The ghost system

24 Aria Francis

She bit down on the inner lining of her cheek and winced as the blood seeped into her mouth. She swirled the blood around with her tongue, mixing in her saliva and readying her next poison attack.

She had been badly beaten by team 25 so far. The tender muscle between her neck and shoulders had been slashed a dangerous number of times. The red-headed teleporter on team 25 had been repeatedly teleporting behind her and stabbing her trapezius muscles with his hand knife. His teleportation speed was frighteningly fast, so he appeared and disappeared anywhere in the pit in an instant. The pressure to stay vigilant and avoid his attacks had taken a toll on her entire team. All of them except her had panicked and raced around the room in fear trying not to get stabbed in the back by his unpredictable attacks. By himself, the teleporter could have been the ace of any other team, yet on team 25 he wouldn't be considered anywhere near the most powerful member, not when Connor was part of their group.

Her good instincts had been keeping her alive so far, but the dangerous amount of blood staining her grey shirt told her that she needed to act quickly. She knew what she could do, however, this attack was not meant to be used when she was working in a team. Overall her poison ability was its best when she fought alone.

"Blurrgh!" She belched as the huge first of her opponent slammed into her stomach. He was so powerful that she was lifted off the floor and thrown backwards by the impact of his punch. Without a doubt this guy wasn't a normal strengthener, he definitely had the physiology ability, probably a manifestation of a large powerful creature like a bear or large cat. When he breathed it came out gravelly and throaty and the way his eyes simmered reminded her of some of the animals she had seen in the eugenics labs.

The twinging pain from deep in her gut made her acutely aware of how much trouble her body was in. She needed medical attention as soon as possible, but before that, she needed to turn this match around without killing her last remaining teammate.

"Kyaa!" The wind manipulator on team 25 had an annoying habit of shouting out whenever she made an attack. She thrust her palm forward into the space in front of her.

Like a rag doll, her last teammate was thrown against the orange barrier and fell to the floor with a thud.

She was all alone now, all her teammates were lying on the ground defeated and unable to get back up.

"Finally."

She gurgled the blood in her mouth as a relieved smile spread across her face. Now that her teammate was no longer in her way, she didn't have to worry about killing him any more. Now she had the chance to really get into this fight.

The wind manipulator, the red-headed teleporter, and the huge bear guy all looked down at her confidently. To them, the match was already won. All they had to do was take the flag from her and they could successfully waltz to the next stage of the evaluation. little did they know she was about to change all of that.

She pulled herself up from the floor and gripped her metallic flute. 

"Oh, she still has some fight in her." The red headed teleporter snickered as he raised his knife that was stained with her blood. "Don't worry guys, I'll take care of her."

"Dont my mess around with her, just get the flag so we can end this." The wind manipulator barked at her teammate. After only knowing the red headed teleporter for a few hours, she was already irritated by him.

They were a team of exceptionally strong opponents who were working well together despite only knowing each other for a short while. But still, they were not quite on her level yet. Aria slid her finger passed her lips, coating it in the liquid under her tongue. It was time for revenge.