Lira recovered her composure in two seconds.

She looked at the current she had launched without deciding.

She looked at Mara standing after two meters of retreat.

"That," Lira said, "doesn’t count."

"Why not?"

"Because it wasn’t mine. It was yours."

Mara looked at her.

Then she laughed.

"Alright." Mara repositioned. "Then give me back one of yours."

---

[DraconicLegacy: "it wasn’t mine. it was yours." — LIRA ADMITTED MARA MANIPULATED HER AND SAID IT OUT LOUD]

[Warwolf: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ LIRA GOT HER COMPOSURE BACK!! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ THAT’S EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS!! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Per_Sundin: Mara laughed for real. Just like with Kai. Lira earned something from her that Mara didn’t expect.]

[Kalgarth: Lira admitted she lost her head and turned it into a point in her favor. That’s class. Although... (ง’̀-’́)ง MARA STILL HAS CONTROL!! (ง’̀-’́)ง]

[Drakeking: "give me back one of yours" — Mara is enjoying this more than any camp fight. (ง’̀-’́)ง]

[TheDeadDragón: both sides of the perimeter in the same state as yesterday at the end. Nobody knows where this is going.]

---

Lira gave her back one of her own.

The blood mist.

Spilling out from Lira’s feet and expanding in a five-meter radius, the area she had used on level 2 of the labyrinth.

Not to damage. To blind.

Mara disappeared inside the mist.

Lira closed her eyes.

SS vampiric senses without sight — Mara’s body heat in the mist, her breathing, the movement of her feet on the ground.

She located her.

She went directly at Mara inside the mist.

The lateral step, the palm strike to the right elbow, the current to the left side. All in two seconds inside the mist where Mara couldn’t see.

Mara took all three.

---

[DraconicLegacy: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ THE MIST ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ LIRA CLOSED HER EYES AND WENT FOR HER!! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Warwolf: THREE IMPACTS IN TWO SECONDS!! INSIDE THE MIST!! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Per_Sundin: SS vampiric senses in the mist. Mara blinded. Lira with complete vision. That’s the absolute advantage.]

[Kalgarth: (°ロ°)(°ロ°)(°ロ°) okay. OKAY. That was... (°ロ°) ... (ง’̀-’́)ง MARA HOLD ON!! (ง’̀-’́)ง]

[Drakeking: THE MIST WAS FOR THIS FROM THE START!! Lira saved it for the right moment. (°ロ°)]

[TheDeadDragón: Kai nodded. I saw it. Same as with Serah. Just once. But I saw it.]

---

The mist dispersed.

Mara standing with her right elbow, left side, and center chest bearing accumulated damage.

Lira standing with her blood magic at eighty percent — the initial hundred cost her, the mist and the currents had consumed it.

Both sides of the perimeter in absolute silence.

Mara looked at her own body.

"Good."

"That one was yours."

"Yes."

Mara looked at her.

"You know what comes next?"

"That you’re coming for me."

"Yes." Mara released her right arm — no longer protecting it, letting it free even though the elbow responded poorly. "Because I’ve already seen everything you’ve got."

"Not everything."

"What do you have left?"

Lira looked at her.

"Find out."

---

[DraconicLegacy: "find out" — LIRA WITH HER COLD BLOOD RECOVERED ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Warwolf: LIRA!! LIRA!! LIRA!! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Per_Sundin: Mara released the damaged arm. She’s no longer protecting it. She’s escalating. (°ロ°)]

[Kalgarth: Mara said she’s already seen everything Lira has. Lira said she hasn’t. One of them is wrong. (ง’̀-’́)ง my money’s still on Mara. (ง’̀-’́)ง]

[Drakeking: blood magic at 80%. Mara with damage in three points. The next exchange is going to decide this. (ง’̀-’́)ง]

[TheDeadDragón: Serah on the perimeter with her markings at 70% pulsing. Watching Lira. Something in that look.]

---

Mara came for her.

Without the blood resistance to slow her this time — Lira had dissipated it when she launched the mist.

She reached Lira’s radius in two steps.

Left arm in an arc toward Lira’s head.

Lira dropped to the ground — under the arc, below the arm’s radius, both palms on the field floor.

Blood current from the ground upward to Mara’s abdomen.

Mara took it. Lira on the ground took Mara’s knee to her shoulder.

Both on the ground — Lira from the knee impact, Mara on one knee from her own movement.

Both got up at the same time.

---

[DraconicLegacy: BOTH ON THE GROUND AND BOTH GOT UP AT THE SAME TIME (°ロ°)]

[Warwolf: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ BOTH!! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Per_Sundin: The current from the ground. Lira invented another variation in real time. (°ロ°)]

[Kalgarth: Mara’s knee to Lira’s shoulder. Damaged shoulder. Mara has the opening she needs. (ง’̀-’́)ง]

[Drakeking: Lira’s shoulder with the impact of a pure SSS strength knee. That’s not minor. (ง’̀-’́)ง MARA!! (ง’̀-’́)ง]

[TheDeadDragón: Both sides shouting at the same time. Three hundred Orcs who no longer know who to support.]

---

Lira’s left shoulder responded with delay.

She assessed it in a second.

’Left shoulder at sixty percent. Magic at seventy. Mara with right elbow, left side, and abdomen.’

’The damage is even.’

Mara saw it in Lira’s eyes.

"There it is," Mara said.

"What?"

"The assessment." Mara advanced. "The wolf does it the same way." She reached the first meter. "But in the wolf it lasts less. In you it lasts more."

"And?"

"And while you assess, you don’t attack."

Mara’s left arm reached Lira’s damaged shoulder.

Lira blocked it with her right forearm.

The impact moved her a meter and a half back.

Mara’s right arm.

Lira didn’t read it in time.

The elbow reached Lira’s right side.

Lira on the ground.

---

[DraconicLegacy: (°ロ°) MARA USED THE DAMAGED ARM AS A TRAP (°ロ°)]

[Warwolf: (╥_╥) (╥_╥) LIRA!! GET UP!! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Per_Sundin: She protected her right arm the whole fight so Lira would assume she wouldn’t use it. And she used it while Lira was assessing. (°ロ°)]

[Kalgarth: MARA!! MARA!! MARA!! THREE HUNDRED FORTY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE!! (ง’̀-’́)ง (ง’̀-’́)ง (ง’̀-’́)ง]

[Drakeking: "while you assess you don’t attack" — Mara found Lira’s pattern and used it against her. That’s the smartest fight of the arc. (ง’̀-’́)ง]

[TheDeadDragón: Kai still. Serah still. Urgo still. The perimeter waiting to see if Lira gets up.]

---

Lira on the ground.

Her right side with the impact of Mara’s elbow.

Blood magic at sixty percent. Left shoulder at sixty. Right side assessing.

She rose onto one knee.

Mara was watching her.

"You know what I like about you?" Mara said.

Lira looked at her from her knee.

"That you still get up anyway."

Lira got to her feet.

Her side protested.

She put her hands in combat stance all the same.

---

[DraconicLegacy: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ SHE GOT UP ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Warwolf: LIRA!! LIRA!! LIRA!! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Per_Sundin: "that you still get up anyway" — Mara didn’t say it to provoke. She meant it. (╥_╥)]

[Kalgarth: Mara acknowledged Lira out loud during the fight. She didn’t do that with anyone. (°ロ°)]

[Drakeking: Her side protested and she got in stance all the same. Eight hundred years. (ง’̀-’́)ง although... ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ Lira ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[TheDeadDragón: Both sides roared when Lira got up. Unified again. Serah and Kai noticed it.]

---

Mara advanced.

No detours.

Lira launched currents — at sixty percent, Mara’s arms as the primary target. To reduce the force available if she reached close combat.

Mara charged through them.

The first impact hit the already damaged left shoulder.

Lira turned with the blow — the same method Mara used, learned from watching her all morning.

The second impact hit her right side again.

She didn’t turn in time.

On the ground again.

---

This time it took her longer to get up.

Magic at forty-five. Both sides damaged. Left shoulder responding at seventy.

Getting up took four seconds.

Mara waited.

Lira on her feet.

Both looking at each other.

"Second," Lira said.

Mara looked at her.

"Second." Pause. "But the right elbow is useless today."

Lira looked at Mara’s bandaged elbow.

"And tomorrow you have Kai."

Mara smiled.

"Yes."

---

[DraconicLegacy: "and tomorrow you have Kai" — LIRA SAID IT LIKE A WARNING. (°ロ°)]

[Warwolf: (╥_╥) Lira lost but left Mara without her right elbow for tomorrow. Both did their job. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Per_Sundin: Serah damaged the right one. Lira finished the job. Tomorrow Kai faces Mara without a functional right arm. The plan was there from the start. (°ロ°)]

[Kalgarth: (°ロ°)(°ロ°)(°ロ°) The right elbow. Serah started it. Lira finished it. Kai tomorrow with the advantage. WAIT. (°ロ°)] 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

[Drakeking: It wasn’t just Serah and Lira fighting. It was preparation for Kai. All three coordinated without telling each other. (°ロ°)(°ロ°)]

[TheDeadDragón: Mara smiled when Lira said "tomorrow you have Kai." That smile wasn’t worry. It was excitement.]

---

Kai watched from the perimeter.

Mara’s right elbow without function.

Her left side with Serah and Lira’s accumulated damage.

Mara standing with all that on top of her and the smile of someone who has spent two days receiving exactly what she was looking for.

Kai looked at his own hands.

Tomorrow.