Once Maura had decided to leave Justine and Lily to practice on their own, the two of them began to practice aerial combat, to further improve on Justine’s close-combat skills. While Lily herself wasn’t able to fly, she could slow down her time spent in the air to simulate flight.

”When your opponent is below you, I think you should go for a straight downward slam!"
She advised her.
”Now, I’ll speed up, so try to hit me with your attack."

Justine nodded as she flew above.
”Very well! Here goes!"

Justine swooped down, and with a forward spin caught Lily before she dodged, knocking her into the water.

Watching the performance before him, Alexander couldn’t help but think out loud “I wonder which is more bullshit; flight, or being able to make barriers wherever you want? Actually, is there any kind of rule in place to keep someone from just staying in the air?”

“I friggin hope so” Penny would chime in suddenly. She had finished her rather peaceful chat with Oliver and Finn a bit ago and had taken to simply meandering around the area. Lily and Justine’s bit of aerial combat caught her eye since that wasn’t really something one expected in regards to Keijo and she came over to get a better look.

“Otherwise that’s going to be a tough act to beat” She would add with a gesture to Justine. “I suppose that’s what the time limit is for though” Not that Penny didn’t have an idea or two for how to take someone out of the air. It was more that she wasn’t sure just how effective the ideas would be against someone with actual flight capabilities.

Justine was helping Lily back to the platform when she turned and saw Penny. She stared at her for a moment, her expression still.
"Penny…" She mumbled.

Alexander shrugged “It sometimes feels like this ‘sport’ wasn’t made with magic in mind, but later got slightly adapted to include it” he sighed “So what about you? Are you going to be a part of this mess, or are you just planning on watching?”

“It would not surprise me at all” Penny would agree before sighing. “If it was only about the Mirror I would have willingly stayed in the stands to point and laugh at people” She would explain “But since the Beach is on the line I don’t feel right sitting back and doing nothing after Dan helped me out. So I’m going to be involved in this mess.” Another sigh “Unfortunately.”

“I’m starting to wonder how Beacon still exists” Alexander said “With zealots like these inquisitors, how have they not made enough enemies to get destroyed yet?”

“Far as I can tell the Ascendency is only sent out to problem places” Penny would scratch the back of her head as she spoke, not fully liking the mental image that Alex gave her. “And Beacon was one of the first groups founded. That gave them time to entrench before they got too many enemies.” She was sure there was more to it than that, like city shattering lasers and what not, but she didn’t want to bring those into the discussion right now.

Once Lily was out and dried herself, she also noticed that Penny had arrived.
"Oh, hi Penny! Long time no see! So, what's going on?" That was when she noticed how Justine was staring, and waved a hand in front of her. "Uh, you okay, Justy?"
Justine seemed to snap out of her trance-like state.
"Oh, sorry...I just…I didn't expect to meet you so soon…" She averted her eyes, and looked nervous. Lily scratched her own head in mild confusion.
"Well, that's all right. I'm sure Penny won't bite."

“Hey Lily” Penny would wave at the other girl. “Nothing going on was just in the area when I saw your flying spar” She would say with a shrug.

“And relax Justine, you’ll quickly find out I’m about as atypical as possible for a Beacon member.” she’d reassure the Vampiric girl. “If anything I should be the one nervous here, not you. We’ve never had any personal interactions, but I did destroy your house.”

“Huh, yeah, I almost forgot about that” Alexander thought to himself “You looked a lot different back then. Did something happen?”

“Lots of system and hardware upgrades” Penny would answer with a grin. “Back then I was barely out of the beta stages. Now I look as good as I function” She would glance down at herself “Dan’s illusions notwithstanding on that.”

Justine managed to take another look back at Penny, but didn't manage to keep eye contact with her for more than a couple of seconds before averting her gaze again.
"That is fine. The castle was given to me by my old Patron anyway…"
One of Lily's cheeks puffed as she witnessed the continued social awkwardness.
"You're right about looking good!" She then commented. She stepped closer to Penny and looked her over.
"You're a real beauty in Dan's dimension! Maybe that's why Justy's so nervous?" She held back a giggle, resulting in a head shake from Justine.
"It's not like that, but...For the Queen of Penrose, you seem less ruthless than I imagined."

“Nah, if that was the case She’d have had trouble talking with you Lily” Penny would retort with a look. Before nodding along with Justine’s statement.

“There’s a few reasons for that I’d wager” She’d say shifting her attention to Justine. “I’m here to say hi to some friends I’ve not seen in a while, for one. I am not looking to set up an empire for two. And lastly I’ve got no reason to deny you empathy. I am aware that you’ve got quite the history, but I can also tell that something big happened recently that changed you. If that wasn’t the case I’m not sure you would have that opinion of me” She’d smile, but if it was meant to be kind or not would be hard to tell.

Justine nodded, deep in thought.
“I see...This gathering must have been beneficial for you, since you have been able to converse and form alliances. In any case, I’m glad you don’t carry resentment towards me…”
She looked down, and Lily hugged her from behind.
“See, it wasn’t that bad! You just need to be a bit more confident, Justy! Now the only person you’d need to make up with is-”

At that moment, Dan’s announcement could be heard, and Lily gasped.
”Oh, it’s time!”
She turned towards the television set on the table next to the pool. Justine gasped as the chart was revealed.
“No way...” Justine was aghast upon seeing who her opponent was.

“M-Mariette...”

Alexander groaned “of fucking course. I bet that dolphin did this on purpose. ” he sighed as he shook his head “If it makes you feel any better; she apparently was having her mind messed with by her old patron, and is feeling pretty different now. I mean, she doesn’t hold a grudge against Lily for that stunt she pulled at the end. So if you make your feelings clear, I’d say you have a good chance at making up with her.”

Justine turned to Alex, a hand held up to her arm.
"Really? I...I didn't know that…"
She put a finger to her chin, in deep thought.

“Nah, Dan’s just a moron, not malicious.” Penny would counter Alex’s statement as she too took in the tournament bracket. Noting with some amusement that she was getting a rematch, after a fashion. It wasn’t how she was expecting to encounter Sam again, but it was going to be interesting.
“And while you are right about Mariette, try to keep it quiet. She’s not spreading that fact around since she is still working under them for now. So reconciliation might not be able to happen in the middle of the ring.” She would add turning back towards the group. “And I wish we had more time to chat but it seems that the time to relax is over.” With a sigh she would take a step away.

"Hey, Dan's not a moron!" Lily spoke up.
"He's just a bit simple-minded." She leaned her head on Justine's, causing her to blush.
"I'm sure he has good intentions in pitting Justy here against her."
Lily then widened her eyes on hearing that Penny was leaving.
"Aww, already! And we just met! Phooey!"

“Feel free to drop in at the Sanctuary once this is all over. I’d like to get a chance to hang out with you all more when there isn’t as much going on.” Penny would give them all a wave before turning to leave. Stopping to look at Justine “And yes that includes you” She’d point at the vampiric girl to leave no ambiguity.

"Sure thing, Penny!" Lily answered with a hop and a wave of her hand.
”Byeee!”
Justine bowed.
"Thank you for visiting. And if, umm, we are to meet in the tournament itself...I'll do my best. Goodbye."

Time was always against Penny having a bit of relaxation it seemed. As there was still one more thing she wanted to do before dismissing this particular Counterfeit.

“Well she seems to be doing well for herself” Alexander mused as Penny left “Still, I’m a little surprised to hear that she’s part of Beacon. I thought she was a robot monster girl. And sure, the local Beacon has mellowed out a lot since that meeting in the park way back, I didn’t realize they had mellowed out that much. I wonder when she joined up”

"Yeah, Alicia told me the local Beacon's been through a lot," Lily chimed in, and leaned her head down towards her after her mood seemed to be down again.
"Justy…" She spoke quietly, but the lavender-haired girl frowned.

"Lily, Alex...Thank you for the support you've given me." She turned to the two of them.
"It's been difficult...But it's time I finally face her...And settle the bad blood between us. See you later."

She then walked away,and Lily took Alex' hand as she watched her leave.
"Hey Alex, wanna go to see the matches?" She asked, sounding less cheerful than usual.
"I'd like to be there for Justy's battle, if that's not too much to ask."

“I mean, I kind of assumed that was the plan” Alexander replied as he got to his feet. “I just hope they have concessions of some kind there, I’m starting to get kind of hungry”

Lily giggled.
"Now that you mention it, I'm also feeling peckish. Let's see if Dan's got chili dogs! I sure could use one!"

---

---

---

The upside to being so close to the stadium when the message went out was that Penny was still able to get into the place and move around a bit before everyone else showed up. It wasn't hard to slip into the AV room while no one was around and plug herself into the system in charge of the Cameras. A few moments later on and Penny would just as quietly slip out her work done. Her original plan with her clones was to have a few of the min the audience to give her an all around view of the arenas and let her stay with her girlfriend. But now she had access to the cameras in the stadium so now she wasn't up her Copycat, but was missing out on time with her girlfriend, but only during her matches.

It was needed though since her clones running around had actually drained her of more mana then she had realized. Her task done she would give out a relieved sigh before moving into the seating area of the stadium and sitting down next to another Penny. A moment later a third Penny would appear carrying a large tray of assorted metal bits and bobs. This Penny would set it down on the arm of the seat of the first Penny, before sitting down on the other open seat.

There would be a few moments of silence between the three Penny's before the last Penny arrived. This Penny would reach out and touch all of the other Penny's and the sitting Penny's would all vanish in a flash of static. The sole remaining Penny, the Prime, would then sit down in the now open seats and start snacking on the tray of metal.

"Now then, lets see what there is too see before my match shall we?" Her eyes would flash as she accessed the camera systems. There was never a bad time to gather intel on future opposition after all.

Keijo was not something Betty was wholly unfamiliar with. She hadn’t participated last time because she didn’t want to interfere with the other Cradle agents’ chances of winning. But there was far too much at stake this time to simply stand to the side. Fight Justine was starting to become more than a strong desire. It had formed into a need. If she didn’t beat Justine in the ring, she wasn’t sure if she could live with herself.

Her heart skipped a beat when the bracket was revealed. It was too much to hope to fight her in the first round. But it looked like she would have a chance at her in the second round. Provided she beat her first opponent and Justine didn’t lose to Mariette. It wasn’t perfect, but it was also a lot better than she could have hoped for. In her head, her battle would have been better suited for the finals. But Betty wasn’t sure how well she’d fair against the likes of… She actually didn’t know most of these people. Which brought a very important question to the front of her mind.

Who was Kimble?

It turned out that Betty didn’t have to wait to find out, as the girl sought her out just to trash talk. Betty opened her mouth to speak, but then it clicked. One of her distant memories of last trip’s Keijo fight.

”You’re thee Kimble? The one that took out Penny in a single blow?”

Betty was a little concerned now. She was going up against someone who was quite possibly the strongest Keijo fighter in the bracket. It was possible that fighting and Keijo skill didn’t transfer over to each other very well, but the idea that she was fighting someone who could take out Penny so easily was frightening. This was going to be quite the first round.

Should she quit? Was there even a point in going on?

”Well, I think you’re-” Her brow became cross. ”A worthy opponent! But Justine is someone I have to fight myself! It would be satisfying to watch you take her out with a single swing of your hips. But all the same, I’m going to fight tooth and nail for that match up, so don’t think I’m going to quietly sink into the depths without a fight!” With a twirl, Betty cast her Christmas clothes aside and revealed her swimsuit form. ”So let’s skip the trash talking and get in the ring, unless you’re afraid of getting your paws wet!?”

---

BP is too lazy to go back to the previous page to coppy all the header stuffs, so instead he’s got a header thing here, even though there’s nothing interesting for this character to do at the moment.

OR WAS THERE?!?!?!?



Mac couldn't be seen, but she was tailing Aria since she met up with Sam. Now that she was going away to prepare, it would be possible for the two to converse.

It was pretty easy for Mac to keep up with the weaker magical girl. Mac had become a beast over the past few events, and there were few girls that could outpace her in anything. But she still had to figure out how to talk to Aria without alerting Dan. An illusionary magical girl wasn't really an option, as she wanted to talk to Aria as herself. But if there was one thing Iron Mouse had taught her, it was that Dan wasn't totally omnipotent in his own world. He could make small mistakes like fail to account for one magical rodent woman. Surely he'd miss an illusionary voice whispering into Aria's ear.

"It's been a while.”

Aria came to a stop. For just a moment, her face betrayed genuine confusion, but after a quick look around, she smiled. ”Mac? It's been a while. How have you been?”

"I spoke with Veronica like you suggested, and I've been able to keep my presence hidden from Penrose at large. Now that she's gone, things are going to get harder.” She smiled, though Aria wouldn't be able to see it. "Though as you can see, I still manage.”

”I'm glad it's working out for you.” Aria folded her hands behind her back. ”You wouldn't happen to be approaching me just for a little chat though, would you?”

"I just noticed that you weren't going to enter the tourney, which seems a little unusual for someone who likes money as much as you do.”

Her grin deepened. ”Gold isn't everything, but it can get almost everything. Maybe you'd like to subject yourself to some buffs of my design?”

"I would, but I'm trying to keep a low profile. don't think it would be good for me to appear again.”

”Can you disguise yourself as a cat girl for a while?”

"Excuse me?”

---

Did anyone wonder what happened to Oros after she was abducted by a mysterious shadow?

When Oros was released from her shadowy prison, she fell straight down into a dumpster, which was filled to the brim with garbage.

"The hell?!?!"

She was right behind the radio building in some alleyway. Though perhapse a bit more concerning was the presence of Sasona. She recalled fighting with the girl during the last time skip. The one Ascendancy girl with the power to control conceptual darkness, and could stab at her heart with just a thought.

”Your dark heart will be its own undoing!”

"What is it with the Ascendancy and their painfully generic one liners?"

Oros was answered by a frigid gust of wind. She leaned forward just in tome for the arctic gale to blow past her, but it chilled whatever it touched completely solid. The trash she had been standing on moments earlier had been frozen in place. She tumbled off of the dumpster moments before some long white hair shattered it like glass. It seemed that Sasona was not alone, and was being accompanied by a nun with long white hair.

”Atalya, here to bask Penrose in Beacon’s light!”

Oros stood up. "Are you guys trying to make a tournament out of this?"

Atalya shrugged her shoulders. ”Like we’d talk to an interloper like you! Sisel, now!”

”Your darkness shall be illuminated!”

Oros didn’t even have time to turn around before a small nun with questionable sexuality flung her yoyo at Oros. But Sisel didn’t even need to hit her target, as one swing of the yoyo caused Oros to teleport directly in front of her.

”Now, Nura- GAH!”

Oros hadn’t been able to turn around, but she did manage to drive her elbow hard enough into Sisel’s face to shatter their jaw. As fast as Oros was, it gave the relatively plain looking nun with thigh highs a chance to stab Oros with her sword. With a growl, Oros attempted to cut them in two. But Sisel and Nura seemed to transform into a pile of burning dynamite, which exploded shortly after Oros cut through it. Her smoldering body was thrown across the asphalt. Once she rolled to a stop, it became apparent what had happened.

Nura and Sisel were both standing beside another nun, one with Long hair and a black undershirt She was holding a single stick of dynamite, which disappeared into her hammerspace.

”Thank you for the assist, Rue. The day is always brighter with your explosions.” Nura smiled.

”I simply cleanse my targets in flames, I wish I could do something for Sisel, however.”

That was when a sixth nun, one with a very indecent outfit showed up. ”Fear not for Sisel, for Beacons light will make her whole again!” And with a simple thump of her staff, Sisel’s wound was completely reversed. Not only that, but her mana reserves had been doubled, and she had HP regeneration so strong that for the next ten seconds, she could heal back to full instantly from any attack that didn’t outright kill her.

”Thank you, Makayla!” Sisel said.

"OP powers, check." Oros got her feet under herself. "Uninspired dialog, check." She forced herself upright. "Bringing six people against one anyway because you’re cowards, fuckin’, tripple check." They were all standing together in a line. Sasona was that conceptual shadow chick, Atalya had wind that could freeze things solid just by touching it, Sisel could teleport people closer to themselves, Nura seemed really strong, Rue must have time magic, and Makayla was a token big breasted healing slut. This fight was winnable, but she needed a plan of attack. Something Oros would need more time to enact. "I’m not going to lie, even if you’re Ascendancy, I didn’t expect you to escape. I mean, it got nerfed pretty hard, but it should have taken you a bit more than a week to get out."

”Fortunately, you brought that disgusting robot inside.” Sasona folded her arms. ”She managed to fix the teleporters in beacon HQ while fighting off monsters in just a few seconds, and used them to teleport across dimensions back to this one. I simply used them before they were destroyed again.” She gestured towards her friends. ”Beacon was busy, but a few of my sisters agreed to come and teach you a lesson.”

Oros reeled. "Beacon teleporters can jump across the continuum? And neither I nor my patron, who despises Beacon, thought to destroy teleporters we couldn’t use?" Oros growled and threw her head back. "This feels like a huge oversight by the Grand Magistrate! I doubt my patron has anything nice to say about this! How can there be stakes if everything is easy to overcome?"

”You’ll find that I’m not so easy to overcome, monster!” Sasona pointed at Oros. ”You’ll pay for trying to tarnish Beacon’s shine!”

"Whoh, hold up!" Oros raised her hands. "I mean I get why you’re upset. But let’s remember that I didn’t kill you!"

”The things you did instead!” Her lips trembled.

"Well, you can’t hold that against me!" Oros pointed at herself. "Those nasty mental mutations are all gone now!"

Sasona folded her arms. ”As is a great deal of your power, I imagine?”

"I mean, you’re not wrong, but-!"

Atalya brushed her hand through her long, white hair. ”Can you just kill her already?”

Oros looked at all the girls present. "You’re not going to try and pierce my heart again, are you? I need it now that I’m not a monster anymore!" She looked at Sashona. "Give me another-" Before Oros could get out another word, debilitating pain brought her to her hands and knees. There was an intense pain in her chest. When she opened her mouth to yell, no words came out. The only thing she could expel was the blood pooling in her lungs.

”Mercy is wasted on you, as pitiful as you are!” Sashona’s sisters watched with glee as Oros bled out. First it was just black spikes shooting out of her heart, but her own shadow had turned into a bed of spikes that stabbed at her every limb. Eventually she was too weak to even hold her body up, and she sunk into the spikes.

Her senses dulled. The pain subsided with the light in her eyes. As she laid their dying, her fading thoughts were with her family that she might reunite with in death.

Sisel giggled. ”Passing judgement on monsters is always good, but being able to get vengeance in the same action makes it that much sweeter, does it not?”

”It does!” Sashona hoisted her cross over her shoulder. ”Leave the body for the rats.” Everyone turned around to walk away, save for Sisel.

”Wait.” Sisel took a step closer to the body. ”My eye detects the workings of magic. Dark magic is working on her body.”

”Is she regenerating?” Atalya stood at Sisel’s side. With a wave of her hand, a frigid wind froze Oros’s body solid. ”Bring her closer, and I will mince her wicked body! There will be no place for the wicked to hide this day.”

With a nod, Sisel swung their yoyo into the air. Oros should have teleported right next to them, but her body remained in place. Sisel swung again, but had the same result. ”Atalya?”

”Very well, I will deal with the vagrant myself!” Atalya leapt through the air, spinning her hair in a slicing motion. But Oros was not a prone target waiting for a swift execution. She had increased her metabolism to warm her body to where she could move under the ice. If Atalya could keep her eyes on Oros at all times, she might have noticed her eyes open up from inside her icy prison. Moments before she could land her mark, the beast woman stood up and thrust her katana through Atalya’s neck. With her body spinning, she practically decapitated herself.

”Ahhhh!” Sisel whimpered and stumbled backwards. The rest of Sashona’s friends turned to look at Oros.

"I didn’t want to kill her, she had one of the better character designs out of you lot." Atalya’s blood coated Oros’s sword and her right arm. Though what most of them noticed was that her look had changed. Oros’s was back in her dark priestess garb. She was a monster girl again. "But I guess that’s the price of being over confident. I’d have captured her instead, but clearly that’s not viable anymore. Blame the Grand Magistrate if you’re furious." She used her free hand to wipe some of the blood off of her hand before licking it off of her finger. "Well? You’re not going to let me just walk away are you? Let’s tussle!" No sooner than Oros was done speaking did another bomb blow up right in front of her chest. "That’s so cheap!" She called out as she flew through the air.

Sashona, Nura, and Rue surrounded Oros to keep her cornered up against a wall. Makayla ensured they all had proper healing buffs on. Sisel on the other hand was a bit shaken. She did not seem too inclined to join in.

Oros was on the defensive. With three girls attacking her at once, there was hardly room to launch a counter attack. They were clearly a team, layering their attacks in a way that offered no openings while also avoiding each other. Oros would expect nothing less from an elite unit. But Oros was presented an opening when Sisel attempted to use her yoyo to teleport to a safe vantage point. She was pretty adept at intercepting such magic, and space slipped through a wormhole to Sisel’s location. Sashona’s cross plunged into a brick wall and nearly leveled the building it was attached to.

Sisel looked up at the girl that seemed to teleport to her location. "You cowards really need to stop using magic like that." When Sisel looked down at themselves, Oros’s sword was already inside their stomach. With a swift upward swing, they were split in two. "Sorry Bridget fans, maybe next time."

”Sisel!”

"Who’s next?" Another explosion erupted beside Oros’s head. This time, it was strong enough to blow off her arm. "Fuck! Again?"

”You will regret existing, monster!” The remaining four Ascendancy girls made a defensive wall. Sashona and Nura stood at the front with Rue standing just behind them. Makayla was a bit further back, making sure the remaining magical girls stayed alive. Aside from Makayla, it did seem like Oros had cleaned out the more frail Ascendancy girls. It would get hairy if they found a way to surround her. And with a wall on either side of her, they just needed to get behind her somehow.

Oros kept her sword up. It was hard to tell how much of the blood she was coated with was her own, and how much belonged to her opponents. Barring her missing arm, her torso was charred all over from explosions, and there were no shortage of holes from being stabbed by shadow magic. She could run away, but she liked her odds. Oros took a deep breath and ran forward.

If she is using time stop, she needs to be doing something to shock herself. Oros kept a close eye on the girl, and got the answer she was looking for. While Rue had yet to get hit by a single attack, there was a small amount of blood on her earing. It had a lot of fine points on it, and she looked like she was reaching for it with her open hand as Oros charged in. There was no blood on her hand from prior uses, but Makayla was keeping them healed up, so there was likely why there was no evidence of her using it. ”Bingo.”

As soon as Ru went to activate her time stop, Oros briefly gave herself a dense outer shell. So dense in fact that she couldn’t even move with it on. A cluster of explosions erupted all around her, but it wasn’t enough to break her defenses.

”Creature!”

”I’ve fucked people who called me worse things than that!”

Oros’s shell broke and she sprinted towards Rue. Sashona and Nura stood together to brace for impact, but Oros dove over their heads and landed behind them. Rue was quick to turn around and hold her knife up, while Nura and Sashona maneuvered around to protect her.

”Surely you did not think you could charge through us to get to Rue?” Nura grit her teeth.

”Actually, I wanted to get better acquainted with your healer.” Oros extended her arm towards Makayla. Before the three beacon girls could rush down Oros, she shifted to her home world with Makayla, and just Makayla.

…

…

…

”Man, never thought that nerf to my ability to void shift would actually be a buff. Can you imagine how much more dangerous that would be to use if the radius was big enough to bring your friends along?”

Makayla took a few steps backward and held her staff out between Oros and herself. ”What is it that you plan to do with me?”

”Well, I had a few ideas.” Oros walked closer to the healer. ”I thought I’d capture what few of your friends remained and lock them up in here.” She stepped on Makayla’s foot, and she fell onto her back. ”Then I just thought we’d all kind of sit tight and, you know...” Oros looked the girl up and down with a mischievous grin. ”Hah! No, I’m just kidding! I just thought it would be easier to murder you if your friends weren’t crawling all over my back. Instant healing from any wound for ten seconds is really annoying!” Oros lifted her foot over the nun’s head. ”Let’s see if you run out of mana before I run out of stamina!”

…

…

…

When oros teleported back into the alleyway, only fifteen seconds had ticked by. If even that long. She had returned with Makayla’s shattered corpse under her foot, and her remaining opposition looked like they were searching the area. Or perhaps they had anticipated she would return, and spread out so that they could more easily surround her. Sashona and Rue were on one side, and Nura was on the other. Their fists trembled when they saw another one of their fallen allies.

”Well I’m not going to run away.” A tentacle sprung out of Oros’s severed shoulder to act as a makeshift arm. ”Six against one isn’t a good match up in real life. You really need a big area to properly make use of your numbers, and a crowded alleyway just isn’t that good.” She shrugged. ”Now that there’s just three of you, I think you might stand a chance.”

Oros wasn’t going to get caught off guard by Rue’s bombs again. When she reached for her earring, her fingers would brush up against a long, slender tentacle. It had coiled around her earring and was prepared to yank it off. She attempted to cut the earring free, but a second tentacle had coiled around her arm. That wouldn’t have stopped her, but the tentacle was joined by many more. A proverbial nest seemed to erupt under her feet and were crawling across her legs and torso to bind her arms.

”Tentacles!” Sashona rushed to Rue’s side to help free her.

”Sashona, no!” Nura’s words reached her friend just in time as she turned around to see a massive crystal alter sliding her way. It seemed to have been kicked in her direction by a reasonably strong magical girl, and had a glowing magical girl riding on top of it. Sashona raised her arm, and shadowy spears flew out to try and stop it. But the crystal slab reflected so much light that it couldn’t be stopped by shadow magic. It acted like a prism, launching multicolored rays of light in all directions. ”Be thankful I’m not flashing colors to cause seizures. That would be really diabolical.”

Sashona stood her ground, raising her cross to smash through the slab and it’s rider. It was hard to see with them glowing so brightly however. Oros was able to dive over Sashona’s head for the second time this fight, and plunged her sword through Rue’s chest. She was too strong to die from a single swing, but it didn’t take Oros long to pull the sword out and divide the woman’s torso in half. With tentacles binding her limbs in place, there was little she could do to defend herself. The tentacles borrowed into her open flesh untill she stopped moving.

”Man, that one really broke my heart. That was such a cool outfit.” There was no waiting for Oros to heckle them further. Sashona and Nura had cornered Oros at the end of a dead end street. ”Well you’ve taken a tole on my mana reserves, but there’s only two of you left. Too many people died here for you to give up now, right?”

But Sashona and Nura weren’t paying attention to Oros’s heckling. They were throwing shade at each other.

”Was keeping the monster occupied so hard, Nura?”

”I had o idea she had her legs locked around the alter! I swung as hard as I could at her, and it shoved her towards Rue when she blocked it!”

”Don’t you think at all?”

”Hey!” Oros shouted. ”This is already a really long post. We don’t need to hear-”

”Silence!”

”Sheesh!”

Mad as they might be, the Ascendancy didn’t get careless just because they were upset on a mission. They still had a monster to taker down. Oros didn’t have a lot of room to maneuver either. It wasn’t like jumping above the ally was an option when both of her opponents were so physically strong.

As Nura prepared to run Oros through, she’d find that her thrust had a lot more power than normal. That was largely because Oros was using her gravity magic to pull her in as close as possible. Oros raised her sword just as the two ran each other through. While Oros’s beastly nature made her impervous to pain, the same could not be said for Nura. This bought Oros the seconds she needed to release her sword and swipe at Nura’s head. Oros’s hands had turned into sharp talons,which had no difficulty stripping away the girl’s flesh. Her head was reduced to a bare skull in seconds.

Sashona's cross crushed both Oros and what remained of Nura. As durable as Oros was, that was the attack that broke both of her legs. She reached for her sword, but it was still trapped in Nura’s torso, which had been mashed into her right arm. Nura was made out of stronger stuff than most magical girls. Even with Oros’s tremendous strength, she wouldn’t be freeing her sword with Sashona so close by.

”You know what I think?” Sashona hoisted her cross over her head again. This would be the final blow. ”I think we might have found a way to make you shut up.”

”Not likely.”

As Sashona’s cross descended, Oros drew her left hand (it was a tentacle at this point) and pulled the dark sword that mint girl had given her out of her hammer space. She could only do so much against a giant club, but guiding the attack into her left shoulder was far better that taking it directly in the face. Her left shoulder snapped once the attack landed. After deflecting the attack, Oros sent out a tentacle to swat Sashona in the shins, causing her to fall forward onto the sword that skewered her friend seconds ago.

”Ngh!”

”You done yet?” Oros took hold of the Ascendancy girl’s head and drove swarms of tentacles into her eyes. She didn’t have long to scream before every hole on her face was filled with an appendage. At last, it was quiet.

It was unlikely she was going to finish that interview today. She’d have to call Pak-a-fist up to schedule again.

…

…

…

Oros dragged her body through the snow. Her legs were fractured, she didn’t have the mana to keep her left arm in tact, and her torso had been stabbed and crushed with numerous weapons, not to mention the bits of her that were burned by explosions.

”And that’s how you do it!” She didn’t know where she was going, just that she couldn’t return to the Golden Trove. They were expecting her there. She needed to recover first. ”Yea, Eden had a pretty good plan, but she didn’t solo six Ascendancy girls, so who really cares?” She fell against a tree. ”Anyone can just blow a psychic nuke, right? Just gotta push a button in the right area.” As she slid down the tree, her blood coated it. ”Though being unkillable sounds pretty useful. It’s not really my style though.” Oros laid in a heap at the foot of the tree. ”I mean a hero has to struggle to get what they want. Nothing’s ever easy for the hero. Not if they’re interesting.” It was time for Oros to switch into hibernation mode if she wanted to survive. ”What… What the fuck am I struggling for?” Oros’s eyes closed, and a single tear frose on her cheek.

…

…

…

A picture of Oros engaging six nuns still hangs in Mia and Connie’s room. The type of masterpiece that can only be captured by a hero who was really there.

---

Oros raised an eyebrow at Amanda. She was unsure how pretending to be lewded by someone could invoke this much ire. It wasn’t an undesirable reaction, but it was unexpected in a way that even Oros didn’t like. Moreover, she had a… youthful appearance. She wasn’t really in the mood to hunt for a replacement for Eliza, but Oros’s interest was piqued. Maybe it was how such a little body could display so much emotion that intrigued her. Once Amanda got to seven, she stood up.

”That’s the kind of anger that only a quick game of Keijo can cure!” She pointed over her shoulder. ”If you want to spank me for real, I’m afraid you’re going to have to do it there. Dan only lets Penny beat people up outside of sports.”

”Oros!” Pak-A-Fist waved her hand. ”We should catch up!”

”Yea, we should. Maybe after the tourney.” She turned back to Amanda. ”Anyway, I’d be cool with sparring. I don’t mind aggressive opponents. Gotta be ready for the Rachel-Champion-Oros Giga Battle.” She patted the purple haired girl on the shoulder. ”Or don’t, your call.”

As soon as Oros departed. That oddly unnamed magical girl followed after her.

…

…

…

Now that Oros was in the sunny beach side of the dimension, she decided to put on that yakuza jacket. She was standing on an island all by herself, overdressed as she was.

”Just gotta keep my swimsuit hidden for as long as possible.” And she was numb, too. So being dressed up like this did not cause her any discomfort. ”Still gotta do my stage play, might do that while I’m waiting for fights to wrap up.”

That was when the nameless quiet girl landed just a few feet away from her.

”Oh cool, you showed up.” Oros stretched. ”I guess this is where the generic bad guy says everything is going according to plan. But since I’m a good guy, I guess I can say something like IT’S ALL COMING TOGETHER!” Oros chuckled. ”Right, but we’ve likely gained the attention of a few people by now, so maybe don’t act too weird? Even if nobody reads this long ass post, people like to skim and read the colored text.”

With a shrug, the quiet girl was covered in sparkles, which dissipated to reveal her swim suit.

”There we go, and you’re even smiling now! Well, in your art anyway.” Oros looked around. ”Guess we’d better get you some sparring partners.” She snapped her fingers, and a portal opened up. ”Courtesy of the big guy. Don’t fight them all at once.” She chuckled again.

That was when a literal army of girls with strangely feline features and cat shaped swim suits came out of the portal one at a time until the island was full.

”Of course if you’re anything like me, those odds don’t scare you. And let’s be real, we’re pretty much the same person.” Oros was about to leave the island when she sensed the quiet girl was still looking at her. ”What? You want me to hold your hand? Look, I don’t need practice. I’ve been on a ground hog day loop for fifty years. If you think I never played any Keijo, you got another thing coming.” Oros continued to walk away. ”We’ve got this in the bag. Just keep doing exactly what I tell you to do.” She looked over her shoulder. ”And it wouldn’t kill you to talk every once in a while, you know?”

The quiet girl nodded before looking back at all of her challengers. Maybe she could share a few of them?

But she wouldn't have long to find someone to take them off her hands. The first one was already in a combat stance. "Don't get distracted! Fight me!”

The quiet girl rolled her shoulders, revealing a butterfly "tattoo" nestled under her swimsuit.

Okay. Mariette stood and was trying to think this through. So why exactly had she entered?

Right. That’s right. Because she had a unique set of skills that could allow her to overcome certain opponents.

There was also the tiny, tiny chance that she’d be able to plead with a superior opponent that they could fight to get the mirror back for her.

Mariette gazed at the name of her opponent on the screen…

‘I… don’t think that will be happening…’ Mariette grunted a sad sigh. If Justine was even the slightest the horror that Caroline was, then this was going to be very, very hard. Mariette had the physical ability of a regular human. A regular human with a lot of tentacles and portal-powers, but a regular human nonetheless.

‘I am truly impressed by your ability to make a fool out of yourself. Go ahead. I will clean up your mess,’ Lea told her, in the room they’d decided to prepare in. With that said, she walked away, not intending on watching.

Mariette sighed, squeezing her bunny a bit. Josefin had stuffed her full of magic. Taihei had her swallow a protective artifact. Suzette had instilled some sense of determination. Still, it was hard to look forward to this.

Eventually, her name was called out for the next match…

and Mariette opened a portal and walked out on the stage, wearing an eyepatch, still holding her bunny. She’d drop him off in a second.



Not long after, Justine could be seen slowly walking towards the arena, temporarily paused by the spotlight that Dan had shone on her, causing her to shield her eyes.

"This is going to be a battle for the books, ladies and gentlemen! Mariette Pedersen versus Justine Visceral!" Dan's voice could be heard squeaking in excitement.

”It’s the fight we all heard about, but few of us saw!-”

"Here at Keijo Live, with your hosts Dan the Dolphin and Pac-a-a-fist!”
The camera panned over the contestants faces, before placing them in a split-screen for the broadcast.
“Two newcomers to the Keijo scene, but with enough animosity towards each other to blow up a plane of existence! Who will be the winner of this grudge match?"

”The one who practiced their combos more!” Pac-a-fist’s mic was filled with the sound of her slurping.

Justine sighed, having figured that the dolphin would exaggerate their old feud and make a spectacle of it. She couldn't help but think what this might have been like had she not been freed of Father's influence. Perhaps she would have flown in with grandiose style, or worn a red robe that she'd let be flown away by blood bats like a rising curtain to a stage play.
She'd surely have made a scene all of her own, so severe was her megalomania back then.

But now, like this, there was no enjoyment to be had in this match, no sense of satisfaction, for Justine was born anew, now sworn to Maura's service. But what's more, Justine had heard a shocking secret from Penny; that Mariette was also liberated, now free to have her own choices. Since that was the case, Justine felt that Mariette was the braver of the two of them, for she had willingly stepped forth to face her.

She respected that choice, and honoured it by flying gracefully over to the platform, her eyes closed and arms crossed in an X-pattern.
When she landed, she opened her eyes, and met Mariette's gaze, her red eyes shining like rubies in the light. Inside, she felt afraid, worried for what Mariette may say. But she steeled her resolve match Mariette's determination.

"Mariette…" She spoke, carefully choosing her words.
"For a time longer than I'd like to admit, I was obsessed with you. I wished to destroy you, to prove myself superior. I was jealous of you. Even now, as Father's bloody grip had let go of my will, I still remember that fiery passion consuming my thoughts. However, I won't let such pettiness color my perception any more. I'm here to fight not because of hate or envy, but because I wanted to prove myself, and cut free of my past. Now, to meet you again like this, eye to eye...For the first time, I see myself in that reflection."
She then took a combat pose, her white wings unfurled and her arms swept to her sides.

"Mariette, prepare yourself! Let's settle this...once and for all."

Mariette calmly watched as Justine landed, and winced a bit at Dan hyping up this battle. She was definitely imagining that it would pretty much be over immediately. Her opponent had wings, what was she supposed to do? Normally she’d want to restrain the wings with tentacles and then push her opponent into the water, but she could only touch her opponent with highly limited parts of her body. Ugh…

… Justine started to speak. Mariette looked on at her, her gaze focused but passive, her dose of determination from Suzette still shining. She listened, and… something took hold. A feeling she wasn’t… wasn’t entirely familiar with. Once, she feared, felt terror for Justine, but with Justine being reduced to this state, she no longer felt afraid. The feeling was replaced with another, far less welcome feeling. Disgust.

‘I… I despise you,’ Mariette said, the combination of words unfamiliar to her. ‘You ruined everything. Everything would have gone so smoothly if it wasn’t for you. Yet I-’

Wait. Whose perspective was she talking from? She blinked twice, a dawning realization going through her. If it hadn’t been for Justine killing Deni, so that she could come back free from Asengav’s influence. If it wasn’t for Justine launching that attack on her mansion, Deni wouldn’t have gotten to Eli, and Mariette wouldn’t have been, well, tricked into being unbrainwashed.

It’s not like Justine meant for any of that, yet from Justine’s perspective it was like all irritation suddenly left Mariette’s face and her one visible eye widened. Staring in shock at Justine.

Well, her irritation with Justine all of a sudden didn’t make sense, huh.

‘…’ She could hardly tell Justine what she just realized, but she gave a tiny smile. ‘Well… Thank you,’ she said, as paradoxical as it was.

When Mariette first derided her, Justine had the instinct to avert her eyes, to avoid looking at her former nemesis’ scorn. But she couldn’t look away this time, as she promised herself to only look forward, towards the future. So she hardened her expression so she could stay stoic. But then, something seemed to dawn on Mariette based on the change in her expression. Justine didn’t understand what it was, but she was nonetheless taken back by Mariette’s gratitude.

‘Right, let’s get this underway,’ Mariette said, giving Bunny a hug before dropping him into a portal, for some reason smiling as she turned to face Justine in battle. ‘Let’s have fun.’

Justine nodded, her eyebrows furrowed.
”Certainly.”
There was no backing down, and she would see this through.

”Yahoo! Go Justine and Mariette’!” Lily was in the audience, hopping up and down on her seat to wave to the two.
”I'm rooting for you both!”

”That was the strangest round of trash talking I’ve ever seen. Kinda cute though.” Pac-a-fist set aside her drink and adjusted her mic. ”God has failed us, Date 1, IT’S LORD’S SPAGHETTI!”

Mariette brought her hands together and clapped… and a maze of portals opened across the platforms they were supposed to be standing on. Josefin had given Mariette a surplus of mana, and she knew how to use it. A specific portal opened with the express intention of cutting sight between Justine and herself, and Mariette quickly turned to jump through a portal to another platform that was also obscured from sight from Justine, along with numerous others. Mariette kept several portals to varying locations open for herself as options, while tiny portals from her eyepatched eye to varying points in the skies and around the battlefield told her about Justine’s exact position at all times.

Justine just moving past some portals would obviously give her the intel about Mariette’s current position, but Mariette would be able to see where she was going before it was too late. Then it was simply a matter of finding an opportunity to attempt using her (pathetic) physical ability to try to knock Justine in the water. She couldn’t actually portal Justine, because that’d be an offensive use of her magic, but she sure could use it for everything else.

To note, no, Mariette can’t do all these portals like this instantly, she’d been charging her magic and preparing to open all these portals ever since she arrived, while they were talking.

“And Mariette opens with an awe-inspiring display of her unique magic!” Dan commented.
“The Placid Portalist has filled the arena with what appear to be mirrors, but are actually gateways in space! Like a worm in an apple, Mariette has single-handedly carved out a network for herself!”

”A network with rollback netcode if I’m not mistaken!”

The moment the bell was rung, Justine swiftly took to the air, aiming to close the distance between herself and Mariette. But as she predicted, Mariette blocked her line of sight to herself with a portal and escaped. She glanced over at a tiny portal situated near her, aware of Mariette’s modus operandi. But while Mariette was fully aware of Justine’s position at all times, Justine could also track Mariette. The girl’s nose twitched, and she twirled towards the back-left, catching Mariette’s slam with a hip-parry, sending her back through a portal from the impact; Mariette could tell that Justine, unburdened by her heavy dress, was even faster than before, and possessed the kind of strength that, while not as ridiculous as Penny or Freya, still presented a real threat to knock her out with a well-aimed blow.

”Clever, but you won’t win by hiding!” She stated, and circled the arena, making sure to keep an eye out for any portals opening near her.

"And a lightning-fast counter from Justine! Ooh, that must have hurt!" Dan commented.
"But so far this has become an outright dogfight! The contestants are off the platform and out of control, just like the famous Keijo team Wonderbolts who have passed the world record for the most consecutive slams without touching the ground. And those girls did not fly!"

Mariette grunted a bit when she arrived back on her side of the portal. Yeah, that figures. She did want to test Justine’s reaction-speed in a safe-ish environment, and this was it. Turns out, they’re really quick. In a straight one-on-one physical fight, Mariette wouldn’t stand a chance. Anyway… Hiding won’t help, huh.

Mariette flexed her magical muscles, and… did something extreme. She grunted as she did it. It took a lot of effort. But, to those in the audience and to Justine, nothing was happening. Still. Mariette walked through a portal.

‘Then how about I show myself?’

As Mariette asked her question through tiny portals close to Justine for no other reason than verbal communication, all her portals turned to face Justine, and all of them switched their destination. Through every single one of them, Mariette was looking back at her, on only slightly different angles. Visually, there was a whole array of different Mariette’s standing some distance back from each of the portals, only her ankles upwards showing due to the angle. Behind her she had nothing but the sky. All the Mariettes tilted their heads, because of course it was the same one seen through a vast array of portals, and she gave a small smile.

‘What will you do, then?’

”Imagine getting a zoom call, but all the other callers are your sworn nemesis.” Pac-a-fist snapped her fingers. ”That’s gotta be some serious dread Justine is feeling right now.”

Justine stopped once a small portal opened, only to grit her teeth as more portals opened up. And on each of those portals she could see Mariette smiling back at her, each of them only minimally different, creating the illusion that Mariette had duplicated herself into countless copies.

”What...What are you planning?” Justine slowly spun in place, her knee lifted in a defensive pose, expecting Mariette to attack at any moment.
”I see...You’re trying to wear me down mentally, and make me lose my guard. As expected of you to find ways to outsmart me,” she added.

“What’s this? Mariette has stopped Justine in her tracks...With portals of herself!”
The broadcast zoomed in to show the constructs in better detail.
“As if this wasn’t already a circus of wonders, now Mariette has built a funhouse of mirrors. She has quite literally stopped hiding!”

Justine thought of how to approach this, until her eyes flashed with an epiphany.
”But that’s still not enough!”
At that moment, Justine swooped down, causing Mariette to lose track of her; Justine had figured out that Mariette had to be standing on a portal above Justine, which meant she created a blindspot directly under her. Justine made a spiraling U-turn, causing Mariette’s perception to also spin as she used her Awareness to follow Justine, inadvertently causing her to turn in place and disorient her. That was when Justine came forth through a portal to ram with her chest, forcing Mariette to escape.

Mariette blinked, taking a part step back as Justine suddenly sped up to massive speeds, her smile replaced with a sudden surge of uncertainness. Her Awareness was doing its darndest to follow Justine’s movements, but it was hard. Justine was just so absurdly much faster than Mariette, that it was throwing her whole plan into question. Everything depended on Mariette’s timing, if she messed it up, she’d lose for sure. She did her best, trying to track Justine’s movements…

On instinct, perhaps as a fearful reaction, Mariette managed to make the tentacles attached to her feet start pulling herself through the portal she was standing on just before she’d actually registered that Justine was surging through the portal at her. Mariette forced her eyes shut, yet still did the magical switch she intended, and-!

Justine just barely missed her, Mariette feeling the force of Justine’s passing as the portal closed above her. But now, Justine had flown through the portal, and…

She was in a room. A room of portals. The portals weren’t ovals, like Mariette’s usual portals, they were square. The sky in the background had been a giant square portal, it just wasn’t visible from the other side of the portals due to the angle. As soon as she entered, the portals behind her snapped shut, and she was now in a room where all portals linked back to the wall on the other side of the portals, locked in somewhere.

Justine’s eyes narrowed into slits as she recognized the darkness she had arrived in.
”Ah, this is-!”

Mariette lay gasping on a platform, and to the audience she was now alone. Justine wasn’t anywhere in the arena. That is, that they could see. Mariette smiled, and held up a hand.

‘With that… I should win,’ she said, and snapped her fingers.

All the portals around Justine suddenly disappeared.

In their place, a flood of water suddenly came crashing down on her.

Mariette had created the room of portals underwater and tricked Justine into it.

“Well, Justine seems to have left the arena and gone off-bounds,” Dan commented, sounding baffled.
“I suppose the winner is-”

At that moment, the surface of the water broke, and a shape emerged up from the surface, causing Mariette to gasp as she saw what it was; a red cocoon, which then opened dramatically like two bat wings, scattering the water away and revealing Justine inside. But most shockingly, Justine did not show a single drop of water on her body.
She breathed heavily.

”Devious move, Mariette. You’re really creative with those portals of yours. That is admirable.”

“WHAT! I can’t believe what information light is transmitting to my retinas!” Dan screamed, sounding like he was out of his mind.
“Mariette had performed an underwater entombing, but Justine had somehow survived with a barrier of blood! This is crazy! This is nuts! But this is what Keijo’s all about!”

”Sometimes you need to bleed to win but this is something else!” Pac-a-fist took hold of Dan’s fin. ”Does Mariette have anything left to fight back with?”

Mariette lay on the platform, her head slightly raised watching Justine for a bit, before a portal promptly opened under her and more portals opened across the arena in order to hide her location again. Mariette herself landed on a portal diagonally above and behind Justine, crouching to hide herself. It was all in preparation to continue the battle. But, what could she even do? She’d tried the best trick she could think of, literally entombing Justine in an underwater prison, and it didn’t work. What was she supposed to-

Suddenly, a voice was singled out from the crowds, as the silver haired beauty in a swimsuit bounced up and down. “Go Mariette! Dunk that poopy-head! Even if you’re my lifetime rival, I’m cheering for you in this one. Just think with portals! Portals are pipes, and you can make the most complicated pipeway of them all. Bet a bat can’t fly straight if the places keep changing!”

That voice belonged to Tenebra… who once had been in Mariette's opposition.

Justine's eyes widened in shock, and she turned her head towards Tenebra's direction.
"What? That girl...How is she still alive? I'm sure she didn't have a Soul Jar…"
Her back turned to Mariette, the eyepatched girl could take advantage of the distraction.

Mariette blinked at the sudden change of circumstances. Seemed like Mariette had gained an unexpected ally. While the girl’s tips were obvious, she’d created an unexpected opportunity. Attacking was risky, but she couldn’t afford not to try to take advantage of it.

Mariette flung a dark tentacle to grab the rim of one of her portals, and had the tentacle swing her down towards Justine. While she herself had no physical ability, her tentacles were driven by magic and were another story altogether.

She opened a portal, one just in the corner of Justine’s eyes somewhat below her, meant to draw her gaze and distract her. It led directly into the water. … And a moment later came Mariette, uncomfortable with the speed she was travelling in, yet intent on having her tentacle just punch her into Justine with behind first to try to drive the bewinged girl into the portal into water.

In case of a miss, she’d intentionally made the tentacle too short to actually drive herself into the water and she’d end up bungee-jumping back where she came from. It probably would hurt her fragile form a lot, too. Regardless of hit or miss. But, with her last strategy failing and mana dwindling, she was desperate.

Justine’s eyes darted down, and her breath hitched as she realized what Mariette’s plan had become; she intended to bring the surface of the water right up to her.

“Unfathomable! Mariette has turned herself into a weapon!” Dan commented with a half-shout.

However, this epiphany had arrived too late, as she turned and saw Mariette, swung by her own tentacle like she was a mallet, right into her stomach; While Mariette was physically the weakest contestant in the tournament, her tentacle granted her the momentum to slam herself hard at Justine.

“And she hit!”

The hit surged a fierce pain into Mariette’s behind. It was far too fast an impact for her regular-human-vitality body. But it was her last chance to win…!

”Guh!”
This seemed like the end for Justine, as she swiftly reached the portal…
When suddenly, she shot a red strand of hardened blood from her palm. She couldn’t touch Mariette with her magic...But her own magical construct was exempt from the rule. Attached to the dark tendril just at the moment it snapped back like a bungee cord, Justine managed to barely avoid dipping her toes into the water by pulling herself along with the tentacle.

“And Justine recovered! Ahh, I can’t watch!” Dan once again shouted, having covered his eyes with his fins in the reaction camera located on the corner of the broadcast.

”Don’t worry, leave the commentating to me. You can just go home!”

”Now this is it! The real, fighting you!”
Justine shouted, and her eyes glowed as she accelerated the blood in her veins, turning so fast Mariette had to rely on her Awareness to follow her.

“Justine’s gone to Gear Two!” Dan commented. “She’s zipping around like greased lightning! What does greased lightning even look like? I don’t know, but it’s fast all right!””

”I thought you weren’t looking!”

”I finally saw it in your eye! The Mariette who didn’t give up, who bested me!”
Justine came down from below, and smashed the portal Mariette created between them with a sharp spin of her wings.
”Thank you, Mariette.”
Mariette instinctively knew she was out, the moment Justine managed to grab her own tentacle to keep from falling. Yet, it was the only thing she could do to open another portal and try to grab it with tentacles and pull herself…!

But, before Mariette threw herself through the portal, Justine performed a rising uppercut with her butt, striking her right in the chin and knocking her out. Having lost consciousness, Mariette passed through the closing portal, and then plummeted into the water.

“And Justine wins!” Dan shouted, but the former vampire had no time for festivities; she dove into the water like a spear, and lifted Mariette up from the water, with Mariette’s arm thrown over her shoulder. She grabbed a dark blue towel from Dan and draped it around Mariette, before she set her to sit on a bench.

________

When Mariette came to, Justine was standing at the edge of the pool, facing away from her.
”Mariette, thank you for allowing me to fight you. It...allowed me to sort my feelings, to understand that in the end, victory no longer means anything to me...Except for one thing.”
She turned to Mariette, and gently took her hand.
”You knew you wouldn’t have any chances in this tournament, yet you still gave it an honest attempt. I see how much the Black Mirror means to you, and how much willpower you have to reach that goal.”
She averted her eyes, looking unsure, before she quietly spoke:
”So...If I am to win this tournament, I’ll give the Mirror to you. How about that?”

Mariette grunted awake, feeling dizzy and definitely feeling in pain from numerous places. She flinched a bit as Justine turned out to be close to her, but calmed down when she realized her circumstances. Mariette sighed out, sitting up and leaning on her legs. She silently listened to Justine talk. She kind of felt empty. What did her determination mean, she lost anyway. She let her hand be taken, albeit didn’t really feel a lot of connection by the gesture. That is, before Justine made her final offer. Mariette blinked like shook awake, her mouth parting a bit. She had to take a bit of time before answering.

‘I… I would greatly appreciate that…’ she said, and didn’t find that she could say much more.

Justine nodded with a smile, and released Mariette’s hand.
”I’m glad to hear that.” She took the red towel offered by Dan, and began drying herself up.
Now then, I'll be going. I still have a moment before the second bracket matches start, and I’d like to rest up a bit. You really pushed me into fighting seriously, Mariette. You seemed like the weakest player, but you were close to winning there at some points.”

”Hey! Justine!”
Justine turned to see Lily approach her, and waved uneasily to Mariette.

”...I have to go now. Goodbye.”
She then walked away, as Lily buzzed around her in excitement, but not before she also waved to Mariette.

Mariette nodded to Justine’s words, a hand going to her own butt, which still hurt from that impact earlier. Not to mention her chin, but that aside. All she could say for now was… ‘Good luck,’ she said, as she portalled Bunny back to her and squeezed him tightly. ‘I’ll…’ Oh, this next part is going to sound weird, Mariette realized before she said it. ‘I’ll be rooting for you.’

Except if Justine was facing any of Mariette’s own girls, of course, but that aside.

A big building of scaffolding rose up from the water. It was composed of sturdy bars in square patterns, leaving plenty of room to acrobat one’s way through, or to fall down into the waters below. Four smaller similar buildings were placed in the four cardinal directions, and it was on two of those that the combatants were going to start.



‘Are you SUUURE I can’t hit them with my tail!? Isn’t it, like, an extension of my butt!?’ Mayra unreasonably attempted negotiation.

‘Pfffth, hahaha, maybe you should try it and see if you get disqualified,’ Jelena replied, crossing her metal arms and chuckling at the currently-not-particularly dragon-like dragon-girl.

‘Aw, being disqualified would be no fun. This game has some weird rules. But I won’t let that stop me! I’m pumped!’ Mayra called out, some fire burning in her eyes, and she turned around to see if Connie or Mia were in the stands anywhere so she could wave at them.

Connie and Mia were indeed present, and upon catching sight of Mayra, Connie waved at her draconic friend. “G-Good luck, Mayra!” she called out. “W-We’ll be c-cheering for you!”

Mayra grinned happily and waved energetically to her friends, before turning back to Jelena.

‘But, yikes, to think that you of all people got the tiniest swimsuit…’ Jelena commented, herself having ended up in a school swimsuit, of all things.

‘Yeah! Suits me, right! I don’t wear anything as a dragon, so it makes sense I wouldn’t wear much now, either, right?’ Mayra called out while beaming.

‘… Uh-huh,’ Jelena made a sound, kinda getting an impression that maybe Mayra didn’t actually understand what some might think seeing her like this. ‘Anyway, can you eat this? It’ll totally increase your specs,’ Jelena asked, handing over a ball of something.

‘Huh? Oh, sure! Thank you, Jelena!’ Mayra said and grinned as she took the ball and stuffed it in her mouth. She bit into it, and it was very crunchy, and Mayra flinched a bit as she bit into it and slowly managed to swallow it. ‘That… that felt weird. Are you sure about what that was?’

‘Absolutely! There’s no way that won’t help you!’ Jelena said with a smirk.

‘Well… Okay! If you say so!’ Mayra smiled brightly once again.

At some point, Mayra’s name was announced.

‘Ooooh, my turn!’ Mayra excitedly called, forgetting all about the thing she just ate. ‘Just gonna…’ she said, momentarily placing her hands here and there on her body to check something. Eventually she was done. ‘Okay! I’m all set!’

‘Good luck!’ Jelena wished her with a small wave.

With that, Mayra jumped up, blasting off like a rocket of muscle and fire, doing several somersaults before landing with a perfect crouch on the metal bars on top of the building on her side of the scaffolded arena. ‘Alright… I’m ready!’

Sann eyed the Regent for one last time, as she cracked her sore neck. Resurrection. Then training. She was a bit stiff. Well, at least the swimsuit left a lot of room for movement, and little room to imagination.

“You called yourself a Varangian. Surely you know you must prove it now. We’re in a bit of a bind with the tournament. It’s a costly affair, and we need to save as much as we can for the aftermath.”

Sann just eyed the other team, as she yawned. “I’m hungry too. They get doping snacks for themselves. Surely it must be nice being a gaggle of horror groupies…” The Valkyrie trailed off tilting her head.

“Oh well, that only shows how much they fear defeat… how unworthy, heeeehe.” Sanngridr would then giggle, grabbing a pick-me-up soda, as she began to walk towards the ring.

Dina eyed Sanngridr. “Remember what we talked about during training.” The catgirl would then usher a goodbye.

“Yeah, granny Kitty. I got that covered.” The monster girl would then flap her wings, and in a single bout, reach the top of the scaffolding opposite Mayra.

“We’re here at Keijo Live, with your hosts Dan The Dolphin and Pac-a-fist!” Dan’s voice blared out.

”That’s me!”

“And now, a match brimming with passion for bloodbath, a thrill to kill, and the fiery spirit of fighting! It’s a womano-o-womano of woe! Featuring Sanngridr the Slayer and Mayra, the Darkflame Dragon of Doom! Good thing we got a bunch of water on hand, or this might get too hot!”

Sann proceeded to loudly drink the rest of her cola, and look at her manicure. “So like, are you a newt or a skink? Or just someone with a skin condition? I bet you eat bugs or something.” Sann would then speak towards Mayra.

Mayra grinned widely and assumed this was shit-talking, so she lifted a hand and pointed at Sann. ‘Well, you’re a pigeon, so that makes two of us! I bet you have to scavenge after others, too!’ she said, and then bent her back backwards to laugh out loud. When she was done, she dropped down again, bending her knees to prepare to pounce off the bars, prepared for battle.

‘I’m Mayra McCullough, the “Flame Demon”, but I’m actually a dragon. You?’ she asked, fighting spirit coursing through her.

Sann just kept making slurpy sounds, eyeing the flame demon, an eyebrow raised. "Someone who can't be bothered with you or this. Kitty cat promised me fights against great opponents. This is not even a fight."

Sann did not even bother to assume a stance.

Mayra but chuckled at Sann’s proclamation.

‘What, are you some super-being who is leagues above all other magical girls? Are you a deity in disguise? I’m thrilled! Show me what you got!’

Pac-a-fist thrust her hand into the air. ”And with the trash talking out of the way, the battle can commence!”

The bell rang, announcing the start of the fight.
With that, Mayra combined a burst of fire with the thrusting of her legs and blasted off! She went from her building onto the main building, jumping through the scaffolding not directly at Sann, but acrobatically swinging from bar to bar sideways just in case. She wasn’t so stupid that she’d launch directly at Sann without some proper footing, but nonetheless, there was no way Mayra wasn’t going on the offensive.

Sann flapped her wings, readying herself for something… and then realized she needed another cola.

"Sigh. Just give up." She considered briefly putting the fire lizard in her place. But there were bigger fish to fry. "Unbound pluckiness isn't going to work. You'll just tire out."

“Mayra has gone on the prowl, but Sann has not moved a single step!” Dan commented, sounding baffled.
“Has she already accepted defeat, or does she have an ace hidden up her sleeve? Well, she’s not wearing sleeves, so we just have to see!”

”I don’t know Dan, she doesn’t look like she’s giving up to me.” Pac-a-fist reached for her sippy cup.. ”A stoic posture is common in those anime with super tough characters. She might have pretty wings, but you can tell she’s no angel.”

Her opponent’s confidence was just serving to make Mayra more curious! Did she have some form of ability that backed up her claims? Or was this sheer bluffing? Mayra had to know!

Mayra blasted herself over to Sann’s building, starting with planting her feet some distance away and a level lower to make sure that she wasn’t about to be surprise-knocked-off while jumping, and if that’d succeed she jumped up towards Sann!

Landing on the same bar as Sann, Mayra dashed headlong for her! For her first move, she crouched forward and gripped the bar tightly with her hands and then swung her whole half with her arms while clutching the bar, twisting herself so her rear would impact the space Sann was occupying while holding herself in place on the bar in case of an unexpected counter-attack! It kind of looked like weaponized break-dancing. Mayra really wanted to swing something at Sann, after all. Grinning the whole time.

And just like that, Mayra would feel like she had hit concrete with her butt, as a elegantly, breast shaped barrier had just erupted in between the two, all while Sann still looked a little bored.

Well, not exactly bored. She just smirked a little. Still, not really wanting to be caged by that lizard girl, she fluttered her wings and shot up to the sky, gaining ground in the process. No matter how much twisting and gripping Mayra could do, Sann knew that there was difficulty in shooting airborne targets with butt missiles.

"Hmm, I should have brought a magazine. Five minutes feels too long."

Mayra blinked a bit in surprise when her butt hit the barrier before hitting the girl, and she was locked with her behind against the barrier for a second or two. A wave of force probably emerged from the two, as it was the butt of a powerful physical magical girl and a Mag 20 barrier impacting one another. The dragon girl eventually vaulted back a small distance and crouched on the bar to assess the situation as Sann waved her wings and flew up in the sky.

‘Heeeey, can she do that? Block me with magic?’ Mayra asked, looking over towards the judge and pointing up at Sann.

“She sure can!” Dan answered, and the broadcast showed an excerpt from the official Keijo rulings. “Non-harmful magical constructs created in the environment are allowed! Which means Sann is playing the Bartolomeo game of stalling with barriers! How cheeky!
Let’s see if Mayra can crack this nut open!”

‘Huh,’ she made an acknowledging noise, and then looked up at Sann again. ‘So when you say I “wasn’t a match”, it wasn’t because I was easy to beat, but because you weren’t even going to fight me?’

"Both." Sann just giggled. "I think I am going to aim for a technical ringout."

She said, while charging up a barrier and reshaping it like a sword… before swooping down and targeting the scaffolding, causing it to break apart and fall down.

"You should learn to fly, lil lizard…"

‘Wha-!?’

Mayra made a pretty shocked noise as Sann swooped down and started cutting the building of scaffolding down! In a bit of panic, Mayra blasted with fire beneath her feet and launched back to the gathering of main scaffolding in the middle of the stage, as the scaffolding that she’d been on and Sann had started on collapsed into the water. Because the scaffolding was connected, as soon as one bit started to tumble, the rest would shortly follow…

‘Is that allowed!? Woa-!’ Mayra questioned, wide-eyed as the dragon girl retreated back as Sann cut more scaffolding.

Once again, Dan chimed in through the loudspeakers.
“She can! The platform may be shredded into tiny ribbons as far as the players want. But while flying contestants seem to take advantage of it, doing such leaves them open! But I have to say, Sann is not playing nice! She’s a loose cannon!”

”Too frequently are rule lawyers looked at as orderly people. But lawyers by their very nature are the scum of the earth! Always be wary of someone who knows the game better than you do!” Pac-a-fist’s slurping followed her announcement.

So, like, Mayra can’t fly. She can blast herself into the sky, and redirect her flight-path using bursts of fire, but she can’t do that indefinitely. Eventually gravity wins, and then she very much needs something to land on, and Sann was cutting down the stage. While Mayra could theoretically blast herself with full strength at Sann and hope it works, with Sann’s barrier, the difficulty of hitting a target swooping around and the fact missing meant probably launching herself off-stage or into water, that wasn’t a very appealing option.

‘Er, think, Mayra, think!’ she asks herself to do something that doesn’t come naturally. ‘What can I do? How can I catch her? Can I fly? Aaah, I’m not a winged dragon right now…!’ she called, jumping back from bar to bar as the scaffolding was collapsing behind her.

Guess that's enough. Sann would then dismiss the cutting tool with a giggle, and then in a surprising twist reinforce the scaffolding around Mayra, as she landed a few paces away.

"Seeing the difference yet? I feel a bit bad now. So I am giving you the chance to slog it out Keijo style like the granny kitty taught me " Sann would then taunt, assuming an stance.

‘Eh?’ Mayra made a surprised noise when Sann reinforced the last bit of scaffolding, a lone tower standing tall where a metropolis once stood. She looked with confusion towards Sann. ‘Oooh…’

She was demonstrating that she could win already, but was just engaging in this last battle just because. Honestly, Mayra liked the gesture, because it meant more fighting. However, it also severely annoyed her, because as far as she was concerned she was losing only because she couldn’t fly.

If only she could fly, but then the whole “falling” bit got in the way. Mayra could already apply force to herself in mid-air, if also she could also-

Mayra’s eyes widened. She blinked a little bit. Then she grinned, flexing some magic inside her. Then she looked straight back at Sann.

‘That’s really nice of you! If I was weaker, I’d have really appreciated it! But, it’s fine. You don’t need to hold back for me,’ she said, and then smiled so happily.

‘I can fly now!’ she called so happily.

Sann simply smiled back. “Nice is not the word, Mayra. See, the Regent wanted me to assert dominance in the tournament and at the same time, preserve my energy.”

“If you hound an opponent, one must be careful of leaving an exit path… so as to bleed them out. If I had gone all out from the start, eventually my stamina would’ve hit a limit.”

Sann’s eye glared an ominous red, as the Third Eye flared to life. “No, you’re not weak. I’m surprised you decided to accept a doping pill. It’s just that…”

The all..is...one Sann, focused, as her aura began to shift, tattoos crawling around her arms. An avatar form, copied from Dina.

“I am the Varangian of Sanctuary, you foolish one. And you owe me…Despair.”

“Whoah!” Dan squeaked. “Sann has powered up! She’s become Super God Sann Super God!”

”Not quite!” Pac slammed her hands into the counter ”She’s gone Super Sannan!”

‘Aaaaaaaah-!’ Mayra called out in amazement, eyes widening as she heard the words of her opponent. ‘The Regent? You’re the cat-lady’s champion! That… that makes you the third most powerful girl in Penrose! Maybe second!’ Mayra’s flawless logic determined.

‘Doping pill? What’s that?’ Mayra asked, completely unknowing about that particular subject. Regardless, then Sann’s Third Eye flared on, and she saw that Mayra was coated from head to toe in some form of Darkness magic, albeit it was hard to say what it did. Inside her, there was also some Metal magic, who knew what that did. Sann transformed… and Mayra’s hands went to her cheeks.

‘Wha… you’d… you’d use your super-form on little old me? I’m… sniff... I’m honored!’ Mayra made a show of dragging an arm over her eyes to get rid of tears. Then… she smirked.

Mayra bent her knees and jumped backwards, blasting fire out of her feet to gain significant height… right above water. She’d jumped clean off the scaffolding, looking fated to land in nothing but water as she vaulted backwards. But then, at the apex of her jump… a dark aura overtook her and she stopped in mid-air.

‘Look, look! I used a movement curse to stop myself from falling! From here, I can launch myself in any direction! I can fly now!’ Mayra called, so proud. ‘This is how I was going to fight you, but then you went and went super…’ she said, and chuckled so happily… then aimed a determined grin in her face.

‘… So, this makes you a legitimate threat, one that stands a high chance of winning this tournament. You know what this means?’ she said… before her eyes narrowed, and parts of her skin started glowing, like hot lava… ‘THAT MEANS I CAN USE ALL I HAVE TO TAKE YOU DOWN…!!’

Her skin cracked. Her back utterly destroyed itself, large pieces of mass growing out of it. Her limbs grew. Her body grew. Her bikini fell off, but that didn’t matter because what was behind it could no longer be identified as anything but scales. Mayra grinned, before her face lost the ability to as her face elongated. Her mass grew substantially, held in place by the dark aura… before it vanished, and was replaced by two massive wings waving down and keeping the creature in the air. The transformation was done.

Mayra roared.

“WHOAHHOOOHH!” Dan now screamed into the microphone. “Mayra’s also powered up! We’ve left the magical girl genre and entered the Kaiju fighting one! Hold on to your seats, it’s about to get explosive!”

”Keiju Keijo? Similar words, but can they co exist?”

Then the giant fire-dragon breathed out a massive burst of fire sideways that spun it around and forward, leading to a giant dragon-rear being directed to slam into Sann’s current position, and also maybe accidentally break the remaining scaffolding.

Mayra, the giant dragon, was still playing Keijo.

Sann raised an eyebrow. Mayhaps this was what Odin’s warning meant. People sometimes in this magical world, had a stubborn inner voice that dictated to do everything backwards.

She breathed in deep, as she saw the titanic dragon ass invade her view, and hit her quite hard. Any other girl might have easily lost consciousness due to a variety of factors, but in Sann’s case, her body… was a puppet for her Soul.

Her body crackled, coating herself in sorceries, as the scaffolding hit her backside. Hold it. was what she thought as the shadow of the giant figure grew, and grew on the pool as the impact was imminent.

Now

Then at the last second… Sann shifted inside Mayra’s butt shadow, reemerging on the other side, her butt in contact with Mayra’s back, and now giving it a further push. The fact that her opponent had doped herself in darkness magic made the transition easier. With little reaction time, she poured all of the enhancements into her. like a storm of magic.

Reinforced Body. Electrified Nerves. Diamond Skin. Metal shell. Beast Might. Gravity manipulation.

Time manipulation.

Becoming not unlike the beast that Dina had turned into during Mariette’s raid to counter Leena and Fanfan. Provided that was too much, but it was a giant target, she was now butt-slamming on to the pool adding her momentum to the one present when the dragon first striked.

The massive force of strength that was the dragon’s strike with its rear descended on the remaining tower of scaffolding and on Sann’s position. A wave of power emanated from the impact, as few things in this world would have been able to oppose such a blow. Sann, however, didn’t actually need to oppose it. Whereas Mayra’s Monstrous Metamorphosis gave her a power boost and a size-increase, it was also only that, a power boost.

Avatar was so much more.

With darkness magic transitioning to the other side of Mayra, Sann received a perfect spot to deliver her counter attack with every imaginable enhancement at once, and with time-manipulation being one of them it was impossible to dodge the strike. Her strike interrupted and her flight disrupted, the huge dragon came crashing down through the rest of the scaffolding towards the water…!

“Holy smokes! Sann is slamming with the force of a meteorite! Will Mayra’s dragon days come to an end!?”

”Only if she doesn’t possess magic resistance like her JRPG counterparts!”

When she froze, the entire giant dragon came to a sudden stop just above the water’s surface. Darkness magic had resurfaced around her. It was the curse to stop her movement, activated through sheer instinct. This was when Mayra refocused her magic to attempt to blast away from the water, but…!

Sann’s wreathed form just kept pushing until it made a halt. A last minute, dogged defiance against the inevitable.

It was when light sorcery surfaced around her body, as well as her native reinforcement, in an effort to cancel out the curse.

“I told you. You owe me despair.” She growled, as if it wasn’t enough, parts of the scaffolding were assembling on top of the duo on Sann’s back, being electrified as they did so.
“Butt Railgun.” Sann growled, as her ass was launched at relativistic speed into Mayra’s front. Dragon or not, that much kinetic energy, alongside the dispelling effort would surely hurt.

Mayra felt Sann on her, and for this once she couldn’t actually cover herself in fire to get someone off. Instead, she blasted fire down into the water, the dragon’s mouth and claws spewing fire down… but Monstrous Metamorphism doesn’t actually increase magical strength, so.

Now, Sann didn’t exactly get despair out of the dragon, but she did get a roar before striking down the massive power of the Butt Railgun down into Mayra and blasting the giant dragon straight down into the water, sending a massive splash-wave flooding across the arena and probably getting a good 30% of it showering over the audience before the water finally settled.

“And Sann finishes with a BUTT RAILGUN, earning her first victory!” Dan shouted. “What an amazing fight from both sides! You can’t make this up, folks!”

Pac-A-Fist was panting, clutching her desk with both hands. ”That escalated quickly.” She smiled. ”What an exhilarating first round! It’s a shame we won’t get to see more of Mayra this tourney.”

A white-haired girl in a school swimsuit, Jelena, dove straight down after the fire-dragon submerged in water, and somewhere down there, the light of an Overcity Shift could be seen. Because Mayra’s dragon-form would need to be dealt with, or at least put somewhere it wouldn’t try to harm more people.

With that, the mist settled, and the victor was determined.

Sanngridr quickly undid the power-hungry and pain-inducing Avatar state, wondering how the kitty cat would even be able to tough it out. That old bat had more guts than half of the people, and she was a survivor. Sann felt bad for mocking her soft stance before. Her coaching had been successful.

Plus, hey, this sport had its highlights. Butt-striking a dragon into oblivion was something outside the scope of anything but a balls-out achievement in a video game. And now she had done it. She had fun with it.

Well, she had broken her neck, and her hips, so she crumpled like a ragdoll, only for her Soul Jar to pick up the slack and then forcibly stood up.

“You definitely overdid it. Do you even have strength to spare in the following rounds?” Dina did say as she caught a hold of Sann’s form, whispering in her ear. “How are you even still alive with this much backslash?”

“I’m the Varangian. I’m supposed to be this strong, granny…” She said, while both focused on healing and getting her magical replenishers for the following match.

Granny, huh? Dina thought it had been a coincidence as she had omitted the cat part of her nickname… but somewhere in her old heart, she felt a tug.

---

‘Whelp, my save-you-if-you’re-losing pill didn’t work, because it assumed you weren’t going to go, like, a league above the power of a regular Magical Girl fight. What are these monsters in Penrose!? Seriously!? If Mayra’s not strong enough, who is!?’ Jelena laughed in a backstage room somewhere later with an un-dragoned and dried up Mayra, who but sat back and chuckled at Jelena’s statement.

‘Oh, I’m plenty strong enough. It’s just, that power of hers…’ Mayra smiled so widely. ‘It was glorious. I want it.’

Mariette stood, arms crossed, frowning at Mayra. Mayra, alongside Freya, was definitely among their strongest. It was a bit infuriating to see her defeated by someone that had basically shown up out of nowhere. ‘We definitely need a countermeasure for that, just in case we have to fight it…’

‘We have one. Just waste her time,’ a new voice said, and Mariette turned her head to see two people enter. Freya, who didn’t look particularly happy, and the one who shouldn’t be seen. ‘My readings indicate that form takes a massive amount of energy. Just make her activate it, then make sure she accomplishes nothing with it,’ she said like it was a simple thing.

‘… That doesn’t work if we’re defending something important or are attacking something time-sensitive,’ Freya commented, not convinced with the plan.

‘Perhaps,’ the other girl shrugged. ‘But we have portals. We can work something out.’

‘… It sounded like she’s with the Sanctuary. Hopefully, that means we’ll never have to fight her,’ Mariette said on top of that, sighing a bit…

It was then when Mariette’s portal senses picked up on something baffling and horrid at the same time. Someone was making a portal by tearing space-time. It felt familiar…

FWOMP.

“Hehehe found you Pedersen…” chuckled the eerie voice of Therese, aka Tenebra, in full keijo regalia.

Alongside her was a bandaged Sann, eating a hot dog and slurping an extra-sized serving of mana restorative… and the Regent herself, Dina Denisova.

“Greetings.” She said, performing a curtsy.

Mariette turned and looked in surprise at the people who spawned out of nowhere, causing a horrible stir in her portal-sense that usually was only distrurbed by herself, Asengav, Overcity Shifts and mirrors. ‘W-what…’ she started, somewhat off-tempo.

‘Hey, Sann-grid!’ Mayra called out happily, using the name she’d gotten by just looking at the tournament bracket. ‘Thanks for the battle! You’re really strong! We should fight again, without keijo rules!’ she called so happily, with Jelena beside her just chuckling.

Freya, meanwhile, just crossed her arms and went to stand in the middle of the opening, absolutely coincidentally covering the girl that had opted to turn 180 degrees and leave.

Mariette regained composure.

‘Hello, again, Dina… What’s, uh. What can I do for you?’ Mariette asked, maybe still a bit off-tempo. Her eyes kind of darted over Tenebra. Wasn’t she dead?

Sann just slurped the remaining soda, and eyed Mayra. “I won’t be held back with amateurish moves next time, It’ll be for real. Pappy Odin likes when I challenge myself with the strong ones.”

‘Niiice! I’m looking forward to it!’ Mayra grinned excitedly from where she was seated.

Dina just rolled her eyes, and let out a sigh. “This is my fault, Mariette. I told her to back up being part of Sanctuary and claiming herself the Varangian… you know the viking guard of the Byzantine Emperors. I never expected her to slam… a dragon.”

“So for all it is worth, I apologize for the unpleasantness… It’s been a trying time, and everyone’s tightening their defenses given the past raids. Justine… the Sanctuary… and now this… Ascendancy manifest.”

Mariette, having never attended any history lessons, did in fact not know the viking guard of the Byzantine Emperors. Still, yeah, she could agree. ‘It’s… it’s alright. None of us are to blame for the current circumstances. It’s a tournament, for some reason, it’s natural to battle your opponent in it. I just…’ Mariette took a heavy breath. ‘We really need that mirror,’ she said, a bit of fear in her voice.

“You still will be able to get it, I’m sure. You’ve got quite a bunch of fighters. I must prepare for the eventuality that Dan dimension might need defending.” Dina did say. “Besides, what would Sanngridr do with that mirror?”

“Pappy Odin needs a beer tray.” The quirky valkyrie chirped. “But it’s okay, that stupid mirror is just a trinket for most. Not sure why everyone is suddenly licking their chops on it. Hot dogs are tastier.”

It was then when the third person spoke up, drawing closer to Mariette. “It’s her horror’s… treasure, and horrors punish naughty girls in ways you can’t even imagine…” There it was. Tenebra’s lack of social care.

Alongside Sanngridr’s utter disregard of it.

“Tenebra, that’s not your feud anymore.” Dina sighed. “We brought you back for a specific reason.”

Mariette shuddered by Tenebra’s mention of horror punishments. She knew. She oh, so knew. ‘Um… If you were to win, would it be possible we could obtain it from you?’ Mariette asked Sann. It did sound like it was what Dina was implying, but perhaps asking too was in order. Also…

‘… I wasn’t mistaken. She was killed, huh. And now she’s back… Why?’ Mariette asked, not to be callous, but because Dina specifically mentioned “specific reason”.

‘Yupp. Completely drained, right before my eyes,’ Freya mentioned, because she was in the middle of that battle at the time.

“Uh, sure. You can have it.” Sann would say. “Just sacrifice an oxen or a warrior to Odin and we’ll call even.” The girl said without batting an eyelid.

“Sanngridr offered her powers as Valkyrie to bring her back, alongside the stupid yaponski who paid the fees.” Dina would then state, looking at Sann. “We knew how useful she was moving forces around.”

Tenebra traced her fingers to her neck, as the blood flushed from her face. She remembered becoming a puppet of Father. A different kind of horror to Star Eater. And then being drained to the last gasp of life.

“Justine has to pay, Pedersen. She...violated me!” She would burst in anger and tears, trembling as her gravity magic went slightly haywire.

Mariette nodded thankfully. ‘I’ll make it three oxen,’ because the reward she’d get in return was just so valuable. And then, yeah, moving around is really useful. Mariette can attest to that, so she simply gave a nod. Then… there was Tenebra’s reaction… Mariette looked away for a bit, a bit of conflicting emotions within her.

‘… She is. Being purified, she has to live with all the crimes she’s ever committed, with a now regular human conscience. She’s certainly suffering…’ … Though, at the moment, Mariette didn’t really care. ‘… Go ahead and show up in front of her, remind her of what she did. I bet that would sting.’

Jelena chuckled at Mariette’s little piece of malice.
Dina would then move on to comfort Tenebra, but someone else beat her to the punch. It was Sann, who was now engulfing the sobbing Tenebra in her wings. “Yes, Justine needs to be slapped... Why don’t you do as Mariette says. You’re strong, so strong that girl gave the gold she had earned for a comeback. Make it count.” Sann would then whisper, before letting go of the hug.

Dina would glare at Sanngridr, before slapping the Varangian on her face. “She doesn’t need that for the time being. You’re going too far.” It was then when the cat offered her best smile, and with her powers began soothing the girl. “It’s okay, It’s over for now. We just need to find you a place where those wounds can mend. She won’t hurt you anymore, right.”

Sann just giggled.”I’m sorry, Regent.”

‘Alright, then…’ Mariette didn’t necessarily feel the need to comment on the events in front of her right then… however. ‘Do you need a refill?’ she asked, and a portal opened next to her. A confused Josefin who was talking to Taihei turned around, the blonde girl with twin-tails looking a bit confused at what she was seeing.

‘Josefin here has the ability to transfer mana between people, and she can store it inside herself for long periods of time. You could recharge with her. After all, that state seemed taxing on mana, and I have reason to see you win…’ Mariette told Sann.

“We’ll have to decline.” It was Dina’s statement. “We’re far too gone. Monster Queen reaction is a possibility for the both of us… specially Sanngridr. I never understood the reason why she acquired that much power but that’s all there is.” She said. Sann otherwise pouted as she searched for more stuff to eat and replenish.

‘Oh. So more mana could trigger it? I… I guess not, then,’ Mariette felt a bit disappointed. Josefin still looked confused as Mariette closed the portal to her and Taihei, who was tilting her head to see past Josefin what was going on as the portal closed.

‘Thank you… for coming to talk to us. It has comforted me, that we’re still, uh… yeah,’ Mariette said, a slightly awkward smile. Still friendly. She wasn’t sure, with how the mansion event had gone down.

Dina would then take the prompt, and give Mariette one of the motherly hugs only someone with life experience could have. “Don’t overdo it, okay? There are backup plans for a reason. I know that you truly aren’t that much of a bad egg.” She said, purring in Mariette's ear, before separating and Indicating the other two they were leaving.

Mariette still wasn’t used to hugs, but definitely appreciated it, doing her awkward best to hug back. Dina was definitely the superior hugger. ‘I’ll… I’ll try,’ she replied with a nod, wondering what just qualified as “overdoing it”, but. She then breathed out in relief for how this meeting had gone, and waved after Dina as they were leaving.

‘Until next time!’ Mayra called happily with a raise hand.

‘Geesh, you,’ Jelena thought something along the lines of Mayra being more friendly with people who prove themselves able to kick her ass, apparently.

Freya, meanwhile, who’s arms had been crossed the whole time, merely moved out the way to lean on the wall in case they were intending to leave the proper way this time.

Dina, and Sann did leave the proper way, but Tenebra stood there, eyeing Mariette.

“...Don’t get too conceited, okay! We’re still rivals! Even if you’re adorable!”

And then she promptly ran off.

‘I’ll, uh. I’ll keep that in mind,’ Mariette stated, kind of confused but smiling anyway. Maybe this would work out, after all.

”This post could use some flashy banners, just like old times.”

I remember when I use to make flashy 1 off banners for posts. What ever happened to those times?

”You quit.”

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At the arena, Kimble was stretching her legs at the side of the pool, readying herself for the upcoming match.

”This Betty girl doesn’t seem that tough!” She boasted to Alicia in the spectator stands as she moved on to stretching her arms.

”So what if she’s also gunning for Justine? That’s not going to make me go easy on her, nope! But I have to commend her for being prepared with her swimsuit.” She clapped her cheeks and took a deep breath before jumping over to the platform.
”I’ve gotten better since my victory over Penny!” She had her hands on her hips, looking proud.
”With my new technique, you’re going to be nothing but dust in the wind!”

Betty was standing at the other end of the oval shaped arena. Overall, the total area was a bit smaller than your typical Keijo island. It did give speedy combatants room to sprint towards each other and put on the brakes before slipping off the edge, but the narrower arena also meant veering off course could lead to an instant ring out.

”Maybe you should save it for Justine. I'm already dust in the wind.” She fell forward onto one hand, like she was doing a one hand push up. ”Of course, you’ll have to catch me first. And dust is pretty hard to catch once it’s airborne.”

"Hmph!" Kimble puffed her cheeks with her arms crossed.

"We're now live at the Keijo dome, with your hosts Dan The Dolphin and Pac-a-fist!" The Lesser Force's voice could be heard from the loudspeakers.
"Betty, one of our new competitors, will have to face against an experienced player with the much-acclaimed feat of beating the Queen of Steel Penny herself, the Highwind Hellion, Kimble! Will we see Kimble's famous Butt Gatling today? I sure hope so!"

Kimble be Lew a raspberry up at a camera.
"That's a spoiler, Dan!"

"Whoopsie!" Dan squeaked.

”Seems someone else has a favorite in this too, huh?” Pac-a-fist rolled her eyes before sloshing her drink around.

"Anyway, it's time to rumble in 3...2...1...And go!"

Something that Betty had been telling herself over and over again was that she would beat Justine at Keijo. It had, admittedly, never occurred to her that there might be someone else out there who was just as determined to face her down. Kimble may have been brainwashed by Justine as well and also wanted some form of catharsis. That was a possibility. But if she wanted it as badly as Betty did, she’d be able to prove it in the ring.

Betty took off like a bullet, taking a semi-crescent-shaped path to Kimble’s position. As she drew closer, she dove onto her hands and launched herself ass first at the twin tailed girl.

Kimble waited until the last moment, and then jumped backwards, over the edge of the platform, before she suddenly jumped again in midair, boosted by her Wind magic; she attempted luring Betty to overextend with her launch and bring herself off the platform.
However, predicting that Betty wouldn't be so easily fooled, she dropped to Betty's front and aimed a couple of quick jabs of her behind.

Kimble had correctly guessed that Betty wasn’t about to launch herself over the side. She had already fired herself at Kimble while she was still standing on the platform. Her reflexes were good enough that she was able to adjust as soon as Kimble jumped off the side. Betty lowered her legs like a pair of landing gear and drove her hands into the island. She slowed to a stop, with her butt pointed straight up in the air like a certain fighting game character. Maneuvering around Betty would be tricky, as she walked like a crab to keep Kimble as close to the edge as possible. Each swing of Kimble’s hips caused her ass to smack into Betty’s posterior.

Kimble grit her teeth as her blows made contact.
"Why do you want to beat Justine anyway?"
She asked as she twirled out of the way to avoid a counter, sliding easily on the platform.
"Did she also mind-whammy you?"

”And she sold me to the Mint afterwards.”

Betty had a pretty lean physique and lacked the curvature that most of the heavyweights had. But while the lines of her body were less impressive, there was less fat and more muscle. That gave her more control and grip for grappling.

Once she picked up on the tempo of Kimble’s thrusts, she dropped her hind below the next incoming strike and clinched one of her tails between her cheeks.

”That’s a starfish grapple!” Pac-a-fist turned to Dan. ”I think?”

"I think so too!" Dan added. "One of the more lethal techniques though it requires extensive buildup in muscle to achieve without injuring one's gluteus."

Betty kicked off the ground with both legs, but kept a firm grip on the island. If Kimble couldn’t escape, she’d be kissing the floor shortly.

Kimble grimaced twice, first with Betty's answer, and again when Betty went for the grapple on the tail causing Kimble to scoff with a blush...Followed by the tail popping off.

The smaller girl smirked deviously.
"Haa!"
Using the distraction of the fake tail to her advantage, Kimble accelerated herself by removing wind resistance from herself, and launched a barrage of attacks with her rear.
"Butt Gatling!"

“And there it is!” Dan commented. “After having Betty fall for her ruse, Kimble’s now using the legendary Butt Gatling, a move so powerful that she actually managed to defeat Penny herself with it! ”

Betty had whiffed her grapple, but at least she did so in such a way that it wasn’t hard to tuck into a roll. She released the island as Kimble’s blows came in. She allowed the attacks to hit and roll her away rather than digging in to maintain her position, Kimble would get to control a bit more ground, but that was fine for now. More interesting was that Betty could feel this girl’s magic working on the wind.

”You like wind too, huh?”

Betty didn’t roll far before driving her heels into the island and kicking herself backwards over Kimble. It looked like Betty might fly clean over the cat girl, but the wind suddenly changed direction and blew her directly into Kimble’s back.

Kimble looked proud at first for having landed her attack, followed by shock. In that moment of staying still, she was hit by Betty using her magic to slam into Kimble, sending her flying.
"Aahh!"
She was about to fall into the water when she swooped up, carried aloft by her winds. However, instead of being angry, her eyes sparkled.
"You're using the same magic as me! That's so cool! That means I won't have to hold back any more!"

”Just hit me with something already!” Betty bit her lip.

She began to spin around the arena, like the spoke of a wheel.
"Taake this!"
As she spun around the platform, she started another barrage, aimed at the very center where Betty was.
"Butt Hurricane!"

“What! A new move from Kimble!” Dan squeaked. “Combining the attacks of the Butt Gatling with her wind-based mobility, Kimble is intending to surround Betty in a swarm of slams!”

If Betty wasn’t fighting for a shot at Justine, she might have been able to be friends with Kimble. She wasn’t really mad at her, and her sudden mood change after Betty confirmed what had happened wasn’t lost on Betty either. She and Betty had many similarities, right down to being a little awkward in public spaces. But it was in spaces like this where they could learn more about each other than they ever could just having a conversation. You can’t lie about your intent in a physical contact sport like Keijo.

It was clear that Kimble possessed a much higher magical aptitude than Betty, but Betty wasn’t convinced that she was also her physical superior too. But being less magical just meant she had to be more creative with what she had access to.

She drove her heel into the island hard enough to break it. The resulting dust and debris allowed Betty to make a sort of barrier in front of herself. It would never hold up to an attack, but it was nearly impossible to see through. Wind users had great spacial awareness due to their mastery over air, but other wind users could usually counter that by moving the wind around themselves in unpredictable ways. This sort of tactic wouldn’t work for Kimble, as she she was flying towards Betty much to fast to hide her approach. But a veil could only keep Betty hidden for so long, as Kimble could probably just use some of her own wind magic to blow the whole thing away.

But that wouldn’t be necessary.

Betty sprinted out of the smoke screen and rolled forward onto her back. She kept a light pocket of air under her body so that the friction from sliding on her back would be non-existent. Meeting Kimble’s barrage of butt swipes was a single ass slide aimed at taking out her ankles.

”Ack! What? How?”

Kimble momentarily stopped her attacks to blow a gust of wind and scatter the dust, only to discover that Betty was no longer in there. She had been apparently been so confident, once again, of trapping Betty in her Hurricane technique that she had slipped out mid-attack and ambushed her, hitting her in the knees and causing her to spin wildly.

“Mayday! Mayday! Kimble’s been hit!” Dan shouted frantically.

”Nooooo-!”

Her scream was cut abrupt by the sound of splashing water.

“And she’s down in the proverbial drink! Betty wins!”

”That was a fast match.” Pac-a-fist raised a hand to her chin. ”Suppose if both combattents are quick, that’s only natural though. Hopefully no one was banking on a rematch between Penny and Kimble. What an upset!”

Betty couldn’t tell if the crowd was cheering in delight, or roaring with distain for the match they had just witnessed. But she didn’t care either way. With a hop, she plunged into the water and swam over to Kimble, who managed to surface some distance away from the float. The adrenaline from fighting someone with the kind of power and skill Kimble held was still present in her body. She wasn’t sure how Kimble would react to being approached by someone who had just denied her a chance at fighting Justine, so she kept her distance.

”Kimble, right?” Even if it felt like sirens were going off in her head, Betty lowered her steely resolve for the moment. ”I wasn’t sure what to expect from our bout. Your magic is strong, and yet-” How to pick her words in such a way that she wouldn’t offend. ”I feel like half way through the fight, your aura changed. You didn’t-” She turned her head sideways. ”You didn’t, let me win, did you?”

Kimble's head surfaced to show only her eyes and nose, and she made bubbles on the surface of the water, looking disappointed yet surprisingly content. When she climbed out and took a yellow towel from Dan, she sighed.
"Well, not entirely," she admitted in a low voice.
"When I made my first attacks, I was sure I'd at least get you to stagger a bit, yet you held your ground. Not even my Butt Gatling fazed you...I think it was the same for Penny."
She first looked sad, but quickly turned it into an annoyed duck face.
"I was stupid. I'm not beating Justine when I'm this weak...But I think you can, Betty."
She managed to smile a bit.
"She's going against Mariette, so there's a good chance you'll face her.”
She held a hand out to Betty, for a handshake.
”And when you do...give her bum a real good whoopin', all right?"

So it was that her first few attacks didn’t do the damage she was expecting. That was understandable. When you can down a colossus like Penny, having some new blood shrug off your first few attacks might seem disheartening. Regardless if it changed the outcome of the fight or not, Betty would have liked for the both of them to fight to their limit. She was unsure if she could beat someone with Kimble’s reputation initially. Had she jumped into the pool to save herself the humiliation of a staggering defeat, she wouldn’t be enjoying the victory she had claimed.

”I don’t think you’re weak, Kimble. Not when you can do so many cool things with wind magic. Is it possible I’m just strong?” She took the cat girl’s hand in her own and gave it a firm shake. ”And my name is not Betty Barton, nay, I am not a member of Crimson Cradle if I don’t give Justine a beating good enough for every mind she’s enslaved, every life she’s ruined, and every innocent she’s hurt!” Then with a loud pop, Kimble’s tail fell out from between Betty’s cheeks. ”Oh! Didn’t realize I was still clinching.” She picked up Kimble’s tail and presented it to her. ”I think you’re cool, Kimble. We should stay in touch, alright?”

Kimble humbly took the tail, cheered up by Betty’s kindness.
”Thanks, Betty. I’ll be rooting for you!” She then smiled widely at her offer.
”For sure! Bye!” She waved to Betty with the tail.

”..."

_{”...I’ll need to wash this…”}

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”Aaaand we’re back in the Keijo Arena! Pac-a-fist here, Commentating alongside Dan the Dolphin!” In an unusual twist of events, Pac-a-fist had taken it upon herself to narrate the intro to this bout.
”Our next fight is taking place on the tower! Unlike the buoyant islands typically seen in Keijo, this one is anchored straight to the floor! Adamantium chains hold it right in place!” She huffed. ”Of course it usually gets broken by rambunctious magical girls, but don’t expect the island to float.” Her smile returned.
”And speaking of broken and floating, our match contains two people who had thought to be lost to time.Tenebra and Elroy!” With a giggle, she hugged Dan from behind. ”You have to announce them! I’m too excited, and I can’t be impartial with Elroy!”

“That’s right!” Dan added, squeaking in surprise Pac’s affectionate gesture. “First up is our first and only male contestant for this tournament, ELROYYY!” Dan could be heard clapping his fins over the loudspeaker.
“While lacking in certain aspects, I’m sure the lad will be compensating with high spirit and good sportsmanship! And hey, I’m sure more than one among our audience will appreciate the diversity!”

”Alrighty!” Erloy strode across the island in his full esper gear. A japanese style kimono rested loosely on his form, and a massive obsidian shield was in his hand. ”Can’t say I’m shocked to be the only man participating. But that mirror is too good a prize to pass up.” He swung the shield over his back, and it transformed into a coat that rested across his shoulders. The rest of his costume had turned into a pair of ankle long swimming pants. They were as tight as a wet suit, so it wasn’t hard to guess the shape of his lower body. His chest was fully exposed, revealing the type of beauty Greek sculptors depicted with their marble statues. ”Hopefully my opponent shows up soon. I know woman take longer to get ready, however…”

“Coming up next is a mystery opponent who had signed in at the last minute,” Dan continued. “An expert in bending reality, she might just twist her opponents into spaghetti...Oh, I think we should have some...yeah, right, TENEBRAAA!”

But Tenebra was nowhere to be found. Instead, she was curled up,hugging her knees on the corridor, her cheek flush and red, almost as if smoke was coming out of her.

"....A...boy. No ...one...told me." She said quivering. "I can't handle that boy…" She gasped as she stole a glance. A single look at the chiseled features had sent her burning. Skin to skin contact was out of question.

Dina was raising an eyebrow, as if trying to coach her. "Well, that was unexpected. Don't girls your age seek these things?" She thought.

"I'm...actually twelve…" She confessed, still refusing to budge.

"Oh dear." said Dina as she tried to pat her. "Guess we will have to forfeit."

And it was then when she realized. What the hell was that yaponski gremlin doing… going in that direction.

"Oi you El Rey, yeah, you, the male teen band boy." said an all too familiar pinkette. "How about you try fighting a real man?"

Dina just facepalmed. Well...that was one solution to forfeit, if they ever accepted it.

”Pink girl?” Elroy tipped his head. After a moment of thought, he shook his head with a smile. ”Man, woman, I don’t turn down a bout with anyone.” Elroy did not know who his opponent was, so of course he didn’t have any objections to a last second switch. ”If you wish to fight, get into position. Just know that I don’t show mercy to anyone, nor do I expect any in return.”

"Hah! You, I like." said Sakura. "Anyway i am substituting the weirdo-chan. I am Sakura and I am a man among men...also a loli now...why did I return my manhood?"

Sakura then assumed a combat stance, ready to take action.

”Ah! So my opponent has been switched!” Elroy chuckled. ”A shame, but I’ll make do. I’m Elroy, the Immortal Volcano. While I may look and act like a man, my opponents liken me to a beast!” Elroy stood in place, maintaining his elegant, yet sturdy posture.

”A sudden change? Well, I guess it’s not against the rules.” Pac-A-Fist slipped back into her seat. ”No trash talking this time? I guess we can start then.”

“Ooh, a last minute tag-in! How exciting” Dan added.

Pac-A-Fist cleared her throat. ”You ain’t from Michigan if you haven’t done this before! Cactus, one! Make that Bread!”

Elroy was in no rush to get to his opponent. He strode across the island with his arms extended to each side. ”We bring most of the same weapons into battle. Perhaps we have similar styles?” His pace started to quicken as he drew closer.

Sakura for the time being closed her eyes briefly, and breathed deep. In and out. In and out. Martial arts had the same root. A self-recognition. Discipline that created a mountain out of a pebble of a time. The search of self. Even if she was now a 9 year old girl. Even if this was a raunchy competition of swimsuits and nothing but blatant fanservice that he had once devoured greedily in a past life of vice. Even if her recent rash actions had alienated herself from a kind girl.

<<”One move at a time. Go beyond limits. Shatter mountains. Reach for the sky. Pierce the heavens.”>> She said in her native tongue, as her eyes opened, a spark of determination that betrayed her actual age, as she remained like a reed.

Rooted, yet fluid.

“Save your breath, boy. The fight’s not won on tongue wagging.”

By this point, Elroy wasn’t too far away. Maybe a second or two from striking distance. ”I meant no offense!” Elroy sighed. ”But if it’s action you desire…” Elroy pulled his lips into a grin. <<”It’s fine to shatter mountains, but you should leave the volcanoes alone!”>>

_{[Self][Push] = 12 | [Remaining MP] = 638}

Elroy performed half a somersault, rolling onto his back before jets of flame erupted from his shoulders. He kept his legs tucked against his chest as he slid across the island towards Sakura’s knees.

“And Elroy starts off with a bang!” Dan commented. “He’s really fired up now, huh?” Pac-a-fist only gazed at the arena with star struck eyes as a response.

Sakura tch’d.

<<Volcanoes are mountains.>> She said, as she manifested an absurd amount of clothing in her wake as she dodged with a jump, further catapulted by the momentum of the cloth creation. <<Eternal Style, Veil Quagmire.>> She mentioned as bows, ribbons and sashes fell in a heap.

“And Sakura counters with an application of her Eternal Style skill, leaving a fabulous trap!”

<<”Typical Japanese man, always oversimplifying.”>> As Elroy approached the heap of clothing, he kicked with both legs and returned to an upright position just on the other side of the cloth heap. <<”By that logic,you’re not really a man, are you?”>> He charged after the retreating girl.. <<”Pink girl!”>> His Japanese wasn’t perfect, but he could be understood. It was hard to tell if he was being mean or not, as his smile only grew as the fight went on.

<<”If you want to be a smart ass, first fix your fortune cookie manner of talking, boy.”>> Sakura did reply as she suddenly ducked under him as she landed, taking advantage of her small frame… and then offered a butt counter.

This is embarrassing as fuck, but better me than the girls! Sakura thought as her small frame targeted something well below the chest.

Elroy’s manly jewels.

There was a hard thump as Sakura’s tush smacked into Elroy’s crotch. ”Hngh!”

”Oh no! Is he-”

“Oof, that’s going to hurt!” Dan winced.

But Elroy recovered quickly. As fast as Sakura was, there would be no scampering away with her torso directly under Elroy.

_{[Self][Push][Damage] = 32 | [Remaining MP] = 606}

A sudden, violent burst of flames blew out of Elroy’s shoulders. He performed the fastest squat in the history of Keijo, with his rear slamming into Sakura’s back.

”Direct hit!” Pac-a-fist coughed into her hand. ”I mean, a counter attack. Nothing too special. Does anyone understand Japanese?” She tapped her fingers together.

“I do!” Dan answered. “But what a brutal squat from Elroy! He must have been to the gym!”

<<”It’s like you said ‘old man,’ tongue wagging doesn’t win the fight.”>> Elroy leaned into his seat, allowing his weight to keep the smaller girl pinned. <<”By the way, this is a contact sport, and if you don’t think I’m wearing a cup, you’d be mistaken.”>> he rapped on his crotch, which made a hollow noise.. <<”But why the hostility? You must want that mirror a whole lot more than I do.”>>

<<”Fucking Ikemen-new trash. All you want is to grope some oppai. Go die.”>> Sakura muttered as she grumbled.

<<Eternal Style: Cloth of Heaven>> said the tiny magical girl, creating a Sash between Elroy and Her. <<Energize!>>

Well, Sakura was never the most scientific savvy guy. Punching rivals rather than doing chemistry books. But she had found something interesting when trying to make use out of her mismatched abilities.

Turns out, static charged clothes were one hell of a shield. A surge would burst from under Elroy, pushing suddenly but just enough for the tiny martial artist to squeeze out. It wasn't for free of course. One of her straps had come undone and she had begun to bruise.

But now, a second sash had appeared, now levitating a certain distance around her, with the occasional crackling of electricity.

“Whoah! Sakura has freed herself from Elroy’s grapple!” Dan interjected. “I don’t know about you Pac, but I’m certainly shocked by such a smart escape!”

”I mean, it was okay...”

Dan rang a bell. “And that’s round one, everybody!”

<<”Hah! Nice!”>> Once Sakura had shifted free, Elroy’s ass came down on the island hard enough to crack it. <<”Hmmm, I won’t say you’re totally wrong with that first statement.”>> Elroy stood up. <<”If I have that mirror, I can remain in this world indefinitely. There’s a lot of people here that simply aren’t around anymore. My friends, people even closer, they’re okay here.”>> He grabbed his jacket and tied it around his hips. <<”So you’ll have to forgive me if I’m fresh out of mercy, pink girl. I’m sure you have your reasons why you want to win too.”>> Elroy folded his arms. <<”Are you sure you don’t want to tell me why you’re competing? I can’t hold a conversation very well when I get serious.”>>

Sakura stopped for a second, and then eyed Elroy. <<"My most sincere apologies. I had judged you a brat. But you are a man on your own, if such a thing is true. Comrades are to be cherished.">> Her gaze trailed towards the entrance, where a blushing mess of Tenebra still stood there. <<"Girl had it rough, after being yanked from the grave, to oppose an ikemen… Can't blame her if she could not even talk.">>

"So, El Rey-san. Let us put our conviction like true men. In our fists."

And then Sakura realized. "Aw shit, nevermind, this is a keijo match and I have this body. Fuck."

”It’s okay, pink girl!” Elroy crossed his arms in front of his chest. ”A smaller caliber bullet pierces deeper.” A surge of power welled up inside Elroy. His flesh, swimsuit, and even his hair seemed to develop hair line cracks that allowed a golden light to shine through.
The bell rang again.
”Round two, FIGHT!”

_{[Self][Heat Resistance][Ignite ] = 32 | [Remaining MP] = 574}

A surge of power welled up inside Elroy. The golden cracks all over his body belched out flames that covered his body. But the flames did not consume him. Instead, the flames seemed to invigorate him.

”He’s on fire!” Pac-a-fist hugged Dan and hopped up and down like a fan girl, with Dan’s nose bopping up and down even as he kept a shocked face.
”I mean-” she suddenly stopped. ”I wonder what he’s going to do next?”

“I think he’s going to go all out now!” Dan pointed with his fin while in Paca’s hold. “There he goes!”

The immortal volcano charged forward. His flames were licking at the air around him.

Sakura frowned. How was she supposed to fight someone who could set themselves on fire? Then she realized that setting himself on fire probably was for show. There was no rule that allowed direct magic damage from a Keijo attack. The sash tightened around Sakura, creating some sort of harness that began to spark and charge electricity.

He could do fire. But she could do lightning. The entire battlefield was bathed in the eerie, yet divine light of plasma as the lightning clothed Sakura very much like Elroy was bathed in flames.

“And now Sakura has covered herself in electricity!” Dan shouted.
“It’s a pyrotechnics show unlike anything I’ve seen before, folks! ”

“No, bullets pierce deeper because of speed.” Sakura said, and with a bout of static became a blue blur. “Gotta go fast.”

Behind Elroy.

To the side of Elroy.

Topside of Elroy.

Butt-diving in Elroy’s head.

Vanishing soon afterwards.

“Ahh, I can’t follow her movements!” Dan squeaked, now hugging Paca back. “I guess I'm too slow, even if I’m a blue mascot!”

”I got that reference!”

Sakura’s theory about Elroy’s flames proved correct, as her tush didn’t suffer a single burn no matter how many times it smacked into him. Her speed was definitely something that Elroy couldn’t match. A volcano was strong, heavy, and belched flames, but it was also immobile. But the “immortal” part of his name was not merely there for show. Elroy was jerked around by Sakura’s attacks, but every bruise she caused slowly shrunk away into nothing under the veil of heat. Death by one-thousand cuts did not seem like a viable strategy, at least not now.

”How about a crowd pleaser, pink girl?”

_{[Touch][Damage X][AOE][Push] = 140 | [Remaining MP] = 434}

Elroy’s fist turned into a glowing molten gauntlet, which he drove into the island where they stood. There was a loud bang as something deep inside the tower broke free. A large crack ran across the top of the platform, one that was wide enough to get one’s fingers inside. He leaned forward with both hands, and gripped the platform. The stands were filled with cheering as Elroy lifted a part of the island over his head, and gave it a shove. It flipped over entirely and sunk into the the depths of the pool.

”Elroy has fragmented the tower! We all knew it was coming!” She pointed at the scene as it unfolded in front of her. ”It seems like he’s acknowledged Sakura’s superior speed, and blew a cheese shaped wedge out of the side of the tower to limit the places where she can hide!”

Dan was hysteric. “Oh, what will these crazy players think of next!”

With just a bit less than half the normal surface area remaining, Elroy turned to look at Sakura. ”We can go smaller, if you’d like.” By this point, the fire that covered Elroy had gone out. But There was a glow around his body that suggested another spell was coming.

It was then when Sakura stopped, in full crane pose. For a brief second she smirked.

“Shatter mountains.”

She said, with aplomb, as she plummeted head first for the pool. Was this a self ring-out? No,it was something else.

Let’s use… water walking ninjutsu.

“Reach for the sky.” She said, as she cruised at surprising speed...so much in fact she was running above the water. Faster and faster. The air and the water seemed to follow the lightning, creating a huge waterspout.

Of course, this had the effect of surrounding Elroy’s platform with water… as well as raising the water level.

Elroy chuckled. ”You old men and your dirty tricks. Anything to avoid a fair fight.” He shaped his hand like a gun and pointed off into the distance. ”Guess I’ll use one of mine.”

_{[Beam][AOE][Push] = 96 | [Remaining MP] = 338}

The tips of Elroy’s fingers glowed red, yellow, then a brilliant white. Sakura was fast, but she still needed to make some pretty routine circled around the pool to raise the water level the way she was. Once Elroy had anticipated her movements, he fired.

While the charge took a few seconds, the projectile hit immediately. Right in front of Sakura’s intended path, a red hot beam of magma had struck the water directly in front of her. The attack itself wouldn’t hit, but it shoved all of the water within five feet of its location in every other direction.

“Shit!” Sakura did say, as the beam seemed to impact her, an explosion of water and lightning seemingly showing that Elroy might have hit home.

“Oh nooo! Sakura!” Dan screamed, and buried his nose in Paca’s embrace. “Tell me when it’s over! I can’t bear to look!”

”G-get your nose out of there!”

Alas, only a partway scorched swimsuit was left, fluttering in the wind. But where was Sakura?

She was riding the winds of said violent confrontation, up and away with another of her Eternal Style sashes.

Thank god I thought of Substitution Ninjutsu She gritted her teeth. She ruefully admitted that her old, more physically intensive kung fu training was not as useful for such a small body, and over time, gradually, she had been more and more convinced to change her martial arts style to suit her speed and hit and run tactics.

She, who had once scoffed ninjutsu and tricks in general as weak, was now having to rely on them. Incognito gave her a low profile, and she was speedy… creating clothes out of nowhere with martial arts reflexes took care of the last part.

Whatever this volcano guy was, cheap tricks wouldn’t hold him for long. Tiredness and cramps were accumulating in her body, as once again activated her lightning enhancement.

“Pierce… the Heavens.” She gritted her teeth, as she plummeted towards Elroy with all the speed and strength she could muster aiming her butt at his head.

If a blow couldn’t penetrate, she would do ten. If ten would not penetrate, she would do a hundred. If a hundred would not do the trick, a thousand would do. No fancy tricks anymore, just sheer raw grit and doggedness, head on.

Fear not the man who practiced a thousand kicks once, but the man who practiced one kick a thousand times.

Of course, given Elroy’s nature, it was more than assured he could feel very little, as she descended butt-twerking like a madwoman.

Yet, there was something else in Sakura’s butt-punches, not even she was doing consciously. She was rhythmically, flawless, attuned to her battle instincts. Like a drum, a drum that was only getting louder and louder inside Elroy’s body.

Resonance. A voice can shatter glass. An otherwise harmless wind can bring down trees and bridges. A drop of water can carve a mountain.

“Oh, she’s alive!” Dan lifted his nose out of Paca’s cleavage as he heard the crowd react to her survival. “Sakura’s still in the game, and going for a high-speed meteor slam!” Pac-a-fist was still reeling from Dan’s last stunt, and had nothing to add.

”There we go!”

Without Elroy’s veil of flames (and a bit because of Sakura’s persistence.) it did seem like the bruises were staying this time. Though Sakura believed that mountains and volcanos were one in the same, volcanos were capable of some movement. Her speed wasn’t so great that Elroy had to just take every blow that Sakura threw at him. She might have been willing to hit him hundreds of times, but could she hold on that long?

”To the last, I grapple with thee!”

_{[Touch][Damage X][AOE][Push] = 140 | [Remaining MP] = 258}

With another devastating punch, the area around them grew even smaller. Two-thirds of the remaining island sunk into the depths, leaving a small space for the two fighters to continue their fight. Maybe a few meters across with some generous rounding.

”There’s hardly anything left of the tower!” Pac-a-fist was leaning a bit too far forward in her seat. ”A solid hit could send anyone into the drink!”

“Hey! You’re blocking the view!” Dan attempted peeking past Paca. “I want to see too!”

With such a small arena left, Elroy stepped into the center and took a swing… anywhere! Sakura was fast enough to keep Elroy guessing, at least.

Sakura was reeling. The onslaught had not worked, and now she probably couldn’t sit in a while. Obviously at this rate cracking this guy’s defenses would be right next to impossible. But a mountain was as good as its footing, and the whole platform was damaged beyond recognition.

Sakura’s electricity began to increase, as the punches became more scarce. Elroy’s hit grazed her. But it was not because she was getting tired. She was saving it up.

The pink warrior jumped way up in the sky, using her sash as a parachute. The energy was now as if someone had turned a really bright light.

Take my flesh, my soul and my tithes…

Strike the unworthy.

“NARUKAMI!”

The pillar of Lightning that was her killing blow erupted from Sakura’s hand, propelling her even further upwards. Had this girl gone mad? She was using a killing blow at Keijo!

Well, she would, if her target was Elroy. The blast would then vaporize the platform under Elroy’s feet, thus ensuring he’d have no footholds remaining. Had he not rampaged by shaving bits of it, probably her killing blow wouldn’t have been able to destroy the remains of it.

The blast cast Elroy from the tower. The tower detonated in spectacular fashion, throwing tower bits and Elroy into the air.

”Well I’ll be…”

He was more thrown away than up. He hadn’t been harmed by the detonation, more thanks to his sturdy form than Sakura’s careful aim.

_{[Self][Push] = 12 | [Remaining MP] = 246}

He could keep himself afloat with his magic however. He didn’t possess flight, but a boost here and there might keep him out of the water.

_{[Self][Push] = 12 | [Remaining MP] = 234}

But even if he could stay dry, it was just a matter of time before he flew out of the arena. This would be a vertical ring out.

_{[Self][Push] = 12 | [Remaining MP] = 222}

Elroy landed gracefully, though well outside the bounds of the arena. He managed to coast between some grand stands and landed on his feet. He had just enough time to slide his hands into his pockets and watch Sakura fall in the distance.

Pac-a-fist took off her head set and placed it on the table in front of herself. She stared out at the battlefield, now nothing more than a pool filled with a few chunks of brimstone.

”…I’ll be right back. Announce the results, please.” She told Dan before excusing herself from the panel.

Sakura, spent from all the fighting, could only for so long… as her grip faltered.

Ah shit, I’m losing consciousness… that much water… not good…

Those were the last thoughts, when she hit the debris-filled water.

Dan’s nose drooped as he was left alone in the commentator booth.
“Oh, umm....” He suddenly switched back to a happy smile, as if he flipped a switch.
“And Sakura wins by a land ringout! Can you believe that? What a match, ladies and gentlemen! Truly kept me at the edge of my seat the entire time, phew!”

Sakura was pulled out by an unknown force, hovering over the battlefield. The silver-haired girl, Tenebra, had come to pull her out. She looked at the unconscious and bleeding Sakura in her arms. How could someone so little have so much confidence in herself?

She would have sworn this more than hot guy was nigh invincible, but she didn’t budge in her determination.

And she had taken her fight to the limit.

Tenebra floated slightly, a tear welling in her eye. “You did good…” She whispered.

…

…

…

”You know, you didn’t have to beat me.” Elroy still had a massive grin on as he leaned against a wall. ”You cost me my future and made a girl cry. That, and now you’ve gotta protect that girl in future rounds too! You’re kind of a bone head, aren’t you, pink girl?”

“My ass is on fire, shut up, pretty boy.” Sakura groaned, as she flailed about, more sore than the all-week martial arts tournament she had attended in her past.

It was then when said ass was further pummeled, when Tenebra became a blushing mess and had another of her meltdowns, dropping the limp body of Sakura on the floor.

“OW! Bitch!” the gremling snarled.

“Hi...I’m Tenebra. I like science and coffee.” She said, almost stammering.

It was then when the Regent made her presence known.

“Happy now, yaponski? You ran amok quite in a way.” The cat lady said, like a tired mother, as she began to apply first aid to Sakura with her magic.

”Well if it isn’t the No Show!” Elroy’s grin somehow got even bigger. If he wasn’t careful, it would be touching the base of his ears. ”Mentioning a bunch of random topics you like when you first meet someone seems like more of a kid thing to do. So I guess you’re way younger than you appear.” He looked back at Sakura. ”And you’re way older. You’d better not be trying to sneak back into school with that body, old man.”

“Eh, eh!?” Tenebra said, still dazed. Honestly, Elroy could say anything at this point, Tenebra would still be smitten.

“She’s still a brat for being sixty, messier Elroy.” Dina sighed. <<”And what’s with her calling her attacks?”>> She let a snip, before Sakura went wide-eyed at Dina.

“You...you speak japanese.” Sakura said, wide eyed.

<<”Know your enemy.”>> Dina said as she propped Sakura to a makeshift barrier stretcher.

“Fucking Neko-ojou-baba.” The foul mouthed pinkette interjected, raising her arm with all her might… and offering a middle finger.

Dina just sighed. “Anyway, messier Elroy… you mentioned being a dimensional traveller, yes? Not the first time I saw one. I do see an alarming trend of them being detached and desperate. Is it that bad?”

Elroy raised an eyebrow. ”Cat tails, I am a gracious loser, but I will not suffer such comments from someone who merely manages Keijo players. Were my sister here, pink girl wouldn’t have stood a chance.” Elroy dismissed Dina with a wave of his hand. ”I simply came here because a portal opened up in front of me. I did not know that worlds like this even existed until a few hours ago.” Elroy pushed himself off the wall, and his eyes lingered on no one in particular. ”Though it was nice to see some old faces. A shame I only have a few hours left, but just knowing they still exist somewhere will have to be enough.” Elroy walked away from the troupe. ”Well fought, pink girl. May your future conquests bring more happiness than tears.”

“I did not really mean to offend you, messier. I do know of people with similar pasts.” Dina would then offer a small bow as salute. “Safe travels, sire.”

It was Sakura who then spoke. “I’ll treat you to a drink in a proper Shinjuku place I know. Sometime.” The pink girl said. “When I figure out how to sneak in to drink sake with this body.”

As if stung by a bee, it was Tenebra who was the one who ran after Elroy. “Quickly, have you got a picture of your sister?”

He turned to face the girl. Elroy looked into Tenebra’s eyes for a moment before sighing. ”Yes, no show. I do.” He opened a wallet and opened it up to a fold out photo album that had a few pictures stashed in it. One of the pictures was of the red headed man standing beside an red headed woman. Like Elroy, her body looked like it had been lovingly sculpted by Greek marble workers. ”Her name is Regina. I was told she was still alive in this world.”

“Okay.” Tenebra said, before focusing for a bit… “Hmmm...Yes! I got it.! I can bring it back if you want it! I got her location!”

The corner of Elroy’s lips curled into a smirk. ”It’s fine, no show. Thanks for the offer, but my sister is still waiting home for me. Even if the Regina of this world misses me, what point is there in meeting her just to be forced apart again? Open up all those old wounds?” Elroy turned away from Tenebra ”Probably should have stayed away for Pac-a-fist’s sake too, but she wished for this. Might as well make the most of it.”

Elroy did not turn around a second time as he left the trope.

“We could get some-” Tenebra began to talk, before Dina put a hand on her shoulder.

“Therese… She’s not your type.” The cat girl said with a stern voice.

“Fucking ikemen…” Protested Sakura as the three went the other direction.

Dina’s ears twitched, as the rhythmic drums of the cheering crowd reached down below, where the lounges were. The once lady of a territory wondered how little had this kind of event changed through the ages.

Bread and circuses were often effective to quell otherwise unfortunate thoughts, but for how long would that last? She served herself a cup of wine… and wondered how such a drink had made its way into the stadium. Probably not Dan’s influence, that was for sure.

Sann had managed to scored a victore, and show the crowds Sanctuary had strong moves… and the less she wanted to talk about the Sakura and Tenebra mess, the better. It would benefit her in the end, but she would never admit it.

No, for all the joviality present, she required to stack the odds in favour of Dan and Sanctuary as much as possible. Even if it meant talking to unsavoury elements.

“Viszeral.” She called for Justine, fresh out of her victory. “Care to join me for a drink before your next match?”

Justine had a purple towel draped around her shoulders when she entered the lounge. She had spent a moment talking with Lily, who had complimented her victory in her usual bubbly way.
But while she enjoyed her company, she really did need a refreshment, and so promised to meet up with her later. However, it wouldn't be the end of her meetings with people, as she immediately realized.

Justine blinked, and bit her lip. It was the caretaker for this place, and one whom she was sure did not appreciate her presence based on first impressions. Maybe she wanted to berate her for defeating Mariette in the ring? In any case, Justine didn't think she'd get many chances to talk peacefully like this, so she nodded.
"Well, if you don't mind, I would be glad to accept the offer."

She poured a glass of water to herself and approached the table Dina was sitting at. She noticed the wine the regal monster girl was having.
"So, you wished to speak with me?" She asked, sounding nervous, though much better than during the initial party at the lodge's entrance hall.
"I have to say, I didn't expect that."

“So many unexpected things have happened as of late.” Dina would swirl the cup on her hand, her eyes going up and down from Justine’s figure. “Good things. Bad things. And yet, we ourselves can’t catch a break.”

“This could have been a time for fun and joy, and instead this is nothing but a mere half-assed effort, a byproduct of several hasty ideas thrown together, in the hopes we avoid tragedy one day more.” Dina then swallowed everything in a big gulp.

“I feel tired. Tired and without enough support. Sure, the Queen is strong on her own, but a single keystone a castle does not make.” She waved for Justine to have a seat.

“How badly do you seek redemption, Justine?”

"That is certainly true," Justine agreed to Dina's initial remark.
"The Ascendancy has interfered with your plans for a peaceful event. At least they have stayed their hands from grasping weapons for now, which is a relief...Though Dan could have chosen a less embarrassing way to go about it."

She took a seat once offered on by Dina, and she sighed at her question, and looked into her glass.
"Well...I don't expect to be redeemed, even if I have abandoned my bloody past. Some burdens never leave you. But I would like to at least start on making amends."
She then lifted her eyes up to Dina.
"What would you have me do?"

“Creatures like you and me… and possibly Rachel are relics of a bygone past. Of the old ways. The ways that gave in the horrors of the Great War.”

She poured more wine.

“The ways which plunged us into despair, and turned ourselves into monsters.” She sighed. “Tenebra can’t help but fly into a rage upon seeing you. That much you wounded her, almost as if you were squashing a bug.”

She paused.

“You’ve been a most heinous person, and I do think I cannot help but to feel contempt. But given these circumstances, can I afford to deny you a chance?” Dina then took a sip.

“The Twelve Labours. Surely you’ve heard about the myth. A set of feats so impressive that even a murderer might be called a hero.”

"The myth of Heracles," Justine spoke up, having reached into her centuries of knowledge.
"In a fit of rage spurred by the Goddess Hera, he slew his wife and daughter. The Twelve Labours were decided by king Eurystheys as recompense, and included quests of near-impossible difficulty, such as slaying ferocious monsters or performing great toils in but a day."
She leaned her head on her hand.
"What would you propose to be the first Labour?"

Dina chuckled. “I’m no Eurystheys. If I do claim to set you a task I might be called arrogant… but that being said… I think that making Beacon stay their hand would be no small feat should the tournament fail.”

“Failing that, help me evacuate this dimension.” Dina said. “You may borrow Tenebra or Sann for your help.”

Justine furrowed her eyebrows.
"I see. You're afraid of the consequences should Rachel win in the finals." She put a hand to her chin.
"I'll help you protect this place, Dina. It has helped bring opposing forces together, if only temporarily, and facilitate diplomacy."
She paused.
"...Even I have had the chance to partake in this party, which is something I'm grateful for. It would be a great loss to see this place erased.
I'm sure my Mistress would agree to this."
She took a sip.
"Do you have a plan for the evacuation?"

“Gather as many people with teleporting or Overcity Shift as we can. Blanket Rachel on magical attacks while the rest pull out. Still very rough around the edges. Of course if we ever manage to topple her it’d be a better scenario...” Dina admitted as she finished the wine.

"Understood," Justine answered.
"I no longer hold the influence I used to, so I can't promise any reinforcements. But I can certainly provide a distraction."
Her eyes briefly glowed red.
"No so-called Inquisitor would resist the chance to go after a former Seventh Sinner if they were to *return to their evil ways*, as it were," she said, gesturing quotation marks with her fingers.

“You know, even Vlad the Impaler is considered a hero among their folk. Persevere, and if by chance you succeed, I will not have complaints on sharing… my time and my wine.” Dina finally responded.

"Your time is appreciated, but you can keep the wine," Justine answered, raising a palm to Dina.
"I don't mind a glass every once in a while, but I've decided to not indulge in it like before."
She sat up from her seat.
"Thank you for reaching out, Dina. I appreciate it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some recuperation to do before the second round. Until next time."

“Hail… and fare thee well. I don’t envy you.” Dina replied.

---

---

Both Betty and Justine won their first rounds. Okay, that's great!

Is it?

To be fair, Finn didn't know how to feel about it. He did see the bracket, it only meant Betty and Justine were going to face each other. Yes regardless of who wins that, it'd give their faction another step towards...whatever the hell's at stake at this point. But even he dreaded the escalation that would come from the matchup. He facepalmed with a sigh, letting his hand push his hair back. Why can't they just skip the tournament and go straight to culling? Would it even matter who wins?

...Must be the boredom talking.

Here Finn was, sitting back at the Feast Hall watching the tournaments with his ghostly companion and a snowbun, questioning the validity of a sport obviously designed for fanservice. Yeah no, he probably drunk too much.

"Well, looks like it'll be a bit before the next one. Wanna go find a harebringer or something?" Oliver asked him.

Finn looked back at him with an uncertain expression. "Not really?? All this info we got on Penrose makes me want to go back out there and help fix things, yknow?" He idly pet the snowbun resting on his lap.

"We could ask Maura if we can leave early, but it seems our main concern is stubborn enough to cooperate for now." The ghost shrugged. "Too bad Dan doesn't allow real conflicts."

Finn thought with furrowed brows. "There's gotta be a way to bypass his pacifistic magic, even if it's for a moment. We can't leave any stone unturned. Atleast to make sure everyone else is safe..." he frowned.

"I dunno man, it'd be a small group versus the two of us. Maybe more. Maybe quality trumps quantity. Maybe that keijo shit's rigged for her to lose regardless." Oliver listed off, then turning to address the girl nearby, eating by herself.

"What do you think?"

“Huh?” Kate asked, pausing in her ravenous consumption to look at the two boys. “Me?” she added, pointing to herself, while swallowing a mouthful of food.

Oliver looked around them, then back at Kate. "I mean, I could ask the snowbun. But I don't think they understand australian." He joked.

Then it hit him.

"Wait, why are you back here anyways? About everyone else went to the other island." He asked. Finn glanced over the other boy's shoulder.

"Before you ask, Oliver wanted to scout out any leftovers, and I only care about three of the people in the tournament." Finn shrugged.

“Oh, uh, I’ve… kinda got a private viewing area upstairs,” she replied hesitantly, while pointing above her. “And besides, the food here’s way too good to pass up! I mean, I don’t know if you’ve ever been to this dimension before, but Dan really outdid himself this time!”

"Oh, okay then. That's kinda smart!" Oliver smirked.

"Actually, it's our first time here. And already someone wants it destroyed. Fuckin' hilarious if you ask me." Finn shook his head, a hint of sarcasm in his tone. Though he did draw it back, had to behave after all. "Forgive us if we're bothering you. I'm Finn. Er, Vanhorn." He waved slightly to Kate. This was getting tiring.

“Kate Carson,” Kate replied. “And I wouldn’t be too worried about that Ass-endancy bitch,” she added with a chuckle. “There’s no way she’s beating Penny AND Oros. Anyway, this place is supposed to be for vacations. You should just try to relax and enjoy yourself. Y’know, get rid of some of that tension.”

The both of them snickered at the jab towards Rachel.

"Yeah, we were- are fine. Just their little intervention irritated the best of us. But it's not back to work mode yet, ya get it? Though I do prefer solitude like this." He explained to Kate. Though an eyebrow did rise when Penny and Oros were mentioned. "So it is rigged??" He tilted his head.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Kate grinned. “It’s just that I’m pretty sure Rachel’s never played Keijo before, and I’m positive both Penny and Oros have more than a few tricks up their sleeves.”

"Well, with one of them being able to defy known logic, it's almost expected for Penny to win." Finn said, resting an arm against the table. "Dunno much about this Oros though. Assuming it's the...ambitious one who amped up the stakes, she comes off as unpredictable. Who knows, one may trump over the other." He explained what he could piece together.

“Yeah, Oros is kinda nuts,” Kate agreed with a chuckle. “But she definitely makes things more interesting. So, I take it you guys are new to Penrose?”

The two of them nodded in unison. Didn't even bother with verbal answers at this rate.

“My condolences,” Kate told them with mock seriousness. “I’ve heard that place can be really bad for your mental health.”

"Hah. Assuming I haven't already lost it??" Finn joked(???) back with a crooked grin.

"Assuming it won't affect your anger problem too?" Oliver spoke up, giving the other boy a comical look which he nervously laughed off.

"Eheheh...right." Admittedly, he forgot about that in the moment.

“Wow… You’ve really got some serious issues, huh?” Kate asked with a lopsided grin.

Finn went blank faced. It took a moment for him to continue talking. "......Perhaps. Look, for how long I've been around, I've been through and witnessed some shit. He can vouch for me," Finn motioned to Oliver. "So I can say that there are, and were, worse people than I could be. So what if I'm a little bit nuts?" He looked down and picked up his pet snowbun, gently holding it in his arms."I'm not as bad as people may think..."

“Hey, I’m not sayin’ you’re psychotic or anything,” Kate replied, while holding up her hands in a placating manner. “Just that you could maybe use someone to talk to,” she added, frowning slightly. “PTSD’s nothin’ to mess around with.”

Finn waved it off. "I know, I know, I've been doing my best getting better. I was just saying." Though he frowned slightly as well. "...Sorry."

“S’okay,” Kate told him, after taking another bite out of her meal. “I’m just concerned about ya. Penrose is a really crazy place, and worrying about all the shit that goes on there’s enough to give anyone a nervous breakdown. Me, I try not to sweat the big stuff. I’m just here for a vacation. I’ll leave all that ‘saving the world’ crap to the ‘important people’. And honestly, who wants that job? As far as I’m concerned, the background’s the best place to be. Like, take those two over there,” she added, pointing at a pair of obviously related girls who were clearly enjoying themselves while eating a bucket full of chicken. “They’ve got the right idea. You guys should take notes.”

Finn smiled. Her concern ment well to him. Unlike those that seemed okay with him and Oliver helping out, Kate suggested they leave Penrose's problems to other people. "That's the thing, we have been in the background. Just, somewhere else." He moved his snowbun onto Oliver's head, earning a look from the ghost. "As much as I'd love to let the important people handle things here, when those important people aren't enough to keep the world safe from fuck-knows-what, sometimes the little man has to step up. One of the things I abhor is incompitence after all.

“That so?” Kate asked with a chuckle. “Then you’re gonna LOVE Penrose. From what I hear, the leaders of most of the major factions are total idiots.”

"Uh...yeah I hope you're not including Cradle's leader in that regards." Oliver finally spoke up.

"Long story." Was what Finn could tell Kate.

“Actually, I haven’t really heard much about Cradle’s new leader,” Kate replied. “But whoever they are, they’ve certainly got some big shoes to fill.” She paused for a moment as she gave the pair a closer look. “I take it the new boss of Cradle’s your patron?”

The both of them nodded in unison again, though only Finn sighed afterwards. "Tell me about it. From what Maura told me, the two dunces that stayed behind were more than happy to ditch her after she gave this Justine lady another chance." He explained, though it didn't feel right calling Betty a dunce.

"Look, I dunno the full story yet, and I'm not exactly a basket of roses either. Betty's testimony was enough to make my current moral confliction see red flags, but...christ, it's a dime a dozen for your local villains to seek redemption like Justine, and I'm not saying they should just kiss and make up, that'd make me a bloody hypocrite against my own traumas. But why drag Maura into it?? Yes, she can be a bit stupid, but her heart's in the right place. Charging at her all pissed off, assuming she's replacing everyone; which is also rude, considering she cares for everyone all the same, and then thinking her lesser than their old boss? Of fucking course she'd reconsider her position! I mean," Finn ranted on. "If they really miss Veronica that badly, then why bother staying? You can just...leave, yknow? Nothing's holding you back."

Oliver on the other end blinked twice, before handing the snowbun back to Finn. "You may need this more than I do. _{Ya big grump.}" He said, his expression unphased.

“Justine?” Kate echoed. “You mean, Justine von Visceral? The vampire girl who wanted to destroy love itself? Wow… And people wonder why Penrose gets called ‘Drama City’…” She chuckled while shaking her head. “Seriously, though, if these two dunces you’re talkin’ about are as loyal to Veronica as you claim they are, then that’s probably the only reason they’re stickin’ around. I mean, think about it. If she told them to follow her replacement, then leaving would mean disobeying a direct order from their beloved former boss. I gotta say, though, that Maura lady’s really got her work cut out for her… I don’t envy her one bit.”

Finn took a deep breath. "Y'may have a point there. Apparently Justine was purified after their last bout with her, so I guess Maura wanted to see how she fairs fresh out of corruption." He shrugged. The small bit of information about Justine herself did give him some more insight, that he was thankful of. "But it's never that easy, is it? Reception was lukewarm when the two of them first arrived at the party."

“Well, that’s understandable,” Kate replied. “Even if she’s been reformed, someone with her reputation is gonna turn more than a few heads. I’m not really one to hold grudges,” she added, “but I can easily see how others might, especially after all she’s done.”

"See, at least you get it." Finn shrugged. "I can't really see the point in grudges. Maybe back then, but not now."

“Yeah, some people can’t even let go of shit that happened centuries ago,” Kate agreed. “But I’m glad to see that you’re not one of ‘em,” she added with a grin. “I guess you’re not completely hopeless after all!”

"Heh. Told you I've been trying to get better." The boy smiled.

It was at that moment the trio heard the sound of maniacal laughter, just before a deranged-looking young woman entered the hall.

“Nyahahaha! Hey, Kate!” she called excitedly. “I just finished chatting with her mechanical majesty, and thanks to my incomparable super-scientific genius, I was able to…” her voice trailed off when she noticed that Kate was no longer alone. “Oh. It’s you two…” she observed, her previous gleeful demeanor having shifted to one of obvious annoyance.

They both tensed up once the scientist glared at them. "Oh shit. Who'd you piss off this time, Bud?" Oliver nudged Finn.

"Me?! You're the walking lab hazard here, you tell me!" Finn loudly whispered back, the ghost comically shrugging. He then looked back to Nykannis. "Do we happen to know you? By chance??"

“Probably not,” the new arrival replied in a dry tone. “I’ve been trying to keep a low profile. Allow me to introduce myself,” she added as a maniacal grin began to spread across her face. “I am Doctor Nykannis, Queen of the Mad Scientists!”

“Self proclaimed,” Kate added.

“Shut UP, Kate!” Nykannis snapped. “ANYWAY,” she added, once more addressing the two boys Kate had been talking with. “The only reason I know you is because I’ve been watching you chatting it up with nearly everybody here! You don’t strike me as the type to make big plans, so what are you, professional busybodies, or something?”

"Oy vey..." Once more, Finn gracefully faceplanted into the table. Before Oliver could answer for him, he quickly sprung back up all the same. "LOOK- Look, it's part gathering information about Penrose, and part my goddamn Power of Friendship seeing a gold mine here. Whether or not it proves useful, hell if I know, but I'm not planing on anything besides a plan B against the Ascendancy!" There was a hint of tiredness in his voice as he explained. Then Oliver raised his hand.

"I'm just here with him??"

“Yeah… He’s kinda… tense…” Kate added, giving Finn a concerned glance.

“Oh, I get it,” Nykannis said with a nod. “You’re new to Penrose, and you're just now beginning to understand exactly how nuts the place really is. Let me give you some free advice- if you’re trying to change the status quo, don’t bother. Unless you’re on personal speaking terms with one of the Grand Magistrates, or your name is Penny, it ain’t gonna happen.”

"Eh, he's always a bit of a grump. Hey," Oliver turned to address Finn. "Once this is done with, we can swing by Riona's bar on the way home, that okay?"

Finn nodded in response. "Anyways, I dunno what the hell the Grand Magstrates are, but what's Penny gotta do with it?" He asked Nykannis.

“Heh, Penny’s the biggest big shot in Penrose,” Nykannis explained. “She’s an incredibly unique monster girl with an insane power level, not to mention Queen of the city. It’s pretty obvious she has the Grand Magistrates’ favor, but if you don’t know who they are, then I really wouldn’t worry too much about that. You sound like you’ve got enough issues without adding stuff like them into the mix.”

"I mean, I already got the hint. A purfied monster girl's bound to have a few aces in the hole. But..." Finn took a moment to think. "If she's as much of a big cheese as you guys claim, then why hasn't she taken initiative to go against the-" His eyes widened. He then groaned with a facepalm. "Right. Same faction. If she's failed to do anything about the Ascendancy until now then they're probably chummy for all I care." He'd note, despite Penny's claims to be against them.

“I wouldn’t know anything about that,” Nykannis conceded. “But since she’s the one who decided to do this whole ‘tournament thing’, I’m willing to bet she doesn’t see eye to eye with the Ass-endancy on everything,” she added with a smirk.

"But that still offers a chance for their cooperation doesnt it? Good or bad, beats me." Finn sighed, then the mention of Penny being the one to kickstart the tournament made his eye twitch. "Yep. Now I'm certain it's all rigged. Some convoluted plan this is."

“Well, yeah,” Nykannis chuckled. “She’s trying to save this dimension from those fanatical idiots, so of course it’s gonna be rigged. You honestly think she’s not gonna use every advantage she has against them? Still, you’re pretty paranoid, huh?”

Atleast she admitted it. Though Nykannis calling him paranoid was a bit rude. "Uh, the correct term would be irritated, ma'am." He corrected, unamused.

Oliver snorted. "With you? Irritated's an understatement." He managed to stop Finn's elbow from connecting to his stomach, moving it back to the table.

“Hey, why don’t we all chill out a bit?” Kate suggested. “Y’know, like I was saying earlier? I mean, there’s really no reason to get worked up about all this, since I’m pretty sure it’ll all work out okay in the end.”

“Yeah,” Nykannis agreed. “This place is waaay too important to the Grand Magistrates for them to allow a bunch of zealots to erase it from existence.”

For as long as he was quietly listening to the other three talk, the ghost took his turn to sigh. His partner can be a real piece of work sometimes, but he was patient with him regardless. He knew him best. Finn was about to argue back, when Oliver pulled him into a hug. An attempt to calm him down that caught him by surprise.

"Finn? Finnegan?? Buddy?? I know you're a stubborn asshat, but you gotta stop overthinking things." The ghost quietly told him. After a second, Finn burried his head into the other's shoulder, letting out a frustrated groan. "I know, it's a lot to take in all at once. We can help when the time is right, but you gotta relax, man. There are plenty of people here that can make sure things don't go haywire." Oliver tilted his head with a smile. "At least cheer up for me?"

It wasn't clear if Finn decided not to answer verbally, but the other boy can be seen returning the hug in response. Oliver giggled. "That's more like it."

“Awww.. You two are adorable,” Kate chuckled.

Oliver turned his head back to the other duo, playfully shaking his head at Kate's comment. "Y'better not be assuming things. I just ran out of ideas at this point." He tried to clarifiy, yet he didn't break away from the hug yet. "Anyways as long as no one has any alternative motives, ya might be right."

“Of course I’m right,” Nykannis replied pointedly. “I’m ALWAYS right! Nyahahaha!”

“So, I’m guessing you guys have been friends for quite a while?” Kate asked, completely ignoring her companion’s maniacal laughter.

Oliver nodded with a smile. "Yep. Even before we became magical boys, we've always stuck by each other. Besides the dying bit on my end, but you get it."

“That’s cool,” Kate said, offering the pair a genuine smile. “The universe is a pretty crazy place, to say nothing of the multiverse, and knowing that you’ve got someone you can rely on is a really nice feeling,” she added, glancing over to Nykannis.

The ghost chuckled, glancing back to Finn himself. "It really is."

“Uh, Kate, if you’re about done here, I think the matches are gonna start soon,” a somewhat bored-looking Nykannis noted. “Y’know, I was gonna bring the rest of this food upstairs, but I didn’t expect there to still be people down here…” she grumbled.

"Oh, go on ahead! I don't really need to eat much anyways. But can ya leave some of the sweets? We planned on taking some home if the magic persists outside this place." Oliver asked.

“Yeah, I guess I can allow that,” Nykannis grinned.

An instant later, all the food not being eaten (minus a few snacks) vanished in several flashes of yellowy-green light.

“Come on, Kate!” the mad scientist called over her shoulder as she began walking towards the exit. “I don’t wanna miss Penny’s first match!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming,” Kate replied as she got up from her seat. “Well, it was nice meeting you,” she told the two magical boys. “Hopefully we can chat again before the party’s over.”

"You too, see ya later!" The pair waved goodbye as Kate and Nykannis left. "...Okay wise guy, you can let go now."

"...Nah."

Oliver's eyebrows rose, but he conceded anyways with a chuckle. "Fine. But I ain't afraid to carry you like a goddamn koala."

@PlatinumSkink

Mariette was stressed.

She was sitting on the top row of the arena looking down at the stage that was currently between matches. The first round had gone… less than great.

She wasn’t particularly sad about her own loss. She’d entered because she’d realized she could do some interesting strategies with her portals, and even if she’d lost Justine had promised to give her the mirror if she won, and Mariette’s Light-spec had told her Justine was telling the truth. So that was a powerful ally gained.

What was way more bothersome was the fact Mayra had lost. Now, her opponent was apparently going to give them the mirror if she won, too, but Mayra was one of their star players, and between her and Freya, Mayra had felt like the stronger card. Then there was always the chance a third party could always change their mind, Light-spec only helps tell the truth in the moment, and Freya’s upcoming battle was… Could any of them actually beat Rachel? Mayra probably could have, but…

Mariette sighed and gripped the seat in front of her, leaning her head down on it. It was better than it could have been, but oh, so stressful. The consequences of losing that mirror would be… And if it came close to that, Lea’s plan… Mariette didn’t want to consider any of it.

It was then when a sudden ripple was detected, zeroing on Mariette. Mariette had scant seconds to react before she became a tangled awkward mess with another swimsuit clad girl who had just appeared out of nowhere.

"How could I miss the landing?" Tenebra gasped, and choosing to gleefully ignore the situation then went on her tirade. "Pedersen! How do you capture a hot guy?"

Mariette blinked a bit as her portal-sense reacted to the only object other than herself, Overcity Shift and mirrors to actually disturb it. A tentacle quickly grabbed the chair next to her in order to pull her out of the way, but it wasn’t quick enough to pull her before Tenebra popped out of nowhere and collided with her. The tentacle still pulled, though, ensuring that after Tenebra’s statement both of them were pulled off the chair and fell down on the floor (Mariette under, I’m imagining), and Mariette just looked up at her kinda incredulously.

‘A… a guy? What…?’ she asked, kind of too shocked to give a proper answer and a bunch of her tentacles grabbing chairs around them as Mariette had already prepared herself to potentially hit the offender with all the chairs using her tentacles if actually given a reason, by sheer instinct. Hadn’t done it yet, though.

"Tentacles huh… that would work but it would be awkward...Oh Elroy…" She said rising to her feet. "He was so dreamy I could not lift a finger…" She fidgeted. "Sakura beat him, now I need to fight whoever wins over Penny or Penny herself...good luck charm…" She would ramble with a blush until something in her mind clicked.

"Oh right you lost against Justine…"

‘…’ Mariette blinked a little as she registered what Tenebra was speaking about. Like, Mariette knew about romance as a concept, but she wasn’t exactly an expert in the subject. But still… Yes, she did. Mariette retracted her tentacles, and sat herself back up on a chair.

‘I did. Thank you for your tip, I might have been better off following it, I just didn’t see a way I could hit Justine without her outspeeding me, but perhaps it would have been worth it. I’m sorry I lost,’ she said, acknowledging the fact the girl had cheered for her.

"Speed has no meaning if you can warp space…but i guess the spell buildup was what made you...lose…" Tenebra had winded down, gripping her fists. "If I had my old team…"

‘Unfortunately, speed has meaning when it comes to delivering powerful attacks,’ Mariette said, the basics of physics having been inserted into her mind because it’s useful to know. She then tilted her head, wondering a bit about what Tenebra just said.

"Just expand space and red shift it. Oh right, maybe your power wont work like that." She paused. "Star Eater might have taught how to do it, but it is brain scrambly."

‘Red… shift?’ Mariette asked, keeping her head tilted. ‘I’m sorry, but who are you? Why can you do what you do?’

"I am your rival. Even since that horror picked the three of us from the orphanage and fixed our broken bones." Tenebra said."Turns out if I had not been born with brain damage, I would have been a savant. I do know how to use gravity to bend spacetime like General Relativity tells us."

Tenebra. "And yet ...we failed...to Lily, then mother came back and put me work alongside Lily and Sakura…"

"...Wait. That's not mother. She is a puchuu who looks like mother." She whispered, increasingly going livid.

"And then she ordered us to help Justine and Beacon… and she killed me...but now I am back…"

Mariette began to doubt her understanding of the word "rival". Still, it did very much seem the girl had some trouble, when she continued talking. She had indeed died…

‘… Who were the three of you at the orphanage?’ Mariette asked, just to make sure of something.

"Amy, Zophia and I...Amy's parents crippled her into a wheelchair, Zophia was deaf and I had seizures since birth. We all became magical girls… to be something other than dregs."

She then whispered, a jaded and tired smile upon her face. "We died like dregs. And now I am again a tool."

‘…’ Mariette was silent for a bit after listening, her expression blank as she found herself able to relax a bit, but not for a good reason. ‘… We have a lot in common,’ she eventually surmised, feeling a certain kinship.

‘So? What's keeping you a tool?’ she asked, but could guess the direction of the answer.

"Few girls with similar power to me...so Sakura had Sann yank me from the dead… I owe her… but this is so… painful. Amy and Zophia are dead...and I am just a servant of the cat lady and Penny… I can't have fun with the one that forced my friends to death… and Star Eater bartered me away before that…"

‘… Do you want help?’ Mariette felt compelled to ask, looking at her somewhat intently.

Tenebra looked at Mariette… a puzzled expression, before she lunged at her, and squeezed the portal girl in a hug.

"Thank you, but you are my rival…" She said, withdrawing.

"I need more power. I need to be sharper to beat my next opponent."She mumbled.

Mariette blinked a bit in surprise when Tenebra lunged and hugged around her, and once again her tentacles emerged just a little in preparation for self-defense, but after realizing it was but a hug she let the tentacles slide back. She processed Tenebra’s statement, and considered who her next opponent would be… … …

‘… Would you like more power?’ Mariette was saving for her own champion, but she could do some things…

"Huh?I can't accept your help…even if you are cute! You are my rival!"

Mariette smirked a little. ‘Can you afford to be picky? It’s just a little. It’s not like you’d owe me or anything,’ she tried. Honestly, this was a little fun.

"I uh… but Sakura…uh...Elroy!" She seemed to be caught off guard giving how she was babbling nonsense.

‘Would be impressed if you won, right?’ Mariette asked, the little smile still in place.

"I uh… what do you suggest?" Tenebra said sheepishly.

Oooh, the things Mariette could have suggested if she actually wanted to bring this girl under Asengav’s thumb… But, no. She wouldn’t actually want to put her through that.

‘Obviously, it would be on short notice, like this just before the battle, but we have a mana-specialist that could fill you up with excess mana letting you use more per spell that could become more powerful, though more unstable, maybe,’ and who knows if that was a good idea with Tenebra.

‘We also have a Reinforcement specialist capable of interweaving her abilities into articles of clothing, she could make quick cloth bracelets for you to wear that would up your physical performance… a bit.’ Not a whole lot, to be frank, but everything adds up.

‘Then we have numerous Power Artifacts that would allow you to briefly perform spells from a specialization you don’t actually possess…’ Among other things that Mariette wasn’t actually going to mention. She smirked at Tenebra anyway. ‘So? What would you say?’

"I used to have one of those… a darkness one." Tenebra gasped, somewhat flustered at the flurry of options.

"But gravity is costly… I want more Mana… but probably what your girl can provide is not enough…" Tenebra said. "Well I could always serve a better master that the fake mom…"

Mariette was a bit amused by the mention of a Darkness artifact. If it was one of those she wanted, she’d definitely be in luck. For the second part…

‘Oh, Josefin has a lot of mana over. Even a portion of it could…’ Mariette started, before blinking a little in surprise at that last statement.

‘Wait, uh… I wasn’t intending to…’ she stumbled on her words, suddenly quite conflicted about what idea she may have put in the girl.

Tenebra did consider asking for more power, but the consequences she had envisioned made her brain hurt slightly. Maybe that was it. Her eyes stared upwards. “Hey, Pedersen, you got something to reinforce brains?”

‘Reinforce brains…?’ Not something she’d personally considered. That said… ‘Well, I could introduce you to my expert,’ she replied, because if there was anyone who knew about that subject, it was undoubtedly Ronja.

“I’ve got an idea…” She trailed.”...ehehehe. Let’s meet her.”

‘Very well,’ Mariette said, turning around and a portal opened, leading elsewhere. ‘Then let’s go.’

And so, the two went through the portal, which shut behind them and leaving nothing, for now…

Backstage, an order had been given. Should two Champions of Asengav face one another in the tournament, the less likely to win should forfeit. This command had been given by Mariette with the intention that they should try to hide their abilities from potential opponents down the line. In Mariette’s mind, there had been a clear order of least to most likely to win, and there was no reason for any sort of complication.

Which meant that the following scene was happening.



‘Are you claiming yourself more likely to win than me?’ Taihei asked, looking incredulously at Victoria.

‘Is that a question?’ Victoria asked, then laughed out loud where they stood on a single, huge floating platform in the water in front of the audience. ‘Of course I am! You don’t stand a fly’s chance in hell of winning!’

‘Hmpf. You are overconfident. There are many strong opponents in this tournament, and you will not be strong enough to face them. I have the tools to make even the strongest foe fall…’ Taihei stated, frowning somewhat at Victoria.

‘Yeah, maybe,’ Victoria shrugged. ‘But it’s less that I think I’LL win and more that I KNOW you’d lose…!’ she retorted, pointing aggressively at Taihei.

At that moment, a cheesy show tune began to play on the speakers, followed by Dan's voice.
"Welcome to Keijo Live, with your hosts Dan The Dolphin and Pac-a-fist. And now, a match between two of Mariette's friends, Victoria and Taihei!" The camera made panning shots of the girls and the arena for the broadcast.
"While a newbie to the Keijo scene, Victoria is experienced in close quarters combat, giving her a cool head for the heat! However, Taihei possesses the kind of endurance and staying power to outmatch even heavyweights."

”All the same, Dan, it’s not uncommon for Taihei’s misfortune to turn on her.” Pac-A-Fist adjusted her microphone. ”This is going to be a match decided by the competitor’s ability to overcome adversity. If you ask me, Taihei looks more comfortable in the water. Ice floats, after all.”

“You’re right about that, Pac!” Dan answered. “Still, this is one fish that for once likes to stay out of water!”

Now, on paper, Taihei’s superior to Victoria. The first is a powered-up Monster Girl with two specialities and ridiculous stats. The second is an only relatively strong ice-magic girl with Duplication. On paper, Taihei should win. However, as all members of Asengav’s troop knew…

‘Tell you what, I’ll prove it. I’m going to win against you. I’m going to win against you without ever touching you,’ Victoria boasted confidently.

Dan began a countdown. "3, 2, 1...Rumble!"

‘Hmpf. Very well. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you…’ Taihei said, preparing herself… and then blasting off! … Or, not so much blasting off, as suddenly she started falling towards her opponent! Because, while Taihei’s agility is pathetic, she could use powerful Gravity-magic to attract herself to her opponent!

Victoria easily slipped out of the way. This because Taihei is primarily a distance-fighter, attacking an opponent with her rear or chest did not come naturally to her. Victoria, on the other hand, is a close-combat brawler, used to fighting through the experiences of a myriad of duplicates.

Victoria looked like she had the perfect opportunity to make a counter-attack at Taihei. She did nothing, just let Taihei slip right by, and Victoria vaulted elsewhere onto the platform. This was partly because she’d promised to win without touching Taihei. It was also partly because both of them knew an unarmed attack from Victoria wouldn’t do a darn thing to Taihei, she’s far too sturdy.

"Taihei starts off with a forward charge...And misses!" Dan commented. "Victoria dodged, showing off her superior speed!"

”I recognize that spectral float from anywhere, it’s the dead man’s drop.” Pac-A-Fist pointed at the fighters. ”Gravity girls have been causing ring outs with that for ages. Victoria was wise not to counterattack so suddenly. A sudden shift in mass could see her struck by Taihei’s… Butt!”

Taihei, of course, only needed to refocus her gravity constantly to be directed directly towards Victoria… but then she had to stop right in front of Victoria, because agile Victoria had just slipped sideways so the part of Taihei that’d hit Victoria wouldn’t have been her chest or butt. Taihei took the arduous task of needing to turn herself in the air, but Victoria was far faster than Taihei’s abysmal agility could track. Of course, had this been a regular battle Taihei would just have grabbed Victoria with gravity-magic, but she couldn’t do that here.

"Taihei can't keep up with the frosty fille, but it seems Victoria's not countering either! It's a game of cat and mouse, but the feline has left the table!"

”Or is it a game of dog and cat, and they’re both chasing their tails?”

A minute or two of ridiculous chase later, and an annoyed Taihei was floating in the air on one side of a platform and a smirking Victoria stood on the other, her arms crossed.

‘… You’re… not going to win like this,’ Taihei told her, as time went on.

‘Won’t I? If the competitors don’t touch one another even once in the fight, who will they declare the winner? I think it’s pretty clear that I’m the one in control, here,’ Victoria said, giving Taihei a nasty little smirk.

"Unbelievable! Victoria is going for the stalling tactic!" Dan's commentary blared from the speakers. "This reminds me of Grulovian Keijo championships of '86, when Olga Baralikov and Tatyana Svenechie were locked in a bust-to-bust standoff for 23 minutes! That was the year the first revision to the rules regarding the five-minute limit was added!"

‘… Hmpf. We won’t need to find out,’ Taihei said, looking down. The platform was just floating on the water, it wasn’t secured. Victoria was standing on the opposite end. A plan took shape. She’d slam down on this end, using gravity-magic to prevent water from touching her. The platform would act as a giant flipper, launching Victoria into the air. Victoria had no magic to help her while air-born, so then Taihei would easily fly up and intercept her in mid-air and strike her out of the stage. Yes. That would do.

Taihei started suddenly accelerating rapidly down towards the side of the platform!

‘Ah-’ Victoria blinked and her expression got a slightest tinge of worry as she calculated the result of Taihei striking down into that side of the platform, and-!

A giant geyser of water suddenly erupted, blasting water straight up and raining down on the sides. The platform shook somewhat, and Victoria had momentarily frozen her feet into the platform with ice-magic as she struggled to retain balance for a bit, but balance was eventually regained. She stared wide-eyed at what had just transpired. She took a deep breath, hit her esophagus twice with a gentle fist, then held her hands up to her mouth to make a tunnel to shout through.

‘I TOLD YOU SO!’

She shouted at the Taihei-shaped miss in constructional engineering that normally definitely wouldn’t have happened but Taihei was just so unlucky it happened to be exactly where she hit down and she struck straight through it directly down into the water below.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" Dan screamed.
"Taihei has broken the very platform itself! Her butt smashed right through it like a wrecking ball! She's out! She's done! Oh, how unfortunate! But sometimes that’s the way the waves crash!"

Pac-A-Fist shrugged her shoulders. ”Arctic anchor is a staple of ice girls, but I haven’t seen it since the ice cap melt in ‘07. Regardless, Taihei just needs to understand the game better. Breaking the island is a valid tactic, but not if you sink into the drink in the process.”

“Well, only one thing lefto to do, Dan added, and annlunced: "The winner is Victoria!"

”Called it, BTW.”

---

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES CAN THE AUDIENCE FIND OUT.

‘Er…’ Tullia looked awkwardly at where Freya stood. On two legs. Hands on her hips. Tail swinging ominously. Looking exceedingly displeased with all of this.



‘… So? Are you going to, or no?’ Freya asked, frowning. After all, Mariette had ordered the least likely to win future battles to forfeit.

‘I mean, I know, but…’ Tullia muttered. They were standing on just two of multiple rows of floating circular balls that were tied together to form a bit of a maze of a stage. Still, there wasn’t much action right now as both combatants were inspecting one another.

‘But what?’ Freya asked, less than impressed.

‘It’s just… I really kinda want to try myself out, kind of? I was excited. But… I didn’t think I’d…’ That she’d be facing Freya, specifically.

Dan’s voice came out of the speakers. “We’re back at Keijo Live, continuing the match with Mariette’s posse: Tullia the Impeccable Ace of Ice, and Freya the Ferocious Fighter! Much like Penny, Freya is also considered one of the crowd favorites to win the tournament. But how will she fare when pitted against her fellow comrade Tullia in the Sphere Street!”
The camera panned over the arena.
“One of the more advanced Keijo environments, the Sphere Street demands expert balance, agility and foresight in the players’ movements. Can they keep the ball rolling, or will they tuck and tumble?”

Tullia heard Dan’s announcement and got nervous. She had the agility to easily manouver the stage, but Freya, and her orders… She closed her eyes momentarily. On one hand, she didn’t want to disappoint the crowd. She also wanted to try herself out a bit more. Yet, there were her orders, and also what she’d risk if she were to actually try to battle Fre-

The side of Freya’s rear slammed mercilessly into Tullia’s stomach, the poor girl not even having realized she’d made a mistake by closing her eyes. Freya had transported herself between her standing position all the way to Tullia’s would-be safe distance away in the almost literal blink of an eye. No magic had been used, it was just Freya’s sheer speed and physical prowess that had completely overwhelmed her opponent. Tullia’s eyes had time to open in shock before she was launched off the platforms at breakneck speeds directly for the water.

“And Freya slams hard!” Dan commented with high energy.
“What an amazing play! The Fighter struck like a snake from ambush! It was so fast we need a replay of that later!”

”That one’s sure to please the fans.” Pac-A-Fist added. ”Unless they were hoping for an evenly matched opponent. We’ll just have to see how the match develops!”

‘Don’t take your eyes off an enemy during combat,’ Freya told, like a lesson for someone less experienced than her, her face partly turned to keep one eye locked on Tullia’s trajectory. ‘Right, that should be it…’ Freya was about to say, then grunted as the scent of magic filled the air.

Tullia slid to a halt, a hand on her stomach. She felt it, Freya had held back. Of bloody course she had, or she’d have taken a chunk out of Tullia’s stomach. Tullia gasped where she was kneeling, before slowly standing up straight, on her island of ice in the midst of the watery pool.

‘Geh. Is that allowed in the rules?’ Freya asked.

“Of course it is!” Dan answered! “Tullia has managed to recover with the “Frozen Platform” technique, a classic move for Ice specialists. She is still in the game!”

Freya grunted in reply.

‘I… I won’t fall that easily, Freya,’ Tullia gasped, still feeling like she had to keep fighting, even against the most physically powerful of them. ‘I will keep fighting. Even if I have to-’

Freya gripped the ball she was standing on, kicked it into a ridiculous spin, leapt to another ball and then leapt back to strike her butt against it and send it spiraling through the water towards Tullia, creating a small tidal-wave as it went.

Dan gasped audibly. “And here it comes! The secret of the Sphere Street!”

‘… Eh?’ The still recovering Tullia looked up with dead-looking eyes as the huge, loud, watery wave created by the butt-blasted ball completely overtook her island of ice and took both her and the island down beneath the surface without any form of attempt at countering.

“AHHHH! And there she goes! Freya has managed to use the arena itself as a weapon, using her incredible Keijo skills to finish the fight!”

Freya, meanwhile, had used the force of the impact to ricochet herself back to one of the other, safe balls that she could stand on, putting her hands back on her hips and sighing. ‘Are we done now?’ she asked the judges.

“And that attitude! Now I’m starting to worry about betting everything on Penny!” Dan joked, before he announced:

“The winner is Freya!”

Pac-A-Fist scrunched her brow. ”Of course it is.”

__________

‘Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh…’ A decently disappointed Tullia sat grunting in the stands some time later, wrapped in a blanket. She looked so down. Having seen that, and the thoughts of a certain boy coming to her mind…

‘… Hey,’ Freya said, approaching her.

‘Uh… Hi, Freya…’ Tullia muttered, tightening her blanket, assuming she was about to be scolded.

‘That was incredibly foolish. Not only did you go against direct orders, it was for something so incredibly foolish, too. You risked revealing something that could not be taken back. It was very inappropriate,’ Freya stated, confirming Tullia’s fears and making her crawl down into her blanket.

‘… But it was brave. I saw the fear in your eyes, yet you still decided to face against them. That’s not a bad quality for one of our frontline fighters. If I were to just teach you some tricks, maybe we could make something really special out of you. Would you mind?’

Tullia’s head flew out of her blanket, staring wide-eyed at a not-entirely-comfortable-looking Freya. Freya’s eyebrows twitched at suddenly being looked at, but…

‘Y-you’d…?’ Tullia stumbled on her words. Then, she smiled once again. ‘Y-yes, ma’am! I’d love it if you would, ma’am!’

‘Uuuh, perhaps, I’ll think it over,’ Freya automatically replied. Tullia blinked a little in surprise, but smiled once again. ‘Okay, ma’am! I’ll be here…!’

Freya shook her head and turned around to walk… but she found she was subjected to a weird feeling in the fact she’d just made Tullia turn from super-depressed to smiling, somehow. What… what an odd feeling.

Signaling the imminent Keijo battle about to commence, a large platform surrounded by smaller platforms that were all connected by narrow, person-wide pathways erupted from nothingness, presumably at Dan's command. Helewisa made her debut with arms wide open to the crowd and a bright smile while she waited on the stage where she and her opponent would soon begin to battle. Though despite her poised appearance, she was beginning to have second thoughts. It was not a consideration born out of fear of the attention she was getting, nor could she say the name "Ronja" frightened her.

No, she was just... a bit disappointed that it was Keijo.

Of course, you would naturally assume upon signing up for a Keijo tournament that you would be engaging in that selfsame activity. Wisa wasn't duped into it even if Stien made it clearer than the sky that it may be enjoyable to witness Wisa partake. That's not the problem. What is, is that Wisa managed to liken the competitive atmosphere to that of an old coliseum and so found the situation a bit lacking.

Ah, my heart yearns for the thrill of bloodsport! How I long for the sweet scent of sweat and unrestrained challenge, the grunts behind every thrust, and to bask in the afterglow in a battle well-fought! And yet, my desires shall find no purchase in this realm. Oh woe is me, for, in my apathy, I have pledged my allegiance to a patron most infertile!

Brief though it was, her eyes narrowed at the owner of the dimension.

Such a lame, insipid sport! Nevertheless! Witness me, Justine! By my victory or defeat, I shall not leave you wanting for entertainment!

And so, Helewisa's will is laid bare. All that remained was for the one who would put her own will against her to reveal themself.

Seated somewhere in the audience was a blonde woman that had borrowed a disguise artifact with a small, kind of excited girl who didn’t entirely know what was going on but the nice not-human lady was apparently competing and she was going to cheer for her.

Ronja, meanwhile, had decided to take an alternative path to entering the stage.

From the water on the other side of the platforms, the top half of a woman erupted with a splash and a gentle but heavy breath after having been swimming for a while. She had silver hair (ignore the image on that point), and a rather curvy form, something she shared with her opponent. She also notably had multiple eyes. She turned to look in the rough direction of the opponent waiting for her. She smiled.



‘Greetings! I am Ronja Koskela. I’m pleased to meet you,’ she said, smiling and sounding pretty pleased with this arrangement. ‘This keijo-thing is pretty amusing, isn’t it? Weird games humans decide to do for their entertainment. Or is it for the entertainment of the viewers? Hoho, either way, when I heard about it I just had to try it,’ she said, rather jovial in her tone.

‘Still, when it comes to hitting people with our butts…’ Ronja said, and put her hands on the platform before lifting a leg up to climb up. And then another leg. Then another leg. Then another leg. Then another leg. Finally, she lifted up her massive lower body, the spider girl revealing her shape as she climbed out the water, her many legs tapping forward. ‘… I’d claim I have a bit of an advantage, wouldn’t you say?’ Ronja said with deep amusement and slight wickedness, wiggling her body a bit to shake the giant spider abdomen that all qualified as her “rear”.



‘Are we ready to begin?’ Ronja eventually asked while entwining her fingers and pressing her arms on her chest.

“Ladies and gentlemen, what you are about to see is a thrash of the titans!” Dan’s voice emanated throughout the arena dome. “It’s Kejio Live, with yours truly and Pac-a-fist on the assist! In the south corner, we have Hilaria the Hearty, a veteran of war with a hunger for victory! And in the north corner, we have the eight-legged Lady of Lissom, Ronja!”
The camera broadcast panned across the contestants as usual.
“Who will win in this clash between colossi? And will the arena itself survive their meeting? Let’s find out!”

”We haven’t even had a proper round of trash talking though!”

“Oh, you’re right!” Dan froze as he was about to ring the bell. “Let’s see what they have to say to each other! I bet it’s going to be vicious!”

Ronja would come to find Helewisa's response to be strange, as it came in the form of an innocuous-sounding question. "Hey, hey~!" she called to Ronja, rather cheerfully. "Can you press your elbows to your belly button?"

The commentators said their thing while Ronja registered what Helewisa had said, and then looked down on herself. ‘Oh,’ she made a sound of realization. She smirked, then brought her elbows in towards her bellybutton… and her arms pushed her chest out on display as she did, putting significant emphasis on the bikini-clad rounded bodyparts. ‘Like this?’ Ronja asked with a chuckle.

Not a single person in the crowd seemed as ecstatic as Helewisa, who pumped her fist to the sky and gave a little hop after blatantly staring for nearly a minute. "Wonderful~!" she applauded the accomplishment. "A feat that inspires envy for those of us unable to do the very same!" Hilaria eagerly attempts to do the very same... only her attempts fail to have the same result as Ronja's, as she is quite literally impeded by her own chest. "Bigger isn't always better, you see! Of course, that is always going to depend on the circumstance, that’s why it just isn’t fair!"

Ronja blinked a little at Hilaria's comment. It was not what she'd expected. Still… she chuckled.

‘Actually, I'm sorry to say,’ she said, lifting her chest with one arm to demonstrate, ‘I can't reach, it's some distance out, I just did my best due to your earnest request. Alas, my massive shape gets in the way when I do the most common things in life. I tear things from shelves, I have to squeeze through corridors, I accidentally bump into small people in my way. It must be nice, being so much smaller…’ It was unclear if she was talking about her general body-size or just her chest that she was currently emphasizing.

“Um, it looks like the they’re having a...discussion,” Dan commented, looking a bit confused. “I suppose this counts as trash talk!”

"It's not fair..." Hilaria suddenly points a finger at Ronja as she makes this statement, then places one foot forward with a heavy stomp... shaking the very arena they stood on! "So unfair, this sport!" It is here where Wisa's aura changes drastically, the playful dragged away and replaced by sheer hostile intent, though more focused on Keijo than Ronja herself. Still, it was there and palpable so if she mistook its target it would be understandable. "Use of scutum is prohibited, yet you needn't even resemble a human to participate? Bah! Witch trials were far less lopsided!"

“Hey now, we don’t burn anyone here at the stake!” Dan commented. “But we do dip magical people into water...” He turned silent, as if he realized something. “Uhh, alright, it’s time to battle!” He rang the bell.

Helewisa recalled her defeat during her last attempt at Keijo. The star players in that match were Mika, and Dina. Both of whom used transformations in order to better their chances to win. What was Hilaria, who fought with skill and technique, supposed to do against a huge monster? Her axe can cut down such foes, but even her posterior, as shapely and sizable as it is, cannot! How was she supposed to best a sphinx and the Avatar with her ass?! It was absurd! Only with Mika's help did she even get as far as she had, and that merely reinforced her loathing of Keijo's state.

Well, if Keijo desperately wanted to favor monsters, then she would become one. And so she let out a terrifying roar, far too threatening and primal to be considered trash-talk!

"---___---!"

In an instant, a ripple of energy surged through Hilaria and drastically altered her body. The definition in her muscles became far more apparent, her eyes displayed a glow with a golden hue, her teeth became sharpened, and she grew horns and claws that appeared to be sharp enough to slice through metal like a hot knife through butter.

”Oh...” Pac-a-fist sat back in her seat. . ”This one’s a weirdo too. But she’s got that JRPG vibe going for her that I like. And Dryders are from DnD right? It’s a battle of table tops!”

“It sure is!” Dan answered. “Roll for initiative!”

Ronja only had a split second to identify the change before, with enough force to rock the platform, the beast blasted off straight for her, intending to strike! Even if Hilaria wasn't the fastest magical girl, even empowered, that didn't leave an eternity for the spider girl to decide her course of action, so she would have to choose quickly. Yet as Hilaria approached and let loose her attack, she did so in a way to suggest her displays were far more for the purpose of intimidation instead of lack of sanity, as she attacked not with tooth and claw, but with her rear side, fulfilling the conditions for Keijo combat.

Ronja's expression lost all semblance of amusement as Helewisa started her objection, first looking surprised and then settling for a blank expression. She understood the girl's objection. The spider-girl had hoped to inspire desperation, seeing fear would be fun, but she could understand this anger. Unfortunate, but understandable. She poured Reinforcement through her body in preparation.

With Hilaria having transformed, however, it meant her strength-advantage had been boosted additionally. Big as Ronja was, this was still a battle between the strong and the agile, with Ronja being the agile one.

Ronja quickly dashed along the passway to the next platform on all legs turning so she was facing Hilaria regardless. With her feet attached to the passway with web, she attempted to time a first swing of her whole body and spider’s abdomen, trying to time it with dodging the first attack and attacking after. As she did, she held a hand and shot a line of reinforcement web to the next platform intending to pull herself away from her enemy after her strike.

“Hilaria starts off with a charge!” Dan commented. “And Ronja dodges! Size is not everything when it comes to Keijo, folks! That momentum can turn even a smaller contestant into a dump truck!”

”But it doesn’t hurt to have a dump truck anyway!”

Hilaria's rear end came to an abrupt stop right where Ronja had been but a split second ago. A strong blast of air continued from where she stopped and Ronja could sense that blocking the charge probably would've flung her overboard had she tried after building up speed from that distance. On top of this, Ronja would feel a sharp force pulling her towards Hilaria when she got close, which slowed the startup of her spin, allowing Hilaria to reach the platform before her strike reached.

The blow caused her pause and might have even caused her to lose footing had she been hit on the narrow pathway instead of the platform. Furthermore, Ronja's retreat was momentarily impeded by that very same force pulling her towards Hilaria, but the spider managed to pull free from it eventually as her attack had prevented Hilaria from capitalizing on it, leaving the two in a neutral state, so to speak.

"C_W-R_!"

“And they collide!” Dan shouted. “I could feel the impact all the way to this commentator booth!”

”We really need to swap out these office chairs for ones that don’t roll around!” Pac-a-fist did her best to hold onto the console.

Hilaria wasted no time and began another charge, only this time she made a large leap over the pathway instead of running directly on it. The berserker soared high into the sky, so high in fact that she momentarily blotted out the sun from Ronja's point of view. The sun was now replaced with Hilaria's butt, which was aimed at Ronja! And with gravity on her side, Hilaria (and her butt) descended with incredible force!

Dan was quick to comment. “And there she goes with a meteor drop! Ronja’s cast in shadow where the sun don’t shine!”

”Brace for impact!!”

Yeah, Ronja had predicted trying to actually stop that would have been a mistake. Still, it was important information that Hilaria could stop basically instantly… and the wind pulse from this was about to pull her in from just the force of it. What a way to just indirectly apply force on someone. Impressive.

As Hilaria jumped, Ronja dashed out over the water. That is, she headed towards the middle platform while walking on platforms she was creating herself in order to escape the blow from above that also would surely spell the end if it hit. For all Hilaria’s complaints, it sure seemed like Ronja was the one on the defensive. As she realized Hilaria (may still be descending on her), Ronja leapt for the main platform to dodge, intending that Hilaria may just descend at her last position, over water, and crash through, though it was unlikely. Remembering that last pull she shot some web at the main platform to pull herself in, but could also always create a new platform under her feet if she found herself unable to and about to fall in the drink.

The sun trick didn’t help. Ronja doesn’t need eyes to see.

The moment that Ronja moved over the water, the airborne Hilaria abandoned the attempt to bum-bard her. The star fell true to the platform her spider foe had once been on and with a twist of her body, the ancient touched down on her feet with a loud crash. Her choice was only just fast enough, as the small platform struggled to stay regain buoyancy instead of succumbing to the partial submersion brought about by the comet.

“Look at those waves!” Dan commented. “Hilaria’s mere landing was enough to shake the platforms like an earthquake! Is Ronja doomed to keep escaping from the juggernaut that is Hilaria?"

Helewisa could only glare at Ronja with bared teeth as they were separated, for the time being, as her reckless attempts at big swings had proven to be ineffective up to this point. This fact was apparently something she acknowledged, for she chose instead to begin walking at a brisk pace down the pathways of the smaller platforms on her way to the central one, presumably to try something once she reached it, as her options at a range were rather limited.

‘Phew. So much for my large size to be an advantage. I wanted to tease some smaller girls and have a good time, but it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to accomplish that goal. Everyone’s so serious,’ Ronja sighed, speaking where her numerous legs braced themselves on the main platform, having left a web she could walk on over the water she just crossed. ‘Oh, well. I do kind of deserve it, don’t I?’ she asked with a smirk.

“P-OB_B-Y!” Came a guttural roar from Wisa.

Dan chipped in: “Hilaria seems to have invented a new language just for shouting profanities without being censored by the network! But don’t take my word for it!”

”I know I don’t!”

As Helewisa approached the main platform Ronja manifested a wall of Reinforcement at the end of the pathway, blocking the path. She then swiftly moved out over the water, manifesting her own floor to walk on in order to swing her giant spider’s abdomen-butt into Helewisa from the side to hopefully make her topple off the small walkway, but Ronja was once again not really counting on it hence the web attacked to the plattform she just left in order to pull herself back to safety with if she were to be counter-attacked.

”Looks like the dryder is done running.” Pac sipped her ice tea.

“Ronja’s going on the offensive with a flanking smash!” Dan squeaked.

Ronja's booty blast was, as she suspected, not enough to remove Hilaria from the match, but the narrow passage prevented Hilaria from sprawling and so the alternative was striking a wide pose in the best attempt she could manage at properly defending against it. She faced Ronja did her best to backpedal so as not to take the full brunt of the arachnobutt, narrowly avoiding a full-on direct hit. It wouldn't be proper to call it a graze but(t) the edge of Ronja's behind hit around half of Hilaria's and it was only through utilizing the extent of her meager gravity magic to make a pseudo-anchor out of the back half of her body did she convert what would surely still throw her off into a clutch save. She spun, managing to swap halves each time to influence her momentum backward rather than to the side into the water, off-balance, and for a second nearly tripped as she tried to regain her stance, wobbling her arms almost in a panic.

But in the end, she did it! Barely! Admittedly, she wasn't confident about surviving another attempt like that.

"E-SY" she proclaimed in an aggressive voice, though what right she even had to say that was anybody's guess.

“And Hilaria deflects the wrecking ball maneuver, managing to stay afloat!” Dan shouted. “No normal player could have stood their ground after such a blow!”

Pac-a-fist turned to Dan. ”Do normal people even play Keijo?”

Ronja, in the meantime, had pulled herself back to the main platform after the hit, just in case she’d have run into a deadly counter-attack… and found herself watching Helewisa’s wobbling and just precisely keeping steady. Ronja giggled, raised two hands and gently clapped for her opponent.

‘Well done. But, suppose it was easy, after all, you didn’t have as much weight that would have pulled you down as it would have me…’ she said, finding her mood again. Still, there was something she did wonder. ‘So, what use do you have of the Black Mirror? Or did you just enter for the sport or to protect the dimension? Still, tell you what…’ Ronja gave a slightly sad smirk as she looked to Hilaria.

‘I don’t stand much of a chance against Rachel. I was entered to fill out the ranks. But, maybe, just maybe, you would stand a chance? You surely have the raw power for it. If you were to win the mirror, we’d be very much interested in making a deal for it. How about it? We’d be willing to reward you handsomely for it!’ she suggested, the spider-lady smiling with a happy tone as she suggested it.

Hilaria appeared to be confused by the words the spider spoke, as if they were new and foreign to her. “Mirror? Rachel?” she shrugged, her features softening somewhat. “Can’t lose beach, don’t care about anything else,” It seemed to take considerable effort to speak somewhat normally for Hilaria as she made her words concise. “Or,” Wisa inhaled deeply, then exhaled. She did this a few times and her form seemed to waver between her default and enraged as she did. She punched her palm and smirked. “Whose size…and shape... maybe I’d like to see what prevails~”

Ronja took a brief glance at the thin walkway Helewisa was standing on and down on the water between them. She smirked, pushing out her chest.

‘You’d like to compare them? Fufufu. Your funeral.’

With that statement, Ronja leapt at Helewisa while she was still on the tight passage. The intention was for the spider-woman to strike her chest into her opponent (at her chest if able to) with the intention to knock Helewisa off the platform with her full weight from the side. Ronja could make such an aggressive leap because she could then use Reinforcement to jump on a barrier before hitting the water herself, and intended to leap on towards one of the smaller platforms behind Helewisa after she struck.

Wisa seemed more eager to meet with Ronja’s chest than the spider did, not bothering to wait for the spider to reach her -- she lept towards Ronja mid-air with the obvious intention of colliding chest to chest, though in her case the risk was a lot greater given her lack of web or reinforcement magic to back her up.

‘Oh.’ Ronja made a face of realization as Helewisa turned out to have enough of a footing to jump straight back at Ronja despite the fact that Ronja was attacking over water.

The two bodies slammed together, chest-to-chest, and with Helewisa being significantly stronger than Ronja the two were carried across the water, past the slim part of the main platform that Ronja had leapt from and towards the water, only for the both of them to slam into a barrier that Ronja manifested to not fall into the drink. Still with momentum backwards, the two slid off the water and onto one of the small platforms surrounding the main platform with pathways off it, Helewisa able to use Ronja’s own barriers to pursue.

They came to a stop on the small platform, only because Ronja manifested a new barrier behind her giant butt that she was promptly pushed up against, preventing her from being struck out the stage.

“The continents have collided, causing an earthquake!” Dan dramatically added. “They are locked in a bust-to-bust battle! Who will prevail!?”

Pac had nothing to add other than the sound of her sucking ice tea through a straw. Though her office chair had been strapped to the floor pretty tightly.

Ronja grunted as Helewisa’s and her great chests were squished against one another, but she had a solution in mind. A surge of Reinforcement magic flowed through her body, bolstering her. The web on a different part of the arena and the barrier behind her withered away, yet she wasn’t being pushed back anymore. Ronja smirked back at Helewisa, their chests squished together, with Ronja probably being a bit naturally taller because big spider, her many legs attached to the platform below.

‘Perhaps… I can do this after all,’ Ronja panted a bit, having put all her considerable magic into buffing her strength, almost matching Helewisa in strength and her extra weight doing the rest, as their two pairs of great assets were competing for domination against one another.

"You're pretty good... for a coward...!" Helewisa taunted, though she was obviously struggling quite a bit too judging by the sweat on her brow. Being the shorter of the two, she was subject to gravity's effects as well as the enhanced spider. Still, she would start to wrestle the lead from Ronja for a bit, only to lose it and be on the receiving end and this process would repeat as the two could find not the added bit of strength to press their advantage to a victory at the moment.

‘Haha, you’re… not bad yourself, little brute~’ Ronja taunted right back, but the truth was, she was struggling. To keep this advantage she was straining her magical output to the limit to increase her strength. However, she wasn’t boosting her endurance, which was a far cry from Helewisa’s. Her poor sizable breasts were not as sturdy as her opponent’s and they were starting to really ache as the two girls of currently massive strength were squashing their chests at this battle of domination!

If only she could overpower her opponent, get her off the platform…! But no, the two were hard-pressed to overpower one another. It was tempting to try to remove her strength enhancement to try something trickier… But her pride was on the line! Not to mention, she felt if she reduced her strength to do other magic, she’d be shot straight off the platform into the water! She had to endure…!

‘Ready to call it quits yet…?’ Ronja panted as the two were locked in their battle of chest-power…!

“As if…!” she retorted, just as stubborn as Ronja was in her pursuit of victory. She might have had more endurance than the spider girl, but that did not mean this was a breeze for her. She laughed defiantly. “I can… do this all day…!”

Suddenly, as the two were locked in their struggle for supremacy, the bell was rung.
Immediately after, Dan’s image appeared on a large screen cast over the arena.
“Time’s out!” He declared with a cross of his fins, signaling the end of the match.
“Oh man, what an exciting battle that was! I felt like a colibri on coffee from start to finish with how much my heart was beating!
Anyway, both competitors were amazing today, showing both great strength as well as skill. However, only one can be deemed the winner, who is...” He paused for dramatic effect.

“...Hilaria! While Ronja showed great strategic skill with the use of her barriers, Hilaria had both solid fundamentals and the determination to use them. Congratulations!”
He clapped his fins, and the audience joined in the clapping.

”Always disappointing to see a match end with a time over, especially when we’re so close to seeing a ring out.” Pac-a-fist wiped off her mouth. ”But the contestants did a great job, and both demonstrated excellent skill. Hopefully we’ll see more of Ronja next year!”

‘… Oh,’ Ronja blinked a bit at the announcement, pulling back from their battle and putting her hands over her aching chest as she looked a bit taken aback for a bit. Aside from the last jump which had ended up in a struggle for domination, Hilaria hadn’t actually hit her once, yet the spider-girl lost? Did they subtract points from dodging and giving up ground earlier? Did Dan somehow factor in the fact Ronja’s lower endurance was taking its toll on her in that last face-off? … She sighed with a smile, and decided that didn’t really matter.

‘Okay, with the unpleasantries over… I will admit you have a pretty tremendous pair,’ the spider-girl said with a smile, very intentionally using a word that meant both “big” and “good”.

Despite her victory, Hilaria did not appear to be too excited. An arrogant smirk had overtaken her features during the chest bout, but that faded into a neutral expression as the reality dawned on her. This, however, lasted only a moment. Ronja seemed to take the defeat with grace, and though she typically wouldn't care about such things, Hilaria thought it would be rude to make a scene.

"A pair that hasn't proved itself your better," Hilaria added with a small smile, hinting at a genuine appreciation of Ronja's assets. “I won’t waste our time with theatrics if opportunity provides us with a rematch one day,” she stated, offering her hand for a shake as this match of Keijo came to a close.

‘Fufu. If that were to happen, I would be pleased. I’ll look forward to it,’ Ronja replied, also smiling as she took Hilaria’s hand. With that, the battle was over, the combatants respected one another, and the scene came to a close.

_________________

‘Aw, she lost,’ Suzette sighed a bit, and then turned to the girl next to her. ‘So, now that you’ve seen a bit of what our world is capable of, albeit through a really ridiculous game… what do you think?’ she asked.

The girl next to her had bated breath and wide eyes. It took a moment for her to reply.

‘I think you guys are completely insane.’

_{.:⋮Penny & Sam: Rematch!⋮:.}

Shortly before the match was to be called the battle field for this match would rise out of the water. In the center was a large flat platform, around it were eight smaller platforms. Each was just big enough for two people, but only if they didn’t care about personal space. And even further out was a raised fence of scaffolding with a thin strip of terrain on top.

An intimidating area to be sure, but that was before the quirks of this stage came into play. The center stage was only barely above the water, one wrong step and there was no room to recover before you hit the deep blue below.

The eight smaller platforms had more forgiveness in that regard, as each was a good few feet above the water line. But they themselves were only loosely tethered to the pool floor, and had a dome shaped underside, making them unstable ground that would rock with the lightest of movement on them or from the wave of the pool.

The Fence had the longest drop, nearly ten feet in total, but that was it’s only forgiving feature. The walkway on it was only about three inches across so an expert balance was mandatory. Then there was the fact that once the match started the entirety of the fence would start moving, making landing on the thing even more difficult.

It was looking to be a battle of speed, reflexes, and balance.

“It’s KEIJOO LIIVEE!” Dan enthusiastically announced. “With your hosts Dan the Dolphin and Pac-to-the-A-to-the-fist!”

”My name actually comes from Vectorman 2. You see, when you beat a level without shooting it gives you a ‘pacifist bonus.’ But since you can still damage enemies with your boost jump, my brother thought it was called-”

“And now, please welcome our contestants! Coming up first is the Queen of Steel, the Builder of Pain...PENNYYY!”

Penny chose to make her entrance flashy when her name was called. From a standing start back at the doors to the locker room, she would leap high into the air. At the top of her arc thin streams of electricity would begin to ribbon off her giving her an unmissable trail as she came rocketing down to the platform.

The hard crash of her landing would cause a larger splash of water to surge up from the area around the platform as well, but rather than simply sloshing back to the pool below the droplets of water would stay hanging in the air as the long ribbons of lightning arced across them surrounding Penny in a formidable show. At least until she sliced the air in front of her with her hand banishing the lightning and blasting the water around her away.

While her entrance might have looked impressive, any lightning spec, or gravity spec could tell it was little more than cantrips being used. All flash, no sizzle

The Queen stood ready and waiting for her opponent.

“Facing Penny today is an old rival with a thirst for revenge! The Unseen Menace, Super Sleek-Styling Shadow-Dancer, SAMANTHAAA!”

For the sake of all spectating, that was hopefully enough of a spectacle to make up for the next competitor, whose entrance lacked that same vigor. With a hop that could only impress a normal human and a slow, methodical walk up to the center of the stage, there were no theatrics to join her. A few might notice how her steps did not seem to disturb the water beneath even where they should, but anyone not particularly attentive would miss that.

That might not have stopped those of a more perverse nature from admiring how her swimsuit accentuated features most often hidden behind her conservative apparel. But, even in that case, they weren't even given the satisfaction of the cheeks flushed with embarrassment at being on display in such clothing that usually accompanied Sam into this dimension.

Samantha gave one glance around the arena they were to fight on, then faced Penny, speaking before the match could be started. "Quite a show you are putting on. I don't suppose, after that sort of entrance, you'd be willing to toss yourself over the edge, now, would you?"

“Not this time,” Penny would state with a shake of her head. “I have a bit too much riding on this now to have a repeat of my last match.” As much as she was grinning, it was easy to tell that it was still mainly for show as the joy didn’t reach her eyes. They were far too focused and a bit too flat for Penny to actually be enjoying herself. Even if no one else noticed the oddities of Sam’s gait, Penny had.

“I’m not going to insult you by asking the same.” Penny knew Sam better than that, even for how little the two had interacted. “But would you mind me asking what it was that drove you to join this tourney?”

Penny's question would draw Samantha's gaze towards Rachel, who watched the match from the stands, if only for a moment. But the Ascendancy's gaze appeared more focused on Penny rather than the competitor glaring at her; she received the most fleeting glance back from beyond the rims of the stern girl’s glasses before she turned her attention to to speak with her companion. Samantha kept the ire this drew hidden.

"It's a petty, immature reason, really," she finally answered in a self-deprecating tone, her gaze once more settling on Penny. "One that deserves scorn and contempt from even those who joined on a whim. Nevertheless!" Samantha's body snapped into a lower stance, and hostile intent became very clear as she stopped casting a shadow on the ground. "I'll endure what I must to see it achieved."

Dan rung the bell. “And begin!”

Penny would give an interested hum at Sam's answer. “To each their own I suppose.” She would reply with a nod as her left eye would suddenly and noticeably dim. “But I do hope you won’t hold it against me too badly when I win." She would go on to say, her smile shifting more towards a smirk. “Because I am going to win.” And the moment Sam settled into her stance Penny would go on the offensive with a powerful hop into an attempt to booty smack Sam away.

Samantha's low stance assisted in her effort to avoid the first strike of the match, which was her intention, to begin with. Her movements were swift and precise, her figure suddenly darting to the side with surprising speed that seemed quick even for her. And on top of this, Sam didn't stay still and suddenly teleported off the center stage and onto a smaller one. It wobbled in response but Samantha was able to keep her balance. It appeared she wished to lure Penny away from the center platform, for whatever reason.

"You don't mess around," Sam noted. "I'm afraid I don't have what it takes to meet a charge like that head-on. Too much momentum and I can't exactly use my hands." She threw her arms out to the side.

Generally, Time magic doesn't have a visual flair unless willed. One needs to keep an eye out for its influence. In this case, Penny would most probably notice that Sam's arms had pointed towards two of the smaller platforms, one on each side of her. A keen eye might notice these two began to bob on the water faster than the others, perhaps indicating something was influencing them. Did she intend to use them to flee? It was impossible to say until likely, Penny made her next move.

“And Sam dodges the very first blow from Penny!” Dan commented, seemingly ignorant of Sam’s subtle magic.
“And she follows up by retreating to another platform! What is her strategy? Let’s see!”

"You make a lot of fuss wherever you go, you know? Is that intentional? Or do troublesome situations fall in your lap by chance?"

“Bit of both really,” Penny would reply as she turned to face Sam and not even a moment after she would be racing towards the assassin. “I have a hard time being idle, and Penrose is just one of those places where things always seem to happen.” Penny’s speed was also above what one would expect from her and in a near instant she was once again airborne and heading towards Sam.

Rather than aim for another butt attack this time it seemed that Penny was planning on using her ample chest to bash Sam. In addition to that, four soft clicks could be heard from Penny, at the same time that her legs would suddenly be awash in softly glowing rainbow circuit lines that resembled stylized wings.

“Penny charges forth with a ramming maneuver!” Dan shouted. “Using her full figure to it’s most lethal potential! But wow, look at those lights!”

"Penrose exacerbates it, I'm sur-!" Penny's immediate response was presumably faster than Sam would've liked, as she couldn't finish speaking and did not attempt to jump away or avoid it. Yet, curious as it was, she instead chose to meet Penny's assault head-on, puffing her chest out as she traced the shape of her hip and thigh with a finger and stomped her foot down in one swift motion, the platform conspicuously unflinching atop the ripples in the water below it.

“And Sam meets her head on! Pure insanity!” He took hold of Paca’s sleeve, seemingly out of fear. “Oh no!”

The collision would surely result in pain, as Penny may as well have been a child attempting to shoulder charge a tank. Samantha took Penny's charge without so much as a nudge -- this was no display of strength, as even if she could physically stop Penny, she wouldn't do so without so much as grit teeth or a grunt. But Samantha wasn't that strong, so then that could only mean something else was in play.

The answer was quite obvious that she placed herself in Stasis, and therefore was quite literally incapable of being moved. Strength, in this case, could only work against Penny. She would slam into the unmovable Sam and recoil off, Sam hurriedly removing the Stasis on herself in order to follow up with a quick whip of her bottom to Penny's chin.

”Oh! Samantha is a technical fighter!” Pac-a-fist placed her hand beside her head. ”She’s frozen her body and turned Penny’s might against her! How will Penny respond?”

Encountering something that would not yield was always a novel situation for Penny. And each time the reason behind that was always magic. There was a split second in which Penny had room to react, and so devoted already to her offense there was little she could do. But she was at least partially able to pull her attack so she didn’t suffer the total recoil she could have. That was still a mighty strike that she suffered from, just not everything.

“And she hits Stasis! She’s shaking like a tuning fork!”

Her grin however didn’t speak of her annoyance, it spoke of her satisfaction. For as Sam lashed out her counterattack Penny would simply stand to face it much as Sam did before. But a moment before Sam’s butt landed Penny would lock into place. Immovable as Sam had been for her attack.

It was stasis once again. But this time it was from Penny, not Sam. But the results were much the same either way. Once more Penny would mimic Sam and drop her self imposed stasis during her opponents recoil and retaliate with a booty strike of her own, aimed towards Sam’s mid section. Yet she was sped a step more than earlier.

“And Penny counters with a Stasis too! Incredible!” Dan, his beak wide open in amazement.

”With the exact same move? Penny must have really liked that move I guess.””

“You have trouble taking and fighting at the same time?” Penny would ask during this exchange as well, smirk plainly visible. “Seems like your skills could use some work if that is the case. Don’t want to get left behind in the first round do you?”

The counter had about the same effect in total, as Samantha only just managed to avoid shattering her ass on Penny's chin, which was something she was thankful for. How embarrassing would it have been to lose in that way?

"My sincerest apologies. I was so caught off by your sudden speed that I fumbled." And speaking of fumbling, to anyone watching the match from Penny's back, it might've seemed like she did some fumbling as well, as her attack veered off course as a result of a second, pitch-black, hidden bottom briefly appearing from Sam's chest to parry the cushion collision. It disappeared into Sam's chest again once its job was supposedly done and Sam took this split second opening to once again flee, this time to one of the small platforms she had influenced before.

Even if Penny had been completely oblivious to the platform until now, the sheer speed in which Samantha was able to turn around the moment she got to it betrayed that it had been touched by Sam's Time magic in some way. Her words carried a feeling to them as she spoke. It seemed like she was emphasizing them in some way. "Can't help but think if you were this quick you could've just stopped Oros before she puckered up, let alone stole a kiss earlier. Guess you couldn't be bothered for her sake, but this tournament is different?" she speculated, a shadowy blob fell from Sam's person and slithered its way onto another platform where it rested for the time being.

“And Sam deflects, using sneaky magic!” His cheeks then puffed as he held back his laughter from Samantha’s remark. “Ouch!”

Penny’s smirk would lose some of its life at Sam’s taunt and her eyes would gain just a bit more glow, but she wouldn’t follow up the words with a third charge. Instead she would set her stance wide as if she was getting ready to brace and needed to preserve her balance as much as possible.

She would wait exactly a second after she settled into her stance. Then with frightening speed her left arm would snap forward and with a dull electrical thump it would be launched towards the platform that Sam was standing on; the arm itself was little more than a blur as it slammed into the unstable platform just below the lip. The black chain that trailed behind it was much easier to notice.

Dan hollered with a cheer. “Penny deploys a rocket punch! Awesomesauce!”

The force of the impact would cause the platform to lurch violently, but assuming that Sam didn’t just abandon this particular platform, Penny would just as suddenly recall her displaced limb and with her inhuman strength she ripped the platform away from it’s tethering and brought it along as well. Her wide stance kept her own platform from rocking too much, both on the launch and on the retrieval of her limb.

While this was happening, those who were keeping an eye on the mechanical queen herself, and not just her actions, would see her performing another action at the same time as her terrain renovation. Smoothly and quickly her head would snap to face the second of the two platforms that Sam had prepared earlier and she would discharge a glob of semi translucent slime that would splatter across the top of it. At a distance it looked like water, but it flowed too slowly for that to actually be the case. By the time she was recalling her limb she was already looking back at Sam so it was easy to miss it due to all the other action.

“And Penny grabs the platform itself! Is she going to topple it over with Sam still on it?” Dan asked from nobody in particular.

Penny's actions sparked more than one response, as both Samantha and the blob she had parted with earlier moved as well. It rested on the platform behind Samantha, which meant she had Penny to one side and the blob to the other as far as the small platforms went. From that blob emerged another Samantha that kept its right hand hidden behind it, though aside from keeping its eye on Penny, its stance suggested it intended to respond to something, yet it would do nothing else just yet.

Dan chimed in. “Samantha creates a magical clone! Is she going to try to go for a victory by numbers?”

As for the actual Samantha, she instantly responded to the rocket grab with a complete unwillingness to join Penny's get-together, only she did not retreat to the platform behind her, but instead back to the large one, strangely despite her earlier hesitation. The effect of Sam's magic also seemed to leave the platform Penny had 'spat' on, likely indicating she was abandoning whatever claim on it she had. That was not true for the one Sam just left, although something about it seemed to change before she left it.

"Fine," Samantha said, now standing at the edge of the big platform as though waiting for her opponent. "If I play keep away too much longer, you might be able to win just by standing there," she sighed. "You sure you can't just hop off for me? If you intend on returning that mirror to Mariette, I can almost assure you that's what'll happen to it after I beat Rachel.”

“Now why would I do that?” Penny would ask as she flexed her hand into a fist and threw the platform down into the water behind her. The large hole in its side is now causing it to sink into the water. It’s slow sinking speed seemingly lost on Penny. “My intention for the Mirror isn’t to give it back to Mariette. And fuc-BLEEP- you for the insinuation.”

”Phew, that was close!” Dan had pressed a button just as Penny expressed her expletive. “Am I glad for making this magical censor!”

A slight shifting of her stance and Penny was once again flying through the air in a near direct line towards Sam. Her speed once again a small step faster than it was before. It was obvious now, to those that had seen Penny fight at least, that the queen was operating under an enhancement. She had started at her normal top speed, but kept getting faster, and she herself wasn’t expending any mana for these speed increases. Yet since they were all small increases it was impossible to tell just how much higher she could actually go.

“I want to secure the Mirror, and protect the Beach.” She would state as she swung her chest down in an effort to send Sam head first into the water below. “Not return it to its Horror.”

“Penny’s getting faster and faster, can Sam keep up!” Dan added in. “Oh, she goes for a hammer blow!”

"Two can play at that game," Samantha muttered under her breath, secretly shilling her youtube.

As it happened, Samantha was also enhanced, though she had not been making obvious use of it until this point. Of course, this didn't mean she was able to discard her tricks and evasion and just slug it out with Penny, although it did mean she wasn't quite gapped as she had been making herself out to be. And what would she do with this enhancement? For the most part, she'd already done what she set out to do. Samantha made an attempt to dodge towards the side nearest to her clone as though she intended to counterattack, but it didn’t pan out quite as one might think.

The second Samantha that had been watching and waiting for it's time to act finally decided to act. As Penny launched herself like a rocket towards Sam to batter her with her breast, the Schatten also exploded with a movement. But it didn't just rush to its Master's aid. Had it merely attempted to rush after Penny, it would surely have failed before the robotic girl could reach Sam. But that's not what happened. While dashing in Sam's direction, the Schatten's wrist exploded with movement as it flung a shadowy object in their direction, before returning to blob form as its job had been accomplished.

The 'object' flew through the air at superior speed to even Penny. It was pitch-black and, to many, appeared as though a blur in the split instant they had to witness it. But those who could see it noticed it was shaped similar to a knife, a knife intended on piercing its target! And so, as Samantha and Penny were to clash, this 'knife' would attempt to interrupt by lodging into the side of it’s apparent target -- Samantha!

Dan screamed: “Sam’s clones are on the move and -she throws a knife at Sam herself! She’s cray-cray in the brai-brain!”

There is a certain amount of intention that once reached an action can’t be stopped. And to Penny, whose martial skills were so closely linked to the natural movement of her body and who’s eyes now see so much more than they used to, it was easy to notice a feint. The instant that the clockwork combatant knew that Sam was committed to her course of action, Penny changed hers.

For she was not helpless in the air.

Sam would be able to tell that something was up, but would not have the time to set herself against it. As the flow of time around Penny would suddenly balloon outward at the same time as it sped up. Directly after that a long blackened spider limb would lash out with blinding speed, striking the large platform far to the side that Sam hadn’t dodged too.

In normal circumstances that would have simply pushed Penny perpendicular to her opponent and back towards the seven remaining smaller platforms. But somehow the Queen would not fly straight, she rotated around some unseen axis so that she instead landed behind Sam, with nary a ripple or shockwave of her impact even as she stuck true. All the while moving at as of yet unseen speeds from her. The flow of time around her normalized just as Penny started to lay into Sam with a barrage of butt strikes.

Dan was quick to respond. “Penny extends one of her Doc Ock limbs and pivots! She’s a mechanical marvel!”

“I told you I was going to win” Penny would reiterate calmly as she maintained her offense. Her smirk once again sharp. “That didn’t mean you had to make it easy for me, Silhouette.” The long spider limb, still extending from her lower right back, would then curl backwards, behind Penny and Sam, and place itself in the path of the flying dagger. Fully ready to be hit by the notably hostile spell action.

"Committed" was the perfect word to use to describe Sam's course of action. She had no fire spec to sharply adjust her trajectory, nor a grappling hook nor wings. She could not merely turn while in the air and she was already stuck in that particular action. Sam would not reach the blade before it struck Penny's spider arm with the speed she was going at, and she was not confident Dan would rule in her favor when it did. She understood the risk long before she tried this. So what else could she do but continue to watch events unfold? What else? Give up?

"I'm still in this...!" Sam could almost feel the onslaught of robutt approaching as she swore this.

But Samantha had been committed to this from the very beginning! No hesitation, no delay, no mistakes. She was further away from the dagger than the spider arm? That was only true if she had to move in a straight line! To Samantha, the distance and obstacles between her and her destination were wholly irrelevant, especially when that distance was so small. A moment she was confined between spider arms, another she was taking the shadowy blade just before Penny could. This was the sort of movement teleportation allowed her even when she was airborne! Penny wasn't the only one waiting for her opponent to be committed to something!

Similar to her entrance onto the stage, there was no visual flair when this happened. The last thing many would see was the impending doom Samantha was almost subject to. But Lily, if she were in the stands, would see the assassin take the blade mid-air at the last possible second, grit her teeth as she landed, and then set about to work.

Lily gasped audibly in the audience as she sensed the familiar magic that she had felt before at the incident in the graveyard, as time came to halt in the arena. However, she also knew the price for such powerful magic, having paid it herself. The only thing Samantha could hear in the frozen moment was her scream:
”Sam!"

Samantha wasn't going to take any chances. Her opponent did not allow as much. She knew the time and place this had to happen. That's why it had to be at the center platform and at the edge, to prevent any last-minute reactions from her as it was as close to the water as it could be. No rocket boosts or grapple hooks would have the time to help her recover, and a single spider limb wouldn't have enough leverage to swing her out of it.

This was her trump card and she wasn't confident enough in any backup plan to even think about conserving mana in this instance. Her eyes seemed to light up an eerie red as she scanned the girl for any signs of her stasis. If for whatever reason Penny had used it on herself, Samantha would spend just a bit more of her mana enchanting her following butt barrage to penetrate it, as she then reigned a series of her strongest blows down on the girl who was also mid-attack, down and towards the water!

Samantha had a little over five seconds to complete her rush, which allowed her to store up quite a bit of blows before time would return. Individually, Penny might be able to shrug them off but these would all take effect at the exact same moment. A build-up of power that should have been more than enough to fling the robotic girl into the liquid that lay below them.

There was no stasis to protect Penny from the oncoming assault. Nor was there any gravitational flux or metallic meddling. There was a Lightning effect suffusing Penny’s internal systems, but it wasn’t anything to do with defense. So all five seconds of sustained booty slammed into Penny. Impressive as she was, even amped as she was, It wasn’t an attack she could simply shrug off. So the moment time resumed she was sent rocketing downward.

Yet there was no splash.

Just as suddenly as Penny had been sent flying towards the water she came to a complete and utter stand still, scant few millimetres from the water. Stasis. But even so it seemed like it was more than a stalling tactic. Because time was stopped, but the momentum would be preserved.

Before Sam could move to simply power through it a red sheen would flicker across Penny’s skeleton and the assassin would register the Monarch’s magic resettling into a different form, rapidly consuming mana.

“Time’s up!”
Suddenly, Dan’s voice could be heard from the loudspeakers, and Dan’s concerned face appeared on the screen high above them.
“Well, this fight was...I don’t know how to describe it! Everything must have been moving so fast even I couldn’t really follow! But it was an epic match nonetheless, and-”

Samantha had begun to glow around her chest, but Dan's voice acted like a switch and as suddenly as this change came, it disappeared, along with the adrenaline pumping through the girl. "..." Samantha didn't say anything in response to the declaration, and instead sat down on the platform, her skin getting paler by the second, followed by her transformation back into her more diminutive human form.

And then, with a final, long exhale, she promptly fell onto her back and lost consciousness as her blood began to pool beneath her.

Seeing Samantha’s collapse, Maura quickly shot up from her seat in the audience. ”Damn it- Hang on Sam!!” With that, she sprinted over and onto the platform, only stopping once she reached the unconscious girl. Now Maura only used other forms of magic for emergencies, but whether this counted as one, she simply didn’t care. The witch carefully held Sam up and began (Nay, tried) to mend her wounds with reinforcement magic. Whatever they may be…

The moment Sam lost her footing, Dan squeaked in a panic. “Oh no, Sam is bleeding!”
He teleported to the arena wearing a paramedic’s jacket, only to discover that Maura had arrived to take care of the injured patient. “There’s first-aid equipment over there!” The dolphin pointed to a corner of the arena, where an ambulance with an open back door was situated.
Maura swiftly took Sam there, leaving a blood-red stain on the platform. Dan then summoned a microphone, and spoke to it.

“...She is okay, folks! No need to panic. Well, looks like she has been knocked out, which means the winner is-”

He turned to Penny, only to squeak loudly, surprised by what he saw; Penny had appeared and in a harsh smokey burst of light and dropped to her knees.

“Penny! Are you okay?”

Penny couldn’t think straight as her vision blurred, and her limbs shook. She saw wisps of smoke leaving from her body, and felt a sensation much like a severe heatstroke run across her body. It was then that she realized what had happened; during the fight, she had utilized her magical enhancement explosively, overclocking her systems to the point of overheating her processing units. However, while her Regeneration allowed her to maintain such high power and speed, it inevitably led to her mana running empty. And the moment it did, her hard drive and other vital parts of hardware had begun to melt.
As a result, her operating system incurred kernel errors, and flooded her software with junk data. That was when she also lost consciousness, having hit a safety mode to prevent further destabilization.

“Oh no, this is bad!” He summoned a magically floating stretcher which scooped Penny up, and brought her to the ambulance as well. Dan was now left alone in the arena, surrounded by blood and the stench of burnt electronics.

“...This has been Round one of Keijo Live,” Dan awkwardly mumbled into the microphone.
“Stay tuned for the round up...With Pac-a-Fist. Um, goodbye.” He then puffed out.

"Wow, it nearly splashed!" said the winged Valkyrie who was now seated next to Dina, eyeing the outcome of the match… clearly referring to something else than water, which earned a small glare from the Regent.

"Go and aid her…" Dina said in between her teeth as she gripped the rails of the public stands. "Tenebra...go with her." She had said, eyeing the other girl, who was wide eyed in shock.

"Tenebra! Go." Dina snapped as she jumped from the rail into the arena, making a sprint for the center. "What a mess." She muttered as she summoned her catmaid crew, now in a tasteful change of bathing suit uniform, to scrub clean the offending stains.

The beating of wings and the static of a short range teleport were heard right next to Maura,as both Sanngridr and Tenebra landed besides the ambulance crew, one with her own healing in tow, the other producing a healer artifact out of mid-air.

“Seems like you were chosen to fight yet another day, warrior.” said Sann, as both applied themselves to help Maura.

Meanwhile, Dina had been standing in the middle of the dueling platform."Sometimes we have unforeseen… setbacks, ladies and gentlemen." said Dina with a microphone in hand. "We will offer some entertainment in the recess while we work hard to solve this situation."

With that being said, Dina passed the microphone to a certain mermaid singer, as she made her way out towards where Penny was.

Neito waved to the crowd with a bit lip.
"Um, I will be singing Berry Go by Freezer…"

Maura would tense up when Sann and Tenebra appeared to help her. But regardless, she would nod as thanks, before continuing to mend Sam with the extra help. She couldn't afford to loose one of her best agents...right?

Before she knew it, the witch had frozen in place appearing lost. It wasn't the same painful feeling as one of her magicals outright dying, yet her mind felt blank, out of bounds. Or was it that her heart felt more...empty?

What had happened?

Maura blinked out of her daze. Was Sam getting better? She couldn't tell. Or perhaps she was panicing too much to see.

Or perhaps, she was too late.

She would hold the girl close to her with a regretful frown. And in a way, she didn't want to let go. "I'm so sorry..."

Someone. Someone from their group had to know. Eliza, Oliver, anyone. Maura didn't like the thought of proding through their thoughts, but she had to know. She had to know if everything else was okay.

...

..

.

Of course the departure of the Lord of Change's group didn't go unnoticed. Elizabeth didn't care for the tournament, or the rest of the event. So she boredly spied on anyone outside of things. She was almost back to her normal self again. She still had some inner turmoil to sort through, but hopefully this'll be a step towards improvement. She can even go check on her family, her brothers!

And yet, things went wrong.

Again. Again. Again.

People were driven away. Because of some bullshit set up. Sam was probably killed during Keijo. Because of Penny, someone she thought of as one of her best friend! "Damnit...Damnit!!!" The profanity slipped out from her lips, as she kicked down a nearby chair. There was no point in delay, she had to inform everyone else. She called every agent that wasn't busy or currently dying, telling them to meet up at the dining hall, then shadow hopped back there herself.

...

..

.

As expected, most of the reactions were...not so pleasant.

"I knew this party was fucked." The android shook her head, a look of disdain paired with crossed arms.

The magician's anger dispated. There was no point in it now, if Oros had left. But it didn't feel right when it came to the implied favoritism for Penny. MDP, no, Violet was dating her. Yes a part of her did feel jealous, but if she was happy, it's all that matter. But now? She felt a bit nauseous.

"I...I'm gonna go find Connie. A-And Mia..." Amanda walked off without another word.

Elizabeth herself understood their reasoning, if only a little. Penrose was becoming a cursed place, bound to drive people mad in time. She knew that well. And she was tired. Tired of things becoming worse. If she didn't know better, it would be easy to steal her soul jar back and-!

She turned away to breathe. Don't think about it. Don't think.

Oliver didn't really know what to say or do. His partner and him had just got there, and things were spiraling into a goddamn domino effect. There wasn't much he could do beside comfort them the best he could.

Finnegan, on the other hand...

Finn had stepped outside to smoke, strangely calm. Atleast that's what it looked like to others. Inhale. Exhale. A scarlet colored smoke left his lips. He took a few steps to the side, the nearest wall at his reach. Inhale. Exhale. He was still for a moment, taking the cigar out of his mouth with one hand. Then without warning a fist colided with the wall, a boost of strength from his Beast magic leaving visible cracks. Furrowed, enraged brows broke into a regretful frown.

"Damnit, Bets. Couldn't even wait to say goodbye...?"

He swallowed down the urge to break down. He had to stay calm. Inhale. Exhale.

But was there any point? Inhale. Exhale.

Incompitence, chaos, conflict, arrogance, pride, wrath.

Wrath...

Penrose was a shitty town. That he knew by now. But were the people any better? A cycle of conflict, a cycle that people weren't even trying to stop. Were they bloody masochists?? Was there something there that drew people to it?? And what about their dear so called "royalty"? Pah! A rightful monarch wouldn't let their people live in fear! A rightful monarch wouldn't cave into the enemy's whims despite claims saying otherwise! A rightful monarch wouldn't let their power go to their fucking head to where they weren't actively keeping their kingdom safe!

In fact, it seems most factions are looking after themselves! Where's the logic?? The reasoning?? The Mint he could understand, but who the hell is the hero here? Nobody!

Finn could feel it. A familiar burning rage that started as a small flame, then grew. Grew and threatened to engulph him. Something had to be done. He dropped his cigarette and put it out with a single stomp. He began marching back to the other island.

"Maura? Can you hear me?!"

"Finn? Is everything okay?"

"Okay? OKAY?! No shit everything isn't okay, everything is fabulously fucked in fact, and it has been for awhile, AND NOBODY DID JACKSHIT ABOUT IT!"

"I know, I know, we've been trying to keep things in order, but it hasn't been easy-"

"No shit, you think!? I know how bad the Mint and Beacon are, Maura!"

"Things were progressing slowly before I ended up becoming the Cradle Mother. I don't know the full extent of Veronica's plan, but our goals aligned. But it seems pointless now. Christmas got ruined, most of the old agents are gone...I might never see Ronnie again..."

Finn frowned in remorse, then sighed. "Maura. Just say the word. I can end this, here and now!"

On the other side Maura allowed her eyes to close, setting Samantha down. Once she opened them again, her eyes shone an ominous red. If she had to lend Finn a bit more of her power to override Dan's magic, she was more than willing.

"Do it."

At that moment, Finn's eye mirrored Maura's with a pure red. He sprinted off, whether to find the accursed dolphin, or to face the queen herself.

The enraged young man kicked open the doors to the stadium, marching quickly back to where everyone else was. Where those two were. Anyone who tried to get his attention would be ignored, his mind focused, determined. Finn knew Oliver would catch up to him soon, hopefully he'll let him say his piece.

Dan The Dolphin appeared in a puff of blue smoke right before Finn, looking concerned.
"Hey, is something the mat-" He managed to say before Finn is walked past the Lesser Force, causing Dan to raise an eyebrow. He teleported to Finn's path again.
"Hey, it's rude to ignore someone when they tal-"
Again, Dan was brushed off, and the squeaky Patron looked nonplussed.

With all what was going on, It was not difficult for Sann to become aware of the situation. She pondered what was going on, albeit briefly. She did not want to stick around to babysit when strife was bubbling.

She probably could leave the healing to others, she thought as she flapped her wings and glided to catch with the infuriated person, letting out a giggle as she went by.

"Aw, I guess you are not playing nurses and doctors with Sann and Veronica Two. Where are you going?"

Finn snapped his head towards Sann with a vicious scowl, half of it being irritation from Dan's attempted intervention. He didn't have time for this, damnit! Though he wasn't around for alot of the rounds, who knows where his targets are now? His scowl loosened into a glare, only asking her: "Asimov and Rachel, where are they?"

"Well, Penny's being treated with first aid over at the ambulance," Dan answered as he arrived in a puff, "but she is not allowed any visitors until she's gotten better. And Rachel is in the audience...Wait, is she coming here?"

In the distance, Finn saw as Rachel slowly walked towards them, her glasses reflecting the light of the arena floodlights with a menacing sheen. "Is there a problem?" She asked, sounding irritated.

Finn turned around, giving Rachel an annoyed glare. "And of course you'd overhear." He crossed his arms.

Sann hovered around Finn, feeling his anger despite not having any kind of emotional mumbo jumbo whatsoever as she took the chance of the distraction to envelop Finn with her wings and body.

"People nearly died and we need to beat up someone to feel better. Can we spank your butt until the stick comes out of your ass, Glasses?"

One of Finn's brows rose at Sann's answer. "We'll...burn that bridge down once it annoys us." He told the Valkyrie, then turned his attention back to the inquisitor.

"Let me just cut to the chase. I've learned alot about the town you're doing your dirty dealings in, and most of it I don't like. There's no rhyme or reason, everyone's at each other's fucking heads trying to reach a crown that's leagues ahead of them. So as much as I don't take kindly to your ilk, I gotta ask." He explained.

"Who has yet to overthrow the Queen?"

Rachel did not answer at first as she silently looked Finn over, and adjusted her glasses using the palm of her hand.
"...There is something about you that is familiar. Who are you, and why would you care about such matters?"

Finn's red eye seemed to show a glimmer of amusement, his expression easing up slightly. "About damn time..." He whispered. The boy straghtened up, to instead of shaking Rachel's hand, he formally bowed. "My name is Finnegan Vanhorn, and I've to believe the incompetence of our...current leaders is reason why your town is on the highway to Hell. Something like that?" He rose back up, covering his mouth to hide a malicious smirk. "...It makes me angry. Very angry."

Sann was feeling a little warm and fuzzy, seeing this violent man spit out barbs. She moved her cheek against his and nuzzled him. "Angry cute."

The boy's eyes widened at the affection Sann was giving him. Eh, he was too pissed to be anxious. He casually patted the girl on her head.

"So, can you please stay here so Finn can break all your bones? Apparently he wants to commit regicide and that takes effort."

Rachel's condescending gaze sharpened when Finn gave his name, and her posture tightened.
"So it is you!" She summoned her weapon. "The Sinner of Wrath!"
Dan intervened, flailing his tiny fins in a panic.
"Whoa whoa whoah! Let's not get too hasty here! I'm sure we can talk this out-"
Rachel slapped the dolphin away with the back of her hand.
"I would like to see you try! Or will you run away like last time, Vanhorn?" She asked, an evil smile on her lips...And then scowled; she realized that what was supposed to be her hammer had turned into a squeaky toy hammer one would see at any fair or carnival. "Dan, change my weapon back to normal!"

Dan shook his head. "No! Fighting is not allowed in here. And if you two are going to cause trouble, I will be forced to take necessary countermeasures."

"Oh? Run away?" Finnegan "innocently" tilted his head. "Like having you lot hunting me down for sport is fun, and now this?" He sarcastically quipped. His eye darted to their weapons. Oh right, pacifist magic.

However before he reached for his cane (foam sword??), Dan's voice drew his ire away from Rachel. His head slowly glanced to the dolphin. "...Trouble? Trouble? As if forcing a blatantly rigged and drawn out tournament for some tincan that could just easily knock this bitch into tomorrow and be done with it isn't trouble enough!" He called him out. "People have ditched town cause the ones who claim to try and fix things have their heads shoved so far up their rears, they can see their bleeding hearts! Remember, you're not as innocent here either!!"

Sann just purred slightly at being patted, before reaching out to grab the Dolphin.

"Waah!" Dan squeaked in surprise.

"Imma eat you."

The wrathful man grimaced. "I'd rather not do that, Sann. He probably tastes like rubber and blubber, among other things."

"That's right! I taste like a car tire! You wouldn't like eating something like that!" Dan agreed as he wriggled in Sann's hold like a fish.
"But if I heard correctly, you're upset about the tournament me and Penny are holding, correct?" He asked Finn.

Sann did ignore Dan's pleas, and moved to get just a little nibble out of Dan's dorsal fin... before stopping in her tracks.

"If you don't wanna be eaten... be useful." She smirked. "Angry cute has spoken, you are either with him or against him".

When asked about his complaints, Finn's eyebrow rose. "Yes?? No??? Ugh!!" He roughed up his hair a bit out of stress. "There are many factors you had to concider in this! The fact alone that this is to cater to the whims of one person is enough to leave a sour taste in my mouth, but what's the point??? What's the point of anyone else attending if the outcome is going to be the same?! To tire Miss Four-Eyes here out?!" He asked, then snapping his head towards Rachel. "And YOU. If only you kept your trap shut and behaved until we left, we couldn't be running the risk of, oh I don't know, pissing off a goddamn horror enough for them to try and tear down the place before you apparently can do????" He took his turn to tell her off. "How much do you know about that damn mirror anyways??"

Rachel eye twitched, and she slammed her weapon down.
"None of your business, blackguard!"
Dan winced as he was bit, and teleported out of Sann's hold to now hold his fins to his sides between Finn and Rachel.
"The point is that Rachel agreed to a duel, and Penny thought it would be fun to make it a tournament of sorts, with the winner getting to challenge her. There's nothing rigged about it!"

At Dan's insistance, Finn's glare broke for a moment. Into...almost a hurt expression, no less.

"Someone almost died. How could you still insist everything is okay...?"

Rachel scowled. "Really now? I noticed that Penny was performing much better than usual during that match...until the end, at the very least. I suspect some magical enhancements were involved."
Dan shook his head. "Players can have help before a match. It's fair!"
Rachel scoffed. "Pah. You're a nuisance as well."

Dan then turned back to Finn.
"Well, okay, things may have gone just the teeniest bit overboard. But it doesn't mean you can come in and taunt people into fighting! Now, if you have any other concerns, let's hear them." The dolphin crossed his fins with a pout.

"...Tch." His glare returned, if not weaker than before. "You're the least of my concern anyways. Your pacifist nature is admirable, but sometimes people can't be reasoned with words alone." Finn turned to the side. "All I'll say is, if the Queen, nor the Beacon, or anyone else can't be damned enough to set things right..." Without moving, his eye glance back to the others. "Then I'll be taking over this city."

Rachel laughed mockingly. "Such a bold claim. Go on then, try and claim this city! It will be my pleasure to see you grovel at my feet once I've broken every bone In your body."

The boy's head turned to glance at Rachel. Then, he smiled. A sarcastic, malicious smile. "Oh my dear girl, you seem to still underestimate us. Although I'd much like to see you try~"

"I don't need to try, for it is a foregone conclusion." Rachel turned away, flipping her hair. "But enough. I have more important things to do than idle banter. Come, Violette," she spoke to the purple-haired girl who had just arrived, and walked away, cool and composed.

Dan sighed. "Well, that's that I guess."

It was then Finn felt a light pressure on top of his head. It wasn't Sann, but Oliver had floated over and rest his head on top of his. His colors seemed to have returned to normal, did his duplication power have something to do with it? "Hey, you two done insulting each other yet? You kinda ditched me back there." The ghost boredly asked, puffing a cheek out.

Like a flip of a switch, Finn completely calmed down at his partner's presence. "...Yeah. I got it out of my system
Sorry, Oli. And, er, Dan. I suppose."

Oliver did give Sann a side eye, but if she hadn't hurt Finn, then he guessed she was okay. For now. "You wanna go ahead and go?" The ghost gently wrapped his arms around the other's neck.

"Yeah. We have a lot of work to do."

Sann all this time had been eyeing Dan as a snack, but perked up at the words of conquest being thrown,before she positively began to smile, even chuckle a bit.

She then threw a raspberry at Rachel and her righteousness. The holier than thou types were fun to tease but remarkable sore losers.

It was then when she skipped a couple of wingbeats and levelled her sight with Finn.

"Hey hey, you are going to take this city? That means Sann will have to fight you!" She said all giddy, before levelling her stare at Finn and giving him... a glomp.

"That means as a retainer of Penny Sann will have to fight you. Don't worry, you are sort of cute anyway, if a little daft. I won't kill you..."

"I will just cut your limbs off and keep you as my hug pillow when that happens... It will be super fun!"

Finn, though startled, managed to stay standing from Sann's glomp. Oliver on the other hand wasn't amused. Eh, stuff can easily phase through him anyways, he is incorporeal after all. Sure, perhaps they might have to fight Sann eventually, but the other outcome she suggested caused Finn to shudder. Something like that? He'd rather get killed.

But that wasn't the worst of it. Despite what people would believe of the Sinner of Wrath, Finnegan Vanhorn...didn't like killing people. It could have been a side effect of trauma, but he'd rather not resort to it. No, he just needed time. Time to prepare. "Hm. Perhaps we will fight. But not so soon. Not when there's much to do, many things to settle before kickstarting such a revolution." He said, patting Sann on the back. "It'd be too risky to run in blind like many would."

"Don't take too long, coz I am going to tell Granny kitty. She will love it, being a survivor of the Russian Empire..." Sann trailed off. "...Also someone else might beat you to the punch..."

Dan was floating by the sidelines, and sighed in relief. "Seems like everyone's calmed down now. But if you still want to talk, I'll be over at the first-aid corner. Bye!" Having said that, he disappeared in a puff of blue smoke.

The duo's eyes widened. Either from the implications of how old Dina truely is, or that someone else already had their idea. Well, whoever it is probably screwed off too, so that's one less thing to worry about. Right?

Finn's eyebrows furrowed. "If that must be, then very well. Come on, Oli. We have some calls to make." With that, the two walked away.

Sann just eyed at Odin, smiling somewhat... as she left to help tending the wounded and probably make another call.

Odin...smiled back.

...

..

"No luck?"

"Unfortunately, he's either that persistent or that stupid. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I overheard everything. Are...you sure you know what you're doing? Letting that inquisitor discover your identity was a risky move, but taking over the city??"

"Trust me Maura, something has to happen sooner or later. It's about time we take initiative."

“It would appear the matches shall be starting soon,” Gaia told Connie and the others at her table once she’d returned from her chat with Mariette. “Would you like to go watch them? I am fairly certain Mayra shall be one of the participants.”

“Uh, I g-guess we could…” Connie replied hesitantly, still a little saddened by how the previously festive mood had been shattered. “I-I, mean, I r-really want to c-cheer M-Mayra on, b-but umm… W-What even is K-Keijo?”

Despite her normally serene disposition, her friend’s question brought an awkward smile to Gaia’s face. “W-Well, the answer to that is somewhat complicated, little sister,” the verdant girl began hesitantly. “Some consider it a sport, others a respectable martial art… and still others a rather scandalous form of entertainment.” Sighing, she reluctantly continued her explanation. There really was no easy way to say this was there? “Essentially, it involves two competitors on a floating platform, who each try to knock the other into the water. However, they can only use two very limited parts of their body to do so- their chests, and their rears.”

“Uhh.. T-That s-sounds r-really s-strange…” Connie observed with an uncertain frown.

“It certainly is, little sister,” Gaia agreed with a sigh. “And I completely understand if it’s not something you’d want to watch.”

“N-No, i-it’s fine…” Connie replied still sounding a bit uncertain. “A-And it c-could even be f-fun!” she added with a hopeful smile.

Returning Connie’s smile with one of her own, Gaia placed a comforting hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Then shall we be off?” she inquired.

With everyone in agreement, Gaia and Connie, along with Rose, Iris, and Shane set out for the Keijo arena.

Although she had been a member of the magical community for some time now, it still amazed Connie how she was able to travel from winter to summer in a single step. Making their way along the palm tree lined paths of the central tropical island, the small group soon arrived at the arena. However, the sparkling waters of the beach, as well as the myriad fountains and pools they’d passed, reminded Connie of something she’d been thinking about ever since her first visit to Dan’s dimension, something she had finally gathered the courage to act on.

“Umm… Mia?” Connie spoke up hesitantly, after they’d taken their seats in the viewing stands.

“Hmm?”

“S-So, uh, you k-know how I c-can’t s-swim? W-Well… I was w-wondering if m-maybe w-we could c-come back here s-sometime a-and you could h-help me l-learn…”

“Of course, little sister,” the nymph-like girl replied with her warmest smile. “I would be more than happy to do that for you.”

“T-Thanks, Mia,” Connie told her softly, while giving the verdant girl a big hug. “W-With you h-helping me, I j-just know I’ll be s-swimming in no t-time at all!”

Giving voice to a melodic giggle, the botanical beauty returned Connie’s hug with interest. “That is only because you have already overcome your greatest obstacle,” she replied.

“Huh?”

“Your fear, Connie,” Gaia explained, her voice filed with admiration. “You conquered your fear of the water. If you hadn’t done that, then I couldn’t even begin teaching you the basics.”

“Oh, w-wow…” Connie whispered, her eyes widening with understanding. “I-I guess you’re right…”

“As I have always said, my dearest Connie, you possess far greater strength than you realize, and it fills my heart with such joy when you display it.”

Soon, the matches commenced, and Connie found herself captivated by each contest. While the “sport” was indeed more than a little strange, it was still fascinating to see the incredible feats each pair of competitors managed to accomplish, even under the confines of Keijo’s bizarre rules. This was especially true in the case of Mayra’s match, which saw Connie gasping in awe at her draconic friend’s abilities, culminating with a metamorphosis into a full dragon! However, her awe swiftly turned to alarm, as she watched Mayra slam into the water and then sink into the depths.

“M-Mayra!” she cried, leaping up from her seat. “I-Is s-she okay?!”

“I believe she will be, little sister,” Gaia reassured her as they watched Jelena leap into the pool after the defeated dragon. “But if you would like, we can see if we might be able to check up on her, once she recovers.”

“Y-Yes, please!” Connie nodded vigorously, her trembling hands clasped over her heart.

A few minutes later, they were outside the door of Mayra’s locker room. After being granted permission to enter, Connie rushed inside, her eyes filled with concern. Although that concern appeared to be unwarranted, at least if the draconic girl’s cheerful demeanor was anything to go by. “M-Mayra? A-Are you okay?” Connie asked as she nervously played with her hair. “I-I saw what h-happened and…”



‘Oh, I’m feeling great! I’m ecstatic! Such a powerful opponent! Aaah, I wish I could have kept fighting! Silly water rule, if it wasn’t for that I wouldn’t have fallen to that attack alone! But, aaah, I wish I could keep fighting. There’s gotta be more powerful opponents in the tournament. Oh, whatever! I had fun! Hahaha! Aaah, I want to fight her again sometime…’ Mayra said dreamingly as she thought back on the battle.

Connie was understandably a bit surprised by the draconic girl’s cheerful enthusiasm, but she was happy that her friend was unhurt, and was taking her loss a lot better than she’d expected. After exchanging a (nearly bone breaking) hug with the dragon girl, Connie and Gaia returned to their seats to watch the next few matches. However, if Connie was expecting them to be less shocking than what she’d just witnessed, she would be sorely disappointed…

As upsetting as the conclusion of Mayra’s match had been, the ending of Penny and Sam’s had been far worse. Clasping her hands over her mouth in horror, the timid girl could only watch in stunned silence as medical teams rushed to aid the fallen competitors.

“O-Oh my gosh…” she whispered, her eyes beginning to water.

“Come on, little sister,” Gaia said gently as she rose to her feet and held out an elegant hand to help Connie do likewise. “Let’s take a little stroll. It will help you relax and free your mind from all this unpleasantness. Okay?”

“O-Okay, Mia,” Connie replied, allowing Gaia to support her trembling legs.

“That’s my little sister,” Gaia told her warmly, while giving her an affectionate head pat. “We’ll be back shortly,” she told their companions, before leading Connie towards the exit.

With the first round concluded, everyone was slowly beginning to file out of the stadium for a food and restroom break. Gaia decided to avoid the crowds by choosing to explore a seemingly unnoticed path through the tropical foliage. The path led them to a secluded hut, which, if the sign above the entrance was to be believed, contained a book shop. Stepping inside, the pair discovered a quaint and cozy little store, filled with books on fish, ships, lighthouses, pirates, and other nautical topics. There were even a few comfy chairs to sit and read in. It was the perfect place to calm one’s mind, and it wasn’t long before Connie had picked out a book to look through. Sitting side by side, the two friends looked over page after page of beautiful landscape paintings, each depicting a ship, lighthouse, or palm tree decorated with Christmas lights. The images were a perfect merging of the tropical nature of the summer islands and the holiday spirit, which so suffused the winter island, reminding the two magical girls that it was still Christmas, even if it didn’t much feel like it, currently. A few minutes later, the chime of a small bell above the door alerted the pair to the arrival of a new visitor, and Connie smiled upon seeing who it was.



“Amanda!” she greeted the dream magician with cheerful surprise.

“It is very nice to see you, Amanda,” Gaia added warmly. “My dearest Connie and I were just taking a little break to de-stress after all the recent drama,” she explained. “So, what brings you here?”

Amanda managed a tired smile when the two spotted her. "Yo..." She waved. When asked what brought her to them, she simply shrugged. "Same as you, I guess? I just...wanted to see you guys for a bit." Once she walked over and sat down next to them, she detransformed back to her normal self. "Ugh, I feel like I'm gunna puke."

“W-Why?” Connie asked, her concerned demeanor having returned in full force. “W-What h-happened?”

"Take a guess." Amanda only said.

“U-Ummm…” Connie frowned, looking thoughtful. “D-Did o-one of t-those, uh… Ascendancy p-people do s-something?” she asked, clasping her shaking hands over her chest.

The magician rose a brow. "No?? Did I miss something else?" She then shook her head. "Nah, it's just...the last tournament. This whole thing. Penny. It- It ain't right." She frowned. "I just don't wanna think about it."

“O-Oh! N-No,” Connie hastened to clarify. “N-Nothing h-happened… A-At l-least, n-nothing t-that I k-know of. I was j-just g-guessing…” She then listened with increasing distress as the weary magician expressed her displeasure with the tournament. And with Penny…

“Mmm, that last match was indeed intense,” Gaia agreed, “But something tells me that isn’t what you’re referring to. I completely understand if you do not wish to speak of it further, whatever it may be,” the verdant girl added in a tranquil voice as she placed a reassuring hand on the magician’s shoulder. “But please know that my dearest Connie and I are here for you if you need someone to talk to.”

Amanda sat back up, and smiled. "Thanks. Most of it's out of my hands anyways."

“Then perhaps taking some time to relax with friends is precisely what you need?” Gaia suggested with a warm smile. “And the local ambiance is quite calming, don’t you agree?” she added, gesturing at the cozy shop around them.

Amanda looked around. "Bookshop..." She giggled. "Hehe, ironic. Yeah, I could stay here for awhile, nice and quiet."

“M-Mia and I were l-looking at this b-book with t-tropical landscapes decorated with C-Christmas lights,” Connie told her. “O-Our c-chairs are s-so c-close together w-we c-could all p-probably see the p-pages if M-Mia held it in her l-lap,” the timid girl observed. “S-So… W-Would you l-like to l-look at it w-with us?”

"Sounds neat. I'm in." Amanda nodded.

---

Sometime before Penny's match...

The tournament was ongoing, and so was Dina’s work behind the scenes. Not much of a fighter, despite being chosen by Dan as one of her girls, she instead had decided to take a less direct approach than the slugfest Penny and Dan had proposed.

It was a draining affair, and she was aware that her party butterfly self was reeling from it. She was a socialite, not a backstage general, nor a wizard of strategy. Well, at least so far no major setbacks on their side. Sann was a bit rough, but a little force would not hurt to deter people from acting against Sanctuary, and Penny was being her immovable self as ever.

Sakura had been a wild card, and the less she thought of it the better.

So much sunken in thought she was, she did notice the person in front of her until it was too late to avoid contact.

“Ugh...you.”

“Huh~? Oh~! Hi Dina Wina~! (giggle!)” MDP greeted the aristocratic cat-girl with a happy smile. It was between matches, and the whimsical Princess of Dreams was getting some refreshments from one of the food stands in the tropical courtyard. “Like, have you been enjoying the Keijo Weijo matches~?!” she asked excitedly. “Magical Dream Princess thinkie winkies they’ve been, like, super duper fun so far~! (giggle!)”

“I have seen them, Princess.” She said, her ears downcast. “But this is fun where people are getting hurt.” She gritted her teeth and balled her fists. Was this Penny’s idea of a companion? Two sentences and already she was getting on her nerves. Yet, she exerted herself to remain calm. She was a Builder. Not a Destroyer.

“Well, at least some people are having fun with it.” She pondered. “Could I rob you a few minutes of your time? There’s something we need to talk about.” She said. There was none of her usual flair, nor her commanding aura. She just looked… like a tired grandmother.

MDP tilted her head slightly when Dina mentioned people getting hurt. After all, weren’t some minor injuries to be expected in a sporting event? And wouldn’t Dan’s magic heal those injuries in a matter of seconds? In any case, Dina went on to ask if she could talk with her for a bit, causing the whimsical girl to return to her usual bubbly demeanor.

“Like, totally wotally~! (giggle!)” MDP confirmed with a playful wink. “Magical Dream Princess would wuv to talky walky with Dina Wina~! (giggle!) But, like, Dina Wina looks super duper tired wired…” she noted, a look of concern on her cute face. “Is everythingie wingie okie dokie~?”

Dina raised an eyebrow. “No, not everything is alright, I’m afraid. But it is beyond what you can do to be honest.” She indicated to follow her inside a private lounge.

“Awww…” MDP replied with a frown as she followed after Dina. “Magical Dream Princess is super duper sorry to hear that… Would a huggy wuggy helpy welpy~?” she asked once they’d entered the lounge, spreading her arms wide.

“I’m not that starved for affection right now.” Dina huffed, in a very grouchy cat fashion. She could need a hug, but she would never admit it.

“Okie dokie…” MDP replied with a dejected sigh, her arms falling to her sides. The poor girl looked like a deflated balloon, having lost nearly all of her cheerful enthusiasm.

Dina rolled her eyes. “Just a little one.”

MDP gasped with delight, her typical cheerful demeanor instantly returning. “Yaaay~!” she cheered, jumping up and down, before glomping Dina and squeezing her tight. “That makes Magical Dream Princess soooo super duper happy wappy~! (giggle!) Like, she just knows a nice huggy wuggy will make Dina Wina feel lots better~! (giggle!)”

Of course Dina reacted very much like a cat being given an unwanted hug. Few people ever hugged her, except perhaps that stupid grabby Sanngridr. She had a taste for social distance most of the time.

As one might expect, MDP was blissfully oblivious to Dina’s discomfort. She let the hug linger for a while longer, before finally releasing the cat girl and giving her a big smile. “Like, does Dina Wina feel better nowie~?”

"Sort of." She lied through her teeth, as her tail swished. She breathed deep and then went for the kill.

"If I may be so bold, what is the current relationship between you and her Highness?"

​​MDP’s eyes seemed to sparkle at the sound of Dina’s question, and her smile grew even wider. “Like, Penny Wenny is Magical Dream Princess’s super duper wuvy dovey girlfriend wirlfriend~! (giggle!)” the whimsical girl declared, clasping her hands over her chest, while small hearts formed in the air around her.

So it was true then. It was somewhat vexing and surprising for Dina that Penny had chosen such a girl as companion. But then again, a self-called infant machine entity borne of a small portion of a human’s bound was to have some queer tastes.

Well, that meant less comfort for the regent, who even sometimes wanted company from the machine girl… but she had been once a mother and a grandmother. Sometimes you just had to let the young ones fly. She bit her lip, she probably had shown her jealousy before. She wanted to be beside Penny and enjoy tea, but now an empty title and work behind the scenes awaited, most of it being thankless.

“Young love, always a beautiful thing.” She mused. It was mostly a lie. Young brats were known not for their level headed decisions, but what could she do but support the Queen she had helped to rise? Doing otherwise would make her seem treacherous. “Still, I should warn you. Being a girlfriend to a Queen will expose you to no small amount of vexations and anger.”

“You’ve witnessed it. People have used you to hurt Penny.”

MDP frowned at that last part, averting her gaze while a small blush colored her cheeks. “Like, there are always gonna be meanie weanies who hurt other people weple, but Magical Dream Princess’s wuv for Penny Wenny is lots stronger than anywany of them!” the whimsical girl declared. “If Penny Wenny gets hurt, Magical Dream Princess will be there to make it aaaall better, and, like, she just knows Penny Wenny would do the same thingie wingie for her~! (giggle!)”

"Your dedication is admirable. And worrisome." Dina replied. "However, do you honestly think that because love is involved, things will go your way?" She paused. "You have strange powers, but even those fall short when there is an entire city craving for a crown."

“Like, Magical Dream Princess thinkie winkies that wuv can conquer anythingie wingie~!” MDP replied emphatically. “She knows that thingie wingies might get super duper toughy wuffy, but, like, if Penny Wenny and Magical Dream Princess do their very wery best, then they’ll totally wotally make all their dreamy weamies come true~!”

"If only I could share your optimism." Dina replied, blinking at how… naive this outlook seemed to be. "Okay, look. You are a specially annoying womanchild, but you seem to make Penny somewhat happy, and the satisfaction of a Queen is good for its subjects." Dina carefully measured her inflections, as if talking with an hyperactive child. "I want you to focus on what I am going to say. This tournament might fail and we might have to fight for our lives." Dina said.

"When that happens, come to me and I shall see you are evacuated. Don't try to demonstrate the power of love to zealots. You don't need to fight our battles. Just evacuate with the rest."

She eyed the whimsical being, awaiting an answer

MDP frowned slightly when Dina called her annoying, but didn’t say anything to refute the cat girl’s claim. After all, even with her current, ditzy mindset, she was still well aware of how bothersome her behavior could be to others. Indeed, one of the reasons she loved Penny so much was because none her childish idiosyncrasies seemed to bother the mechanical monarch, who had even gone so far as to say she actually liked them.

However, when Dina mentioned evacuating in the event that Rachel was victorious, the whimsical girl’s visage took on a look of righteous indignation. “Like, Magical Dream Princess believes in Penny Wenny, and she thinkie winkies Dina Wina should, too!” she declared placing her hands on her hips. “And, like, even weven if that meanie weanie with the glasses wasses decidey widies to destroy Danny Wanny’s placey wacey, then Magical Dream Princess will helpy welpy to protect it with all her heart, ‘cause that’s, like, totally wotally what magical wagical girls do~! (giggle!)” she added, striking a triumphant pose.

"Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Even Penny can fail." Dina said, as her eyes narrowed to slits upon the display."It's not your war, princess… and once you are made an enemy of Beacon they tend to hold grudges."

Besides Penny herself might side with Beacon Dina grimaced at the thought. None of this seemed to work with this particular girl. Dina herself had always boasted about her diplomacy, and indeed her magical girl powers somehow reflected that.

No, It wasn't this particular girl. Nothing had ever worked as of late. The party, a mostly joyful affair, had ended in a fight and a tournament. Oros had gone back to her ways after just a token agreement to her convincing.

She was so tired. She wanted to summon a dream eater and scare this perp off. Better to be feared. But she did not. Instead she made sure the door was closed, before closing the distance between the two.

Her hands took the Princess hand, and clasped around it.

"I implore you, be reasonable. For all what's important in the world. Once you got involved with Penny, you have basically involved yourself with the entire Sanctuary. If either of you is crippled or maimed this will be bad for all of us. I cannot ask Penny to just… leave the front and seek safety, but I can ask you."

She then swallowed. "I am begging you. Please… I am so tired of people not being reasonable at all…"

While it was true that MDP often had trouble following along with complex subjects while in her magical girl form, if anyone around her was feeling distressed, she was always quick to pick up on it, and it was clear to her that Dina was feeling very distressed. Placing her free hand atop Dina’s, she gave it a gentle pat. “Awww, it’s okie dokie, Dina Wina~” she told the cat girl with a reassuring smile. “Magical Dream Princess knows you’re worried about Penny Wenny, and Danny Wanny, and lots of other wother stuffy wuffy, but, like, Dina Wina doesn’t have to worry about everythingie wingie all by herselfy welfy~ Magical Dream Princess is here to helpy welpy~! Even if Penny Wenny doesn’t beat that meanie weanie, and even if Fanfany Wanwany can’t convince her that Danny Wanny’s placey wacey doesn’t need to be destroyed, Magical Dream Princess will still do everythingie wingie she can to helpy welpy everybodywody escapey wapey safey wafey and soundy woundy~! But, like, Magical Dream Princess can’t just run and hidey widey if that meanie weanie starts doing nasty wasty stuffy wuffy…” she added, a look of determination filling her eyes. “She’s gonna do everythingie wingie she can to make them stoppy woppy! Magical Dream Princess knows you’re super duper worried about Sancuwanctuwary, but, like, she thinkie winkies you’re more important wortant to it than she is~ That’s why she’s also gonna do everythingie wingie she can to keep you safey wafey~! And she’ll keep Penny Wenny safey wafey, too~! That’s, like, her super duper special wecial magical wagical girl pinky winky promise~! (giggle!)”

Dina looked at MDP, but she was far from being appeased. "What is so shameful about relying on your elders? No one here is asking you to hold the line. I may be important, yes, but I cannot abide throwing the likes of you into the fray just so I can be protected. That is Sann's job."

“Shameful wameful~?” MDP asked, tilting her head in obvious confusion. “Magical Dream Princess doesn’t understandy wandy… She’s gonna stay and helpy welpy because she wants everybodywody to be safey wafey and happy wappy~! You don’t need to ask her to do it, Dina Wina, ‘cause that’s, like, totally wotally why she became a magical wagical girl in the first placey wacey~! (giggle!) And, like, if she didn’t helpy welpy people weple in needy weedy and make their dreamy weamies come true, then she wouldn’t be Magical Dream Princess anymoresie, and that would be, like, super duper awful wawful, ‘cause she wuvs being Magical Dream Princess sooo much, and, like, being Magical Dream Princess and helping welping people weple in trouble wuble is how Magical Dream Princess met Penny Wenny~! (giggle!)”

Dina just rose to her feet, her anger growing by each second. "You are not even going to listen to my pleas, aren't you? I need you to stay out of trouble for Penny's sake."

“Magical Dream Princess is listening wistening!” the whimsical girl shot back. “But Magical Dream Princess couldn’t live with herselfy welfy if Penny Wenny got hurt and she wasn’t there to helpy welpy her!” she added, becoming increasingly upset. Indeed, just the thought of such a terrible thing had caused tears to well up in the childish girl’s eyes, with the waterworks threatening to erupt at any moment. “Can’t Dina Wina understandy wandy that?!”

"And do you think Penny will approve of me willingly let you get in the fray so you can be hurt? She already mistrusts me." Dina answered back.

“Penny Wenny knows that Magical Dream Princess can handle wandle herselfy welfy,” MDP replied with an indigent huff. “And besidey widey, Dina Wina isn’t in charge of Magical Dream Princess, so, like, you can’t order her aroundy woundy like you do with other people weple! And Penny Wenny knows that, too! Like, did she ask Dina Wina to keep Magical Dream Princess from helping welping her, or is this just something womething Dina Wina wants?” she asked pointedly.

"I am the Regent. It is on my plate to safeguard Sanctuary and those involved with Penny in that stead should she be not present." Dina would answer. "If it were up to me and me only, we would not even be in talking terms." She then pointed. "Besides, trying to help and actually being helpful might not even be the same thing."

She let a deep breath."You don't even need to prove anything to her Highness. She was elated to see you. That much is plenty. It's true I cannot order around, and I am loath to use force, which is why I am trying to convince you are giving yourself into folly at a whim!"

“But it’s not folly wolly!” MDP shot back. “And Magical Dream Princess knows she doesn’t have to prove anythingie wingie to Penny Wenny! She wants to helpy weply because she wuvs Penny Wenny with all her heart, and because it’s the right thingie wingie to do!”

Dina then looked as if she was going to reply, but instead pulled something out of her pockets. "You have forced my hand in this." She said… as she called Penny with her phone.

The call would be picked up within the first ring. Penny’s voice sounding out almost before the ringing stopped in fact. ‘Dina’ The queen would greet her voice a bit more worn than would be expected ‘How can I help?’ She would ask readily.

"I beg you pardon, your majesty, but your paramour… is hard to deal with. Worst case scenario… she doesn't wish to evacuate and claims to want to protect everyone. Naturally I am trying to convince her otherwise and be evacuated to safety should the worst happen, but she won't budge. Since I cannot order her, I am letting you know of this fact." Dina answered, before fiddling around with the phone settings until she managed to find the loudspeaker.

There was a crackle of static from the phone that almost sounded like muttered swearing just as Dina switched it to loudspeaker. ‘Princess, Dina’s right’ Penny’s reply was quick and sure ‘More than she knows in fact. As the worst case would be back to back evacuations. Because I found out recently, and by recently I mean a few minutes ago, the Sanctuary is even less hidden than we feared. We’ll get everyone we can out, but staying might do more harm than good because of that’

MDP frowned. “B-But, doesn’t Penny Wenny want Magical Dream Princess’s helpy welpy?” she asked, sounding somewhat saddened by the mechanical monarch’s response.

‘That’s not what I’m saying at all’ Penny would say softly ‘If worst comes to worst I’m not going to be sticking around either. The Ascendency has good reason to believe they can destroy a dimension, and as far as I am aware they don’t need to be here to do so.’ She would explain, even if it wasn’t as cut and dry as she was making it out to be. ‘I am absolutely going to need your help getting people out of the beach and back to Penrose if they decide that they are done with all of this, and that might include Dan. The loss of the beach will be a big one if that does happen, but keeping everyone else safe and Dan alive will give us the chance to rebuild it.’

“Okie dokie…” MDP conceded. As much as she hated to admit it, Penny made some good points, and if the mechanical monarch herself wasn’t going to stay behind to oppose the Ascendancy, then there was little point in MDP staying behind either. “But, like, Magical Dream Princess doesn’t thinkie winkie that’s gonna happen wappen, ‘cause she believes in Penny Wenny with all her heart, and she just knows Penny Wenny will stoppy woppy that meanie weainie before she can do anythingie wingie terrible werrible~!” she added cheerfully.

‘Thanks for the vote of confidence, and I don’t think it will get that bad either.’ Penny would agree with a chuckle. ‘But it’s always better to have a back up plan in place.’

“Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.” Dina would add, as she eyed MDP. “It seems I will need to revise my prediction.” Dina would then add, aghast at the revelation that Penny had brought. Why can’t anything ever work.

“Sooo, like, Magical Dream Princess knows you don’t really like her all that muchy wuchy, but she’d still really like to helpy welpy if she can, so is there, like, anythingie wingie she can do for Dina Wina right nowie~?” MDP asked the cat girl.

‘Sorry Dina’ Penny would chime in ‘I wanted to tell you as soon as I learned but time was against me. Silver lining is we won’t be blind sided by it. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help as well. Though I’m going to be limited by more than just the matches, as it seems that the dear Inquisitor has her eye on me.’

Dina's ears would droop, as her tail set itself tightly around the leg. "Just… stay out of trouble. If trouble somehow finds your way to you, meet with me or her Highness with haste." The catgirl said, as she then mumbled something under her breath.

"Worst comes to it, we can just lock Rachel somewhere to win time."

“Okie dokie~! (giggle!)” MDP replied with a playful salute. “Magical Dream Princess is gonna go and get some refreshment wehsments nowie~! (giggle!)” she added, while turning and skipping towards the door. “See you later water~!”

Dina just sighed, as her shoulders visibly slumped. There was much work to do yet. “I’ll continue on doing things behind the scenes.” She said, finishing the call.

Before the line would terminate Penny would have one last thing to say ‘Thank you Dina. And I owe you an apology, let me know when you have time so we can talk about it. Until then keep up the good work.’

After her talk with Dina, Justine spent her time resting at the lounge, and returned back to the spectator seats, only to see the aftermath of what became Penny and Sam's duel. Neito was singing on the stage, though Justine didn't get much of a chance to listen before Lily was shaking her shoulders.

"Oh, Justy! You won't believe what just happened! Penny and Sam both injured themselves in the match!"

"Wait, what?" She grit her teeth, as her hand balled up into a fist.
"I didn't think it was possible...So what now? Has Dan called it off?"

Lily shook her head.
"No, I don't think so...But it also looks like Betty's withdrawn."

"That means I win by default and move on to round three...Probably against Freya."

"Are you scared, Justy?" Justine shook her head.

"No...Even if I lose, it won't matter. What I'm more concerned about-" she glanced up at the spectator stands. The glint of her glasses could not be mistaken.

"...Is her."

---

"Here are the reports of the matches as you've requested, Inquisitor," Violette bowed as she handed the documents to Rachel, who was sitting in the audience seats. She was still miffed by the earlier encounter with Finn.
"That bastard...If I wasn't currently occupied with this...compromising activity, I would have caved his ribs in right then and there."
Violette sighed.
"It's unfortunate how a Sinner has appeared in Penrose now of all times."
"You mean two Sinners, correct?"
Rachel adjusted her glasses from beyond the papers. Violette blinked.
"Huh? What do you mean, there's two? Justine was confirmed to have been purified and having lost her influence. Sinner of Lust no longer applies as a title to her...Or was it Pride?"

"If it was Pride, Justine wouldn't have been as easily defeated as she was," Rachel corrected. "A Sinner of Lust may appear fearsome, but their objectives and aspirations are shallow and limited, and they are short-sighted in accomplishing it. Even a disorganized band of magical girls can take one down, as happened with Justine. That is why we consider them the lowest in the Sinner ranking."

Violette frowned. "I-I see. But, if it is not her, who is the second Sinner?"

Rachel's answer was concise. "The Sinner of Sloth...Mariette Pedersen.

FanFan gasped. "Her? But what about the previous one?"

"The previous Sinner of Sloth has been neutralized. She was found in northern Europe, hosting some kind of killing game between magical girls. As her title suggested, she preferred having her 'contestants' kill each other instead of involving herself directly. It was a gruesome affair, but we managed to rescue some survivors."

Violette and FanFan both grimaced, followed by Violette asking: "But why is Mariette designated that title?"

"I had my suspicions for a while, but I was finally able to confirm it from seeing how she is involved." She took a look at the report.
"Mariette is an expert at manipulating others, and making them do her bidding. This shows from how she presents herself as vulnerable and endearing with a redundant eyepatch and a toy she carries around at all times. She has a considerable following of underlings, and was behind the kidnapping incident in Penrose, leaving no evidence behind. Her unique magic allows her to extend her influence to a vast distance without moving a single inch, and she has the intelligence to utilize it as well, as evident by her duel with Justine. She is a risk which Beacon must prepare for."

FanFan nodded. "I understand. I'll report this to Elora."

"While you do, I'd also like for you to add in a report on the person Penny dueled against." She flipped through the pages.
"...Samantha. A member of Crimson Cradle, and a reputed assassin with deadly skills. I have fought her once...And back then, she did not show half as much as she did just now. Have her assigned under 'Major risk'."

Both FanFan and Violette saluted, and Rachel looked back at the arena.

"This community is abnormal, yet..."

Rachel found herself slightly smiling, before snapping back to attention.
"...Pah. What a waste of time. The operation shall continue."

Dina made her step brisk as she zoomed past, her tail stiff and with her hairs standing up, as her ears were pressed against her head. How could this happen? Was that dolphin daft? Did they manage to overcome the magic of this place due to sheer viciousness? The questions would be needed for later.

The clusterfuck had to be fixed now. Sighing, she opened the door to see how much of a wreck Penny was. Few people needed to see this. Penny, after all, had overwhelming strength as her forte. Seeing that she could actually be brought to heel… would no doubt lessen the effect.

She opened the door, readying her heart for anything.

Penny was already awake when Dina entered the room but the wizened girl could tell something was off. For one the illusion that was normally centered over Penny had failed somewhat, her headdress was visible as were the segmented nature of her joints. So no longer was her lack of humanity hidden.

Secondly she was sitting with her back to the wall seemingly staring at her hands, which were visibly shaking, yet the look on her face was one of bemusement. Like she didn’t fully understand what it was she was seeing.

Lastly her eyes weren’t the right color. Her left eye was still dull but was now an electric blue and her right eye was little more than a pool of red light. And while smoke was no longer emitting from her body, thankfully, there was now a dull grinding sound that could be heard every now and again coming from her.

Penny would shift slightly as Dina entered the room, almost adopting a defensive position, but would stall out part way through it as she stared at the Regent for a long few moments before returning to stare at her hands.

“Dina” She would greet, though her voice was unnaturally flat. “Request: local timekeeping compromised. H-How long was I out?”

"Not long enough to miss the tournament." said Dina, downcast and a mixture between fear and being livid at Penny's situation. "But that talk...should be done later." She shook her head slightly as she leaned forwards, her Reinforcement magic ready to administer first aid. "Let us see if we can just make you a bit better than being a walking wreck."

Dina could tell that the healing properties of the reinforcement magic she was supplying were having an effect, it was just that it was a drastically reduced one compared to what she was used to. Penny’s unique nature seemed to be highly resistant to the traditional healing capabilities of the spec.

“Fo-fo-focus on Mana regeneration.” Penny would instruct “Mana capacity: once percent. Warning mana status critical. Core functionality preserved. secondary and tertiary systems shut down. Warning: Regeneration protocols not responding, mana recharge rate stalled.”

Penny would give a long blink “I think it’s obvious that something wrong occurred.” She would state still looking at her hands. “I can-n-n-n partially identify what, but s-s-systems can’t determine why without additional data.” Penny would slowly close the hand furthest away from Dina before violently slamming it down on the floor. A moment later she would dislodge it from the ground and go back to examining it.

"Stubborn people, that's what happened. Now stop talking and flailing, It's going to take far too long if you persist." Dina said as she continued."Do we even have a metal user around?"

She gritted her teeth as she separated herself from Penny.

"Hen to Pan" She said as she began transforming, but the strain was too much and buckled undearneath, almost falling flat on the ground.

"Cough...Mew...Spirit of the mines, Kobold." She said, while a snarly little thing with a bunch of tools appeared before her..
and then promptly ran to Penny to bang her a bit into shape.

Dina for her part would shakily grasp Penny, and compounded her healing abilities with metal, lightning and gravity, in order to resonate with Penny.

A few mana drinks also appeared in front of Penny."Drink those once your windpipe is aligned. It will help" She said as she grabbed her own stash to drink, to keep up the taxing state she was in.

The charged healing would speed things along, but it also didn’t take very long to realize that in all truth there wasn’t a whole lot of physical damage that Penny had suffered from, granted what had been damaged had been delicate and important but repairing it wasn't extraordinarily taxing.

Her statement about being nearly devoid of mana was true, and for the vast reserve that Penny normally had to be reduced to such a limited amount was worrying. She would seemingly drink the offered Lightning and Gravity magics that Dina would pour into her however, almost taking more than the Catgirl was trying to offer. And would still take on more energy even after she was recovered from a traditional point of view.

Yet some of the issues persisted. Her hands would still shake on occasion, but the tremors were much lighter and spaced out by minutes and her eyes were still different colors though they both had a more normal shine to them.

“Systems normalizing” Penny would mutter quietly as she put down her hands and rested her head against the wall. “Running full system diagnostic. Subsystems damaged, diagnostic examination will be slowed down” She would run a hand across her forehead. “This is going to be a problem”

"Mew?" muttered Dina as she met Penny's eyes."Underst-"

It was then when a huge spark heralded a magical rebound happening before Dina was launched out of her Avatar state and across the room, all her magic failing at once, the Kobold also vanishing in thin air.

She remained hapzardly sprayed across the floor, her butt up.

More proof that Penny wasn’t fully healed was that it took her a full three seconds to start reacting to the event that sent Dina sailing across the room. She would stand and walk over to Dina, stalling for a moment before kneeling down to help Dina. The first action in her doing so was to pull out her Healing artifact and give it a few slow passes over Dina, though the output of the artifact was low before offering the girl a hand.

“Designation: Regent. Statement: Personal maintenance priority should not supersede my health. Now that you’ve helped kick start my mana again I’ll be as fine as my system restoration protocols are capable of. Sustained damage isn't something that we are going to be able to simply heal this time. Which wasn’t an issue that I was aware my schematics were capable of undergoing.”

“I’m fine...thanks for asking.” Dina said, with no small amount of mirth. “It’s been a while since I had a flat out rebound. Perhaps this is a sign we should not push further things much. I could do a round or two in your stead… while you handle the evacuation plan, but even that sounds stretching ourselves thin.”

Shortly before the start of Penny’s first match, MDP had taken up position at the edge of the pool and, with glittery pink pompoms in hand, begun a predictably vivacious cheerleading performance. This had continued throughout the match, up until time was called, at which point the hyperactive cheering trailed off as the whimsical girl tilted her head in confusion. “Sooo, like, did Penny Wenny win~?” she wondered aloud. However, MDP’s confusion soon turned to horror, as she saw Penny’s smoking body crumple to the mat. “P-Penny Wenny?!!” the childish girl cried out in alarm, tears spilling from her widened eyes. Unfortunately, before she could rush to her girlfriend’s side, the mechanical monarch was swiftly taken away by an impromptu medical team.

Following after them, a very concerned, and nearly hysterical, MDP found herself in front of a door guarded by a pair of imposing minotaurs. “L-Like, can Magical Dream Princess pretty, pretty please come insidey widey?! Can she?! Can she?!” the childish girl pleaded frantically. “Like, Magical Dream Princess’s girlfriend wirlfriend is in theresie, and, like, she’s gotta see her right nowie!” Despite her pleas, the twin guards refused to budge, and it wasn’t long before the whimsical girl was reduced to a sobbing mess. Just as she was about to give up, the minotaurs simply vanished. Not wasting a moment, MDP rushed into the room. “Penny Wenny?! Penny Wenny… A-Are you… Okie dokie…?” she asked hesitantly, her demeanor noticeably calming as she caught sight of her girlfriend, who, from the looks of things, did indeed see to be doing better.

“That’s…” Penny would stall out as she looked at her hand trembling again. “Physical integrity has been restored. Shut down and reboot contained driver degradation. Which is going to be a bitch to take care of, to say nothing about the memory loss.” She would say calmly.

“Nothing I lost was critical, as far as I can tell, but the data was corrupted beyond repair. System network can’t be restored via Regeneration protocols. External assistance required to mitigate any further system degridations.” She would go on to explain. “Note; Empathy subroutines are unaffected, expression capabilities however are hindered. And I think my speech center is damaged, but it all sounds the same to me either way, so I lack sufficient data to prove hypothesis.”

MDP listened as Penny listed her various “injuries”. It was difficult for her to understand all the terminology in her transformed state, but she still possessed just enough of her technical knowledge to realize that Penny had only narrowly avoided something truly horrific. And even so, there was still the issue of her girlfriend’s lost memories…

“Like, Magical Dream Princess doesn’t mindy windy how Penny Wenny soundy woundies,” MDP replied as she gently took the robotic girl’s hand. “She’s just worried about your memory wemory,” the whimsical girl added with a concerned frown. “Like, what if it was something womething super duper important wortant? How would Penny Wenny even know it was missing wissing?”

“Context. Hopefully.” Penny would reply with a muted shrug. She silently let MDP take her hand, but it was obvious almost instantly that Penny was far from as composed as she sounded. As her grip was just shy of painful, which said a lot for the normally very controlled girl.

“Current memory loss isn’t complete cache’s of data. But there are bits and pieces that I’m missing. I don’t remember meeting Dina for example, but only that first encounter is gone. I know I spent time with Alicia at a mall once, but all records of that day are corrupted. Other minor events are in a similar distorted state, the vast majority are from memory’s obtained from pre awakening. Overall loss minimal, likelihood of repeat outcome should it happen again is not good.”

Penny would go silent after she finished explaining. In truth she was terrified, and with her systems jammed full of junk data and other errors she couldn’t really process things as quickly as she normally would. The things she knew for certain was that her mimicry systems overloaded and nearly wiped her from her own mind and that the damage wasn’t something she could deal with on her own.

MDP would almost imperceptibly flinch as Penny squeezed her hand with far greater strength than normal, but the whimsical girl refused to show any discomfort. She knew her girlfriend was hurting, and she resolved to do, and endure, anything she could, in order to take away at least some of that pain. Penny went on to explain the memory gaps as best as she could, but even though most of the lost memories were of times long past, the explanation still left room for some concerning possibilities…

“S-So, does Penny Wenny remember wember meeting Magical Dream Princess for the first timey wimey?” MDP asked, unable to fully keep the worry out of her voice. “A-And our first date? A-And, and all the funsie wunsie we had together wether at the Christmas Whistmas party?”

“Designation: Princess. First encounter Sanctuary. Situation; Post Mint disruption event. Secondary notes; necklace was pretty, though not the most eye-catching thing about you. Still remember wondering how you turned a wall into ice cream.” Penny would answer as she turned to look at her girlfriend. “I remember the school, the conversation in the hall and painting over the sigils in the room. And I remember our conversation afterwards, and the trust you showed me.” Penny’s lips would tick down slightly as she paused. “But primary objective data for the excursion is corrupted. Hostile events are noted, but cause and outcome are lacking.”

“No gaps detected within the last twenty four hours. All lack of recordings within this time frame have been logged due to me crashing out on the platform. Which I recall vividly, same as with the fairy outfit you had when we were out ice skating. But as far as I can gather I didn’t corrupt anything from today.” Which was a lucky outcome if it was true.

“Thank goodness woodness…” MDP sighed in relief. “S-So, umm… D-Does Penny Wenny know what caused some of her memory wemories to go bye bye, and all that other wother stuffy wuffy?” she asked, still very concerned about her girlfriend’s condition.

It was when Dina coughed. "I guess you are stable enough to have visitors. Do we forfeit the tournament?"

“My Mimicry systems caused a critical overheat to occur. I don’t know how or why those systems were able to do that however.” Penny would answer MDP before turning towards Dina. “It depends. Supposition: Without maintenance, my system integrity is likely at increased risk. Statement: There are three such people with acceptable skills to be able to accomplish that task within the Beach. Recommendation: Determine optimal viable candidate for assistance before the next round starts to ascertain viability of personal continuation.”

Dina sighed. "The next bout is Tenebra, the girl Sanngridr raised. She is one of us, so I think nothing will happen if we forfeit, Your Highness."

“U-Ummm…” MDP spoke up hesitantly. “I-If Penny Wenny thinkie winkies it’ll helpy welpy, Magical Dream Princess can change back to her normal wormal selfy welfy,” the whimsical girl offered. “But, like, even though she’ll be super duper brainy wainy, Magical Dream Princess doesn’t know if she’ll be brainy wainy enough, ‘cause, like, Penny Wenny’s so super duper special wecial, and Magical Dream Princess never ever worked with anythingie wingie like her beforesie…”

“Insufficient data on subject: Tenebra. Differing to Designation: Regent on subject. Addendum: If we can get me back to full operations I’d like to go back in.” Penny would state with a nod to Dina. The mechanical girl didn’t want this to be the end of her matches, but she had to put her getting repaired above the Beach unfortunately. With luck Tenebra would be able to pull through and get the mirror, but Sam had pushed Penny much further then she had expected, and her trying to claw her way out of a sure fire defeat seemed to have only delayed such.

“You can do this Princess. I’ll be there for the entire procedure. My systems won’t need to be placed into suspended runtimes, thus I’ll be able to supply diagnostic and troubleshooting assistance.” She would go on to say giving Magical Dream Princess a stilted smile. “I trust you the most out of the three. Designation: Elora is flagged as Ascendency and Designation: Psycho Scientist is lacking enough data to be truly trusted.” She would explain quietly. “Statement: Requested course of action only presented due to limited time frame before systemic degradation of Beach peace. I’d never ask you to risk a reveal otherwise.”

“The thing is… only whoever fights in your place or Tenebra can advance in this kind of tournament. One cannot be a substitute if they have been defeated.” Dina added. “I will secure some privacy” she added as she went to lock the door.

“Acknowledged. If repairs can be completed in time I will continue, otherwise further operational involvement will be in the evacuation protocols.” Penny would state as Snoopy flew off to go watch the hall before Dina would lock the door.

“Okie dokie, Penny Wenny~” MDP told her girlfriend with a gentle smile. “Magical Dream Princess will do her very wery best~!” she added, a look of determination on her cute face.

“Snoopy will be executing Eye in the Sky protocol.” Penny would explain as she led them to the far corner of the room. “Early warning will let you initialize your transformation in case anyone tries to force entry. Dina’s presence within the room is preferable, incase of unexpected errors. Designation: Regent holds highest authorization possible alongside Alicia.”

Although she would have prefered to have Dina depart, MDP trusted her girlfriend’s judgment. She also knew that the need to maintain her secret identity paled in comparison to Penny’s need for assistance, and so she gave a resigned exhale, before being consumed by a flash of light. An instant later, she was her mundane self once more.

“Okay… Well, I suppose we can get started now,” Violet observed, still seeming a little nervous, despite her mundane self’s more composed demeanor. “Although it occurs to me that we seem to lack the necessary tools for any sort of repair work…” she added, blushing a bit in embarrassment at having only just now realized that important detail.

Penny’s lips would quirk up at the edges as she sat down with her back facing Violet. “Adaptation is one of my core capabilities.” She would state as her back would start to segment and fold open giving an unimpeded look into Penny’s inner workings. A moment later the segments of her back would remold into a half dome set of monitors that were suddenly filled with numerous readings and data flows.

It was quite the sight to see, grouped into separate windows along the outside of the monitor were all the basic things that Penny kept track of at any one time. Chassis integrity, mana levels, weapon status, local entities and their threat index. Her current emotional status and a rather complicated read out that was monitoring ‘Engine level’. But the real star of the show was the lines of code that sat in the middle of the screen. There were millions of lines of code easily, if not more.

The outermost layers were an ever shifting mass of code, updating and rewriting based on all the incoming sensory information. But it was easy to see that it was a mess. large sections were damaged, and that was before the corrupted code came into play. The deeper Violet looked the less human the code would turn as well. Outside of the kernel processes, the code was oddly sloppy though and the later processes were laid on top of the prior code leading to a bizarre mesh of code that was nearly incomprehensible.

The display began highlighting several sections of code that were obviously corrupted. A line of text would suddenly pop up on a nearby window “These areas are the most damaged” It read “I can’t really see what is wrong with them” It would go on to add “Kind of like having a headache, you know something is wrong but not the reason behind it”

Dina was leaning against the door, her ears perked up to hear possible interlopers while she left the task at hand. She would look at Violet for a second, noticing the stark contrast between the two states. She herself was more of an exception to the rule. Her personality had gained some quirks, but the core of her being was the same.

"A person's body is more complicated than any machine. Despite looking a machine, her Majesty is still a magical girl." Dina would then say.

"Exertion seems the cause, and I am afraid there is not much to do besides letting its course I am afraid."

It would be an interesting sight to literally be able to see Penny’s thoughts playing out in response to Dina’s statements. Minor irritation and disagreement towards the assumptions of it being exhaustion as the sole cause, and the resignation at her own nature being disregarded and downplayed.

A few calculations ran on if she should respond, before an ultimate conclusion that there wasn’t a sufficient reason to do so. Engine level was noted at raising a tick, as was her emotional state wavering for a moment. There were a half dozen other things tracked and recorded as well, but the annotations didn’t make sense without context.

“Ready when you are” A text box would say as Penny waited. One of her spider limbs would partly unfurl in front of Violet, a keyboard and trackpad partially formed into.

As it happened, tools would apparently be unnecessary, and Violet gave a small gasp as she realized that she would be manipulating Penny’s systems directly…

“Amazing…” she whispered in awe as her eyes skimmed over the various displays. “I know I said that I wanted to take a closer look at you, but you didn’t need to injure yourself just to give me the opportunity,” she told her girlfriend with a playful smirk. “But seriously, Penny, I-I’ve never seen anything quite like this before. I mean, I recognize the basic foundation, but this is light years beyond anything Covington Industries has ever created.” As she made her way through the increasingly complex lines of damaged code, Violet found that even her impressive intellect struggled to comprehend the information before her. Nevertheless, the heiress was determined to do everything she could to assist her beloved girlfriend, so when she was presented with a keyboard interface, Violet placed her hands above it and took a deep breath. “In that case, let’s begin.”

It was then when a cellphone rang, the tone of Nyan Cat permeating the room to break the awkward silence. “...I believe it is mine.” said Dina blandly, before answering. Most of the conversation was taking place in hushed whispers.

“WHAT? YOU ARE FORFEITING?!” Dina raised her voice, before gritting her teeth. “Because...you were bored? Now listen here you womanchild, there’s much at- what!?”

Whatever was said on the phone made Dina blanch, and cut off her rant mid-way. She then sedatedly replied. “I will relay that.” She then hung on the phone, before sighing and letting a small chuckle.

“...Sanngridr is forfeiting. Because she says this is boring and there’s something more fun going on. Apparently the Cradle, one named Finn, is on the warpath and wants to claim the city for himself.”

She then sighed. “It makes sense they would change their stance because of what you did to your opponent, your Highness.” She slid down against the wall, falling to her knees. “We really need to preserve force, even if we would be down to just Tenebra. We should forfeit like Sanngridr did to avoid over-commiting. Sometimes I underestimate her intelligence.”

Dina’s phone would crackle to life as Penny’s voice chimed out from it. “More reason for me to not forfeit I would think. I was also obviously carried away after the match. Me forfeiting now, after Sann did as well make it look like the Sanctuary is at an all time low.” She would reason. “Staying in especially if nothing is obviously amiss is a show of strength. Which we kinda need if both the Ascendency and the Cradle are watching us closely.”

A sigh would follow those statements “Mind if I borrow the phone? I need to call Dan.”

“But our next opponent is Tenebra! She’s one of our own! Forget about strength! Blood has been shed now!” Dina would chime in, before handing the phone to Penny. “Please reconsider.”

“Tenebra has only just joined our ranks. After being resurrected. My standing down to leave all of this to her, untested, is too reckless. I have nothing against her, but I do not know her. To say nothing of what people would assume of my status and infer about the Sanctuary’s vulnerability from there.” Penny replied as she took the phone. “For the worse the tournament has become a political event as much as anything else, me not continuing is more harmful to us than me continuing. As everyone will try and find out what I am up to, especially once they learn that Sann forfeited.” She would explain.

“I was willing to stand down and let the others handle it, but I will not let all of our expectations fall to one girl who only just got her life back. Not when I can still act, to do otherwise is cruel and against why I founded the Sanctuary and took the crown in the first place. In the meantime you can try and talk to Maura and Finn, see if you can get them to reconsider trying to use force, as I don’t think that they will try and attack me during the tournament, especially not with the All-father watching the matches. Another reason to stay in for now”

Dina’s gaze steeled herself. “The mirror and this dimension aren’t really that important to Sanctuary. It has been said that fear is better than love, as rulers are concerned. But above all, a ruler must not be hated. We can’t regain lost face in any case. We need to preserve our rankings and mollify the opposition, not strut around the blood of the fallen! And Odin loves that! He isn’t going to avoid scuffle, or preserve us from retaliation.”

“This was supposed to be a christmas party… when did it all go wrong…” She muttered under her breath.

“When a horror’s artifact was given away in front of the Ascendency” Would be Penny’s soft reply “And then made worse by my attempts to protect the Beach to repay Dan assisting the Sanctuary.”

“If you can tell me that we have any chance of talking to Finn and Maura right now to try and deescalate this before it becomes a Challenge I will forfeit and go to those talks over the match. As you are right, the Beach and the Mirror aren’t important to the Sanctuary. But if you can’t, then I don’t see how advertising the Sanctuary as weakened by my withdrawal is the better option for it. I am it’s Queen and my actions reflect the overall state of it for better or ill.”

“They’ll want a piece of flesh for this you know.” Dina growled.”I can only try.” She said heading towards the door.

“I know” Penny would say as Dina moved to leave “And I would prefer they stay focused on me when they come to collect.” She worried that Tenebra or another new girl to the Sanctuary would draw the Cradle’s ire if she herself went to ground.

“Stay safe” She would add before Dina left. “Their calm is not worth your wellbeing. In any capacity.”

For her part, Violet had remained silent throughout the brief exchange between Penny and her regent, but her concern had grown with each new piece of information revealed. The moment Dina departed, the heiress finally spoke up.

“I’m not going to pretend to know what that was all about, but, for what it’s worth, I think you’re making the right decision,” Violet told her. “As long as I can fix whatever’s wrong with your systems, at least… And did I hear correctly that the Cradle has set itself against you and Sanctuary?” she asked with a frown. “If I am not mistaken, Amanda is a member of that organization. Perhaps if I could talk with her, we could come to an amicable resolution?” she offered.

“Politics” Penny would reply dryly “And the Cradle setting itself against the Sanctuary is what it sounds like, but I’m hoping that it’s an exaggeration.” She would flip open the phone “If you can talk with Amanda after we are done here that would be great, even if nothing is wrong she might be able to explain why it sounded the way it did.”

Meanwhile Penny was calling Dan, and when he answered he would hear this “Dan, it's Penny. I need a small favor with my match.”

"Damn, does this place even have a phone signal??" Finn mutter to himself, having grabbed his phone out of his hammerspace. Well, tried to, with Oliver hitching a piggyback ride at this point. Idly walking to somewhere with less people, he attempted to call someone. "... Hey, Riona! Is there a chance you know a town called Penrose?"

Dina's aspect had degraded considerably ever since she had set foot in the Christmas party. While her regal cat-girl self was still present, she was frazzled and nervous, and the usual stoic demeanor had been replaced by deep frown. Furthermore, her tail was showing signs of being pretty on edge, as it curled against one of her legs.

"May I have a moment of your time?" She said, corteusly as she approached Finn from a safe distance.

The two looked back to Dina, though Oliver appeared slightly worried for the regent.

"I'm gonna have to call you back, Rio." Finn said to the phone, then hung up. "Do you require the both of us, or myself alone?" He simply asked her.

"It matters not." Dina sighed."It would have been good if Maura was here as well." Dina did say.

"Hmm..." Finn hummed in thought, looking behind himself, and to his shadow. "Give me a moment." He told Dina, calling Maura through their mental link. A couple of seconds passed when the witch in question appeared from behind him, albeit appearing shaken. Maura glanced up to Dina.

"Miss Denisova?" She tilted her head, then frowned. "...How are you holding up?"

"I have had better days." Dina would then say, offering a tired smile. "We all have had better days."

Maura managed a crooked smile. "Happens to the best of us." Though the empty feeling of failure didn't fade easily, she had to carry on. "Now, you required our audience for...?" She asked next.

Meanwhile Oliver had climbed off Finn's back to stand next to him. "I think we might already know."

"That makes this a bit...faster. Sanngridr has informed me of your intentions." Dina would then say. "Therefore I must ask. Is it really necessary to do it? Regardless of how bad the situation is, something like that must not be taken lightly. Is there no other way to solve it?"

Oliver blinked. "That quick? Geez."

Though Finn didn't react as strongly, instead folding his hands behind his back. "Lady Denisova. Has Asimov ever planned a retaliation against the Ascendancy? Or the Mint? Has she tried to find the whereabouts of the latter, or done anything that could lessen their grip on Penrose? Whatever this sanctuary is, does she expect to just...hide everyone away until either one's persistence fades off and they screw off the ruin the next town over? He asked. Then frowned. "Do you really believe she's fit to make things right? For heaven's sake, I'm not sure what this branch's stance on Cradle is-"

"As far as I know, Alicia and I have settled on neutral terms." Maura spoke up.

"Still though, there's gotta be more people can do besides sit on their asses for the next wave of God-Knows-What. Do you even have a plan, at all?" Finn asked. "Does anyone...?"

"The Sanctuary is a haven. What would a haven have to do with proactively rooting out threats? That is not our goal. It never was. However, lording up a lot of people has made both Queens...lose focus. And people have lost focus." Dina would then reply."It's not that she is fit, but who else can dissuade those who look for a quick stab and brownie points at monster girls? You seem to be unaware that most girls who get turned into this... become fragile in their minds, and they do need guidance. They're easy prey."

"Penny is still nominally Beacon, and she won't retaliate against the Ascendancy. But that also means that Rachel has to excommunicate her before making a move. It's not straightforward." Dian would then say. "And as you say, Alicia is a moderate."

Dina would then say. "Also, the Mint strength is that it operates in subtle ways. Rooting them out would be a task only someone in the level of the Ascendancy can undertake." She then elaborated. "I'm not even sure what's left of this city can handle that." She paused. "I do have an inkling that if we keep Sanctuary up and running, despite the last Mint raid, we will eventually get someone to turn the coat and talk."

"What I have been told is that Penny is willing to forfeit her claim on the whole mirror and tournament if you're willing to compromise." Dina would then add. "Even if that means I lose this dimension and my patron's favour if we end up with so few people on it."

Finn's brows furrowed, though he remained silent. "...As far as I know, we've both lived as this for a very, very long time. And yet you act as if I don't understand." He crossed his arms, an act to keep himself calm. He didn't want to argue with her. He didn't... "Friends, both humane and monster, slaughtered and used, and I couldn't do a damn thing about it but try and get stronger. Even I had close calls for getting corrupted." Finn moved the bandages that covered his other eye out of the way. It appeared to be a burn scar, but looking closely it appeared magic in origin. More notably, it turns out he was half blind. His other eye nearly whited out completely.

He quickly covered it back up. "I know what I'm getting into. I've been here long enough to know. I'd think you of all people would get that. He refused to elaborate further into his title of Sinner, lest he'd be made an enemy by the corrupted magicals as well. The mention of a compromise regained his attention for a second. However, the mentions of possible costs, possible lives to be lost soured his mood.

Finn scowled coldly. "If you two only wish to speak just so you can disway me, then forget it." He turned to walk away.

"It's never worth it, sir Finn." Dina would then elaborate. "I understand what you are getting at, but I cannot abide by it."

"How do you think the Ascendancy was born? What makes you better than Rachel, if you begin to think that all the suffering that might happen now is worth a sense of security which we may never have?"Dina would then answer back.

"..." His expression broke for a moment, a moment that he didn't wish for anyone to see. He won't be dissuaded. He can't be. The comparisons of him to Rachel pissed him off enough to bounce back though. He sarcastically laughed. "Hah! You really think an enemy of Beacon would follow the same whims as they? And here I thought them seeing me as naught but a brute was bad enough, but you guys are too??" Finn sounded slightly hurt. Nevertheless, he walked off, Oliver following behind in a worry.

That left Maura, who admittedly didn't know what to say.

"I lost my family to the Bolsheviks, sir Finn. Zealots are never good!" Dina would then say. "Please, come back! I'll give you anything!" It was Dina's turn to break... as she fell to her knees in a slump. "...anything."

"The Russian Revolution..." Maura whispered. She quietly stepped over to comfort Dina.

"Please... stop this. It's bad enough for me to lose my patron and fight the Ascendancy for the dimension. It's bad enough that there's people hurt. I never wanted any of this, but they overrided my whims." She curled up to her knees, her grace gone. "Don't make me witness a revolutionary war in Penrose all over again."

It felt nauseating trying to figure out what to. At this rate, Maura might as well join Dina in her despair. She didn't know who's side to choose. Hell, being accused of choosing sides was what kickstarted this fresh hell in the first place. Whatever happens in the future, she wholeheartedly dreaded it. "I'll...see what I can do." The witch hesitantly said, going off to follow the other two.

"Guess negotiations have failed. I'm just a joke of a diplomat, aren't I? What use are these powers of friendship to begin with..." Dina would then sob for a moment, before standing up. "I guess it can't be avoided, It'll be a long conflict then." Dina would then say.

Dina would then feel another presence nearby. Rowena, having overheard the attempted negotiation, walked up next to her, ever silent. Though in this case it was a comforting silence. The witch of Life gently patted Dina on the head, hoping to reassure her.

...

..

Believe it or not, the boy overheard her pleas. Guilt struck Finn dead in the heart, but he kept going. He had to keep going. He had to. He won't be dissuaded, he won't be dissuaded, even if he's trembling he won't be-

"Finn! Finn!!" Oliver snapped him out of his stupor, jogging up next to him. The ghost's eyes widened at the other's expression, one Finn didn't even know he had. "Hey, are you okay?"

"We're leaving."

"Weren't we already heading out-"

Then Maura appeared again by them. "Hey, I don't mean to question your crusade on it's planning phase, but I reeeeally suggest you go find Penny before Dina has a mental breakdown." She told Finn.

"...Are you kidding me? Do they really believe I'd automatically resort to violence with this?! How much of a brute do they think I am?!" Finn was trembling in place through a mix of emotions.

"Well you did charge into the stadium like guns akimbo." Oliver spoke up.

"Shut it. Oli." The other boy said through gritted teeth.

Maura sighed. "Look, both you and Dina been through Hell, but you gotta throw her a bone here. Please, don't make me order you to do so."

At this rate Finn gave up on thinking straight. On one hand, his guilt told him to go ahead and negotiate and be reasonable. On another, the risk of innocent lives lost told him it wasn't worth it. On another, something told him that all of this wasn't worth it. To just grab Oliver and go home and forget about all of this if people won't trust him.

He stood frozen, trying to decide which emotion to follow.

"... Goddamnit, you both owe me for this. Finn conceded, heading back to look for Penny. He grabbed a cigar from his hammerspace and lit it up. "Let's go, Oliver! Gonna need someone to keep me from wringing throats..." He groaned. The ghost in question followed behind, as tired as he is.

Dina's ears would perk up, as she would rise up, approaching Finn. She eyed the rest of the people. "I thank you for your mercy...This shall not be forgotten." She said, her voice almost choking.

"Before you do, there's something I must tell you in private." She added.

Finn's eye darted back to Dina. He could only muster a nod through the emotions he was sorting through. Though when she asked to tell only him something, one of his brows rose. What now? Taking a puff away from Dina's direction, the boy nodded to Oliver for him to go ahead of him.

Dina would then approach Finn, from one side. Her usual demeanor was present, with one subtle difference. Her tail was now standing upright, but it wasn't precisely due to fear. It was something else cat owners could identify.

"I don't really do this in public, you know." She said, as she gave Finn a kiss in the cheek, before nuzzling her cheek against his neck. "Once this is over...you could use a dinner, sir Finn."

Finn flinched at, once again, the sudden affection given to him. "Er, I-I'll consider it..." He muttered, flustered.

"Now, if you would excuse me..." Dina then said, doing a curtsy before taking her leave.

The boy took a second to watch her go, then placed his cigarette back into his mouth. "..." He grazed a hand over his cheek, then shook his head. "Man." With that, he finally hurried off to catch up with Oliver.

Connie, Gaia, and Amanda would be alerted to the arrival of a new visitor to the bookshop by the chiming of the front door’s bell. This was followed by the sound of a sweet, if rather high-pitched voice.

“Pastel-chan~? Pasteeel-chaaaan~ Oh! Like, there you are! (giggle!)” MDP exclaimed happily, before giving voice to a squeal of delight. “And, like, Connie Wonnie and Gaia Waia are heresie, too~! (giggle!) Like, Magical Dream Princess hopes she’s not interrupting something womething super duper important wortant, but, like, she has something womething really really super duper important wortant she has to ask Amanda Wanda!” the whimsical girl added, looking strangely determined.

“O-Oh! U-Umm… N-No…” Connie stammered. “W-We were j-just r-realxing a-and l-looking at some b-books. Oh!” she gasped as a thought occurred to her. “I-Is P-Penny o-okay?” she asked, her voice filled with concern.

“Yeperooni~! (giggle!)” MDP declared happily. “Like, Magical Dream Princess helpy welpied, and fixy wixied Penny Wenny aaaall up~!”

“O-Oh, w-wow! T-That’s great!” Connie marveled.

“It, like, totally wotally is~! (giggle!)” MDP agreed with a big smile. “Oooohh~! That picture wicture is, like, sooo super duper pretty witty~! (giggle!)” MDP exclaimed, her eyes glittering with childish wonderment as her ADHD once again struck with full force. “Like, Magical Dream Princess would really really wuv to look at all the pretty witty picture wictures with you girls~! Oh! But, like, firsty worsty, she has, like, something womething really important wortant to ask Amanda Wanda!” she added, finally remembering why she’d come to the shop in the first place. “So, like, Magical Dream Princess also heard from Penny Wenny that the Cradle Wadle people weople are super duper mad at Penny Wenny and Sanctuwanctuary, and since Amanda Wanda was part of Cradle Wadle, Magical Dream Princess wanted to ask why they felty welty that way,” the whimsical girl explained in her typical rambling manner. “So, like, does Amanda Wanda know why they’re so angry wangry?”

"W-Wait what?" Amanda blinked in surprise. "I don't understand, yes, things have gotten out of hand but why would-" Before she could continue on, a dark rift appeared besides her, causing the punkish girl to flinch.

"Because, my dear girl~!" Maribel's voice could be heard from the nightmarish portal, then the woman herself would pop out with a smile, appearing radiant in contrast to her magic. "It wasn't anyone's call! Only that Vanhorn boy Maura cares for~" She giggled. "I must say, he is quite an interesting fellow. His anger reminds me of Lauren a bit. And to face Beacon's best with no fear? Eheheh, No wonder she kept him alive~"

“Eeep!” Connie yelped at Maribel’s sudden appearance. “O-Oh… M-Miss M-Maribel…” Connie sighed in relief, placing a trembling hand over her chest. “Y-You s-startled me…”

“Huh~?” MDP inquired, tilting her head in confusion. “Like, what boy is Maribel Waribel talking about, Amanda Wanda~?”

"One of Maura's, from way before she arrived in Penrose. That's all I know, sorry..." Amanda frowned.

"Oh chin up, Love, we all have our secrets~" Maribel reassured her. "Admittedly, I don't know much about him myself. Apparently he's on Beacon's 'shoot-on-sight' Sinner list, so that might be something. Perhaps I can convince him to become a witch like our little group~" The witch chuckled, patting Connie's head.

“H-He s-sounds k-kinda s-scary…” Connie whispered, while nervously playing with her hair.

“Huh…” MDP replied, looking thoughtful. Although she didn’t really understand everything that Maribel had said, even her ADHD addled mind was able to grasp the basics, and they didn’t paint the most pleasant picture… “Like, Magical Dream Princess guesses wesses she’ll have to go findy windy this person werson and have a talky walky with them… Like, does Amanda Wanda or Maribel Waribel know his namey wamey~?” she asked with a hopeful smile.

"Well I can't tell where he'd place on their list." Maribel shrugged. "But judging by the reactions, I'd probably not piss him off~" She giggled once more. "Though I don't think he enjoys the infamy all that well, he could be reasoned with if you catch him in a good mood."

"...You've been spying on people."

"Duh~ This place got boring after awhile. Quaint little vacation spot, but not exactly my style~" The nightmare witch looked back to MDP. "Apparently his name is Finnegan. Yay high, brunette, half-blind but his eye color's like this pure red atleast when transformed? Last I checked he was gonna go see what this Penny lady wanted with him."

MDP’s eyes widened at that last bit of information. “B-But, Magical Dream Princess was just with Penny Wenny before she came heresie!” the whimsical girl explained with no small amount of exasperation, stomping her foot like an annoyed child. “Like, Magical Dream Princess would really, really wuv to stay and look at pretty witty picture wictures with you girls, but she, like, really, really, really needs to talk to Finnegan Winnegan super duper bad!” she told her friends, looking somewhat upset. “So, like, bye bye for nowie~!” she called over her shoulder as she bounced out the door, only to pop her head back in a few seconds later. “Oh~! And, like, super duper thankie wankies for the helpy welpy, Maribel Waribel~!” she added with a big smile. “Magical Dream Princess, like, super duper appreciates it~! (giggle!)” With that, the bubbly girl disappeared out the door once more.

“O-Oh, g-gosh…” Connie spoke up in the wake of MDP’s rapid departure. “I-I h-hope e-everything w-will b-be a-all r-right…”

“I hope so too, little sister,” Gaia agreed. “For now, let us try to avoid getting involved in any drama, and trust in our friends to resolve whatever new issues have presented themselves.”

"I would've asked if she needed a shortcut, but I'm not sure the clash of specializations would bode well with my realm..." Maribel boredly stated. "Ah well, maybe Lauren could help settle things. Or make them worse, who knows~?"

Amanda only blinked, processing what just happened. "...I need a drink."

"Well then, I might as well take my leave too! Take care of each other~! Ciao~!" With a wave goodbye, Maribel slipped back into her portal.