Utopian System

"Ah," the dual voice acquired a tone of cruel amusement. "The one who loves him. This gets more interesting by the moment."

♢♢♢♢

Lila's movements were powerful but raw, her transformed body still adjusting to its enhanced capabilities. Zahyla exploited this, weaving between her attacks with practiced grace while maintaining a psychological assault.

"Tell me, Lila," Zahyla's dual voice carried over the sound of powerful blows in the wind, "did those crystals I gave you help? All that mana, all those... suggestions about how to make him notice you?"

Lila faltered for a split second, enough for Zahyla's blade to slice through the air where her neck had been. But Elio was already there, his body inserting itself into the space between them, forcing Zahyla to abort her attack.

"Your coordination is impressive," Zahyla spun away from Elio's counter, her movements fluid and precise. "But I can feel your uncertainty, Lila. The guilt eating at you. All those nights by the barrier, plotting how to win his heart..."

Elio and Lila moved in tandem, their attacks coordinated despite never having fought together like this before. Where Lila created openings, Elio's precision exploited them. Where his speed forced Zahyla to defend, Lila's strength tested those defenses.

"Shut up!" Lila's sword sliced past where Zahyla had been, her inexperience with the transformation evident in the slight delay of her recovery.

"You're slower than you should be," Zahyla noted clinically while deflecting three of Elio's strikes in rapid succession. "The potion doesn't sit well with a guilty conscience, does it? All those schemes, all those manipulations..."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Elio's hand found Lila's shoulder, steadying her, his presence a silent reminder to focus. They moved together again, their attacks forming a pattern that forced Zahyla to stay defensive.

But Zahyla was far from finished. "Did you tell him about our conversations? About how eagerly you accepted my advice on how to exploit his emotional vulnerabilities?"

Elio's leg sweep forcing Zahyla to jump, Lila's overhead strike making her block high, Elio's follow-up targeting her exposed midsection. But Zahyla twisted impossibly between their attacks, Diana's enhanced body responding to her millenia of experience with unnatural precision.

"The crystals were just the beginning," Zahyla continued, her blade singing through the air. "You were so desperate for guidance, so eager to learn how to manipulate his feelings. 'He never notices me,' you said. 'He only sees Zara.'"

Lila's rhythm broke again, her next attack coming a fraction too slow. Zahyla's counter would have opened her from shoulder to hip if Elio hadn't intercepted with a barrier of metal.

"Don't listen to her," Elio commanded, his voice steady as they regrouped. His eyes never left Zahyla, tracking her every movement.

"Oh, but she should," Zahyla's smile was pure cruelty now. "She should remember how she hung on my every word, learning the art of emotional manipulation. The subtle ways to make you feel guilty, the carefully timed displays of vulnerability to touch you..."

Another exchange, faster this time. Lila's attacks gained power from her anger, but lost precision. Elio compensated, his movements becoming more protective, covering her increasing openings while maintaining offensive pressure on Zahyla.

"I was particularly proud of suggesting she use her sorrow as a weapon," Zahyla ducked under Elio's strike while parrying Lila's. "The way she learned to weaponize her pain, to make you feel responsible for her emotional state..."

"I never gave..." Lila began, but Zahyla cut her off with a laugh that was pure Diana.

"Never what? Never meant to manipulate him? Never intended to use everything I taught you about exploiting his hero complex?" Zahyla's blade locked with Elio's while her free hand caught Lila's punch. "We both know better. The only difference between you and Diana is that she was honest about her toxic love."

Zahyla's magic caught Lila mid-movement, the blast sending her crashing into the chamber wall. Blood trickled from her lips as her concentration wavered.

"How perfect," Zahyla taunted, pressing her attack on Elio with renewed vigor. "Watching you fall apart, consumed by guilt and unrequited…"

"She doesn't need to feel guilty," Elio interrupted, intercepting Zahyla's blade. His eyes found Lila's for a brief moment between blocks. "Because I like her too."

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Zahyla's next attack faltered slightly. "Oh? Trying to manipulate her emotions back now?"

"No," Elio continued, weaving between Zahyla's strikes. "I've always admired your strength, your determination. The way you overcame Cassandra's manipulation, how you chose to be honest despite everything..."

"How touching," Zahyla's blade came dangerously close to his throat. "Tell her the rest."

Elio caught her wrist, using the momentum to throw her back. "Yes, I'm with Zara now and that won't change as long as she lives. And I'm sorry, sorry that timing and circumstances made things impossible. Sorry that I can't return your feelings the way you deserve… But I truly like you!"

"Can't change? Or, you don't want them to change?" Zahyla launched a combination of elemental attacks that forced Elio to focus on defense. "Tell her…"

"Shut up."

Lila's voice cut through the chamber. She stood, blood still trickling from her lip, but her eyes blazed with new determination. The mana stabilized around her, stronger than before.

"You don't get to twist this," she wiped the blood from her chin. "You don't get to make his honesty into another weapon."

Lila's next attack came with perfect precision, forcing Zahyla to abandon her assault on Elio. The coordination between Lila and Elio shifted, becoming more fluid, more natural. Where before they had fought as allies, now they moved like partners.

"How sweet," Zahyla spun between their attacks, Diana's sword leaving trails of light in the air. "The power of love gives you strength? Please, we both know…"

Her words cut off as she was forced to dodge a perfectly timed combination. Elio's feint had created an opening that Lila exploited without hesitation, their movements so synchronized it seemed they could read each other's minds.

Zahyla found herself increasingly on the defensive. Every attack she launched was countered by one while the other pressed forward. When she focused on Elio's precision, Lila's raw power broke through. When she turned to handle Lila's strength, Elio's speed created openings.

"Enough games."

The air around Zahyla began to distort. Elements combined in ways that shouldn't be possible. The chemical mastery that had taken her millennia to perfect manifested in waves of power that made the very air shimmer.

"Let me show you what real chemical mastery looks like."

Water formed and broke apart at the molecular level, creating reactions that cascaded through the chamber. Oxygen density shifted unpredictably, making their balance take hits. Every element became a weapon in her hands, each molecule a potential tool of destruction.

Lila and Elio found their advantage slipping as the very environment turned against them. Where before they had dominated through physical prowess and coordination, now they struggled against an opponent who seemed able to rewrite the rules of reality itself.

"Did you think physical combat was all there was?" Zahyla's dual voice carried a note of genuine amusement. "That millennia of existence taught me nothing but how to swing a sword?"

The chamber itself seemed to come alive with deadly potential as Zahyla demonstrated why she had survived countless iterations of this eternal game.