[b]Mirror[/b]

As you finish the fight, Valentina respects you by turning on her comms. You can hear the sudden gasp of surprise as you take her, and the grunts as your strikes connect, never hard enough to cut her off. And then most satisfyingly, the murmur of pleasure as your work continues that lets you know that she’s enjoying being dismantled just as much as you’re enjoying doing it. 

When you have her pinned down at last, there is a pause as she simply breathes. Then the comms crackle one last time with her deep voice. “Well fought, Hybrasilian warrior.” You can tell by how she says it that she’s not as studied in your culture as she wishes she were, there’s that tiny hitch that lets you know she paused on “warrior” not quite knowing how to properly address you, but she’s shouldering on. 

“I surrender, and I’d like my reward in the post match evening. You’ll be attending the fashion show on Akar Prime, I hope? Would you allow me to…accompany you to the show?” Again, it sounds like she almost asked you to be her date, but then switched it at the last moment in light of your win here. 

There’s a juicy XP in it if you take her, despite the complications of your other identity also showing her dresses in the show. 

***

[b]Solarel[/b]

You’ve short-circuited poor Nierka for certain. The boop is the moment where she just can’t maintain the righteous fury any further, and instead she’s suddenly a cadet pilot being trained by the imperial ace from all those years ago. You can see it in the features, in the way her face changes, in the stance of both Nierka and the Sea Spike itself even as it finally recovers its balance. She wants to hate you because she’s supposed to, but she also had years of admiring you first, of wanting to be just like you. And now here you are showing her up, showing her a way of fighting that’s equal parts genius and sacrilege to everything she knows and you got her with it. 

This is, perhaps, a lesson you already know all too well. Combat is a psychological battle first and foremost. If she truly had the will to fight, all her wits about her, and just a hint of creativity, what she could be doing here is commanding her own god to put resources into rapid sealing the cockpit as though you were experiencing a hull breach in space, cutting off your tether and then turning all weapons full force via AI autopilot on the Bezorel. If she did that, even if you overpowered her within the cockpit, your own ability to fight would be lost and you’d be stuck alone against Nierka and all the resources her god can direct within its own AI core, a losing fight even if you briefly got the upper hand. 

But that’s not happening because her mind isn’t in the fight anymore. She’s embarrassed, shy, and more than a little dazzled. And so rather than risk this immediate defeat, she taps her fist twice and discharges her remaining power through the floor and away from you. A sign of surrender. And thus does the match end, all cameras on you and your blade as the Bezorel circles her. You probably didn’t expect to be standing on the top again, but for a brief moment here you are.

How does it feel?

***

[b]Jade[/b]

Angela Victoria Miera Antonius is defeated utterly, completely, and without a doubt. But she has one last little trick in defeat and you might find it interesting as you work. For such an old mech chassis, she moves so well, so naturally to your touch. She protests as you expected, but so too she squirms and she shudders. The groaning metal contrasts with the imagined softness of the pilot within, even though you know through the indignant crackling of the speakers that she still fights you. It is a special delight and pleasure to work your magic upon such a subject as Angela Victoria Miera Antonius.

You claimed that you wanted to teach her to move like one of your worshippers, but as you carve the new name you’ve decided befits her mecha, even as she protests and you cut off the sound, you wonder if she could move that way already. You wonder if there was more here than you got. You wonder if she held back in this match or if her training was deficient somehow and if only she could let the natural instincts of her body take over, as they are so clearly doing now, whether she has much greater potential within her. 

This is a tiny little wonder, a distraction in your triumph, barely even something worth registering to Dolly who you are busy entertaining as she properly deserves for her performance. But you have this wonder all the same and it won’t quite leave you alone. 

How does that leave a goddess for her departure?

[Angela takes a string on Jade.]

***

[b]Isabelle[/b]

She growls. She yowls. She curses through the comms and tells you all the myriad ways that you were sired from whores, and gosh she’s really going to do a lot of things to you if you ever manages to have you alone and tied up without diplomatic immunity. Things with whips and chains and, well, she’s just going to keep going on about this but her heart isn’t in it, especially as you press your hold and she can feel the pressure arch through her body, to hold and lock her arms in place, make them start to tingle and burn. 

And so, at last, Jacinta six burns out with you on the top and taps out with a final “fuck you, your mother, and your family!” even as she signals her defeat. So there you are the victor, cool calm and collected against an opponent who lost her temper and lost the match with it. The headlines will be all about the TC heiress who kept it together under fire. Sure, some of the more keen analysts will note your moment of naivete, but they’ll praise your flexibility and creativity and offer their assured confidence that you grew from this match and have the potential to go far. 

It’s very nice being on top, isn’t it? Being the heir ascendant. It probably never even crossed your mind how enjoyable Jacinta six’s tender ministrations might be in the right circumstances.