Flora found herself back in the antechamber.

"That went quite well. Good job, everyone."

No joy tinged Flora's voice. From the perspective of someone who just wanted to win, the round went perfectly, but from the viewpoint of someone who wanted her son to have a competent partner, abysmal.

All cooldowns had reset, so Flora reapplied the buffs.

Buff: Tinkered: Improves the Macro-Control by 5 OV; time remaining: 10 min;

Last round, she cast it on herself and got a bit mana-reg for it. This time, she tried it on the toaster.

Buff: Touched by Divinity (Evailyn): 50% reduced Cooldowns; time remaining: 5 min;

"Nice. Much more useful."

Right before the countdown ran out, she cast Water Shield to get the full duration of 25 seconds of it during fight-time. The splash effect of her new focus activated, and around one of the turret-traps formed a watery layer.

As soon as her feet hit the arena floor, Flora sprinted towards Ressa's spawn point.

Something ran in her direction. Her brain needed a second to process the sight: Ressa had strapped a full-length mirror on the back of the tiger. With the cat's head down, the mirror shielded it from frontal laserbeams.

"Finally, a good move. Take the flanks. Turret-Trap 1-2 left, Turret-Trap 3-4 right." commanded Flora while sending a rocket to it. "And where is Ressa?"

Even after activating the spell, Flora couldn't find her. Almost she forgot to initiate the explosion, but a beep from Aito reminded her.

"Behind the tiger, Milady."

The rocket detonated above the tiger and cracked the mirror.

The explosion masked the incoming plasma slugs from Flora, which whizzed by next to her head. For a second, she was elated because they missed, but then two of her turrets went out.

"At least, now I know Ressa's position."

Both opponents glowed orange and red with the Fire Enhancement buff. It caused all of their attacks to deal additional fire damage.

"They need dousing."

!

Flora positioned the spell to hit Ressa as well as the tiger.

Then, hell broke loose.

The Arena exploded in fiery lights, and detonations assaulted Flora's eardrums. Even the ground shook.

When Flora could see again, the area she was covering with Acid Rain was empty. Ressa had cartwheeled out of it, and stood, both guns extended, next to the wet patch.

Her gaze met Ressa's. The will to fight with no regrets shone in her eyes.

They were the only two combatants standing. While Ahoncartyr picked himself up from the ground, the octopussy resumed firing after being flung back by the explosion.

The only other robot still working was the trap toaster. It threw a final trap before Ressa's next shot killed it. In one smooth motion, the woman turned around and sent the next fiery slug flying into Flora's direction.

A skull appeared above Ressa's head−Aito's signal to focus all attacks on her.

Flora cast Acid Bolt right when Ahoncathyr pounced. She went down under his weight, but the spell left her hand, hitting him instead of the markswomen.

Seven hundred pounds of burning tiger squashed Flora. Her mech-suit creaked in protest, while her body struggled under the crushing weight. The grappling training kicked in, and she tried to find a chokehold.

Ahoncarthyor wouldn't let her. With a paw on Flora's torso, he opened his jaws to bite off her face.

Primal fear coursed through Flora. Staring into the gaping maw of the beast, all conscious thoughts left her mind. On instinct, Flora extended her arm to ward of his teeth.

A stream of acid water singed the tiger's head and neck, but still, his jaws closed around the next best target, Flora's arm. The teeth breached the thick hull of the mech-suit and penetrated it.

Without the suit, Flora would have lost her hand. She was sure of it. The little human-body icon with a red-blinking forearm and hand on her HUD agreed with her. Flora had lost the use of her right arm and with it the access to the Wavering Wave-Ring.

The display had often appeared in the Jiu-Jitsu lessons when people misjudged their strength, or Flora forgot to tap. First, the feeling of trying to move one's own limb and nothing happening had disconcerted Flora, but over time, she had gotten used to it. Nonetheless, the last bit of awkwardness never went away.

While Flora struggled with the tiger, Ressa used it as cover against Aito's shots while pelting Flora with burning slugs.

"So, they believe I'm a softer target than my octopus?" Flora thought. She bent her legs, with her feet between her and the cat.

The mechanical muscles of the suit contracted added by her real muscles. Then the legs straightened with her boots hitting Ahoncathyr in the stomach.

The kick catapulted the tiger in the air.

Flora used the remaining momentum to get up.

Although Ressa's hail of bullets had never stopped striking Flora, the skull had switched to Ahoncathyr.

Aito had moved in, concentrating all the action in the middle of the arena. Flora used the chance to bolster her depleted HP pool and shredded suit and, at the same time hurting the opponents.

!

The tiger had landed on all fours−futile, to hope for a cat to crash into the ground.

The old internet meme sneaked in Flora's mind. "Maybe I should have built a sticky-butter-toast-throwing-toaster. With a buttered bread on his back, there would be a good probability of the tiger crash-landing or staying suspended in the air."

A roar rocked the arena.

Flora's body shuddered, the whole mini body-display glowing red. Incapacitated, she could only look around to assess the situation: Ressa was dead, good so far. Aito's HP was full, but she was cowering as well. The tiger had seen better days; the acid had burned off patches of fur. And Flora's health bar was half empty.

Even with her body quivering, her mouth was grinning. She felt great about the situation until the tiger pounced on her again.

Without the use of her muscles to compensate, she hit the floor hard.

Gathering all her magic, she pressed another Bless and Condemn out of her shaking left hand as the tiger swiped her head with its burning paw.

Light Concussion: - 2 OV to all skills and abilities, - 4 OV to magic - 8 OV to perception. Time remaining: 10 sec.

Flora didn't want to know the consequences if she hadn't obtained the trait Hard-Headed.

The red glow around the mini-body vanished. Losing no time, Flora dove away.

The tiger chased.

Flora came up with a kick on his snout, and he vanished.

Panting Flora stood in the middle of the arena and looked around for more opponents, her sight still blurry from the concussion.

"Congratulation, you won the second round and the match," a voice said, but Flora didn't listen. The adrenalin still pumped through her veins.

A group of people approached.

!

"Ma!"

"Flora! My new outfit!"

Only now, it dawned on Flora that the duel was over.

"Uh, sorry," she mumbled and sat down where she stood in the middle of the arena ring on the sandy floor.

Robby and Eddie ran to her, the others followed. Their concerned voices rang in Flora's ears. Flora tried to reassure them, but she had difficulties speaking and was shaking.

"So, that's how it is!" Ressa's sharp voice broke through the noise. "I lose, and SHE gets consoled."

She turned around and left for the exit.

"Ressa!" Robby exclaimed. His head snapped between her and Flora back and forth. "Ma... "

"Go, sweety. I'm fine. It's just the adrenalin leaving my system."

Robby's index finger appeared in front of her nose.

"How many-"

"One too many." She smiled at him as he followed Ressa. Her answer would also be valid if he had asked how many fiancees he had. The girl hadn't left a good impression on her.

Slowly, she picked herself up.

"Good fight, Auntie," Mia said.

"Ey, just awesome! This and that and letting the tiger fly! Woooow! I didn't know you had in you!" Hub shadowboxed, but then paused. "I mean, I totally knew you had it in you! My instincts warned me a long time ago. Oh no, the sentence came out wrong. Auntie, you know I deeply respect you, right?"

"Right." Flora had no patience to deal with Hub or anyone at the moment. "Thank you for supporting me. Now, I need a good long soak in my jacuzzi."

Flora managed to lose the crowd, but Eddie stuck to her like a parrot to his pirate.

When Flora didn't respond to his attempts at conversation, he worked on his poem.

"The queen riding on a wave, this is the image I crave."

They walked to the teleportation circle of the clan Riverstones.

"No, no, better: The queen riding on a wave, all the fabulousness I crave."

From the church's circle, they went to Flora's apartment.

"The queen riding on a wave, making the tiger her slave."

Flora programed the Treadmill-Tunnel for metal resistance training.

"The Queen riding on a wave, my heart is hers to save."

In the workshop, she programed the dummy to hit Eddie extra hard while he fiddled with the copy features of the simulation grounds.

"The queen riding on a wave, escaping peril with a close shave!"

She didn't want to be in Deriga's dingy workshop and flopped in the hotpot of the unholy cliff.

"The queen riding on a wave, oh what a beating to Ressa she gave."

"The queen riding on a wave, putting Eddie in an early grave." Flora joined in.

"You don't mind if I skinny-dip, love?"

"Feel free." Flora put her underwear in her inventory, too. She didn't even know why she had bothered to leave it on.

(Flora to Aidan:)"Pixel out his junk. I've already seen it more times in my life than I care for."

"Virtual reality is awesome." She said out loud. Finally, she could enjoy a nice soak with a friend without getting distracted by dangling bits.

"Maybe you should dial it back a bit."

"Nonsense. I admit the first time I came down from an adrenalin high, I panicked a bit, but I logged out, and my vitals were almost normal."

"It had happened before?" Eddie fetched a rubber duck wearing an eyepatch and bandana from his bag of copied things.

"Sure."

"Flora, dear-"

"Oh, come on. I'm having fun. There is a part in me I have denied all these years−"

"The sexy part."

"No, the bloody part! I enjoy hitting people. I enjoy the excitement of competing."

"I'd always thought Robby got his fighting drive from his father. Guess I was wrong." He fetched a second rubber duck, this time with a cocked hat and a parrot.

Flora nodded. "I thought the same. His father was a soldier, after all."

"Which duck do you want?"

"You are the captain, so I'll take the bandana."

Eddie grinned satisfied and said in a quacking voice: "Ye wants t' color th' sea in blood, sailor?"

"Aye, captain!" Flora replied, making her duck nod. She tried her best to emulate Eddie's cadence but had to giggle. "Quack!"

They played for a while, fought some Viking ducks, a hulk duck, and a zombie duck (Eddie had an endless supply), a huge tentacled monster (Aito), and discovered a treasure island (Flora's emergency box).