"Finally. It isn't proper to keep a queen waiting." The Lips sat on her stone chair, polishing her nappy claws. She really needed a trim. Perhaps if she cut them, she'd be less inclined towards violence. At the very least, she wouldn't be so distracted by them. Frankly, I found them appalling and couldn't understand her fascination with her nails.

"Wait. I don't want to fight. I harmed nothing and ran straight here."

"Why does the weak worm feel qualified to speak in my presence?" Lick Lipper flashed a toothy smile. Her daggers gleaned from the light of the fire she kept in her cave. She licked her lips, giving me the sign that our conversation was over.

I coated the cave in ice, extinguishing the fire before Licks attacked. Peace talks were finished, and I could sense the earth's energy tensing. Now, that tension pulled on my core. It pricked and pounded, attempting to break my will. Licks was in another realm than me, at least templar, and probably a couple levels into the realm. She had direct control over the earth within her reach and the mana she held inside her soul, which would be a well much deeper than mine. I had her shut off from her external powers for now. If I kept her focused on me, I could maybe hold her deadly attacks off long enough.

My mana bled into my ice, coating the cave as I summoned Snowpiercer and fired away. The shots hit walls and shattered crudely crafted decorations. All the arrows close to Lips were blocked by stone. Not that the earth templar needed to block my attacks. She covered herself in a dense armor of black stone that looked similar to granite. It would take dozens, if not hundreds, of shots to chip away her armor.

Lipper kicked her wall at me as I shot at the templar, trying to break her armor and keep her distracted. Judging by the speed of the oncoming wall, her power looked equal to mine. I countered with a kicked wall of my own. Ice and stone collided. Shards sprayed in all directions. I didn't have time to raise a shield as I was dodging the stone wall rushing at me.

Fortunately, the shattered ice showered Licks, breaking her rhythm of attack. I broke out of my roll early, using a pull on a water anchor to adjust my momentum. A pull on another anchor shot me forward. I covered the short distance between us in half a heartbeat. I held a heavy hammer, pulled back for a swing, and delivered a cross-body strike with all my strength. The templar saw my attack at the last moment. Just before my strike landed, the rock wall slammed into my back, crushing me between it and stone lips that'd formed spikes out of her body...

"You have a lovely smile…"

"I like your cave…"

"I brought you a gift…"

"Finally," I said, beating Lips to her lines so that she was copying me. "It isn't proper to keep a Queen waiting, and I'm—"

"Hold your foul demon tongue," she said with malice. The ensuing battle was by far the most violent and curse-filled fight of all prior recursion or any to come. Lipper didn't like being quoted…

"What's your stance on beefbears…"

"I love you…"

"Please no…"

"Don't do this..."

I knew I lacked charisma. Being a secondary character in everyone else's world diminishes favorable traits. I learned to play small so others could feel big. They got the spotlight while I got to have a spot. Perhaps it was the fact that I was secondary that let me slip out of death's hands. Even considering the fact that I was a secondary character with traits as compelling as a trout, Lips was way more scaly than me on my worst days when I actively tried to repel people.

The time I confessed my love for her must have stirred up some deep-rooted issues. That death has a permanent spot in my top ten worst ways to die and almost tied the quoting loop. She even had the audacity to kiss me with her fury lips after all of her cruelty.

A small part of me wanted to abandon the fight. That part was ignored, and labeled a coward. I had a new wall before me, and my fists were far from tired. I didn't even need a reason, though I had plenty, and they all centered on how much I disliked Lips. Her jokes were terrible, she had grotesque nails, her cave smelled, and her extra moist lips disturbed all of my peace.

Lipper's damp lips just made little sense. Even considering her lip-licking habit, no lips were that wet. She could lap up an entire ocean and that still wouldn't justify her swampy conditions. Something foul was at play, and it needed to be resolved.

"You've got nice lips."

Licker stared into my soul. Her lips pursed, and her posture slanted toward me.

"What's your secret…" The entire cave crushed me. Still far from a top-ten death…

"I brought you these cores. Please tell me what ails your nasty mouth…"

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"I love your smile."

White teeth gleamed, and the fire danced upon the surface of her daggers.

"Your love is like a swamp…" Sog's moldy flame. I couldn't do this…

"Listen, lady." I threw all of my ice spears and charged. Lips called upon the earth to block my way. A layer of ice blocked her. I kicked her stone shield, imprinting ice into its structure, which I connected to a water anchor to the ceiling.

Water mana poured into the connection, creating a desperate bond between the shield and ceiling. As Licker's shield raised, I delivered a hammer swing to her granite midsection. Rocks chipped from her body as she doubled over. I stomped down on the ground in anticipation. An ice pillar erupted from the ground, smacking Lips on the chin. I dodged the stone spears she managed to summon and hit her with another hammer blow. Ice broke through her shell. Before she could attack, I connected her body to an anchor and pulled her hard to the left.

A wall of ice followed Lipper, smashing her into the frozen cavern. She cursed in a rage of frustration and sunk all of her will into the surrounding earth mana. My energy plunged, and the ice layers cracked. Earth tendrils emerged from the cracks. They looked like I'd imagined Tenty's face to be if we ever argued in person. The tendrils flared wildly. First, they targeted the wall, smashing Lips and shredding it to pieces in seconds. Then they targeted me.

I fled the cave, using my enhanced strength to bolster my steps. I thought I was winning the fight. I had the advantage and was three stabs away from a turning point. The turn tables turned too quickly. It seemed unfair.

I turned down the corridor leading to the wolfbear den. The clanking of stone boots on the cavern floor nipped at my back. I busted through the opening and rolled to the side as three tendrils with a speared tip lanced at me. The wind of the blades brushed at my sides. I didn't have a chance to look as I got to my feet and anchored myself away.

Running away was a terrible idea. It wasn't that I ran into a den of wolves, either. In Lip's cavern, I could suppress her domain. In this open field surrounded by earth, I had no chance.

Stones fell from above. Spears shot from the ground and the sides of the walls. I summoned ice wall after ice wall, deflecting blows and shielding my body. My growing mist gave me a bit of reprieve. Lips could only find me if I stood within twenty yards of her. After all we've been through, the distance was crucial to a beneficial engagement. I slayed beasts that stumbled into me. When I had the chance, I peppered the templar with arrows. I wasn't winning the fight, but I wasn't losing.

I battled the earth elements until my channels strained, and I couldn't manifest my energy. Still, I fought to stay alive. Before my life in the loop, I hardly relied on my powers. I'd be damned if I let mana exhaustion stop me now.

I managed to live another five minutes in Lip's dungy domain.

"Finally—"

The cavern froze, and ice crept towards the templar's legs. Licker didn't notice. Her inability to command her cave to kill and the rain for arrows held her attention. She gave up her ambient mana and summoned a wall to counter my arrows. A battering ram sliding on ice smashed into her wall, punching through it. I shot arrows through the gaping hole that pelted the granite body of the bear lady.

Licks growled in frustration. Another wall, anchored to the templar's body, smothered her barrage of stone spears. As she tried to dodge more walls, I also created spears and anchored them to her. She tripped in her scramble, and the wall fell on her. Ice pelted her prone form. Licks abandoned the offensive. She summoned a stone dome. Within the safety of her walls, she showered me with curses… and, if my ears weren't mistaken, a couple compliments.

"Would you stop fighting me?" I asked the globe of stone.

"You will beg for mercy. I will carve your soft face from your skin. Every bone in your body will break. When you scream in anguish, your mouth will be filled with stones upon which you will choke."

"Or… and hear me out—"

"I will boil your blood and rip out your—"

"OK, Lips." So, her compliments weren't complimentary. I'm not sure why I persisted in these conversations. We'd reached this point several times already. In a few seconds, she'd burst from her shell like some abyss-crazed demon and brute force her way to victory. Her control over earth and the depths of her mana well was too deep for me to counter.

She wouldn't get the chance to employ any of her tactics in this loop. Water poured from my channels, flooding the room in less than a minute. I held my breath as I swam out of the cavern. It took a little strain to keep the water wall from pouring out. That strain lessened as I froze the entire cavern. I didn't know how long Lips could last in a block of ice. I had enough mana that I was willing to put the question to test.

The answer came six days later. The shell of stone collapsed under the continuous pressure of my ice. Lipper threw a bunch of rocks in a last-ditch effort for survival. She fell as her twelfth stone left her hand. Her body smacked hard into the ice. Her prison showed no mercy, and her life ended as ice stabbed her heart.

I let out a breath of relief. It was nice to get a win now and then, though it took little justification to realize that these battles were a net positive in terms of experience and skill practice.

My anchors were becoming a new branch of water manipulation that I enjoyed pursuing. Water anchors were no longer just a tool for transportation. I could use the points offensively and defensively in a fight. As I gained greater control over water energy, I was sure I'd find new uses for the skill.

Water anchors weren't the only skill that improved. My summons were nearly instant, and with my improved strength, I could throw ice spears hard enough to damage stone walls. Even my ice armor increased in durability. It was a combination of technique and will.

A cultivator's mind and expectation of the mana affected their abilities. The more confident a wielder was in their skill, the better their skill worked. The confidence wasn't something that could be faked, though. A savvy lancer couldn't fake their way to power. They had to earn it by carving their way through life and death, struggling for each and every gain. Only then did they learn to trust the power bound to their soul. Only then did their power obey them.

Every day I fought, the path to power became clearer. Unfortunately, I still had a long way to go.