Belladonna’s magic revolved around the body. Her body mostly, as her class made it incredibly difficult to project her mana outwards. It was why, for example, she chose to carve the runes onto her flesh instead of using her armour for it.

If it was on her armour, while they could be more versatile and replaceable, it would be more difficult for her to use consistently and would require more energy to bridge the gap between skin and armour.

However, that did not mean her energy was restricted entirely to her body. She could, with struggle, push it outwards. A technique that could be improved with physical contact, hence how she could Infuse Beans’ meat and which was also the basis for her [Shredding Strike] skill.

Compressed and focused energy, forced out of the body with physical contact as the medium.

So what would happen if she did not use her fist as the contact medium? What if she used two fingers instead, narrowing the point of contact significantly, and what would happen if she combined that with making her condensed energy less wild and destructive, and more refined in its destruction?

The answer, was that it would penetrate the object she was striking and attack the insides, just like the shredding strike, but with the precision of a needle. Now that wasn’t too useful for a normal strike. But if she targeted somewhere specific, say for example the pressure point in your shoulder that allows for your arm to move?

The needle of mana tore into the Ninja’s body, ripping through the tiny, natural channels that the body used to direct energy and control movement. Belladonna’s magic became like a clog in the artery, infecting the pathways and blocking the natural energy flow, all whilst attacking the pathways themselves.

The result was the Ninja stumbling back, her arm hanging limply by her side.

Panic filled the dark elf woman’s eyes as she tried to move it. She tried to lift her arm, to slice and twirl her dagger, but all she managed to was make her arm tremble slightly as the muscles twitched half heartedly, unable to get even a fraction of the direction that was being sent their way through the clogged energy channels.

"Sucks, doesn’t it?" Belladonna asked with a shake of her head. Clicking her tongue in disappointment as she looked at the limp and useless limb.

"To have your body fighting against you. To want it to move, to remember what it feels like, only for nothing to happen. I bet if i stabbed it, you would still feel it, wouldn’t you?"

Whilst the Ninja was still desperately trying to get her arm to work, Belladonna lunged forwards again. Her fingers jabbing at the pressure points of her other limbs. More magic needles were injected into the assassin, robbing her of her other arm and one of her legs, driving the Ninja down onto one knee.

"Yes..." The Ninja muttered in a low and heavy tone, causing Belladonna to raise an eyebrow as she was given pause in her assault.

"It is a feeling I know all too well, and it seems you do too. Who would have thought that it would follow us here." She said with a dry laugh, making Belladonna frown deeply.

In their speed blitzing combat the rest of the ambushers had lost them, leaving them completely alone to their conversation with no possibility of being interrupted.

"I do. Muscular Disease. What about you?" Belladonna asked, her previous sadistic glee having faded into the heavy, sombre air that surrounded the pair.

The Ninja raised her head, looking into Belladonna’s eyes before laughing drily again.

"Calcium Degradation. Left leg, right arm."

Belladonna winced and hissed through her teeth as she heard that. Calcium Degradation was truly nasty, possibly even worse than her own disease.

It was a condition that existed due to the Corporate Wars.

Corporate Wars were, as the same suggested, entire wars that were fought by and on the behalf of the giant Mega-corporations that practically ruled the world. They were all that mattered now, and they made sure everyone knew it. These wars had been fought on and off for the last 100 years or so, with the latest one being 20 years ago.

Considering no one wanted to anger these Corporations, principles such as War Crimes and the Geneva Convention became little more than suggestions rather than laws. Suggestions that the Corpos happily ignored.

That led to a lot of experimental weaponry being used in the wars, and with experimental weaponry came new side effects, such as Calcium Degradation.

That particular disease came about from long term exposure to certain chemical residue used in the wars. It was not guaranteed to be caught, but once you did it was fatal if it was not treated.

It broke apart the bonds of your bones, causing them not only to become extremely brittle but even collapse inside of your body.

It spread like falling dominoes, and the only treatment was to remove the afflicted area in its entirety before it could spread. Essentially, amputation. For this woman to have gained it in two limbs was both truly terrible, and also extremely lucky.

If it had initially formed in her torso or skull, it would have been unquestionably fatal. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Belladonna, and everyone in the world, knew that there was only one type of person that signed up for the Corpo Wars. The truly desperate.

"So... is this permanent?" The Dark elf asked with a sigh.

"No. It’s not, I don’t think so at least. It will wear off with time, how long I can’t say..." Belladonna explained solemnly, causing the Ninja’s head to fall in depression.

Belladonna could already hear the thoughts in her head, the thoughts of being stuck like that. Helpless just like she was in real life, in the place that she was supposed to be using as an escape. That’s why she wasn’t finished talking.

"But you won’t need to wait. Because when you respawn after I kill you, it will be gone."

"Wait, what?" The Ninja lifted their head quickly, looking up at Belladonna in confusion.

"But didn’t you want to get your bakers dozen or something? Just leave me... it’ll be fine. I’ll be fine."

"Hmm? No I think you’re confused. You killed the last guy, so when I take out you I’ll be at 11. I’ll still have my dozen with your boss.

No need to worry about that, and no need to sit around waiting either. You’ve done enough of that."

They met each others eyes again, before the Ninja bowed her head and laughed. Letting Belladonna move behind her as she manifested her [Shade Claws] once again.

"My blades are enchanted..." The Ninja said, keeping her head down.

"They create a type of poison. You would have been dead in minutes. The anti-dote is in my back pouch, the green vial. Drink it and you’ll be fine."

Belladonna smiled warmly and nodded her head, lifting her claws up.

"I’ll mark a tree with my claws, and leave your body there for you to collect."

The Ninja nodded, bowing her head more and presenting her neck to the executioner.

"I witness your plight, and I acknowledge your sacrifice." Belladonna muttered the phrase of utmost respect for the Corpo War soldiers, before bringing her claws down.

They sliced clean through her neck, letting her head topple to the ground as her body remained kneeling.