Duck. Twist. Backstep. My foot went farther back than I anticipated, and I momentarily wobbled. Hanina's hand missed my face by a hair. Frantically, I brought my arms back up in a defensive stance, only to fall on my face, as Hanina performed a leg sweep. I rolled to the side, while Hanina crashed down on the space I previously occupied. I popped up to my feet at the same time as Hanina. We stood there for a second, just staring at each other. Back to square one. 

As expected, Hanina made the first move. I pushed away a fist flying toward my gut. Undeterred, Hanina launched a trio of heavy punches. I managed to avoid the first two, but the third caught the side of my face. My head was jerked to the side, pain blooming from the impact. Hanina didn't let up. One leg went between mine, messing up my sense of balance. Simultaneously, one arm wrapped around my neck while the other held my head.

My body writhed. I desperately tried to find a way out of her grip, but no matter what I did, she remained solid. I released choked breaths, my body scrambling for air. As my vision started to get blurry and my mind unfocused, I slapped against Hanina's arm. They were weak, pathetic slaps, but they got the message across.

Hanina let go of me. No longer held up by another, I collapsed to the floor, gulping air like a fish. 

"You did better this time."

I glared at Hanina's smirk.

"Stop pouting Cali, it was a compliment," Hanina grabbed my sweaty hand and hauled me up. I'm not sure whether it was intentional or not, but she pulled me with just enough force to bring our bodies inches apart. "Plus, it looks too cute to have any effect." Hanina spun around and walked off before I could retaliate. 

I glanced around the room. There were five other people in the room with us. Since everybody here was a slave and therefore had no functional clothing, and even if we did, it would be hard to explain why we had sweaty clothes despite going into the bathroom with clean clothes, everyone was fighting naked. Just a bunch of sweaty, naked girls fighting each other. To my great shame, it was something I often found myself distracted by. Maybe a little too often.

On one mat was a pair of dark-haired sisters boxing each other. I had seen them come through every now and then, sometimes together, sometimes alone, but I had never gotten their names. The older one, the one with the dragon tattoo on her back, was tall and muscular, though not as large as Grilia. The younger one was almost as muscular, but a few inches shorter, making her seem much smaller in comparison.

To my left, Ishka was having a two-on-one duel, which she was definitely winning. The other girls were the same size as her, but nowhere near as agile. Ishka slipped between them and through their grapples like an eel in water. Her onyx skin glistened with sweat, but her face showed no sign of fatigue. 

The last mat was occupied by two girls I hadn't seen before. It was a much slower fight than the other two, likely due to the inexperience of the brunette as she was taught by the pink-haired girl. I watched the two trade blows for a while longer before Hanina drew my attention.

"See something you like? I have to say, I didn't take you for much of a voyeur," Hanina joked.

I rolled my eyes as my mouth curved into a small smile.

"What's this? The pure and innocent Cali finds a less than appropriate joke funny? It seems you have truly been corrupted," Hanina joked.

With an exaggerated pout, I turned away from Hanina and crossed my arms. 

"Come on, relax. You know I'm just joking. Besides, I probably wouldn't get near them anyway."

I eyed her curiously.

"Aside from Momie being kind of a bitch, those two aren't going to be here much longer. They think they've got this foolproof escape plan, but trust me, it's not going to work. Don't believe me?"

"How do you know it's not going to work? Do you know their plan?" I asked, though my voice might have been more accusatory than I intended. I knew Hanina was still fighting, but she was so dismissal of it that it almost sounded like she had given up hope.

"No, they don't trust anyone else. But what I do know is that this place is under lock and key, with the only apparent exit being in the main hall. And they would have to be insanely lucky to find something I haven't when I've been here twice as long as either of them, you know?" there was a hint of bitterness and frustration in her voice.

My voice felt small as I asked, "So there's really no way out?"

Hanina paused. "Not yet. Or, not a confirmed one anyway." 

That single statement filled me with some strange feeling I hadn't experienced in a while. A warm, bubbly feeling. Hope. 

"Anyway, anything else you were wondering?" 

"What will happen to them if they're caught?"

"Well, that depends," Hanina began. "The brown-haired one is a captured noble, so she'll just be kept until she's ransomed for information. For Momie, the best case scenario is that she gets sold to someone who enjoys disciplining 'dysfunctional products'. Or she just be taken by Amaya and killed. Worst-case scenario for us, Elinys gets suspicious and has Shiva torture her for information, which puts this little club at risk."

My eyes widened. If this would be discovered, anyone involved would be tortured and/or killed. Even with Hanina's and my status as personal slaves, I doubted we would escape unscathed either. 

Noticing my apprehension, Hanina said, "You understand what could happen if they try to escape, don't you?"

"What do we do?"

Hanina's face was settled in a grim, determined stare. Her eyes were locked on Ishka, who was now helping up her defeated opponents. Her eyes caught Hanina's, then flicked to the two girls of our prior discussion. 

"Don't worry about it." 

An uncomfortable feeling settled in my stomach. There was an implication there. One that I could easily read if I tried hard enough. But I didn't want to. I wanted to trust Hanina and to live as best as I could in here. I was disgusted with myself. But I didn't try to raise any objections.

Hanina cleared her throat. "Come on. We've trained enough today. Let's go do something else."

I nodded. We headed for the towels, where we dried all the sweat off our skin and collected our clothes. Well, I collected my clothes. Hanina still refused to wear any. Instead, she eyed my attire. 

"I think Amaya is really letting Elinys's absence get to her head. What about you?"

"I think that Amaya has Mistress too wrapped around her little finger to care."

"You know, you might not be wrong." 

After a little difficulty, I pulled the clothes onto my body. This morning, Amaya had burst into my room and decided she would decide my dress for the day. Which meant, instead of wearing the clothes out of my room, I was wearing Amaya's. The corset's cups were too small, even for my small boobs, painfully squishing my tits against my body. The red lace skirt was meant for a slightly taller person, so what likely wasn't even meant to fully cover the wearer's ass thankfully functioned as a passable miniskirt for me. In fact, combined with the fishnet stockings being a bit too long for me, my legs were practically fully covered. But the lack of exposure didn't feel good. The aesthetic, even the black and red color scheme, screamed Amaya. It was clear to anybody who looked at me that I was wearing her clothes. And somehow, that was more humiliating than any amount of skin I could show. 

Once at the top of the stairs, I put Amaya's heels on. I could walk up the stairs in regular high heels, but not these monstrosities. They forced my feet to go almost completely vertical, which did not do good things for my balance when combined with the needle-thing heel. They were unbearable to walk in, but Amaya seemed to possess the unique ability to show up whenever I least wanted her to. Then again, I never wanted to see her.

Either way, no way was I walking through the bathroom in just fishnet stockings. 

Exiting the bathroom, we saw the first sign that something was up. All the slaves were whispering among each other, which was really weird. Usually, they were too focused on their chores, being depressed, or fucking each other to have meaningful conversations. 

Hanina urgently walked up to one of the slaves who was in the middle of a conversation. When the girl noticed Hanina coming she looked up like a deer in headlights. I immediately thought of that one frame in... shit, what was that anime? I should remember it, it was one of my favorites!

"Why's everyone so talkative?" Hanina wasted no time mincing words. The slave girl beneath her floundered for an explanation, caught off guard, so the slave beside her offered an answer.

"Mistress is finally back." 

Hanina scowled at the dreamy voice the girl said that with. I wanted to agree with her. But internally, I felt a kind of warmth. Like some piece I was missing had finally been found. Despite everything she had done to me, I felt secure. 

"How long has she been back?" Hanina asked through gritted teeth.

"I don't-"

"Ah, there you are! I've been looking for you!"

The familiar voice took that warmth spreading through my chest and dunked it in icy water.

Amaya strode toward me with a purpose. I was so surprised I almost didn't notice the body she was dragging. At the sight of its red skin, unexplainable panic welled within me. Then I realized the body had blonde hair, not black, and its horns were a noticeably different shape. 

Amaya followed my gaze. Using its hair, she hefted up the succubus's body with a grin. "Turns out this is the reason why your Mistress was gone for so long. Don't worry, I'm sure she'll explain everything later. She is waiting for you after all. In the meantime, you can come with me," Amaya nodded at Hanina. "You're mom's looking for you." 

Hanina grit her teeth. "And if I don't want to see her?" 

Amaya shrugged. "You know I don't care. As long as you merrily fuck off, I don't have a problem." 

With that, Amaya continued her walk, but this time she held her staff out and pulled me along. 

"Soooo, how do you like the clothes?" Amaya drawled with an easy grin. 

"A bit tight in the chest department. Some of us actually need room, y'know."

That might have come out a bit more hostile than I intended. 

Instead of lashing out like I expected, Amaya just laughed. "If anything, you should be thanking me. I wonder how much your masochist skill has gone up by wearing that."

I peered at her as we walked. Then I glanced down at the dead, no, unconscious - her eyes were closed and her chest still indicated breathing- succubus in Amaya's grip. Then I glanced back at Amaya. Why was she so happy now? I felt like there was something I was missing. Did it have to do with the succubus? Was it just because Mistress was back?