The day advanced inside Horizon, and now Orion, Karteira and Amelia, who joined after waking up, were at the far training area, where nothing could happen to the house.


    "Amelia, I''ll be monopolizing Karteira today. Sorry if you had plans with her."


    She shook her head at his words.


    "Well, I saw that coming. You kept looking at her recently, like you wanted to ask something but kept being interrupted."


    "Isn''t that right? When I want to train, there''s always something coming up recently."


    He shrugged, and let out a strong sigh.


    "What''s worse is that I promised Karteira for quite some times, but just couldn''t find the right moment for us to go at it. I really want to so how much she improved since our little training under the rain."


    Karteira remembered the battered state she was in, and how much that help her at the time. The sight of a shirtless Orion also remained in her mind.


    However he looked, he was incredible in her mind. No matter what, she wanted to give it her all this time.


    "Alright, I''ll be looking at it away from here, I don''t want to join the fray."


    "I won''t shoot arrows, so you should be safe, but just in case, be careful."


    With a nod, Amelia turned around and wave, making some distance between them.


    Orion turned to Karteira and stared in her eyes. She had removed her eyepatch today, displaying her beautiful blue eye that was healed by Tiohr-nam after the the successful mission underground in the fairy realm.


    "I can feel your impatience from here, but wait a little longer, there''s a few things we need to discuss before starting."


    Without breaking eye contact, she began to walk around Orion, as if stalking a prey. She was really impatient to start.


    "Like what? Rules?"


    "Yes. Because without rules, it would be a deathmatch. And none of us are willing to go that far."


    "Fine by me. State your conditions."


    Her tail began to move up and down, left and right, in circle motion, and stopped, before doing it again. She was warming it up before the fight.


    "On my part first. I won''t use my crossbow, neither will I use my daggers. I''m fighting bare-handed. But if the situation force me to, I''ll defend with a dagger."


    She silently continued to walk behind him in circles as he continued.


    "I''ll be using everything else I have. ''Spatial Shift'' included. It''s your job to find a way to counter me."


    Entering his line of sight again, he saw on her face that she already expected to fight him like this.


    "I don''t mind."


    "Alright then. There also two conditions for you."


    She nodded, and answered for him.


    "No stinger and no full transformation? I know."


    "Half-right."


    Her footsteps stopped, while she displayed a look of surprise.


    "No stinger, that''s a given. You can use your full armor and any form you want against me today, I''ll endure whatever you can throw at me."


    The blood in her body started to boil, and her plates began to move by themselves on her body.


    Her battle addict smile appeared, showing how happy she was to finally give everything against him.


    "The second rule is, give me everything you have, and try to defeat me."


    Orion instantly took a fighting stance, and forced the mood away. His face changed from a smile to neutrality in an instant, and focused everything on her every moves like he always does against an enemy.


    His body remained unchanged. His hair remained black, and no enhancement were applied to him currently, which Karteira noticed.


    There was a few things she learned when training. She wasn''t observant enough, and was a bit too hotheaded.


    Working on this two aspects wasn''t easy by any means, and she struggled to even find a starting point in changing that.


    But the fight in Kaios proved her that the work she put in was there. If not for that, she would have never seen the gun in the soldier''s hand at the time.


    And here she was, forcing her feet not to leave the ground. Patiently, while also being extremely impatient, she watched Orion.


    ''I''ll look. I''ll look in his eyes, and at his feet. I''m betting on the first attack being a ''Spatial Shift''.''


    Orion stayed motionless in front of Karteira. He was simply waiting for Karteira to finish her transformation.


    ''Which armor is that? I didn''t activate it myself so I don''t know.''


    *Clack* *Clack*


    But the last plate lodged themselves, and the sound of multiple openings were heard.


    "Cerulean Storm it is."


    The moment those words were pronounced, Orion moved and disappeared.


    ''I knew it!''


    Karteira turned around in an instant after she carefully looked at the direction his eyes looked at before warping.


    ''Brace!''


    She placed her arms in front of her and received the powerful kick.


    "Gh!"


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    Feeling her feet slid on the ground as she was pushed away by the sheer force, she managed to block it.


    Orion, in a split second, applied the speed enhancement on himself. When he appeared behind Karteira, he had already changed appearance.


    His black and white bangs fluttered as his feet touched the ground again.


    "Good job on defending this one."


    Without waiting, he pushed on his legs and ran toward her.


    ''Shit, never underestimate his kicks. That''s the First Gear for you right?''


    Karteira lifted her face up and looked at him with a grin on her face.


    "Thanks!"


    She pushed on her own legs, and ran toward him too. She wasn''t as fast, but still managed to attain top speed.


    When the two met, a series of powerful, slow punchs were exchanged. Each one thrown was instantly countered by the other.


    Let''s say that this was their warm up. Why go full power instantly, when you can enjoy your time?


    Slowly, Karteira''s punchs began to overpower Orion. Her body began to heat up at a rapid pace.


    ''There it goes, I need a little bit more!''


    Her plates slowly turned red. The heat began to accumulate after each punches, and the pockets of pressurized steam began to fill.


    *PHSSSSST*


    When she felt satisfied with the heat inside the plates, she crouched, dodging the next punch Orion threw, and tried to swip his feet of the ground with her leg.


    He jumped over it, and while he was in mid-air, she activated the steam boosters.


    ''Straight. Let''s go high!''


    The box like features on the side of her hips clicked, and the back of both of them opened a little slit that let the steam out.


    The sheer force pushed Karteira off the ground straight toward Orion.


    She crossed her arms, and prepared herself to tackle him.


    "How do you like that!"


    With an attack that even Orion had trouble to see so close to him, he in turn braced himself.


    The two collided and began to fly through the air at high speed.


    One meters, two meters... five meters... ten meters.


    Karteira was really going all out.


    Amelia, all the way from her spot, was able to see that.


    "Wait, is she going for an airborne fight? Is that even possible?"


    As she said that, Karteira cut the steam propulsion.


    ''I have enough steam for two minutes, without considering its natural generation.''


    With small burst upward, she managed to move around, but it was very bumpy, almost making her sick.


    While she was having trouble maintaining herself, Orion was being launched a few meters away.


    He had no way to stay in the air like Karteira, but he could use something to also fight in the air.


    Karteira looked around to find Orion, and when she happened to find him, he vanished.


    ''Where did he-''


    With a strong bust of steam forward, she dodged last second a falling Orion that was kicking her way.


    ''He''s using the fall and ''Spatial Shift'' to fall on me! Damn genius!''


    This process repeat a few times, with Karteira countering a few times, but that was leading nowhere.


    While also falling, Orion was picking momentum for constantly falling.


    ''Forw- No steam!''


    She realized too late that her tank was depleted, and Orion fell straight at her as she was about to fall too.


    Orion, having taking incredible momentum for staying in the air for too long, instantly caught up to her and punched her in the guts.


    Bracing for another impact, both of them plummeted to the ground with a large explosion, and a huge tremor.


    The area shook, before returning to normal. Since Horizon was a special place, the ground remained undamaged.


    But the same couldn''t be said for Karteira.


    Orion removed himself from the pained woman, and checked if she was out cold or injured.


    He noticed that she had absolutely no injuries.


    "Your plates are something else."


    What''s more, they were thicker than before and clearly different.


    "Ouch! Good thing I changed armor at the last second."


    Karteira touched her head, which she protected with a temporary plate around her neck that covered the back of her head.


    Her tail also managed to avoid any serious damage, as it was sturdier than ever.


    Fumbling a little while standing up, she looked at Orion.


    "You''re fine?"


    "Always."


    He nodded, being a little worried about her condition, but since she was not injured, he returned to his battle stance.


    ''That Cerulean Aegis, if not for that new ability I created, I would have instantly lost.''


    ''When Orion approached me at that speed, the only thing I could do was switch to the Cerulean Aegis.''


    ''Bastion.''


    She looked at her arms plates that slowly began to lose the shiny blue luster they had the moment Orion punched her.


    Bastion was an ability she thought about after fighting Drania during their camp outside the fairy realm.


    At that time, she wanted to endure every hits, but couldn''t, so she thought of an ability capable of that.


    And with the thought of ''I''ll be the shield of my allies.'', her desire took form in an ability called ''Bastion'', in which, for ten seconds, any kind of attack toward Karteira is nullified. The only problem is the knockback effect that remains.


    ''If not for that, I would have lost.''


    The shine completely vanished, leaving Karteira with her natural Cerulean color.


    "Care to continue?"


    Orion nodded.


    ''Cerulean Armor, Gauntlet form.''


    The large plates began to move again, but this time to create to weapons at her fists.


    She ran toward Orion, as they began to once again exchange blows. This time, they weren''t slow, warm-up blows.


    Punches capable of breaking a man in half where thrown at him, and Orion took them without frowning.


    A few punch connected, but they were more grazes then actual hit. When Orion felt that he didn''t have to dodge or counter, the punch passed through his guard.


    ''Why can''t I hit him? His moving as fast as me!''


    But that was in her mind. In fact, she was touching him, and he was even having a lot of trouble stopping most of the hits.


    He wasn''t moving fast, he was simply stopping the most troublesome blows.


    When Orion had enough, he let one punch graze his side a little too close for comfort, and elbowed both gauntlets, breaking Karteira''s stance, before kicking her away with a hit on her stomach.


    ''It''s never easy to fight against him.''


    ''What else can I do?''


    She hadn''t suffered any injuries thanks to her plates, but the kick in her guts still hurt a bit, that was how strong it was.


    ''I''m overheating too. Switching to Storm mode again.''


    Her plates instantly changed and the steam tanks instantly filled.


    The gauntlets plates returned to their original spot, leaving Karteira without a weapon, but that wasn''t a problem.


    With a large burst of steam, she threw her body toward Orion. She tried to kick him, but he defended, though she managed to push him away.


    She used a different tactic.


    ''Faster. Faster!''


    Steam began to rapidly gush each time she wanted to move somewhere. Just like that, she began to fly around Orion and deliver powerful kicks, not letting him any time to rest or notice where she was at.


    At this point, she was even leaving steam afterimages of herself behind.


    After five minutes of depleting her full tank of steam, she almost collapsed on the ground.


    *Cough*


    "Fuck, how can you... still stand?"


    "I''m built different, that''s all."


    Orion walked toward her, dusting off his clothes, that were slightly wet from the steam he was surrounding by during her attacks.


    "Seriously?"


    "I''m mostly joking. I had to heal multiple times because you broke my arms. I can''t endure those hits you know?"


    He lifted his shirt and showed a huge black spot on his chest.


    "You even managed to break a rib."


    "Doesn''t that hurt?"


    She stood back up with difficulty.


    "Of course it does. I simply don''t feel it as much as it should. Adrenaline I think? It gives me time to heal before I can feel the complete pain."


    He began to heal his rib, and in less than a minute, the black spot had disappeared.


    "Let''s stop here. You showed me enough of your improvement for me to say that I would eventually lose if you had more deadly attacks."


    "I''m fine with that."


    Karteira sat back on the ground, and massaged her legs over her armor with a heated sigh.


    "Remove your armor and show me your legs, all of those kicks might have caused a few fractures on your bones."


    Orion healed her legs without waiting. She wasn''t like him, able to endure pain for long.


    "You should be fine."


    "I didn''t managed to force you to use the daggers."


    She was cutely pouting, hugging her knees.


    "If you had used your sharp gauntlets, I would have. I said it, the point is not to hurt each other, it''s to see how far you fare against a monster like me. My stamina, my raw strength, and my resilience, is something that was given because of my factions."


    "My actions and my thinking are all dictated in the middle of the fight. The fact that I can observe the fight in a slow manner is also a little against fairness."


    "But one day, I''m sure you will win against me, like you did the first time we fought against each other."


    Her eyes shone when she heard that him remembering what was a precious memory for her.


    "Alright, let''s go back to Amelia. We''ll talk about what you want to improve later. For now, I need some coffee. Using too much magic is does not feel good."


    Karteira stood up and walked closely behind him.


    "I couldn''t use any more warps because I used too much energy shifting not to fall during our mid-air fight. That was impressive."


    But she wasn''t listening. She was only looking at him with her shining blue eyes.


    She had something on her mind, and she kept quiet, until they arrived where Amelia was.