Ivy flinched, clutching her own neck as the Mimic lunged forward. She expected the monstrous creature to ignore anything else. Never before had the heiress been so wrong.
"Lila!" She gasped.
The Mimic had indeed launched an assault, preferring instead to answer Lila's challenge with an open claw. Its terrible strength meant even a glancing blow would be fatal. But true to her word, the Earthling intercepted her foe with a mighty kick.
Both the training of her master and the many gifts he bestowed upon Lila gave credence to her reckless approach. She was a far cry from the girl who had once challenged the Mimic before. This time, Lila's efforts had actually phased the creature, albeit barely.
The Mimic skidded back a step, its shoulder steaming from the energy left behind by Lila's boots. But a mere setback did little to hamper its violent intentions. Lila could only barely react as a pair of claws extended towards her like harpoons.
A swift flash of magenta energy shifted Lila to the right, granting her enough time to unveil her firearm and open fire. How ironic it felt then, to be using Yrix's quaint little gift in her hour of need. But the SMG was useful enough.
"H-how," Ivy gasped.
The heiress clenched her fists in disbelief as Lila flipped over the Mimic's head, firing her weapon all the while. She wished more than anything to join the fight. However, it was clear the Earthling's intentions were to allow the opposite. Ivy could not be endangered no matter what.
"Dammit," the heiress crawled forward. "Lila!"
Her partner could barely even register Ivy's cries over the roar of gunfire. She was like a monkey with wings, hopping and sliding through all manner of obstacles in a bid to avoid the Mimic. And when her efforts seemed futile, she wouldn't hesitate to risk a brief offensive and remind her opponent of just who it was dealing with.
It was quite uncharacteristic how little she spoke. Lila dashed in for a bicycle kick, honoring one of her favorite inspirations. Yet not even a successful stunt could squeeze a sound out of her. She was fully concentrated.
The Mimic was almost at a loss. It could read Lila five steps ahead. But against the sheer franticness of her movements, it remained just out of reach. Lila had spat on the odds.
Still, her boots could do little more than push the Mimic around. Its alloy was simply too strong for conventional weaponry to deal meaningful damage. A shift in tides was inevitable given its latent abilities. Fortunately, Lila possessed a certain heiress who could warn her of the Mimic's next move.
Plans before plans.
Lila somersaulted forward for another kick. And at the very last moment, she adjusted her weight towards her upper half before unleashing a Psionic strand of energy that latched itself around the Mimic's open claw.
Gotcha.
Lila closed her fist for a punch, tugging on her strand as she sailed towards the anchored beast.
The Mimic blinked. It had actually detected the resulting impact. But so had Lila, who was reeling in silent pain.
She nearly broke her hand.
"Shit," Lila muttered through the distortion of her helmet.
The Mimic's eyes flashed with a crimson glow. It was preparing an attack beyond Ivy's predictive capabilities. Only Lila knew exactly what was about to happen.
"Lila," the machine croaked.
Its eyes changed hue only seconds before it ran straight for the Earthling.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Sonera could feel her heart beating from its chest, a rare sensation given the frantic pace of things. The division between reality and the mindscape had long since ceased to matter. For as long as she remained present in the Arch-Flayer's illusory Aerie, death and danger were not at all a distant possibility. A sharp sting from a rogue splinter convinced her as much as Sonera reeled back.
She was bleeding heavily from all the minor scrapes and bruises endured in her scramble to survive. Yrix, on the other hand, remained untouched. That was the cruel reality Sonera had learned to accept.
There had to be a limit. Yrix was just a mortal. Her efforts to annihilate Sonera, real as they were, had to cost something.
Sonera clenched her fist before disappearing in a flash of sparks. And not a moment too soon, for Yrix had tossed an entire wall of the Aerie at her. There was an attempt to respond in kind with a ring of circling knives, but as with all of her tactics, Sonera proved unable to make any gains.
That damn barrier.
Yrix closed in with her blade, threatening to decapitate Sonera as the two scaled the distant wall of the Aerie's northern sector. They ran across even the steepest edge as if gravity held no meaning. Sonera did her best to evade the attack, gliding its destructive potential away from her stomach with a mechanical arm. Sparks flew into her face as Yrix pressed on. Realizing she was soon to be overwhelmed, Sonera flipped herself over, shining with radiant energy before summoning a revolver on the base of her mechanical heels.
Yrix squinted with acknowledgement at the peculiar maneuver. Her student was pulling every stunt she could possibly imagine. And to her credit, such proximity to the Arch-Flayer meant her feet had slid past the barrier.
Yrix's own aggression had undone her greatest defense. Or at least, that would have been the case, if she was at all dependent on the barrier to conduct herself. A quick cock of her neck gave Yrix just the space she needed to watch Sonera's radiant bullet sail by.
Another spectacle.
Sonera growled in dismay before attempting to grab onto the wall at her back. But Yrix was far ahead of her by then, grabbing the small assassin before tossing her back down to the earth with a single flick. So terrible was the speed at which Sonera descended the long wall that the very air around her began to burn.
She couldn't possibly break her fall in time. Yrix waved playfully at her doomed student before floating down at a gentle pace. She expected to find a bloody crater at best when all was said and done.
The assassin braced herself for the worst. Her wings were torn, and her body far too vulnerable to resist the impending collision. There was little hope for anything beyond a grievous wound.
Hope.
A fickle thing.
Sonera exhaled. She had sensed the rising tide of warmth long before it reached her. And for a brief moment, she nearly forgot her hatred for Yrix as the angel in her dreams encased her in that familiar pillow of love.
"Sonera," Lunae frowned at her partner. "Rest if you can."
The assassin hardly noticed her new wings, nor the strength with which Lunae held her partner's broken body. Everything felt like a cloud of comfort tempting her into sleep. And by the time Sonera realized she had been laid upon a grassy hill, far from the fight, Lunae was gone.
"My oh my, look who finally rose to the occasion." Yrix crossed her arms, levitating in front of Lunae high above the Aerie. "Is that girl worth more than your precious morals now?"
Lunae wasn't feeling particularly talkative. Extending her hand, she drew forth her wooden crook, shattering it with her mind in an explosion of red. Yrix watched with anticipation as what appeared to be a scythe took shape in clutches of the princess.
"She's not the only one you broke," Lunae snarled, flapping her wings.
Her tail was quite rugged as well, having traded its floral beauty for a series of jagged scales. The princess was certainly still beautiful. But the serenity of her form had been abandoned, both in her eyes and markings.
Yrix could hardly even read her own reflection behind that serpentine gaze as they beamed at her with hate.
"So self-centered," the Arch-Flayer clenched her fists. "You think your rage is special? I've been waiting for this a thousand years!"
Sonera could sense that rage from a mile away. In her wounded state, she could only pray Lunae was up to the task. For there were few things that could frighten her like an angry Yrix.
The sad truth was that Lunae had little choice in how she felt on the matter. Her heightened state, however powerful, relied on nothing less than raw aggression. It was as fragile as it was mighty. Not that Yrix cared. She wanted the fight more than Lunae, as was evidenced by her bone-chilling scream.
"Come on," the Arch-Flayer hissed, charging towards Lunae. "Show me who you really are!"
Lunae met the challenge head-on, her scythe trailing behind her along with a scattered sea of roses. But the princess of thorns was more than a mere brute. Just before she could reach Yrix, Lunae sprung her trap, calling forth an encircling formation of jagged vines that threatened to encase the Arch-Flayer.
Yrix was, of course, fast enough to react with her shield. Though under the stress of Lunae's tightening grasp, her transparent fortress began to look more like a cracked shell. She was trapped.
"Just…die!" Lunae screamed, her body reverberating with violent energy.
The blue hair that sat upon her pretty head had changed into the shade of a sickly rose. Sonera witnessed it from a distance. Her admiration for Lunae's strength was matched only by the horror of her sacrifice.