The two fiercely clashed without reserve. To them, they had met someone they had been DYING to meet.
The emotion that had been driving them to this point was love. Or, that is what they thought, at least.
Shoya had been wanting to meet the man he resented.
The man that tricked his childhood friend and used her.
That anger fuelled Shoya and his strength.
Meanwhile, as for Ragnarok, not even he knew what was driving him. To him, he simply felt the need to fight Shoya. No explanation needed. He did not even question his own actions.
"Shoya!"
"Ragnarok!"
Team Exodia ran toward Shoya.
Titania panicked.
"Oi, Ephraim, attack them wi--"
"I don't think so."
Kaguya did not wait after seeing Shoya advance. She dashed toward the young man with pink eyes with her sword aimed at him.
There was a CLANG!
Titania intercepted Kaguya with a copy of her sword.
"You'll be facing me."
Asmodeus took the initiative and grabbed Kuroha and threw her into the tunnel the Tarots came into. He followed her with a grin on his face.
"Why don't we follow?"
Kaguya had a nervous smile on her face. Titania wryly smirked.
"Why don't we?"
She replied.
They parried each other multiple times before entering the same tunnel.
"Geez, these guys do whatever they want."
Ishtar began running toward the tunnel when suddenly...
"What the--I can't move!"
Ishtar tried to move toward the same tunnel that Asmodeus and the others entered but it was like her arms and legs were stuck in place.
"Ishtar, what're you--"
Ephraim's limbs were also caught. By Maria, that is.
"I won't let the two of you escape. Whoever you think you are."
She said, holding the two with their Puppet Mastery.
(Hmm. I'll let him do what he wants for now.)
Maria thought.
"Let's go somewhere else, so we don't disturb them."
The girl pulled the two Tarots into the hole behind her, throwing them into the tunnel from where she came.
"Emika, follow me. Though, I'll just be ahead."
She told the orange-haired girl, running into the tunnel.
Emika hesitated slightly.
She looked back at Shoya. She wanted to stay and help Shoya fight but after looking into his eyes, she reconsidered.
Shoya would not notice Emika right now. His eyes were fixated on Ragnarok. They were filled with the fire of abhor and hatred.
The girl reluctantly jogged, to the best of her abilities, into the tunnel, following Maria.
"Blood Axe!"
From the crest on his hand, a hatchet of blood formed; he swung down at Shoya, who blocked the axe with Erebus, in katana form.
Ragnarok seemed to pour more force behind his axe and was crushing Shoya by the second.
To support himself, Shoya put his fist on the spine of his katana. However, soon after the katana broke and the Emperor took a step backwards.
Now, Erebus was unusable for a brief period of a few minutes. But even that brief period would be dangerous against an opponent like Ragnarok.
The boy did not cast Shadow Gauntlets.
As his opponent's axe morphed into a longsword, Shoya extended his arms.
Shadows covered his skin, almost like a plague. His forearms became pitch black in his silent rage.
Ragnarok swung sideways, missing Shoya's head.
Grabbing his arm and he primed a punch.
He hit him with full power, causing him to bleed.
The shadows shrouding his forearms were like thin shells working as gauntlets. He spell crafted a spell without knowing.
"You little--"
As swift as the wind, Shoya bombarded his enemy with full-power blows. Each seemingly more powerful than the next.
As soon as Shoya stopped, Ragnarok sliced at his forehead; the boy had leaned back slightly, avoiding fatal damage.
The man followed up with multiple chops, most hitting Shoya in vital places. Namely, the liver.
Shoya staggered and tumbled over. He landed on one knee.
Ragnarok peered down at Shoya with his crimson eyes. The marking around his eyes seemed to dance. He breathed heavily before taking a deep breath and exhaling once more.
"Time to die, Shoya Sasaki."
He mumbled, looking at the boy, who was writhing in pain.
"But, first,"
He knelt to Shoya and grabbed him.
"Get off me--oof!"
He began slowly beating Shoya. The room echoed with sounds of Shoya being beaten.
"You, who broke her heart, do not deserve to live. That's my Judgement."
The man said.
In an attempt to remove Ragnarok from him, Shoya discharged a Shadow spell, creating an explosion around him. The scarlet-eyed man backed away.
"I swear..."
Shoya struggled to stand up. His left eye was bloody and he could barely see out of it. He wiped his bloody nose with his sleeve.
"I'll defeat you."
"Try me."
---
"You sure brought us to a dark place."
Kaguya said.
She was in a series of the complex tunnel. The only thing making her able to see was her flaming eyes from her Singularity.
"Of course."
The girl brought her sword up to her chest, blocking Titania's slash.
"Sight or no sight, I can still sense your Aura."
Aura referred to the mana imbued into a blade. The stronger the sword spirit, the more mana imbued into it.
"You're the one to talk with a relic in your hand."
Though Titania could replicate any sword she wanted, she could not replicate the Aura of a sword.
The immense Aura of Kaguya's sword was not replicated.
"Relic? It's nothing that incredible."
Titania's sword deformed and the girl swung briskly at Titania. The wind whistled with each strike.
"Hm?"
The sound of the wind whistling stopped and Kaguya's sword bounced off of the tunnel's wall.
Her eyes widened in surprise.
(Huh? I'm sure that her Aura was around here. But I hit the wall.)
She turned, parrying Titania's next strike.
(The volume of her Aura changed. So did the shape of her sword.)
They each sliced at each other, tactically, going for vital spots specifically. Kaguya got a chance and pierced at her throat. Titania summoned another sword, redirecting Kaguya's pierce toward the ground, kicking her head.
The scarlet-haired girl's eyes flares as she weaved her sword relentlessly at the nun.
She countered with both swords in her hand, and when the woman attacked back, her attack was easily averted, leading to a slash on the wrist.
The first sword she made crumbled and the second one broke.
"You're skilled."
She said.
"No, it's because of the sword style you attempted."
"Sword style?"
"You're an erratic swordsman. You don't fight according to a style, so you don't seem to know the basics of swordsmanship."
"Hah?"
"Dual-wielding with swords of similar length is illogical. The strength someone would have to have to support each sword is hard for even a Streia. That's why people mostly dual wield with different length swords or daggers."
Titania did not know this. Up until she gained her Yuna, she had never touched a sword in her life. Something like that was something of Chariot's expertise. But, of course, after the attack on Altheria, he was captured and she had no one to learn from.
"So what? I can just make another swor--"
At that moment, Titania found another limit to her Yuna.
"I can't--"
"Craft another sword, can you?"
"!"
Kaguya had figured out what her Yuna was. Or, at least, what it could be.
"Your Singularity is to craft any sword you imagine and it crumbles after a certain amount of time. I'd say a minute and a half or so."
(We've been fighting for a little while and she, more or less, figured out my Yuna. But she still doesn't know I have my Singularity... Still...)
She could not summon the sword that had broke. It was Kaneshige Koshirae, a sword she summoned regularly.
"Now, I'll defeat you and head back to where the others are."
Titania grinned anxiously, summoning another sword.
The sword she summoned was straight, Holy Sword Ascalon.
She could not replicate the effects that came with wielding a Holy Sword but she could utilise its physical features.
"I've been itching for a proper fight."