Morning came at the Blood Denior residence, and Tess and Regis were walking out towards the residence training area in the basement. Normally the exterior training grounds would be used, but with the presence of the Dicathen team needing to be kept secret, it was decided to train inside to avoid the prying eyes of anyone possibly looking for them.

Tess entered the room wearing her training attire, which consisted of black boots with silver detailing near the top, black skin tight leggings with a matching skin tight top that changed to white at her chest with significantly looser sleeves and green around the collar. Not only was this outfit comfortable, but it also hugged her body perfectly and showed off her womanly figure. Caera might have an amazing body, but Tess was going to show she wasn't the only one.

As she entered she was instantly reminded of the training area in the floating castle, without the Tobis lining the walls. Inside she saw Arthur sitting in a corner meditating, no doubt working on trying to advance his god runes further. He left earlier to check the area and get a lay of the property in case they were attacked. He looked for easy points of entry, points of escape, and the best locations to defend from if Agrona sent any of his forces.

Along one of the walls, a very bulky man was sitting on a bench holding a block of ice against his head. And lastly was Caera wielding a long blood red sword against another man in a duel. Tess quickly remembered the two men from Regis' memories, they were Caera's body guards. She was wearing an all black outfit that looked like it clung to her body like a second skin, while completely showing her midriff.

"Looks like Caera's a little rough with her guards," Tess thought to herself.

"Good lord! Is she gravity mage or something?" Regis thought out loud.

"Excuse me?" Tess replied as she looked down to Regis with a confused expression.

"Her chest! Look at it! The way she's moving those things should be bouncing all over the place, but just look at them, they're just jiggling in place. What I wouldn't give to examine those things and figure out why."

"You really are disgusting," Tess replied and looked away.

"Well I would comment about you, but your plaything has a tendency to hurt me when I do."

Tess just ignored him as she scanned the room, and noticed someone was missing.

"Arthur said Elijah is still sleeping," Regis said as if reading her mind.

"Good morning Tessia," Caera greeted as she walked over, and her guard joined the other on the bench. "I trust you slept well?"

"Eventually. I helped Arthur burn off some more energy before we eventually fell asleep," she said with a smile.

"I see," Caera replied awkwardly, not sure why Tess was giving that kind of information.

In fact Tess had essentially shamelessly advertised her and Arthur's relationship, either with words, or in the marks left on his neck, since last night.

"Anyway," Caera said, trying to change the subject. "Are you up for a sparring match? I've heard you're one of Dicathen's strongest and I'd love the chance to see how I match up. The only one I ever get to go up against is Master Seris, so a chance to go up against someone else at such a high level would be a welcome change of pace."

"Sure why not," Tess replied with a fake smile. "Perfect chance to see just how strong you are."

Yesterday after their bath together Arthur explained everything Seris told him, as well as her attempt to convince him to kill Tess if it became clear they couldn't defeat Agrona. Tess took the warning to heart and agreed to keep her guard up. He also warned her about Caera. She might not have been strong enough to handle Tess at her peak, but if she were to get comfortable around her it would be easy for Caera to stab her in the back if Seris gave her the order. Although Arthur doubted she would use Caera like that, he also never expected his old headmaster to essentially give him an assassination order.

"Great!" Caera replied excitedly. "I tried to get Arthur to have a match with me, but he refused rather coldly." She then pointed to the guard holding the ice. "Taegen thought he could pressure him into agreeing, but instead got knocked out with a single punch."

Caera walked a few steps away and took a generic fighting stance with her sword. The stance may have been generic, but many experienced sword masters would swear by it when facing a dangerous opponent as it was easy to defend but also attack if an opening was seen.

Tess threw a towel she was carrying onto a bench and drew her new sword from her dimensional ring and attached it to her left hip. It was a pure white elven rapier, made from the metal they were mining out of the relic tomb. The handle itself was designed to look like a tree limb, while the guard looked like a fully open rose, with a vine coming down almost to the pommel. Tess faced Caera while taking one step forward and placing her right hand on the handle of her blade while leaving it in the scabbard.

The two stood quietly as they watched each other for the slightest moment. A few seconds passed with neither making a move, both still looking for an opening to take advantage of, but none could be seen. Soon Tess cracked, and lunged forward as she drew her blade.

She unsheathed her sword, swinging it in a horizontal direction. Caera easily deflected her strike and moves for an upward swing to counter. Tess jumped back to dodge before lunging forward again with a series of jabs. Caera took a wind assisted jump back in response.

"What the? I thought all she could use was those black flames! Regis never showed her using wind magic!" Tess thought to herself before continuing her attack.

Tess and Caera kept exchanging strikes, but they both were able to block, dodge, or counter everything. Arthur had told her that he believed Caera was at the mid-silver stage, and Tess agreed with that, her problem was she was fighting at that level too, but wasn't able to take control of this fight. Before they even left from Dicathen Arthur had driven the importance of restricting their cores hard, as the only white cores were in Agrona's Vritra blooded army. Tess pushed her strength up to the light silver stage, and thought for a second that she had taken control of the duel, but Caera managed to keep up.

The problem for Tess wasn't exactly a matter of core strength, but the fact that Caera was a better swordswoman. Unlike Tess, Caera trained her swords skills hard for years, while Tess slacked for a few years after awakening as a conjuror. Tess thought fighting in the war and training with Arthur had helped her sword play enough, but she had no choice but to accept that she was wrong. And as Caera swept her feet out from under her, she realized he was wrong about a few other things.

"Why am I fighting for Arthur like this? What am I trying to prove? He's not a prize at the end of this fight, I already have him, and he won't leave me for some more mature woman with bigger boobs, he loves me."

Tess caught herself as she fell and used a wind spell to push herself away.

"He could have stayed in the previous timeline if he wanted to be with Caera, he could have shown her affection as she showed signs she was attracted to him. Instead he came back."

Caera chased after her and swung her blade in a downward diagonal motion, but Tess blocked it. She then pushed back as she kicked Tess in the abdomen. Tess however allowed the kick, but used a cushion of air to take way its strength, something she had learned from sparing with Arthur.

"He could have continued to postpone our wedding till after the war, or completely called off our engagement when he came back if he wanted her, but he stayed with me and always will. And this isn't the same Caera, she never met Arthur before yesterday, and she knew we were married. No self respecting woman would ever try and take another woman's man, and if she tries I have nothing to fear, Arthur will always be by my side as my husband till I draw my last breath."

Tess planted her feet firmly as she lowered her stance with her blade over her head. The insecure thoughts were melting away rapidly, no longer weighing her down.

"I really need to grow up," Tess mumbled to herself, then rocketed forward with wind infused steps.

Caera was taken back for a split second, as Tess appeared to have gotten noticeably faster without increasing her mana output. They began exchanging strikes, Tess' had become cleaner and faster, allowing her skills to hold their own against Caera's.

Caera however was holding back too, and began fighting harder and adding wind magic into each attack, forgoing the use of soul fire due to the fact she didn't want to kill Tess. Seeing the introduction of spells Tess decides to do the same, not with wind, but plants.

Several roots burst from the ground and wrap around Caera's feet, causing her to nearly fall over as she tried to take a step back. She ducked down to avoid Tess' blade and grabbed her by her top and pulled her in, then when she hit her shoulder she raised up and threw her behind her. Tess was easily able to readjust mid air and land on her feet, but Caera had already used soul fire to break free of the roots and was ready to go again.

Tess had already accepted that she couldn't defeat Caera based on her sword skills alone, so she took a defensive stance as Caera charged in. Caera's offensive was relentless but Tess was able to hold her back. She tried to use roots to tie up her feet again, but Caera saw that coming and used wind magic to jump back.

Tess smirked. "Right into my trap."

Tess took a wind jump too, but unlike Caera hers was very different. Using Claire's gale stomp spell she developed during their summer break dungeon diving, Tess rocketed towards Caera, much faster than she expected. Caera tried to swing her sword, but Tess had cleared the distance too fast and grabbed her wrist to hold her blade in place, then used gale stomp again to kick off of Caera, sending her crashing into the ground. Once down more roots burst free of the ground and wrapped around Caera holding her down. She was about to use soul fire to break free, but Tess' blade pierced the ground by her head.

"I think this would be my win right?" Tess asked breathing deeply.

Caera's expression softened and she smiled. "Yes, your win."

Tess released the roots and freed Caera, then extended a hand to pull her up. Caera accepted to help.

"Thank you for the match. I know you were still holding back quite a bit, but in a way that provided a better match."

"I agree. If I didn't my swords skills probably would have been enough, but then I wouldn't have noticed they were still lacking."

"Tell me, are you a... what's the Dicathen term for a caster?"

"Conjurer?"

"Yes that's it. Based on how easily you cast your spells I doubt you're a striker."

"Augmenter, and you're right I'm a conjuror."

"I knew it! I've seen caster ascenders that develop close quarters combat skills after they've reached a certain level. You must have trained so very hard to get your sword play to this level at your age," Caera praised with a tinge of excitement.

"Well, my grandfather started teaching me how to wield a sword before I even awoke, since no one was sure if I would awaken as a conjuror or augmenter."

One of the maids arrived with a tray holding two ice waters, which the two girls accepted and took a sip.

"I take it that one of your parents is a caster?"

Tess nodded. "My mother."

"So that's where your plant magic comes from. I've heard of it, but never thought I'd ever see it."

"Oh no. My mother uses water magic, and my father and grandfather wind. Plant magic is actually very rare, so everyone was surprised when I started using that and wind magic."

"Really? That must have been quite a surprise for everyone."

"It was. But since there aren't very many plant mages I pretty much had to teach it to myself based on what I read in books and experimenting with it, on top of what I was learning from my master."

"Duel affinity and swordsmanship, you must have had to work very hard," Caera praised.

"Thanks," Tess replied, feeling embarrassed by the praise. "But you must have as well. Your swordsmanship was amazing. I thought I had improved enough that I could rely on mine, but clearly I have ways to go."

"Thank you. Hey, I was going to go to the sauna, would you like to join me?"

"Wait, you have a sauna here?" Tess questioned, as they didn't even have one at the palace.

"Her ladyship enjoys it, and the high lord likes to have better than everyone else."

"Then by all means, lead the way," Tess replied with a smile.

Caera then began to walk with a similar smile.

"Oh, by the way," Caera said looking over her shoulder. "You probably shouldn't stay in as long as me."

"I'm familiar with saunas, I can handle it," Tess replied.

"No, I mean I stay in probably excessively long to try and burn off some unwanted fat."

Tess looked her up and down. "I can't see where you could have any fat you would want to get rid of."

Caera stopped and turned around and grabbed her breasts. "Right here."

"Are you sure? I can think of plenty of women who would kill to have breasts that big," Tess questioned.

"Maybe so, but I doubt any of them have been in a life or death melee against aether beasts. They are just very cumbersome in battle. I don't want them gone, just smaller. And if I do ever find a man I decide to have any interest in, I want him to be interested in me, not just my chest."

Arthur couldn't hear what was being said, all he knew was that Regis suddenly started crying through their connection.

Tess nodded in understanding. "I fought a mana beast ambush on our camp before. I was so unprepared that I hadn't put my bindings on yet. My chest hurt quite a bit after that."

"Bindings? Do they not have bras in Dicathen?"

"They do, but they don't have enough support for combat."

"You need a active bra."

"Active bra?" Tess laughed.

"Yes, they are great." Caera looked to be in thought. "I doubt mine would fit you right. We can't go into town with the risk of the disguise getting disabled, and I can't invite a tailor here. Oh! We'll get your measurements and send one of the maids into town to get you a few to try out."

Arthur saw this and smiled as well. Unbeknownst to both of them, Arthur wanted them to duel. He could tell Tess was feeling insecure, though he wasn't sure why, and knew sometimes the best and most honest form of communication was not with words, but through combat. He still wasn't sure if Caera would become a threat, but in the hopefully not so distant future, when peace has been achieved between the two continents, the friendship those two were building would without a doubt be an example to everyone.

——————————————————————-

"I hate this," Tess stated flatly while looking in a mirror.

"It's not that bad," Elijah replied from the couch behind her.

The day had finally arrived, the ball Agrona was hosting was scheduled to start in just under an hour. Caera, Elijah, and Tess we're currently in the drawing room waiting on Arthur to finish getting dressed. Unlike Tess and Elijah, Arthur's clothes weren't going to be an illusion created by the disguise artifact. Reason being he would actually be expected to shake hands with people, and the artifact only changes the appearance of things, not the feel, so they would easily be able to tell he was wearing armor.

"I have to go undercover as a maid," she said, turning around in a maid outfit that matched the house maids.

"It's the only way we can get in," Elijah replied, dressed like a butler.

"I'm sorry," Caera apologized. "Honestly I'd rather you adjust the artifact to look like me so I could get out of this, I'm not a fan of parties. But with all the highbloods present, if you went as me it wouldn't take long for someone to realize something was wrong."

Tess sighed. "I know this is an operation, but I like parties." She looked at Caera. "I like wearing beautiful dresses like yours, and being able to have Art on my arm."

Caera was wearing a red strapless dress with a ruby necklace that had two strings of white pearls connected that want around her back, and a silver shawl.

Tess sighed again. "Why do you not even like parties? You look gorgeous."

"Each one is just another opportunity for the high lord and lady to try and set me up with some other highbloods son," she replied with annoyance.

"Well if ever come to Dicathen I'd like to invite you to a party, and I promise I won't try and set you up with someone," Tess offered.

Caera smiled. "Now that sounds like fun. And I'm sure you would look stunning as well."

Tess smiled brightly, then looked back in the mirror. "At least this artifact hides my armor."

"At least you have decent armor," Elijah complained. "My battle robes will be nothing if I end up in a fight with a Vritra."

"Well hopefully it won't come to that," Arthur replied as he entered the room.

"Oh my. You clean up better than I expected," Caera commented.

Arthur was wearing a black suit with a red vest with gold detailing, and a red ascot looking tie with a gold clasp at the knot. To top it all off he wore black gloves and a black coat with red detailing that he was currently only wearing over his shoulders.

"Art please don't ruin that suit, you look so handsome in it," Tess commented, looking forward to taking him out of that suit later.

"I don't particularly care." He pulled on the collar of his shirt. "This feels too restricting. That's why I prefer elven attire."

"Well you're looking good 007," Regis commented from within his core. "Now let's finish this mission, so we can finish this story 007 style."

"007 style?"

"Yeah, bedding a hot piece of ass. Oh, and look there. I'm seeing some fun maid play in yours and Tess' future."

Arthur looked at Tess with a raised eyebrow and smirk, causing her to blush a little. He couldn't argue with Regis in the slightest there.

"Alright, everyone ready?" They all nodded. "Ok then, let's go kill a god."