Chapter 50: Even Lyra's a Monster [3]

Lyra took a deep, steady breath in preparation for the spar. Her sapphire eyes were devoid of light, filled instead with cold focus, vicious concentration, and an oppressive gaze like an uncaged predator. Her breathing was steady and rhythmic, her chest and back rising and falling slowly.

She had only a short time to get ready, having just woken up a couple of hours earlier. Medical ethics would typically dictate that someone who just awoke from a coma should stay in bed and rest for at least a day, as the body needs time to fully recover from such a deep slumber.

Lyra sat in a changing room, illuminated by LED lights hanging from the jagged ceiling and surrounded by steel lockers. It had only been a few minutes since Tyla challenged her and left to prepare the location. Professor Hathaway had mentioned he had private matters to attend to but would return in time to observe the spar.

Contrary to Lyra's expectations, Hathaway wasn't opposed to the two young women testing themselves in battle. He encouraged it, believing it held more benefits than drawbacks for both of them. Lyra needed to assess the extent of her capabilities and adapt to her new body, which required concentration and control to avoid dashing forward with just a single step.

Tyla, on the other hand, needed to experience Lyra's abilities firsthand, curious about the type of woman deemed suitable to accompany that man, even for a short while.

A couple of minutes later, Lyra stood untop of a ruined building above ground. Before her was an imposing Tyla, who's short silver hair fluttered in the racing wind. Up here, the dark swirling clouds like fuming patches seemed much lower than usual.

Lyra inadvertently found herself staring wistfully at them. The clouds now, were like the clouds on that day she decided to venture out for the Den. That was the beginning, that was how, when her life started changing.

If she hadn't taken that job, would she be here right now, Lyra wondered silently to herself. Would she still have met Huey? A mysterious young man whose true powers remained unbound?

Although ever since she did meet him, Lyra has found herself in a lot more dangerous situations.

'Even just to meet him, I had to almost die, ' she mocked and sneered internally.

But regardless, Lyra Diego didn't have regrets.

Huey was her card, her path to something beyond. She wasn't going to let it slip away, and she's wasn't going to let the silver haired Native get in her way for whatever reason.

For some reason, the platinum blonde seemed to have developed a crush for the self proclaimed swordsman...

But Lyra couldn't care for that. All she had to d was crush her.

While Lyra was in thought, she heard the sound of mechanical whirling from above as three black drones twice the size of her fists flew overhead in the dark skies.

A voice resounded from a speaker in the drones, echoing for both of them to hear clearly. It belonged to Professor Hathaway who offered a few fleeting guidelines before they began.

"For obvious reasons, I'll be spectating from afar with these. You two can go all out," he said, hesitated, then coughed.

" Not too all out. "

With that said, the three black drones that were like crows hovered higher up and away from the battleground as a stale wind blew a draft through the place. A suffocating tension slowly descended as the two women glared silently against each other with bloodlust.

Lyra steadied her breathing, she could feel the new and hidden power contained in every fiber of her being. The back of her nape tingled and her sapphire eyes glistened with an otherworldly hue.

This would be her first battle as a Knight...well, as someone with a Core. When he thought about it, for some weird reason, Lyra was filled with dark excitement and sinister glee.

She suddenly began imagining all the ways she would tear and rip Tyla apart...

'No, not rip her apart...' she shook the morbid thoughts out of her mind

Right, this was only a 'spar'. She first of all had to learn to control her new body and capabilities. She possessed far more strength than an average knight due to the quality of her Organic Core. This meant she would have to train her body from scratch once more.

On the same side, Tyla was relishing the situation, but she was to prideful to let it show on her beautiful cold face. She felt a mix of cold emotions.

As a warrior, she felt expectations.

But as a woman, she felt... something different.

'What's special about her? She scrutinized Lyra succinctly.

She remembered how Huey had stopped the fight when they just met, and went against the Elders just to assure Lyra was taken care of. That was the main reason he even helped them to defeat the Boss Elder God.

Or at least that was what Tyla thought.

Well, in anyway she would soon find out.

As the two women glared, the first one to take a step forward was Tyla herself. Then heeding her movements, Lyra followed with clechned fists and a heart beating with a strange dark excitement.

'What is happening? ' she thought with bafflement, and slight worry, to herself.

The two started as a casual walk, the the chains wrapped around Tyla's arms unraveled and clattered.

The sound of steel signaled the beginning of the match.

And all hell broke loose untop of a certain abandoned building structure.

***

-BOOM!

Professor Hathaway listened to the grandeur sound of an explosion caused by collision from afar. His expression was filled with amusement and intrigue as he leisurely watched from a couple of set up monitors before him.

The drones he deployed earlier spectated the fight and transmitted the happenings to him.

Tyla and Lyra had began with a bang. The gales from the first collision was almost enough to send his drones flying, but Hathaway wasn't bothered.

In the first place, not just any machinery could survive in the atmosphere outside the walls. Since the descent of the First Invasion seventy years ago, mundane technology had been rendered useless in the face of Mana.

Machineries of this period were reinforced and far more advanced than those of the past could imagine.

In Hathaway's hands was a familiar tablet which displayed a constant tab on Lyra's vitals. It was from there he could see and judge from her increased heart rate, and an odd smile curled on his lips.

"... She's having fun..."

___ ___

The simple 'spar' between the two women led to resounding bangs and cracking of the air.

Tyla's heavy steel chains boasted a deep azure radiance and smacked the air with a rattling clangor. The female warrior of the Ntuli Tribe was deadly, fearsome, and diabolical. Each of her attacks were seemingly designed to completely destroy her opponents.

Well...they actually were.

But as much as she was slightly against it, she had to restrain herself from 'accidentally' killing Lyra.

Who knows what would happen if Huey were to return and find out... The metro thought about it strangely caused Tyla's to shiver.

And at that moment, she faltered.

Lyra was till getting used to the extent of her new strength and movement, but she definitely knew had to move in a straight line.

The ground shattered before her feet as she instantly phased through the Native's defense. Her clenched fists wrapped in white bandages broke the air and flashed for a straight jab at an imposing speed.

Now it was her turn to try not to 'accidentally' punch a hole through Tyla's gut.

The first connected with Tyla's arms, as the platinum blonde felt a tremor through her bones as she was blown away with a bang.

Tyla's eyes widened as the force pushed her, and the winds raced through her sbort silver hair.

'I can't feel my arms... '

She crashed against the floor, rolled and tumbled before twisting and quickly rising back to her feet. Within the split second she transitioned from all that, her earlier expression of shock had disappeared, replaced by only cold ferociousness.

Tyla still couldn't feel her arms, but she would rather suffer in silence than let it show that the devil of the Walls the she actually managed to stir her even a bit.

Lyra retracted her fist back and lowered her head. Her fingers clenched and unclenched into a fist as she hummed silently.

"I think I've almost got it..." She muttered to herself, but loud enough for Tyla to hear. Perhaps it was intentional, perhaps not.

Regardless, Lyra revealed a twisted smile. The light in her eyes burned with a savage radiance as she prepared to lunge forward once more.

Tyla's glare deepend. All of a sudden she felt a flash of wariness. But it was quickly gone just as it appeared.

'It's just like before... ' she recalled the moment when Lyra had slashed her eyes the first time they met. She had underestimated her back then, all of them had.

A cornered rat truly was dangerous.

The only difference between them and now was..

'Thats not the look of a rat.. '

It was a Monster awaiting to be uncaged.

...

[A/N: Congratulations to Red for finally getting contracted! I think I've finally gotten a reason and the motivation to continue. This chapter was long awaited, but there's more coming.]

Ps. Character description are now out. Check it out and vote.