Lion's Roar
The People's Ascendance Center, Democratic Union of Aviye
Rui
It was finally time.
"You alone know what you're going to face," Quynh warned her. "Are you willing to go through with this?" she asked.
Wordlessly, Rui nodded. She'd remained mostly silent since coming to the roof. What mattered was packing as much qi into her new core as possible, and she'd kept that concentration all throughout the evaluations and matches.
She needed every shred of qi to withstand Quynh's technique, even though she was sorely testing the bounds of the vessel she'd created for the core.
"Are you going to fight me?" Quynh asked.
"No," Rui replied.
"Alright then," the taller woman placed her hand on Rui's shoulder. Rui sensed her mind brushing along the edge of her nexus. "What inspired you to do this?"
"Yue's protective core," Rui replied. "I figured if she could put a piece of herself away, then so could I."