I know you have all been waiting. I would have had it ready yesterday, but... yesterday wasn't the greatest of days. Personal family problems. We will just leave it at that.

Annnnyways, I finally posted and that's all that matters.

Enjoy, my friends, and see you at the bottom!

As the loud, pulsing drum thumped slower and slower, the arena fell completely still. Hitomi's stomach gave a nervous flop, but – as she swallowed down the familiar anxiety that gathered thickly in her throat – she noticed Millerna's hands were trembling slightly. Maybe Balgus was right. Somehow through blessed dumb luck, she'd proven something while fighting Gadeth. Was it that she was stronger than they expected? Was it that she was confident enough to defeat a Vehotus without a weapon? The truth of it was so ridiculous; she stopped the bubble of laughter.

She really had forgotten to summon her weapon!

And here it was that people thought she did it on purpose. As a small smile graced her lips, the redhead heard the last drum beat.

The circles disappeared.

Expecting the blond to jump into action, Hitomi tensed, her golden vox swirling down her right arm at her command.

However, Millerna remained in her fighting stance, quiet and waiting like a pouncing cat. Her weapons still undrawn; her beautiful face pointed into a studious frown. Slowly, she stepped off, circling with careful delicate steps. Hitomi followed suit, her hand outstretched from her body; ready for her golden sword to appear.

Maybe, she's waiting to see what I'll do. Sizing me up. She wants me to attack first to secure an opening.

Still gauging each other with mirrored looks of analysis; multiple deep breaths passed between them before a flash of purple erupted from the blonde's hands and immediately followed a ferocious swing of the arm that was resting beside her leg. The air seemed to sparkle as Hitomi instantly danced to the left and dodged the airborne knife just in time.

Apparently, Millerna was done waiting.

Racing the power to her awaiting palm for her sword, Hitomi heard an "Oh, no you don't!" and instinctively jumped backward to avoid another knife. Her golden vox-induced hand clenched on thin air and the redhead swallowed down a frustrated growl.

She's not going to let me summon my sword.

Hitomi raced to the right quickly as yet another dagger plunged past her body dangerously. Throwing knifes quickly and accurately to keep me too occupied to use my vox. She's really skilled. It's a good thing these are blunted. Gotta take her by surprise. She's so into studying me; she won't see what's around her. I can twist this to my advantage.

Leaping forward with a quick cart-wheel to avoid another blade, Hitomi hands finally touched the strange metallic sand. It felt thick to her fingers…

Millerna let out a small gasp of pain and suddenly turned into a long purple blur speeding towards her with daggers raised. In the middle of her cart-wheel, Hitomi twisted with her hand and leaned backward to evade the blond as she rushed past her.

"Vox in your legs? You got pretty good moves." Hitomi complimented in a tense voice as her feet flipped solidly on the ground. Millerna pushed to a halt and the heavy sand leapt up in a wave. Wasting no time, Hitomi pulsed the vox out of her hand and finally heard the glorious slap of energy. Her golden sword emerged and landed in her awaiting palm.

"Apparently not good enough." Millerna answered with a grunt, still twisting her body out of the sharp turn. She eased immediately into her stance; glowing lavender daggers shimmering into her fingertips. Several blond hairs escaped from her elegant bun and curled around her face. "With all that armor, I'm surprised you are as agile as you are."

Hitomi smiled as they circled each other. Bracing her sword in front of her, she let her golden eyes zero in on the movement of Millerna's legs. She had withdrawn the purple vox. It seemed that - like Hitomi - Millerna couldn't stand the power in her legs for every long either.

"You don't run out of daggers. That's interesting." The golden girl commented, switching her footwork to an offensive posture.

"You dodge like you can read my mind, so it doesn't really matter anyway."

"You've got a good arm. You're keeping me on my toes actually."

"Never dreamed I'd live to fight the Pilot of Rutilus Flumen."

"I still wonder if I'm dreaming some days."

"Trust me, I'd let you know if you were."

"This is a nice conversation. I'm sorry I'm going to take you down, Millerna."

The lavender woman let out a small twinkle of a laugh.

"Let's do this, then."

And Millerna rushed her. Hitomi read her body language and switched her footwork immediately. With two ferocious clangs, her golden sword arched forward and she instantly returned both strikes from Millerna's daggers. Flipping the handle over her hand, she twisted to the left allowing one of the daggers to hit her side armor. A blast of electricity shot from one of the swirls and the blond gasped in pain. She backed away quickly holding her burnt hand to her chest in surprise.

"I should have learned from Gadeth's Trial. That armor is something else."

Hitomi sighed and tried to push down a small bout of guilt. "Sorry about-"

"You're open!" The blond raced forward once more and Hitomi hardly had time to react. An outbreak of swipes and dodges exploded from the two females as purple and gold clashed in a wave of fury. Millerna both threw and stabbed, sweeping for low slashes and quick flicks of her slender wrists. Hitomi hardly had time to return her blows as another small blade whistled through the air past her body. Despite the blonde's rapid movements, the redhead began to see a complex pattern in her attacks. Slip right, stab thrust, switch to right foot attack stance, throw left dagger, swivel to the left, dodge, stab with the right, thrust with the left handle, and right back to slip right.

It was strange how easily Hitomi noticed it. It was like a dance.

Only with dangerously swinging sharp blades and possible injury.

She parried and jabbed perfectly with her, feeling the strange rhythm of the battle. She could see how this would work in a war setting. Stab, thrust, twist, move to the next target-

Unfortunately for Millerna, this wasn't a war setting.

As the blond twisted to the left for the third time, Hitomi sucked in a reassuring breath, dropped her sword, and bent backwards into a quick tumble. She could feel the swinging blades brushing her sides as she flipped hand over hand twice and stopped in another cart-wheel. Ducking and dodging the pursuing Vehotus member, she led the blond closer to the edge of the stands.

"You dropped your weapon!" The lavender woman's voice was thick with excitement. She rushed in as Hitomi backed away quickly and her back pressed into the stone wall.

Now!

The redhead blocked Millerna's blade with a swirling forearm and grabbed her wrist with the other. A small jolt of electricity shocked her into dropping her dagger and Hitomi instantly caught it before it disappeared. She twisted her arm and slipped to the side, forcing Millerna to put her back to the wall. Pumping her vox into the knife, she gave Millerna a golden enriched shove and, at the same time, flung the blade behind the woman. Her back hit hard and she caught herself swiftly with her hands.

"You threw the blade away!?" Her laugh echoed across the arena. "That was a mista-!" Her announcement was cut off as Millerna took a leaping step forward and was yanked violently backward. Her feet skidding briskly on the sandy ground, the blonde's head collided with the stone with an embarrassingly loud crack. It was several breaths of silence as she half-laid, half-sat in a daze, her back supported by the wall. Blinking in her foggy pain, her legs shifted to stand, but it was fruitless. The blond woman slipped back down with a weary groan.

Millerna was done.

Hitomi took steps back, panting slightly. The vox slowly seeped from her green eyes. The dagger she had thrown – downing with both purple and gold vox - was wedged so deeply into the stone that only the handle was sticking out. It pierced the wall...

And Millerna's black cloak…

"Gotcha." The redhead whispered. Noticing movement from her side vision, Hitomi turned around to walk back in the center as a number of the white-dressed nurses appeared from the sides to come to Millerna's aid.

With the fight already done, the green-eyed girl finally let her ears fill themselves with the rapid conversations that mingled and twisted in the stands. She held her head high as Van appeared next to her with a flash of red. The arena's noise grew louder as she stood her ground, her golden armor still twisting beautifully like water. She couldn't tell if it was negative or positive.

And – for once – she didn't really care.

It didn't matter who hated her. Who plotted against her.

She'd just taken out another Vehotus member.

And – as Van lifted her hand into the air – she couldn't help thinking with a small confident smile: bring on the next one.

I find this chapter too short for my liking, but it'll have to do since I wanted to try and post these in short waves. Short... not a big fan honestly.

But it ends Millerna.

Next is Dryden.

Pray I get it done before Thanksgiving.

blue...