The snowfield around us was soaked in my blood and fat, a rotten painting smeared over white. Even the Northeastern Branch members who’d come to watch our training were wincing, their faces tight.
We’d started at dawn. Now the day was finally running out.
Without warning, the world simply slipped toward darkness all at once, the sky dimming. Joanne’s gaze flicked up for a heartbeat.
This was the instant I’d been waiting for.
I sprinted over the snow on legs that had long since hit their limit. Even a fraction of a second would be enough. For an opponent whose concentration had been stretched thin for hours, it was more than enough to push in and overwhelm her.
I slid low, driving in under her guard, and swung my sword upward with every last scrap of strength I had.
Her guard was a beat too late, and for the first time that day, she took a clean hit.
“Oh…?”
The blade bit into her right upper arm.
A heavy longsword cutting through that soft, pale skin was almost too easy. I let the momentum carry the swing through, the steel tearing its way out, and a single line of red slid down her arm.
Joanne let out a small, mad little laugh—not rage, but something like delight, maybe even praise for the fact that I’d kept my focus intact over such punishing hours.
She lifted her arm and licked the blood away, then pressed down the violence in her eyes and willed the wound closed.
“Oakley,” she said. “What number was that?”
“One… h-hundred… f-fifty… s-seven…” I managed between ragged breaths.
“You’re strong. For such a fragile little body, you’ve really hung in there.”
She gave a light, almost playful round of applause, then tossed the glaive aside and walked toward me.
“Ahh, this is a problem,” she sighed. “You’re just so damn cute I can’t stand it…”
She pulled me in, burying my face against her chest, and pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead.
“Let’s work hard again tomorrow,” she whispered.
Training, she called it, but it was torture, plain and simple. Even landing one solid blow didn’t mean anything.
This hell wasn’t going to end until she was satisfied.