"Most impressive." Yrix chortled. "Less than a week, and look what they've become. If only Perin could see this now. If only the Emperor could see this now. He'd be shaking the whole Aerie with his excitement."
Sonera readied herself with another blade, combining its strength with a ring of knives that hovered above her head. She knew the fight was far from over. And frankly, she was content with that fact.
Ivy, on the other hand, seemed enraged. The very idea of losing was pernicious to her. And so she would continue to fight.
Another standoff ensued, as the girls circled each other. They were like sharks in the water. And Yrix could smell blood.
Ivy threw her left elbow outwards, holding her staff tightly as she lunged at Sonera with a burst of Psionic speed. Her heels hitched onto the sand, carrying her momentum as she advanced with a series of consecutive attacks. Simple thrusts and swipes were easy enough for Sonera to simply back away from, but she could easily predict how quickly that would change.
Ivy's voice squeaked as she put a greater amount of effort into her next maneuver. Brandishing the staff with both hands, she twirled it around like a toy, letting it slip through her fingers as it spun around through the air like a whirlwind.
Lila could have sworn she saw a similar trick in baseball, a comparison that would have surely resulted in her getting slapped.
Even Rena was somewhat impressed, scoffing at the amount of effort Ivy was putting into the fight.
Sonera knew better than to contest the rotating staff; its speed and strength kept afloat as Ivy used a Psionic push to direct it towards her enemy. Instead, she found a brief moment to escape into a flash of sparks, reappearing behind Ivy with her blade held high.
"There." Ivy's eyes glowed red briefly.
She performed a backwards side kick, extending her right leg as far as her flexibility would allow.
*It hit.*
Sonera had anticipated her own slopiness, raising a single hand to try to catch Ivy's heel. The effort was hardly worth it, as the back of her own hand smashed into her mouth. Psionic sparks fizzled before dissapearing entirely as Sonera fell to the ground.
She nearly performed a backflip in that moment, her legs having been swept upwards as blood seeped out of her teeth. It hurt as much as one would expect. But Sonera had suffered far worse.
During her time with her old drop trooper friends, she would often ask them to show her the ropes on grappling and CQC. They always held back, up until she begged them not to. For months on end, she would find herself smashed against the floor or a wall, and on one occasion, her leg was shattered by the butt end of a shotgun.
Sonera knew full well she was a skinny, delicate creature. She didn't have the privilege of a heroine in the old movies she watched, who could grapple stronger, taller men to the floor with their thighs. That wasn't how things worked. She was, instead, well acquainted with the real world, where girls like her could be tossed aside like a pillow.
"Sonera!" Lunae screamed before cupping her hand over her mouth.
She didn't really know why she felt the need to worry so much. Sonera had, in fact, saved her life, but she could take care of herself. Something else was driving her fear. A motivation she couldn't even announce to herself.
"She'll get up," Lila reassured the girl. "Watch."
To Lunae's relief, Sonera did pick herself off the floor, pushing Ivy backwards with a rather irritated blast of Psionic energy. It would take a lot more than that to kill her. But in truth, that sort of outcome wasn't on Ivy's mind. All she cared about was the glare she shot at Rena, which practically screamed, "I'm better than you".
"Fucking slut." Rena cursed. "You've already lost and you can't even see it."
In Rena's mind, she had observed a most crucially satisfying detail. Life in the flotilla was, to put it mildly, even worse than what she described to Ivy. She witnessed a lot of fights in that hellhole, mostly between men. And when it came to the victors, one detail stood out above the rest.
"Thank you," Lunae whispered into Lila's mind. "For being here with me."
"Oh?" Lila shrugged, unsure of what to say. "It's not a big deal, Sonera is our..."
"You want to say friend."
Lila looked down at her feet. "I wish I had those here. But after all this, I think it's a bit more depressing than that."
Sonera laced her fingers around Lila's wrist, grabbing it tightly. "We've only just met Lila. But sometimes...people can see a potential connection early on. And that's not even talking about how we are Psions now. Sonera stood up for you. And now...you are here, comforting me when you are in no state to manage yourself."
"Oh," Lila's eyes lit up with excitement. "I uhh..."
"You can call me your friend, Lila." Lunae winked.
"Thank you. I honestly didn't see that coming."
"And yet, I sense more fear in you."
"I thought we kinda agreed silently not to peep into each other's brains."
Lunae couldn't help it. She never could. It was in her nature to peer into the minds of others, and she hated that about herself. And yet, in a cruel twist of irony, she kept doing it to try and prove she wasn't the type of person she beleived she could be.
"Lila...Ivy hates you." Lunae sighed. "Why do you pity her?"
"It's not pity!" Lila yelped, her passion escaping her lips as her pigtails jumped into the air. "I just...I don't even know. I feel something, like I understand her plight. You and Sonera had my back so early on. But what about her? Where is her early game friendship? How many of Yrix's games does she have to play till she gets her free win card?"
"Your friendship didn't come free, Lila." Lunae tilted her head with a disappointed squint. "You were a kind and gentle person to us."
Lila shrugged and took a deep breath. "I know...I just. I'll ask Yrix about it."
"About what?"
"Why, I'm convinced we're all missing something about Ivy."
Inside the arena, Ivy and Sonera were at it again, smashing their weapons against each other with alarming force. The heiress appeared more adept at remotely handling her staff from a distance, combining it with her baton for an occasional mix-up. But as if to ruin her plans, Sonera seemed far more composed. She was barely even winded.
"Just...give up already." Ivy huffed, destroying Sonera's construct with her baton.
The heiress held her staff like a javelin, hurling it right into her opponent's chest. But in a matter of seconds, Sonera was back on her feet. Ivy was panting at that point, losing her focus. It was a problem of hers she was well aware of for years. And in her mind, it was one of the primary reasons her father looked down on her.
Even as a child, she would always pant after a successful dance routine. She would yawn after playing her instruments. And she would even fall asleep after reading for too long. It was all so imperfect.
*That infuriated her.*
Sonera eyed her opponent suspiciously before unveiling another revolver. This time, Ivy barely even deflected it, stumbling backwards as her breath became heavy. She could beat Sonera all she wanted in a formal sparring match. But she couldn't seem to knock the girl down for long.
"Just...fall." Ivy pleaded with herself, dancing through a volley of Sonera's ringed blades before throwing a violent punch.
Her eyes flickered red again before she screamed out in pain. The attack had landed. And her wrist was nearly broken.
"Ivy!" Lila cried, unable to contain her fear.
Rena was quick to shoot her a judgmental glare. Lila had no right to take sympathy on that girl. But she did.
Ivy fell to her knees, clutching her right hand. She had punched far too hard and was unprepared for her own strength. Her vision began to blur. And to make matters worse, she could clearly make out Sonera, who was picking herself off the floor again.
Sonera wasn't exactly unharmed. Her Psionic power was spent, and a red stain could be seen soaking into her vest. But as far as she was concerned, it was still a flea bite. She was the kind of person to keep crawling her way back into the fight until she was dead.
Clenching her fist, Sonera knocked against her own heart two times before recomposing herself. She was standing proudly, walking almost leisurely towards Ivy. Without a weapon or a plan, she maintained her pace. She would beat that heiress with her bare fists if she had to.
"Ah, yes," Yrix squirmed with excitement. "The best part. When a Psion is all out of tricks."
Ivy barely picked herself up before swinging her staff. It broke against Sonera's forearm, probably shattering a bone or three. But she kept coming. Realizing both her weapons were gone and that she lacked the strength to create more, Ivy panicked.
She wasn't exactly helpless, however. Scraping togethor her best attempt at an axe kick, Ivy's heel came crashing down onto Sonera, causing the girl to stumble backwards. But without the stamina to continue her assault, Ivy was left wide open for a trade.
"Ah!" Ivy whailed as a gloved fist struck her in the forehead.
She felt unberably whoozy in that moment, her feet trembling as she wandered to the side. It was rather humiliating for her to come to terms with losing. But she refused to give up.
Grabbing a fistful of sand, she clouded Sonera's vision before striking her with the side of her open palm, before following it up with a flurry kick. Every attack connected, both on Sonera's ribs and her neck. The pain was so immense, in fact, that she actually released a small grunt. That was the first sound she had made in what felt like years to Ivy. But noise only really meant that Sonera was losing it. She fought like a feral animal, grabbing onto Ivy's extended leg before pulling her off her feet.
Ivy came sailing towards Sonera, her journey coming to a brief halt thanks to Sonera's elbow. With the breath knocked out of her, all she could do was try and wrestle with Sonera's arms to avoid a follow-up. Never in all her life had she considered fighting in such a way, a fact that became readily apparent once Sonera rammed her with her own skull.
"Gah!" Ivy gasped, kicking Sonera off as she scrambled to gain some distance.
But it was already too late. Her opponent had reached an unavoidable state of bloodlust. Removing her own shoe, Sonera chucked it at Ivy, causing her to raise her arms in defense and hesitate. With a flying kick, Sonera then closed the distance and landed a clean blow onto Ivy's skull.
The heiress was thoroughly stunned; the last of her efforts focused on trying to keep herself from falling over. Sonera was certain of what she would do next. Taking advantage of her extended window, she dashed over to the heiress's side and, after wrapping an arm around her back, lifted Ivy by her thigh before slamming her onto the ground.
Sonera finally took a breath, realizing Ivy had been utterly floored by her maneuver. It was the same trick Three had used on her countless times, only he tended to end his little escapades with a feint, dangling Sonera by her legs inches away from the floor. He was nice like that. Sonera was not.
Ivy coughed loudly, the air having abandoned her lungs as her trembling limbs managed to get her into a standing position. She wanted to keep fighting. But frankly, it was already over. She just couldn't admit defeat.
"No..." Ivy whimpered, stumbling around aimlessly. "I can't...not like this."