I casually danced between the panels, making sure to keep Narhas at least a glaive-length away. My sister was already breathing hard, which wasn’t surprising, considering that she was absolutely covered in plate armor and carrying both a massive mace and shield. She’d occasionally charge forward, trying to catch me in the midst of a jump, or twirl, but that always ended in a glaive poke, or her half slipping into one of the panels.

After several minutes of tag, Narhas’s rage was starting to get the better of her.

“Stop dancing around and fight me!” Narhas shrieked.

“Why should I? When we fought before I had to do my best in the arena provided; now you need to do the same,” I turned, and smirked at my sister. “It was your idea to come and challenge me, don’t tell me you’re going to give up just because the conditions aren’t ideal?”

“This isn’t even a fight! You’re just dancing around and forcing me to follow you. If I ever get close enough, I’m going to crush you!” Narhas snarled.

“Which just gives me even more incentive to stay away. Besides, the dancing is almost done, I think I’ve exhausted you just about enough,” I explained. “You’ve been wasting your magic on trying to hold me down, and empowering yourself so you can keep up, I can probably take you in a straight-up fight.”

Narhas slowed, I could see her eyes widen in surprise even through the slits in her helmet. “You really think that? You defeated me ONCE before, and it was a fluke.”

“Honestly? I hated fighting you all, and I just gave up early on. It wasn’t until you captured George that I had a reason to fight you seriously,” I explained as I casually pulled my glaive off my shoulder and twirled it like a baton.

“Lies!” Narhas spat. “You’ve always been a fail…”

In one quick motion I halted the spin of my glaive and thrust it forward. It probably would have been easy for Narhas to parry, but I’d timed the attack perfectly in sync with the trap door on Narhas’s left. My sister teetered slightly as her front two left legs slipped into the abyss. I doubted my glave would have penetrated the thick black metal plates that covered my sister, so instead I slipped the blade into a gap in her armor and swiped down.

As soon as Narhas recovered her balance she swiped with her massive mace, but I’d already backed away.

“Is that the best you can do?” Narhas snapped. “You missed your opening.”

“No I didn’t,” I replied flippantly. “I just thought you looked like you were having a hard time, so you should take a load off.” As if to punctuate my quip, something snapped within Narhas’s armor, and her breastplate fell to one side. I’d meant to completely cut the straps on one side, but I guess I’d only nicked the last one. My sister didn’t even bother to look down.

“I tire of your tricks,” she announced quietly.

“And I tire of your attitude,” I replied, my tone matching Narhas’s exactly. “No, let me clarify, I was tired of your attitude years ago, that’s why I left. I realized it wasn’t worth dealing with my so-called family anymore. You were all too afraid to challenge each other, so you picked on the one you considered weakest. No wonder Mother stopped showing herself, except during official events.” I sighed exaggeratedly, “She was probably disappointed that none of her daughters showed any drive.”

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“We earned our positions, and Mother’s love!” Narhas yelled. That last barb apparently really got to her, she was practically salivating now.

“She doesn’t intervene, and rarely shows herself. That’s neglect, not love. I’m sure if she really cared, she would have removed at least one of you from your position, and elevated someone more qualified to the position of floor boss,” I declared lightly.

That completely set Narhas off. She rushed forward, swinging her mace wildly. I darted past the swing, slipped under my sister’s arm, and ended up by her side. I’m sure if she’d been in her right mind the first strike would have crushed my skull, or at least caught me in the shoulder, but the rage made her more predictable.

“HOLD STILL!” Narhas screamed.

As I ran down her side I poked through the gaps in my sister’s leg armor. If I’d had a smaller weapon I probably could have struck faster, and deeper, but I managed to achieve my goal. Narhas grunted, and her legs crumpled just for a moment. I could already see her pumping the healing magic into her wounds, so I grabbed one of the plates on her back and hauled myself up.

“What are you doing, Talia?!” Narhas hissed. “I can feel you scurrying around like the pest you are. Why don’t you just revert to your glorious true form instead of climbing on me like those lesser two-legged races?”

I had to duck as Narhas alternately swung her massive tower shield and mace wildly to try and knock me off. I gripped the plates of her armor as I crept forward, doing my best to stay stable as she tried to shake me off. When she stopped shaking, just for a moment, I leapt forward and threw an arm around my sister’s neck.

“Have you been keeping up your poison training, dear sister?” I asked sweetly.

“Of course!” she hissed back.

“How about multiple types at the same time?” I asked as I slammed my vambraces into the openings in her armor.

Narhas instantly stumbled, nearly tumbling into a nearby pit, giving me a chance to hop off. “What the hell is this?” Narhas slurred.

“Chimera venom, hydra venom, necrotoxin, black toad toxin, magic suppressant, and some strange concoction the gremlins cooked up,” I explained.

“Magic suppressant?” my sister slurred.

“Yes, to prevent you from immediately purging the effects,” I said as I slowly followed Narhas around the arena. Arachne were normally extremely resistant to poisons, but we had our limits. When we were injected with multiple toxins at the same time our system typically did its best to limit the damage, but we still felt the effects.

“Cheater!” Narhas spat.

“You can’t cheat in dungeon battles,” I declared, “you taught me that.” Narhas started swinging her mace wildly in my direction, but she was way too far away to hit me. “What’s the matter? Is the hallucinogenic effect of the black toad kicking in?”

“Hate you!” Narhas shouted as she stumbled, stepping into another pit.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t ask you to come, you brought this upon yourself,” I said quietly as I darted forward. Narhas must have sensed the danger, despite not looking at me, because she swung her shield in a desperate attempt to block the blow. She was too slow.

My glaive sunk deep into her abdomen, leaving a massive gash. She gasped, and started swinging her mace wildly. I could see her sending magic to the wound, trying to close it, but the magic suppressant prevented it. As soon as Narhas stopped swinging her mace, I darted forward and plunged my glaive into her chest again.

“I’m actually surprised you’re still standing,” I admitted as my sister stumbled around. Most people would have died from blood loss from two wounds of that size, never mind the toxins. I guess the extra body mass was keeping her conscious. “Should I just finish this now?”

“F…yoo…” She mumbled as her body slumped to the floor. Her hand finally let go of the heavy mace, and she looked at me through glassy eyes.

I didn’t say anything more, I just stepped forward and thrust my glaive into her neck, causing my sister to immediately dissolve into motes of light. I turned towards the floor, watching George charge forward, and Bella cheer. I had just enough time to raise my glaive in victory before the stage dissolved, and the match ended.