As Mordecai approached the great ape, the ape smiled and said, "Ah, a shape-changer close to my size. It's been a long time; this should be fun."

Mordecai bowed his head slightly in acknowledgment. "Thank you, I hope you enjoy the surprises I have for you." During this brief exchange, everyone else on both sides spread out to give the two of them room, and Moriko pulled Derek aside for a moment. What she talked to him about became evident as earth and stone were molded into semi-circle, which left the back half of the impromptu arena framed by the forest.

Some of them might be tough enough to not be truly harmed if one of the two giant figures landed on them, but it still wouldn't be a pleasant experience.

The giant ape and Mordecai slowly closed in on each other, looking for openings. The ape struck first, a quick jab with the bo staff to test Mordecai's reflexes. Mordecai hard blocked with barrier-shield conjured from his bracers, rather than dodging or deflecting. Instead, he used that moment to whip three of this form's fox tails forward, launching a ball of fox fire from either side, with the third being lobbed over his head and slightly slower than the other two.

His foe managed to react quickly enough to defend against all three attacks, but that gave Mordecai the opening he needed to close with the giant ape and slam a chi-charged punch into the chest, directly over the simian's heart.

Bone creaked under the force of that blow, and the ape staggered backward for a brief moment before he recovered his balance and stance. Pulling off a precise attack like that was normally tricky when fighting a foe whose biology you hadn't studied in depth, but Mordecai had the advantage of his finely tuned senses; he knew exactly where the heart was because he could hear it beat.

The moment the ape had recovered, he made a slashing motion with his bo staff that was the focus for a cold-charged air blade. Mordecai swayed just enough to avoid the blade, then swatted aside the fist-shaped blast of fire that followed. A few embers flew out from the impact and struck him, but he ignored the tiny burn marks and pressed his own assault instead.

He quickly cast a spell that launched a swarm of lightning sparks at the ape and closed on his opponent again. The ape managed to avoid the worst of the swarm and thrust at Mordecai again, this time landing a blow on Mordecai's shoulder, interrupting Mordecai's advance.

It seemed that his foe's intuition was sharp enough that the ape knew to resist any temptation to grapple with Mordecai. That was wise, but insufficient to gain the giant ape a victory. While the ape was the stronger of them physically, Mordecai knew several spells that could take advantage of being in physical contact with his foe. Most mages used such magic as a last resort, to help them escape an enemy that was too close, but Mordecai didn't need to get away.

Mordecai was also faster than his foe and had many more tricks available. He dipped low and darted forward as a feint, then launched himself into the air for a short flight to bring himself over the ape's attempt to block his advance. Mordecai landed on the ape and sank his claws into flesh, discharging a blast of cold in the process.

From there, the fight turned savage and bloody. The giant ape tried to throw him off at first, but Mordecai's shadow had come to life and helped him grapple with his foe. So they punched, clawed, and bit each other, both of them charging their attacks with elemental energy. But Mordecai took less damage from things like fire and lightning than the ape did, and even worse, he had magic that could drain vitality from his foe and restore his own body, undoing the damage he did take.

While the physicality of the fight was messy and hectic, for Mordecai it was pure calculation. Maintaining a grapple was the surest way of landing high-impact spells. The giant ape's spirit and power was sufficient to make mental and affliction spells chancy; being this close meant the ape didn't have time to deflect or dodge more physical spells. Naturally, Mordecai was also taking more damage than he would have in a more measured fight, but he could recover swiftly, and this would end the fight quicker.

He was able to keep track of the rest of the battle, given all the ways he had to sense things he could not directly see or hear, but disengaging from the giant ape to interfere if needed would have been difficult. So Mordecai was gambling on ending his fight swiftly enough to be available if needed.

The others were doing rather well. While all had taken indirect or minor hits, their healers were on top of counteracting any toxins from the blowguns and stopping any bleeding, and no one had taken any hits that required heavy healing.

He did wish Fuyuko would be a bit more careful; between her armor and her flesh both being able to heal, she seemed rather inclined to let herself take a minor wound if it meant she could close and make a kill in exchange.

...

Crap. He was setting a bad example, wasn't he?

Mordecai's thoughts were interrupted when the ape slapped the ground twice; Mordecai reflexively disengaged and leapt away. While they were not exactly engaged in a sports bout, the signal was fairly universal. A double-slap was almost always a doable action in some form, barring full paralyzation or such, and he was fairly certain that this hand signal was a clear enough form of communication that the ape wouldn't be able to lie to Mordecai using it.

When Mordecai disengaged after that signal, any enemy who was able to also disengaged and moved to the edge, leaving the giant ape and the dead or injured simians lying on the battlefield amidst the victors. The giant apedid not look like he was doing well. Mordecai said, "Do you formally surrender?"

The ape managed to grunt out a "Yes." and Mordecai immediately began casting a healing prayer. The single charge of mana and divine energy wasn't enough to fully restore the giant ape, but it was sufficient to make him healthy and mostly whole.

Mordecai then shifted back into his normal form as the ape slowly sat up. "You fight mean," the ape said with a grin, "and I like it. I've never experienced someone using so much magic up close like that. Oh, and thank you for accepting my concession of the fight and healing me, it's much more convenient than trying to find you for a conversation after I'm restored."

While the ape was talking, Mordecai had been weaving together a larger and more complicated healing spell. When he released it, the vitalizing energy spread over the clearing, healing friend and recent foe alike. Mordecai smiled and said, "I'm glad you enjoyed the fight. I was right to not try to play games with you; I did not hold back."

Which wasn't the same as saying he had used everything he had; Mordecai had used what he judged to be the most effective attacks against this foe, but if things had gone poorly, he'd have tried a different tactic.

While they were talking, Derek had started collapsing the scorched and cracked walls of the arena. Shortly after that, the barrier at the end of the clearing began unweaving itself, releasing the heady and slightly out-of-place scent of roses, and the dire ape said, "Well, I think you have earned your respite here. I just wanted to thank you for the most entertaining fight I've had in a while."

Mordecai took a moment to look around the clearing and visually verify what his other senses were already telling him; everyone in his party was fine, if bedraggled and tired. Those apes who had fallen but not died were now getting up slowly and backing off into the woods. Once he was sure of the situation, he turned back to the giant ape and nodded. "You are welcome, and thank you for the civil conversation. I've been encouraging similar actions for my bosses as well, when they have the chance. It's been an interesting change from my previous life, and it is in large part thanks to the influences of my wives."

He gestured toward Kazue and Moriko, who were approaching him while keeping an eye on the ape.

There was a little more small talk while everyone cleaned up and gathered themselves. Once there was no chance of getting in anyone's way, the giant ape rose to his feet and bowed briefly before moving off into the forest.

Watching from beyond the once-sealed exit was a group of various fey creatures: dryads, fauns, some pixies, and so on. One dryad stood in front of all the other fey, and she was clearly their leader. She was several inches taller than any other dryad there and wore layers of translucent gossamer golden spider silk that just barely managed to be strategically opaque in a few areas, with the help of some decorative foliage and flowers pinning the layers in place. The gold was the perfect color to work with the green tones of her skin, and the overall effect was well designed to draw attention to her. Mordecai amused himself with wondering whether Carmilla would have stolen the clothes right off her back if she could see them, or turn her nose up at the dryad and say she was trying too hard. Or perhaps she would have tried to seduce the dryad first, and then stolen the clothes.

He pretended to not notice Shizoku elbowing Derek, or the hard nudges that Bellona gave the other teen boys to shake them out of staring.

"Welcome, visitors," the dryad said as they approached. "I am Lady Perenne, and I am queen of this court." There was the slightest sensation of something being wrong about that statement, though it was not a lie either.

Kazue and Moriko frowned as they noticed, but Mordecai chose to ignore it for the moment and stepped forward to speak for the party. "It is an honor to meet you, Lady Perenne. I am Lord Mordecai, King of the Azeria Court; this is Lady Kazue, Queen of the Azeria Court; Lady Moriko, Queen of the Azeria Court; and Lady Fuyuko, Princess of the Azeria Court.

Perenne's smile briefly became strained, but she recovered quickly. "You are welcome here as my guests, and offered safety and our hospitality. Please, come in; we have food and drink ready for you, and I promise that none of it will compromise you beyond the potential for common mortal inebriation. You have earned this rest and respite already."

That was always good to be sure of when offered food or drink from the fae, but in this case, Mordecai was rather certain everything was going to be of nexus make, rather than of faerie make. "We gladly accept your hospitality, Lady Perenne." Her wording also meant that this was a safe area of the nexus, as these fey were all inhabitants.

Except for one, though she had cloaked her aura fairly well to match the others.

They were led into the faerie court, where they were shown to their lodgings and given the chance to clean up before the feast. Kazue and Moriko brightened notably when they realized that there was going to be privacy tonight, and Mordecai had to hide a smile.

Not that he wasn't looking forward to it himself. However, he wasn't under the same influences as either of them, and he had a lot more practice with self-control. Mordecai had already started planning on how to use that to his advantage later.

In the meantime, he got to be amused by something else. When Kazue removed her pack, she stretched and sighed before saying, "It's nice to get that weight off, but I always feel off balance for a little while.

Moriko snickered and then gave Kazue a leering smirk.

"What?" Kazue said, then she paused thoughtfully. "Wait a moment." She glanced directly down, then looked at the pack. She picked it back up and hefted it, then looked straight down again before looking up with an incredulous expression. "Are they really that heavy?"

"Are what heavy?" Mordecai asked with feigned innocence.

Kazue narrowed her eyes. "You. This bag was specifically enchanted by your avatar. No matter how much is inside of it, it always weighs the same. I can't believe you made it weigh the same as my breasts!"

Mordecai grinned at Kazue, who was clearly torn between minor outrage and laughter. "I thought it would make the longer journeys on foot easier for you. We were wondering how long it would take you to notice."

As they got cleaned up and changed for the feast, Kazue began audibly running down an exhaustive and creative list of the ways she was going to make them pay for not telling her. Carnelian and Sparks might not have quite understood what was causing the playful bickering between their mistresses, but they took it as good an excuse as any to begin their own play fight.