A Game of Fate

Chapter 7

Goddess Eli

"Let's begin." At that moment, an alarm blared through the shrine as an artificial city erupted out of nowhere. "Remember, the rules are simple: Knock me to the ground before you lose the will to fight. I hope you're ready because we are starting now." By the time her voice vanished, she disappeared from sight as well. Honoka looked around, but couldn't see her and knew that it was best to take a defensive stand against her.

"I can't be rash this time. I already did that once with Nozomi." She grabbed the syringes out of the box and put them in her pocket. After that, she found a good vantage point and scanned the area as best as she could.

The artificial city wasn't that big, but it offered a lot of blind spots that Eli was probably using to her advantage as well. This was new ground for Honoka so she had to take it calm and collectively. She quickly moved from blind spot to blind spot, erasing her existence to the best of her ability. However, the longer she tried to find Eli, the more it seemed that like girl wasn't even participating in this game.

The game continued for a couple of minutes, but there were no encounters whatsoever. Umi was watching the whole thing when a chill was sent down her spine. She was finally about to witness something happen which only made her concentrate on the game even more.

By now, Honoka made a full sweep of the city, but couldn't find Eli at all. When she returned to her original starting spot, she took a little breather to collect herself. She thought about what this game meant to see if it had any deeper meaning. All she had to do was knock her to the ground. It seemed simple enough, but there was obviously something else to it. She made it to the top three goddesses so it couldn't be this easy without a consequence.

"This isn't a good time to be resting." Out of nowhere, a voice appeared from behind her. Honoka quickly turned around and saw that it was Eli.

"What the…" She tried jumping away from the girl, but it was no use.

At that moment, Eli clenched her fist and landed a huge punch to Honoka's gut. This punch sent an incredible feeling on pain throughout her entire body. However, that wasn't the only thing it did. The brute force of the punch sent Honoka's body sailing away at high speeds. She crashed through walls and other things until the momentum of her body finally stopped. She hit a wall and fell to the ground, coughing up blood.

"Oh my God, a-are you serious? W-What kind of punch was that?" Honoka tried standing up, but it was impossible. That punch left such a scar in her body that she could barely even blink her eyes. "Guh!" She tried once more, but collapsed once more. That's when she reached into her pocket and pulled out a syringe.

These will help you.

Honoka suddenly remembered the words that Eli spoke to her before the game started. She didn't give her any information about them, but now she was starting to realize the importance of having these with her. She then popped the cap off and jammed it into her stomach.

"Guh!" The sting of the needle caused her body to tense up, but could feel the immediate effects of the mysterious fluid. Her body was instantly healed and she couldn't even comprehend how it was possible.

"Those are nice, huh?" That voice appeared again which only made Honoka grow even more defensive than before.

She quickly scanned the area and saw Eli jump down from one of the buildings. She had a smile on her face as she slowly walked towards her.

"I told you those would come in handy when the game starts."

"What the hell are you?"

"Haha, that's a rude question."

Honoka slowly rose to her feet while keeping her eyes firmly on Eli.

"I would suggest being careful from here on out. That was just a teaser to what I can truly do and now, you only have three lives left."

"Lives?"

"What you experienced was a punch that was about 50% of my strength. Make me punch with all of my might and you won't be able to recover." Eli suddenly lowered her body and charged Honoka at full speed. She threw her palm at Honoka, but Honoka somehow managed to dodge it.

Even though it was just a palm attack, it felt like something completely different. The two of them stood in place looking at each other with complete amazement. Eli looked over to where Honoka was standing and Honoka was looking at Eli with sweat running down the side of her face.

"Nice dodge." She suddenly clenched her fist and an abnormal gust of wind sent Honoka sliding away.

"What?"

"Aahhhh!" Eli was already in the air with a punch charged up.

"Oh God…" Honoka rolled out of the way just in time to avoid the punch. However, when she looked behind her, she saw that the punch caused the ground to crumble. Immediately after that, she saw a large rock fly towards her. Thankfully, it wasn't moving fast so she grabbed it out of the air.

"That wasn't smart." Eli's fist breached through the rock and nailed Honoka square in the face. Once again, her body was sent flying away. Only this time, Eli pursued her.

As she was flying through the air, Honoka was able to gain consciousness. She saw Eli heading right towards her at a tremendous speed and knew that she didn't have a lot of time. She grabbed another syringe out of her pocket and jammed it into her neck. The instant healing quickly ran through her body as she was ready for another bout.

Unfortunately, she was in the air so she didn't really have a lot of control over her body. Eli already had her in range and charged up another punch. There was nothing else she could do but throw her arms in front of her and hope that it doesn't cause any massive damage.

"Aaahhh!" Eli charged a huge punched and hit Honoka right in the left forearm. That punch sent her flying back towards the ground. Her body hit the ground hard, but she knew that she had to find a place to recover. As long as her body was damaged, she couldn't fight Eli. As quickly as she could, she got back onto her feet and ran as fast as she could away from the crash site. Eli did her best to pursue, but somehow managed to lose track of her. On the other hand, Honoka continued to flee until she knew that Eli was nowhere near her.

Once it was clear, she collapsed onto her butt and leaned against a wall. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the remaining syringes. There were only two left.

"Great! Now I understand what she meant by cherish these." She popped the cap off of one and was about to jam it into her arm when she suddenly stopped herself.

Knock me to the ground before you lose the will to fight.

"If I use this, I'll only have one left. Who knows when we'll encounter each other again and who knows what she'll do when it happens." That's when she dropped her hand to the ground and sighed. "This complicates things." She put the cap back on the syringe and put it back in her pocket.

"I knew you couldn't hide forever." Eli appeared right above her as she quickly brought her foot down where Honoka was sitting. She rolled away once again and watched the ground crumble under her attack. "I'll get you this time." Eli stood there for a few more seconds before attacking once again.

Meanwhile, Umi was still watching the whole thing. In the beginning, her eyes were glued to Eli, but now, they were on Honoka. She was surprised to see that this girl was still in the fight. Umi knew that no one could rival her in physical strength, but these syringes she gave to Honoka were too much of a crutch. She was able to analyze all of this to the point where the fight was almost irrelevant. Things were already in motion that neither of them were actually aware.

"Just end this already."

…

Now, Honoka was running out of options. She was forced to use another syringe, leaving her with only one left. This time, her right forearm was crippled as the result of defending herself from Eli's punch.

However, she gathered some interesting things about this fight. Although her strength was incredible, she never attacked in rapid succession. Out of all of their encounters, Eli never attacked with two punches or two kicks or a combination of the two. Honoka was riding on this idea that it was the only thing left. Time was running out and Eli was right on her tail. She had to think of something or else all of this would have been for nothing.

As she continued to flee in the shadows, she found herself in a dead end which only made her worry even more. When she turned around, she saw Eli standing at the end of the alley, blocking any possible way of escape.

"I have to give you props. I know that you being here isn't a mistake, but your perseverance is something else." As she was talking, she readied her right arm for one last punch. "I've been counting and I won't let you use your last syringe. I'm ending it here."

At that moment, Honoka made a call. It was a complete gamble, but she didn't have any options left.

"I am too."

"Haha, good luck with that." Eli clenched her fist and made her way towards Honoka. At the same time, Honoka charged at Eli.

As the two of them got close to each other, Honoka pulled the syringe out of her pocket and jammed it into her right arm. One… She then spun her body to where her right arm met Eli's right arm. Two… When Eli's fist met Honoka's forearm, a strange thing happened. Honoka didn't feel any pain. Three… It was working. She then spun her body around and kicked Eli in the left knee. After that, she punched her at the bend of her right arm. Four… Honoka followed up with a palm uppercut to Eli's chin. All that was left was the finishing move. She gathered all of her strength and kicked Eli in the face, sending her body flying away in the same fashion as she did in the past.

Five.

From where she was, she stared at Eli's body that was lying on the ground. She quickly returned to her feet, but then the alarm sounded. The game was over. Honoka just didn't even realize because she had forgot about the rules.

As Eli walked towards her, Honoka was still in defense mode, but Eli made it obvious that she had no intention of fighting.

"Congratulations."

"Huh?"

"You beat me."

"But…"

"I said that all you had to do was knock me to the ground, and that's exactly what you did. Very observant of you."

"What do you mean?"

"You used my attack interval to finish me off."

"I did?"

"Haha, there you go again with your jokes. I still like you even though you beat me." At that moment, the artificial city disappeared leaving. That's when Umi jumped down from the observer box and reentered the conversation.

"Eli-chan, I'm very disappointed in you."

"I'm sorry. Hey, maybe you can avenge me, haha. Anyway, I want to wish you good luck on the rest of your journey. I will say this. Umi-chan is strong. She's the only person who makes me feel scared."

Honoka turned to face Umi and saw that she was gesturing her out of the shrine and to her own shrine. The doors closed behind them leaving Eli all alone.

"Wow. That was quite something. I didn't expect her to use the syringe before an encounter. She's pretty smart… But Umi-chan is smarter."

Boom! The doors of her shrine suddenly opened up again which caused her to turn her head.

"Hello, what… Wait a minute, what are you doing here? No, wait, please… Aahhhh!"

End of Chapter 7