"Have fun, you two," Blood said as they reentered the living room.

  "You sure you two aren't going to come? It won't take long," Beth asked.

  "Oh, we'll come. Just not on the walk," Tasha replied with a giant grin.

  "I see what you did there," Beth said, giving the demoness a one-handed finger guns, her other hand already in Sera's as they opened the front door.

  "Try not to make too much of a mess in the living room," Sera warned.

  "No promises," Tasha replied before immediately turning and starting to make out with Blood.

  "Ah, to be young again," Sera said as they started down the hallway.

  "Sera, you're like, five years older than us? Maybe?" Beth replied with a big eyeroll.

  "More like ten, but sure, point taken," she replied with a throaty chuckle.

  "So, where to?" Beth asked as they walked.

  "I'll take you over to the arena," Sera said with a small sigh and shake of her head. "But, let's stop somewhere else interesting first."

  "Lead the way," Beth said, though the two of them continued to walk side-by-side.

  Sera led her through the building and out into the massive garden area behind it before pulling her along to a building she hadn't been in yet. This wasn't the rumored arena, but a separate building that had a bunch of different facilities in it. Though it wasn't for any of the other things in the building that Sera had brought her here for but a little secret. They passed a number of places dedicated to massages and sports therapy and other, more pleasurable pursuits, before arriving at their destination.

  "What is this place?" Beth asked as they entered, though it wasn’t suspicious, just curious. If Sera wanted to take her to one of the more pleasurable facilities, she wouldn't complain, as long as the dragon stayed with her.

  "Snacks," said Sera.

  "Snacks?" Beth asked, a little confused.

  Her confusion was alleviated after a moment when they stepped up to a counter and Beth saw the array of treats on display. "This is basically an ice cream shop."

  "Well, they do deserts," Sera explained, getting the attention of the attendant.

  "And they're good?" Beth asked.

  "The best at the Royal Rose," the attendant interjected, smiling as she got ready to take Sera's order.

  "Two large chocolate bowls, four zyyrra nut cookies, and eight sugar drops treats," Sera ordered, Beth just gawking at her.

  "Our big, beautiful dragon lady's sweet tooth is rather well-known," the shop clerk explained to Beth with a wink as she got Sera's order ready.

  "I…see," Beth said, a little surprised, but also having obtained a piece of critical information, information that she could start putting to use immediately.

  "You should order something," Sera said.

  "Like what?"

  "Anything," Sera replied as the attendant got her food. "Everything here is amazing. I don't think there's anything here that a base human has to worry about, either."

  "Just one thing," the attendant said, placing a bag on the counter before starting to get the two ice cream bowls, which were what the bowls Sera had ordered were. "Assuming you have no allergies, the barys nut treats would not…be great for you. They wouldn't kill you, but if you don't have some kind of Poison Resistance skill, they'd make you pretty damn sick."

  "Ah yeah, shooting out both ends," Sera said, nodding wisely but getting an elbow in the ribs from Beth.

  "Don't be crude," Beth said.

  "Me? Crude? When?" Sera asked, eyes wide but a smirk on her lips.

  The attendant presented the rest of Sera's order, which disappeared into her storage power, and took payment. Apparently, this 'hidden' treats shop was one of those that Sera had mentioned that didn't just give their product away to the workers at the resort. Beth didn't have nearly as much of a sweet tooth, but she decided to order a handful of different items to try. She could get a box full of all kinds of different things and try them over the next few days, not worried about them as they would always stay fresh in her necklace.

  "It's good," Sera said as they left and Beth was sucking on a sugar candy with a sour coating.

  "I can see why you like it," Beth replied. "But I don't really have that much of a sweet tooth."

  "Shame, that," Sera said, entirely sincere for once.

  "Well, there are certainly worse things to be addicted to," Beth said as they walked away.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  "Eh, maybe," Sera shrugged. "Any addiction can be bad, just have to manage your desires."

  "Something you have some experience with?" Beth asked with a quirked brow, a lilt in her voice.

  "Well, something like that," Sera said, though she still had a small grin. "One of the perks of this job; I don't have to do so much managing."

  "Sounds pretty sweet," Beth said with a warm smile to the dragon woman.

  "I might be up for a change in scenery, however," Sera said with a little smirk.

  "Noted," Beth said with a huge grin, an idea forming in her mind.

  Sera led the way again after they had left the candy shop, taking Beth out of the building and across the huge central courtyard. They moved to a building at the opposite end from the 'main' building, but Beth was surprised when they didn't stop there. Sera led her on a broad path around the back of the building, through yet more manicured gardens, to another building. This one was much larger and broader than the other buildings, and Beth was able to tell at a glance what it was. It became even more obvious when they stepped inside, even the lobby screaming arena in Beth's senses.

  "I knew you wanted to come here, so let's look the place over," Sera said, finishing off the treats with the weirdly named nut in it.

  "Fancier than a CRA Hall," Beth commented mildly as they moved deeper into the building.

  "Laselle doesn't skimp," Sera said with a shrug.

  Sera led the way out to the arena floor, which was not as spacious, and far more luxurious than what she was used to. The seating was the biggest difference, though with the smaller amount of use and much more exclusive clientele list, Beth supposed they could splurge on even the 'cheap' seats being quite nice. There were a handful of people in those nice seats, watching a larger group on the floor fighting in pairs or small groups. Beth spent a minute watching the fights on the floor before tugging on Sera's arm and pulling her away.

  "What? Not to your liking?" asked Sera.

  "There's something else we need to see," Beth replied.

  "Hmm?" Sera asked.

  "I assume the training rooms are below?" Beth asked.

  "Yeah, sure. There's a couple dozen rooms on two basement levels," Sera answered with a nod.

  Beth was able to find the rooms pretty easily with Sera's assurance, being quite familiar with such facilities. Sera tapped on the screen when they entered to book the room, showing that someone was using it. There were enough rooms, and little enough interest, that they didn't have to worry about booking time before hand to avoid being kicked out. Beth had walked up onto the stage and accessed the settings with her communicator, activating the stage. She gave Sera a gesture, the tall woman pointing at herself and making a silly face, causing Beth to roll her eyes.

  "You want to fight…me?" Sera asked, a bit hesitant.

  "I don't know if you're not confident, or too confident," Beth replied with a grin.

  "Well, I don't want to hurt you…" Sera said as she walked up into the ring.

  "Sera, it's a training ring," Beth said, looking up at the runes and mechanisms on the ceiling, just as good if not better than the work in the CRA rooms. "You won't physically hurt me; not permanently. And if you think you'll upset me, I don't get mad losing. I get inspired."

  "OK, I just don't want any hard feelings," Sera said, changing into her armor with a thought.

  Beth walked over to her before they fought and gave her a firm kiss right on the lips. "Trust me, my love, there's no hard feelings."

  "Well, alright, if you insist," Sera said with a stupid little grin on her face.

  Sera's armor was a pure black, whether from some kind of paint or the metal, Beth wasn't really sure, though it had a reflective quality that made her think metal. As Beth was admiring the quality and craftsmanship of the armor, Sera flicked her wrist and a massive spear appeared in her right hand. It was more than eight feet long and made of a black and gold metal, with a broad head and thick shaft. Sera took a ready stance with the spear tucked under her right arm, pointing forward and a little down, the bottom of the haft above her shoulder.

  "Ready?" Beth asked.

  "Any time," Sera said.

  Beth took a step before shooting forward, her greatsword appearing in her hand as she crossed the space separating the two in the blink of an eye. Sera didn't seem particularly surprised, calmly deflecting Beth's first strike without taking a step back or having to shift her stance. Beth probed her with a series of rapid, light blows, Sera able to easily parry all the hits with the broad flat of her spearhead. Neither one was pushing themselves, but Beth hid a bit of a smirk as she could tell she was ahead of Sera. It boded rather well because, while Sera wasn't running any boosting skills, neither was she.

  The dragon got serious first, showing her height combined with the length of her spear gave her a hell of a lot of reach, allowing her to intercept Beth's strikes early. It was a bit of a different experience for Beth, as she hadn't really fought many polearm users yet, and Sera's reach in conjunction with the length of her weapon let her get in some blocks when Beth was still early in her swings. The range held Beth back a lot more than fighting someone with even a large sword or a greathammer, Sera able to poke or even slash at her from multiple steps away.

  Beth kept it without skills for a little while, just using her weaponskills and stats to fight against Sera. The dragon matched her, not doing anything, at least that Beth could tell, other than swinging her weapon with her weaponskill and stats. Beth changed it up after a few minutes of that, feeling like she had a good feel for where Sera was. She started letting go of her sword sometimes to punch or kick, clearly catching Sera off guard when she did it. The tall woman started to adjust, though it was clear she was struggling to hold Beth off now. It was a little amusing, as Sera's reach should have locked Beth out, but the use of two Expert-level weaponskills started to overwhelm her despite her reach advantage. It was pretty clear Sera was at Expert with her Spears, but not very far into the level, as Beth's two weapon type fighting shouldn't have had much of an advantage if Sera were further into Expert.

  After a minute of starting to push the dragon woman around with the two weapons, Beth started slowly ramping up into a full fight. She started the braids of mana running through her muscles with Beastly Tyrant, able to observe Sera's eyes going wide as Beth's already hammer-like blows gained power and force. The dragon was pushed back further and harder now, struggling mightily to keep Beth at any kind of range, especially when a stray punch from Beth could send her spear hurtling off to the side. The tall woman responded by activating some kind of boosting skill of her own, allowing her to keep up…for a time. Beth had fed mana into her skill slowly and Sera kept up for a little, but the dragon had started at fifty or more percent and ramped up to a hundred pretty quickly.

  Sera frowned as she was on the back foot again, Beth crushing her in terms of strength and power as her boosting skill came fully online. Sera responded by trying to take back the initiative with a second skill, her spear blurring into a dozen strikes at the same time. Beth grinned as a wall of spearheads slammed towards her, activating her own second skill in response. Beth activated Swift at full power, blocking all the strikes from the spear with regular swings of her sword before countering. She surged forward and used Monstrous Blow to knock away Sera's spear before slashing at her torso. The dragon somehow got the butt of her spear in the way, deflecting the strike, but having to take two steps back while wincing. Beth pursued her, swinging away, overwhelming the other girl's defenses, outmatching her in stats, skills, and battle experience.

  Sera attempted several desperate plays, including lashing out with her spear skill and using the motion to hide her dragon breath right behind. Beth hadn't ever challenged dragon breath, but she dove headfirst into the fire, cleaving it apart with a one-handed swing before punching Sera directly in the face. The tall woman tried to recover, slamming the end of the haft of her spear into Beth's side, but it barely moved her and she just traded the blow for another. Despite her size and power, and defensive scales, Sera had a bit of a glass jaw. Then again, Beth hit like a runaway freight train on steroids, and it would take someone crazy durable to tank more than a couple of those head strikes without blacking out. Bjorn was likely the only person that wasn’t many rebirths ahead of her who had the kind of tough flesh and defensive skills that he could afford to shrug off a beating from her and try to trade blows.

  Beth stood over Sera as she woke back up, only having been flash KO'd, and the training stage having healed her fully anyway. Beth easily reached down and pick the dragon woman up off the floor, setting her gently on her feet but keeping a hold of her, kissing her jaw as Sera recovered. The dragon woman stared off into space for a moment, subconsciously stroking Beth's hair with one hand while wrapping her other arm around Beth's shoulders. She recovered her spaced out self after a moment and gave Beth a quick kiss on her lips before speaking.

  "What the hell was that?" Sera asked.

  "I think it was me winning?" Beth replied with a huge, face-splitting grin.

  "But, what was that?" Sera asked again, still stroking Beth's hair.

  "Uh, so, I have a decent few skills, and a lot of them are, well, pretty high for my level?" Beth replied a bit unsure.

  "What was that first skill, the one after we just tested the waters?" Sera asked, looking down at the immensely strong beauty with a smile after she asked the question.

  "Tier four Platinum skill Beastly Tyrant," Beth replied.

  Sera's mouth made a huge 'O' of surprise at that answer, and Beth chuckled at the response, going back to kissing Sera's jaw and neck until she recovered her equilibrium. "You have a tier four skill at Platinum?" Sera finally managed to choke out.

  "Lot of strange circumstances," Beth replied with a shrug.

  "That's awesome!" Sera exclaimed, leaning down and giving Beth an aggressive, passionate kiss.

  "Well, I’m glad you're into it," Beth replied when they broke apart.

  "I like to fight, too. I like a lot of stuff," Sera said with a chuckle.