"Well, I guess I did want a more 'real' opponent than that last guy" Xihe did say, then brightened up with "Okay, I've got time, sure I can take you on? Er, 'spose you don't want me to take it easy just because you're a fan, huh?".
Tomyris just grinned, grabbed Xihe's arm and headed back with her into the arena. With our fights over, us remaining five took our seats, with Kristen pulling out a pair of rickety binoculars, Cosmic ever cheering Xihe on, Doktor watching closely yet saying nothing, and Elatha of all people coming over to talk with me.
" Even after having participated myself, I... can't see how your city can view combat as a sport" his soft voice muttered to me.
"What, about to get all windbag pacifist on me?" I chuckled.
"It's just that, in the wilderness, fighting and hunting were part of survival, not anything we ever made light of" he continued, then started to turn away.
Um, I guess I should at least say something in response to that...
[ ] "Hey, you're in the city now, we do things differently here".
[ ] "Ah sorry, never looked at it that way".
[ ] "Well I've never been to the wilderness, so makes sense I didn't think of that. Maybe I ought to go out there sometime?".
[ ] No, I'm fine saying nothing.
[ ] Write-in.
"I see" he said, and that seemed to be that.
Anyway, the fight between Xihe and Tommy wasn't heating up as much as one'd think, as every time Xihe launched a flurry of kicks or tried to get Tomyris in a suplex hold, the latter kept responding with the likes of "Aw come on, I've seen you do way more" and "Hey, didn't you say yoiu wouldn't hold back".
Xihe's expression, after shifting around, eventually turned to a smile "Okay, I can see you want something extra special".
As Tomyris slash again, Xihe delivered an uppercut that caught her katana's hilt and knocked it out of her hand. The sword spinning in midair before Xihe swiftly caught it, her then saying "I'd rather rely on my bare fists, in fact I don't know if I even have access to the right class for a katana,
but I can pull off this one trick with it".
Tomyris didn't seem fazed by this as she just unsheathed a spare katana, a common thing to carry what with how brittle they were. What did faze her was Xihe with both hands bringing down the blade with enough force to shatter it right on top of my cousin's head.
"Tomyris!" even I couldn't help but call out, but to my surprise, though in hindsight it shouldn't have been, my cousin just laughed and smiled even as blood trickled down her face.
"See, now that's what I'm talking about!" she called out, as the very thing (okay, one of many very things) I feared then happened.
Tomyris' muscles then grew larger, her eyes seemed to catch fire, her black hair started glowing blue and her skin turned to crimson. Trance. "Because now I've got no excuse to hold back!" her more monstrous-sounding voice roared.
"Xihe, look out! The Ultima Trance cancels out all weak spots!" I yelled out to her. Xihe barely seemed to know how to react, as Tomyris in Trance then proceeded to bring down a rain of swords upon the actress' stunned self, with even her blade's after-images now able to slice in their own right.
Luckily Xihe was able to sprint from side to side and dodge most of the ghostly sword tides, though some serious cuts on her showed that said luck was far from full-proof. The actress' multi-coloured hair hung in her face as Tomyris kept launching phantom blade after blade after her, but Xihe strangely chuckled and said "This may be an odd place for backstory, but do you know why I took up martial arts?".
With a single punch Xihe then split a ghost sword in two, sending its tip flying back at Tomyris. "Us Espers start off human, but as Trance takes over the beast within us rises to surface. But like any beast you can learn to tame it," Xihe grinned, side-stepping another wall of swords "Hence why I joined that monastery as a child, to discipline myself. So tell me Tomyris d'Ultima, have you learned to tame your inner beast? 'Cause I'm not seeing it".
This comment did make Tomyris pause, only for her to resume her onslaught a second later. Xihe didn't lose her newfound cool, in fact then leaped straight back at Tomyris and went on saying "A Monk learns many of their techniques from observing wild animals, which from the looks of it now includes you. So thank you for teaching me my latest move!".
Xihe then burst out with a rapid-fire wave of machine-gun-speed punches, both physical and ethereal, and proceeded to shatter many of the blades Tomyris was sending her way, before bearing her cascade of fists right down on Tomyris directly, the final of which was a punch fired off only an inch from her face.
"Hah, and I did all of that in one take!" Xihe beamed.
Even Tranced my cousin was then sent crashing to the ground, though even after receiving the pummeling of a lifetime and now with no swords left whole, Tomyris still made her way back on her feet and began chuckling.
"Xihe, this fan thanks you too, you didn't let down my image of you at all" she said, but then her eyes burned brighter as she slammed her fists together "Yet even your new supermove won't be enough to keep me down. Oh Xihe, have you forgotten that us Espers' Trances don't stop at just Level 1, the only Level I've shown you?".
Tomyris' whispers then shot sky high in volume as she boomed out "The Crystals truly shine upon you, Sun Xihe, for you're now one of the lucky few who shall ever seen my Level 2 Trance! But your luck has now run out - ah, what the...?" she then got caught off-guard as the bell rang again "Seriously, twice in a row?! Is this some kinda joke?!".
Groaning, Tomyris then powered back down to her regular self as we all walked out of the arena. "Yeah, but just wait till the rematch" she grumbled.
"Trust me, I'll be rehearsing!" Xihe smiled back.
"Hey cousin" Tomyris then said to me "I'll be looking into those Greenhouse guys. Don't you slack off either, got it?".
Good, this leaves investigating Warmech Ordnance open to me. "Wouldn't dream of it, dear cousin" I gave a twisted grin.
With her leaving, the other four then rushed over, okay Elatha more strode, over to Xihe.
"Wow, you were awesome Xihe! You know, you should really be landing some higher paying roles!"
"Sheesh, remind my machines not to go after you!"
"The beast within? Hmhm, very interesting talk..."
"Nah, it's nothing really. Do that sorta thing all the time!" Xihe's showbiz side started talking.
"You know I hate the spoil the fun," I piped up "but I've just thought up my first real mission for you fine people. the sooner we got on it, the sooner a piece of the Ultima fortune could be yours!".
My agents' excited buzzing stopped as they all silently looked at me, Kristen and Cosmic noticeably gulping.
"I take it you've all heard of Warmech Ordnance?" I asked, with them then muttering amongst themselves.
"Er, I think they've got something to do with robots?" Cosmic hesitated.
"I know them" Kristen's face went glum "I've submitted several designs to them, but never heard a word back".
"As you should, they're only the biggest name in military hardware" I reminded everyone. "Hah, the Rubicante couldn't be more worked up about them, that Lineage sees themselves as the City's true fighting force, not some upstart arms dealers.
I digress, back to Warmech. I've received reports that they've been using this Colosseum to unlawfully test out new combat robots, as with them being a suspiciously successful new company I've been meaning to look into them anyway. So, here's the plan..."
[ ] "Tomorrow morning, I'll keep them occupied by saying the Ultima are investing in new robots, while you five sneak off into their factory".
[ ] "We sneak in right now under cover of darkness, Kristen can stop to stock up on useful stealth gadgets".
- [ ] Jobs are Lucia: Judge/Bard, Doktor: White Mage/Thief, Kristen: Machinist, Xihe: Monk/Blue Mage, Cosmic: Bard and Elatha: Ranger. On-standby: Warrior, Black Mage, Red Mage and Dragoon. This set-up okay?
[ ] Write-in.
