She was right. As much as Lila wanted to pretend her family was out there, she had already begun to accept the truth. They were gone. But she could still do something good in the world.
"Lila." Lunae reached out with a tender hand. "I know we planned this but..."
"It's fine," Lila muttered. "Let's get this shit scootin'."
Lunae placed a hand to her mouth, trying to hide her smile. "I...alright."
Using her powers, Lila grabbed Ivy by the hand, pulling her away from the fight in a flash of pink energy. The heiress, despite hearing the plan, still couldn't help herself when her hand raised itself at Lila.
"Don't!" Ivy yelped. "Touch me!"
Lila ducked under the slap. "Yeah, I know, can you do something with this?" She smiled as she offered Ivy a look at the grenade.
Lila was suprised to see her friend's iris turn a shade of red. Her eyes then began to shift at abnormal speeds, allowing her to analyze the machinery in mere seconds. The conclusion she came to warranted the slightest of grins.
"I can stick it onto their shields," Ivy nodded proudly. "Just give me a moment."
The grenade was built with three small divots on its metal plating, glowing a gentle red as Ivy pressed against it. Her tiny fingers were barely enough to interface with the machinery, but after a moment of fiddling, she managed to command it to her will.
"What, is that an option select?" Lila shrugged. "I didn't know it came with a sticky setting."
"You thought I'd take it apart here and smash some wires togethor?" Ivy tried not to laugh. "Earthlings."
"Well, I mean-."
The heiress explained in a demeaning voice. "The consortium isn't from a fairy tale, Lila; their ordinance has a system, just like ours."
"Cool. I will now throw this like a monkey would a banana." Lila responded smugly. "And it will work.
"Just don't get yourself killed."
"Really?"
"No."
Lila nodded energetically before turning back to the fight. Sonera was doing quite well for herself as far as diversions went, smashing her sword against the Vesper's side with such force that its shields began to flicker. Even as blood began to ooze out of her mouth from the previous impact, she kept fighting.
Yrix was right about one thing. Hate was an excellent motivator. But so was not dying, as Lila would put it.
"Try not to fall." Ivy huffed as she created a staircase of white prisms for Lila to jump onto.
"You couldn't have made it a ramp?" Lila squinted.
"Shut up and go!"
Using her Psionic abilities, Lila lept onto each projection, bouncing onto the last as she flung herself into the air with a blast of pink energy. Her own skills were beginning to evolve, decorating her Psionic aura in a magenta flourish reminiscent of Earth's retro-style.
"Lunae now!" Lila ordered, just as the Vesper began to discover the girl's plan.
Lila chucked the orb as far and as hard as she could, arcing her throw so that it might stick into the enemy's helmet. Just as she had predicted, the Vesper would use its nimble legs to dive out of the way before the orb could reach its location. That was where Lunae came in.
With a snap of her fingers, Lunae encased the orb in a swarm of sapphire glyphs, causing it to reverberate in a violent flash of energy. What emerged from the blinding light took everyone but Lila by surprise.
*There were now two orbs.*
The first of Lunae's amplified ordnance was evaded as fortold, but the second, trailing behind, was aimed preemptively to catch the Vesper's movement. The plan was indeed something of a reckless gambit. But it worked.
"Lunae," Sonera muttered to herself as she stumbled backwards, trying to avoid the inevitable explosion.
The grenade had managed to stick right onto the Vesper's shoulder, giving it no time for any possible removal. The ensuing explosion nearly caved in the entire arena, sending every girl tumbling towards the outer walls. Once the dust had settled, however, the Vesper was still standing.
"It's shields!" Ivy screamed excitedly.
The Vesper was vulnerable, its armor drained of the protective barrier that once rendered it immortal. But it was far from helpless, unveiling both its arm cannons as it fired at the first girl it saw. Sonera was, of course, the one to take that challenge.
She threw herself at the Vesper, ignoring its line of fire as four radiant knives appeared above her head, hovering in place at a fixed arch. Once the plasma from the Vesper's cannons reached her skin, she temporarily dissapeared into a flash of smoke and embers. What emerged a split second later was an unharmed Sonera, dressed in a fiery leotard with an obsidion colored skirt.
"Show off." Ivy couldn't help but mutter as she stared at the girl's exposed back.
Sonera came spiraling towards the Vesper like a flaming moth, slamming into it with the tip of her feet before her knives followed suit, rotating like saw blades before flinging themselves towards the enemy.
The Vesper stumbled backwards, swinging its tail at Sonera.
*It scraped against her cheek.*
"Don't let up now!" Lila pointed towards Sonera, whose bleeding face remained focused on the task at hand. "Jump him! Jump him now!"
Lila appeared behind Sonera, using her powers to teleport the girl out of harm's way before the Vesper could follow up with its attack. It was not a retreating maneuver, however. For once, Lila reappeared, she was carrying Sonera in tow just behind the Vesper, allowing the pair to attack simultaneously.
Lila, of course, didn't have much to offer aside from her support, her feet bouncing off the Vesper harmlessly. Sonera, however, had a bullet to place in the back of its head. A gush of purple blood spat out at Sonera, caking her face in the sticky substance.
If it could bleed. It could die.
"Fucking jump him!" Lila screamed, falling backwards after her failed attack. "Full send it!"
Ivy summoned a rather large baton to swipe the Vesper off its feet, and with a large rectangular prism that emerged from the sand, she sent it sailing upwards. Lila was quick to move the heiress into position, teleporting her right next to the Vesper as she readied her weapon, clutched in her own hand.
*She smiled proudly.*
Clutching Lila's tiny hand, Ivy used the girl's powers as a means of transportation, blinking in and out of real-space as she launched a barrage of attacks at the Vesper from every possible angle. It was quite the light show. Both Lunae and Rena couldn't help but smile from down below, as hope filled their hearts. Sonera instead was waiting eagerly like a shark, holding a radiant sword up to the sky with both her hands.
"Die stupid creature." Ivy sneered, teleporting just above the Vesper as she flung Lila like a throwing hammer.
Lila stuck her leg out and closed her eyes, unsure of whether or not she would be proper munitions for an attack. But after another glow of light, she opened her eyes to see a blue glyph encasing her body. It was Lunae who came to her aid, finalizing the epic attack at the last second.
"I'm about to end this man's whole career." Lila thought to herself proudly as she sailed towards the Vesper, which still hung helplessly in the air.
The resulting shockwave that came from Lila's kick sent a wave of blue and pink energy all the way back to Yrix, who was practically teeming with excitement.
Having been ragdolled like a toy, the Vesper's body was shot downwards with crushing force. It would have been more than enough to just let the creature hit the ground. But Sonera had other ideas. She was waiting there, holding her sword aloft so that the Vesper would be impaled upon its tip.
What came out of her mouth at that moment wasn't heard by a soul. But she was happy. The Vesper was already dead, yet it still fell on her blade, goring it like a pig as Sonera became drenched in blood from head to toe.
The battle was over.
If there were to be confetti and balloons, Lila could already see it. She fell gently to the ground thanks to Lunae's Psionic assistance and began to jump up and down with glee. Her excitement was so overwhelming, in fact, that she barely noticed the heiress come from behind and embrace her with a sheepish hug.
"Oh." Lila stuttered, turning her head to see Ivy's face buried into her back.
Ivy gave it a good second before she released her grip, shoving Lila back with her fingertips like she had touched something disdainful. It didn't take them long to remember who they were to each other. And neither was willing to say anything as they turned their attention to the other students.
"We did it!" Lunae giggled, throwing herself at Rena.
Rena fell to the ground and chuckled. "Yea...we did. We showed that stupid alien bitch we aren't just meat."
Sonera didn't seem even the slightest bit amused. She used the last of her strength to throw both her blade and the Vesper's corpse aside, gritting her teeth with rage. She then limped over to the body and began to beat it with her fists. Nothing in particular was even on her mind. She just liked how it felt.
Yrix watched from above with audible amazement, pacing back and forth with her hands positioned behind her back. She felt justified in that moment. Everything she beleived was coming togethor.
"Psions."