Even as Kael's voice echoed, the texture of the 'Cathedral Garden' began to tremble and metamorphose like a living organism.
"Our arena is being reshaped according to the champions' 'What ifs...', those deepest, suppressed desires!"
Amidst the bewildered gazes of the spectators, the broken marble altars and Gothic arches Lara had taken cover behind lost their solid forms; melting as if they were mercury rather than stone, they receded into the ground. The soil gave way to polished, sterile white metal shining like a mirror. The gloomy crimson dimness of the cathedral was wiped away; handing over its place to a surgical, dazzling white light.
The new arena was a paradox where time and space fractured. While one half resembled a classical Roman square with elegant statues and marble steps; the other half consisted of a high-tech observation deck cutting through this ancient texture like a knife, with neon blue circuits flowing through it.
"Presenting," declared Kael, "Piazza Cibernetica! That uncanny square where elegance faces technology, humanity's past faces the galaxy's future!"
When the holographic 'Anima Fountain' reappeared above the arena, Lara's light had already merged with Marilyn's, and the remaining 149 points of light had returned to their chaotic dance. With the command "Let the Roulette of Destiny determine the second round!", the fountain churned and two separate beams fell onto the arena.
The first light concentrated on the ancient side of the arena, weaving that slender, delicate silhouette resembling a swan.
"OUR FIRST CHAMPION!" roared Kael. "The image of innocence! The definition of elegance! The darling of the Old World! Her regret: 'If I hadn't tarnished that innocence, that purity with the mud of fame...' Presenting... AUDREY HEPBURN!"
The murmur rising from the crowd was a disappointment that Aetius's die had fallen on the "soft" side again. However, the second light shooting from the fountain shattered this thought.
The second form was not slender, but imposing; not elegant, but mechanical and lethal.
"OH MY GOD! THE BETTING TERMINALS WILL CATCH FIRE!" Kael's voice took on a hysterical tone. "Here is the abyss we were looking for! The galaxy's most feared bounty hunter! Chozo's adopted daughter! The apocalypse of Metroids! Her regret: 'If my family hadn't been slaughtered that first day on Zebes...' The orphan trapped inside her armor! Presenting... SAMUS ARAN!"
The crowd roared. Innocence was against Armor, Icon against Hunter.
"On one side, Champion Hepburn, appearing vulnerable, wielding her elegance as a weapon! On the other, Champion Aran with the Varia Suit, the galaxy's most advanced armor! The gong is about to strike! CHAMPIONS! TO THE ARENA!"
The doors at the two ends of the square opened for this strange duel.
From one side entered Samus Aran.
Her steps pounded the sterile floor of Piazza Cibernetica with a metallic rhythm. The iconic Varia Suit on her had metamorphosed with the touch of the Palace of Pleasure; the orange and yellow plates had taken on a brighter, almost wet and organic appearance than normal. While her pauldrons puffed up with an exaggerated show of strength, the green visor of her helmet shone like an emotionless mask completely hiding the face inside. The most terrifying part was her right arm; the limb had given way to a massive Arm Cannon, its barrel glowing with a cold promise. She was advancing not like a woman, but like a walking fortress of war.
From the other door glided Audrey Hepburn.
Contrasting Samus's earth-shaking steps, Audrey's presence was like a silent breeze. That famous black Givenchy design dress on her was woven not from cotton or silk, but from 'smart-fabric'; it breathed with her body, glowed slightly with every movement, could harden at the molecular level. The classic pearl necklace around her neck was miniature 'kinetic shield' generators produced with Aetius's technology. And at the tip of that long, elegant cigarette holder she held in her hand, not tobacco; but a concentrated ember of psychic energy distilled from her own 'What if...', from that pain of 'lost innocence' was smoking.
With her hair in a bun and a calm, polite, even slightly amused expression on her face, she stood right in the middle of the Roman and technology line.
A metallic voice filtered from Samus's helmet was heard: "Scans confirm target. Civilian. Unarmed. No armor. This is an error. Withdraw from the tournament."
Audrey gently brought the cigarette holder to her lips and smiled elegantly. "Oh, dear," she said, her voice echoing in the arena with the clarity of a silver bell. "Inside all that metal... don't you feel lonely? Is that armor to protect you, or to hide that little, scared girl inside?"
A thin steam hissed from the vents in Samus's pauldrons.
Kael intervened excitedly: "And the first blow from Champion Hepburn! Directly under the armor, to the very heart of the 'What if...'! Psychological warfare has begun!"
While Samus's Arm Cannon charged with an ominous hum, she gave herself the command, "Meaningless dialogue. Complete the mission."
As Audrey walked slowly toward one of the Roman statues, she asked, "Mission?" "What a boring word. I prefer to call this... an introduction."
GONG!
The moment the metallic sound was heard, Samus didn't wait even a split second. "Ice Beam!"
The bright blue energy beam bursting from the Arm Cannon cut through the arena simultaneously with her voice. This was not a lethal, but a freezing shot; designed to turn the opponent into a statue and knock them down in accordance with Rule One.
But Audrey was there and the next moment she wasn't.
The 'smart-fabric' dress, sensing the approaching danger, flung its owner's body aside with impossible grace. The beam froze the spot where Audrey had just stood, creating a massive block of ice on the marble floor.
Samus's synthetic voice was surprised: "Anomaly. Speed, above human standards."
Audrey, now taking shelter in the shadow of a statue, called out, "That's called 'grace', dear." "You should try taking dance lessons. It would be good for those metal feet."
Samus changed tactics. The target was fast, the area had to be narrowed. "Morph Ball!"
The massive Varia Suit folded inward with incredible mechanical fluidity, bent, and turned into a glowing metal sphere within seconds. The sphere bouncing at tremendous speed in the arena left three small bombs behind as it jumped from metal to marble: "Power Bomb!"
When the bombs modified according to SGC standards exploded, not flames, but a dense cloud of pink mist emerged. This was Aetius's 'Palace of Pleasure' formula: Concentrated pheromones mixing into the air, loosening the will and triggering primal impulses.
Although Audrey elegantly retreated and shielded her nose with the collar of her dress, she couldn't prevent that sweet and dizzying scent from seeping into her mind. She felt dizzy, the 'innocence' shield trembled. And in that moment of inattention, the metal sphere shot out of the mist and opened right in front of her.
Samus stood before her in all her majesty. The armored gauntlet closed around Audrey's delicate throat and lifted her into the air with one hand, her feet off the ground.
"Mission about to be completed."
Kael held his breath. "Did grace fade so quickly against brute force?"
Audrey was struggling in Samus's metal grip, breathless. But... she was smiling.
"Your armor..." she rasped. "...as I said... is very... hot."
She raised her free hand and pressed her bare fingertips onto that glowing power source right in the middle of Samus's chest armor. The indicators in Samus's helmet instantly turned red.
WARNING. EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE. BIO-ENERGY LEAK. SYSTEMS... UNSTABLE.
"What...?"
Audrey's 'innocence' was not a passive shield like Marilyn's 'desire', but an active, infiltrative virus. Her touch targeted not the metal, but the technology inside the metal, the energy feeding that technology. Samus's fingers squeezing the throat suddenly loosened.
"System Error. Hydraulics... not obeying."
Audrey, falling to the ground coughing, recovered immediately. Kael was shouting: "Is Champion Hepburn hacking the Varia Suit? No... she is seducing it! The armor is betraying its owner!"
Samus stumbled back. Her armor was twitching, joints creaking, locks loosening unexpectedly. The voice coming from inside the helmet was no longer synthetic, but angry and human: "This is impossible."
Audrey, standing up, took her cigarette holder in her hand again. "Nothing is impossible, dear. It's just... you weren't invited."
And it was her turn to attack. She pressed that holder, which was no longer an accessory but a scalpel glowing with psychic energy at the tip, into the junction point between the shoulder and chest plates of Samus's armor, into that sensitive slit.
HSSSSSSSS!
Not an explosion, but an opening sound was heard. The seals of the armor separated with a 'click' sound as if they had met a touch they had been waiting for a long time. Kael shouted enthusiastically: "STRIPPING ARMOR! Rule permitted!"
While Samus retreated betrayed by her armor, she raised her Arm Cannon but the firing system was dead. When Audrey pulled and separated the shoulder plate with the precision of a surgeon, the metal fell to the ground with a noise and the blue, body-hugging 'Zero Suit' under Samus was revealed.
Roaring, Samus resorted to brute force, not technology. Lunging with her other armored hand, she grabbed Audrey's delicate black dress.
RIIIIIIIP!
However durable the 'smart-fabric' was, it couldn't withstand Samus's muscle power enhanced with Chozo DNA. The dress tore all the way from shoulder to hip. The crowd held its breath as Audrey's smooth white skin was revealed. Audrey looked first at her torn dress, then at Samus. "Ah... That was rented."
Now both were vulnerable. One had lost her armor, the other her cover. The struggle turned into a savage grapple.
Using her physical superiority, Samus grabbed Audrey and pinned her against a marble statue. Her aim was clear: Knock down, finish.
"It's over!" she snarled.
Breathless, Audrey whispered, "We are... just... getting started."
Physical contact was exactly the opportunity Audrey's 'Grace Virus' was looking for. When her bare skin rubbed against the thin fabric of Samus's 'Zero Suit', Samus froze as if turned to ice. Her body shook not with pain; but with an intense, burning, unexpected wave of pleasure.
"W... what is this?" stammered Samus.
Audrey's virus was now targeting not the metal, but directly the nervous system. "This," whispered Audrey, her voice not gentle, but deep and commanding. "Is your 'What if...', little soldier. The warmth you have suppressed inside that cold metal for years."
When her arms wrapped around Samus's waist, over that thin fabric, this was a toxic embrace rather than an attack. For Samus, it was a sensory torture no different from an acid burn.
The needles on the monitors in front of Kael hit the red. "Champion Aran's nervous system is overloading! Dopamine, serotonin... all neurotransmitters are firing at the same time! This is a PLEASURE ATTACK!"
While Samus's mind screamed 'Fight!', her body begged 'More...'. As her eyes rolled back, a groan of "No... Mission..." spilled from her lips.
"Your mission is over," said Audrey, her lips grazing Samus's ear. Her torn dress covered the two like an intimate curtain. "Now... feel."
Audrey was playing for the Second Rule. Her hands slid over the 'Zero Suit' to the abdominal muscles, then downwards. Kael screamed: "DIRECT INTERFERENCE! PERMISSION GRANTED!"
Tensed like a bow under that touch, Samus; had saved galaxies, destroyed planets but was helpless against this. When Audrey locked her fingers pressing onto that most sensitive spot, the clitoris, over the thin fabric of the 'Zero Suit', Samus let out a scream oscillating between pain and pleasure.
"Let it go," commanded Audrey in a hypnotic tone. "That little girl's pain... let it go."
She focused all her psychic power on that single point. Samus's body shook violently, convulsed, and finally... exploded.
Monitors recorded that the 'Absolute Pleasure' limit was exceeded, the pale blue psychic energy—the spiritual manifestation of that 'Pleasure Fluid'—radiating from Samus's body.
Samus's body, all resistance broken, tension released, slid down the statue. Her eyes were closed when she collapsed trembling to the ground.
Rule Two. Victory.
A deep, echoing GONG sound filled the arena.
Audrey Hepburn stood trying to fix her tattered dress. She picked up one of the pearls scattered on the ground and smiled. The gray, smoky light filtering from Samus's body—that orphan pain on Zebes—flowed into Audrey.
In that moment, in Audrey's eyes, the hunter hidden behind 'innocence' shone with a cold and methodical victory.
"AND THE WINNER!" roared Kael. "BY SECONDARY VICTORY CONDITION! THE GRACE THAT SHATTERS ARMOR... AUDREY HEPBURN!"
While Samus's unconscious body was sent to the 'Pale Hall' with a pale light, Audrey gave a polite curtsy to the crowd. The banquet continued in all its magnificence and perversion.