Ayame charged.
A flicker of movement registered in her brain, but it was simply too fast to follow.
Her blade cut through empty air.
Pain.
An impact slammed into her side as lightning coursed through her ribs, charring her muscles.
The ground rose to meet her.
Darkness.
—
She gasped awake.
*Click. Click. Click.*
The woman approached once more.
Ayame's fingers trembled around her sword's hilt.
Again.
She wouldn't lose again.
She refused.
Ayame charged.
She died again.
A burst of electrified speed, a single strike, and her chest split open, her heart carved apart before she even realized she had been cut.
She awoke.
—
She died again.
Her enemy vanished, reappearing behind her with a sound like crackling thunder.
Ayame's world blurred.
Her limbs moved too slow.
Her spine snapped in two.
Darkness.
—
She awoke.
Again.
Over and over.
Each attempt ended the same.
Ayame couldn't even touch her.
Her blade never met flesh.
