Blood Queen Reborn-Chapter 33: IceQueen VS Hardsteely

Nate was the name of the man sitting in the stands, and he was, simply put, smitten by the skills that Erin displayed during her fight with his friend. The way she fought, her beauty, her sword skills... Sure he couldn’t see what she actually looked like, but if her avatar was anything to go by, then she was surely gorgeous outside of the game too.

{Hardsteely has sent you a friend request}

Erin wasn’t surprised by the sudden friend request. With the mechanics of the game, if you wanted to request a fight with a specific person, you have to be friends with them first.

{IceQueen has accepted the friend request}

Nate and his friend wanted to discuss something together first before he was to fight Erin, to which Erin obliged.

While the two were talking to each other, Erin was sent back to the white lobby room. She was just planning on practicing some of her moves while she waited, but she suddenly got a notification window pop up in her vision. It wasn’t from her system, but instead from the game itself.

[WARNING: 10 minutes remaining]

’Is my time running up already?’ Erin thought.

She didn’t rent out a new hour that day, instead using up the left over time from the last time she played. Because of that, she actually didn’t have as much rented out time as before. She only hoped that she was able to squeeze in one last fight before the timer ran out.

Meanwhile, both Nate and his friend, Sam, were discussing things in their own white lobby.

"I can’t believe I lost even with this cape," Sam said to his friend, disappointed, "We spent so much time gathering the crystals too."

Nate, however, was not paying attention, as he was getting lost in his thoughts about Erin. His eyes were looking off in the distance with hearts in them.

"Nate!" Sam yelled at his friend, snapping him out of it.

"Wha—"

"Come on man, give me some pointers. What should I do to improve my fighting? We got this awesome cape, but I still lost to her!"

"Oh uh—" Nate was scrambling to remember what exactly it was that happened during the fight, "You didn’t use the cape right. You completely covered yourself with it, blocking your vision."

Sam sighed, "It’s tricky to use. I need to be able to attack while maintaining my defenses. When protecting yourself, you normally think about covering your whole entire body," He then looked to the ground, saddened by the loss, "My win streak..."

Nate proceeded to pat Sam on the back before walking to the battlefield, "Don’t worry about it, just think of it as playing wingman. With you losing, I get to shoot my shot."

"But what about my battle strategy!?" Sam complained.

Nate smirked, and opened up a menu screen, "Don’t worry, I got this."

Nate requested a fight with Erin, and soon enough, she reappeared.

Sam just wanted Erin to beat Nate over the head with a massive stick. As much as he liked his friend, Nate was a blockhead when it came to women. At least if he lost, then he could win the bet the two had made earlier that day.

"3...2...1... GO!" 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Not wasting a second, Erin charged at Nate, slashing her sword against him. However, he caught her blade with his hands, creating a loud clang of metal hitting metal.

At first she was confused by his ballsy move, until she saw his hands turn a shiny color. His arms began to shift into a metallic gray, spreading across his body. Erin tried to yank her sword free, but in this form, his strength had improved.

"Oh! She’s strong too!" Nate stated, impressed.

He threw her sword to the side, and his hands began to shift shape, becoming almost like a silver liquid. Nate quickly swung his hand, changing it into a long spiked metal club. It smacked into Erin’s body, causing her to stumble back.

[- 5 HP]

[HP 20/25]

Erin ran past Nate to her sword, grabbing it, but Nate had shifted his hands’ shape, and changed it into a sword. The two charged at each other, blade clashing against blade.

Sam watched in awe, seeing his friend fight against someone who could match his speed. When examining the two’s skills, Nate was stronger, but Erin was faster.

Erin jumped back, then, with a free hand, threw a blood swipe. It caught Nate off guard, but despite the hit landing, it had only just scratched the surface of his metal skin. He then changed the sword into a giant gauntlet, slamming into Erin’s sword hand, and causing her to drop it.

[- 2 HP]

[HP 18/25]

’I can’t keep fighting like this,’ Erin thought, ’I need both hands for my sword, but if I want to use my bloodswipe skill, I have to make one of my hands free.’

She was very limited for options right now. Out of her skills, the only offensive skill she had was the blood swipe, and she could’ve used her ice powers since she was in the game, but that didn’t feel right either. It would’ve been an undeserved win.

’I have to think... What’s the best strategy here?’ Erin said in her mind.

Examining Nate, currently, only part of his arms and torso were covered in a metallic shine, making Erin believe that he could only allocate his ability to parts of his body. If he could cover his whole body, then why not start off that way from the beginning?

Taking in a deep breath, Erin prepared a blood swipe in her hand. She rushed towards Nate, and threw it. Instinctively, he hardened his arms, blocking the attack, but following right behind it was Erin herself. She thrusted her sword towards his face, managing to hit flesh.

Nate jumped back, and held the side of his face where he was cut. He had just managed to avoid Erin’s sword from cutting deeper in his head, but somehow, Erin was able to figure out a strategy to fight against him.

"And you’re smart too!" Nate said, excitedly.

Right as he said that, Nate created two poles from his arms, and swung it at Erin. She ducked under the first swing, but was thwacked by the second. Her head was thrusted to the side, a loud audible "THONK" sound was heard across the arena.

[- 6 HP]

[HP 12/25]

She quickly stabbed her sword onto the ground, keeping herself upright. Red aura began to form around her hands yet again, but this time, it was being channeled into the blade itself.

Yanking her sword out of the ground, Erin twisted her body to face Nate, and slashed her sword, creating a larger red crescent moon shaped slice in the air.

Nate was able to block the first slash, but more soon came to follow. Blocking the blood swipes with his arms was child’s play for him, but Erin had a different plan of attack.

Charging Nate, Erin swung her sword, creating more and more blood swipes in the air, all aimed above his upper torso. Nate kept blocking them, but once Erin was close enough, she jumped, and slid past his legs, slicing at his knees.

Once behind him, she held her sword back, about to deal a devastating blow. Nate twisted around, about to retaliate when—

[User Icequeen’s playtime has run out]

[User Icequeen has been ejected from the match]

Suddenly, Erin’s body turned into white as she was now being brought back to the real world.

Meanwhile, Nate and Sam were brought back to the white lobby, shocked by Erin’s sudden disappearance.

"Where did she go?" Nate exclaimed, looking around.

Sam sighed, "Didn’t you see the messages? She was probably renting out a gaming pod like we were, but her play time ran out. She’s going to need to pay for another hour or so."

Nate groaned, grabbing his face, "Argggg, I was going to ask her out after that match!"

Sam then walked up to his friend, and patted him on the back, "Tough luck. At least you two are now friends. Who knows, maybe she’ll demand a rematch the next time she plays."

Nate sighed, but he did at least get to fight against someone interesting. In that fight, he was able to tell that Erin was learning as they fought. She initially used the red aura slash with her hands, but later on exclusively used it in her sword. It was fascinating seeing someone improve and improvise midfight.

"I hope I can see her again soon," Nate swooned.