13 Nothing To See Here (Part IV)

Mel's grin didn't falter at the least as her hand shot forward from her salute in a quick jab to Ethan's head. It was a light attack without even channeling her cultivated form's powers, just a little something to test the waters. If her opponent was even a bit slow, she would have been disappointed and would just use him as another punching bag in place of her time from getting interrupted from using one earlier.

Luckily, her hopes were still intact.

Ethan brought an arm up smoothly to deflect her attack without even changing a muscle on his face. The solid defense that sent her jab away was with such ease that made Mel realize that she might actually have some fun with this one. He launched a counterattack at the same time he brought up his guard, a swift mid-kick aimed squarely into Mel's side.

Mel quickly bounced backwards, not just to dodge the kick but to give her time to channel her cultivated form.

"Well, looks like I might actually have to work for that fifty dollars," Mel chuckled. A light little conversation to feint for time as she changed. Already, she could feel her skin growing thicker like a hide and itching as faint speckles of scales began to crest over. If the guy was the aggressive piggish type, he would rush in before she got her time to channel her form but that was only if he was confident enough to overwhelm her in a straight-up brawl.

However, it looks like he was getting ready to transform as well. His skin turned a greenish color and weird ovals started to coalesce in his eyes like pupils duplicating in the scelera. His legs grew thicker as well until they seemed to stretch out those active trunks even more so than they did already.

"Hey, don't make it sound like a done deal already," Ethan said as he took a second to navigate through the holographic screen of the training room. "I am looking forward to that dinner, you know. Don't go breaking my heart just yet." A pair of streams made of lights suddenly compacted into a pair of sickles into his hands and he readied himself in a defensive position with the two sickles on guard in front of him.

Mel continued channeling the transformation, ignoring the other's words until she felt her meridians 'fully flexed'.

"Come get some!" She roared as she took a step in and leaped, the single bound carrying her right towards Ethan's side and away from the sharp pointy things at his front. Even if just for training purposes, hard-light weapons be no joke.

Using the momentum that carried her, she hurled her knee up towards the small opening towards the guy's ribs.

Ethan spun on his heels, escaping the trajectory of her attack and swung down his sickles like a mantis into its prey's chest.

"Tch."

Mel dug a sharp heel into the ground and threw her body down along with it that made it looked like she slipped on the floor. Sure, not the most elegant of moves, but she still saved herself from the sharp sickles.

A black sole appeared right above her. She hastily rolled out of the way and scrambled to her feet.

Ethan didn't waste any time and was ready for her with his weapons in hand.

'Game on,' Mel thought as she readied herself. Her blood was boiling now and adrenaline drove her reflexes into turbo mode. She swung her body to the side, barely missing out of the arc of the sickle when a kick launched from below towards her thigh.

She took the hit and her new scaly hide blunted the blow enough to just a bare body contact. She kept moving, sidestepping the extended reach of the weapons in her opponent's hands with just the barest movements that she could feel the wind slicing in their paths.

She might have underestimated Ethan a bit, Mel confessed now as she continuously dodged the blades slicing around her. She thought with a friend like the Shroudlock Canary guy, Ethan would just concentrate on his refined beast's strengths and rely on his speed to try to wear her out before going in for the kill. That wasn't the case though.

He knew how to flank her, yeah. But he knew what he was doing - mixing in feints with the sickles with martial moves of kicks and punches. Even if he doesn't score a real hit on her with those hard-light weapons, the body blows would whittle her down little by little even with her cultivated form.

She had to move erratically, both to dodge his attacks and to prevent any patterns he could get into. With the claws on her hands and talons on her feet, a real scoring hit would mean a good kick or a jab at him and she was in no good position to throw one out.

In her excitement, she almost couldn't feel it. Her meridians ran at full speed, pushing at the wall of her Rank 2 Mortal Stage's limits and wearing it down like a river against a dam.

Then, a turning point came about. She swung to the side in order to dodge a vertical downward swipe from Ethan's sickle and the predictable pattern of Ethan's swift kick to her leg. She knew she was at her limit, so she leaped out of the way.

She tried to, but after weathering all the blows to her legs, her body had finally stopped responding!

The leg swipe struck her right in the thigh and she buckled to her knees. Mel could even catch a look of surprise from Ethan for a second before even he knew the victory strike was at hand.

He brought down the two sickles in full swing.

'Crap!'

Mel brought her right arm up in a futile attempt to block the attack.

Something broke.

The walls around her meridians crumbled and the mana in her meridians flooded into the new space it had acquired! She had broken into Rank 3 Mortal Stage!

The scaly carapace of her body thickened just as the blades connected until the blades was hilted into her flesh and a numbness paralyzed her entire right arm. Even as a simulation weapon, Mel knew with her previous rank, the blades would have ripped through her arm and into her body. It was fortunate that with her new rank that she was able to stop the sickles from going any further.

Now, if her new rank, she felt like she got a second wind. Power rushed through her veins again.

She dashed out from her spot and up to her feet again with her arm hanging limply by her side.

Man, she felt like she did before she started the fight. No, even better! It was like a sudden clarity after running a marathon where everything just looked sharper and more vivid! Her body felt energized and she could take on another ten more Ethans!

"Looks like you got a rank up!" Ethan laughed as he stopped in his tracks, swinging his sickles around in a loop.

"Yeah," Mel said, not even trying to hide the fact. "Thanks to you! Tell you what, I'll drop the bet for your help!"

"Nah, I'm winning!" Ethan scoffed as he dashed forward again on the offensive.

"Your loss."

It suddenly seemed clear as day to Mel. She took a step forward.

With one hand, she grabbed a forearm holding a sickle just as Ethan came into range, locking it down in place. Then. She headbutted him right on his forehead.

Previously, she wouldn't have had the strength to keep Ethan in check for even a second. She was still just barely on par with him now, but added on with the momentary surprise and the sudden break from her previous pattern gave Ethan enough of a shock that she was able to do this one reckless move. Also with her new harder scales, that headbutt would definitely hurt more than a mere Rank 2 Mortal Stage headbutt.

Ethan's eyes went swimming for a second and his moves went slack, giving Mel the opportunity to begin her onslaught.

She let go of his arm and reeled in for a hard flat jab into his sternum. With her claws, if this was outside of the simulation, it would have broke through his flesh and caused a heavy puncture wound in his chest. However, seeing how this was all inside a training room, it had read back as a brutal blunt attack.

Ethan choked for a breath into his lungs, but Mel was not finished yet. She slammed a heel into his knee and toppled him to the ground.

With him on his knees, she could have been a bitch and really wrecked his face in, but again, he did help her with her rank up. She decided to be merciful with a swift closed punch to his temple.

Again, the training room's glyphs would work to oppose any real fatal strikes, so no real harm was done other than putting him unconscious.

There was a clear 'ding' from the training room, indicating the bout was over and Mel could once again feel her right arm again.

Ethan, on the other hand, was still laid out on the ground out like a light.

Mel flapped her right arm, trying to get the needles out, while still feeling the excitement from getting to Rank 3 Mortal Stage.

Yes! Finally! She was so happy she could punch someone in the face! She had a mad grin on her face as she eyed the Shroudlock Canary cultivator with an evil intent. Wait, no. She gotta go tell Jessie!

She dispelled the mad thought in her head quick while facing the other cultivator. "'Ey. Come get your boy up. Tell him he owes me fifty bucks when he comes to. I gotta go."

She sprinted towards the door to the other guy's panicked confusion, not before urging Dru to follow behind her.

Crap, she still has to get her stuff from the locker room first, she reminded herself as she ran out the door.

"Where are you going?!"

Mel let out a maniacal laugh. "I need to tell my little sister I ranked up!"

…

"Alright. Glad to see you're taking it so well, Jess." Adrien smiled as he walked out of the door of the apartment, his refined beast's tails swaying from side to side across his shoulder and on his chest. "I'll get the place prepared and you should be able to get in through one of my associates within the week."

"Uh-huh," Jessie sounded off listlessly. She felt a bit unsteady as she held onto the door and she had a glum look on her face. It had presented itself during the long explanation of all she needed to know about going into Coldspark City.

It honestly sounded like a good place to start afresh. It sounded REALLY good to be honest.

Adrien had opened up a small business shop in the middle of one of the city's shopping districts and it had been closed down for months since he was still doing market research on the best kind of service to open up there. With a little bit of work, it could readily be turned into a beast refinement facility that could double as a refined beast shop on the front. Above the shop was a small one bedroom, one bathroom apartment with all the living necessities of a working kitchen, dryer and washer, and a living room.

A quiet and peaceful place for Jessie where she could do whatever she wants while hiding out from the rest of the world.

She had been so gung-ho about it earlier, but the more she thought about it – well, the more weird she felt about the situation.

Adrien caught the look on Jessie's face and frowned. "Seriously, Jessie. You want this. You can get out of the family's matters and be able to be set free to be your own person."

In a low voice, he added something that sounded off from his previous words. "... I wish I had that kind of choice."

Jessie could feel the sincerity being real, but it still didn't quite clear the mess of anxiety and doubt in her head. "... Yeah."

"Krmph."

Adrien cleared his throat and looked down the hall while pulling out his phone to divert his attention onto it. "Anyways. I'll get my associates on it. When you get to Coldspark City, head over to the Icestone Plaza and head out to the inn there. Look for a guy named Arthur Dallom. He'll be able to set up the rest of the things for you from there. I.. Won't be contacting you from here on out. Just to be safe.

"... Be well, cousin."

Jessie looked up at her cousin's last words. She could see the sudden flush that had come over Adrien's face that had a sad expression on it. She realized it really might be the last words they might say to each other.

She wanted to say something profound. Something that they can both keep in each other's memories fondly whenever they think back to this one moment.

She searched for the words, but her brain came up blank. So she said the only thing she could think of.

"You're an asshole, Adrien," she said, the familiar words was like a rote phrase in her head by now and it made it easier to say goodbye.

Adrien snorted and the look was gone replaced by the smug look she knew. "I'll be so happy when you're gone, cousin. It makes every penny I spend to make you disappear worth it."

Jessie gave him a smile and started to close the door on his face. "Thank you, Adrien. Be well."

It was only after Jessie heard the footsteps moving did she move away from the door and she felt wetness welling in her eyes.

… Gods, if she was feeling like this over her cousin who she hated, how was she supposed to leave the one and only place she ever knew? Leaving Mel?

She needed to sit down. Think. Re-strategize. Consider her next move.

Everything was a haze right now.

Jessie started walking, wiping away the tears on her face as she moved sluggishly through the apartment. They kept on coming even though she was trying so damn hard to focus.

She found herself back in her room she was schmoozing from Mel and found it a small relief as she plopped down on the bed and wiped away more tears on her already damp sleeves.

Think, dammit. Focus. This is no time to be crying! You're not a sobby 'woe-is-me' drama girl, okay?

Focus!

<<... Is everything alright, Miss Dee?>>

Oh, right. She almost forgot about the orb. Err. Oz.