"The car's okay. Just, uh… just a little fender bender."
- James McCaffrey
"Boring conversation anyway."
- Harrison Ford
"And you better deliver, Miss Bell, or no amount of clapping will bring you back from where I will send you."
- Dustin Hoffman
Blood trickled down the side of Mia's cheek. Her breath was slow and labored, overwhelmed from exhaustion. Her vision became unfocused as she spent her last molecule of energy.
"Trifling bitch."
She growled through her teeth and wedged her collapsed fan the rest of the way through Nina's heart, pushing until the edge of all twelve bundled blades erupted from the back of her opponent's armor. And that was just one of her weapons.
The Ultimate Black Diamond silently flopped against her shoulder before starting to slide backwards. Mia swiftly withdrew her fan, drawing another arch of blood from Nina's motionless chest.
Nina plummeted downwards in free fall, disintegrating into twinkling emerald nothingness as her body passed through a group of clouds. Mia closed her eyes and imagined Duke Nagi gurgling to death on his stupid stolen throne. She was tired of dealing with dumb black knights going around trying to unite the world by the sword, and this was the only one she'd ever met.
Regaining her focus, Mia made a quick scan over the horizon to see if Nina had brought any of her Valkyrie pals as backup. Her GEM radar wasn't picking anything up, but she thought she could see a couple black specks frantically retreating in the distance—emphasis on thought. Whether they were actually there or her exhausted mind was just imagining them, she was positive she'd be a goner if anyone else decided to gang up on her. Once she verified the skies were clear, she de-Materialised her feather knives and left herself empty-handed.
Historians and scholars would remember this as the day the Beautiful Red Cassiterite narrowly squeezed an underdog victory over the Ultimate Black Diamond. Mia was just happy she still had a pulse.
The surviving Otome sluggishly bobbed in and out of altitude as she fought against fatigue. Her float rings stalled, and she gasped as she quickly re-stabilized herself out of a four-foot dip.
She was still struggling to catch her breath. Her eyes squinted as they were stung by the sweat dripping off her forehead. With an aching grunt, she stood up straight in the air and opened her GEM's communication link.
"BRC to Golden Palace. Target eliminated, Master Kishuku."
Only she could hear exactly what was being said back to her, but the private message broadcasting through her earring's tiny transmitter ended with what sounded suspiciously like a rooster crowing.
"I didn't like fighting this one. Just barging in here saying she owned the place. Makes me feel all slimy," Mia continued speaking to her GEM as she rubbed a sore spot on her arm. There was another response only she could hear clearly.
"I don't care about whatever power vacuum I just caused in their kingdom! I have my own to worry about," she said in an annoyed tone. The conversation between Mia and her out-of-sight Master continued.
"Garderobe can figure it out. They like to play in politics. They let me graduate early so I could make things official with you." Mia shrugged. Her arm ache gradually faded. Whatever her emperor was saying made a deep scarlet blush suddenly cross the bridge of her nose.
"Ah, of course I'll relax with you. I'm all for the snuggly stuff. But still no touchy-touchy stuff."
There was a pause (silence to everyone except her), and then she suddenly appeared annoyed again.
"Because if I can't Materialise anymore, you lose the strongest thing protecting you, that's why! You'd just be stabbing yourself with your own Damocles Sword if I let you do that!"
The left side of her mouth curled stubbornly when her GEM received the next response. She crossed her arms defiantly as she hovered in the sky. Her scowl gradually changed to a smirk.
"Well, if they want one so bad, you can just use your concubines for that. Don't they always say it's never a good thing to keep all your eggs in one basket?"
Her smirk became more playful. Bashful. The blush started to return. Her voice softened for her next response.
"It doesn't bother me at all, Kishu-doodle. It makes your ministers happy and it keeps me powered up." A hint of pride gleamed in the corner of her teeth. Pride, and maybe a tinge of greed. "Besides, when I'm ready to retire, our kids will have all the succession rights anyway. Legal preference to the first wife, and all that stuff."
The GEM transmitter said something that made Mia droop her head as if all of her motivation and optimism had instantly evaporated. An aura of dark foreboding swept over her eyes. A thought crept through her mind concerning her Master's safety and her own future, a thought that always lingered on her no matter how bright and peppy she made herself appear. She wanted to protect her homeland through her youth as its Otome, and serve it compassionately with a good, long life as its empress.
"Well, if it did happen, at least we'd never have to worry about anything separating us in the next life, would we?" The thought made her shoulders quiver slightly. Good thing no one could see her.
She sighed and straightened her arms as she regained her composure. She shook her head before exhaustion could set back in, raising her voice in another authoritative burst.
"Now do we have to be talking about this on the open channel? Your entire information division can hear us!"
She rolled her eyes and sighed. Her spirits settled as she nodded.
"Affirmative, Master."
Her float rings illuminated on her wrists and ankles. She launched herself through a single forward flip and dove feet-first toward her home six miles below.
Author's note: Mia is a very lovey dovey Otome, but she can get 4 serious when you make her angry.
