i didn’t respond. Instead, she forced her body upright, defiance etched in every strained line of her face. A low, guttural sound slipped from her lips as she pushed to her feet, eyes narrowing, locked on . She wasn’t finished. She was determined to keep fighting.
I lifted both hands in a slow, careful motion.
“I… i, if you really want to continue, we can. But I don’t think you can—” I faltered, shaking my head. “I don’t think you’re experienced enough for this.”
Her gaze fell to the ground, then snapped back up, carrying a flicker of wounded pride. She muttered sothing under her breath, quiet but not so quiet I missed the barb aid at my so-called genius plan of blowing us both apart.
She opened her mouth, closed it, then tried again. “…What? Do you want to just surrender? I can’t do that.”
I shrugged, keeping my tone even. “No, you don’t have to surrender. Not yet. But—” I gestured toward her with a tilt of my hand, “—what I want now is to understand exactly what you’re doing. This… transformation.”
Up close, with her movents stilled, the details ca into sharper focus. Patches of fur mottled her hands, pale gray threaded with faint glimrs of blue. Her nails had lengthened into tapered claws, each tipped with a soft, eerie neon glow. The shield that had once enveloped her body flickered in and out, pulsing like a weak heartbeat struggling to hold on.
But none of that was what seized my attention most.
Her hair, once a short raven-dark bob, now cascaded past her shoulders in unruly strands, nearly concealing the new ears perched atop her head. Feline and twitching with restless life. And her eyes… no longer wide and human. The pupils had constricted into sharp vertical slits, violet irises gleaming with sothing wild and untad.
It was undeniable. She had taken on the essence of a cat. Or sothing close. Then again, in a world already brimming with robots, elves, and goat-folk—maybe she was just another strange species to add to the tally.
She still lingered in hesitation, so I lowered my arms, palms open, a gesture of truce. “Listen, i. How about this? We can keep fighting later… but for now, let’s make it a little more informative.”
She shot a sideways glance, wary. “Informative?”
I nodded, gesturing to the strange changes rippling through her body. “Yeah. I’m assuming this has sothing to do with Animora?”
The question hung heavy between us. She blinked a few tis, then finally gave a reluctant nod.
“Before, you didn’t want to show anything because you thought it might break so rule. But right now? We’re supposed to fight. And the only outcos are surrender… or death. So why not use the mont? You show how that transformation works, and I’ll show you how to properly cultivate, or at least walk you through so techniques.”
I could see her resolve waver at the offer. She glanced around, as if hoping to catch sight of the Guardians for permission or judgnt, but of course, they were nowhere to be found, sowhere beyond the black, mirror-like liquid that had ferried us here.
Honestly, I wasn’t even sure this place was real. It could’ve been an illusion. Yet I could still feel in my bones that we had truly traveled here.
“You sure that’s a good idea?” she asked finally.
I shook my head. “No. Of course not. It’s not a good idea at all. We’ve got eyes on us, and I don’t exactly want to hand over secrets to whoever’s watching. But… I’m more interested in learning than in guarding myself. Worst case, in the next match, I’ll just forfeit. No big deal.”
She chuckled softly, a thin edge of bravado in the sound. “Still so sure you’ll even have a next match? I almost had you.”
I laughed, unbothered. “Your speed was impressive, I’ll give you that. But why keep leaning on invisibility? After I tracked you down, retreating or tightening your defense might’ve served you better than hiding again.”
i grumbled, irritation edging her voice. “I only did it twice, and I found you imdiately after. It’s easy with my device.”
Hard to argue with that subtle boast, but still, I couldn’t shake the thought that if I had pierced through her invisibility again, she would’ve simply cloaked herself a third ti.
“Well, either way, the way you struck was decisive. But you already know so much about . You don’t need to attack without thought.”
Her eyes narrowed, but I pressed on. “Look, I’m no master of combat. I’ve been told more than once to stop overthinking and just act. But in your case, a touch more caution might’ve served you better.”
She scuffed her boot against the dirt, drifting closer with shoulders slouched. “That explosion was unfair. I would’ve had you with just another second,” she repeated the complaint from seconds ago.
I nodded evenly. “Maybe so. But for now, how about you explain what you’re doing?”
Her breath still ca fast, though less ragged than before. Maybe the blast had rattled her more than it truly injured her.
“Well,” she said, lifting her clawed hand as she paced toward , “this is what Animora can really do. It’s what talent in it looks like. I told you before that you adopt traits, but you have to transform to really adopt the properties from the creatures or things you draw life force from.”
The admission startled . Not that it was impossible to grasp, but it cast a shadow over my own earlier plans.
My mind flickered to Lyra. To my intention of using Animora to extract so of her pain, easing her path through Channel Opening so she could forge her Harmonic Foundation. The last thing I wanted was to accidentally inherit her... Lyra-ness.
“How exactly does it work?” I asked.
She touched her chin thoughtfully. “It depends. On talent, like I said. And suitability. So people develop properties from plants, so from minerals, so from animals. I happen to be—” She cut herself off abruptly.
Animal affinity, the obvious answer, but the way she stopped hinted there was more she wasn’t ready to reveal. Maybe hidden depths lay coiled in that small fra.
“Great,” I said, keeping my tone light. “So what does it do?”
With her claws glinting faintly, she flexed her hand. “This. Plus balance. And speed. I’m much faster right now than usual. But it depends on what you have.”
She had been formidable even before the transformation, so I couldn’t help but wonder: Did these properties slumber inside her when she wasn’t transford, or did so lingering trace remain?
“And the wrist bracer,” I asked. “Does it anchor your shield? The cloaking, too?”
She cast a look of exaggerated suspicion before sighing. “I don’t think many cats can turn invisible. Not any beast felines I’ve ever heard of, anyway. So… you could assu that.”
I chuckled at her attempt to sidestep the truth.
“Alright then,” I pressed. “After you perform extraction, how does it actually work?”
She hesitated, then went on. “Guess I'm going to be repeating everything. It goes into your Inner World and forms a ring around the World Seed. The more energy you draw, the more solid the ring becos. And it’s more effective with strong affinity. Using the sa type of creature helps too.”
That didn’t explain nearly enough.
“And the transformation?” I added.
She shook her head. “No idea. I can just… do it. I just focus on it for a mont, and... Integration just happens.”
This ti, I sensed no deceit. Just another inexplicable byproduct of raw talent.
Still, there would be ti to unravel the mystery later. And, maybe having access to the Inner World could play a more active route.
“Alright. Anything you want to know from ?”
She drew a deep breath, then lowered herself to the ground with a weary sigh. “You know, you’re kind of weird. You know that?”
I considered offering a clever retort… but nothing ca. Instead, I sank down beside her with a shrug, letting silence fill the space between us.
“Yeah, I know,” I said quietly. “That’s why people like . And so… well, it doesn’t matter.”
Her eyes flickered with faint luminescence, the glow within them pulsing softly as if reflecting the churn of thoughts behind them, weighing sothing. When the shimr faded, she finally spoke.
“There’s not much to ask. You’ve already told a lot,” she murmured. “I guess you could explain more, past the fundantals, like how you create elents or the deeper stuff about body foundation. But it won’t help much. I haven’t even started there yet.”
I nodded, oddly relieved by her clarity. Overloading your mind too early could derail progress more than accelerate it. Building a foundation first really was the right place to begin.
“Maybe we can find a way to talk after this,” I offered. “I don’t know what kind of communication tech you’ve got, or if it even works halfway across the world… or wherever the hell we are—”
She cut off with a calm interruption. “It’s alright. We’ll figure sothing out. For now… how about you just show a technique?”
I sifted through the arsenal in my mind. The explosion I’d demonstrated earlier—even Elric struggled with that one, so it was off the table. Swish Stride required precision and finesse, and though i clearly had speed to spare, more might not actually help her. Blasting Wave was brutally effective, but seed to clash with her style of fighting.
I hesitated, then asked instead, “Well, what do you want? Sothing for movent? A barrier? Defense? Offense?”
She gave a casual shrug. “What about what Serith did? Making a weapon out of nothing.”
I tensed just a little at the request. “That one’s not exactly beginner-friendly.” I caught the flicker of disappointnt in her expression and quickly added, “But Synthia can teach it to you eventually. It’s not an overly complex technique, and just requires so endurance and thought.”
She nodded slowly, considering. “Then I’ll just ask her. If I need anything else, I’ll co back to you one day.”
“Alright... Then what should I do?” I asked with a nod.
"Hmmm," she humd in thought. "Stay a while."
"I—" I started, but she cut off.
"That way I can think of sothing after training a little more."
I wasn't even sure if it was possible, but with the pleading look in her eyes, my heart weakened. "Sure, I'll figure it out. So… Do you want to keep sparring?”
She hesitated, then shook her head. “Now that we’ve already sat down… not really. And thinking about the way you moved, even for just that mont... I’ve never seen anyone react like that on my level. My speed is usually untouchable. Even against people your age.”
I exhaled, shaking my head slightly, my thoughts drifting to Kris and his unreal reflexes. “Then I really don’t think we—you—should continue.”
I fixed my gaze on her, letting the seriousness sink in. “This isn’t a ga—”
“I know that!” she snapped, voice flaring with sudden heat.
I raised my hands, open-pald, trying to calm the sudden spike of tension. “Okay. You do. But i—”
I reached out, placing a hand gently on her shoulder, my voice rising with the warmth of honest emotion. “I’m not saying this to insult you. This wasn’t a fight I was taking all that seriously.”
“Maybe it’s ‘cause you’re younger. Or maybe it’s just that you’re a sweet girl, but if you thought my unconscious reaction to danger was impressive…”
I let the sentence trail off, letting my silence carry the weight of what I ant: others wouldn’t hold back. Not like I had.
Her eyes locked onto mine. First ca uncertainty. Then resistance. No words passed between us, but within her stare, I could almost see an entire conversation unfolding of conflicted thoughts fighting for ground in her mind.
“It’s not worth your life to prove sothing to anyone,” I said softly but firmly. “Not to a person. Not to friends. Not to family. Not even to gods.” I leaned in slightly. “This isn’t about strength. Or talent. You don’t have to do this, i.”
Her stare wavered, and sothing subtle shifted in the firelight reflecting in her eyes. Hesitation replaced certainty. Maybe no one had ever said those words to her before. Maybe she had never allowed herself to hear them if they had.
After all, I'm sure being chosen by a god was always frad as an honor.
“If you want to continue, we can,” I said again, but stopped there, letting her make the final decision.
She gave a small smile. “We’ll definitely have a full match again?”
I matched her expression, softening my own. “Anyti you want a rematch, I’m ready. Just not when lives are at stake, okay?”
She stood up, then stretched down, touching her toes—lifting back up to twist her waist. “Your clothes are ssed up. Maybe you can stay for a bit to get new ones. Here, we have so pretty resistant gear.”
I chuckled. "It might work… Well?"
She rubbed her nose with her hand, the transformation fading away slowly.
"Fine." She looked up at the sky. "I surrender."
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