Meanwhile, in the other tunnel complex, Maria had pulled Ephraim and Ishtar into the tunnel. Around two minutes behind was Emika, doing her best to jog with her ankle.
The Tarots landed roughly on the ground.
"Gyah!"
"Ack!"
Maria, though was a short girl, towered over the two Tarots as she retracted her mana threads from them. The girl had a ruthless look in her eyes. It was clear that she was not exactly pleased.
"Now, I'd like to ask you two some questions."
She said, getting white gloves out from her coat pocket.
"It seems like you're not exactly normal Streia. I want to know why you came here since it seems that the Wyvern wasn't your goal."
Maria wore gloves.
"So, who are you?"
"Why the fuck should we tell you?!"
Ishtar used her Yuna and released a wave of spells. Fire, Lightning, Ice and Water spells converged and merged, creating a single spell.
Its dense mana shaved away at the outer layers of the tunnel. The spell filled the entire tunnel and would be trouble for anyone.
Anyone else.
The girl sighed as the spell approached her.
"Is this ALL you have?"
Maria shifted her hands and made symbols as if she was making a circular string figure. She then snapped her finger; the mana string figure she made created a perfect vacuum in the spell.
The spell flew around the girl and collided with the boulder that was blocking the path outside.
It shook the tunnel.
"W-what?! She just... she just broke through the spells released from my Infinity Box..."
Ishtar whispered to herself in disbelief.
"Yeah, it was easy if you're mindlessly releasing mana toward me."
She said.
"Not that it was your mana."
The girl added.
She had already figured out what Ishtar's Yuna was. For a Demi-God like Maria, she could surmise the concept of a Singularity from only seeing it once.
"Where did you get that ability from? I know they're not Singularities."
"You ramble on, don't you, little girl?"
Ephraim asked, putting his hands on the ground.
"Didn't your parents tell you to respect your elders?!"
The tunnel began softening and it deformed, bouncing around as if the rock was rubber.
Maria stood still while the cave shook her, almost like she was standing on waves.
Ephraim's Yuna was Terraform. He could manipulate the earth around him as long as he had his hands on what he wanted to control.
The weakness of Terraform was that the muscles in his hands would tense up and it would take several days to loosen before he could use his Yuna once more.
"That should be my question. Your ability isn't any good without having your hands on the surface you want to manipulate, right?"
"Shut up!"
Ephraim had lost his cool.
Earth from the ceiling of the tunnel morphed into spikes and pierced through the air toward Maria.
She lifted her ring and index finger, lifting the arms of the young man.
The terraform stopped and everything hardened. The spikes stopped just short of the girl.
"Let go of me!"
"You look like a dignified young man but you're nothing but a child. Since you've been bad, I'll take your toys away."
Maria attached more mana strings to his arms, specifically his elbows, and she pulled them.
"AAARRGGGGGHHHHH!"
With a blood-curdling scream, Ephraim's arms twisted themselves. The Tarot landed on the ground, twitching from the pain. His eyes were filled with tears and foam leaking from his mouth.
Ishtar fell to the ground, shivering in fear. Maria sauntered toward her.
"Now, what toys of yours should I--"
There was a BONK and Ishtar fell to the ground. She was out cold.
Maria looked in front of her, only to see Emika. She brandished her staff out in front of her.
"Did you just--"
"You would've tortured her as you did with that guy."
She said, pointing at Ephraim, who was unconscious from shock.
"I heard this guy's scream and it was disturbing so..."
"It's fine..."
(I was going to torture her for information. Well, I can just bring these two back.)
The girl scratched her face, chuckling with slight lacklustre.
---
"You know, I'm getting bored."
Kaguya said.
"I haven't fought with Nuri in ages. So I thought that by fighting you, I would be entertained. But you're nothing but a disappointment."
Titania breathed heavily, as she glared at Kaguya. Kaguya had been beating Titania the entire time.
"I might as well end it now. Honestly, since you're hostile intruders, killing you should be alright."
She pointed at Titania with her sword, Nuri.
"Die."
The scarlet-haired girl dove in toward Titania.
As the woman covered her face with her hand, a smirk perked up her face.
"Did you really think that I was at my best using swords?!"
A distortion in space appeared beside the nun. It was like the air had cracked itself.
She removed her hand from her face, revealing her starry eyes.
"The reason my ability is Sword Composition is because my real ability was too powerful!"
The woman exclaimed.
Titania put her hand within the distortion. It enlarged as she proceeded to dig deeper with her arm. Once she felt like she had something.
The girl pulled her arm out of the distortion.
"A weapon in which carved the start of time and will announce its finality. The spear that pierced Christ."
Titania wielded a spear. The spearhead was black. Almost holy. It looked like a weapon that an angel would wield.
"The Spear of Destiny. That makes sense as to why you weren't accustomed to swords."
Though spears and swords were not too different in essence, the way one handled them definitely was.
It was clear from how playful Titania was with her spear that she was a skilled wielder.
Kaguya's eyes began flaring white once more. The more she concentrated, the more flames dosed her sword.
The tips of her hair began floating and crackling like fire.
This was due to her Singularity, The Incarnation of Surtr. This type of Singularity was contractual.
From birth, Kaguya's parents forcibly made her enter a contract with the vicious fire demon, Surtr.
The more heated she feels, the greater her connection with Surtr becomes.
Surtr was a powerful demon but not very good at corruption, meaning that Kaguya could control most of his power.
Titania dashed toward Kaguya without hesitation; she swung relentlessly, tracking her next move after each swing.
Longinus rushed toward Kaguya's waist but was parried without being able to do any damage.
Flames burst around the blade of Nuri.
White lightning sparked around the black blade of Longinus.
"Flare Combustion."
"Divine Lightning."
The flames and lightning clashed. They both continued to attack each other, only to counter each other's blade.
However, Titania gained the upper hand first.
She spun and pushed Kaguya off balance slightly. The nun sliced Kaguya's stomach, and a line of blood splurt out from her belly.
The girl stumbled backwards and held her stomach. Blood also seeped from the corners of her mouth.
Titania's Sword Composition was a Yuna to dull the use of her Singularity; Reality Creation. Once a day, she could create any weapon, as long as she laid eyes on it. Picture, real, it did not matter. This manifestation would only last for half an hour at most.
"Well, time to end it."
The blade of Longinus became white. Lightning shrouded the edge of the blade, as Titania dashed toward Kaguya.
The scarlet-haired girl became hotter. The flames in her eyes and hair increased. Cracks, like molten rock, appeared below her eyes and a broken, black horn emerged from the left side of her forehead.
With her remaining strength, she raised Nuri—the flames burst and expanded, turning red.
The grin on Titania's face disappeared as she looked up in awe at the flames.
At the top of her lungs, the girl yelled,
"Fiery Sword of God!"
A flash.
The path in front of Kaguya became engulfed in the evil red flames, incinerating the path ahead.
Soon, the flames died down and revealed the burnt body of Titania. She wasn't dead.
"Fucking... bitch..."
Kaguya muttered, before falling onto her face.