Page 117 of Fall Before Her Throne

But I had to stand.

Wheezing, I forced my feet under my legs. Through sheer willpower alone, I locked my knees. Somehow, my body made it upright again.

“Ready to give up?” he taunted.

Adrenaline coursed through my veins, dulling the pain. “No fucking way.”

“If you let me see your dick piercing, I’ll let you win.”

“Fuck off,” I replied. “You’re not seeing it.”

“Fine. You asked for this,” he said, coming at me again. Just like his perpetual asshole behavior, Ryuji’s fighting style was relentless. I blocked three more blows, but I couldn’t catch my breath, and the fourth had me stumbling again.

When Obi called time, I knew I had lost.

I waited for them to pause the challenge, but then Cas came after me. I blinked, reeling back as he lunged for my face. Then he darted backward and started circling me, giving me a few precious moments to catch my breath.

After a few seconds of recovery, I went on the offensive. We fell into familiar sparring patterns, and it brought up memories of training I’d long ago buried. The two of us learning how to punch without breaking our wrists. Countless bruises and black eyes. Slamming against the mat match after match after match.

It was all the same.

Fighting Cas was like fighting a clone of myself. We were trained together. We faced pain together. We fought together for years and years. His punches were the same as mine. Mine were the same as his.

It was a stalemate, but neither time nor energy was on my side. Cas read my next attack too well, and I was too fucking sluggish, and he punched me across the cheek. When my back hit the grass, the taste of blood filled my mouth.

It would have been a good fight, a great fight, if it wasn’t another signal that I’d failed their test.

I looked up, expecting to see Obi, but I saw Leona instead.

“Get up,” she said. “I’m next.”

Shakily, I got to my feet. No matter how many times they knocked me down, I’d still get up. I was fighting for this, goddamn it, and I would not stop. If I could survive a fucking knife to the ribs, I could survive this.

“Punch me, anima mia,” I said. “I deserve it.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Her jabs were precise, quick, and strong. I could only block a couple of them. The rest landed in my already wrecked abdomen.

I danced around her, trying to dodge until the time ran out. After about thirty seconds, she shouted in anger.

“Why aren’t you trying to punch me?” she snarled. “You’re just blocking!”

“I don’t want to hit you,” I grunted as I blocked another one of her punches. They rattled the bones in my arms, but I would not hurt her.

“Pussy!” she shouted. Her next kick was so strong that it actually knocked some of the breath out of me. “Coward! Fight me!”

“No.”

She feigned to the right, and when I fell for the trap, her left jab clocked me right across the jaw. My teeth gnashed together.

“Fuck.” I reeled backward, hand on my jaw. “That fucking hurt.”

“You deserve it for holding yourself back,” she said. “Now, come on! Fight me for real.”

I let out a breath and steeled myself, but a second later, the timer went off. I didn’t even have a moment to wonder whether refusing to fight her would disqualify me from beating their challenge before Obi was on me.

He was the strongest of all of them. His punches were like hammers. His kicks were like a fucking freight train. Every blow he sent my way had me reeling, and I was already out of breath, out of energy, and on my last legs.

Fear shot through my core. What if I lose?