"And now...onto the next match which will be..."

  Marco glanced across the fighters, trying to figure out who to match up next.

  "...The shy yet strong master of paper crafts, Guanqiu!! Versus...the assassin of ice, the almighty Yuki Xerosi!"

  Yuki sat up, her eyes shining as she was called out. She was quite excited.

  "Aww yeah~! Finally!”

  Nika laughed at Yuki’s excitement.

  "Can’t wait to watch the show, huh?" Nika smirked at her friend, teasing her eagerness to get in the ring.

  "I’ve been waiting forever for my match! I’m so ready for this!"

  Yuki could barely hold her excitement, her hands itching to engage in battle as she made her way down to the arena.

  "Looks like she’s raring to go!" Nika remarked, watching as Yuki made her way into the arena.

  Despite Yuki's excitement, she couldn't help but wonder about her opponent. She had never seen a fighter like her before.

  "Guanqiu...what a unique name." she thought to herself.

  The girl standing before her stood at about the same height as Yuki. Her petite figure wasn't unusual for a fighter of her age, but her eyes seemingly revealed a deep sense of wisdom that betrayed her youth. Speaking of Guanqiu's eyes, they were locked on Yuki; in particular, her skin.

  "...I wish my skin was as pale as yours..." Guanqiu commented softly.

  Yuki was caught off guard by the other girl's statement, "Huh?" she asked, surprised.

  Guanqiu seemed to realize her comment was unusual and composed herself, saying, "Pardon me...it's just that your white skin is...very beautiful…”

  Yuki was taken aback by the sudden compliment. She wasn't used to being complimented on her skin tone, especially not in a fighting match.

  "Uhh...thank you," she replied, still a bit thrown off by the unexpected comment. "But...why does my skin color matter so much?”

  Guanqiu's eyes remained fixated on Yuki, a mix of admiration and envy in her gaze. "Because... I've always wished for pale skin like yours...pale skin signifies a beauty that cannot be tarnished…”

  Yuki was starting to feel uncomfortable by the girl's intense gaze, but she tried to hide it behind a polite smile.

  "That's...flattering, I guess. But there's more to beauty than just skin tone, you know.”

  Guanqiu nodded, but her focus remained on Yuki's skin. "Yes, I know that it isn't everything...but to me, pale skin is the ultimate form of beauty...a sign of perfection..." she paused, her expression becoming almost distant. "Pure...unmarred...perfect. And I want that.

  Yuki was starting to get weirded out by the girl's obsession with her skin tone, but she decided to keep the conversation going before the match.

  "I see...but, um, aren't there other aspects that can also be considered beautiful? Like, you know...internal beauty?”

  Guanqiu shook her head, her eyes still not moving from Yuki's skin. "No...no. Those are fleeting things...pale skin is the only enduring truth of beauty. it doesn't fade away. it's constant, unchanging, untarnished...unbreakable.”

  Yuki was starting to get uncomfortable with the conversation, but she tried to reason, "But pale skin isn’t the only thing that makes someone beautiful. What's wrong with your tanned skin tone?”

  "It's not beautiful...just look at it," Guanqiu said, her voice filled with self-pity as she pointed at her own arms. "It's dark...it's rough...it's impure...it's tainted. It's not perfect or pure as white skin...it's not beautiful...I'm cursed with this skin…”

  Yuki was starting to feel bad for the girl now, "Well... I think your skin is nice! And you seem pretty healthy too. Being tan is a beautiful thing. It's a sign of being strong. It's natural and shows you’re an outdoorsy person.”

  Guanqiu shook her head again, a look of bitterness in her eyes. "No...I was born with this complexion unfortunately.”

  Yuki frowned, clearly trying to find an appropriate response.

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  "Um... well, it's still okay! We can't change what we are born with! But we can still embrace it."

  "NO," Guanqiu spat, taking a stance as she prepared to make her first move. "I can't embrace something so...ugly. I'd trade the world to look like you, and even winning this tournament wouldn't make me any happier. But I must prove myself...to my Master."

  Guanqiu then conjured throwing stars made of paper and flung them all at Yuki simultaneously.

  Yuki, still caught up in trying to console the girl, was not prepared for the sudden attack.

  "O-Oh...ah, crap!" she exclaimed in surprise as she attempted to dodge the barrage of paper stars.

  Before she could dodge them all, few of the throwing stars managed to slice into her arms and stomach, leaving superficial, stinging gashes.

  "Ah!" Yuki cried out from the unexpected pain, clutching her cuts.

  Guanqiu didn't seem fazed by the fact that she cut Yuki up. "You’re fast...but this fight will be over quickly."

  Yuki gritted her teeth, her wounds stung, but her adrenaline was already kicking in. "You won't forgive me for saying this, but you're nuts...obsessing over something as trivial as skin tone.”

  "Skin tone is NOT trivial," Guanqiu retorted, her voice growing increasingly agitated. "Skin tone is the ultimate sign of beauty…of power…of greatness."

  Each sentence was punctuated with a sharp flicking of her hand, launching more paper stars at Yuki.

  Yuki, still trying to dodge the barrage, retorted back, "That's ridiculous! You're letting society influence you wayyy too much!”

  "It’s just how it is," Guanqiu replied as she continued to relentlessly hurl the throwing stars at Yuki. "You just can’t understand..."

  While Yuki managed to dodge most of the incoming paper stars, some grazed and sliced into her once again.

  The wounds on her body started to pile up, and Yuki’s movements were getting sluggish, but she couldn’t give up now.

  "I may not understand your obsession, but it’s irrational! Don’t you get that?!”

  Each slice and graze of the throwing stars left more and more cuts on Yuki's body, their numbers piling up and causing her to grow weary.

  "Inefficiency is the only thing that’s irrational...and I am only efficient…" Guanqiu retorted as she flicked her hand once more to launch a volley of even more paper stars toward Yuki.

  Yuki struggled to dodge the barrage of paper stars, but her movements were becoming less fluid and more sluggish. She was quickly losing stamina and blood.

  "Your obsession... is the irrational thing here...you’re destroying yourself...with this mindset!" Yuki said between gasps.

  "NO," Guanqiu yelled before sending an even greater flurry of paper stars at Yuki, a look of anger and determination in her eyes.

  As the barrage made impact on Yuki's body, a significant portion broke through her attempts at defense and left her covered in even more cuts, blood loss quickly becoming evident.

  The gashes on Yuki's body were deep and left her body weakening, but she refused to give up.

  "You..." she said between breaths, "you’re hurting yourself...! Can’t you see that?!”

  "I am only hurting myself...to achieve the truth," Guanqiu muttered through gritted teeth as she once again hurled the barrage at Yuki, but this time the throwing stars were sharper and infused with a thick aura, making them cut deeper.

  Yuki's face twisted in pain as the sharp paper stars cut her body with greater force and depth, each laceration leaving her body in more pain than the last.

  "This...this isn't the truth...it's just an obsession..." she said, trying to reason with the girl.

  "It is the truth...and I will embrace it..."

  Guanqiu’s words echoed with a twisted determination as she conjured a paper kunai instead and sent it through Yuki's stomach.

  Yuki gasped out in pain as the paper kunai stabbed through her stomach. Blood gushed out of the severe wound, staining her clothes red.

  "You...you're...not right…”

  "No, I'm not...but I'll be right after this,"

  Before Yuki could respond to her statement, Guanqiu launched a barrage of kunai knives at her, which all pierced her left ankle, left upper arm, right forearm, and chest.

  With the barrage having left her body filled with multiple injuries, Yuki was struggling to balance herself, her arms and one of her legs in pain. The battle had taken a toll on her, and her strength was draining rapidly.

  "I can't...keep this going much longer…”

  "You won’t have to," Guanqiu said coldly as she approached Yuki cautiously, eyeing her wounded body.

  "Why are you acting like this...?" Yuki asked weakly between gasps, barely having enough energy to stand.

  "I am doing what I must to correct an injustice…"

  Guanqiu was now face to face with Yuki, her eyes fixated on her pale skin before she drove a paper dagger deep into her side.

  Yuki let out a scream of pain as the dagger pierced the flesh between her ribs, blood gushed out of her side.

  "What...injustice?”

  "The injustice of beauty..." said Guanqiu with a deeply unsettling smile, "...which was gifted to you without effort and denied to me."

  With that, she stabbed Yuki’s other side in the same area with the dagger.

  "It...it wasn't...gifted to me...I-" Yuki's words were cut off with another scream of pain as the dagger pierced her other side.

  "Your pale skin was an act of fate...an act of unfair generosity," said Guanqiu as she twisted the dagger in Yuki's side, causing Yuki to let out a garbled yell, blood pouring from her mouth.

  Let out an excruciating cry of pain, her eyes tearing up and body shaking from the pain she's enduring.

  "Please...stop…”

  "Please...stop...? No. I won't stop until you realize the truth..."

  With a swift cut, the paper dagger was removed, causing another gush of blood to flow from the wound and the dagger returned to its previous position in the girl’s hand.

  "What...truth?" Yuki asked weakly.

  Before anything more could be said, Guanqiu stabbed multiple blades into Yuki’s leg and foot, the blades stuck out in places the girl's heel, lower shin, and knee, the blood loss was getting worse and worse as the battle dragged on.

  "You...you’re insane..."

  Yuki could feel her life force slipping with each passing second, her body falling over on the ground. With a countdown to ten, Marco announced: "Yuki is unable to fight! The winner is...GUANQIU!!!!!”

  The crowd roared and cheered loudly for the victor of the match.

  “YEA!!!!”

  "SHE SMOKED HER OPPOSITION!!!!"

  "GUANQIU IS A SAVAGE!!!”

  "THE PAPER GIRL PULLED OUT THE BIG GUNS RIGHT THERE!!!!”

  Guanqiu walked out of the arena without another word, with the medics taking Yuki away to give her emergency care.