Fifteen minutes later, Honey is in the next simulation stage with a splitting headache. For Astros, it was a village, for Petals it was a museum, but now that Honey is dueling Asmund, she finds herself in a library. A very elegant library.

  The library stretches out before Honey, an endless labyrinth of towering bookshelves and opulent reading enclaves. Gilded moldings of space travel and astronomical sights curl across the ceiling high above and polished marble floors gleamed underfoot. The musty smell of old paper mixed with furniture polish hung heavy in the air.

  Honey seethes and rubs her temple as the headache throbs inside her skull like a spiked heart. Despite the pain, she manages to keep her steps slow and steady. Every slow step taken ensures no clicks or clacks from her boots can be heard in the musty, still air.

  She draws Thor-Ton, keeping her finger resting against its dial. She refrains from turning it on to reduce the risk of its light and hums drawing attention to her. She wants to get the drop on someone for once, and now that she's thinking about, wearing a combination of white, blue and pink and having blonde hair in the musty place practically makes her a walking beacon.

  Maybe they'll let me have black hair next time. Like Petals. She has nice hair, thinks Honey, her eyes carefully scanning the aisles of books that are clearly copies of each other, down to the last book.

  A faint rustling sound catches Honey's attention, and she whips around, aiming down the long aisle. Her eyes water from the pain, and her hand trembles as she inches towards the aisle.

  "Come on out, Asmund!" she calls, a slight quaver in her voice. "Let's see what you've got!"

  Asmund leans out of cover behind a shelf and fires off a red blob that zips towards Honey at alarming speeds. She swears and rolls out of the way, the air briefly heating as though a miniature star has passed by with a sharp zapping noise. The blob splatters against one of the pillars, burning off a piece of it and leaving the perimeter of its bite dark.

  Asmund appears down the aisle from Honey and walks after her, firing off more plasma rounds.

  Honey curses again and scrambles as the superheated shots streak by her, burning books and wood.

  She reaches a table and flips it to its side with each, flinching when a plasma blob breaks through the table, leaving her skin red and pocketed with white bubbles.

  "You'll have to do better than that!" shouts Asmund.

  “Better, eh?” grumbles Honey, turning on Thor-Ton.

  She grins as the blue light from its barrel shines and the hum massages her ears.

  The table jerks as another hole is blown through it, leaving the edges of the opening burnt and splintered.

  Honey snaps around, staying on the floor and in a moment, she goes from spotting Asmund through the hole to pulling the trigger. Thor-Ton bucks against her shoulder and the table shatters as her weapon’s launches a blue ball of crackling energy towards him.

  Asmund's eyes barely have a chance to widen as his feet launch him off to the side. The ball blows apart a pillar, flinging broken marble. The upper floor groans and snaps, spilling books and tiles all around.

  The wonderful, acrid stench of ozone fills the air as Honey stands up, keeping her bulky weapon trained in the direction Asmund fled to. She sees movement, and fires another shot, destroying a bookcase.

  Asmund keeps running and Honey keeps shooting, destroying every bookcase her target uses for cover.

  Soon, Asmund returns fire as he runs, forcing Honey to duck and weave while also shooting blindly. Each shot sends burnt paper and wood flying, and the air gradually becomes thick and dark with the smokey stench of burning parchment, and the tiny embers grow in the library.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Honey grits her teeth as she presses forward through the haze, determined not to let Asmund get the upper hand. The stench of burning books stings her nose and eyes, bringing tears to trickle down her cheeks.

  She spots a flash of movement to her left and whirls, squeezing off another crackling blue shot. It explodes against the wall in a shower of sparks and charred plaster, but nothing hit Asmund.

  Asmund's return fire whizzes by her ear, close enough to singe her hair. Honey drops into a crouch behind the ruined remnants of a reading desk, and she strains her ears to listen for Asmund through the growing, crackling flame.

  She hears footsteps nearby, but when she pops up with Thor-Ton at the ready, she sees nothing.

  A sudden crash behind her makes Honey spin around. Asmund bursts through the smoke, plasma rifle blazing. Honey scrambles away, but the shot catches her in the thigh, burning through fabric and flesh.

  Honey screams, her leg buckling. She hits the floor hard, using Thor-Ton as a crutch.

  As Asmund approaches her, he flips his rifle, with the bottom of the barrel emitting a thin stream of plasma, like a blade.

  Despite the pain, Honey can't help but smile. Perfect.

  “Are you going to yield or should I just execute you?” asks Asmund.

  Honey flips him off, and Asmund frowns. He quietly brings is weapon to an arcing swing, going right for her throat.

  Honey pulls Thor-Ton’s trigger, just enough to push her away from the swing. Her butt and heels scrape against the floor, and with a burning sensation eating at her thigh, she leaps up, but curses and staggers as Asmund instantly slices her across the abdomen, burning her body and clothes with the plasma.

  Asmund goes for another swing, and Honey dodges it, keeping her grip tight on Thor-Ton. Another swing, another slash across her back, and as Honey staggers, growling painfully, she flips a switch on Thor-Ton while spinning to face Asmund.

  The cannon’s lower body and trigger morph and click together to form a handle that Honey grips tightly. The cannon’s body shifts into a hammer head, and small booster ports give the hammer extra speed as Honey strikes Asmund’s side.

  His torso explodes, sending his legs spinning away in one direction, and his shoulders and head flying away in another.

  A splash of blood, pulverized organs, and splintered bones soak the ground and nearby pillar, and Honey slams her hammerhead on the ground with a loud thud and grins widely with blood dripping off her face body. Then she drops to her knees and pumps her fist while the fire pixelates around her.

  “Yes! I did it!” cheers Honey.

  Then comes the black out.

  Honey’s eyes open with the simulation pod’s lid is lifted, and after Frank releases her, she leaps out and cheers again. Bringing Astros and Petals to stare at her curiously while Frank works on Asmund’s pod.

  “Yes! I did it! I finally won!” says Honey, her face red and eyes wet.

  “You did. Good job. How’s your head?” says Nera blandly.

  “It hurts, but I don’t care! I’m happy I actually won a duel!”

  Nera hums and pulls out an orange gummy packet from her cart. “Eat this. It’ll sooth your brain. Doing three duels in a row is generally unpleasant. Do you want to use the relaxation room?”

  “No, I’m good.”

  Honey eats all five gummies in the packet at once, and Asmund is helped out of his pod. He thanks Frank and approaches Honey who is too giddy to notice him at first, but when she goes see him, her grin widens, and she extends her hand.

  “Put it there! Good duel!” says Honey.

  Asmund grumbles and extends his hand, and he winces as Honey shakes it vigorously. When she releases his hand, he seethes and massages it.

  “Sorry about that,” says Honey. “I’m just excited that I finally won a duel! It only took me four tries, but I did it!”

  “Yes… yes, you did,” says Asmund, still looking at his hand. “I might need an icepack for this one.”

  “Frank. Ice pack,” says Nera.

  Frank quickly grabs an icepack from a medical box on the wall and tapes it to Asmund’s hand. While this happens, Honey is still preoccupied with her excitement and energetic pacing, despite her headache, which gets a sliver of a smile from Astros and a proud one from Petals.

  “Like a kid at a carnival,” says Petals.

  “Indeed,” says Astros.

  “I can’t believe I won! I need to treat myself,” says Honey.

  That is when Astros walks up to her and clears his throat, getting her attention.

  “Well, I can’t say our duel was good due to me being a superior marksman, but Petals told me what happened in your simulation. It was a good fight,” says Astros.

  Petals smiles thinly and nods, and Asmund walks next to Astros.

  “Ours was decent, too,” interjects Asmund.

  “Now, let’s take you to lunch,” says Astros.

  Asmund snaps to Astros. “What?”

  Honey beams. “Sure!”

  “No!” objects Asmund.

  “Why?” says Astros, now looking at him.

  “She tackled me in a pond, whacked me in half with a bloody hammer, and nearly crushed my hand!”

  “I already offered her lunch after this. Plus, the duels are over. Forgive and move on,” says Astros.

  “Does the forgiveness include the cleaning bill?” asks Honey hopefully.

  “No. You lost the duel; therefore, you still owe me that,” says Astros swiftly.

  Honey’s posture sulks. “Darn.”

  Petals goes between Honey and Astros and puts her hands on their shoulders. “Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I can really use those nachos now.”

  Honey nods. “Nachos sound good.”

  And with that the group leaves for nachos. After Honey and Asmund change out of the jumpsuits.