Divinity

--- [Shin’s perspective]

She’s just standing there with her arms crossed and a cocky smirk plastered all over her face.

I need to figure out her ability…

There has to be some kind of weakness…

Some way to attack her without getting hurt myself, right?

Right…?

I walk up to her, but she doesn’t make a move.

I throw a light punch at her, and sure enough, that same light punch is reflected right back at me.

I slap her face, and it feels like I was slapped back.

It left a mark and she even flinched when I did it.

She is clearly taking damage too…

It’s not like the damage is reflected and she’s unharmed.

I don’t ‘just’ take damage either…

When I hit her with that massive punch earlier, I didn’t just take the damage that she took.

It was more like the punch itself was thrown at me.

I was launched backwards; that wouldn’t happen if the only thing that was reflected was the damage she took.

Every aspect of the attack seems to fly right back at me.

Maybe there’s a ghost that copies my attacks or something…

If that’s the case then I might be able to block, or dodge.

I throw another light punch at her, and immediately put up my guard to defend the same spot I hit her.

Ouch…

Nope.

Can’t be blocked…

I throw another one, then jump backward as quickly as I can, but the attack was reflected yet again…

“It’s pointless. No matter what you do, you can’t attack me without getting hurt yourself.” – Freya

“Yeah, right. Obviously, you would say that.” – Shin

“Well then feel free to experiment as much as you want. As we’ve already seen, I’m more durable than you, so any attack you throw at me will just end up hurting yourself more than it hurts me. Your only option is to kill me, but like I said; you’ll also die if you do that.” – Freya

“Only if you’re telling the truth…” – Shin

“Heh, well then go ahead. Kill me. Do it! … Scared?” – Freya

“Scared? Of you? Nah.” – Shin

I may act tough, but I can’t act recklessly…

If she’s telling the truth…

If I really will die if I kill her, then…

No…

There has to be some sort of weakness, some way to get around her ability.

I’ll have to stall for as long as possible; every second is valuable.

If she starts attacking me again, that’s when I’m in serious trouble…

Sure, I might be able to dodge, or block, for a while…

But…

If I can’t counterattack without hurting myself, I’m doomed.

Eventually she’ll get a lethal hit in, and when she does, it’s all over.

I can’t afford to attack her recklessly either…

The more hurt I get, the harder it will be to avoid her attacks, which will just mean she’ll kill me that much faster.

Not gonna lie, this isn’t looking too good…

I jump back, sit down, and put my hands together.

“…” – Shin

“Are you meditating…? Still trying to ‘figure out my ability’? Well good luck, there is nothing to figure out.” – Freya

Yeah, that seems like the most likely option at this point…

I’m not actually meditating.

I’m just buying time.

I’ll stay like this for as long as she lets me.

If I can’t win by fighting her then…

Not fighting is the best option!

How’s it going with the other two?

Alex’ fight seems to be relatively even, but Luna’s fight…

Damn.

She’s stronger than I thought.

She’s absolutely dominating him!

She wasn’t recommended for the D-rank exam for nothing…

But never mind them…

If I can’t figure out a way to counter her ability, or get out of here somehow, then…

AHHHH!

This is so frustrating!

I might only have one option…

Kill her and hope I don’t die…

But…

That’ll be my last resort.

--- [Alex’s perspective]

Okay, here’s the plan…

If I attack him normally, it won’t work.

He’ll just go into defense mode.

So, I’ll have to catch him off guard.

If I can hit him while he is either in speed mode or attack mode, then he should get hurt.

I’ll wait for him to attack me.

If he continues to attack while in speed mode like last time, then I’ll just stand my ground and take the punches while I throw my own.

If he switches to attack mode, I’ll duck then counterattack.

Alright…

Let’s try…

He runs at me, just like planned.

He attacks the same way he did last time.

He throws a barrage while still in speed mode.

I take all the hits head-on and throw a counter.

Taking all these hits hurts like hell, but I’ll survive!

Just before the counterattack lands, he turns back into defense mode.

The hit connects, but the damage is negated.

I make sure to pull my punch the moment it hits, so that he won’t be knocked away.

While he’s still in defense mode he can’t really attack me.

His attacks won’t hurt, and he can’t even throw a barrage of them like he can in speed mode.

I grab his arm, and I slam him down to the ground.

If he wasn’t in defense mode, that would have done significant damage to him.

If I can just keep putting pressure on him like this, then he won’t be able to fight back.

I start stomping him with my right foot; over and over and over again…

They’re not really hurting him, but the moment he switches, they will.

He’s stuck!

“So, you’ve figured out my ability, huh? Sigh… That’s annoying. I hate having to put effort into winning a fight… I’m not like Sun. He loves fighting, but it just isn’t for me. I’d rather just sleep all day. I guess the sooner I finish you off, the sooner I can go back to sleep again.” – Hypno

He switches to attack mode, then break out of my hold.

He tries to grab my foot, but I get a couple stomps off before he is able too.

His nose, and several teeth break.

But…

He manages to grab my leg before I get to pull it away.

This is bad…

He grabbed my leg in attack mode…!

He’s too strong!

I can’t get my leg out, and-

“GAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!” – Alex

He snaps my leg like a twig…

I jump back to get some distance between us, and he stands back up.

My left hand is broken, and my right leg is snapped…

“Ahhh!!” – Alex

It hurts so goddamn much…

Shit!

Dodging him wasn’t easy before, but now I’ll have to do it while hopping around on one leg…

That’s impossible…