"You know her better than I do. What exactly is she concocting here?"
Sonera hesitated to answer. She regarded Lunae as a powerful Psion, but couldn't quite lock down her intentions. The princess wasn't at all like Ivy in how she pursued her time.
It would have been wise, maybe, to warn Ivy of Lunae's potential. But Sonera didn't favor handing out her opinions in such a manner. And if Ivy hadn't figured it out already from her previous encounters, then there was no saving her from the princess.
"Okay," Ivy squinted.
She was accustomed to a verbose elaboration from Lila. Yet Sonera was not that type of girl. Infuriating in its own right, to be sure, but Ivy had to make do.
The heiress made sure to address Lunae with more respect as she stepped onto the sand. "What conditions do you prefer?"
"Same as before," Lunae smiled with her eyes shut. "Hand to hand. No weapons or Psionic craft."
If the terms had been any different, both Ivy and Sonera would have been wary. Lunae was arguably the strongest amongst them. But in a traditional scrap, she hadn't exactly proven herself before.
Still, their game was a useful test. It was only a matter of time before the girls would have to defend themselves against another Psion, and to be entirely dependent on a set of tricks would be foolhardy at best. Yrix would never allow herself to be so conditionally vulnerable. And whether they liked it or not, the Arch-Flayer was an exemplary role model.
It was she who defeated the Mimic in single combat while her students quivered in fear. None of the students had forgotten that. Nor had Sonera looked past the moment in which she would have perished against the Infestare without Yrix's aid.
"But what do you hope to gain from this?" Ivy questioned Lunae, watching the princess gracefully stride across the sand. "If I may ask."
"One day," Lunae placed a hand to her chest. "I hope to master myself, to call upon a morsel of strength to protect those I love without falling to my...lesser half."
Neither Sonera nor Ivy could fully understand what she meant. But Lunae's words seemed sincere enough. No one could tell her what was and wasn't in regard to herself.
Not even her mother.
"I respect that," the heiress smiled back. "Truly, I do."
It was Sonera who produced a giddy expression from the sidelines, albeit with a degree more subtlety. She knew in her heart that while Lunae was indeed playful as ever, there was a genuine effort from her to improve, even if only through the smallest of means. It reminded her that more than mere survival was at stake.
A constant lesson.
She fidgeted with her mechanical hands. Sonera hadn't realized it yet, but that proved to be a new quirk of hers when she was bashful. Spending time with her family meant more and more to her as the days carried on.
"Thank you, Ivy." Lunae performed a little bounce, folding her hands behind her back. "Now give me your best shot."
The heiress looked on with suspicion. Choosing not to approach with anything committal, she placed one foot forward with her arms raised up high. Lunae remained still, however, smiling with that addictively pleasant expression.
"Okay," Ivy muttered to herself.
A simple choke-hold should do it, she thought. Nothing too rough for the princess. Her next move was swift and tactful, aiming for Lunae's shoulder with a firm claw.
"What the-," the heiress sputtered as Lunae leaned to the right, avoiding Ivy at the last possible second.
She tried again and again, yet to no avail. Any possible attempt to throw Lunae off her feet was met with awkward failure. From sweeping kicks to blindingly fast jabs, nothing got past the girl's perception. It was then that Ivy took notice of Lunae's eyes.
Not exactly narrow, like a snake.
Yet strangely dilated all the same.
Ivy wanted to chalk it up to a Psionic trick. But something in her gut knew Lunae's biology was the more likely candidate for her reflexes. For in hindsight, the princess was usually only struck in battle while distracted, even with her passive approach.
"Hmm," Sonera crossed her arms. "Lunae, so quick. I remember now."
It was her time in the Crimson Forest that she could recall so vividly, on that fateful night in which Lunae so easily dismantled the assassin like it were child's play. Of course, there was a degree of seduction involved in that little scuffle.
But with Lunae, when was it not a subtle misdirection?
"Ugh," Ivy complained. "What is this?"
The princess spun on one heel, lifting the other above the sand with a graceful skip. Her tricks were already irritating the heiress. And after another few failed attempts at gaining ground, Ivy's impatience had become rather plain for all to see.
"Just doing my best," Lunae hummed to herself. She was waiting for Ivy to try again. "Dear Ivy."
The heiress pressed forward, only to stumble and nearly trip. Something had caught her foot.
"Ooh," Lunae put a finger to her lips as a tail coiled back around her leg. "Hehe."
"Lunae!" Ivy pouted. "Are you toying with me?!"
She couldn't deny the potential of a game like that. If Lunae couldn't attack directly, why not taunt the enemy while still providing her usual wide array of support?
"Never," the princess shook her head. "But you'll need to be a little faster to catch me. Lila isn't the only one who can be jumpy," she winked.
Ivy pursed her lips. "I swear if you weren't family."
"Or maybe I'm just too pretty to hit?"
The heiress shot that idea down rather quickly with a flying kick. Not that she didn't find Lunae appealing, of course; it was just that Ivy, more than anyone, wouldn't let that distract her. She had other weaknesses.
"Just get back here!" Ivy began to chase the princess around the circular arena, unable to make contact with her soft skin.
Sonera's expression turned from giddy bliss to that of amazement. At first she reckoned Ivy could improve on her offense, but after another effortless evasion from Lunae, the assassin began wondering if she too would be outmatched.
The heiress began calculating all possibilities for Lunae's escape, surprised at each turn upon witnessing the spry princess pick the best option as if she knew ahead of time. But perhaps that was indeed the problem. Lunae was not human. And passive as she may have appeared, there was no telling what kind of instinct she could draw upon.
"Ack!" Ivy tripped, falling to the ground after another swipe from Lunae's tail caught her off balance.
Lunae moved swiftly like a cat, preparing to pounce upon Ivy before the heiress could recover. She was surprised then to see Ivy spring back up using an explosive handstand, landing mere inches from the princess before wrapping her arms around Lunae's lower back.
"Oh!" Lunae gasped.
"Got yo-," Ivy smirked, only for her voice to be smothered as she fell backward. "Mmph!"
Lunae had abandoned her position, pushing all her weight onto Ivy like a rag doll as her voluptuous chest enveloped the heiress's face. She had managed to salvage her downfall into a rather dominant hold. Yet instead of pressing her advantage, Lunae opted to simply stay where she was and let her natural features do all the work.
"L-mh-me-hm-go!" Ivy struggled to push the princess off of her.
It should have been an easy task, given Lunae's feathery weight. But something was halting the heiress in her time of need, as if her own mind had failed to instruct her mechanical limbs. Just then, Ivy began to notice a fragrant smell coming from Lunae.
Buried as she was beneath the girl's bosom, Ivy could feel more than just soft skin and patterned lingerie from Lunae's bra. Her mind had been invaded by an overwhelming, satisfying urge. Struggle as she might, the deepest recesses of Ivy's mind were convinced that staying put was indeed the best course of action.
Even if she was drowning.
True to her word, Lunae wasn't relying on her Psionic powers. The girl was simply that charming for reasons Ivy couldn't quite comprehend. And before long, the heiress began to run low on air.
"Mmph!" Ivy's breath became ragged and uneasy, her hands wrapped around Lunae's bare shoulders as their grip gradually loosened. "Uck!"
"Sssh," Lunae smiled down at the heiress, playing with a tuft of white hair using her index finger. "It'll all be over soon."
Sonera watched in disbelief. She wasn't sure whether to be envious or impressed. Lunae could work in front of the assassin a hundred times if be, and never would it cease to be an experience.
"I-I think..." Sonera raised a finger, pointing at the flattened lumps around the heiress's head. "Ivy's done."
Indeed, Ivy was still as the grave.
"Oh," Lunae pushed herself off the ground, her breasts reverting to their original shape. "Right. Silly me. Got a bit carried away, that's all. Little miss Ivy here almost had me."
"Let her breathe," Sonera crouched down in front of Ivy. "You got her."
"Indeed I did," Lunae called upon her crook, hoisting it up to Sonera's neck as she pulled the girl's face in. "Your turn."
It had been a while since Sonera felt so thoroughly intimidated. It was not ego that had driven her into believing she was the strongest, for it was a sense of duty. Such a passionate urge to protect who she loved had made her nearly forget that all along, Lunae was the most dominant.