Frosk…
By some strange miracle, or perhaps done on purpose, her spear missed all of his vital organs and passed through his back without serious injury.
She then pulled Ichor Doru free as she kicked him in the chest and away from him.
“You want to see what I’m like when I use a little bit of my true strength is that it?” she asked him with an edge in her voice.
Hearing those words made him feel excited about the battle again as he used the God of Wrath’s power to close up the wound on his chest and stood up.
He gripped Hoffnung and Gurthang tightly as he said, “Yes, I do. I want to see what you can really do with all that power.”
“Then if I were you, I would put on that armor before I grind you into a bloody stain,” she said as she raised her left hand into the air.
What does she intend to do now?
“The Almighty: Release 30%!” she shouted and the ground trembled from the mere release of her soul.
Smiling nervously at the overwhelming output of her soul at a mere 30% release, he asked, “What will you do now with all this strength then? Whatever you have planned, it won’t-”
She then stared at him with fury in her eyes a she roared, “I WILL STOP THE WORLD!”
Before he could ask what she meant by that, she slammed her left hand into the ground.
His instincts screamed at him, telling him that his life was in danger, and without thinking, he summoned the armor all across his body as the wind slammed into him.
His feet left the ground as he was sent flying thousands of feet in a matter of seconds and crashed into the side of a cliff as the wind was knocked out of him.
The pressure of the wind was so immense that he could feel his armored body grinding the cliff face behind him into powdered rock.
From the slits within his helmet, he could see that everything had turned into a hellish storm in the blink of an eye.
How could ‘stopping the world’ create a storm of such scale in an instant?!
As he pushed back against the ferocious winds, his armor responded and circulated the spiritual energy flowing through his body into the external muscles underneath the armor plating.
With the wind threatening to lift him up in the air again, he would have to use his shadows to anchor him in the ground much like he did when he fought Hachiman within his cyclone. However, this was far more powerful and as the wind continued to blow at such terrifying speeds, it grounded the dirt and rock beneath his feet into loose powder. This made it nearly impossible for him to retain his footing.
He then tried to leave his feet in the shadow realm as the rest of his body walked on the windy surface of the planet. Unfortunately, even then the wind was too strong as it nearly lifted him off the ground once again.
What the hell is going on?! She’s almost completely made my magic useless! I can’t drag her into the shadow realm to fight there because her light magic and wings would snuff it out. I can’t use my magic to any great effect here because whatever she did to the world, its making it impossible to move!
Better yet, where did she go?
Just as the thought crossed his mind, the spearhead of Ichor Doru slammed into his chest plate as Camilla charged him faster than he could react.
She kicked her right foot against his helmet as she stood on top of him and pinned him against the ground. She then held the tip of her spear above his neck as she stood firm in the middle of this storm, with her wings illuminating their surroundings.
She stared down at him with a devilish smile as she asked, “Do like what you see Frosk?! You asked me to show you my true strength! Even so, this is still only a small part of what I can do now!”
In the corner of his eye, he spotted a tsunami over a thousand feet tall quickly approaching them, but underneath Camilla’s heal, he could do nothing.
In the seconds before it was about to crash down upon them, she extended her left hand out towards it and it bent around them.
She then clenched her hand into a fist and the water began to spin around them. It spun faster and faster, and rose higher and higher around them until it looked like they were standing in the center of a typhoon.
“We will continue our fight right here. If you try to escape by jumping to the surface of this whirlpool, you will be swept away by the winds. If you try to jump into the water, the pressure would either crush you and kill you instantly, or it will peel the flesh from your body from within your armor.”
She then stepped off of him and said, “The only way you survive my next assault is if you release all of your power at once. Do it now!”
He scrambled to his feet as he gripped Gurthang and Hoffnung in both hands firmly and said, “Stygian Tide: Full release.”
He had debated whether it was worth it to release Gurthang’s power to manifest a moon to block out the sun as he had no idea how far he flew or where he was. Even if he did know, there would be no point to it anyways as he was surrounded by an inescapable death trap.
To make matters worse, Camilla’s wings shined so brightly that they threatened to snuff out all the shadows he created.
The boost in power from Gurthang was not nearly as significant as the aid offered to him by his god, and already he was relying on it far too much.
Can I even win this battle…?
As the thought of defeat crossed his mind, he felt the God of Wrath’s power falter as the red lightning sparking across his body dimmed.
His eyes widened as he realized that he had lost faith in not only his god, but in himself.
No! I must not lose heart if I want to claim victory! I will not disappoint my god, my king, and all the people of Forrosa! I will be victorious!
He then felt a sudden surge in power, even greater than it was before, as he took off and charged at Camilla.
She met his advance as she took off running and swept the butt of her spear at his legs to try and trip him.
He jumped over it and swung Hoffnung down at her head only for her to vanish from sight.
The world tilted suddenly as he felt her grab him by the ankle and slam him into the ground once again.
He expected her to drive her spear into his back, but rather she sauntered around him with a bored expression on her face as she waited patiently for him to stand up and continue fighting.
She’s...she’s toying with me!
He ground his teeth in frustration as he jumped into the shadow realm and used the vast emptiness to accelerate.
When he appeared out of the shadow realm, he moved at nearly the speed of light and swung Hoffnung through the air. He swung the sword at Camilla’s neck, hoping to decapitate her in one strike.
He fully expected her to disappear, or dodge, or block, or something, but no. She stood completely still as his blade cut through her and cleaved through the typhoon surrounding them for a split second before it retained its spin.
He stopped suddenly to look at her, wondering why there was no reaction.
Seeing his confusion, she turned her head to look at him and asked, “What’s the matter? Is that all you can do?”
How is that possible? I know I swung Hoffnung through her neck! I know that she isn’t an illusion as I can feel her presence right in front of me!
He shook his head and vanished into the shadow realm once again as he swung his sword through her but failed to cut her.
She looked at him, raised her left hand in a beckoning manner, and said, “Come on…”
I refuse to suffer further humiliation!
He rushed forward and jumped into the shadow realm once more as he launched a barrage of attacks, disappearing and reappearing into the shadow realm rapidly. He swung his swords and tried to cut her only for each attack to pass through her harmlessly.
He then tried to compress all of his energy for one big attack to split her down the middle as he appeared in front of her, with Hoffnung raised above his head.
In the brief period between his appearance and the time it took for his sword to reach her, she snapped her fingers.
With just that one simple snap of her fingers, she froze him in place as he hovered in the air.
She raised her head and looked up at him as she said, “I’ve grown bored of fighting you. You are severely limited in your capabilities, and clearly that armor of yours is not strong enough to change the tide of battle in your favor. I will now strip that armor from your body and drive the tip of my spear through your skull.”
From underneath his helmet, he smiled and said, “Good luck with that. This armor is made of adamantine and the flesh of Malthael himself. With the power of my soul and the aid of my god, you will not remove this armor.”
She then tilted her head back as if to look down on him from where she stood as she said, “Then I take it this is the final effort you will make in an attempt to challenge me.”
He laughed as he said, “If you manage to strip this armor from my body, then I will concede victory to you.”
“Then you have already lost. Do you not remember when I said that I would stop the world? I did just that by drawing off of the rotational energy of this world within the battlefield,” she said as she formed her left hand into a fist and turned her wrist.
Struggle as he might, all his strength and power could not keep his armor attached to his body. All the metal plates flew off, the straps loosened, the carefully woven leather beneath it unraveled, and his body was laid bare.
“You are not capable of fighting back against me any longer,” she said as she pulled back her spear and hurled it through his forehead.
Queen Hylla…
Her mouth hung open in horror at the sheer scale of the devastation that Camilla displayed in her battle against Frosk.
With a mere flick of her hand, she could wipe out all of humanity and crush any trace of the civilizations that had lived here in an instant.
She is truly an unstoppable force of nature, and she had her sights set on usurping Hylla of her throne!
The match ended as the announcer declared her the winner and the two combatants walked back into the opposite hallways as if nothing happened.
Geirolul, who was standing at Hylla’s side, muttered, “She really is lady Sophia’s child…”
“Even so, do not forget who holds the throne. Do not forget who you serve,” she said to her and Geirolul stiffened.
“O-Of course. I would never betray the throne your majesty. Forgive me for speaking unnecessarily,” she said quickly.
Hylla dismissed her words with a wave of her hand without looking back at her, gritting her teeth nervously as she thought of how she would handle this disaster.
Camilla…
As she walked down the hallway, she passed by the waiting room just as the door to it opened and Raum walked through.
“I take it you won, yes?” he asked.
Camilla smiled and swept her hand through her braided hair with a flick of her hand as she said, “Of course I did!”
Raum raised his eyebrows with an unamused expression on his face as he said, “As always, your flair for the dramatic drains my patience with you.”
Irritated, she shouted, “Oh shut it you damn killjoy! Go and fuck off to your fight already! You’re ruining the mood!”
Raum chuckled as he successfully managed to irritate her into an immature spat of rage before he went on his way.
Before the door to the waiting room could fully close, she caught a glimpse of Moyako sitting patiently for her.
Camilla almost jumped towards the door to open it as she hadn’t expected her to show up at the end of her battle. She had to take a moment to compose herself so she didn’t appear childish to her.
After she was suitably calmed down, she opened the door and acted as if she just now spotted Moyako in the room.
“Oh? Did you come here to congratulate me on my victory?” she asked with a mildly provocative tone in her tone.
Moyako rolled her eyes and said, “Drop the act. I can see right through it.”
She went silent for a moment before she asked, “Y-You did come to congratulate me though, right?”
A very audible, impatient sigh filled the room as she said, “Very well…good job on defeating Frosk. It must have been a very hard fought battle.”
It took all of her willpower not to squeal with excitement at hearing Moyako praise her.
“I-it was nothing really, but thank you.”
Moyako’s face then became serious as she said, “Even so, I am interested to see the conclusion to Raum’s fight. Depending on the result, you might have an easy path to fighting me next.”
Camilla blinked in mild surprise and asked, “Why do you say that?”
“Because if Raum wins, he would almost certainly yield the match to you to give you an easy path to facing me. It would be rather pointless for him to stand in your way if the two of you indeed met in battle.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
Moyako’s eyes then narrowed as she continued, “However, if Raum loses, then you will have to face against Artemis. I am quite confident in Raum’s abilities to claim victory, but I do not know the full extent of Artemis’s power. Based on her match against Kali, she was shown to manifest the gravity of the moon and I am guessing she has far more than that up her sleeve.”
Camilla chuckled dismissively as she said, “Did you not watch my match with Frosk? I was able to take control of an entire planet. That dwarfs whatever she-”
“Camilla…! I have seen that woman erase people from existence. Such a power like that leaves no trace for anything to be healed or repaired. If Artemis were to use that power against you, I doubt that even the spatial battlefield could do enough to bring you back from that. While I find it unlikely she would go that far against an opponent in a tournament like this, you should still be wary of her. Pay close attention to her fight against Raum in case he loses against her,” she said with genuine concern in her eyes.
Hearing this made Camilla fall silent as she had not expected this to hear Moyako be worried for her sake.
Especially not with the kind of strength that she possessed.
She bowed her head to her and said, “Thank you for being worried for me. I’ll keep an eye on her.”