7.2

Eve did not sense the passage of time accurately with Savage Survival Mind active. Upon returning to the waiting room after finishing round number twelve, she ate mechanically. EVe did eating to sustain the body, not out of pleasure. Eve’s eyes were unfocused at her food as if she didn’t even notice it was there. Finishing her food, her graceful yet robotic movements cleaned everything leftover from eating within moments, cycling utensils mechanically into her inventory to cleanse them.

Afterward, Eve floated at the entrance to the exit ramp, the picture of a sleeping night hag. Her paper clothing had shifted colors to ebony onyx, highlighting the pale hands of her sleeves and the sparkling silver glimmer of her half-asleep hood masked eyes. Stat points into her Charm aspect had the unintended side effect of giving her presence beyond the mortal veil of normality. Were anyone else to be within the waiting room, they would find their eyes drawn to Eve’s floating form, even unmoving as it currently was.

A soft chime broke the silence, and Eve floated up the ramp onto the sands to hover above the raised stone dais from which all fighters started each round in the Arena. Across from her, a young woman lay artfully covered in soft mists that concealed much of her tantalizing form. Long blonde hair rippled in an invisible wind while green eyes calmly assessed Eve.

“Lady Eve appears to be half-asleep, yet that only adds to her incredible growing legend!” the Arena announcer said with gusto.

“Our resident expert in the Element of Air, Zephyr, hopes to end the sudden winds of fortune the challenger has enjoyed!” the booming voice said to the rampant cheers of the crowd.

“Let the dance that paints the sand red with victory commence!” were the final words the announcer threw out to both fighters.

Eve’s eyes flashed fully open as Savage Survival Mind surged into complete control. The opponent, Zephyr, threw several rippling blades of wind, which were a fruitless attack. Pulling the wind into her inventory, Eve began to suction the air within the Arena. Normally the shield that surrounded the Arena served to protect the crowd, but now it served to turn her inventory into a bottomless vacuum pit. As the minutes progressed, Zephyr’s attacks became weaker as there was less air to utilize. The lack of air did nothing to Eve herself, as her head had been wrapped in a clear paper bubble, with an attached paper air tank that was filled and pressurized from her inventory. The rather sci-fi look of the helm and tank on her back was a bit steampunk.

As the vacuum effect became larger, Eve shielded herself, fully shifting her robe to enclose and form a sealed suit that would do any space walking human proud. Only Eve’s hands were gloved in a clear, almost plastic, shimmer of paper, allowing the rings on her right hand to sparkle. Cold silver eyes looked out at the opponent, who hadn’t yet realized the danger. With the power of Isa, the heat generated by the Sun's solar radiation entering the Arena was kept to a minimum for Eve. Her suite contained cool air filtered directly from her inventory into the tanks on her back.

Zephyr, on the other hand, could clearly be seen starting to sweat.

Victory imminent. Eve thought. Speed, up!

From her foot, Eve spread paper sheets under the sand so that they wouldn’t be able to be sensed through the air of the Arena. Savage Survival Mind was certain that an air-based attacker would have some form of air-based perception as well and moved to avoid it. Everything was proceeding without issue, and victory seemed easily within reach.

Zephyr smirked at Eve before flipping her sweaty bangs behind her head and holding a single hand palm up to the sky. “Open,” Zephyr commanded, and the world twisted as mana responded. A massive whirling white gate appeared suddenly, looking like the white eye of a titanic deity above Zephyr’s upturned palm.

Savage Survival Mind had a fraction of a second to realize it was a gate to the Plane of Air. A scream resounded as air rushed from the open gateway, feeding into the vacuum Eve had created. Like a piece of straw in a hurricane, she was picked up and thrown against the Arena shields with bone-shattering force. Eve coughed blood from her crushed body before realizing the enemy’s attack wasn’t finished. Even as pressure returned to previous levels, the gateway didn’t close. Zephyr’s smirk had turned into a feral grin, even as her body started to ripple in an invisible breeze.

Atmospheric crush? Eve thought, her mind racing.

Filling her inventory with an endless wind would only reach equilibrium at best. Worthless. A mental glance at her current weapons was frustrating, as Air was non-physical. Nothing among her Curses could effectively counter the increasing pressure of the atmospheric air.

Pressure. Eve thought. Pressure!

Once, she had seen one of her co-workers reading a gaming magazine. On the outside of the cover had been a man encased in form-fitting armor. While the image was informative, the large bold word Bio-Armor Elite Unit sparked the fragment of an idea to the Savage Survival Mind as Eve’s body crumbled under crushing pressure.

Eve’s paper manipulation ripped Blood from its sheath before she gripped the sword with her left hand. The blade’s edge immediately pierced the paper suit on her hand, thus activating the Curse. Utilizing the Curse as a carrier for her mana, she directly pressurized her body by feeding mana into her blood and forcing it to the surface, mimicking the bio-armor she’d seen before. Eve’s silver eyes turned a glinting demonic red, and her visible skin turned a deep ruby red. Rising from her defensive crouch, she held the hilt of her blade and took a step forward to counter-attack. Ignoring the enemy’s shocked expression at her sudden mobility, Eve teleported to Zephyr’s side, slashing with Blood in a brutal chop.

A manifested shield of solid Air blocked the attack, but Eve had expected it. Champion mana shields were nothing like those of the Ranked Teams and easily stopped a single blow. Savage Survival Mind came up with a strategy instantly, and Eve’s body moved to employ it as a puppet without bones.

“You have no hope, even if you can hold out against the pressure now. Eventually, the wind will grind you to nothing but meat paste from the air pressure alone.” Zephyr said, her beautiful face confident before she reinforced her shield with more mana as the gate above her palm widened further. Deafening howls as if a creature was attempting to enter the Arena echoed from within the wind gate’s rushing stream of air.

Eve hacked once more at the shield, her sword expanding in width to cover the motion of her right hand as Shatter and Aging flickered forward, slipping from the rings like greased lightning. Timing it with inhuman speed, the shield broke from Shatter a fraction of a second before Blood arrived for the second time. Zephyr’s eye’s widened in shock, and she conjured a solid sword of Air to block Blood barely in time.

There was nothing to block the teardrop-shaped hidden weapon, Aging.

Eve retrieved Shatters. She instantly teleported to the far side of the Arena. Clutching the sword, Blood, in her left hand again, she hunkered down, slamming her weapon into the sands to bulwark against the Arena wall as the air pressure continued to build. Mana fed directly into her body, keeping her blood pressurized to resist the incoming external force of Air.

Seconds passed, and then Zephyr’s expression turned unstable with shock. Her concentration broke, causing the gate to destabilize and vanish. Savage Survival Mind looked on impassively as the once beautiful woman’s features aged with every passing second, from a young woman to a middle-aged wife, from a middle-aged wife to an elderly grandmother, from an elderly grandmother to an ancient crone.

Zephyr only had time to raise a single accusing finger to point at Eve before her body aged into dust that collapsed under its own weight.

Eve rose from where she had crouched, pulling her hidden teardrop weapon from the dust of her enemy into the sands below. Moments later, when Aging contacted the paper she had previously spread beneath the sands, it teleported to the ring on her right hand. A flick of her sword returned it to the proper shape, allowing Eve to sheath it on her back once more. Her blood pressure dropped as she withdrew the mana fueling the Curse, eventually causing it to die out from lack of sustenance. As her skin and eyes returned to their normal colors, Eve departed for the exit ramp leading to her room, the cheers of a maddened crowd following her every footstep.

Arriving in the waiting room, Eve’s body mechanically consumed a vast quantity of food and drank her Bibliotheca Body using it in conjunction with mana to restore the lost blood.

Mistress. Sara sent her mental touch light.

Savage Survival Mind sent a questioning tone in the reply.

We are on track for the resource requirements to buy the noble title and purchase untamed land. Sara sent before going silent.

Savage Survival Mind looked at the allocated resources on the Status pondering.

3,069,000 Slots were available from rounds twelve and thirteen. With the recent near-fatal screw-up, it was necessary to cover the exposed weakness. Eve purchased the Class Skill Spell List to ensure the previous problem never occurred again.

Resist All Basic Elements IV was allocated at the cost of three million Slots. With ninety-five percent resistance to Elements, the previous fight would have been a breeze compared to how it went down. With two of the four elements already appearing, Savage Survival Mind was certain the other two would show up. The problem was if such Elemental adapts were below the top five, it showed that those at the highest level were truly fearsome.

If possible, it was best to appear as a physical cultivation specialist for as long as possible. No doubt some had managed to catch glimpses of what she was doing. But all those people would do was bet on her shifting the current odds. They would keep any secret they knew to maximize the profit possible. A flash of theory caused Savage Survival Mind to contact Sara.

Bet, me? Eve sent.

Mistress? Yes, a merchant named A’nar has placed a massive amount of gold on us, winning all twenty rounds. Sara replied after parsing the question. Do you wish to set up a meeting with them?

Eve sent assent over the mental link before she continued eating. The pain of having her body almost crushed by air was muted as crackling snaps signaled the reconstruction of bones, muscles, veins, and arteries. Savage Survival Mind was the only thing keeping Eve from turning into a screaming abomination on the paper-covered stone floor.

As the healing finished, a shudder passed through Eve’s body. It was the only outward indication of the screaming insanity of pain suppressed by Savage Survival Mind. Once her healing meal was complete, Eve’s body stripped, conjuring a paper tub filled with warm water. An hour between bouts was more than enough time to relax.

Mistress! We’ve got information on the future fighters! Sara sent, her mind thrilled. I contacted the merchant A’nar, and he supplied information on the current Champions from his own sources!

A silver flash of suspicion passed through Eve’s eyes as she relaxed in the tub. It had been impossible to get reliable information on such short notice. A merchant of such gold weight would not move for anything less than massive profits. Glancing down at her fingers, a smile broke.

Information. Eve sent as she allowed Truth to cut a tiny wound so the Curse could be powered into her body. The information Sara sent was thus verified by Eve using the Curse to know of her future enemies in advance, as they knew of her. Her mind flickered over the new information plans formulating with lightning speed.

Rank Fourteen, Stonesmash, Giant.

Specialty: Defense.

Favorite Attacks: Stone Throw, Crushing Blow.

Rank Fifteen, Drowned Man, Water Elementalist.

Specialty: Reduced damage from Physical attacks.

Favorite Attack: Water Bubble Choke, Water Whip.

Allowing the teardrop of Truth to set itself once more into the ring, Savage Survival Mind gave a devilish smile.

Elements? Eve thought. Prey.

Soon, it would be time to hunt.