"Aaaaghhhhhh!!!"
Screams echoed throughout Oblivion, breaching even that of the Infinite Abyss that surrounded this ghastly realm.
The Idea of Evil was constantly being destroyed and brought back to life by the hands of Merlin; the Great Mage who conquered all of magic.
"Tsk tsk tsk, you just won't learn, will you?" Said Merlin, drawing forth another magic circle. "Eguhalvor." Launching a wave of dark and purple flames, it consumed the Dark Mother once again, erasing her nucleus and all.
"Resulta."
Merlin brought the Alufray Spirit back, once again casting the same spell.
"Eguhalvor!"
"You wench-! Aaaaaaaghhhhh!!!"
The floating dark mass, devoid of all matter and being, felt pain worse than the tortured souls of the nine hells.
"Eguhalvor is a spell that removes someone from creation by erasing them down to their nucleus. You will continue to perish by my hand until you submit to me." A smirk crossed her face. "You have no choice, Dark Mother."
"I-I will never... submit... to you!"
It spoke through the unbearable pain until they withered away, banished from creation.
Merlin frowned.
"How annoying." She performed Resulta one more time, manifesting the Idea of Evil in all its glory, though they seemed shaken up—
"Enough... enough of this!" Shouted the Dark Mother with hints of fear in their voice.
"Are you finally submitting?"
The Dark Mass gradually merged together, forming a humanoid body. It had the appearance of a woman with long black hair, a dark Victorian dress, two devilish horns, and white glowing eyes.
It kneeled before Merlin, accepting its defeat.
"That's more like it."
The Great Mage approached the Dark Mother through the dark void, caressing their cheek like a caring mother in contrast to her sadistic nature.
"You surprise me—Lilith—you endured 10,000 deaths of agony until you finally submitted to me."
The Idea of Evil was an Alufray Spirit that went by many names, primarily the Dark Mother, Lilith, or even Shadowess.
"I understand my place..." Said the spirit.
"Your nucleus cannot take any more damage, even though I've resurrected it many times." Merlin grinned. "It's weakened from fear."
Across the world of Yggdrasil, every living thing had a nucleus; it's what defined them as a whole down to their physiology. It functioned as the core of one's existence, acting as a literal concept that maintains its user's information.
A nucleus had three components it was mostly known for;
Mana Storage. This was located on the left side of one's nucleus which stores all of its wielders mana. It determines how much mana they can carry and or release.
Willpower Reserve. This was located at the center of the Nucleus which maintains one's willpower. In this section of the nucleus, it is filled with the potential of its user which allows them to create possibilities through willpower alone. Since willpower was the source of everything, with enough of it, one may be able to overcome a stronger opponent's attacks, live for thousands of years, gain new abilities in battle, and even obtain complete immunity to certain spells. But these are examples of what could happen. There are endless possibilities depending on the circumstance and or individual.
Information Archive. This was located on the right side of one's nucleus, holding one's information, bloodline, entitlements, and even physiology. It defined one's entire nucleus, and if it were to perish, then so would the individual as a whole.
By pushing a nucleus over the edge; either by overwhelming it with magic, or destroying it repeatedly, it can become dysfunctional, causing one's Information Archive to be modified in order to benefit its vessel.
This was done by Lilith's own Willpower Reserve forcibly altering her Information Archive. But for good reason of course. It had the purpose of vanquishing Lilith's indomitable nature and forcing her to submit in order to stop Merlin from killing her repeatedly.
"My power compared to yours is but a candle compared to a wildfire. I am at your service, down to my core."
Merlin chuckled, finding their change of personality both satisfying and relieving.
"Good girl." Merlin removed her hand from their cheek, turning around to face the other way.
The Alufray Spirit rose from its knees, captivated by Merlin's charisma.
"I shall follow you to the corners of hell—that is the only purpose I have now."
Merlin snickered at their comment, though internally she knew about the consequences of information altering, especially to a spirit.
("Her Willpower Reserve altered the Information Archive in her nucleus, removing her indomitable and chaotic traits. It forced her to become obedient to me, but there can be consequences to that.")
Merlin's smirk faded as she crossed her arms, gazing down into the darkness below.
("Without the Idea of Evil doing her job and maintaining all the evil in the world, I could accidentally cause a shift in the Alufray Hierarchy and alter history forever.")
She could only stare into the Infinite Abyss of oblivion in deep thought.
("I'm contradicting her nature entirely. The Idea of Evil is known to be cruel, chaotic, and follows no one... yet I forcibly changed those aspects of her to benefit me and my own schemes. If I contradict what she is known for, then Lilith will certainly die. Contradiction leads to a spirit's death over time, so I must make this quick.")
Merlin turned her head to face Lilith.
"Let us go into the Nie'mada, we will further discuss things there."
The spirit nodded its head, akin to a robot.
"Yes, Lady Merlin."
Thus they ventured off into the Physical World, side-by-side, breaching the Infinite Abyss through Destruction Magic.
+
Elizabeth was captivated by the beautiful Siren, unable to help but slowly approach them, albeit cautious of her actions.
"Haaaaahhhhh ~ Aaaaahhhh!"
The creature's beautiful voice reached Elizabeth's ears, sending her into a daze as she stepped into the shallow river, slowly making her way toward them.
"Laaaaaaa ~ Daaaa ~ Daaaaa!"
The Siren stuck its palm out, offering Elizabeth her hand.
"Yes, closer... much closer!"
Elizabeth grasped their hand, her eyes soulless, as if she'd lost their light.
"You now belong to me."
The Siren showed her true side with her change of demeanor, speaking in a deep tone.
"I'm certain Lady Merlin would be proud of me."
"So that's it, huh?"
"Wha?" The Siren jerked her head back.
It could see the light return to Elizabeth's eyes.
She wasn't hypnotized?!
"What? How is that possible? You broke free from my spell?!"
"No, I was never hypnotized to begin with!"
Cocking her fist back, Elizabeth struck the siren with a mighty blow, punching them off the rock and into a tree across the river.
"Gaaaah!"
The tree caved-in, slanting forward after the devastating collision.
The Siren was still recovering after the savage blow in the gut, spitting up blood from their mouth.
"I-I can't feel... my mana?"
"I sealed it away," Elizabeth smirked, punching her palm in exhilaration. "From here on out, it's fair game!"
"Y-You're... a Kaizamei?! One of the Manaless?"
"You're right on the coin!" Elizabeth took a fighting stance; one with no openings.
Elizabeth lacked the means of using magic all her life, which forced her to train in the arts of physical combat.
She learned from the strongest teachers throughout her life and eventually grew to become a Master Martial Artist herself.
She's acquired every single style of fighting from Karate, Taijutsu, Boxing, Aikido, Judo, and many others that even most monks haven't heard of.
Elizabeth has mastered each one to their fullest potential.
The Siren rose to their feet with its caudal fin splitting apart so it could stand on two legs.
Without means of using magic, it decided to take advantage of its intrinsic capabilities.
"I will not be defeated by the likes of you! Not by someone who lacks a basic need to sustain their life!!"
Thus, lifting their hands into the sky, the water from the shallow river around them started to rise up from the ground and merge into one cluster of liquid.
"Haaaaaahhhh!!!"
With the Siren's intrinsic ability to manipulate water to their liking, it sent an array of water droplets toward Elizabeth; each one being able to pierce through solid steel.
"You will never be able to dodge this!!"
Millions- no… billions of water droplets aimed at Elizabeth in sporadic fashion, but she honed her will, and moved forward.
"Huh?" The Siren widened her eyes until she burst out into laughter. "Bwa ha ha! You fool! Do you want to die?!"
Elizabeth started dodging each and every water drop in front of her.
She bent her body in abnormal ways, even twisting her joints to move in an otherworldly fashion. Ducking, jumping, curving her limbs. You name it.
She did everything, subconsciously, letting her body do the moving while she focused on the offensive.
Every single drop of water missed its target and instead shredded the forest behind Elizabeth.
The Siren couldn't believe her eyes.
The Kaizamei was fast, blitzing their perception and appearing beneath the siren, reeling their body back before launching her leg in a single, powerful kick.
"Ugwaaahhh!"
Elizabeth's heel smashed into the siren's chin, launching her up into the air.
Focused on the battle, the Rozenheart leaped after her, roundhouse kicking them in the face.
The Siren was unable to keep up.
Elizabeth wasn't even trying…