DISCLAIR: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishnt. Anyway on with the show...errr read.
Result
The speed my new technique granted was both a blessing and a curse and for similar reasons. Things happened, strangely, both more quickly and more slowly, in several different ways. On the Brightside, obviously, I attacked and moved much faster then I'd ever dread of doing, exchanging hundreds of blows, doing attacks that would have been too quick to see before, shifting through the chaos with an easy grace. Despite that speed, everything seed slowed down to my eyes and mind, allowing to think about, plan for, and react to things I might otherwise barely have noticed. All of that was trendously useful and were literally lifesavers.
On the other hand, attacking five tis faster ant spending energy five tis faster, too. Even with my greater speed and attack power, truly matching or pushing back Penny required drawing on my other skills as wellLunging at great speeds to close or create distance, Power Strike to strengthen my blows, using my Elentals to assist in subtle ways, and much more. In fact, it was even worse than that, because of Double Strike, which effectively allowed to hit twice with a single blow, but with each blow needing to be enhanced individually. The base damage of each hit was lower than a normal attack, but still high enough to make it advantageous, especially when I was leveling it up so quicklynone of which changed the fact that it drained MP like a sieve.
My entire strategy was enabled by my situationon easy access to an effectively endless supply of restorative items. Any chance I had of victory was founded entirely on the fact that I was able to cheat like a son of a bitch, giving myself effectively infinite HP and MP so long as I didn't run out of items, didn't let my MP hit zero, and wasn't taken out by a single blow or quick series of hits. Without that, without the removed concern of how much damage I could take or power I could spend, I would have lost this fight very, very quickly. If I had been using solely my own power, I think I would have run myself dry in about a minute. Maybe less, possibly a bit more.
I hit fast but tired fast, as was normal with all of Bai Hu's techniques. As it was, I needed to restore myself every twenty to thirty seconds and occasionally turn off my Aura to tank blows physically just to keep myself going. Things went fast and so did my power.
But they also happened painfully slowly. They had before, of course, as I'd known they would; with a ship as big as the White Whale, a lack of hydraulic stairs was a painfully serious issue. I'd worked to compensate with Levant, had trained to do it as quickly as possible, but I'd known it would take a while, just as I'd known that it was unlikely we'd get out before there was a response. If Levant moved at top speed, there were no complications on either side, and the passengers cooperated perfectly, she might have been able to get everyone loaded in about fifteen minutes. Realistically speaking, odds were better that it would have taken twenty, twenty-five minutes instead, allowing for difficulties and general stupidity. Far from ideal, but there's only so much you can do when you have to transport a large group of people while lacking a lot of infrastructure and under fire.
Given the circumstances, thoughit might be pushing higher than that. I'd gotten back Dreary Midnight fairly quickly, but I'd also had to split her focus occasionally. Because of that, it may well push as high as thirty, though I held out hope I was highballing it. That's a lot of ti to buy in any situation.
When your perceptions were enhanced as high as mine were, it was a length of ti that seed to drag on forever.
Penny and I traded blows beyond counting, tallic impacts filling the night air in a symphony that brought to mind the marching of soldiers and the hamring of drums. It was hard not to lose myself in the battle, simply because a large part of wanted to, wanted to let ti flow past around us as we clashedbut I had to pay attention to the details and the monts, so it stretched on endlessly instead. I felt bullets beat a steady rhythm on my skin as we ca together and heard tal ring as we parted. Every touch carried with it staccato images I perceived through Crocea Mors and Vulturnus, images that flickered and vanished in almost the sa instant they were made, an instant of perception. I felt pain and power flow through as I was wounded and healed, exhausted and invigorated, and Penny and I fought like tireless machines.
And all the while, I counted the glacial passage of seconds. I had to, needed to pay attention to every mont, focusing my thoughts towards their intended purpose even as I kept track of the slow boarding of passengers. I monitored the skies around even as I watched every move Penny made, on constant alert for new threats regardless of source. Penny swung her blade in an arc I ducked under it, left arm coming up to brace itself against the androids reaching free arm even as I stuck a blow to it further up with my claws. Her sword stopped more abruptly then it should have been able to before it changed directions, coming back for another swing at my head that I stepped away from, driving a palm into her forearm as I went.
Penny followed, advancing as I retreated, never stopping or slowing. She swung her blade again, gun firing above her as her free fingers flexed. She was silent again, green eyes wide and almost glowing as she stared at intently, taking everything in, processing it, reacting. At first, her swordsmanship had been very clean and precise, almost literally textbook, but also very basicsothing I suspected may have been literally programd into her. She was good at it, but not great, because every attack was too exact, too precise. Predictable and formulaic, responding to problems in the exact sa way.
Within a minute, that had changed. She began to vary her attacks as they proved ineffective, incorporating things she'd tried before to improve it. In mid-swing, she released her blade, letting it fly from her fingers in a wide, sweeping arc that I ducked under. Almost the mont I did so, she moved forward, jumping forward and coming down with enough force to lift small slabs of concrete. I leapt into the air the mont Sense Danger alerted and touched earth the sa mont she drew her sword back to her hand and swung it over her, releasing it once more to bring it down on . It bit deeply into the ground at my feet as I stepped back, but she just used that to reel herself towards .
An open-pald strike passed through where my head had been a mont before as I ducked low, driving the heels of my palms into her knees and thighs in a series of quick blows before leaning back as she drew her sword from the concrete and brought it back up, tip arching just before my eyes. I turned the motion into a handspring, coming back to my feet as she took a step forward and swung her sword down again. I brought up both my hands, touching her forearm as I leveraged myself to the side before letting go. My right hand clenched into a fist and my open right covered it as I drove an elbow into her chest. Her other arm rose, outlined clearly to Crocea Mors and Vulturnus' senses as I touched her, and I dropped to a knee as it tried to seize , guiding it over my head with a pair of gentle touches.
There was a mont's pause as I drew to the side, subtly palming a crystal from my inventory and consuming it to keep myself going as she turned to continueand we were back in the fray.
All the while, I kept my attention on her, as she did to . Every mont I looked for a way in or a way out, a way to strike or to defend. Penny was crushing power, unending strength, a machine that never tired or faltered, and yet, for all that, intelligent and thodical. Every mistake she made was corrected, plans were modified on the fly. Successes were noted and incorporated into further actions as she drove endlessly, relentlessly forward. Penny may have been innocent, but she wasn't stupid and she learned quickly. She drew ever closer with each attack, every failure building towards the hope of future success. I kept just ahead of her, slightly out of reach, and hit her a hundred tis to seemingly no effect. I saw the damage it did, chipping away at her in almost aninglessly minute amounts, and kept going anyway, deeming it unimportant. I was speed, precision, great power applied accurately, carefully, deliberately, all leading towards the sa end, each blow making careful progress, however smallnot trying to match her power or even compete with it, but aiming for sothing else.
We were different designs leading towards the sa goals. I watched her grow stronger as we fought, learning and improvising with each mont. I did the sa, skills improving quickly just to stay that one step ahead, considering her, predicting her, striking her as best I could to drive forward. We were like blades being tested against one another, being driven to our limits just to learn how to surpass themand for a minute we seed matched.
The battle ran on, through the streets, atop the sides of buildings. The gun floating behind Penny took to shifting, sprouting into six controlled swords again, attempting new tactics as she tested new things. For a mont, she moved through them, blades driving into the ground and walls to pull her this way and that, drawing her through the air and altering her path. I drew her into a building, engaging her in close quarters and evading a dozen swords as I continued to pound into her. They consolidated into another sword afterwards as we dueled in limited space and I weaved in between blades to get to her until she drove back toand througha wall. The blade returned to its gun form in the streets as I had more room to dodge and maneuver, keeping on with steady, mild damage as I drew closer again. We exchanged hundreds of blows as the minutes passed and still seed matched.
We went up and down the streets, over and through the buildings, ca together and parted a thousand tis, and through it all seed matched. Each of us was building towards sothing, drawing closer with every success and failure alike, yet seed even through it all. To an outsider, it must have looked like it could go either way.
Looks can be deceiving. As the fight drew on, things slowly changed as planted seeds began to grow. I kept her in the center of my attention, but the nature of it began to change, shifting with every action as we drew closer and closer to the end. What started as a battle beca more of a dance and I found my place in the dangerous, shifting steps and felt completely calm, with perhaps just a hint of sothing that might have been anticipation and might have been dread as the flow quickened and rose. All I had to do was
"Let's stop," I said as we fell down to the streets, drawing away suddenly instead of stepping forward. "There's no point in taking this any further."
"What?" Penny asked, hesitating in her advance.
"There's no point to taking this any further," I repeated. "This fight's over."
Penny tilted her head to the side, blinking slowly.
"Are you surrendering?" She asked.
"I'm afraid not," I said. "I'm just winning. The ship will be loaded soon and I will depart. There's little reason to continue this fight anymore. It was fun playing with you Penny, but I'll need to leave soon, so let's end this here, okay?"
"I cannot allow that," She replied, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, but I still can't let you go."
"It's not a matter of allowing," I corrected. "I've already won and I'm going to leave nowI don't want to hurt you to do so, though, so please. For my sake. Stand aside. You've already lost."
"No, I haven't," She said. "I am combat readyand I will never give up so long as I can still fight."
She took a step forward and then began to run, but I didn't move. I didn't turn away, I didn't back down, and I didn't flinch.
I just sighed quietly, stepped forward, and whispered just high enough to be sure she would catch it.
"Right arm," I said as I stepped just to the side of the blade, dodging along the outside of her arm. My left hand ca up to grasp her wrist, my right her shoulder. With each hand, I used the Tiger's Jaws, doubled with Double Strike, multiplied with Power Strike, Rip, and Crush, pulling it back behind her with all my might.
But really, that was just the final blow, the straw that broke the cal's back. What happened next had been long in the coming. Penny and I had both been working towards sothing, trying to guide the battle in our favorbut the advantage had been mine, for I held the most powerful weapon of all.
Information. I knew, if roughly, what she was capable off, but there were many, many things she didn't know about . Her plan had been to wear down, to improve her strategies and plans to fence in and push back, all leading up to a final blowbut my plan had literally been built with every blow, every exchange, whenever I touched her. It had been in gentle touches, seemingly pointless strikes to her defending arms, to her legs, a work in progress from the very beginning striking at weak point she hadn't even known to defend.
So though I applied careful pressure and force, put my entire body into accomplishing on thing, and hamred, grasped, crushed, and tore with all my might, what happened next wasn't a matter of my strength. No, that was a small part of it, in all honesty. In truth, it was a matter of careful build up, minute applications of Crocea Mors in a thousand instants of contact and flickering images, the buildup of many minor changes through her Aura as the minutes dragged on, all leading up to one mont, one final push, an instant of strain that even her soul couldn't compensate for.
And with a crack and a pop and a groan, with a small rain of bits of tal, with a sudden force giving waywith all of that, I tore off Penny's arm.
She stumbled then, as her body ca free of her arm, and then fell. She tried to catch herself, realizing a mont too late that one of the arms she'd sought to do so with was absent, and then fell on her face.
"I'm sorry," I said honestly, looking at the arm for a mont before setting it down on the ground. "I'd hoped to avoid that. But with this, it should be clear. Your father can fix that when you're retrieved, so just sit this one out for now, okay? I've won, Penny."
Penny lay prone on the ground for a mont, not moving or saying a word. Ideally, she'd see this as a sign of overwhelming power and give up, or wonder how it was possible, or any number of other things butafter that mont of stillness passed, I saw her lift herself carefully with one arm, compensating for the absent one as if it were natural for her and slowly rising to stand.
"No," She said, looking at with her green eyes. She didn't seem hurt or even scaredshe didn't seem different at all, really. "I already told you, I will never give up so long as I'm able to fight. Sothing like thisit doesn't even hurt."
The sword in her dismbered hands grasp twitched once before withdrawing. I watched it return to the side of its mistress, floating in the air near where she would have held it, and sighed again.
"Penny, you are amazing," I told her. "To get up, despite that, to refuse to give upyou are simply amazing. But there is a difference between being brave and being reckless. There are tis when you need to put everything on the line and fight, but for youthis shouldn't be one of them. Whether it hurts or not, don't put yourself at risk for sothing like this. This shouldn't be a battle you need to stake your life on. Accept your defeat."
"I haven't lost yet," She said stubbornly, striding forward more warily this ti. "I won't accept defeatno matter what, I will fight until my body is broken. For my fatherI have to protect this world. I am readyI am. So I won't lose to anyone."
I looked at her quietly, Observing her resolve, and exhaled slowly.
"This really ans a lot to you," I noted. "I hope you father knows how proud he should be of you for that. Butyou can't always win Penny. And if you tear yourself apart trying to anyway, imagine what that will do to the people who care about you. You're still a child; you don't have to protect the world by yourself. Walk away from this fight, get stronger, and we'll play again so other day. But give up, Penny. Sit down and watch leave. This isn't a battle you can win; you should know that already."
"I know no such thing," She said, stump of an arm sparking. "It's only minor damage. I am still combat ready."
"You're missing an arm," I stated.
"I don't need my arms to fight," She reminded, twitching her strings. "And as long as I can keep fighting"
"You won't give up," I said calmly, nodding as I stared her down. "You sure about that, though?"
Her float sword lashed out at my, flying through the air every bit as fast as before. I sidestepped, mind already shifting into action, focusing on the contingencies. I'd hoped it wouldn't co to this.
That didn't an I didn't expect it.
"Left leg," I spoke.
I Lunged low, hand thrusting up into her chest, a series of blows that lifted her off her feet. I turned then, leg coming up to hamr into her stomach, driving her down into the concrete and then I grabbed her left leg as it was kicked into the air. With feet planted, I grabbed her hard, twisting with my entire bodyand weakened tal ca loose.
I dropped her leg to dodge out of the way of her returning sword, brushing off the bullets of her gun.
"There," I said, rising and turning away. "Even if you can fight without an arm, you shouldn't be able to follow with just one leg. I'd hoped it wouldn't co to this, butjust wait here until your father cos to get you, okay?"
Instead of replying, her gun unfolded into six swords, driving themselves into the ground and surrounding buildings before pulling taunt, lifting Penny in the process. The sword she'd been using followed suit, giving her a full twelve blades, several of which moved to steady her, wires wrapping tightly around her upper body.
"You're incorrect. If needed, I can keep fighting without my arms or legs," She claid.
I sighed, looking over my shoulder at her.
"Penny, don't be a sore loser," I said chidingly, trying a different tactic. "You lost fair and square, so sit down and wait for your father to co get you."
"I haven't lost," She insisted, sounding almost petulant.
I looked at her, frustrated, saddened, and, more than anything, tired. I wondered how likely it was that she'd actually try to follow if I tore off her arms and legsand how likely it was she'd succeed. Despite her words, there was little to be afraid of, though; with the amount of effort she had to spend to just stay upright now, she was no threat to . Regardless of her level, with one arm and one leg, I wasn't worried.
Not about her actually stopping , at least. How she was so stubborn that she'd literally tear herself to pieces before giving up, though
And yeah, it may have been a bit hypocritical of to be upset about that, but my body could actually take whatever I put it throughand I wouldn't risk my life unless there was a good reason. Penny was
"Are you scared?" I asked suddenly, pieces coming together. "Of not being good enough to live up to their expectations? To be unable to fulfill your purpose?"
I saw her hesitate and suddenly wasn't sure what to do. I'd been on the other side of this issue before and I honestly had no idea how to resolve it. I didn't know what I could say or do to fix thatif there was anything, no one had ever told , certainly. But
"Penny, you are a living being," I said. "You're your own person, whatever you were created for. But if it's that important to you to fight, then so be it. I have a few more minutes; I'll fight until you understand."
"I haven't been defeated." She insisted again.
I closed my eyes for a mont, opening them as I felt my body strum like a chord.
You've received the title 'Heir of the White Tiger.'
Heir of the White Tiger
By proving your might in battle, you have obtained a position above all others. By fighting under the effects of the White Tiger's Five Hundred Years for one thousand straight seconds, you have proven yourself worthy of carrying on your master's legacy! Even so, continue your training to obtain true mastery and stand above all as the White Tiger of the West!
80% increase the damage of White Tiger techniques.
80% increase to the defense granted by White Tiger techniques.
40% decrease in the cost of White Tiger techniques.
Status: White Tiger's Star [Interdiate]
I looked down for a mont before swiping a finger.
"I'm sorry, Penny," I said as what felt like a bolt of lightning raced down my spine. "But you have."
"I lose, huh?" Penny sighed, resting on the ground amidst her pieces. I patted her head reassuringly as it rested on my knee, idly brushing away the chips of concrete that had tangled in her hair over the course of the fight. As if in response to her admission, screens began to appear around . I made ntal notes of most of them and then ignored their presence, though several cause my attention briefly.
Your level has increased by one! Your level has increased by one! Your level has increased by one! Your level has increased by one! Your level has increased by one! Your level has increased by one!
"You fought well," I said after a mont, tail curling around my waist for want of anything better to do. "You went above and beyond what anyone could have expected or demanded. Do not be ashad of being defeated, but consider it an experience to learn from. So long as you are alive, people can struggle on and improve themselves, going further and further despite the odds. Sodon't throw your life away because you are too afraid to admit defeat. Your life is too important for that."
Penny was silent and still, though the latter probably had more to do with the general state of her body than anything else. I'd ripped off her other arm and leg shortly after the fight began and cast them aside. She'd tried to compensate with her blades and strings, suspending herself in the air, but though it had allowed her to keep fightingafter a fashionit had also seriously limited her mobility and preoccupied a fair number of her weapons at any given ti. With a serious limit on her ability to fight at both close and long range and a serious drop in her defensive capabilities due to her loss of limbsthis battle had been over before it had even started.
I'd known that. I was pretty sure she had, too, even before I'd pried open the chanism on her back and tore her strings out.
That didn't make admitting it any easier to admit, much less accept. No, more than anything, I guess I knewwhen you are weak, when you're not good enough, and when nothing you do is enough to change thatthat's when its hardest to accept the truth. If anything, Penny was taking this far, far better than I had when I'd finally been forced to confront the fact that I was weak. She went silent and sad.
I'd cried.
It wasn't quite the sa, of course; she was, after all, still an amazing person and a wonder of engineering, with trendous skill in probably countless fields, whereas I'd been a failure at everything I'd truly wanted for such a long ti. But whether you've lived a life of power or weakness, I suppose defeat was a bitter pill to swallow; perhaps even more so, for the knowledge that you still weren't up to the task.
"You'll get stronger," I continued. "You learnt a great deal in this fight and you'll learn more as you keep on living. That's what being alive is all about, Penny, and you still have a lifeti to grow and learn and improve. No, even more than that, you are unique, Penny; you're different from everyone else and that's not a bad thing. If there are things you want to protect, then repair your body, improve it, and grow stronger and stronger as a person until you can."
Her eyes fluttered closed and she nodded slightly, not looking assured, per se, but at least listening, taking things in.
"I'm surprised you're telling this," She said when at last she spoke. "I'm surprised you're still here."
I taped an armored nail chidingly against her forehead but allowed the change in subject.
"Things that are important should be handled with care," I replied.
"I thought you were in a hurry?"
"My flight is in the last stages of its boarding," I answered. "But though important, that's not what I was referring to. LiveschildrenIt's worth it for you to learn these lessons now rather than destroy yourself pointlessly in the future."
I looked down at her for a mont, thoughtful and just a tad worried.
"Pennydoes your father love you?" I asked.
She looked up at my, surprise in her eyes. Even so, she answered without hesitation.
"Yes," She said. "Very much."
"I see," I nodded slightly, deciding to trust her and shelves my concerns, hard as that was. I didn't see any signs of dishonesty or worry with Observe, so "I guess he'll probably be terrified when he sees what happened to you."
"Yes," She said, eyes suddenly downcast. "He worries a lot, even though he knows I'm strong. When he found out I was being sent on this mission, he was so scared, and I"
Had probably told him it would be fine. That she'd stay safe and be smart and that nothing would happen. Like I'd told my father.
I guess that made us both liars.
"I'm sorry," I apologized, closing my eyes. "I guess I'm causing you both a lot of trouble. Butthat's why you need to understand, Penny. You can imagine it, right? How scared your father must be and how he'll feel when he finds out what happened? And if you died"
She looked, if anything, even more miserable, but nodded again.
"Yes," She said simply, but one word was enough for this. I could hear it in her voice and see it with Observethe sadness she felt, the honest sorrow at the pain she was causing soone she cared about.
I patted her head again, understanding completely.
"It's fine as long as you understand," I said. "Butsince you got hurt because of "
I sighed slightly, musing as I pald a blue Dust crystal. Imight have been able to heal her, though I wasn't certain of how Soulforge Restoration would interact with such extre wounds, much less a robotic body. In fact
"I suppose your Aura doesn't heal you normally, does it Penny?" I asked, look over her status screen. She had a fair number of status effects I'd never seen before, like 'Ex Machina,' which I assud had so effect of preventing natural healing. Though she still had so Aura left, even her smaller wounds, like her torn skin, had yet to close. I suppose that shouldn't have been surprising given it was artificial skinno, more than that, dismbernt wasn't sothing many people could recover from regardless of their Aura. The fact that Penny could get new arms was itself amazing and I knew she wasn't in pain. I could just leave her here and she'd most likely be fine.
On the other hand, it just felt wrong to tear off a girl's arms and legs and abandon her in the middle of nowhere with no way of doing anything until soone ca to get her.
Gee, I wonder why.
"No," Penny replied. "Because I'm a machine."
I sighed slightly, feeling bad but still thinking.
"Sothing like that" I mused.
I might have been able to heal her with Crocea Mors, though I wasn't completely confident in my Craft ability or knowledge of how she worked. I'd only caught glimpses after all, her Aura fighting my control and blurring my vision each tibut it was possible. Of course, then her limbs would be functional again, which was itself a potential problemI didn't want to leave her wounded but if I healed hershe probably wouldn't continue the fight now, but even so
However, that made wonder. Even if it made sense for her to be unable to heal normallyno, rather, because of my power, even sothing like this?
Yeah, after all, how many robotic teammates have I had in gas? And healing spells always worked on them despite that, too. For , whose powers worked off abstract things like HP rather than physical damage and biology, what did it matter if she was a robot? She had an HP bar, after all, and my skill didn't say it couldn't be used on robots. The issue of her getting up remained, but if it was
I looked at my Dust crystal. I'd devoured dozens of the crystals while fighting Penny, drawing life and power from them to sustain myself. I'd felt the power within, used it to fuel my Aura and color it to change myself, again and again and again. Because I'd experienced it so many tis, perhaps it was possible? Certainly, I'd done far stranger thingsand I'd considered the idea, as the fight wore on.
I closed my eyes for a mont, falling into a trance in a mont, my senses focused on myself, the patterns of light that shot through my Aura, and the crystal that blazed like fire in the palm of my hand. I knew how the process worked, had experienced it so many tis during the fight, and I knew how it felt. When I used a Dust Crystal as part of Soulforge Restoration, I drew the energy out of it to replenish my Aura and colored myself with its light in the process. The buff I received was a side-effect, really, if a very useful and powerful one.
But did it have to be that way?
I focused and felt my Aura change and it felt almost familiarboth because of how I'd felt sothing similar recently and because of Xihai. I guided my Aura along its course and watched as it ca together, an imitation of what I'd seen and felt.
A skill has been created through a special action! Through the manipulation of Aura's form and nature, you have created the skill 'Regeneration'!
Regeneration (Active) LV1 EXP: 0.00% MP: 100
A skill to manipulate the body through the alteration of Aura. By imposing the elent of Water, swift healing can be granted.
50 HP per minute.
50 SP per minute.
Duration: 30 minutes.
I drew in a deep breath, smugly self-satisfied. As expected of my bullshit powerthe effect wasn't as quick as the status Soulforge granted which restore ten HP per second for twenty seconds, but as an effect with a much longer duration?
"Sothing like that," I said more confidently. "ans nothing to ."
I touched Penny's forehead and felt my power flow over her. Her eyes widened slightly at whatever she felt and my tail uncoiled from its place at my waist, wrapping around the arm I'd placed beside her body and bringing it closer to her stumpand smiled slightly when I sa her HP go up a point after a second, tal edges twitching unnaturally. I did the sa with her other limbs, reaching over her body to bring her legs closer, and then stood.
"I have a few things to take care of first, but it's about ti I take my leave. It might take so ti to heal, but you should be mostly healed in about half an hour," I said, brushing dust off my pants. "Until then, try not to do anything to aggravate your injuriesand rembered what you learned today, Penny."
"But" Penny asked, looking honestly surprised for the first ti. "How?"
"It's the nature of the soul to try and return an altered body to normal," I said. "As the nature of your body kept your Aura from doing so, I gave it a little help."
"That'simpossible" She said, lifting her head to look down at her still separated limbs with wide eyes.
"Impossible?" I asked. "Why would it be impossible for a real girl? Difficult, perhaps, but you have a soul like any other, Penny. Rather than sothing as small as this, rember that."
I smiled at her and turned to walk away.
"You never told your na," She stopped before I could go. "Iyou already know it, but my na is Penny Polendina. What's yours?"
I paused in my stride for a mont, glancing over my shoulder contemplatively. I considered leaving her in silence, the mystery man who appeared and then vanished without a trace, or giving her a aningless lie. I certainly wasn't going to tell her my real na, but
The vague concern I'd felt niggled at , a quiet, hopefully baseless thing.
She'd seen the fake tattoo on my back, I reasoned. Maybe. I had no idea what she could truly see through Lenore's effect, or if it work on her, or what it's limits where. She'd probably seen my tail, at least, and she retained details about the fight. And, given the situation, would it do anything but strength the mask? Given I actually was a Faunus like this, the odds of people making the connection were
I closed my eyes for a mont and chuckled slightly. No, more than any of that
"Jian Bing," I said. "Should sothing ever happen, should they forget that you are a person rather than a weapon, search for that na. Goodbye, Penny, and fair thee well."
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