"Why don't you just sp the carcass really fast?"

  "Not how that works, Li."

  "But like...in theory."

  "You'd shred the carcass long before it cooks."

  "But it would be funny. The meat would go like 'pp pp pp'."

  Ivy rolled her eyes before focusing on her dubiously important project. Using a Psionic construct to form a basin of sorts, she had begun boiling Li's food by spinning her baton at absurd speeds, heating the collected water in the process.

  It was an unnecessarily taxing process to be sure. But that didn't stop Ivy from trying nonetheless.

  "Here." Ivy offered the 'chicken' to an unconvinced Li. "Try it."

  Li ate the small bit of meat quickly enough, speaking not a word till the job was done. Her face spoke volumes in that moment.

  "That tasted like nothing."

  "Of course it didn't!" Ivy fumed. "It's just meat! It's got none of your processed monkey seasoning!" No unhealthy salt or palm oil!"

  Li smiled, her mouth partially filled with her snack. "You're palm oil."

  "Ugh." The heiress rolled her eyes. "And you need to fix your diet."

  Li threw up her hands in admission. "Caught."

  Deep within Ivy's red gre, there was a visible amount of conflict. Even Li could see a smidgen of it, the way the shades of blue glistened at the bottom of her iris. It was a relieving moment to be sure, to finally have something more akin to a friend rather than an enemy.

  "I'm uhh, gonna do that thing humans do now...if you don't mind." Li backed away, pointing two finger guns at Ivy. "Yeah, you know...the human thing we do after we eat."

  "Just don't take too long." Ivy pced her hands on her hips. "And don't go too far!"

  Li strolled away leisurely, ruminating on the events that had transpired. Strangely, with the benefit of hindsight, she felt herself reting to the heiress. At risk of repeating her own thoughts to death, her mind drifted to those shaky feelings on the heiress and whether she should be considered just a friend.

  "I mean...I like boys." Li shrugged as she muttered to herself. "Anything else is...just not natural."

  "I'm not even sure why I felt so...excited there for a bit."

  "Am I going bonkers?"

  "Don't tell me that brat is making me bi."

  "She's not even attractive!"

  But before Li could continue to argue with herself, she heard a blood-curdling scream come from behind her. She knew in an instant who it came from and kicked into gear in but a fraction of a second.

  It was Ivy.

  "Shit." Li's heart sank, realizing how scared she had already become. "Ivy!"

  Using her Psionic speed to practically materialize herself back into Ivy's makeshift camp, Li gasped in horror upon seeing a splotch a blood and the heiress, struggling to keep herself afloat, with a rge gash across her nape.

  Standing across from the two girls was Rena, shrouded in a bck hood and clutching onto a bloodied chakram of her own making. Her eyes were twitching with anticipation, ignoring Li's presence as she visibly fantasized about Ivy's demise.

  "Quicker than I thought you'd be." Rena hissed, lifting her weapon to point at Ivy's wound. "Maybe Sonera taught you something after all."

  "You-," Ivy grunted with genuine shock in her voice. "How-."

  Over the course of her many escapades with Li, the heiress had genuinely forgotten about her ordeal with Rena. She was too happy to remember. She was too content, finally at peace with the smallest fragment of herself.

  She should have known better than to let herself smile.

  "How did I sneak up on you?" Rena chortled. "Don't tell me you thought Sonera was the only one forced to learn how to fight dirty. Your family made us both monsters. And you're still wearing that stupid white dress in the middle of the forest. The only reason the Consortium hasn't molested you is because they're encircling the entire region with more troops than you can possibly handle in one fight. And in just a few minutes, they'll be all over you. Will you beg for a quick death, I wonder?"

  "Never." Ivy whinced, clearly weakened by the attempt on her head. "And I regret nothing."

  "Oh...I know you don't. You know what your family is. Hell, they've probably made you a victim as well. And you just...don't give a damn."

  "Correct." Ivy clenched her fist, calling her staff to her side. "So are you going to keep bthering on about your pathetic life? Or can we get this over with?"

  "What I'm about to do." Rena assumed a fighting stance. "Li doesn't have to see. She's a good girl. An honest girl. So let's make this quick."

  "Agreed," Ivy growled.

  Rena charged at the heiress, using her Psionic ambience to amplify her assault, effectively transforming herself into a battering ram with a spinning edge. Ivy was hardly prepared, standing shakily with a diminished resolve. Some part of her was still afraid of what could happen, rattled by her beating at the hands of Sonera.

  She was just a girl after all, no matter what Rena beleived.

  "Wait!" Li jumped in front of Rena, causing the girl to halt in her tracks. "Stop!"

  Rena held her chakram close, trying in vain to move around Li as she gnashed her teeth. "Get out of the way Li!"

  "No! It's not right!"

  Ivy gasped, shocked by Li's bravery. A far greater sense of dread washed over her, enveloping what little courage she had left for herself. The heiress nearly dropped her weapon in that moment, unable to comprehend what kind of situation she had pced herself in.

  "Li..." Ivy muttered to herself. "You don't have to-."

  Rena pushed Li back with one hand, trying her best to refrain from violence against the Earthling. "The hell you mean it's not right! You think I'm just here to be petty? This bitch is a monster! I've seen inside her head! She's the devil!"

  "She's my friend!" Li screamed, stomping her left foot onto the ground. "We have an enemy already! Why can't we just fight them togethor!"

  "By all means, when that bitch is dead, I'll fight the Consoritum with you, Li. All you have to do...is get out of the way." Rena breathed deeply. "Don't make me hurt you. You're a good person. I can see it. But you've let that maniputive bitch warp your mind.

  She's using you. Taking your friendship and your protection, acting like she doesn't want it. You wanna know why she keeps wearing that dress? She doesn't hate her family or what they've done. She just wants to fix it. Make it better. For herself!"

  Li gnced over to Ivy's shoes, still lying at the side of the tree where she had put them. "You're wrong. I've seen it. She's changing."

  "I don't have to expin myself to you." Rena looked down at the floor. "So be it."

  Rena swiped at Li with the blunt end of her weapon, smashing her tiny frame like a piece of cloth, sending the girl tumbling onto the floor. It had become clear just how much of a Psion she had already become over the course of the second trial. It was as if the full might of Yrix's inspiring gaze had been set upon her, strengthening her hatred and power.

  That strength, however, paled in comparison to what Ivy felt for the briefest of moments. No longer was she figthing for some half-baked desire to carry on. For the first time, after seeing Li crumple to the ground, she wanted that fight with Rena.

  "Look who's the monster now. Bitch." Ivy stood straight, ignoring her pain. "How does it feel? To strike that girl, knowing full well you're just projecting your pathetic self-loathing onto her."

  With nothing left to say, the girls lunged at each other. Their weapons cshed, causing sparks to scatter and the leaves around them to churn. Gone was the silent professionalism of Sonera. This time, Ivy was fighting for her life against a soul nearly as bckened as hers.

  Only now, she had to win. Not for herself. But for her heart, which still ached for that stupid girl.

  "Owie." Li came to, her hair covered in leaves. "My feelings."

  Despite her humorous undertone, Li was becoming sick and tired of all the abuse she faced at the hands of so-called friends. Now more than ever, she felt helpless and afraid. Only her feelings for Ivy, however marred with turmoil, kept her steady.

  "Okay, okay." Li pressed both hands against her temples. "Lock in, girly. What can I do to break them up? I mean, it can't get any worse? Right?"

  A flicker of red light caught Li's eye as she leaned forward. It would seem that despite her pleas for reprieve, things could in fact get worse. Far off in the distance, just within her sight, marched an entire column of Dargen, whose thunderous foosteps were just barely overshadowed by the csh of Ivy and Rena's steel.

  Part of Li had been wondering why Rena bothered to mention a quick death. But upon a closer look at the looming enemy, it became eerily apparent. The daregen, armored in bulky retardant metal, were each carrying massive silos upon their backs, filled with a sappy material that funneled directly into their weapons. And out from the barrels of those cannons, seeped a glowing luminescent fluid.

  The Consoritum had brought fmethrowers.