"Where's Lilly?" Leon said, looking around.
"Probably doesn't care to watch Ivory win another match," Ingrid said.
"Yeah, well, I'm here to watch her lose."
"Probably not gonna happen," Perseus said. "She's too good, dude."
"And Renata's Semblance makes her a very dangerous opponent," Xanthus said, pushing up his glasses. "It may drain her aura during activation, but a few seconds is really all she needs. Had you not been as skilled as you are, Ingrid, I think she would have made short work of you."
"Gee, thanks," Ingrid said.
"I'm pretty sure he was complimenting you," Leon said. "Don't be such a grumpy kitty." He reached up to touch her cat ears and she smacked his hand away.
"You can touch mine!" Fiona said, throwing herself on him from behind.
"See? You should be more like your sis. Live a little."
Fiona giggled as she leaped over the chair and sat in Leon's lap, nuzzling him as he played with her cat ears.
"Oh, jeez," Ingrid said, putting a hand to her face as she shook her head.
* * * * *
Lilly looked up at the apartment building her targets resided in. This would be it, her last chance at saving them. If she failed now, it would be impossible to return to the center of the dungeon. With each incursion, the number of enemies grew, the topography changing to make it more and more difficult to navigate. She needed to win here. There was no other option.
She walked into the alleyway. This would be the first time she would venture into that world in broad daylight, but with nearly everyone focusing on the tournament, she figured she wouldn't have to worry about witnesses. When she was sure no one else was around, she concentrated, willing herself into that other world. In a flash, her environment was shifted into that same gloomy dungeon from before. She was just outside the mad torture house, which had completely supplanted the apartment complex, replacing it with stone and cold iron.
She drew Myrtenaster, looking at it for a moment before pushing open the dungeon gate. Not even two steps in and she already found herself accosted by variations of monsters, each one symbolizing guilt, hatred, pain, depression, all sorts of negative things that one could attribute to a family abused by a tormented father.
"I won't let you stop me!" Lilly said before engaging the monsters.
* * * * *
"Renata!" Ivory shouted before her teammate darted to the side to attack Samantha Quinn, Team SQRL's leader, from a tangent.
"Be careful, Sam!" Rhonda said.
"Don't worry," Samantha said. "I won't let her get me so easily."
Renata's Semblance's greatest weakness was that she could not target more than one opponent at a time, but she had long since worked out some way around this problem. She could toggle between targets quite easily, so long as the number did not exceed three. The fewer the targets, the better, of course.
"Crap, I can't see her!" Rhonda said, canceling her attack.
"Behind you!" Samantha yelled.
"I'm your opponent!" Ivory said before attacking with a number of glyphs powered by a variety of Dust.
* * * * *
"Holy shit," Leon said. "That teamwork."
"Can you believe she's only friggin' sixteen?" Ingrid said. "And she's the leader of a third-year team."
YOU ARE READING
Silver Rose
FanfictionThe sequel to Silver Maiden. Lilly Schnee is all grown up and attending the same school her mother had attended back in her day. But unlike everyone else at Beacon Academy, she does not quite fit in. Then again, she hardly fits in with her own famil...
