Queens Of The Sky - Pt. 2

(Finally! Finally done, schedule post coming tomorrow)

• Commissioned by Jean

Last time…

“Naughty, naughty, naughty...” Sherria chided. “There’s only one thing to do for a naughty girl like you… it’s time to give you a spanking!"

“Wh-wha...” Wendy muttered, but before she could question it, Sherria delivered another debilitating knee to her gut, bending her over her knee again. She then began to lick her hand, once, twice, three times… before rearing it up as high into the air as she could, letting Wendy dread the moment as it slowly sunk in. 

With a completely unnecessary amount of force, Sherria indeed spanked her ass once, twice, three times… and then just kept going, gradually speeding up until she was rapidly smacking her backside, each shot coming with a loud sharp crack, and each one sending painful quivers up and down Wendy’s spine. She screamed loudly and cried quite openly as Sherria was relentless in administering her spanking. 

She had delivered atleast 30 smacks before she finally unceremoniously tipped Wendy over onto her back, again hitting the pavement. Wendy was practically out of breath by the time she was down, frantically sucking in air… she was just about ready to finally submit, and actually intended on saying so as soon as she had the breath in her lungs, the pain and shame had mounted to being beyond what she was capable of enduring. 

But as she took in these deep breaths, the wind picked up again… and she got a certain air in her lungs she never expected. Suddenly… everything changed. 

Her pain seemed to subside, her tears drying up… she rose with great ease from the ground this time and Sherria took notice.

Suddenly, Wendy’s blue hair was pink, as were her eyes… a bright shimmering aura began to surround her… she looked at her hands, and realized immediately she had a great newfound strength within them.

“What…? How… how can this be...” Wendy asked herself. “This is… this is impossible…!”

She wasn’t sure how… but she’d entered the legendary state known as Dragon Force, in which the user was said to be as powerful as a dragon themselves. A new power coursed within her…

“Ah… ahaha… ahahahahaha! This is amazing!” she declared, fixing her gaze onto Sherria, a confident smirk finally spreading on her face.

But while Sherria was surprised by this turn of events… her own smile didn’t seem to wane…

And now…

“Ha… hahahaha!” Wendy laughed, a kind of triumphant laugh that was almost uncharacteristic for her. But then, she was in a situation far beyond what she’d ever experienced before up to this point…

The Fairy Tale guild’s Wendy Marvell had been locked in battle with fellow sky mage Sherria Blendy for some time. Except, that was a huge overstatement… it was hardly a battle, or even a fight. It had been an utter decimation. She’d been humiliatingly outclassed, exposed for punching way above her weight class, metaphorically speaking.

She knew going in that Sherria was considered a tier above her. Wendy was a Sky Dragon Slayer, Sherria was a Sky God Slayer… officially, she was meant to be stronger than her. So it wasn’t as though losing to her was a big deal. But they seemed so much more even in their original tournament encounter, and they'd both been training intensely in the years since…

Turns out, it was a lie. Sherria was conning her and everyone in that stadium during that match, there was no other explanation. She let her think that she could compete with her… she’d even convinced her that there was a mutual respect between them. She made her think… that they could be friends.

But this too, was a ruse. She’d been mocking her in the most condescending way possible the whole time. And when she tried to stand up for herself… the whole ordeal got so much worse for the young woman.

She’d been beaten, soundly. From the outset it was clear that Sherria could’ve finished her off at any time, in any way she so wished. But she chose to prolong it, to let her get back up time and time again just to knock her back down. Sadistically dishing out a little more pain until she’d gotten to the max of her threshold… 

And it wasn’t enough just to hurt her. She wanted to scar her emotionally and mentally as well, demeaning her at every turn in her sarcastic little way. She treated her like a subhuman, as though she were beneath her in every way, as though she’d been doing her a favor just by allowing her to come into contact with her.

The more Wendy tried to hang on to some shred of dignity, the more destructive the blows to her ego became. Until finally, she had been brought to her lowest possible point, the point of absolute desperation.

And just when she was at rock bottom… a miracle struck. 

The wind whirred around her, her freshly pink hair billowing imposingly as the air rose in intensity, like the current of powerful river rapids. It was enough to be vaguely visible in the atmosphere as it surrounded the two girls.

Wendy was astonished, not because she didn’t know what had happened to her, but because she knew full well. Long, long before anyone could’ve reasonably expected her to, earlier in life than anyone that she knew… she had attained the Dragon Force. 

“Hahaha, this… this is unbelievable...” she chuckled to herself, feeling the strength swell within her. All the pain seemed to disappear or atleast shrivel down to where she could easily move past it.  Her shattered confidence made a full recovery as well as she eyed Sherria down. “...Do you understand… what just happened…?”

“Oh yeah.” Sherria nodded, her smirk ever-present. “Yeah, I know exactly what’s going on… guess I pushed you a bit too far...”

“I’m going to give you one chance...” Wendy began, her index finger raised. She was cool and composed like never before. “...one chance to take back everything you said. I want an apology and a damn good one...”

“Oh…? Take it all back…?” Sherria inquired, cocking her head curiously. “But Wendy... even if you are stronger now, it doesn’t make anything I said before less true! Besides, I’ve only ever been nice to you, yannow~”

Wendy grinned and shook her head. “Too cocky to say sorry, even when it’s the only way to save yourself… heh, good. It wouldn’t be in my nature to hurt you if you didn’t want to fight anymore… but I really, really wanna hurt you.”

“Mmm, now this is a different side of you!” Sherria remarked, casually leaning back, her hands to the back of her head. “Heheh… I like it.”

“Not for much longer, I bet…” Wendy muttered, before rearing up and pounding the ground with her fist, a wild howl accompanying the motion as enormous shockwaves permeated the area around her. This wasn’t even really an attack, but even this sent a gust of wind towards Sherria that was strong enough to push her backwards.

“Whoa!” she cried out as she staggered backwards, a little surprised. “Huh, okay, guess you gave yourself a nice buff after all there.”

“You don’t know the half of it!” Wendy declared, before thrusting her hands forward, sending out a much stronger wave of wind. An absolutely immense jetstream burst from her palms and absolutely nailed her opponent. The petite Sherria was swept up in the gust, knocked right off her feet and sent several meters up into the air.

Wendy couldn’t help but laugh a little as she heard her scream of fright, whilst her tormentor was sent into the sky, and then pulled right back down from the shifting current, spiking her brutally as she bounced off the pavement. 

She walked over slowly, taking her time as she approached the gradually rising Sherria, who now found herself struggling to get up in a bit of role reversal. As she picked herself off the ground and looked up at Wendy, she was met with quite the scowl. With her hand out, Wendy managed to raise Sherria up slowly into the air, aloft in the wind as though she were being picked up by a giant.

“It won’t help anymore but I’ll still hear out that apology.” Wendy growled, before thrusting her way up into the air, watching as her body gradually became smaller to her eye… and then, larger again, as her adversary came back down at a wicked clip. 

All she had to do was relent on the wind, and that brought Sherria hurdling back down like a meteor. Her body seemed limp, as though the lack of oxygen from the height she’d reached had caused her to pass out. She fell from such a distance at such a speed that she looked to be going terminal velocity.

As the air bent around her, the sound barrier being tested by her descent, Wendy’s grin slowly diminished. She didn’t expect her to be unconscious, and was under the assumption she would manage to atleast slow her fall with her magic…

Wendy watched as she came careening closer and closer to the ground, uncomfortable. “...No. No, this isn’t right, I can’t do this!” she murmured to herself, before bringing her hands up, ready to catch her with the wind. 

But just before she could start, without any warning, Sherria stopped, just a few meters off the pavement. Slowly she flipped to look Wendy in the eyes, showing that she’d been awake the whole time.

Her mischievous smile burned into Wendy’s heart.

“...Heheh, aww… you weren’t gonna let me fall after all, huh?” Sherria asked. “Maybe I didn’t push you as far as I thought…”

“What… what was all that about?” Wendy demanded, taken aback. “You were just pretending to be helpless up there?”

“I was just pretending to be swept away, too.” she revealed with a cute little wink as she drifted harmlessly down to her feet. “Almost feel bad about it, really. I think it might actually have been the meanest thing I’ve done to you yet… nyeheh~”

“Pretending?” Wendy inquired, once again getting serious. “Don’t make me laugh. You might’ve had your way up until now, but that’s come to an end! I’ve got the Dragon Force on my side, there’s nothing you can do to contend with it!”

“Oh, is that so?” Sherria chuckled. “Well, why don’t you prove it, then? Hit me with some real power!”

“You really don’t know what you’re getting into...” Wendy noted, shaking her head at her opponent’s apparent ignorance. “Y’know, if I were you, I’d be a lot more frightened right about now!”

“Oh, I know you would be.” Sherria replied with a smirk and a wink. “I’ve seen just how scared you tend to get when you’re overmatched...”

Wendy growled, “Idiot! Don’t you get it?! My full might would kill you! And as annoying as you are, I don’t want that to happen! So I’m going to do you a favor and call this off. This fight is over...”

With that, she turned and began to walk away, leaving Sherria laughing. “This ‘fight’ never even began...”

Sherria sent a wave of air towards Wendy, who stopped in her tracks as she sensed it coming. Fairy Tale’s mage turned around casually, letting the air break harmlessly against her newly super-powered body. 

“...Huh.” Sherria uttered, her eyes widening.

With an impeccable gust behind her, Wendy dashed towards her foe. She might as well have teleported for as quickly as she appeared before Sherria. She only had time to gasp before Wendy met her with a punch to the face that landed with a magnificent thud, a thunderous amount of power packed into her tiny fist.

Sherria’s small frame found itself flying from this attack, bouncing and scraping against the pavement, obliterating the center of the road beneath her, the gravel cracking and ripping underneath her body. 

As Wendy again showed off some speed, darting over to where she fell, Sherria struggled to pick herself up from the rubble. “Wh-what the hell…?” she uttered, as she managed to get up to a knee.

No sooner than she finished that sentence was Wendy on top of her again, driving a swift knee into her face that sent her flying again. She bounced painfully off the road, ricocheting through the air and she didn’t stop until she slammed backfirst into an office building. For a brief instant, her back clung to the wall, before she limply fell a few stories down and was sent crashing into the sidewalk.

Sherria’s arms shook as she quivered up to all fours, whilst Wendy trekked over to her. “Do you get the picture yet or do I need to send you into the seventh floor next time?” she coldly commented, sounding little like her old self.

“W-Wait… wait, I… I’m sorry… I’m sorry, Wendy!” Sherria groaned. “I obviously didn’t… t-take this transformation seriously enough, ugh… and I, really shouldn’t have messed with you so much anyway…”

“Took you long enough to figure that out.” Wendy remarked, as she held her hand out and slowly began to raise Sherria off the ground and closer to her, away from the building so as not to cause needless collateral damage.

“I know… I know, it was awful...” Sherria coughed, as her frail form hopelessly ascended. “I mean, especially since… I’m still messing with you even now.”

“...Pardon?” Wendy uttered.

Suddenly, she felt a resistance… and Sherria’s rise ceased. In fact, she quickly brought herself right back down to her feet. And as she landed, her trademark smile slowly spread across her cute, scuffed up face.

“Wh-what…?” Wendy gasped.

“Heheh, you really thought you were hurting me there, didn’t you?” the mischievous blonde inquired, her giggling gradually increasing in volume. “Heheheh, awwww… adorable. You’re so cute, Wendy!”

Wendy’s fists clenched with rage, her teeth gritting. “You STILL mock me…? Even knowing the strength that I have now?! Knowing the damage that I’ve so effortlessly done to you?!”

“Ah yes, all the damage you’ve done...” Sherria smirked, and simply waved her hand. The little cuts and bruises swiftly disappeared with a feint glow. “...all healed, just like that. Man but it sure was a great effort though!”

“Rrgh… fine! Then I’ll just have to stop holding back!” Wendy shouted, before rearing back her fist. “I’ll give you way more than you can ever heal!”

She thrust her fist forward, but this time, it didn’t make it to Sherria’s face. The powered-up mage was shocked as she felt her entire arm lose all momentum all at once. Sherria just giggled quietly as she’d caught her wrist.

“...Huh?” Wendy uttered.

“Heh, sorry, was that supposed to hit me?” Lamia Scale’s mage inquired, her usual sarcastic tone. “Just to clarify, this is you when you’re NOT holding back…?”

“Quiet!” Wendy shrieked, as she tried to pull away. “Nggh, what’s going on here?! What kind of spell are you using?!”

“Spell…? Oh, honey...” Sherria shook her head. “Tsk, tsk, tsk… I’m really gonna have to smack some sense into you, aren’t I?”

With that, she delivered a wicked slap to her face. It actually staggered Wendy, sending her stumbling backwards. Before she could react, Sherria followed up with a leaping kick to her chest that sent her right onto her backside.

“Heh, now there’s the Wendy I know!” Sherria mocked. “It was getting a little weird seeing you all confident like that...”

“Nnggh! H-How did you do that?!” Wendy demanded, as she jumped to her feet. The air swirled around her, intensifying with her emotions as she glared at her new archnemesis. “There has to be some sort’ve trick to this… there’s no way you could so much as compete with me now legitimately! We’re not on the same level anymore!”

“Ohhh Wendy, sweet arrogant Wendy… how do you still not get it?” Sherria asked with a sigh, as if tiring of her. “We were never on the same level, not even close. And we sure as heck still aren’t, even now...”

“You bluff!” Wendy shouted. “You’re bluffing and it couldn’t be more obvious! Trying to pretend you aren’t afraid, just to get into my head! Well that’s not going to work! No matter what kind of trick you pull or mindgame you try, I will defeat you!”

“Well if that’s what you think, then what are you waiting for, ‘ol buddy ‘ol pal…?” her opponent asked, gesturing for her to come towards her. 

Wendy acquiesced, rushing headlong towards Sherria, looking to unleash the true might of her newfound power as the wind swept up in her wake. She threw a dynamite punch right towards that grinning face…

But Sherria not only dodged this, but did so with a flashy backflip. Wendy stopped her dash just in time to see her pop up onto her feet and give her a friendly little wave. “Woo, ever try aerobics? It’s a wonderful time!”

“Shut up!” Wendy yelled as she tried again, this time leaping up for a spinning roundhouse kick to Sherria’s head. This one, she ducked… whilst doing a brisk of squats.

“Nngh, nngh… just remembered I hadn’t gotten my workout in today, hoo...” Sherria panted. “Don’t mind me! Continue as you were!”

“I swear if you don’t stop pushing me, I might not be able to keep myself from destroying you...” Wendy growled, truly trying to warn her.

“Heh, gotta do something I didn’t see coming eventually, I guess...” Sherria taunted, continuing to do her squats.

Wendy grunted in anger as she threw another punch. Sherria moved to evade but this time Wendy stopped short and swung her opposite fist, successfully reading her movements and catching her square in the nose with a solid punch. 

This put a stop to her antics, forcing her to stagger back, holding her nose. Wendy pushed herself off the ground with her wind magic, and proceeded to fire herself forward. She basically made her body into a lawndart as she launched headfirst, directly towards her perpetually disrespectful opponent.

But surprisingly, whilst still covering her own field of vision with her cupping hands, Sherria managed to dodge roll out of the way of this attack… leaving Wendy to sail right into the window at top speed.

She yelped in surprise and immediate regret as she found herself diving right through the building, going through several walls before she finally skidded to a halt against the floor. She groaned a bit as she picked herself up. It didn’t hurt much, but it was embarrassing… and she felt pretty bad for damaging the building.

“Wow Wendy, what on Earth on you doing?!” Sherria asked, just to rub salt in the wound. “You could hurt somebody darting around like that, yannow!”

In that next instant, Wendy had charged right out from the building and was up in Sherria’s face, seething with rage.

“...What?” she asked, looking as though she were genuinely confused by the expression on Wendy’s face.

Without a word, she let loose another ferocious punch that looked ready to knock Sherria’s lights out. But she managed to avoid this with a tilt of her head, and then she unleashed her destructive counter attack…

...a taunting little flick to her forehead.

She winced ever so slightly, partly from the vague sting but mostly from the continued antagonizing she was being made to endure. Sherria’s ever-present giggling only made it all the worse.

“STOP THAT!” Wendy shrieked, before going for a slap that would’ve likely knocked out a few teeth if it connected. 

But Sherria ducked under it and actually slipped out of Wendy’s line of sight. Thinking she was setting up for some ruthless counterstrike, the mage whipped around in a battle stance… where she received another finger flick, right between the eyes.

“Behold, my true power! I’ve attained the legendary Dargon Face form!” Sherria joked as she lined up another truly devastating flick. 

But as she stood there showboating, an enraged Wendy leapt up and managed to catch her with a kick to the jaw that hit her with enough force that she went down onto her backside, holding her mouth.

“I’ve let you continue speaking long enough!” Wendy shouted, reaching a new level of anger every moment, the wind continuing to swirl, her lengthy hair imposingly rising. “It’s about time I kicked your teeth down your throat!”

With that she lined up her foot, before bringing down a powerful stomp aimed right at her opponent’s face. But Sherria just barely managed to roll away in time, showing some great quickness to avoid Wendy’s enhanced speed from even that precarious position. Good thing she did too, considering the resulting stomp into the pavement broke right through the road with ease.

Wendy whirled around again and threw a blind punch behind her, expecting Sherria to be in the same spot she was before. But this time, Sherria was right beside her… and caught her with a third fingerflick, this one right to the temple.

“By God, I’ve done it! I’ve found the perfect defense for the unstoppable Dragon Force!” Sherria announced, her face full of faux astonishment as she looked at her perpetrating fingers. “Who knew the form’s one weakness was a series of finger flicks?! Nyehahahah!”

Sherria continued to prove a natural at pissing Wendy off. But once again, her habit of distracting herself seemed to cost her, as the furious mage caught her with a punch to the gut that seemed to sink pretty deep, enough to abruptly cut off her giggling. This even doubled her over a bit.

Wendy was swift to follow up, delivering an uppercut to the chin that straightened her out… and then, a leaping thrust kick to the chest that staggered her backwards. But despite her pained stumbling, Wendy was far from satisfied.

“On your back!” she shouted, as she thrust her hands forward and let loose an enormous gust of wind that sent her sailing several feet backwards. She may have shown an ability to negate this before, but Wendy seemingly correctly predicted that she wasn’t able to do this after a bit of hobbling.

Sherria was sent helplessly flying until she slammed onto her back on the road, and Wendy swiftly ran after her. “No mercy! Not anymore!” she yelled. “I won’t hear one more snide remark out of you!”

By all means, she was eager to finish her off… but she was taken off-guard mid-sprint when Sherria managed to leap up from the ground to her feet in a single, agile motion. And no sooner was she back up, did she launch into a counter attack, thrusting her leg up with a powerful kick aimed right at Wendy’s face.

She let out a rather embarrassing high pitched yelp as she saw this, and stopped dead in her tracks to try and avoid this kick. It indeed ended up stopping short… but to her surprise, Sherria’s shoe slipped right off her foot and flew right into Wendy’s face, smacking her painfully and, thanks largely to the shock of it, this actually saw her tumble right onto the road, much to her chagrin.

“Ohhh, whoopsie! Heh, sorry about that, didn’t realize my shoelaces had come undone!” Sherria cheerfully stated, scratching the back of her head. “Guess that’s what that great power of yours can do to someone~! Scary stuff!”

A blushing Wendy scrambled to her feet and backflipped through the air to gain some distance, warily staring Sherria down. “How did you do that?!”

Sherria gave her a dumbfounded look. “Well I was kicking my leg forward and my shoe was really loose, so-”

“No! How did you stand back up so quickly?!” she demanded. “And why do you look like you don’t have a scratch on you? I just beat you senseless and sent you flying, you should be on your last legs!”

“Uhh, you just watched me heal myself a few minutes ago, didn’t you?” Sherria inquired, a mischievous smile. “What, you think just ‘cause I didn’t glow there, it didn’t happen? I just do that for show! I can totally do it without letting people know about it too! Heheh, being a Sky God Slayer rocks~!”

“Tch… you think your healing magic is so great?!” Wendy remarked, just a wee bit bitter about that one, being a healer herself. “Fine, so I gave you  a little too much space and allowed you to heal yourself again… it doesn’t matter! You’re on borrowed time! With one decisive combo I can finish you in seconds! And when you’re unconscious, your spectacular healing magic won’t mean a thing!”

“Oh, you think my healing magic is something?” Sherria asked, as if having ignored every other part of Wendy’s declaration. “You should see how fast I can tie my shoelaces! Heh, check this out...”

She went down to the ground, grabbed her shoe and casually pulled it back on before going to work on her laces. Wendy was aghast, and shockingly saw absolutely no reason to wait for her to finish. 

“I can take you out even quicker than that!” she proudly boasted, before darting towards her at max speed, looking to dive down onto her and go for the finishing blow in one solid, solitary strike.

“Done!” Sherria chirped, having indeed tied her shoelaces in record time, before hopping right up to her feet… at the exact right time to deliver a stirring headbutt that nailed Wendy right under the chin and sent her tumbling backwards.

“Huh…?” Sherria uttered, looking confused to see Wendy splayed out on the ground in front of her. “What happened? Didja trip?”

“God… dammit!” Wendy hissed as she rolled around and slammed her fist into the pavement. “Why do you keep getting so lucky?! This isn’t how this fight is supposed to go! You should be trembling by now!”

“Ha! Ohhhh, Wendy… Wendy, Wendy, Wendy...” Sherria repeated, dropping just the slightest bit of the glee from her voice. “I keep trying to explain this to you… I’m sure one day you’ll listen to me. Or, then again, maybe you shouldn’t believe a word I say. I mean I said myself how mean it was for me to lead you on earlier, and yet I’ve just kept right on doing it… what does that say about me, honestly?”

“Don’t give me that!” Wendy growled as she forced herself to her feet. “I know I’ve been hurting you… I’ve been taking you to task and there’s nothing you can say to change that!”

Sherria shrugged. “If it makes you feel better, by all means, go on thinking that.”

“QUIET!” Wendy yelled before darting up and throwing a punch. But this time Sherria managed to effortlessly smack it away. “Wh-wha…?”

“...Honestly though, I feel like it’s about time we addressed the elephant in the room.” Sherria began, as Wendy threw another punch that was casually blocked. “I mean, like, the shiny, pink elephant that’s surrounded by towers of wind...”

“Stop talking!” Wendy demanded as she floated up in the air and came down with a driving punch that Sherria caught with her palm. Upon impact, the blow let loose wild waves of air, destructive shockwaves… but Sherria looked unphased by it all.

“This transformation you’ve made… it looks cool and all, but, let’s be real. It’s uh… it’s pretty disappointing.” she noted, looking Wendy up and down.

“Don’t you dare mock it!” Wendy yelled, before trying and failing to yank her fist away. “Nnggh… this form is… s-sacred to Dragon Slayers!”

“Heheh… right. Big bad Dragon Force… nyeheheh, more like Dragon Farce, am I right?” Sherria joked, laughing right in her face. “I mean come on, it barely did anything to change the status quo here...”

“I… I will… defeat you!” Wendy yelled, still struggling to free herself from Sherria’s grip. She was probably trying to convince herself at this point. “I am… I’m mighty! I’m powerful now! In this form… I can… w-win!”

“Uh-huh. You keep telling yourself that, sweetie… I believe in you.” Sherria mocked, as she pulled her in close, their noses nearly touching as she stared at her, eye-to-eye. “And hey, disappointing or not… I am really glad it happened. Because I was honestly getting really, really bored of kicking you around. But this…? Oh this added a whole new layer of fun… after all, it’s not every day I get to humiliate a Dragon Force user. So for that, Wendy, I have to thank you. Lemme show you my appreciation!”

With that, Sherria turned and tossed Wendy, judo style, throwing her a good few meters away, causing her to slide on the pavement in rather familiar fashion. Wendy caught herself, and howled with intense frustration, pounding her fists against the road over and over, massive shockwaves emanating from the blows. 

A huge crater slowly formed beneath her as the gravel gave way to her intense, yet rather impotent rage.

“D-Damn you… damn you and your regeneration!” Wendy cursed, tears brimming. “If not for that, I would’ve destroyed you for certain by now! It’s the only reason you’re still standing... it’s the only reason you’re still able to mock me like this! You let me use up my strength while you kept yourself upright… that’s the only reason… this is happening…!”

“Oh, is that so…? Oh, sweetie, you really don’t know when to quit...” Sherria chuckled, shrugging. “Every time you make a challenge to me, you just open yourself up for more embarrassment, don’t you get that?”

“Wh-what are you… trying to say?” the worn out Wendy asked, gritting her teeth as she fought back the swelling emotion, the lump in her throat that had formed. She was trying to hide just how deeply Sherria had dug herself into her head.

“What I’m saying couldn’t be any simpler, silly girl...” Sherria giggled, before pointing towards Wendy, who quickly took a defensive stance. “What you’re about to see will be the last use of my healing skills for the remainder of this fight.”

To Wendy’s surprise, the same glow that she’d seen Sherria heal herself with was now shimmering across her own body. The bruises, welts and scuffs from earlier in the fight, as well as the minor nicks she’d received after achieving the Dragon Force transformation all faded away… every bit of damage she’d taken that day was healed in an instant, and she felt another swell of power to go along with it.

Of course, the one thing she really knew she had on Sherria was that her healing magic couldn’t reduce fatigue in the way that Wendy’s could. So she was still struggling a bit in the stamina department, but no pain whatsoever.

But even though she felt so much better physically, Wendy still scowled as she looked up at her adversary. After all, there couldn’t have been a bigger sign that Sherria wasn’t taking this seriously if she was willing to heal her. Or atleast, that’s what she thought, until she saw her sitting there on the ground, casually untying and peeling off her shoes.

“What do you think you’re doing now?” Wendy demanded, blushing a bit. “Don’t expect me to come charging over so you can headbutt me again!”

Sherria snickered at this. “Ohhhoho, that was priceless! But nah, I just wanted to get ready for the next phase of this, ahem, fight.”

She stood up, her feet now covered only by her dark blue stockings. She rose her foot off the ground and pointed her toes towards Wendy. “Did you know… that my shoes actually concealed my true power all this time?!”

“E-Excuse me?!” Wendy blurted out, looking genuinely concerned at this revelation. A sudden power-up for Sherria was the last thing she needed.

Her tormentor laughed openly at this. “Ohhh my goodness, I was just kidding, how silly would that be?! Heheh… it is a little easier for me to move around without them though. It’s more fair to say that I’m done holding back now!”

“You’re bluffing!” Wendy yelled. “There’s no way you were holding back, you had to have been fighting at full strength to even hang with me!”

“Honey… the last time you claimed I was bluffing didn’t work out so well for you, now did it?” she asked, with a little wink.

“Curse you...” was all Wendy could say in response.

“Anyway, like I said… no more regeneration from this gal. It’s not gonna be necessary in the slightest.” sherria claimed, as she playfully started flicking her foot in Wendy’s general direction. “Now that my power inhibitors are off, I can quite confidently predict that you won’t be laying a finger on me unless I let you. You’re gonna be broken by these feet~”

“I… I will prove you wrong!” Wendy declared, willing up her determination. “You’ll regret healing me, and you will certainly regret mocking me! Now I’ll show you just how powerful the Dragon Force truly is!”

“Well by all means, let’s go!” Sherria chirped with a clap. “Heheh, let’s see your grand comeback continue in Round 3!”

To be continued...