A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

A few minutes later, their group found themselves inside the training area.

They'd been joined by Alice, who was previously training by herself, as she naturally couldn't pass up the chance to witness a fight of this level from closeup.

She and Astrid were standing to the side of the arena, both looking excited. While Astrid felt a little worried about her mother fighting Erik in her weakened state, she knew nothing would happen to her. Thus, her worry was easily negated by her natural enthusiasm for a good fight.

"I must say… this place is impressive," Liv muttered as she looked around. On the way here, she had also gotten a look at the main hall and had started wondering how big this place was. "I'm not saying I believe this is actually some kind of dimension inside your body, but I can't imagine a place like this had been build near Kirkenes without my knowledge…"

Noticing the many sigils, however, her gaze became a little suspicious and disdainful. The previous experience provided by Sigurd had tainted her view of them. Still, she moved on quickly. There wasn't hair on her body that believed Astrid would allow her to come here if these sigils meant her any harm.

Finally, she focused her gaze back on Erik, who watched her from the other side of the fighting platform. The runeguard remained in its armguard form and his hammer was slung over his shoulder.

Liv smirked with amusement, "But regardless of its apparent grandiosity, are you sure this place can withstand our fighting? You 'have' actually thought a third-ranker before, haven't you?"

Erik didn't answer. Instead, he decided to start this fight with a bang. Grinning confidently, he transformed into his wolf form. This had the eerie effect of transforming his regular human grin into a twisted, threatening, sneer, adorned by sharp fangs.

Immediately after, his maw opened wide, showing the deep gullet beyond it. A large icy-white sphere crackling with lightning began to form. Waves of power radiated from it.

This all happened in less than a second, but he still needed a little more time to actually charge his thundersnow blast.

Fortunately, Liv watched his actions with fascination and a hint of awe, seemingly without the intention to interfere. 'That's a lot of power,' she realized with a hint of surprise as she felt the destructive potential in his ability.

After another few seconds, Erik finished charging, and spat the orb at his opponent. Immediately, Liv's expression turned grim. But her expression, and what happened next, were quickly obscured by the attack's blast radius.

An explosion echoed through the chamber. Dust blew into the air. Hair rustled from the generated wind. Tiny, electrified grains of snow swirled around the area as if in a rage.

Erik, Astrid, and Alice all looked on with anticipation, wondering how Liv would weather that storm. No one was worried, though. After almost a year of living in this place, their trust in this room's prevention sigils had become instinctual.

Finally, the dust settled, and Liv appeared, standing on both feet. She panted a little, but a shimmering orange shield surrounded her body, protecting her from harm. "That wasn't bad, boy. But you'll need to do better than that if you want me to submit to your whims!"
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Whether or not she realized the suggestive way she put that, Astrid was forced to groan a little, while Erik stumbled a step. But they both recovered, and Erik began to grin, "So if I win you'll submit to my whims?"

Just about ready to start her own attack, Liv suddenly halted when she heard his questions, and blinked, confused. "Well, yeah. That was the deal, wasn't it?" But then she noticed his perverted expression, and she paused.

Erik expected anger, but instead, she started grinning as well. "Oh? Trying to score the mother and daughter together, are you? Alright, let's see if you have the strength to claim us both!"

By now, Alice looked uncomfortable and a little confused, but Astrid's expression was far more exaggerated. Her eyes were wide from shock. "U- uuh…" she muttered in confusion, unsure how to feel about her mother's provocation. Liv had always had a somewhat teasing personality, but this was entirely unexpected for her.

While the Dominion had quickly formed harems in the early days, Liv had always expressed a certain level of disdain for them. That was the main reason why Astrid was hesitating to mention Erik had one of his own, and had always reacted with resistance when anyone mentioned Erik making a move on her mother.

'But now she's offering to share me with him of her own accord?!' she thought, distressed.

Yet, inside her, there was a spark of excitement at the idea of bearing witness to Erik and her mother facing of between the sheets. 'I wonder who would end up on top…' she couldn't help but wonder. 'And which option would be more exciting to see…'

While Astrid's mind became a quagmire of perverted thoughts, Erik had no problem answering Liv's provocation with interest. "Ha!" he exclaimed with excitement. "To be honest, I was just trying to get you riled up a little, but this is far more interesting." He readied his hammer as icy lightning began to accumulate on his body. "I'd really like to see you both wrapped around me."

"Careful what you wish for, boy," Liv smirked as blazing orange orbs formed around her balled up fists. "You might end up crushed between us instead."

With that, they both charged the other with wild and excited expressions.

They started exchanging blows. Liv was clearly used to fighting as a brawler using the orbs on her fists. Her attacks were fast and devastating, but Erik managed to parry, dodge, or block them all.

Liv watched in amazement and surprise at Erik's ability to twist his body in nearly impossible ways, while sometimes even seeming to displace himself a few inches, barely avoiding her blows. Suffice it to say, it didn't take long for her to become convinced Erik really did have the power to fight third-rankers.

But that didn't stop either of them. They were having fun.