"How are you holding up? You had cuts all over you, the one on your back was especially deep," I remarked with concern.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm just fine. They've got an Ace Healer here on standby, he fixed me right up in seconds, I'm good as new!" Responded Ariella cheerfully.

"Honestly, that was hard to watch, it really looked like you were going to lose back there. And lose painfully, at that...that guy definitely seems like he enjoys tormenting people," I replied with a frown.

"Yeah, he was really rough with his first two opponents too, he's a total jerk. Glad I was able to give him a taste of his own medicine.

This sounds unbelievable, but he actually tried to ask me out in the middle of the fight! And that was after I already rejected him at the start of the fight!" She huffed indignantly.

"Uh-huh, I saw that. Your responses were great, especially when you told him to go fuck himself. I can't remember ever hearing your swear before, so that was pretty amusing," I grinned in response.

"Huh? Wait, you could hear me? I thought the streams were video-only, no audio," She remarked, sounding confused.

"Oh, uh...yeah, that's true, but I'm decent at lip reading, so I got the gist of what you were saying."

<Taking credit for my work, huh?>

<What am I to you, ChatGPT?>

Hey, you can't blame me, it's not like I can tell her about you.

Huh...actually, maybe I could tell her about you. She knows so much about my abilities already, the only things I haven't really told her about are the Sinner System itself, and you.

And I also haven't gone into a whole lot of detail about some of my Skills, but she definitely knows more than anyone else. What do you think?

<I suppose it would be fine>

<And yet, I can't help but feel apprehensive about others knowing of my existence>

Fair enough.

I'll leave the decision upto you, since it directly affects you and all. I don't mind telling her, but if you're against it, I'll keep quiet.

<I shall take it under consideration and inform you of my decision later>

Cool, let me know.

"Uh, hello? You still there, Kai?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry, zoned out for a sec there. What were you saying?" I inquired sheepishly.

"Oh, I was just talking about how disappointing it was that I had to use my trump card in that last fight. I wanted to save it to use against you, but I guess that's out the window now. Oh, well, no point in dwelling on it, I suppose.

Plus, since I know pretty much all the tricks you've got up your sleeve, I suppose this makes it more fair," She sighed wistfully, before adding, "Well, unless you've discovered any other new abilities since those Ravage and Void Skills you mentioned."

"Nope, no new tricks since then. That's some trump card you've got there, though. Cool name too, Blaze Ignition."

"How-...oh, right, the lip-reading thing. Yeah, I was worried it was a bit too edgy, but I thought it sounded really cool and had my heart set on it, so yeah, I decided to go with that. It boosts me physically by around fifty percent, I think, and-..."

"You don't need to tell me how it works, you know. I'm fine with finding out myself during our fight," I replied with a smile.

"No, you've told me a lot about your powers, so it's only fair. I want to win our fight fair and square, anything less won't satisfy me. So, like I was saying, it boosts me physically by around fifty percent. But it burns through my Mana like crazy, I can barely maintain it for-..."

"Wait! Okay, how about this? Just tell me about the strengths of the Skill, leave out the weaknesses. Or, at least leave out the time limit...because if I know that, all I'd need to do is run around and keep my distance until it runs out," I pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess that's true. Alright, I'll keep the time limit to myself. Besides the fifty percent boost, the other effect is the explosive flames that erupt when I strike, or get struck, by a certain level of force, and I can also control the flames I generate a bit more freely than usual.

Also, I get really energetic...like, my body gets super warm, and the adrenaline starts pumping like crazy, it's hard to stay calm. I like the way my body starts glowing though, it looks cool."

"Definitely agree with that, it really looked like you were absolutely radiating some serious heat. By the way, what does your hair feel like?" I asked her curiously.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Like, how your hair tranformed into flames, didn't that feel weird at all? You literally had a fire blazing across the top of your head."

"Wait, what? I did? My hair was flaming? As in, literal flames?"

"Uh, yeah...when you activated the Skill, your hair stood up on end and burst into flames," I informed her in bemusement.

Did...did she seriously not notice?

"Huh. I had no idea. I mean, to be fair, it's not like I've ever seen myself in the mirror while using Blaze Ignition, and I've been working on it in secret, so until my last match, no one had ever seen it before," She replied sheepishly.

"The highlights from your fight are probably up by now, Ariella, so you can get a look at it if you want."

"Oh, I definitely do! That sounds so sick, having fire for hair!" She responded excitedly, before adding, "Did anything else change?"

"Yeah, your eyes were glowing pretty brightly."

"Woah, cool! I didn't know that either! And I can't wait to see Enrage in action, I-..."

"Uh...actually, I'd prefer not to use it against you."

"Huh? Why not?"

"I've told you about what I'm like when I'm in that state, haven't I? I become all cold and ruthless, and I don't want to-...," I began.

"Hey, you better not hold back just because you don't want to hurt me or whatever! I don't want to hurt you either, but if we're going to do this for real, well, that isn't going to be possible if either of us hold back.

I mean, it's not like we can die, thanks to the barrier, so there's no reason to pull any punches. And if I end up all beaten up or whatever, so be it, I'm certainly not going to hold it against you. You better come at me with everything you've got, Kai, because that's exactly what I'll be doing!" She declared with a huff.

"I-...alright, fine, if you're that insistent. I won't hold anything back."

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