[Part 1]
-A... ah...! Don't... get... up...!
Morrigan shouts, pointing Gungnir towards a dying hydra. The fight between these two was quite close, as Morrigan decided not to use her authority as "Goddess of Death" to finish it off in one go.
The hydra has modifications to its genome, regenerates every part of its body at brutal speeds, and doesn't mind using an enormous amount of magical energy to heal itself.
It ended up being an endurance fight until Morrigan managed to slaughter the hydra enough times to shatter its regeneration.
The abilities provided by the [System] of course have a limit, and this was the limit the hydra's regeneration could give, where its heart is completely exposed and at Morrigan's mercy.
Morrigan herself is inhaling and exhaling great gulps of air, her clothes are even torn at the points where the hydra managed to connect attacks with its claws and fangs.
As Morrigan was about to plunge Gungnir into the heart of the hydra, she felt a huge shiver run through her body. At the same time her sight is blinded by a powerful light.
Upon regaining her sight, Morrigan watched as the sky was painted red, at the same time as a crack appeared that glowed with rainbow-like colours.
It was the first time she saw the [Supernatural Rift]. And instead of being absorbed by the beauty of this new scenery in front of her eyes, she felt panic.
(Liselotte's frequency disappeared...!)
Morrigan prepares to withdraw her weapon, to go and assist her travelling companion in whatever has happened. She doesn't want to believe that Liselotte Sitri died against that iron-masked God.
-What did you do?
A deep voice intervenes, and a gigantic body throws Morrigan out of the way. She was stunned by the sudden and strong impact that came from absolute nothingness.
-No, no, no, no...! There's nothing... I can do anymore...!
Morrigan looks at the back of this entity... and there is no doubt in her mind that this is the God that Liselotte was fighting with before her magical flux frequency faded.
The mask was nowhere to be seen, Morrigan realises that Liselotte could barely reach it to do so.
That God shows an ominous presence... that seeps out along with a rising hatred from his heart...
He kneels before the hydra, and pronounces:
-At least I made it, old friend... thank you so much for being with me all these centuries... I'll take care of everything from now on... rest.
With a pained voice, he bids farewell to the hydra as if it were a loved one. The hydra breathes its last breath...
And Morrigan is then splashed by a stream of blood. Blood resulting from the fact that the God ripped out the hydra's heart.
She is horrified at the scene of this God swallowing the heart of the hydra she called "friend" a few moments ago. Then, as she stands up, the wounds on her body begin to heal as if they never existed.
Morrigan witnesses her current enemy grow more powerful right in front of her eyes... but for her what she is seeing is impossible, the Gods are not supposed to increase their power in any way...
...
(No. This bastard must have a weak spot. There's no way this level of divinity is something that a physical body can withstand.) -. Morrigan thinks.
She gets back to her feet. Setting aside Gungnir's spear as something from the previous battle, and returning to the halberd that represents her as a deity.
-You seem to have adopted the regeneration of the damn thing. But also... your body isn't going to hold out much longer if you keep it up...
-Retreat, Goddess of Death. You are not my enemy. You must stand aside and let Liselotte Sitri die. If you stand aside now, I won't harm you when I kill Nergal either.
(So she's not dead yet...) -. Morrigan thinks, with a hint of glee.
She hides the smile that shows on her face, and points the halberd at this God unknown to her. But for whom she feels not a hint of rivalry.
-I cannot allow that. Come and get me out of your way if you can, Nameless God.
-Isn't it enough that you killed my hydra...?! You Gods of Death are always proud bastards!
-I am, Nameless God. I don't care if you look at me like the proudest being you've ever met. I just can't look away if you're going to make an attempt on my ally.
-I AM THE "GOD OF ALL", TIBERIUS! YOU OWE ME RESPECT, WITCH!
-"God of All," uh... and you speak of pride.
Tiberius turns around, and does not hesitate to lash out at Morrigan after the provocation.
In an attempt to confuse the Goddess of Death, Tiberius uses his space magic to move to another direction that he assumes to be a blind spot.
-Predictable. -. Morrigan pronounces.
She only needed to raise her left hand with her halberd spinning at breakneck speed to block the weight of Tiberius' body coming down on her.
But he learned something from his fight against Liselotte, never stand still.
He teleported again, and opted this time to try to grab Morrigan with his hands. With all his gripping strength it would be enough to rip Morrigan's head off as if she were a doll.
-Mistake. -. Morrigan says again. Who reacted in plenty of time to swing the halberd in front of her and slice off both of Tiberius' hands.
-!!!!!!!
Tiberius panics, and summons a bolt of lightning at the thought. The lightning was deflected by Morrigan with a simple wave of her right hand.
Tiberius' fingers fell to the floor, along with his blood. Blood which Morrigan managed to use as a catalyst for her magic.
-Blodsølet Eksploderer.
The trail of blood that Tiberius formed to his feet glowed a dark red colour, and a second later produced a violent explosion that engulfed Tiberius in wine-red flames.
Tiberius was about to activate his space magic again and counterattack, but Morrigan anticipated him first.
-Guhoh...! -. Tiberius exclaims, having his abdomen being penetrated by Morrigan's halberd.
Morrigan threw it moments before the explosion reached him, in order to leave him static in one place and absorb all the damage from the "Blodsølet Eksploderer".
Everything went just as she wanted it to, and the damage to Tiberius was done perfectly.
As soon as the explosion was over, Morrigan knew that it wouldn't be nearly enough to hurt him seriously, but at least enough to dull his senses.
She takes advantage of that, and lunges forward to thrust Tiberius with all her might along with the halberd. Placing her hands on the latter and with a strong kick, she pulls it out while destroying a section of Tiberius' abdomen.
Tiberius' small intestine hangs out, and the gush of blood from that wound was not long in coming.
-Ugh... guh...!
The pain made Tiberius fall to his knees. It was the most damage he had received since he started fighting with his new powers.
He underestimated Morrigan by the fact that she is weaker than Liselotte, but the truth is that their strengths are totally separate.
She is not just a "Goddess of Death", Morrigan is an ancient "Goddess of War" who was named "Goddess of Death" once the entire nation that fought in her name perished.
Zawar Orcubalis is not only Liselotte Sitri's home country. It is also Morrigan's. The main reason why Morrigan agreed to fight at Liselotte's side is for that very reason, because Liselotte is the last living of her beloved Zawar Orcubalis.
Her name at the time was Morrigu, but she decided to change it to Morrigan once she became "Goddess of Death" so that she would not be seen as the same entity.
Because of her title as "Goddess of War", she was able to attack Tiberius and harm him. Even magic, which was not supposed to penetrate Tiberius' skin, was able to harm him.
Tiberius's body has several holes in it, resulting from the explosion of blood that attacked him.
But Morrigan stands still... waiting for the regeneration to begin.
-Your hydra was a problem since I decided to use the long-term method to defeat it. With you... I will show you no mercy, false "God of Everything".
-You talk a lot for a "Goddess of Death"... this shit isn't going to give you an advantage over me.
("Goddess of Death", uh...) -. Morrigan meditates for a brief period of time.
Quickly, she decided. After all she doesn't have much time, Tiberius is greatly altering the [Supernatural Rift] and the entire planet may be altered if this keeps happening.
The nun's dress that Morrigan wore all the time glows.
It shines and becomes an armour of chain mail, boots and shoulder pads, adorned in the left shoulder area with the symbol of an eagle, a symbol that adorned the flag of Zawar Orcubalis before it was extinguished.
The halberd also changed, and from the halberd itself emerged a band with the same symbol branded in the middle.
Particles of magical energy begin to emerge from the ground, encircling Morrigan's right arm to become a buckler shield. The same particles fly close to Morrigan's face, staining several strands of her whitish hair black.
Morrigan's pupils also underwent a change, both turning a bluish colour though they still looked dull as if she were dead, and finally, her immaculate face was filled with ancient wounds and scars that she usually keeps hidden.
Tiberius watched this transformation as her wounds were regenerating, stopping the bleeding.
Morrigan, taking up a fighting stance, bringing her halberd before her buckler shield, then shouts:
-I will face you as the "Goddess of War" of Zawar Orcubalis, Morrigu! You'd better make this little "War" worth a damn!
Tiberius gets back to his feet, ready to fight.
[Part 2]
Thanatos, on the other hand, arrived---.
-That was unexpected. Morrigan using the title "Goddess of War" here is basically invincible. But it's still hard for her to win.
Thanatos mentions to herself, using her [Clairvoyance] to visualise the current scenario in the background.
Instead, what she is experiencing right now is a fight to the death against an unexpected adversary.
-Damn you, Lottie, you called me just at the worst possible moment, things have gotten pretty heated!
Before falling unconscious, Liselotte mustered the last of her willpower to launch a cry for help towards Enigma, with whom she has a bond as "Dungeon Master".
Enigma arrived after Tiberius left the site, and Thanatos did so at the same time as her. Therefore, this confrontation had to happen.
Enigma is lashing out at Thanatos using her weapons. A quick assessment on her part told her that it was not necessary to use anything more than her "Recreation" to take on Thanatos.
The attacks are being made with a pair of kris knives, with which she is launching several attacks at various points on Thanatos' body, only succeeding in a few of those attacks.
Thanatos is making no effort to defend himself, and merely says:
-Vampire, seriously. We shouldn't do this, just leave and I'll spare your life. My business is with Liselotte Sitri.
-You keep repeating the same shit, come on, fight! Don't get distracted by someone else's fight!
Thanatos then grabbed Enigma's left arm, which he sought to thrust directly into his heart. Enigma took the opportunity to pull Thanatos towards her and headbutt her to stun her.
But not only that, the knife in Enigma's hand was thrust into Thanatos' shoulder.
Blood began to flow from the wound.
-Are you going to take me seriously now?
Unable to move another inch, Enigma puts the other knife to the back of her head. Gritting her teeth in anger, Thanatos only says:
-You'll regret doing this, you damned vampire.
-Don't just cackle. Come and show what a "Goddess of Death" can do.
Enigma pulls the kris knife from her shoulder and withdraws her threat with the other. She then steps back to give Thanatos her distance.
The latter pulls a short knife from the sleeves of her robe, which she imbues with her own magical energy with the ability to kill whatever it touches.
(A "pugium", uh. The only thing she can do with that thing is stick it in, it doesn't have a good cutting edge). -. Enigma analyzes Thanatos' weapon.
However---
-Accept my knife.
At some point, Enigma lost sight of Thanatos, and she set about pressing her pugium against Enigma's chest.
Sparks flew with the impact of the right kris knife against the pugium, but Enigma barely managed to react in time against Thanatos' speed.
(Ah...)
Enigma's knife broke after making the deflection. That's when he understood the nature of Thanatos' "Divinity".
She is such a perfect "Death" that she can annihilate whatever she touches with her magical energy. But she is not a sorceress, she is a melee fighter like Enigma.
Thanatos, seeing her attack deflected, kicks both of Enigma's legs, unsettling her stance.
Enigma falls to the ground, and Thanatos chases her trajectory to stab her at the slightest opportunity. To avoid it, Enigma throws a kick at Thanatos' chest, pushing her away immediately.
And Enigma moves as quickly as possible to get back to her feet. She cannot let her guard down in any instance. The slightest mistake could cost her life.
They both look at each other for a few seconds.
-...
-...
The tension is so heavy that it feels as if the atmosphere can be cut with any of the knives in battle.
Enigma creates the knife she needs again.
That indicates that she wants to continue as quickly as possible, without a word.
The two of them lunged at each other, starting with Enigma, who sought to cut Thanatos' stomach, but the latter swung the handle of her knife at Enigma's blade to deflect it.
But Enigma does not waste it, and launches a lunge at Thanatos' face. Had she not moved her head, it would have gone straight into Thanatos' eye, however, she only received a small cut on her cheek.
Enigma's bow put her in the disadvantageous position, giving Thanatos a window to launch her next attack at Enigma's neck.
Enigma sensed the danger with her [Extrasensory Detection], and her body moved by simple instinct, striking Thanatos with the back of her arm in the neck, this would produce an imbalance that if not stopped, Thanatos would fall.
Therefore, Thanatos stopped her initial attack and struggled to maintain her stance. However, she did not give Enigma time to make up for lost time by raising her knee to strike Enigma in the ribs.
-Gh...! -. Enigma drew small drops of blood from her mouth, that kick broke a few ribs that punctured her lungs.
But the damage exchange was going to be equivalent, as Enigma was able to drive her left kris knife into the leg and pull to open a deep wound in the muscle.
-Damn it...! -. Thanatos screams, from the surge of pain that is coursing through his body right now.
They both take a step back, Enigma placing a hand on her right side, and Thanatos on the new wound on her right leg.
That's going to cost her performance in combat, Enigma is sure of it.
Without letting her breathe, Enigma throws one of the knives towards Thanatos, and she deflects it with the pugio. The battle is reaching its end.
Enigma goes on the attack again, this time with a different strategy.
Since Thanatos will be on the defensive with that damn knife of her, Enigma will need to use another means to break through that defence. And for that very reason, she throws her one knife into the sky.
Thanatos looks up following Enigma's knife, however, an attack was not what came from Enigma for that oversight.
Enigma stops in front of Thanatos, she simply raised her two hands in front of Thanatos' face, and...
---!
A thud reverberated in Thanatos' head, sending her hood flying, bursting her eardrums and blood vessels in her eyes and nose. The pugium fell immediately.
What Enigma did was to clap her hands with all her might right in Thanatos' face, that way the higher frequency sound waves would hit directly and destroy the weakest points of Thanatos' head.
At the same time, it would leave her stunned enough to be unable to react when the kris knife fell just high enough for Enigma to grab it, and plunge it directly into Thanatos' heart.
Blood spurted from Thanatos' mouth. Enigma assists her, so as not to drop her like a sack of potatoes.
As hard as it is to admit, Enigma communicates to Thanatos through telepathy:
[Not bad. That was the best fight I've ever had from one of you guys].
Enigma makes sure the knife goes through to the other side, only to confirm that she has killed her.
After a few short seconds, Thanatos' breathing simply stops. Enigma slowly lowers the body, and leaves her resting on the ground, closing her eyes that had tears of blood in them.
-Things are getting dangerous around here, that damn rift is going to explode if Lottie doesn't hurry.
Enigma looks up at the sky, whose reddish hue is gradually turning darker, resembling the colour black. He walks over to where Liselotte is, and lifts her head to put it on her legs.
-Lottie, we'll be in trouble if you don't wake up soon. Wake up.
Enigma starts tapping Liselotte with his fingers, but she shows no reaction to his touch.
-Mm...
The vampire thinks for a moment about the best way to wake her up... and only one idea comes to mind.
Something that matches her sense of humour and her relationship with Liselotte Sitri. It's simple.
-Well, you leave me with no options... you know, Liselotte... I always thought you were beautiful, and I've wanted to do this for a long time...
Enigma places her hands on Liselotte's cheeks, and lifts the Lich's face a little so she can reach down to lower her own torso.
And just like that, Vivian kisses Liselotte---.
It's not a childish kiss, it's a kiss like you would give your lover at any time, Enigma doesn't back off even when it comes to using his tongue to kiss her...
On the other hand, the sudden new sensation made all Liselotte's alarms go off at the same time.
-Mmmhm!!!! -. Liselotte's scream is drowned out by Enigma's lips.
[Liselotte's perspective]
[What is this?! N, no...! Wait, Enigmaaaa!]
I'm shouting at Enigma through telepathy! But she doesn't even make a move to get away from my face!
Tears are forming at the edge of my eyes... her tongue is mixing with mine and with my saliva... ah... I feel my head starting to spin...
Uh... Is the sky getting... getting darker...?
My mental alarm is going off pretty loud... how long... was I blacked out?
Red...
!!!
I put my hands on Enigma's face, and push her with all my strength. Only then I could make her break away from me!
-Ah... hah... -. Enigma's expression, her face reddening as she inhales and exhales forcefully, makes my heart skip a beat.
Damn it, did you like annoying me that much?!
-You're stupid... you could have woken me up, hah... in a more appropriate way, hah...!
I almost completely lose my breath too, and get up from her lap so I can look at the current surroundings.
Heaven has basically turned into hell... that colour gives me a very bad feeling... I can feel how the [Supernatural Rift] is very close to collapsing. We're going to die if that thing collapses...
-Don't be mad, Lottie~... I was a good girl and protected the dungeon like you asked me to. I also just finished a fight against a "Goddess of Death", I deserve to get your cuddles this time...
Although I'm taking things seriously, Enigma is really into it. She seriously got off on using that opportunity to kiss me.
I look around, and I can see a corpse with a knife stuck in its chest. That is indeed Enigma's work.
Uh. I feel a little bad for not rewarding her properly. She did everything just as I asked her to, and she still came to save my ass...
-Let's save that for next time... I could go on a "date" with you, as you've always suggested...
-Really?! Promise me, Lottie?!
-Of course, I promise...
-Yeiii~!
She jumps towards me like a little girl to hug me. Who cares...
Right now I have to go back to the fight.
I didn't want to do it in case she could become an ally, but I have no choice now. I have to kill Tiberius at any cost.
I could just conjure up "Lich Archetype" right here and now... But what's so exciting about that compared to a straight fight?