Lunae kept quiet during most of the night's trek, her relatively flimsy muscles finally worn out as she squirmed about on Sonera's shoulder. She had underestimated her so-called 'prey' and found herself unable to even whisper into her mind.
Sonera had put up a block. And for a time, it seemed that nothing would get in her way of protecting Lunae, including Lunae herself. She had no time for feelings and confessions. Only survival mattered.
"Sonera." Lunae mustered the courage to speak. "I think...you can put me down now. Aren't you tired?"
Sonera sighed deeply as a response. She was still visibly upset, but her anger had at least begun to wane.
Setting Lunae down on a pile of leaves, she kneeled down close to the girl with a firm stare.
"We focus. Agreed?"
"Y-yes." Lunae looked up with wide eyes, flexing her arms as a silent plea for release.
"Good."
Sonera tried not to stare for too long, her mind enraptured by the image of the bound girl staring up at her with one eye, her beautiful hair obscuring the rest of her features. She couldn't even manage to restrain her new friend without making things a bit tempting. But that, like all other things, was part of Lunae's plan.
And Sonera knew it.
Dense as she was, it would be impossible to miss the more blunt aspects of Lunae's approach. She never spoke in a gruff tone, twirled about with her shortened skirt to reveal her legs, and was always posing herself in such a way that only one eye could stare back.
Sonera had faced similar struggles with Venra in the past. During their ballet routines, the cunning girl would sometimes slip and fall over, allowing only Sonera to pick her up with her comparatively stronger frame. It was an impossibly naive way of getting Sonera's attention.
But it worked. Sonera was always a victim of a bleeding heart. First with Three, then with Venra, and now with Lunae. She was trapped in an endless cycle of love and failure.
"The Consortium hasn't hit us yet." Sonera squinted, cracking her knuckles as the binds around Lunae dissipated. "They're holding back. Waiting for something."
Sonera helped Lunae off the ground before surveying her surroundings. The pair had managed to find their way into a riverland of sorts, as the rushing of water could be heard just over the next grassy hill. But with the descending sun, things were getting darker and mistier at an alarming pace.
The girls couldn't see.
"Here," Lunae called out as she snapped her fingers. "Save your energy."
A nearby tree branch levitated a few feet from Lunae before splintering into several fragments. The girl then performed a strange ritualistic dance, waving her arms and feet in a seemingly intentional pattern as the shards of wood began to coalesce. Sonera watched in amazement as droplets of water began to rise up into the air.
While she may not have had a clue as to what kind of power Lunae was using, it was still a sight to behold. The moss and mist around Sonera began to glow blue as the forest lit up into a brilliant azure. And before she could try to reach out and touch the shifting droplets, it all came to a sudden end.
"Don't worry, they can't see it. Just you." Lunae giggled as she stood on her tiptoes, allowing a wooden staff of sorts to fall into her hands.
Sonera had no words. She simply nodded in approval at Lunae's craftsmanship. The girl had, in simple terms, fashioned a shepherd's crook with a single blue petal at its highest bend.
Lunae shook the staff like a toy, before its wooden pores and cracks lit up with a soft glow identical to her hair, which likewise began to illuminate the surroundings. She smiled at Sonera with a tilted head before sticking her tounge out with mischievous intent.
"Hm," Sonera grinned.
Her expression, however, turned to ash the moment she caught wind of the shimmering figure behind Lunae.
Sonera didn't even bother to say a word, unveiling a radiant firearm and firing it at the figure in an instant.
"Eek!" Lunae squealed, jumping out of position as she tumbled to the ground.
The figure emerged unharmed, holding up a straight thin blade of sorts that smoked with the energy from Sonera's attack. It was a dexterous evasion, fit only for a Vesper. But as the hulking figure uncloaked itself, even Sonera found herself stepping back.
Its armor was gold.
"Tell her my words." The Vesper reached out to Lunae, who had already opened the mental bridge.
"H-he." Lunae stammered, taken completely off guard by her own cowardice. "He wishes to duel you."
The Vesper's large hands clasped tightly around a silver pommel of sorts, its grip guarded by several loops of metal styled in the image of a serpentine creature. Its blade, shifting and weaving with an indescribable liquid, shone brightly with a pale light.
"And who is he?" Sonera nodded, unsheathing her own radiant blade from thin air.
"He says his name doesn't matter. Only his blade, forged from...the waters of his homeworld." Lunae stuttered. "It's a liquid blade, Sonera, held togethor by some kind of gravitational generators on his pommel."
"Well then." Sonera took a deep breath. "Get behind me."
But to the girl's surprise, the Vesper took a moment to place a hand onto its own head, removing his golden helmet with a claw-like grip as a wave of blue energy washed over his body.
He had removed his own energy shields.
Staring into the Vesper's scaly eyes, Sonera gave another nod of approval. His challenge came with a gesture of honor. And she had every intention of upholding it.
Holding his rapier almost like a human fencer, the Vesper lunged forward with incredible speed, cutting a red mark into Sonera's cheek as she narrowly dodged to the side. She tried to counter-attack, only to have the Vesper whir his blade around and parry every strike with a single hand.
Lunae gasped in horror, realizing how terrible her friend's odds were. The Vesper's mind was laid bare to her, and with it, all the years of experience it had, dueling warriors far older than Sonera.
It had come with the desire to witness just had truly advantageous Yrix's Psionic awakening could really be, considering Sonera had only limited experience with a sword. A dark and twisted thought entered her mind at that moment, causing Lunae to shrivel up with fear. She had to do something or her friend would die.
Using her free hand, Sonera attempted to throw a knife in between the Vesper's eyes. It caught the attack with the tip of its blade, thrusting at its opponent in the same move.
Sonera received another shallow cut just beneath her eye. She reeled back in pain, placing a hand where the warm liquid was flowing from. She wasn't afraid. But she was disheartened.
Circling its prey, the Vesper held its blade completely straight as it pointed towards Sonera's heart. It was a patient warrior. And quite frankly, it wasn't in a rush to kill Sonera. The Vesper would much rather see her rise to the occasion.
Feigning its next attack, the Vesper lunged forward only to withdraw its attack and spin around, unleashing a back-kick onto Sonera's hand. Its feet, nearly the size of her torso, were almost impossible to properly reposte.
Her blade fell onto the water below, causing it to dissipate in a gust of sparks.
"No." Lunae's hands trembled, her staff nearly falling out of her hands.
The Vesper casually approached Sonera, its eyes conveying its ability to deflect any attack she might have thrown at it. Extending its arm forward, its bladed edge loomed closer and closer to her face. But something stopped it.
"Hm." The Vesper mused, nodding with approval as Sonera's hand intercepted its attack.
With enough gumption to impress her would-be killer, Sonera's hand clasped onto the torrent of sharp, stationary liquid as blood gushed outwards in a fountain of red. She grunted loudly. But with a step forward, her palm became completely penetrated, giving her the slightest bit of leverage to wrestle with the Vesper.
"Die well." The Vesper spoke in a broken human dialect, as if giving Sonera its permission.
Before it could use its full strength to plunge its sword into her heart, a squelch of flesh loudly ensnared the forest in a chorus of gore. The Vesper's face, healthy and intact mere moments ago, was completely riven asunder by Lunae's staff, which had warped itself to resemble a grueling hook. It fell to the ground dead. Killed by the coward.
"Lunae!" Sonera whimpered as she fell to her knees, clutching her bleeding hand.
The sword had fallen clean out of the hole in the girl's palm. But what lingered, with even greater ferocity than her pain, was her judgment towards Lunae. She had broken the honorable agreement and shattered her own pacifist disguise.