“How can you stomach that stuff?” Chelsea asked as she slipped into the booth across from me during breakfast the next day. Bea elbowed her friend, in an attempt to get her to behave, but Chelsea just continued, “The mushroom steak tastes like dirt to me.”

“It’s one of my favorite foods,” I said defensively, as I cut off another piece and shoved it into my mouth. “I don’t understand how you could eat beef, it’s both tough and fatty.”

“It is not!” Chelsea shot back, cutting her own steak.

“Now ladies, we all have our own personal tastes, let's not fight about them,” Bea said as she plunked down her own breakfast. “What’s on the schedule for everyone today?” she asked.

“Research!” I proclaimed, only to receive groans from across the table.

“You’re obsessed with research. You’ve already fixed many of the holes in our defenses after that last delve game, and we don’t know who our next opponent is, who else can you look into?”

“Plenty! The adventuring groups that are scheduled over the next few weeks, along with the other dungeons that are participating in the league. What else am I supposed to do?” I asked.

“Practice.” Came the reply from right next to me. I spun around in my seat, only to find Charlotte standing right next to the table. Somehow she managed to get right next to us without making a sound. “My daughter needs to learn some more discipline, so we’re having a sparring session to work on that. You are invited.”

I shrunk back at her intimidating stare. “That’s nice… but…”

“When was the last time you practiced your moves outside of the scheduled floor practice?” The intimidating chimera asked, slowly leaning closer. “Have you sparred seriously lately?”

“No,” I replied quietly, as I leaned away.

“Then you’ll join us today, right?” Charlotte asked as she leaned in further.

“Yes,” I choked out.

“Wonderful,” the woman said, standing up straight again. “See you in an hour then.” As she walked away I heard Chelsea chuckle.

“She got you with the intimidation aura did she?” Chelsea said before taking a bite of her toast. “She likes to use it to put pressure on people she deems ‘uncooperative’”

I wanted to dispute her, but the truth was I hadn’t kept up with my training as much as I should have been, so I couldn’t argue. I just cut off another piece of mushroom steak and mentally prepared myself for what was to come.

After breakfast I changed into my battle gear, plugged George into his projection booth, then followed him into the dungeon. We had to walk over to the training yard, which was good, it gave my arachnid pal some time to work some energy. When we arrived I found a lot more people than I expected. Both Kass and Luther were in the arena area, sparring.

Well, I say sparring, Kass was doing her best to stab Luther, while Luther evaded everything by pulling his body around like it was suspended by magical strings. “Don’t engage when he goes high, and try your best to pin him against the wall!” I called out, which resulted in me almost instantly being smacked on the back of the head.

“No interfering with the duels,” Charlotte said, as she stepped out of the shadows of the bleachers beside me. “People need to learn to read their opponents and adapt on their own, or they won’t grow as warriors.”

“How do you keep sneaking up on me?” I asked, rubbing the back of my head.

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“Years of practice. I believe that it’s important to be well rounded, since brute force only gets you so far,” she replied.

“You used brute force to intimidate me into coming in,” I reminded her.

“I also believe that if force works, use it,” Charlotte said with a smile. “I think I’ll put you up against Chelsea next, that’ll be a good challenge for you both. I’ll be watching.”

“Fine, I’ll see what I can do,” I mumbled, turning back to the match. Luther attempted a complicated maneuver, swooping in close and turning at the last second in an attempt to get a strike on Kass’s back. She wasn’t having any of it, she grabbed the puppet with her tail and slammed him into the ground. Before he could recover she embedded all four of her knives in his torso, ending the match.

I quickly made my way down, out of the stands, and by the time I’d made my way to the entrance the two of them had picked themselves up. We met at the door. “Good luck in there,” Kass said with a quick hug as we passed. “Don’t get mauled.”

“Your confidence in me is astounding,” I replied with a slight giggle. “You better cheer for me.”

“You know it,” Kass said. She turned, and quickly slithered out of the arena, closing the doors behind her, leaving just Chelsea and I within the combat area.

I slowly hefted my glaive, feeling the weight in my hands, while she practically skipped about on the other side of the area. “Anything you’d like to say before we begin?” Chelsea yelled.

“Don’t hold back on my behalf,” I responded. “And try to keep your temper in check!”

“I don’t have a temper!” The girl cried. I watched her stomp on the ground as she yelled at me, before finally transforming to her monstrous form. As a chimera she was significantly more intimidating. Chelsea didn’t waste any more words, she just charged, covering most of the space between us in seconds.

I did my best not to panic, as her four hundred pound body bore down on me. At the last moment she pounced, trying to bring the fight to a quick end. If I had been a tiny bit slower, it would have been. I ducked at the last second, raking her leg with my vambraces, but failing to draw blood.

Before I could strike again Chelsea had already recovered, turning on my location and letting loose her flame breath. I had to backpedal to avoid getting completely cooked, but even with my reaction speed she did manage to burn me slightly.

She was fast, strong, and had a number of powerful abilities I couldn’t match. If I didn’t start dictating the pace soon, she was going to overwhelm me. I poked at her, ineffectively, to keep her at a distance, and buy time. As Chelsea pushed in I used my glaive to keep her at range, while I struggled to come up with a plan.

Ironically, it was only when my back was against the wall that inspiration struck. “I expected more from you,” Chelsea gloated. “Pushed into a corner with nowhere to go.”

“There’s always someplace to go,” I replied, poking her with my glaive. The tip just skimmed Chelsea’s face, and that was enough to enrage her. The girl immediately pounced, attempting to crush me between herself and the wall. As soon as she did, I jumped. I used my free hand to grab the wall and spin myself around so my spider legs could grab the wall, allowing me to scuttle just out of her reach. She only missed me by inches, but that was all I needed.

As Chelsea slammed into the wall I dropped onto her back and sunk all six vambraces into her back. It was only for an instant, but it was enough to inject her with my poisons. The instant I did, her viper headed tail swung forward and sunk its fangs into me. It ripped me from her back and threw me across the arena.

I could hear the gasps of our friends in the stands, as I rolled across the arena floor, but I couldn’t afford to take my eyes off Chelsea. “That FUCKING hurt!” she screamed, twisting around and instantly charging me again.

This was not the measured advance from before, it was a berserker charge. Her fangs and claws flashed as she attempted to take chunks out of me, but I made her pay for every wild swing. I poked every possible opening, cutting her numerous times but I was unable to land a serious wound. Even though my arm burned, and my vision was beginning to blur, it was obvious that Chelsea was doing much worse. The numerous venoms, along with countless wounds, weighed down on her.

“Enough!” Charlotte’s voice echoed through the arena. “This is not meant to be to the death, Chelsea. You need to learn to keep your rage under control and realize when you’re fighting a losing battle.”

Chelsea transformed back to her human form, staggered around and stared at her mother. “But… I was so close!”

“No you weren’t,” her mother replied harshly, “While you were in control it was a fair fight, but once you lost your cool Talia was always going to win a war of attrition. The only way you were going to win was a lucky shot. Victory goes to Talia on this one.”

Chelsea pouted, but I smiled. I looked at Kass through my blurry eyes, raised my glaive and repeated the word, “Victory!” As the relief flowed through me, I stopped suppressing the venom in my body and I fell onto my back, and let the painful darkness take me.