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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.
