Selene was in a room on the third floor that had exercise equipment and a space for practicing strikes. She was lying on a mat, performing a complicated pose that contorted her body.
"Do these poses really help with flexibility? I feel like my bones are going to hurt. I've had them permanently enhanced to be resistant!" Selene muttered this as she tried to hold the pose for a few seconds.
Sweat dripped from her forehead into her eyes, causing her to blink several times due to the discomfort. Her face turned red. She never thought this simple exercise would be so demanding.
Meredith had given her a series of poses to develop flexibility and help her relax, a kind of meditation combined with physical activity.
The interesting thing was what she set out to do while performing one of those complicated positions: channel her Noeia! A gray mist rose from her head and transformed into hundreds of threads that covered her body for a moment before sinking into her skin.
"I'm not cut out for Assassin! What a stupid thing to say," Selene muttered as she returned her arms and legs to their normal position. She rested on her back on the mat she used for the exercise.
Those were Meredith's words after training with Selene for a couple of nights. According to Meredith, although Selene's movements were precise and deadly, and she knew how to gain the upper hand on several occasions, she lacked two key elements to being an assassin: absolute contempt for life and killer instinct.
Being capable does not make you an assassin. Being an assassin is a 'profession,' a duty. An assassin doesn't need to be agile, kill with one blow, or be stealthy. An assassin must fulfill their mission at all costs, even if the consequence is death.
Selene valued her life. One reason she wanted to become strong was to survive! She could take risks and injure herself to inflict mortal damage, but she would never exchange mortal wounds with her target.
As for killer instinct, Selene viewed it as a kind of functional psychopathy, similar to Meredith's. She could question her existence and be emotionally affected by it. After all, it was something no human could avoid.
However, Selene was somewhat disconnected from her emotions. She could feel, experience, and understand them, but they didn't penetrate her. She could put them aside as if she were a machine, coldly evaluating everything.
Selene assumed that Meredith's 'arrogance' was a limitation imposed on her in the simulation, so she removed the trait that clearly did not match Meredith's true self.
The maid explained that Selene was deeply affected by her emotions. Even if she killed her enemies, even if they were strangers, she would probably never forget their faces, which was true.
Selene remembers the woman from her first murder, the four men who robbed her, and everyone with whom she had a conflict that ended in death. Their faces remained in her mind, and she experienced a range of emotions during those events: relief, gloating, euphoria, sadness, pain, and discomfort.
Meredith did not think Selene was crazy, so she could read while Selene was dreaming. She also read the stories of the world and Selene's life that the purple-haired girl told her. The maid understood that the world in which the princess lived was very different from her own and that it was a wild place.
Outside the city-states, there were no laws, and each city had its own legislation. For example, a brain-computer implant was mandatory in Dusk City, where people had mechanical parts fitted, even mutilating themselves for that purpose, despite not needing them.
In Eclipse City? Implants involving the skull and unnecessary prostheses were prohibited because they were considered a risk to the safety and individuality of the population.
However, with permission, you could integrate combat capabilities into your mechanical replacements. For example, Selene saw a blue-haired woman several days ago who was participating in underground fights. It was clear that she had lost her leg and probably suffered a serious spinal injury.
Apogee City is another city where flesh is despised and mechanical prosthetics are sought to replace almost the entire body. This makes it much more extreme than Dusk City.
Moreover, the devotion to the Second Sun in this city was not only out of respect and appreciation for the help this entity gave humanity in the past; they also deified it. They had a cult in its name and preached in other cities. In their own city, it was illegal not to believe that this being was a god.
Knowing this, everyone had come to accept killing as a very likely possibility in the outside world, which was not under anyone's control except for some territorial monsters.
Selene could not be killed, even though she felt no guilt for her actions. She was inevitably affected by the deaths she caused, whether she liked it or not. She was a functional person who had to be forced to follow this implicit 'rule' of nature: kill or be killed.
'However, you can train with me. I'll make your movements more accurate, your attacks more ruthless, and, for heaven's sake, I'll make you flexible.' Always seeking rigidity in your strikes is not ideal," Meredith said to him at the end, just before showing him the complicated stances she had learned.
When she tried them, she noticed that they were an exercise that worked many muscles at the same time. She could tell because her focus was on controlling her muscle fibers, and she had made permanent improvements.
She didn't expect to achieve the flexibility of a professional contortionist, but she would develop 'softness' that she could integrate into her attacks over time, Meredith told her.
Selene was intelligent, which allowed her to learn to fight, create Glyphworks, and study science. Although esoteric concepts always seemed confusing to her at first, Meredith's explanation opened a new door for the purple-haired girl.
All of this helped her improve her fighting style by incorporating some of the techniques of an ancient assassin and developing a better understanding of her own strength and how to apply it more efficiently.
She knew she couldn't be an assassin. She charged forward like a front-line fighter, not a berserker. But no one said she couldn't absorb and integrate elements of other styles into her own.
'Extremes give you the illusion of unparalleled power, but extremes are bad without exception. Nothing extreme is beneficial to the body or mind, so you should always seek balance. Instinctively, we all tend toward the middle ground.
You want total freedom, to be without restrictions, to be completely alone. But instinctively, you surround yourself with friends. You return home. You even intend to take me to your mental passage.
You pursue the extreme, but you tend toward balance. Luckily, you do that, or you would become a being dominated by your ideal and fall into the abyss that is extremism,' Meredith told her. Selene, who remembered this matter, felt uncomfortable and fortunate in equal measure.
"It made me think of Morgana. She loves hunting creatures, and she's much more ruthless than I am when it comes to fighting. But strangely, she hates hurting small, cute beings. She's not a monster who wants to spill blood. She just wants to prove herself and find her place in the food chain," Selene reflected on her friend as she stood up and felt the continuous burn in her muscles.
She then asked Meredith if her revenge wasn't an extreme as well, but the maid's response made the purple-haired girl never forget that conversation:
'Only when you live on the extreme and return to balance can you understand it as well as I do.'
"Extremes, huh? S.O.A.S. fell into an extremist attitude because of a flaw in logic. Wanting to take care of me was fine, but incapacitating me so that he could take care of me completely and not let the outside world hurt me? What a fucking extremist robot! If I find you..." Selene clenched her fists, making them crack.
"No, relax. Don't think about that piece of junk. Focus on the fact that you'll finally see the underground fights today," she said, a big smile spreading across her face as she spoke, calming her somewhat turbulent mood.
"But there are still two hours to go. I have half an hour to shower and half an hour to get dressed. I can train for another hour. Let's hit the sandbag," she said. Selene looked at a certain area of the room before picking up two gloves similar to the ones she used when training with her father. She put the gloves on her hands.
She walked over to the black sandbag and began punching it. She tried to make her attacks less rigid than before and attempted to take advantage of the concept of 'softness' that Meredith had explained to her. She sought a balance.
The sound of her punches echoed throughout the room like music to her ears, causing any negative emotions she had about S.O.A.S. to disappear.
'Softness and hardness are like the laws of physics; every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Not only will flexibility make my body easier to manipulate, it will also allow me to better channel the force I receive, whether it is caused by me or my enemy,' thought Selene as she kicked the sandbag, causing it to barely move.
However, her foot bounced uncontrollably, forcing her to reposition herself to avoid falling. She clicked her tongue, knowing her attempt had not worked.
"Hardness, softness, external, internal. Why does it sound like an old story? Well, Meredith is from the past, perhaps from much further back than the origin of the Dream Interface Core, which is why she says such strange things." Selene's brow furrowed as she muttered, continuing to think about the way Meredith spoke and expressed herself.
She had to get used to hearing 'Grace' instead of Noeia. After all, that was how Meredith knew this power. She couldn't change that habit in a few minutes, so she dissociated herself from it, replacing that word with the term she knew.
Fortunately, her explanation of murderous intent and other esoteric topics was similar to what Selene already knew, only with more elaborate words. The essence hadn't changed.
Selene already knew these things and how to apply them since they were basic knowledge. A decent Noetarch should understand these aspects of themselves and know how to express them. They are a way for the mind to interact with the outside world.
When Meredith spoke to her about Hardness, Softness, External, and Internal, Selene spent a long time deducing their meaning until she came to a simple conclusion: They were just ancient names for attacks.
A hard blow was simply normal, while a soft blow required better control of one's strength. This is often used to deflect attacks or counter the enemy. Anyone who has learned to fight knows how to apply these concepts in a basic way.
The tricky part was integrating them and using them to their fullest potential consciously. But Selene knew it was only a matter of time. After all, anyone who didn't know how to deflect an enemy's force to the ground was asking to break their bones.
The complicated part came with the external and internal aspects. According to Meredith, every attack one provoked or suffered generally came from the outside in, which is why the concept of "external" was understood.
"The internal reminds me of the ability of my left gauntlet," Selene said, running the back of her hand across her forehead to prevent drops of sweat from falling into her eyes.
The internal aspect simply ensured that the impact of an attack would penetrate an enemy's internal organs and exit the body, causing external damage.
This required great control of one's power and extensive knowledge of how to apply force, gained through experience and battles, not simply practice.
"Now that I think about it, my father seems to know about these things. The attacks he makes are not entirely common," Selene said, looking at the bruises on her body, which were almost gone and barely noticeable.
"It seems that things are not lost; they just adapt. No wonder I always feel like my muscles have been hit directly. Even if my skin isn't as tough as his or Morgana's, it shouldn't be so easy to do with just a punch or kick." The purple-haired girl seemed to have understood something important, so she resumed hitting the sandbag.
All the while, she realized that she wanted Meredith in her life more than ever. Although Meredith's presence didn't instantly make her super powerful, it helped her better understand her condition and her chosen path in life and fighting style. This made her much more valuable.
"The best idea I ever had was wanting to make you part of my life! HAHAHAHA!" Selene burst out laughing. The sound of her punches landing on the sandbag was rhythmic, like background music.
Her own background music.
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Selene looked at herself in the mirror while posing to see how the outfit she was wearing looked on her. It was a tight black dress with a high neck, covered shoulders, and short sleeves that didn't even cover half of her thighs.
She wore it with plain black stockings and matching shoes. It was a simple outfit, but it suited her quite well, in her opinion. It matched her purple hair and pink eyes perfectly.
"Ah, how beautiful I look!" Selene blew herself a kiss as she admired her appearance. She felt perfect in those clothes, but she had to stop admiring herself when her communication crystal indicated she had a new message.
[I'm outside your house. Are you coming out, or are you going to keep looking in the mirror? I know you always do, so hurry up!]
It was a message from Morgana that caused Selene to roll her eyes because she didn't have the perfect answer. After all, she had been looking in the mirror and wasting time.
[Just a moment. I need to take some pictures~]
Selene replied before doing exactly that. She took photos with her communication crystal and sent them to Noelle, Kim, and Morgana. She also uploaded them to her Vetrorum profile, where she had suddenly started gaining followers.
She put her communication crystal and ID card in a hidden pocket of her dress. Then, she went downstairs, said goodbye to her parents, got on her motorcycle, and rode a few meters down the street. There, she saw Morgana leaning against the façade of a house, watching the purple-haired girl arrive.
"You really did take those photos," Morgana complained. She was finally free of her bandages, leaving only a few new scars on her skin, which gave her a much fiercer look.
"You know how things are. You have to show off your beauty. If we don't, the effort would be pointless, don't you think?" Selene shook her hair as she said this, appreciating the clothes her friend was wearing.
Unlike Selene, the brunette wore tight black pants and a red-and-black striped sweater that covered only her chest, leaving her toned abdomen, covered in scars, and her belly button piercing exposed.
"Yes, we have to show off! But not when you keep me waiting," Morgana replied, climbing onto Selene's flying motorcycle and hugging her waist tightly, resting her chin on her shoulder.
"The show starts in half an hour, and I don't want to be late," the brunette said directly into the purple-haired girl's ear. She trembled a little as Selene accelerated.
"We'll be on time!" Selene exclaimed, keeping her motorcycle's speed just below the speed limit so the traffic robots couldn't stop her. After all, she wasn't breaking the law.
"The city is really beautiful at night," Morgana whispered. She stared at the scenery passing by at high speed. Since her senses were extremely sharp, she was able to appreciate it in great detail.
"Eclipse is the best city-state of all! If anyone disagrees, we'll fight them," Selene replied with a big smile, which Morgana echoed.
All the inhabitants of Eclipse thought the same way. They could be peaceful and didn't usually interfere with other city-states. However, they responded forcefully to provocation, as the City of Nightfall had discovered decades ago.
As they chatted about trivialities, the motorcycle entered an area near the suburbs. They arrived at a single-story building with a guard posted at the only door.
The guard was sitting carelessly in a chair, unarmed, with only his communicator crystal in his hand. He was probably chatting with someone or watching short videos on Vetrorum.
He only reacted when Selene pulled over to the side, where other vehicles were parked. Some people had already arrived and gone inside, but it wasn't too late; according to the schedule the girls knew, the events hadn't started yet.
The man did not ask for identification; in this place, only the tickets given to Morgana or memberships were valid. Both women took out their communication crystals and showed the guard the tickets they had.
The guard scanned the tickets and checked that they were valid. Then, he simply took a metal card out of his pocket and swiped it in front of the door. The entrance unlocked, revealing a fairly large elevator.
"Remember to get more tickets or a membership. The latter will allow you to access exclusive benefits depending on your level," the man announced with a stiff smile, looking fed up.
"Thank you~" Selene said softly before entering the elevator with Morgana.
Shortly after the door closed, the elevator began to operate without having to press a button, descending into the depths of the earth. When this happened, Selene laughed, causing Morgana to glance at her, one eyebrow raised.
"We came to see the underground fights. We're going down right now," the purple-haired girl explained, revealing what had made her laugh. However, it wasn't her words that had made the brunette burst out laughing, but rather the face she had made while speaking.
"Okay, that was funny," Morgana said before the elevator stopped and the door opened to reveal a dimly lit hallway.
The two women walked through the dimly lit hallway without fear, knowing nothing bad would happen to them. However, the atmosphere was particularly tense for anyone with claustrophobia or nyctophobia.
Soon, they began to hear voices. Even though they had arrived early, it seemed that the audience had already made their way in through various entrances. They took the entrance closest to them, but there were other ways to access the place.
The two arrived at a large, open space that resembled a giant stadium. There was plenty of light, and seats were arranged in circular rings around a large arena that was empty at the moment.
In the ring where the women were standing, there were no ropes, but there were establishments that appeared to be for food, drinks, and staff. The first thing they did was go directly to a stand set up by the organizers of the underground fights.
"Good evening, ladies. How may I help you?" A robot with a pink metal casing, a feminine voice, and an appearance that left little to the imagination answered them.
"Oh, a gynoid. May I ask your name?" Selene asked, intrigued by this completely humanoid robot.
"I am XL1313, but you can call me Xilenna. Do you require my services?" the gynoid replied, asking more directly.
"Xilenna, we want to purchase memberships. Could you tell us about them, their benefits, and their prices?" Morgana asked, causing Xilenna's blue eyes to sparkle with joy.
"Of course! Memberships are divided into four levels: normal, elite, executive, and supreme. Normal membership costs 500 Argentum to apply for and requires a monthly payment of 50 or an annual payment of 110.
Beyond allowing you to choose a seat in the middle rings for free and informing you where to park your vehicle, there are no visible benefits. You also receive a 10% discount on all purchases and the opportunity to participate in an arena fight, if you have the courage." The gynoid showed her palm, projecting information about this option. It was the most requested.
"Elite membership is more exclusive. The application fee is 1,000 Argentum, or 100 Argentum per month, or 1,100 Argentum per year. Members receive a 25% discount on purchases and can request a fixed seat in the inner rings, where only they can sit.
You also get a unique spot in an exclusive parking lot. Plus, you can participate in elaborate arena fights, organize fights, and challenge established fighters, but only once a month." The projection changed, this time showing information about the Elite membership. Xilenna's voice became more enthusiastic.
"The executive option costs 2,000 Argentum to apply, 200 Argentum per month, or 2,300 Argentum per year. It allows you to choose a seat in the final ring, which is the closest to the arena.
You get 50% off all your purchases, and you can give tickets to people outside, although selling them is prohibited. You get a high-end parking spot where you can have your vehicle serviced upon request.
You can join the fighters as a full member and be given a schedule that you can organize as you wish. Each fight must be planned and reviewed by you and the staff. Additionally, you will receive bulletins about people looking for challengers or challenging you. You can decide for yourself whether to participate.
You will be invited to special events ranging from arena fights against rare creatures to banquets and celebrations. You will have access to an exclusive spa and food, as well as a combat uniform customized to your liking.
All memberships can be revoked at any time with no penalty or retention. Everything is completely legal and monitored by the city government. If you get into a fight and decide to give up by canceling your membership, that is allowed.
Here, we don't force our fighters to face what they don't want to. It all depends on one's courage," Xilenna explained at length, especially regarding the last topic. She approached it with great care, although it didn't have much to do with everything else. It was as if she were accustomed to giving this answer for some reason.
"You missed the last membership, the supreme one," Selene commented.
Xilenna didn't answer, simply tilting her head before projecting the three options she had already mentioned.
"Would you like one of these three membership options?" Xilenna avoided the subject. Feeling that they couldn't learn anything more from this matter, Selene and Morgana looked at each other before shrugging.
"I choose the executive," Selene said without thinking too much about it. She wanted the maximum benefits, as well as the possibility of fighting as much as she wanted in the arena. Why would she choose another option?
Morgana chose the same option for the same reason as her friend. She had been looking for underground fights for a long time.
"Thank you for joining! Our organization, the Fighters League, welcomes you. Just show your ID and fill out these forms with your details." This time, Xilenna showed each of them a screen with everything they needed.
"Oh, right, you're called the Fighters League. People hear rumors about underground fights and assume that's what you're called," Selene muttered as she filled out her details. This included the part that said she was a Noetarca and Glyphworker, even though that information was already on her ID. The form emphasized that point.
After that, everything was done. Xilenna told them that their IDs now served as permanent tickets as long as they had a membership. In addition, a series of notifications would be sent to their communication crystals, enabling new permissions and areas in the app.
Then, the duo bought food and drinks before heading to their seats, all under the envious gaze of those who wanted executive membership.
"We're finally here!" Morgana said, sighing. She was excited to enjoy this opportunity.
"Thank you for bringing me here!" Selene exclaimed, causing Morgana to click her tongue.
"Don't worry about it. You like to fight, and so do I. Who else would I bring? Noelle is more of a thinker, and Kim only knows how to defend herself. You know that. She prefers to attack with her fire staff," Morgana replied, sounding bored, which caused Selene to stick out her tongue.
Not all notaries must know how to fight, but some choose to learn hand-to-hand combat. Noelle was the group's strategist. Many of her permanent upgrades have gone to her brain, improving her reasoning skills. Although she possesses physical strength, she is clearly better suited to staying in the rear and using her dual pistols.
Kim, on the other hand, fell in love with her fire staff, a Glyphworker that her father, Minho, commissioned from Hyperion when she was a child. She learned to use it, demonstrating great skill in controlling the flames it generated.
The group sometimes joked that she was a closet pyromaniac, though there was no concrete evidence to prove it. However, her personality was sometimes as volatile as the fire she wielded. She was usually gentle, though.
For this reason, her hand-to-hand combat style focused more on defense. Although she seemed fragile due to certain aspects of her behavior, she could take more punishment than anyone except Morgana.
["Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome back to the Underground Fights!"]
The two girls' conversation was interrupted, but they didn't mind. The voice belonged to a man and was amplified so that it could be heard perfectly throughout the venue.
["We're starting strong today! We'll see our beloved Gustav fight an adult Shadow Dog! Yes, you heard right! An adult Shadow Dog will be here in the arena!"]
Damn, this got intense too fast! A Shadow Dog is one of the smartest monsters out there!" Morgana exclaimed in amazement while Selene drank her beer.
"An adult one can cause a lot of damage, especially because of its ability to hide in the shadows. But with all these lights, will it be able to use its full strength?" the purple-haired girl asked after thinking about it.
"It doesn't matter. I just hope to see the final result," Morgana muttered as she put a hot dog in her mouth. Her eyes did not stray from the arena as she waited to see the two participants.
It was time to watch an incredible fight!