“I-I see.” Gaia immediately understood. Defeating her once only proved that Gaia was weaker. But someone like Kalista would not be sated by just that. She wanted to make Gaia feel worthless.

Gaia looked towards Peter nervously. “If Peter wishes... though it might reduce our chances in the forest.” Gaia added the last comment hoping he might order them to head out. Although on some level she knew it was an important consideration. After all, if both Kalista and her tired each other out they might not be in any condition to fight other primals later on.

“A little more practice wouldn't hurt. We could even spend the whole day and head out tomorrow,” Peter responded. Gaia silently cursed herself as she and Kalista made their way back to the field, Peter taking a position behind Gaia.

“Begin! Nature's Beauty! Then Toxic Bloom!” Gaia flung the pinkish powder in a semi-circle towards Kalista. As it began to rise, a purple flower bloomed in her hand and she launched it. The flower zoomed over the dusty clouds and towards Kalista, but at this distance she was able to avoid it.

Kalista stopped in front of the clouds which had just fully spread. With a “Tch,” she began to run towards a space on the side which was not blocked off.

“Toxic Bloom!” Gaia launched another flower towards Kalista.

“Deflect!” Kalista attempted to swat away the flower, but upon hitting it with her shield the purple flower exploded, a small cloud of toxic dust appearing in its place.

Kalista began to cough violently while charging towards Gaia.

“Entangling Roots!” Gaia frowned. Kalista avoided the skill and soon reached Gaia.

“Double Cross!” Two deep cuts sliced through Gaia's front, the blood even splattering on Kalista. Gaia let out a blood-curdling scream.

“Enough, Kalista!” Peter shouted as Kalista froze with her sword mid-air. “There's no point in unnecessarily harming her. Once you get near it's our loss.”

Gaia trembled in both anger and pain as she slowly healed herself. The Dryad overseeing the battle cast “Cleanse,” on Kalista, her pained coughs stopping shortly. Annoyed, Gaia then sped up her own healing, her hopes of an excuse to make the poison lingering within Kalista a little while longer dashed.

Kalista glared towards her, had she figured out her plot? Although Kalista seemed somewhat a perceptive person, Gaia couldn't have imagined her to notice even something like that. Stupid! She will now-

“Again,” Kalista growled.

Gaia clenched her teeth behind her lips, trying to look calm. “Kalista what will repeatedly fighting her accomplish? Her main role will be to support our team,” Peter questioned.

“She needs to be able to protect herself. And you.” Kalista walked up to Gaia, inches away. “Looks like it's your loss, is that right?”

Gaia's fingers curled up into fists. “If Peter wishes, I can...”

“These are nice,” Kalista cupped one of Gaia's breasts, the soft meat overwhelmingly flowing out of her hand. “Are you missing your root skill so much since you can't see the ground with these in the way?” She began to jiggle the sack of flesh around in her hand. “I can see why everyone was looking to gamble for you.”

Slap! Kalista's head was slightly turned after Gaia's palm hit her cheek. Somehow it was Gaia who recoiled first, panicking, her head twisted towards Peter. “I-I...”

“What are you doing, Kalista.” Peter spoke, anger rising in his voice.

Was this Gaia's opportunity? To get rid of the problem? Gaia wasn't sure what had gotten into her, perhaps the stress of... that's right. She has her battle against Serina, without her then it's all over anyway! Damn her. Looking down at her. She-.

Kalista ignored Peter. “Again.”

She's such a pain!

“Kalista, you...”

“It's alright Peter.” Gaia swallowed. “She's right, I, I need to practice more. I-”

“That's right.” Kalista drew her face close to Gaia's, who was so surprised she took a step back only for Kalista to step even closer. “YOU need to practice more. Is that right?” Gaia appeared confused for a moment, before her eyes grew intensely focused. Impossible...

“Gaia, you don't have to-”

“No!” Gaia shouted, surprised at her own volume as she interrupted Peter. “No, I...” Gaia stared at Kalista who continued to glare at her. “I... I'll fight her on her own terms.” Gaia swallowed. “If she is practicing fighting on her own then I need too as well.”

Kalista flashed a wicked smile. “Good enough,” she said as she began to walk back towards her side of the field, Gaia doing similarly. Peter watched the two from the sidelines, his brow furrowed in thought. Gaia caught his gaze and gave him a nod, which seemed to only deepen his confusion.

Peter sighed. “Begin!” he shouted.

“Living Armor!” Gaia called, vines grasping her body as they form a makeshift set of armor. Kalista already sprinting towards Gaia. While Gaia patiently waited for Kalista to come closer, her armor continued to grow and cover her, strengthening its layers.

Once Kalista was about ten meters away, Gaia shouted, “Nature's Beauty!” The pinkish powder fell just before Kalista.

“Vault!” Kalista avoided any of the initial cloud of powder landing on her and charged even faster towards Gaia.

Five meters. Three meters. Two...

“Double Cross!”

“Entangling Roots!”

As Kalista hacked away at the majority of the roots protecting Gaia, she found her foot caught against the ground. Although the armor had been greatly reduced, the core still remained and it slowly began to regenerate.

“Shield Slam!” Kalista attempted to hit Gaia with her shield, but she barely stepped out of the range of her ability.

“Toxic Bloom!” Gaia cast as she began to run in a circle around Kalista out of her range and towards the now risen pink clouds behind the two of them.

“Deflect!” Kalista caught the toxic flower with her shield, and it exploded. Although she did her best to hold her breath she had still become poisoned.

Kalista used her sword to swing at the roots that entrapped her and sliced herself free. By now, Gaia had already made it to the center of the semi-circle of dust which she had created. Gaia turned around to see Kalista pursuing her.

“Toxic Bloom!” She launched another flower towards Kalista. Even at this short amount of distance she tried to dodge it, but one of the spinning tendrils just barely nicked her shoulder and allowed the plant to latch onto her. Thorns pierced her skin as they began to inject more poison into her body.

Kalista clenched her teeth through the pain and used her sword to chop the tendrils off as she sprinted towards Gaia.

“Double Cross!” Kalista swung her sword wildly, damaging Gaia's armor which had slowly attempted to regenerated itself and caused the viney protection to wither and collapse completely, etching a single deep cut into Gaia's front.

“Toxic Bloom!” As Kalista reeled from her swing Gaia pushed a poisonous flower into Kalista's chest, which let out a spurt of poisonous dust. As Kalista entered a coughing fit and struggled to regain her focus, Gaia turned and ran through the thick wall of pinkish dust behind her.

Despite her innate resistance, her vision immediately began to blur, her skin flushing as an uncontrollable urge began to swell inside her. Gaia's arm softly squeezed her left breast as the other began to scratch at the damp leafy undergarments which covered her privates. Her gaze briefly turned towards Peter as she bit her lip, and as one finger poked inside, the blissful shock helped regain her senses somewhat.

“C-Cleanse!” Gaia cast on herself, the rising emotions suddenly coming crashing down and her body returning to normal. Gaia turned to see Kalista having managed to remove the flower, hunched over coughing out a slight amount of blood staring at Gaia through the cloud. Kalista's head wavered towards the open space off to the side, but then came back towards Gaia.

A mixture of anger and exhaustion gleamed in her eyes, and she raised her shield and charged through the thick clouds. Immediately she began to cough even further, and her speed slowed as she made it to the other side, her body trembling. Kalista's gaze seemed to wander around for a brief moment before she grit her teeth and stabbed her sword into her thigh. Blood splashed as Kalista's eyes widened in pain and fury.

“Entangling Roots!” Although Kalista had managed to resist the affects of the dust somewhat, she now found herself rooted to the ground. She fell onto the knee of her free leg, and looked up at Gaia with hatred in her eyes. Suddenly, Kalista smiled, then fell over, coughing up more blood as she did so.

Gaia could see the Dryad from the sidelines running towards them.

“Heal!” Gaia called.

“Cleanse!” The Dryad called.

The two prioritized healing Kalista's fallen form, Gaia ignoring her still bleeding front. Only when she had begun to feel faint, did she cast a healing ability on herself to recover from her own wounds.

Kalista soon sat upright on the floor of the training field, Peter, Gaia and the Dryad from nearby hovering around her. Kalista looked towards Peter, who wore an expression of understanding.

“Gaia, I am sorry for underestimating you,” Peter started. “When I called out Kalista when she harmed you, I rejected your courage and resiliency.”

Gaia blushed. “N-No, I didn't think of it like that at all.”

Peter shook his head. “What's worse, I was spoiled with Kalista's head on fighting style. And didn't use you properly. Please, if you ever think there is something that can help me-, no, help any of us. Please say it.”

Gaia's face flushed, and her body began to tingle. “O-of course!” She stammered, excited. Her hands trembled as if seeking to release this energy that began to swirl within her body, and she lurched towards Peter and squeezed him with a hug. I did it!

---

Kalista laid down on the field, looking upright towards her tamer presently being held by her. In her mind she had suffered an embarrassing defeat. Her intention all along had been to have Gaia demonstrate more of her potential to Peter. She could tell from their previous battles that Gaia seemed frustrated by the decisions she had to follow.

In a likely not so subtle way, she had managed to get Gaia to teach Peter a little about how to best utilize her. Although Kalista hated her, what she hated even more was the idea of a useless teammate.

With the challenge battle and Serina looming over him, if the next two months Peter becomes more daring, and they lose their lives due to Gaia being incorrectly used, that would be bad. Kalista needed to become stronger, sure. But Peter and Gaia were not exempt from that.

It was a slight miscalculation to have actually lost the battle. Gaia was certainly crafty with how she fought Kalista. It was quite the lesson. It seemed not all the meat went to her chest and she had some brains as well.

But it was not some undefeatable strategy. Kalista was sure of it. There was a path to defeating Gaia. There was a path to defeating anyone, and she would find it. The battle against Serina. To be able to defeat her, she would do anything and give up everything.

After having been lost in her thoughts, Kalista's focus returned to see Gaia still embracing Peter. Kalista's eyes narrowed in annoyance, and a thought occurred to her, and she smiled. She gripped Gaia's ankle, who with a surprised yelp let go of Peter. “Any pointers?”