This is the exit

There!

It wasn’t a door or even anything resembling a path.

But I still threw myself at it.

And sure enough, I went through the pathway and once I emerged I was greeted with the familiar light of the arena.

Beatrice stood in front of my with a rather surprised expression on her face.

“Seriously? How did you figure that one out.!That's cheating!” the witch started to throw a tantrum. “There is no way you found that tiny dot between Door I and C! You used some fourthwallian storied mapping device! Or some black illumination spell! I bet you did! Cheater! Go back in there! Go back right now and do it properly!”

I have no idea what the crazy witch was blabbering about.

But suffice to say she clearly wasn't expecting that. How much mana did Beatrice waste on her little toybox and more importantly how much time had passed? The large display on one side of the arena answered that question. Only a bit over five minutes have gone by since the start of the fight.

It felt much longer back in the toybox, but It probably shouldn't surprise me that Beatrice had some way of altering the flow of time. She was acquainted with Femto after all.

“Oh, no matter”

Finally, the witch stopped her angry rant, took a deep breath and cackled. “Congratulations, Mari Beta! You just unlocked my second phase!”

I readied my dirks.

I rushed Beatrice again, she countered with a few low level fire arrows before guarding herself with a shield and blowing me away with a wind strike.

“But honestly, you are quite the persistent little bugger, aren't you? Like an annoying gnat”, Beatrice remarked with a certain sense of irritation in her voice. “How long are you intending to prolong the inevitable?”

“For about 25 more minutes? If you want to defeat me you will have to do better”, I tried goading her into using stronger spells. As long as I could avoid them, everything would be fine.

But nothing stronger came. Was she just trying to conserve her mana? This could be bad. The third round goes on for thirty minutes. There is plenty of time left, but even so, I was the one who was pressed by this time limit.

The next few minutes where filled with a constant stream of Fire Arrows and me dodging them. They weren't that hard to avoid, but they did keep me pinned down and made an attack on Beatrice impossible.

“You are annoying me!”, the witch finally screamed out, frustrated by her lack of progress. “Surrender already! You irritable, insipid, inane, imbeciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiile!”

The biggest barrage of fire arrows so far descended upon me. I strained my reflexes to their very limit and pushed through them.

It wasn't that my stamina was endless. The constant dodging did take its toll on me. Beatrice clearly sensed that and wanted to bring it to an end on her own.

“Fire Laser!”

There it was! A Fire Laser at this close range was absolutely deathly. But Beatrice did not aim to kill, She targeted my right arm. I twisted my body as fast as I could and thanks to that the attack only grazed me. Even so, it took a large chunk out of my arm and the searing pain made me scream in agony.

“Finally got you, eh?” Beatrice cackled. “I bet it hurts, I bet it hurts really bad!”

“Just a flesh wound”, I replied back, trying my best to act brave. The pain was terrible and my right arm pretty much unusable. But I could endure it. Ironically, the numerous deaths I suffered in Beatrice’s **** chamber had strongly increased my pain resistance. This was nothing in comparison.

The immense heat also caused the wound to cauterize immediately, meaning blood loss would not be an issue. Still, fighting with that arm was impossible. As such, I let one of my dirks drop, focusing all my attention on the one in my left hand.

“How positively, utterly absurd!”, Beatrice exclaimed with exasperation. “You plan to fight me one handed? Very well, I will oblige your noble spirit and tear you limp from liiiiiiiiiiimp!”

Beatrice was contemplating her next move. How much mana did she spend so far? She probably doesn't have enough for a Black Destruction Beam anymore, but she should still have plenty for at least two more Fire Lasers. Another hit of these would spell doom.

I decided to **** the issue and rushed her again. Beatrice cast another fire laser, targeting my left arm this time. I anticipated this and managed to escape completely unscathed.

Then the second one hit me straight into the chest.

How strange, I thought as I stared down on the marble sized hole in my torso. This is much less painful then expected.

The ground rushed up and I collapsed with a loud thud.

It didn’t take long for the familiar, soothing healing to engulf my body. Ah. so that was what it felt to die and be revived. It was a surprisingly unspectacular process.

I lost.

“This sucks”, I heard the witch mutter.

Well, Beatrice wasn't too happy about that outcome, obviously. I was strangely calm. Perhaps the severity of the situation hasn't set in yet?

…

..

.

Wait...something wasn't right here. Usually, this would be when the audience would cheer like crazy and a way too excited Ben announced the victor. But this silence was almost eerie. As if they were waiting in anticipation.

Waiting for what?

...

No way.

Was the battle...still ongoing?

I also noticed that my body wasn't quite healed as perfectly as the last two times.

Finally, the realization set in. “Why?”, I asked somewhat dumbly. How stupid. Of course I knew the answer to that! Beatrice wants me to surrender.

So of course she would heal me if I was on the verge of ****.

I finally grabbed my dirk and slowly went back up on my feet. I was a bit unsteady, but moving was still possible. No, even better then that, my right arm was healed completely again.

Despite my inherent confusion, Beatrice made no attempt to attack me. “I beat you” she instead stated with finality. “Surrender.”

As a reply I silently readied my dirk.

“You ungrateful, insufferable, little sewage rat!”, the witch hissed in anger and frustration. “This sucks! Getting you to surrender is so annoying! Why are you so annoying!”

Well, excuse me, princess.

“Screw this.” Beatrice shook her head. “I'm done playing with you! I win, you lose. Bleeeeh.”

Was that it? Was that the moment of truth?

The witch snapped her finger towards the sky. “Come forth, my familiar! Grace thee soil with thy unholy presence. Femto!”

It was.

I rushed her for a third time. This moment would decide everything.

Beatrice did not attempt to attack. She merely put her barrier up as I assaulted it with my dirk.

“Honestly”, the witch sighed. “Do you not get it? It is over now. Do yourself a favor and give up before Femto starts playing with you.”

I said nothing and kept attacking the barrier.

“You better prepare yourself, Mari Beta”, the witch growled. “Annoying me this much, there will be hell to pay! Once I am through with you, you wished you where back in my toybox! Maybe I take away your ability to defecate for a month. Or turn you into a perpetually horny house plant!”

Then however, the witch started to frown. “Femto? Femto! Where the hell are you?”

And now the barrier was flickering! Beatrice clicked her tongue and started to concentrate more. “Femto! This is not the time for your stupid games! Get in here already!”

But the devil did not come. And finally the barrier started to flicker again.

“Fire Laser!”

Shit!

But the attack failed! No wonder, after three Fire Lasers and all that other crazy stuff, even her insanely large mana pool must finally start to run low.

And with that attempted attack her shield was gone. Using my full **** I tackled Beatrice to the ground.

The witch let out a shrill shriek. “Get off me!”

Of course I intended to do no such thing. I moved to restrain her.

“Air Wave!”

The wind engulfed me and pushed me off her, but it wasn't a strong enough attack to deter me for long.

“Femto! Femto!” At this point Beatrice was clearly frantic as she scrambled away from me.

However, her mana was all but depleted now, I quickly picked up the chase. “Femto will not come.”

“No!”, Beatrice screamed. “Fire Bomb!”

Shit! She still had this one left?

I barely managed to escape backwards as the fiery explosion eradicated the area directly in front of Beatrice. But this time, I used it to my advantage. Using the large cloud of cover, I circled to Beatrice's back and finally slammed her in the arena sand. “I think it is time for you to give up!”

The once mighty witch was now completely beyond herself, still screaming for Femto to come and save her.

“Surrender!”, I demanded once more. I did not want to resort to ****, but with the clock ticking, it didn't seem as if I had another option.

I was expecting panic and despair, but instead the witch started to cackle again. “Do your worst!”, she screamed. “You think this is over? You think I can't stand a bit of ****? Who do you think I am? I am Beatrice, the witch of miracles! Just kill me, you fool! Oh, but even if you do that, Femto will still claim your soul in 12 hours. Sucks to suck, I guess. Dumbass! Moron! Limp dick virgin loser nerd! Go kill yourself!”

W-where did that suddenly all come from? Beatrice has now fully returned to her usual cocky grin as she stared up at me. “This is your last chance, Mari Beta. Surrender now!”

That was my line!

I could only stare dumbfounded at the confident witch. Do I just start torturing her? That is my only option right?