A big monster then came along with the rest, this one jumping above all of them and aiming directly at Dante.

"That fast, huh?"

Dante sheathed his small sword in the case, reverse-gripping the big blade and lifting his other hand up. Mellistar, following his hand's movement, came directly below the large monster as if was in mid-air and penetrated its stomach with its giant sword, merely held by one hand. He then violently slammed the monster back to the ground, crushing the floor beneath it and splattering what appeared to be black blood around. Dante followed up by delivering a slash in a wide area before unsheathing his small sword and correcting the grip on his big one, directly diving between enemy lines before sheathing the smaller sword again and vaulting upwards, big sword with reverse grip again, directly slamming the case onto the monsters head, crushing it and killing it instantly. Proceeding with his built up rhythm, he then widened his stance, grabbing onto his big sword and preparing himself. He unleashed the blade, with a massive slash covering the entire area in his front and back, this time instantly unleashing its energy and exploding on contact, obliterating all his enemies at once. He then promptly sheathed his blade back and relaxed his stance.

"If possible, I'd like to try a few ranged ones. I have no issue with close combat, but I want to be prepared." Dante requested.

Answering his wishes, Drima proceeded to give him ranged mech enemies forcefully formed by the metallic parts floating around in the pseudo Imaginary Space. The mechs, widening their stance, lifted their guns up and aimed them directly at Dante.

"Holy shit, that was fast." Dante was surprised by the speed it all happened.

Before he could say another word, one of the mechs fired a massive laser blast directly at him, followed by the other once. The laser beams directly hit Dante. A loud metal clashing sound was then echoed throughout the battlefield. Seemingly disappearing for an instant, Dante unsheathed his big sword and drove himself directly into the backlines, delivering a swift and extremely powerful slash to all of them and destroying them on the spot, before seemingly appearing out of nowhere, back to his original position, both blades sheathed. He proceeded to draw the small blade again and reverse grip it.

"I can totally get behind this. The gears feel appropriate and the weight of everything is decently balanced. So are we done? I'm not planning on using my burst state in here."

"As you wish then, I got a decent enough data count from this. Next up will be Tiki, so I'll have to ask of you to switch places."

Drima turned off the simulation as Tiki exited from a nearby elevator, coming into the center to switch places with Dante.

"Not bad, meatbag. But I guess I should really show you how it's done." Tiki said.

Dante pulled up close to Tiki, "Your arm ok?" he whispered.

"Dude, don't worry, it's good. If you're gonna overthink this one two then I'll have to kick your ass back into common sense." Tiki whispered back.

The two of them switched sides as Dante returned to the observation area with everyone else, leaving Tiki behind to start her own training session.

"That. Was. Awesome! You were amazing Dante!" Lina happily said.

"Indeed. The part of you momentarily unsheathing your blade to avoid entering your burst state but delivering such devastating blows is quite the smart way to get around things." Drima said.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever honestly. I'll just hit the sack right now. I haven't slept all night and I had to go through this, so don't wake me up until precisely 8 hours have passed." Dante yawned as he dismissed his performance.

He quickly exited the room and started to head back into the living quarters, leaving behind everyone in a sort of surprised and saddened state.

"His reaction to outstanding performance is incomprehensible. Why did he not rejoice his final grading?" Luna wondered.

"He's Cecilia's son. Modesty is something that they run on." Magi sighed.

"That, and the fact that he's a total perfectionist. What sad existence. Having your only strive being perfection you know you ain't or are going to be." Enemy scoffed, "That being said, I don't think I'll perform this training test today. I'll go back to the living quarters as well until I make sure that Hikari is 100% back in action before I attempt to use any of my abilities.", she left the room as well.

"I swear, we need counselling more than we need training with these kids. I mean, sure, they are all good but the chemistry here is...rough." Magi sighed.

"I will disagree. I see something deeper existing between me and everyone." Luna said.

"If big says a thing, then it's gotta be true! And as the Morale Manager of the team, I will make sure that everyone stays at peak performance!" Lina saluted them all.

"I'm sure you will. Now, let's get on with Tiki, shall we?"

Drima turned the simulation back on, Tiki now standing in the middle of the same area Dante did.

“Actually…stop it. I’ve got a little bit of an idea. Luna, care to join me?” Tiki provocatively said.

“Wait, you want a dual training session with Luna?” Drima asked.

“No, I want my training session to be with Luna. She owes me a runback, so might as well go ahead and do it. Your data can be collected either way, correct?”

“I guess so…Luna, are you willing to go ahead and do it?” Drima asked Luna.

“If you are capable of collecting the previously requested combat data from this duel, I am highly interested in participating in it.” Luna agreed.

“Alright then, I have no objections, you can both go ahead. The simulation will still remain, however, as it will allow you to wreck the environment around you without me having to actively pay damage bills for it.”

“Aww hell yeah then! Let’s go!” Tiki happily said, pinning her long axe down and folding her arms in anticipation of Luna arriving.

Drima then waited as Luna got back down and out of the elevator, entering the simulation area once again as it was turned on by Drima. She got across from Tiki’s path and looked directly at her, calmly preparing herself for the duel.

“I sure do hope your excitement for this matches mine, “Sairi”, because I’m not holding back!” Tiki picked up her axe and took on her combat position.

“I shall do the same, as I refuse to let you or myself win without using all my abilities to their fullest extent.”

Luna then reached on her side and grabbed the sharp metal blade that was given to her by Drima’s maid bots back at the changing booth. The handle and the blade seemed to instantly detach as the handle then proceeded to extend itself alongside the blade, reaching Luna’s height and surpassing it by a few centimeters. It was then obvious as to what the weapon was originally created to be. A portable and very easily to activate scythe, quality and utility much higher than the one she was forced to use before.

“Man, I’d be jealous if I didn’t already receive my present for this year. Thing looks pretty badass…hope I can apply it to this big ass thing, portability is everything nowadays unless you wanna look like a lunatic with weapons going down the street.”, Tiki commented on Luna’s weapon in her own way.

“Indeed. I am most satisfied with the results of this weapon. The clothing seems to also be very adaptable and easy to maneuver in. My combat experience can only increase in favorability rather than be hindered.” Luna said.

“All MODs are practically made to be bulletproof, flameproof, and all-round indestructible while providing no hindrance to the user in any capacity. It takes a ton of work to get all of them going, but I think it’ll eventually pay off. Remember that the things you’re wearing are no jokes, they’re as much a weapon as the thing you use to stab with. The only reason I made it so easily accessible for you all is because we need a direct edge over everything else, and it will act as both training wheels until you all get a perfect understanding of what you’re capable of and when you do, it will act as an overwhelmingly powerful distributor to increase your combat capabilities. Now, let’s not procrastinate any longer, I also need to process this data when you’re all done.” Drima directed them.

“Fine by me! Ready?” Tiki said.

“Let’s engage.” Luna took her own battle stance.

“Let’s go!” Tiki jumped right at Luna.

Tiki took a wide swing of her axe right in front of Luna’s face, her avoiding it just in time and launching a counter swing at the front. Tiki then jumped over her counterattack and proceeded to take on the position for a plunging attack. Luna smartly kept her forward momentum, dashing forwards to avoid the hit. As soon as Tiki’s axe connected with the ground, Luna used the opportunity and took full advantage of the window given to her and took another upward swing at Tiki. Her attack now connecting, she dashed forwards again to set off her combo attack by slashing Tiki on her back, before smacking her down with the flat side of her scythe and slashing her once more, sending her flying backwards. Tiki, still holding onto her weapon, crashed on one of the floating cubes around the area, then dropped down to the ground as she kneeled, trying to take in all the damage inflicted on her.

“Damn…” she struggled a bit, “Never easier.” she got back up again, “Now let’s really set this off!”

Tiki slammed her axe onto the ground with the full extent of her strength. The ground shook as it cracked along its surface, causing a huge earthquake in the surrounding area. Amidst the chaos she had created, Tiki dashed right back in front of Luna, delivering a massive and wide forward slash, cutting down two cylinder pillars that formed around her. Luna managed to barely avoid the attack by dashing backwards, however, this time, Tiki took one step forward and delivered another massive and powerful slash, that attack managing to connect directly with Luna’s body. Stuttering from Tiki’s immeasurable and enhanced strength, Luna was sent flying back as well, crashing through a wall and being dragged across the floor by the built-up momentum. She flipped herself around and smacked the ground with her scythe, pinning the blade underneath and being dragged along the floor before eventually coming to a stop. She calmly looked around the area, trying to locate Tiki but failing to do so. As she lowered her eyes back down to take a breath, she realized that her shadow was getting bigger and bigger. She jolted back up as she gazed at a Tiki from above, coming down at full speed.

“Take this!” Tiki yelled.

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Barely being able to bring her scythe in front of her to block the hit, the cracked ground below Luna’s feet failed to hold on to the massive force applied, being completely destroyed and sending both of them to a free fall.

“This ain’t gonna stop me! Hyah!” Tiki kept attacking Luna mid-air.

“I must answer accordingly.”

In a pinch, Luna seemed to boost herself forward from some falling parts of the ground, managing to strike Tiki straight through. Before she could make another move, she felt a firm grasp on her back. Tiki had successfully endured the hit and powered through to launch a counterattack of her own. She twirled around tossed Luna in front of her, falling down, before kicking her in the stomach and raising her massive axe above head again, both of them heading for another lower floor. Luna crashed onto the ground first, before managing to somehow react fast enough to bring her scythe in front of her again, somewhat mitigating the damage that was about to be inflicted on her. Tiki, coming from above, directly clashed on top of Luna. In a massive cracking of the floor beneath them both, the entire area shattered to bits as the wind kicked up. The floor crushed again and they were both sent into free fall once more. On the 3rd lower floor they crashed to, they were harshly separated when they fell on the ground, then gasping for air as they both kneeled and tried to recover.

“No…bad…” Tiki grunted.

“Agreed.”, Luna kept her composure.

They both then got off the ground and resumed their battle stances.

“So…care to go down for once? I really don’t want to do some irreversible damage to your tin-can ass.” Tiki slammed her axe down.

“I would suggest you bring it on." Luna provoked her.

“Heheh. So be it.”

Tiki widened her stance as she gathered all her energy around her, entering her enhanced state.

“This will get interesting.” Luna sighed.

“You bet your ass it will!” Tiki said with a smug all over her face.

Tiki dashed forward once again, Luna deciding to block her attack instead of evading this time. As she appeared in front of her, Tiki slammed her foot down before stopping her mad rush, crushing the ground below it and pinning it on the ground. She then delivered a devastating upward slash with her axe, breaking Luna’s defences completely, before slamming her axe back down, taking Luna along with it. As Luna bounced back from the sheer force of the downward impact, Tiki followed up with 3 powerful slashes directly on her body, before finishing up with a swing of her axe so strong, that she put her whole body behind the entire move from start to finish. Luna was sent flying beyond the speed of sound, out of the ground area they were standing at, shattering multiple objects as she went along the way. Fearing for the worst, Drima then promptly decided to end the simulation on his own accord. As if they were dragged back together, Luna then appeared at the exact same distance the simulation had started away from Tiki, completely unconscious from the powerful hits she endured. Tiki, exiting her enhanced state looked at an unconscious Luna, but kept her composure. She walked up to her and kneeled before her.

“Don’t touch her! I see vital signs very vibrant from here, I’m coming down to check on her!”, Drima worryingly said.

“Relax, nerd. Hey. Hey Luna. Wake up, this moron thinks you’re drying or something. Hey…hey!” Tiki yelled.

Before Drima could say another word, Tiki slapped Luna in the face, before she herself received Luna’s punch in the face from her reflexes kicking back in.

“Ow, son of a bitch.” Tiki rubbed her jaw.

“It would appear as if I lost consciousness during or after the match was concluded. I must admit defeat.” Luna calmly said.

“What the hell is wrong with you?! Are you trying to kill her?!” Drima angrily said.

“Nope, no way! Tiki loves my big sister, she would never do that! They are great rivals, like in the movies and anime, they need each other!” Lina bravely said.

“That, we do, kiddo.” Tiki chuckled a bit, “Hope that didn’t cause you permanent brain damage. Though if it did, you wouldn’t be talking like a virtual assistant, would you?” Tiki extended her arm to Luna.

“I suppose that your assumption can be counted as correct, given the circumstances.” Luna grabbed Tiki’s arm and lifted herself back up, “I hope you enjoyed the rematch requested. I shall practice my abilities harder and train so that I can further provide a more satisfying experience for you to enjoy in the future.”

“I sure hope so. We’re one for one. If there’s anything I hate more than people pointing out my tail, it’s definitely ending anything at a draw. We’ve gotta find a conclusion to who’s the absolute best someday.”

“I am sure that the result will eventually boil down to a satisfactory end for both parties if we give it the best of our abilities.”

Tiki then put Luna’s arm above her head and carried her over to the elevator, going up to meet up with everyone else that was left.

“Ok, that was a good show. Great job to both of you, kids. Been a while since I’ve seen a match such as this one.” Magi congratulated them.

“Thank you for your applause. We will expand on it to keep you satisfied.” Luna answered.

“Big sis, although you lost, that was amazing! Can you teach me to do that someday?! Please?!” Lina begged Luna.

“Maybe someday, both me and your sister can teach you a thing or two. For now, how about you let her relax instead? She’s gotten through enough hell facing me for one day, that’s for sure.” Tiki calmed Lina down.

“Wait, both of you…teaching me?! That sounds amazing! Can we please do that tomorrow?!” Lina got even more excited.

“How about a few years…come on now, let’s get you out to play with the scared guards again. Everyone needs a little bit of a rest for now.” Magi guided Lina outside.

“Alright! Maybe we can spar too! I wanna do some training and become the very best!”

“Please no, I’m going to be in serious trouble and debt afterwards…” Drima worryingly said.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep her in check. Now come on, let’s go kiddo.” As Magi took Lina outside of the room, Drima looked back at both Tiki and Lina as they both crashed on the sofa.

“What the hell were you thinking, that was way too overboard!” Drima yelled.

“Relax, we both got our sweat in and did the training. Did you not manage to collect enough data with that? Hell, considering how easily meatbag was able to cut through those enemies as if they were made of butter, this is 100 times better. Longer battles and more aggressive ones for you to get her data on higher power moves and abilities.” Tiki said.

“I have to agree with Tiki. Her statement and training suggestion were both logical and accurate, taking into consideration the interest of multiple parties at once and managing to give them all exactly what was promised to be delivered. You have obtained your training data as per request, Tiki has obtained her rematch request and is satisfied with the results of her victory and I got to fight a powerful opponent again to better learn and adapt to the physical capabilities of my body.”

“The reason I’m yelling for is not because of the fact that you did what you did. It’s because you both went extremely overboard for unnecessary reasons!”

“I disagree. No chance in hell I’d wanna fight Luna if she was forced to drive throughout the entire fight with a made-up limitation that you enforced on us. Plus, you wouldn’t have gotten what you did were it not for that in the first place, so stop bitching about it.”

Drima sighed, “I just wish that you understood the concepts of training a little better.”

“The concepts of said situations are forced into constantly shifting based on who is and how they chose to fight.” Luna added.

“Whatever…I got what I needed and you did the same, so I’ll end it in that. I am at least happy to see that the gears I provided work 100% as intended and no malfunctions or anything happened. They are perfectly functional through and through. However, while I got what I expected from Tiki, Luna’s results were quite interesting ones. Tiki, mind leaving us alone for a bit? You know where the medical bay is at, if you need anything you can grab it from there. I’d like to speak with Luna directly.”

Tiki was weirded out, “Uh…sure? I don’t have any objections, but that’s a little bit out of the blue. Anyway, don’t forget to drop by later for some lunch. I’ll be healing up and heading there after. Hope someone took the initiative and cooked because I really am not in the mood to touch the kitchen today.” Tiki got angry as she reminded herself of what happened that morning.

“The maid bots should’ve already handled that. You’re fine and ready to go.”

As Tiki nodded and exited the room, Drima took a grim look at Luna, almost as if he was afraid of her or for her. Whichever it was, she was struggling to process.

“So…Luna.”, Drima sat at a chair in front of her, “Any chance that you had something from you removed while undergoing that surgical process that gave you a part machine body?”

“Affirmative. Multiple things were tweaked so that the human dominant side could not interfere with the mechanical side. Pain receptors were artificially blocked to not derail from the mission while attempting it and emotion-elevating chemicals such as dopamine and serotonin were completely eradicated and blocked from ever being produced by every subject's brain. Certain subjects, younger such as Lina, were deemed unable to be put through the surgical process in fear of permanent damage causing disabilities or even death.”

“So the Augmented formula project was indeed complete…may I ask your full name. Please?”

“Luna Falana, subject 007 class E. My sister's name is Lina Falana, unaffiliated and uninitiated again, due to lack of proper ageing components that would deem her capable of becoming a fully functioning augmented soldier.”

“Shit…so that means…dammit.” Drim said with a sad face.

“You appear to be distressed. Is everything alright?”

“No, it’s not. Look, Luna…if I…if I told you I could fix this, make you entirely human and your sister again…how would that make you feel?”

“I would rejoice for my sister's capability to be able to go back into being as innocent as she was before the procedure took place, however, I can no longer be able to live without my partially mechanized parts.”

“What? How so?”

“In order to avoid deviancy, all personnel were caused to be dependent on their mechanical parts to where if they were to be removed under any circumstances, death would occur at a 100% mortality rate. Lina was never programmed in such a way, however, I was. Lina was brought into a new format to a better generation of personnel capable of many more things than the previous issues.”

“I promise you…I will bring her back to normality. However…I need to know something extremely important. During your battle with Tiki, I noticed something abnormal in my readings. What is exactly happening inside your brain?”

“My brain has been partially augmented to fit a neural network from which all available personnel, now mostly deceased, can communicate uninterrupted and without the possibility of an EMP attack disruption. It is called HIVE or Holographic Intelligence Virtual Environment. It acts as both a communication network and a central intelligence network that can gather anything from combat data to mechanical part instructions and even memories of the subjects sealed before their operation took place.”

“Wait, how do you know that? Those details were never handed out to you.” Drima answered.

“Could it be that you are partially responsible for the situation that occurred?” Luna promptly asked.

Drima stuttered for a moment, realizing exactly who was standing before him, and afraid to give an answer. He then opened his mouth once again, to solve Luna’s confusion.

“During the time I was making the first MOD that Tiki is wearing, I was instructed to make a plan for which we could possibly transform non-Obsulyte users into ones by forced surgical operations. Super soldiers, in a way. I was against it throughout the entire process and tried to warn them, but they didn’t listen. When I decided I didn’t want my identity revealed but also didn’t want to hurt more innocents by proxy from my breakthroughs, I simply left. Someone must’ve picked up where I left off. That’s why…since the first time I somewhat realized who you actually were, someone affected by that project, I did backtracking and reading that dated even decades back. I found out everything from the surgical to personnel procedures such as information about the HIVE. I know you will be angry but, trust me when I say, I despise all of them. I hate what they did and all I want to do is help you escape all that shit they made you go through. Please…allow me to help you.

“I will accept your offer. However, do note that you have been marked by me as a hostile subject that I can choose to terminate under circumstances I deem appropriate. I will allow redemption by removing the afflictions done to my little sister, but will then only lower the hostile risk to a level needed for observation but not elimination. I hope that you are not offended by the logical escalation of things or offended by my wording placed on the subject.” Luna very aggressively said with a neutral demeanor.

Drima sighed as his face saddened deeply, “When I see that innocent little girl jumping around in excitement to almost everything that’s happening…how she went through all this but instead chooses ignorance and happiness. I never wanted you to forgive me, because I wouldn’t do so myself. But believe me when I say, I will go through hell and back to fix it however I can. And maybe, just maybe, help you as well. Look, I know a place…on the other side of the city, a little bit outside the walls, there’s an abandoned “factory” where the old LAB scientists, including myself, used to work. Down there, if you can maybe reach the core, there could be absolutely critical information that could help me save you and Lina…if you can go there tomorrow and look for it, I could really use that to not only save you, but create catered MODs for you to help you better arm yourselves against this cruel world…please. For you, your sister…and to an extent, my redemption.”

“I can proceed to the sight and collect the requested information via communication guidance. Please do note that our alliance will, as of now, be counted as strictly business within acquaintances. Until further items are investigated, I refuse to further strengthen that relationship.

Luna then quickly got up and out of the room, almost as if she was showing her anger for the first time. Drima was left all alone with his thoughts in silence. What he just discovered was yet another part of his long life he wanted to erase. It was another time that his creations, his brilliant mind that he always brought up into everyone’s consideration, had betrayed and hurt those around him when used by those he came to despise the most…but the day wasn’t over. And like he always used to power through the darkest times back then, now it was the most important out of them all for him to do so.