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.
NowThen 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.
Xaltwind
Pirouette
Crimson Flame
Danyel
Mage
Noctis
Izurich
Damycles
jimapple
Zapdos
