Chapter 222: Against the Goddess of War.
[The pantheon is watching keenly]
[The new members of the pantheon are showing a great amount of interest in your coming performance]
"I'm so nervous I could faint." Dina commented as soon as she opened her eyes to the view of an endless flatland covered in grass and small trees no taller than a person. "We're really doing this... this insanity!" She looked to her side at Arla but found the elf composed and alert.
"Why are you so determined, wasn't it you who wanted to become a pacifist and never raise your hand in combat again?" She asked.
[The Godslayer is also curious about this new development]
[Ikaris has expressed increased curiosity on this topic]
"I am Milady's left hand, just as you are her right, I believe it to be my duty to hold a certain level of power befitting her as an extension of herself, I know she would not and I know master would not abandon us, but the thought of being removed or replaced has plagued me since our discovery the other day." Arla was mindful of what she said now that everyone was paying attention.
"I want to make her proud."
"Gosh," Dina sighed conjuring a second set of armour over her casual wear just as the elf had done. "You're right though, I don't want to be a weight on her shoulder holding her down." She confessed.
"Have you found your resolve?" Dr'ul descended from the skies like a comet coming to a slow and graceful halt and landing soundlessly before them.
"I am ready." Arla waved her hands before her and summoned a glove on each with a crimson gemstone on the back which resonated with her sigils.
"Let's tango." Dina stretched her arms and crackled her knuckles.
"As a warmup, I will start at a respectable advantage and give you the time needed to dig as deep as you can and bring out the absolute peak of your powers!"
[The fight will go on until either party surrenders and deadly force is encouraged, you may begin!]
The new system announced.
"Then... pardon my rudeness, your holiness!" Arla slowly arched and spread her hands wide generating so much mana off the bat that Dina leapt to the side when her mana began sparking and tearing the soil beneath her feet and in her immediate surroundings.
"That's...!" Sol sat up, staring at the window with a bucket of popcorn in his mouth. "I never expected she would be able to!"
[Activated Godspeed]
"What?" Dr'ul recoiled in shock when Arla's image distorted and the mage appeared directly in front of her coming to a sudden halt with her hair fanned out around her head and her arms clasped and pointed at her. "She is faster than she should be as a mage!" Dr'ul leapt backwards in what felt like slow motion as she felt Arla's already high levels of mana spike a second time.
[Collapsing Star]
The world around them turned black as the light of her attack caused more sparks, and Dr'ul who had grossly underestimated the two of them raised her hand and summoned her sword, deflecting a pillar of red, blue, and white mana as it emerged from Arla's fingers getting thrown off her balance and sent flying in the process.
"That's my girl!" Sol pumped his fists alongside Ikaris causing everyone else to look at them strangely. "That's what I'm talking about!" He opened up another window and watched the deflected beam of mana soar past D'ol harmlessly and crash into Sett, leaving the earth-sized moon with a massive crater and cracks almost covering a whole half of it.
"Yes!" S'mael exclaimed from his seat next to Sol waving his arms and clenching his fists. "More more more!"
"She's incredible, as an elf and otherwise!" Dr'ul skirted across the ground on her toes, coming to a halt and raising her guard a second time when a [Mana Spear] descended from the sky and nearly struck her in the top of her head, it was supposed to be a regular attack, surely, but Dr'ul was even more shocked when the [Mana Spear] slapped her sword clean out of her grasp and then exploded against her throwing her through the air a second time and leaving a crater the size of a stadium in its wake.
"Arla, sync up!" Dina who had finally gotten past her pre-fight jitters waved her hands and clasped them conjuring a bolt of lightning the size of a skyscraper from the cosmos and dropping her hands while Arla teleported to her side and fired off another [Collapsing Star at Dr'ul while she was still floating."
With one attack from above and another frontal assault, Dr'ul's humour dried and she raised her hand blocking them both and letting them explode against her creating an indent in the land for hundreds of miles when the explosion raised a giant cloud of destruction like a hundred nukes going off simultaneously, tearing the grass fields away and leaving an unleveled terrain of fire and molten rock, the epicentre of which looked like an apocalypse.
"Get ready." Dina looked at the elf for a brief second, lowering her hand and dispersing the barrier she had erected to protect them from their very own attacks. "The real fight starts now." She narrowed her eyes, watching Dr'ul emerge from the flames with a serious expression.
"All jokes aside I am pleased beyond words." Dr'ul took a single step and closed the distance between her and the two in the blink of an eye, passing them both and coming to a spinning halt and then pausing and looking at her hand, she had intended to outpace them and deal damage in the meantime, but in the middle of attacking something interesting had happened on Dina's end, using a simple shield she pushed arla away and replaced her with a small [origin explosion] which stuck to the goddesses hand and thereafter exploded against her.
"I can't believe it, I'm seeing it, but I still can't believe it!" Uriyu exclaimed in total shock. "Is this what the fights are always like here?" He asked.
"Usually they are faster and far more violent, but Dr'ul is exercising incredible restraint, and her opponents are testing the waters, after all, she is the goddess of war, and the most powerful Arkadian god, it is only a matter of time before that happens." Ikaris answered while everyone else watched nervously.
"That?" Usami's little brother was confused seeing how nervous Eris and Usami were.
"She can't keep a lid on it," Sol responded, taking a sip of soda whilst an excited expression graced his face.
"I can already feel her excitement from fighting strong opponents, a half of her existence, is dedicated entirely to the thrill of battle." He grinned just as he saw the goddess of war emerge from the dust and flames with her head ablaze and that ecstatic grin she wore when she fantasized about fighting.
"You perceive time almost at the same level as Samu'el, how did you come by such a unique trait?" Dr'ul asked except only a select few could hear her as she moved at speeds incomprehensible to regular or even augmented eyes, watching Dina's eyes track her and seeing her mana already at work to create another countermeasure to slow her down again.
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"Being blindsided by attacks too fast to perceive." Dina's thoughts raced at the speed of her reaction and Dr'ul struck at her only to see another origin explosion manifest on her hand, but this time instead of retreating and waiting she spun and slammed her hand in Dina's stomach causing the explosion to blow her away instead.
[Collapsing-] Arla's hands were pointed at Dr'ul but a moment later her hands were aimed at the air while Dr'ul's palm was on the back of her head leading her face downward and smashing her into the ground so hard it burst open and condensed on itself twice.
[-Star!] Arla stubbornly spun out of Dr'ul's hand and unleashed the attack at point-blank range vanishing just before it went off.
"Fascinating!" Dr'ul leapt out of the explosion, finding Arla while she was in a barrel roll destined to land on her feet and flying after her. "Truly!" She grabbed at the elf, but in another second her eyes bulged in shock as her vision was turned and she was crashing in the opposite direction with her eyes to the sky.
She lay there for several seconds, wondering what had just happened, but blinking several times was all it took to realise something was falling out of the midday sky towards her.
"They are keeping her at bay by using ranged skills." Ikaris frowned. "But such a tactic against one like Dr'ul is utterly useless." She watched a third [Collapsing Star] tear through the clouds coming straight at her and watched Dr'ul raise her hand without any incentive and tank this attack as well, though this time it did not explode, instead it simply vanished.
"Dr'ul excels at ranged combat just as she does with melee, but if they insist on keeping her at bay she will adapt and crush them without a chance at retaliation." Sol commented, seeing the daylight get sucked away when the goddess of war arose from the crater she had ended up in and looked around at Dina.
"Arla get-" Dina's exclamation was severed when Dr'ul's fist collided with her stomach, but instead of being blown away the punch immobilised her and left her breathless. "Guh!" She fell to her knees and gasped loudly.
[Godspeed] Arla vanished in a flash and tried flanking the goddess, but was stopped dead in her tracks when the ground before her erupted in flames and then from those same flames Dr'ul who was supposed to be to her left emerged and dropped her hand intending on knocking her out with a single strike, but once more Arla vanished and appeared at Dina's side casting [greater heal] on her and then disappearing again when her just before Dr'ul's feet landed where they were and tore the terrain to shreds.
[Inversion!] Dina shifted her hand to the side and Dr'ul who was hot on their tails furrowed her brows in confusion when an unseen force changed her trajectory and sent her flying in another direction leaving a trench in the ground when she tried stopping herself.
[Inversion!] Dina pointed to the skies.
The goddess felt the ground vanish from beneath her feet and the world turned upside down just as a flash of crimson light Crossed her path and she felt Arla's mana spike once more.
[Cosmic tier skill: Pulsar]
"Hoooooh!!" Dina took a deep breath, triggering mana glands in her throat as the air around her went deathly quiet even as Arla fired off one massive [Pulsar] attack at Dr'ul.
Divine tier ability
[Cosmic Scream]
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