"..." Elysia raises her sword and fills it with so much magic that a glow of cyan, dark blue, and white emanates from the weapon. She no longer holds back, flooding the sword with so much magic that the air itself begins to vibrate.

"So we’re killing each other with weapons? Perfect." I form a long bastard sword with my divine weapon, while my dress shifts into a more complex coating divided into layers to increase defense.

And I start channeling Doom element Mana into the weapon, which makes it emit an intense black and red glow. When the Mana is released, both collide with such intense friction that it generates a sound like scraping metal against metal.

"..." The two of us step forward, closing in with our stances ready for an attack. She and I feel the same thing, which is why we grow more alert.

Both weapons are genuinely dangerous. I sense the [Sky] element Mana in her weapon, and she probably senses the Doom element in mine.

Click.

Our swords meet, and with that light sound the attacks begin. We trade brutal, blindingly fast blows against each other, strikes so powerful that the local dimension starts deteriorating rapidly, burning through its useful "life" at an alarming rate.

But neither I nor Elysia stop. We only accelerate the strikes further, listening to the metallic sound of the collisions between our swords. The released magic generates so much friction that it wounds both me and Elysia even without hitting each other directly.

"You fight way too well for a spoiled brat," I say, frustrated, trying to push her back. Several magic circles appear directly on my hands to reinforce my body.

Elysia does something similar, with magic circles appearing across her body to reinforce her abilities.

’Violet, it’s time for you to shine.’ I saved Violet to use when the fight was nearing its end.

’I’ll do my best, Pandora!! Blayze is cheering for your victory too!!’ Violet speaks to me as a metallic purple glow emerges on the sword, and I manage to push Elysia back.

She leaps backward, spinning her sword and firing a golden light slash at me. I swing my sword, launching a purple slash that cuts through fate itself, nullifying the attack.

Keeping our distance, the two of us keep launching gigantic Mana slashes at high speed. Each impact generates an immense sonic explosion, destroying and pushing everything around us far away.

’Pandora, don’t thrust!’ Violet warns, making me retreat backward as Elysia charges an attack. She soon fires off an immense black vertical slash, which I recognize as time magic.

I dodge by sinking into the shadows and emerging behind Elysia. Since it’s the first time using this, I catch Elysia by surprise and manage to impale her back at chest height.

But her body dissolves into light while Violet tells me to dodge to the left. I barely evade Elysia, who attacks me from above without any wounds, showing that what I hit was some kind of evasion ability. I retaliate with a side kick that she defends with her sword, cutting my leg slightly.

"Urgh..." The two of us put distance between each other, while thousands of cuts appear on both of us. I look at my arm, seeing microfissures so tiny they’re barely visible.

But they exist. Due to the constant use of magic, both of our Mana defenses have dropped below 14%, and both of us are at 20% remaining Mana.

The friction of the colliding Mana is shredding our bodies at the subatomic particle level. The wounds are constant despite our regeneration, because the Mana in the environment has become almost like a harmful poison.

’Tsk...’ I look at Elysia as she clicks her tongue. She lowers herself slightly, spreading her legs and gripping her sword with both hands. Two black cubes drop to each side of her, cracking the ground.

And her Mana surges violently. I give a wide smile, seeing that she plans to end this with the next attack.

"So you’ve decided the cost got too expensive? I agree. It’s way too expensive now." I take my stance, holding my sword like she does. My abyssal halo shines in a blinding shade of red while my tail begins to glow white. Both are giving all my Mana reserves to this strike.

’Violet—’

’Sorry, Pandora. This attack has too much magic. I can’t see its fate, but I can reinforce your attack with all the magic I have. And Blayze said she can give her magic too,’ Violet interrupts me and speaks with seriousness.

’That works.’ When I agree, a green light and a purple one surge around me, reinforcing the Doom element Mana in the sword. My strike finishes charging, and Elysia’s strike does too.

"Elysia, you do know that when these strikes collide, the chance of one of us dying is 100%, right? You’re so bold."

"Pandora, that no longer matters. As long as I can take your life, that will be enough for me." Five more black cubes appear around Elysia, feeding more magic into her like reserve batteries.

"GREAT! Then let’s see who survives." I grip my divine weapon tightly, while she grips her divine weapon tightly. My hands are trembling even though they hold the sword firmly.

And my sword looks like it could break at any moment from all the magic packed into it. I had planned to use my magic reserves against the other goddesses after finishing here, but Elysia turned out to be stronger than I expected, and she didn’t let me adapt to her.

"..." I focus entirely on the strike. Maximum concentration shuts down all functions my body deems unnecessary. My vision goes completely gray because processing colors doesn’t matter.

Saliva starts dripping from the corner of my mouth, and the veins in my eyes bulge, making blood run down from my eyes in extreme focus on Elysia.

My muscles tense and the hilt of my sword groans as if screaming under my grip.

With a crack of the ground splitting serving as a signal, the two of us advance. In that moment, the world seems so slow. Both my eyes and Elysia’s go to the two swords as they collide.

When one sword touches the other, everything goes white. For a moment, I’m confused, and I look at my empty hands.

"What... happened?" I look around. I’m in a white infinity. I see nothing, feel nothing. Everything simply seems to have ceased to exist.

"Did I die?!!" For a moment, that disturbing thought comes to me—that I died without even realizing I died. But I still feel magic, so I’m not dead. However, I quickly feel my body growing exhausted.

Everything starts to darken for me, as I "wake up," returning to the awareness of reality. The impact was so violent that for an instant my soul and my consciousness disconnected from the existence of my body.

Reality "glitched." It couldn’t handle the strike, causing an existential error that disconnected my existence from the situation that generated the problem. And now that I’ve returned, I feel immense pain.

What I see is Elysia being split in two. The cut starts from her left shoulder and ends at her waist on the right side, dividing her perfectly in two. But my body didn’t come out unscathed.

Both swords fragmented from existence. Both were pieces of our souls. While Elysia, still standing, looks at me in shock, I look at her.

"...I... lost..." She speaks, looking down, seeing her body split in two but still connected. Even against the strongest strike I’ve ever delivered in my entire life, she didn’t fall and didn’t die instantly.

"..." She gives me such a sad look, as if she had lost everything she believed in, as if all the logic of her life had betrayed her. Then her body loses its connection. Her lower half falls forward while her torso falls backward.

Her organs spill across the floor in a red pool of blood and shredded flesh.

I look at my body. I’m completely naked, but the worst is the state of my hands. They’re completely white, with "carved" cracks that reach up to my elbows on both hands, a white entirely different from the pale tone of my skin.

The conceptual existence that composes my body has been erased so deeply that only this "white void" remains where my body was supposed to exist. A permanent damage so severe that I can’t regenerate even if I sacrificed Mana to the Doom element begging for more regeneration.

It’s not just existential damage. It’s damage that has completely deformed the shape of my soul because of my sword that was broken.

"U-Urgh..." I fall to my knees, vomiting a white mass. My blood has gone from vivid red to a white so bright it seems to vibrate and completely clashes with the chaotic environment.

Showing that this damage isn’t just external, but internal as well, and has permanently affected my blood.

"Are you happy... Pandora?... you... won." Elysia, who still hasn’t died, speaks with a tone of disgust. Even in the face of death, she shows no fear. I respect that. I truly respect that fact.

"A bad vessel really doesn’t break easily," I say, wiping my mouth with my hand to clean the contaminated blood. My vision is somewhat blurry, and breathing has become so difficult, but I drag myself to the upper half of Elysia’s body, seeing her empty gaze.

"Aren’t you going to cry?" I speak with mockery, even though I’m the one shedding tears. My body cries as a terrible reflex of the severe damage I’ve received. With so much damage, there’s no way I can go help Mom and Azraelith.

"...I do not fear death."

"...I knew you’d say that..." I rub my belly, where the spatial magic dissipated and returned my womb to my body.

"I figured you were more resilient than other goddesses. And thank goodness you haven’t died yet." I begin putting my plan into action.

"Elysia, get ready. I’m going to make you cry and beg to die. I’m going to make you wish you’d died instantly from that final strike of ours." I give her an immense smile, showing my fangs, even though the smile comes out broken due to the pain I’m feeling.