know."
"No. You're learning it."
She looked down, uncomfortable.
"Then… will you let me take it?"
"Depends on how you do it."
The voice looked at the heavy gun.
Then at Matt.
Then at the gun again.
She breathed.
She didn't rush toward it.
Didn't lunge.
Didn't make a sharp movement.
She moved to one side, keeping the light gun raised.
Matt didn't smile.
Didn't speak.
Just watched her.
The voice took one step.
Then another.
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Her left hand moved closer to the heavy gun.
Matt's eyes dropped just slightly.
The voice saw it.
'Now.'
She fired the light gun — not directly at him, but at the grass between them.
Bang!
The small explosion threw up earth and grass.
Not enough to hurt him, but enough to cover her hand for an instant.
The voice grabbed the heavy gun and immediately stepped back.
Matt was still in the same spot.
The dirt fell slowly between them.
He gave one small nod.
"Better."
The voice felt a small relief.
Very small.
"Does that count as a start?"
"Yes."
Matt raised the sword.
"Start counting."
The voice's eyes went wide.
"Right now?"
Matt disappeared.
Not literally.
Not like magic.
He simply moved too fast.
The voice gritted her teeth and leaped backward.
Too late.
The black sword passed in front of her.
SHIIING!
The blade didn't aim at her arm.
Didn't aim at her leg.
It went straight for the center of her chest.
She tried to block with the guns crossed.
She didn't make it.
The sword cut from her left shoulder to the lower right side of her torso.
SHRAAAK!
The voice went still.
For a fraction of a second she felt nothing. She only saw the black line of the sword finish its arc. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
Then the pain arrived.
A white, brutal pain, as if her entire body had forgotten how to stay together.
"Ah…"
The guns slipped from her hands and fell onto the grass.
Thud!
Thud!
The voice looked down.
The wound was enormous.
Too much so.
Her chest, her stomach, and part of her side were open in a deep line. It didn't bleed like in the real world, but a dark red shadow seeped from the wound and dissolved in the air.
Her legs lost strength.
She dropped to her knees.
Then to her side.
"Ghh…!"
The grass touched her cheek.
Cold.
Her breathing broke apart.
She couldn't think.
Couldn't move.
It just hurt.
It hurt so much that for a moment she forgot she was in the mental world.
Forgot she wasn't in the cave.
Forgot it was Matt who had cut her.
"Ah… ah…"
The wound began to close.
Slowly.
Too slowly.
The mental flesh rejoined as if remembering it was supposed to, but every centimeter that sealed sent another tremor through her.
The voice pressed her fingers into the grass.
"It hurts…!"
Matt was standing in front of her, black sword lowered.
His face was still serious.
He didn't look satisfied.
Didn't look amused.
Wasn't cruel either.
That, somehow, made the fear feel more real.
The voice barely lifted her head.
"That was too much!"
Matt looked at her.
"No."
"You opened up my body!"
"Iris would have cut your head off."
The voice went cold.
The pain was still there, but those words put a different kind of cold in her chest.
"What…?"
Matt held the sword without moving.
"Iris isn't going to wait for you to understand what's happening. If she thinks you're a threat, she'll erase you before you can explain yourself."
The voice swallowed.
The wound was still closing.
Her body trembled.
"That would be…"
Her voice cracked.
"That would be brutally painful."
"Yes." freewebnoveℓ.com
Matt didn't soften the answer.
The voice squeezed her eyes shut.
"Then I don't want to fight her."
"That option might not exist."
"But you said it probably wouldn't be a fight to the death."
"Probably."
The voice opened her eyes.
Matt took one step closer.
"I'm trying to make you understand."
The voice couldn't get up. The wound was no longer open, but the pain was still spread all through her body.
Matt crouched in front of her, keeping the sword to one side.
"In a fight against another vampire, forget about coming out unscathed."
The voice looked at him in silence.
"Vampires don't fight like normal humans. They don't protect their body the same way. They don't hesitate to sacrifice an arm if it means they can tear out your throat."
The voice felt sick.
Still, Matt continued:
"They attack deeper. Closer. More recklessly. Because they know they can regenerate."
The voice pressed her fingers into the grass.
"But I can regenerate too."
"Exactly."
Matt pointed the sword at her — not as a threat, but as a correction.
"That's the part you keep forgetting."
The voice breathed hard.
"I don't forget it."
"Yes you do."
She wanted to respond.
She couldn't.
Because it was true.
"Your body can keep fighting after a lethal wound," Matt said firmly. "But you stop because your mind doesn't accept it yet."
The voice looked down.
The wound finished closing.
It left no visible mark, but she still felt it.
"It's hard…"
"I know."
The voice looked up.
Matt didn't mock her.
Didn't say anything cruel.
Just looked at her with a heavy seriousness.
"That's why you're here."
The voice swallowed.
She tried to sit up.
Her arm trembled and she fell to her side again.
Matt didn't help her.
Didn't attack her either.
Just waited.
The voice breathed.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then she managed to sit up.
The field went back to feeling too calm.
The blue sky.
The clouds.
The grass.
Everything felt out of place after that cut.
The voice pressed her hands to her knees.
"I thought…"
She stopped.
Matt waited.
"I thought I was getting better."
"You are getting better."
"Then why couldn't I do anything?"
"Because you were training against enemies that wanted to kill you in simple ways."
The voice frowned.
Matt explained:
"A demon dives down, bites, cuts, or fires. A golem hits slowly. The stones charge a beam. And you already know the serpent wants to grab you and devour you."
Matt raised the black sword.
"I can change the rhythm."
The voice looked at the blade.
"You didn't give me time."
"Iris won't either if she sees an opening."
"But you're stronger than her."
Matt was quiet for a moment.
"Not in every way."
The voice looked at him.
Matt didn't explain further.
He just continued:
"For this first fight I'm going to overlook the fact that you panicked over a serious wound."
The voice opened her eyes.
"Overlook?"
"Yes."
"Does that mean you won't do something like that again?"
"No."
Her body tensed.
Matt looked at her steadily.
"It means the next time, I won't stop."
The voice went still.
"What?"
"Next time, if I take you out of the fight, I'll keep going."
"You'll keep going…?"
"Yes."
The voice felt her throat go dry.
"Until you kill me?"
"Yes."
She jumped to her feet.
Or tried to.
Her body was still weak, so the movement came out clumsy.
"Why would you go that far?!"
Matt didn't raise his voice.
"Don't panic."
"You just told me you're going to kill me!"
"In the mental world."
"That doesn't make it pleasant!"
"No."
Matt drove the tip of the sword into the grass.
"But it makes it possible."
The voice was breathing fast.
Matt continued:
"You can die here and come back. Unless you completely lose the will to fight or to exist, you'll return."
The voice looked at him with horror.
"What if I lose it?"
"Then we have a problem."
"Matt!"
"That's why I'm not starting with that today."
The voice went quiet.
Her heart was pounding hard.
Even in that mental body.
Even though everything was fake.
The fear was real.
Matt looked down at her.
"I don't want to kill you for fun."
The voice pressed her lips together.
"That didn't sound as reassuring as you think."
"I'm not trying to be reassuring."
"I noticed."
"I'm trying to prepare you."
