DAY 581

Ignoring the pleasant meadow surrounding her, Xenia works on her forms. Thrust, swing, parry, step, block, step, swing. On one hand practicing swordplay on one of her rare excursions 'outside' feels like a bit of a waste. True, the reincarnator has gotten to take a brief vacation to the Eternal Forest at least once every few months, a benefit of being in Kahlia's good books. On the other hand a few hours spent outdoors out of every few months is practically nothing, especially when considering that otherwise her only glimpse of the sky is what she can see from her main entrance. Xenia had never been much of a shut-in, and yet somehow being trapped in a single place doesn't seem to bother her as much these days as it feels like it should.

Perhaps it's an effect of being a dungeon core, altering her perceptions and moods? She hardly has a human brain after all, a fact which has been made apparent in a few other ways. It might be slightly disturbing if it is impacting her state of mind...but on the other hand, it's not like she wants to go stir-crazy. She hasn't even been a dungeon for two years yet, and the possibility of spending centuries indoors might have driven an old version of her insane.

In any case, Xenia had stood around enjoying the breeze and the flowers for all of twenty minutes before getting bored and deciding to make use of the sword she'd brought with her. Practicing normally is a bit of a challenge for her - if she's not using her limited physical avatar time, she can 'affect' parts of her dungeon, but picking them up and using them gracefully is a bit beyond her. Her perfect memory as a dungeon core does seem to keep her skills from getting rusty...but sometimes there's still no replacement for actual drills and practice.

Still, Xenia is somewhat relieved when the objective of her visit finally arrives. "Hey, Xen-girl! Enjoying the great outdoors, huh? Gotta say, you've got some sweet moves there."

The reincarnator turns to Bill, eyeing the man as he approaches. He's dressed in a more casual garb than the divine battle kilt she'd last seen him in, although as requested he did at least bring his sword with him. "Hey, Bill! Long time, no see. The lounge bunnies have been asking about you, you know."

The blue-haired man blinks, apparently surprised. "Really? Didn't know I made that much of an impression...or that they cared about that sort of stuff all that much, to be honest. Hard to tell how much is, y'know, going on up there with a dungeon monster, you know?" He furrows his brow as he stares at something off in the distance. "...Is that a giant-ass rabbit hopping around back there?"

"That's Sir Flopsy, Kahlia's been letting me bring him along for exercise now and then. But we're not here for Sir Flopsy - we're here to talk about you." Xenia takes a breath. "Now, look. I'm all for friendly chats and catching up with pals and all that, but we've got a professional relationship too, right? You're still on call to protect the dungeon if we need it - or if you're not, Kahlia hasn't informed me of a replacement."

The Paragon shrugs, not looking Xenia in the eyes. "Hey, no worries, homeslice. I'm still on call whenever you need me. Not like I was spending much time there before, right? You send out the alarm, I can be there in five minutes no prob."

"That's good." Xenia closes the distance between them and pokes the man in the chest. "But I'm not just worried about whether or not you'll be there. I need to be sure you'll be up to the challenge when you are. Now I would've liked to have had this conversation, I don't know...six months ago? But you're avoiding us and I can tell. And given that winter's hit and traffic's dropped, I figured I could spare some free time to come to you if I had to. Which I apparently do."

"Oh, wow. It's been that long? I, ah, you know how it is...being dead kinda makes y'lose track of time, right? Didn't really mean to leave you hangin' or nothin', but..."

"But you whiffed it on your first call to duty and you know it." Xenia shakes her head. "Now, I'm not saying you completely screwed the pooch or anything. You took out Thaddeus's scout, and you landed some serious hits on his fighters before you got shanked. But I'm gonna be honest - I was expecting more from one of the New Continent's greatest champions in the past three hundred years, and you know what your problem was."

Bill sucks in a breath. "I...got distracted. Illusions, man, y'know what a pain those can be..."

"It wasn't even the kind of illusions that play tricks on your mind! Someone could've hung up a bunch of Playboy centerfold posters around the room and it would've done the same damn thing!"

"Hey, I'm not that bad! Posters don't...jiggle." The giant man shakes his head. "But, what...you just wanted to find me to chew me out some? Kahlia said this was important. So...I get it. I'll do better next time, promise. I'll even start comin' by more often if you want me to."

"You can, but we're gonna be meeting here from time to time first." Xenia twirls her blade. "I can't properly spar in the dungeon, given my limited avatar time and the fact that I can't take more than a hit without poofing. But in a divine realm like this, if Kahlia says I've got a body then I've got a body. So I'm gonna be training you and making sure you haven't gotten rusty in a century spent with nothing to do but plow your wives."

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Part of Bill seems to want to appear insulted by the claim that he's lost his skills, but a larger part seems excited by the idea of having a fight. "Hey, my skills don't rust! But...I will say that it'd be pretty gnarly to have someone to wrassle with a bit, yeah? Almost no one else in Kahlia's paradise has the skills, and I only get to go into the inter-afterlife competitions once or twice a decade. So, sure, let's see what you've got, huh?" The man draws the massive blade from the sheath on his shoulder, and a grin covers his face.

Without further ado the two get into position, and at an invisible signal they both charge for the other. Xenia goes for the first strike, causing the Paragon to need to dodge slightly, but she has to quickly pull away to avoid the man's own blow. It's an opening that sets the stage for the rest of the bout, as Xenia trades her superior speed and nimbleness against Bill's much longer reach. Neither of the two have much in the way of a formal style - while both had undergone combat training at some point in their former lives, that training is greatly outweighed by their own personal experience as heroes and champions. So it is that their styles are uniquely personalized, crafted to fit their own bodies and personalities. Bill leaves himself open, inviting Xenia to try to land a blow, and as soon as she comes within range fifteen pounds of divine metal is swinging in her direction.

Ultimately it's clear that Xenia is the superior fighter, as ten minutes of struggle leaves Bill with a few grazing injuries while Xenia remains untouched. That said, it's still a rather remarkable showing considering the combatants. Xenia waves for a halt as she gives the man an appreciative glance. "Not bad. I bet I could count on one hand the number of opponents I've had that could go that long with me without losing a limb."

Bill smiles, which soon turns into a frown. "Wait, were we aiming to take off limbs, here? Harsh."

Xenia responds with a toothy grin. "Well it's not like Kahlia can't patch us up after - neither of us can actually die here so we could even go for necks if we wanted. But it looks like your baseline level of skill at least is up to par. Which means it's time to move on to the real test."

"Oh? And what's that, Xen-girl?"

Xenia's response is to set her blade aside for a moment and, without comment, pull her shirt off over her head. It seems that the dungeon master's gone without a bra today, but it's not likely to have affected her performance much. Truth be told the reincarnator has the most modest assets of any of the women in Worthy Dungeon, with the trim torso of a fit athlete. That does nothing to stop Bill's eyes from nearly falling out of his sockets as Xenia turns to face him, hands on her hips, and chest clearly displayed.

"Uh - okay, wow. Are we, uh, gettin' into something a lil more personal, or - "

His opponent interrupts him with a chuckle. "Get your mind out of the gutter. No, seriously, I need to see if you can focus. So yeah, I've got my tits out." She gestures at them, as if he hadn't already noticed. "I need to see if you can fight despite that. That Tizzy might've just gotten lucky, but if word gets out that you've got an obvious and common weakness like 'boobies' I guarantee you other Challengers will find a way to take advantage of it. So we're going again."

Bill shakes his head in disbelief. "You really don't mind fighting like that?"

"Dude, I once fought off a marauder band in nothing but a ragged-ass pair of panties. And honestly, it probably had the same effect on half of them that it does on you. So I'd say it's an established strategy at this point. Now enough talk - reset and let's get to it."

The pair return to their initial positions and charge each other once again, but it's quickly obvious that the battle has changed. It's not a matter of fatigue - with both of them wearing divinely-crafted forms, neither of them feels tired in the least. But Bill's eyes are obviously growing fixated on Xenia's humble breasts rather than her hands and feet, and it costs him a number of injuries he didn't receive in the first round. To his credit, the man does try. And after the third gash on one of his limbs, he actually seems to regain some level of focus. Ultimately though the battle ends with a clear victory for Xenia, with her blade at his neck.

The dungeon master isn't satisfied with that, of course, and so the pair immediately return for another bout which again goes to Xenia. It's not until the fourth that Bill finally gets his head back in the game, and this time the match ends in a draw that actually has Xenia bleeding onto the grass - or at least until their wounds miraculously heal a minute later.

"Good work! Good boy, I knew you could do it."

"Pssht." Bill waves a hand. "I just didn't wanna lose any more fingers, is all. Dang, went a whole lifetime without losing any of those, y'know? So now what? A few more rounds, best out of five or some shit?"

"Now, we escalate." Before Bill can ask what she means Xenia's stepping out of her boots and pants, and although the boots go back on after that's all the woman garbs herself with. Soon enough she's standing before him with just her shoes and sword, and Bill finds himself getting an eyeful of Xenia's personal grooming fashion.

"Uh. Wow. You sure this isn't too far?"

"What, your dead wives gonna get jealous?"

"Naw, naw, it ain't nothing like that. Things ain't so strict after...well, not really the point! That really don't bother you none?"

"Heh, I left body shame behind like a dozen lifetimes ago at least. Hell, I'll do you one better, if your wives are cool." Xenia's grin turns evil as she stares at the man more than twice her size. "You score a solid win over me, and we'll bang, okay?"

"Whoa. That's..."

"And I can see the blood already flowing away from your brain. On guard!"

With that said Xenia charges into battle once again, and, well...to even call it a bout would be giving it too much credit. Xenia takes the Paragon apart - literally - in twenty seconds, and after the man puts himself back together his next attempt still fails to reach a full minute. Three more bouts follow, and not once does Bill approach anything that could even be considered a draw. Finally, the man begs for mercy.

"Alright, hold on, hold on, I get it, alright!? I'm...not in the right state of mind for this shit. I don't think we're gonna get anywhere today, but...maybe we can try this again later and see if I can, I dunno, zen my way through this or some shit."

Xenia nods, still not the least bit ashamed of her nudity. "Oh yeah, we'll be doing this again, and again if we have to. And I'll even leave the offer open as motivation to...train, however you plan to do that." The dungeon master tilts her head as a devious thought comes to her. "In fact...I might even have something in mind to spice it up even more."

Bill's almost afraid to ask. "And...what exactly do y'mean by that?"

"Beat my naked ass in a fight in the next...six months, and you'll find out..."

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