"Come on. Keep trying." Even though she was outnumbered Lavinia spoke to her opponents with more ease than one would have on a casual stroll. She leisurely moved as though she was being pushed by the wind alone, dangerous attacks sailing past her harmlessly.
Screaming in anger Acheron who had awakened at some point and Styx who seemed no worse for wear lay at her feet for just a moment before shooting up. It was immensely easy for her to dance around them but winning was another story altogether.
Styx was obvious but Acheron was proving to be troublesome as well. With his ability to instill death into concepts, he found it easy to 'kill' her attacks and get away with minimal harm. It was good that his control was poor enough that she could instinctively resist his attempts on her life as well.
"Don't get cocky bitch!" Shouting the same thing like a broken was far less effective as an insult though Acheron didn't seem to be smart enough to realize that. Styx was too enraptured in her jealousy to stop his sibling either.
"Do you have any other insults or should I teach you some?" It was a genuine kind hearted gesture but for some inexplicable reason, it just made Acheron squawk like a seagull in indignation. How strange.
Crafting thousands of spears of ice from the ambient water Lavinia happily took advantage of their unclear state of mind. Raining down on her opponents many of them were killed by Acheron through an even larger number managed to evade the aspect's defense.
There seemed to be two main rules for Acheron's ability to 'kill' even inanimate objects. The first was obvious, he must be able to react to them to wish death upon them. The second was eye contact. Acheron must see them to kill them and they must remain in his vision for them to die.
They weren't easily usable but Lavinia could think of numerous ways such a thing could be possible, easy even. For that reason, she began gathering energy in the sky while her protective doll left her side for the first time.
Leaping forward as expected Styx seemed every bit the berserker as the first man to defeat Riser Phenex and yet his fist lacked the same finesse. Dodging his strike with more elegance than one would expect from a large doll Styx found himself grabbed by the collar and thrown.
Soaring through the air with all the grace of a floundering fish Styx crashed into his sibling, blocking the latter's vision and sending both tumbling backward. Predicting their destination with almost prophetic accuracy Lavinia dropped her hand down.
A long construct of ice too crude to be called a sword and too sharp to be called anything else floated above the two aspects trapped together in a tangled mess of limbs. Following her hand movement the construct dropped from the sky, blood spurting high into the sky.
For a brief moment, Styx grunted in pain before clarity returned to his eyes. Fresh blood painted his skin as always and its warmth was as disgusting as ever but this time something was different. It wasn't his blood.
"Acheron!" With true horror in his voice, Styx cradled the dead body of his sibling in his arms, blood reaching up to his elbows as he tried to put pressure on the wound. Acheron didn't even get to say any last words!
"It hurts doesn't it?" Lavinia spoke almost comfortingly to the aspect and yet her voice had no pity in it. How could she feel pity when she was the one who killed him? Really there were only two outcomes in this battle and both sides should have resolved themselves for it.
"How dare you?!" Screaming in between gritted teeth Styx felt rage wash over him like never before. This wasn't just at the level of jealousy, this was an inferno of anger that would only die when she did.
"How dare I? Don't be so stupid. I doubt you were just going to spare me if I lost right?" Lavinia inquired lazily, her wand pointed at him calmly even as energy multitudes more powerful than before emanated from him.
Growling in wrath Styx didn't say another word, his form bending like a spring before he shot forward like a bullet. It was a clever usage of his immortality to break his body for increased movement but Lavinia didn't find it particularly annoying.
With each opportunity, he saw a pillar of ice rise to block him and each attack he made only enabled her to strike him twice as hard. Blood leaked from the corner of his mouth after one such attack but his regeneration quickly healed him fully.
"I'll make you pay!!!" Screaming in unadulterated wrath Styx shot forward, his body glowing an ominous crimson as the attacks that once knocked him back now did nothing more than block his path for half a second.
"I'm sure you will." Lavinia replied casually, completely disregarding his strange power up. She had seen plenty of Vali and Tobio's growth, compared to them Styx was nothing. Waving her wand in the sky an ice blue magic circle manifested in reality.
Even with his mind so far gone Styx recognized the danger that spell faced and yet he didn't pay any attention to it. He was the aspect of immortality of this realm, he wouldn't die so long as the realm survived and nobody could—!
Almost as if to prove him wrong a blast of holy land ravaged the realm destroying everything it passed with ease. Holy power bordering on divinity destroyed the bone towers, purified the dark energies, and revealed the dimension gap beyond.
"God damn!" From quite far away Hakuji shouted and yet Lavinia somehow managed to hear it anyway. She couldn't blame him either, that attack was horrifying to be sure. The trail of absolute destruction it left in its wake was not to be ignored either.
"That's where…" Murming to herself with horror in her eyes Lavinia took a moment to calm herself before she pointed her wand downward. In an instant a pure white ball formed in the middle of the air, time itself freezing wherever it passed.
It moved slowly, almost excruciatingly so, and yet neither Styx nor Lavinia could move even a single finger. The most they could manage was to trace the fall of the sphere as it slowly descended from the sky.
When it landed, a maelstrom of snow and ice exploded into existence. Winds howled angrily and ice dropped like rain, it was a picture perfect description of a wintery hell. When the winds cleared, only a frozen statue remained where Styx was.
"Don't die Tobio…" Worriedly talking to herself Lavinia flew off to help Hakuji, the frozen statue shattering into a million pieces.
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