"Why not?" Maddox asks the text wanting to know why he cannot alter the girl's personality again
[If too many changes are implemented in the host's mind undue consequences are bound to follow as a result of too many changes]
"Fuck..." Maddox says as he feels a headache brewing from this problem
"Fine then I will just leave everything as it is now but will change their personalities once I can again"
Having gathered the copies of the folders and was about to leave until he realized something that he had not thought about before so he places the folders down before looking at the text.
"Can I change their personalities without this method?"
[Yes by interacting with the host the administer should be able to change their personality if significant actions are taken to modify them]
"That is good to hear then..." Maddox says before he grabs the folders and takes back his gains
Repeating the process of collecting the copied memories from all the girls Maddox places them in his archive room and returns to the real world.
The setup was that the girls would enter his room one by one so that he could enter their mind space and take their copied memories easily since he wanted to keep the fact that he could keep miasma a secret from them because he was unsure how they would react if they knew.
He of course locked out the memory of him taking their memories and entering their mind space since normally that place was unreachable by others and the only thing that could enter was miasma that turned them into holes.
As for what the girls thought he wanted them in his room for, well he asked them if they were anything that they wanted and he asked for their sizes for clothing since he might need it and the girls might feel a little insecure about some of that stuff so he simply took them into his room one by one in case they felt the need for privacy.
After all that it was about noon so everyone was now pretty much bored, so Maddox decides to make things a little bit interesting and goes out for about two hours driving a bit around the city as there were a few things that he was going to need for what he wants to do.
Maddox returns with the truck bed full of bundles of fresh hay and some wooden sticks that were meant to be used to hold drapes but Maddox was going to refurbish them for something more useful.
"Alright girls let's do something productful with our time"
Currently, Maddox had called out all the girls to the main area of the building which was still an empty area but this time Maddox had added something to it.
He took the bundles of hay and set them up into a fighting ring of sorts where there was some hay on the ground and placed the hay bundles to act as corners giving it the feeling like this bit of area was some sort of fighting ring.
"I decided that we should hold a bit of a tournament where the winner has the right to have a request of their's filled, as long as it is reasonable that is," Maddox explains taking out two wooden sticks
He simply just cut the originally long wooden stick into two with the sword he bought.
"The rules are simple three hits to the opponent and you win, essence use and techniques are allowed unless both parties agree to it, similarly if both parties agree then the sticks will be removed from the fight, and instead whoever pins their opponent to the ground first shall be the winner alright?" Maddox explains to everyone
"But there are only five of us how is this going to be fair?" Angela asks seeing as it would be a bit unfair if one of them does not get matched with anyone in the first round
"Oh that's an easy fix one of you will be going against Dog"
"Arrow?" Dog lets out as her head turns to look at Maddox
"Huh?" Everyone else was confused as well seeing as there was now a dog in the fights which made no sense at all
"Trust me Dog will be a nice addition to the fight plus you never know if you may have to face off a wild animal in the future so it is better to prepare for that slight chance," Maddox explains his reasoning and stands firm in making Dog fight regardless of the complaints of everyone else
"Alright now then the first round shall be determined by drawing names from a cup and whoever is paired up with who and has the corresponding match number will be determined in half an hour so until then prepare yourselves as best you can"
With some disgruntled groans and final complaints from the girls, they go ahead to prepare themselves in whatever way they see fit for the next half an hour, but in the meantime, Maddox has to deal with Dog.
"I presume you are wondering why I threw you in this don't you?" Maddox asks after he has established a connection with her
'Yes...'
"I want to see if you are worth keeping around," Maddox says harshly to Dog, which causes her ears to drop down
"I know that what I said was harsh but its the truth however I am not going to sugar coat it if you prove you can't even handle one Coalition member that is underestimating you then I do not need you"
'I... understand Maddox, ' Dog says while feeling depressed at why she was being placed in the fights between the girls
Still, that depression soon changed into something else as Dog soon began to think about it a bit more she realized that this was a test for her to prove her worth, and to do that she needed to win the fighting tournament at all costs.
Seeing a sort of determined look on her face and feeling her thoughts on winning to prove herself was exactly what Maddox wanted. By making Dog enter this fight he was able to see truly if she were worth keeping as a permanent companion or something of a guard dog for his house when he leaves it.
Of course, this was harsh however reality is oftentimes harsher so Maddox was only trying to get the best out of this fight.
By making the girls fight he would be able to see some of their fighting styles and essence techniques in real life and not in their copied memories.
Maddox was also kind helping them with getting used to fighting infected animals by having them go against Dog who was defiantly a lot different than a regular wolf since she was undoubtedly enhanced by the transformation process into an infected.
'Master can I ask something of you?' Dog asks all of a sudden
"Yes?"
'Can we talk in there?' Dog asks with 'there' meaning her mind space so he quickly enters and is met with her conscious in the form of a regular-sized wolf
'Master, I wish to be able to fight with the stick that the others are going to use'
"Huh why?" Maddox asks, finding the request a bit odd, especially since his wolf somehow wanted to become like a certain other sword-wielding wolf
'I believe it would be fairer for them and humiliating when they suffer defeat at my hands'
'I think you mean paws,' Maddox thinks, finding the statement a bit funny
'WHAT'S SO FUNNY ABOUT THAT?!' Dog cries out hearing her master's thoughts since with their connection they could hear their thoughts which were how Maddox talked to her
"Nothing alright fine I will do a bit of a spar with you to see how to best allow you to fight with a stick alright?"
Dog gets quiet and forgets about Maddox making fun of her a bit earlier since she wanted to impress Maddox as much as possible since beating those human bitches at their own game would be so satisfying and would prove to Maddox that she was worthy of staying by his side.
Maddox felt it would be fine for Dog to get this little bit of training since these girls had already been hunting infected for a long time, so they had way more experience in combat than Dog so him helping her out was exemplary in his opinion.
So Maddox sets up a makeshift fighting ring for the two of them before he creates a miasma stick in his grasp and Dog does the same but her stick forms in her mouth instead which is a bit awkward for her.
"Pfft-" Maddox is trying to hold back his laughter as best he can as Dog looks almost cute holding that stick in her mouth like she wants to bring it home to keep
'YOU!' She however did not enjoy Maddox's snickering and laughter in her face, so she charged Maddox intending to swing her stick against his leg since she was low to the ground already it was the easiest way for her to hit someone
Her being close to the ground also meant that it was the most predictable place of attack for her so Maddox can easily defend against her swings by jumping over them or blocking them.
"I think that you might be better off jumping and swinging that stick in the air, that way you might look like you caught a frisbee," Maddox taunts Dog
'YOU!' While Dog did not know what a frisbee was, she assumed it was some sort of derogatory word
This continues with Maddox taunting Dog to hit him while he would lightly tap Dog on the head with his stick and since both of them used miasma and were at max capacity the miasma sticks are not absorbed so they don't have to waste energy or time creating more.
"Well, I think our time is up here don't you think?" Maddox says while he stands over an exhausted Dog who was lying on the ground, mentally tired of chasing after Maddox this whole time
One could not get physically exhausted from moving around in the mind space, but mental fatigue was the result of it.
'I... give... up... I won't... win against them... will I?' Dog questions while looking at Maddox
"You know... there is a saying that you can learn more from defeat rather than victory, I suggest you take that to heart," Maddox only answers before cutting the connection and leaving a confused Dog lying on the floor
'Learn more from defeat rather than victory...' Dog mumbled that phrase in her mind for a while now and since time was different in the mind than in the real world, she had a bit more time to reflect on what Maddox said
Eventually, it soon donned on her what it was that Maddox had been saying as he made observations throughout the fight about what would be the best strategy for her to fight the girls in their little tournament.
Taking a bit more time Dog thinks about everything that had happened in the fight before she soon realizes that Maddox had been able to reveal her flaws herself and how to effectively fight how she wanted to.
When Dog opened her eyes once again she saw Maddox with a cup in hand which presumably held the names of all the girls as they were seated around him waiting to start the matchmaking.
"Alright if you happen to get your name then you will have to redraw and as for the first three eliminated you will have a redemption round after all is said and done to enter the semi-finals, so think of it as an extra chance to win alright," Maddox tells everyone before he begins to bring the cup around them to draw a name and round for them in this tournament