Staking A Claim (Fraag)

Maria was quite pleased with the results of her spell’s ability to counter the onslaught of darkness that had been unleashed at her. She would have probably lost hope if the beam of malicious energy had managed to overcome the light of her spell; there would have been little else to do in the face of such relentless power. And yet, the fact that the Resplendence of Dawn had been able to successfully defend against the Biased Judgment was like a sign to her that the light she had generated was strong enough to hold out against the tides of darkness… though for how long she could hold out, she was not sure she could say with certainty. Still, as one who had sworn to protect the lives of people, she would keep fighting until she gave out. There were likely going to be casualties, like the two unfortunate guards who Armina had so mercilessly cut down. But as a hero, even if she was not strong enough to protect everyone, she would try her best to limit the amount of people who would lose their lives in the unfortunate event of her inactivity or absence. Maria was in absolute conviction that a Warlord of Fiore was like a natural disaster. Until she herself could become as strong as a force of nature, something she was fortunately well on her way towards, the best she would be able to do would be disaster management, since disaster prevention was not possible. Like now.

In many ways, it seemed a good thing, Maria reasoned, that she was the one out, and not Nita. The Pergrandian girl would have strived to save everyone, which would either be impossible, or put her at a disadvantage while trying to protect lives, which would ultimately be in vain if she was defeated. That being said, Nita would probably not have gotten Medeia as angry as the dark angel presently was. And then, if that was the case, they would have probably been still bantering in the cathedral, with the people outside still worrying whether they were safe or not. Maria knew that her host would disprove of her apparently callous viewpoint when it came to utility. While Medeia’s provocation was very likely to cause more collateral damage, it would result in a more decisive conclusion to their spat, which the less patient Maria was much more in favor of than bandying word with an enemy whom one was unwilling to provoke. If people died, then that was a pity, but Maria would not agonize overmuch. She would attempt to protect more innocents from dying, or she would take vengeance for the fallen. But in the end, the onus of whether lives would be lost or not rested solely on the dark mage’s shoulders. If she was willing to kill people because she was angry, that was her problem. But it was certainly a problem that would more likely make the next meeting between Medeia and the Chosen of Arcanos, whether it was Nita or Maria in charge, much less pleasant, for both parties involved.

For some reason, Medeia seemed unwilling to come in contact with the shield; maybe she perceived that the holiness of the spell would probably work her some woe, despite her celestial origins. The dark angel had wordlessly turned into a shower of sand, and was gone. Most likely the same teleport that she had used when she had begun her assault against Maria. Wherever she had gone to, it was not behind the goddess, as her magical sensory faculties would inform her, but outside the cathedral. Immediately, Maria suspected the stratagem that the dark angel would use. And it was quite a useful ploy too. If Medeia chose to go attacking the people of Cedar, Maria would have no option but to leave the safety of her brilliant shield and go after her. But the goddess had an idea of her own. It was in times like this that she was grateful for the magical baubles she had acquired on her adventures, although she was sure that Medeia had a lot more than she did. Still, she would use the ones she had to as good an effect as she could afford. For starters, the Matiasma, the weird but beautiful necklace round her neck, had among its interesting effects, the ability to double her spell range. Her affinity with Arcanos increased the distance to which she could cast spells even more. So Maria expanded the Resplendence of Dawn shield till it reached its maximum range, over two full kilometers in radius. Medeia was still outside it, so the dark angel would not be touched by the shield. But what Maria’s intention was was to create a sanctuary for the beleaguered people of Cedar, using her shield. She just hoped people would have the sense to run into it.

Teleporting to the edge of her zone of refuge, Maria saw the bloody clones as they rushed after the people of the city. That was a problem with humans, she thought. When danger came, instead of giving it as wide a berth as possible, the fools thought that if the threat did not directly target them, they would be able to stand around and be bystanders. She would have shaken her head if she wasn’t hard-pressed to save them from an unpleasant fate. In any case, one of the clones was even charging at her, bloody weapon upraised. It was time to handle two birds with one stone. The goddess raised her spear, as her weapons shone in a fierce white light.

”Starfall!”

As the area darkened, and the ‘stars’ of pure energy descended on the battlefield, the people of Cedar caught in the blast would be surprised to see that they were absolutely unharmed by the lights and explosions. The bloody clones would not be so lucky. But Maria was not done yet. She knew the weakness of using her Lunar God Force, and this meant that she had no time to waste. One would have probably imagined that she had been a bit hasty in entering the powered-up mode, but with the spells she was about to cast, her magic power would probably suffer noticeably if she could not cast recklessly like one could in Force mode.

”Night God Form: Sixteenth Phase! Relativity God Equation Pi!!”

As people ran past the goddess into the scintillating light that protected the cathedral, Medeia would notice that Maria had dispelled her Force. But the dark angel would also notice that the goddess had a new sort of aura. Strangely colored flames and shadows wrapped around her body, which was marked with weird, glowing linear designs. Casting all the levels of her Night God Forms and Relativity God Equations at once were difficult to use due to the large amount of mana used up to cast them, but Maria had used her Force to do so, and then had turned it off, to save her mana pool for more work. Although the Forms and Equations were not indeterminate in duration, they did boost her spell damage and speed to almost implausible degrees. Hopefully, she would be able to accomplish something before their durations expired. Using her incredible speed, Maria closed the distance between herself and her opponent, as she thrust at Medeia with her spear, her shield held in front of her body in case of a counter-attack.

”My oh my. Someone seems inordinately angry today.”


WC: 1250
TWC: 27976

There was not much of a reaction as Medeia watched her spell do little in the way of actual damage due to Maria’s defensive spell. She was not overly surprised although it was irritating to see nonetheless. It seemed that she would have to try harder to inflict any actual harm and the dark angel was quite happy to oblige. The wrath and fury that was flooding through her veins was only increasing by the moment with the thought of ripping someone’s head from their shoulders becoming more tempting by the moment. Her gaze would briefly turn to watch the quickly emptying town and for just a brief second, the thought of dropping a meteor upon it was a rather entertaining one. She had done the same during her encounter with Kensho in Shirotsume and from what the Warlord had heard, the stupid boy had been forced to sacrifice an arm in order to repair the damage. Did she want to take such a drastic step here? Well, perhaps if Maria annoyed her enough. For the time being, she refrained from taking such a drastic step. There were plenty of other spells that she could cast for the time being.

Maria seemed to be switching forms rather swiftly and it was a tad difficult for the witch to tell just what the legal mage was doing. Still, Medeia had no fear in her heart and she barely batted an eyelid as her opponent's aura increased in strength once again. It did not feel like Force at this stage and the angel mused as to just what it was but there was only one way to find out and she knew that she could take whatever her opponent could throw. Her reactions were razor sharp at this point, her anger raising her own strength by a considerable margin. For the moment, she did not tap into her own magic boosting spells, instead relying on where the vast majority of her strength came from, her passive abilities. Almost every piece of offensive, defensive and magical equipment she possessed was dedicated to upping her raw capabilities. A force of nature was an accurate description indeed for her and the mere flicker of magic could turn someone to dust or ash. There was a part of her that wanted to give Maria a taste of either the witch’s own form of force or her mastery takeover but had she earned that privilege just yet? No, not yet. She only brought such forms out against those who could push her into it. The only being that had managed to draw out her mastery abilities so far had been that delightful Cardinal Of Peace had been able to awaken that power from within the raven haired mage.

Whatever forms that Maria had used, they had done wonders for her movement speed and Medeia was taken slightly by surprise as she came up close with her spear. The dark angel was by no means slow but she would have to admit that her movement speed was not the highest among her fellow mages but she had a backup of course. The power of her defensive spells was high and her Enchanted Guardian spell was still in effect, granting her all of its benefits. The woman’s spear actually made contact with Medeia, its powerful stabbing attack striking her armour. A potent attack and the leaves were again soon flying all over the place afterwards. Maria knew how to wield that spear and Medeia was becoming more aware of that by the moment. She remained unflappable though taking another hit did little to soothe her building anger.

She replied in kind, her rapier lunging for the blonde in a fencing-like strike. It was an elegant weapon and although Medeia had not used it all that often yet, she had become rather fond of it in the short time she had owned it. A weapon that could break hearts, as well as ensnare them which she found to be quite fitting. Her weapon would move at spell speed rather than her own, each strike amplified by her immense spell power, since Lover’s Resolve was still in effect. Truthfully, she reckoned that Maria probably had the edge in close combat although the raven haired woman was not intimidated by that admission. Taking a hit or two would only cause her power to increase in the long run and she was not too shabby in the healing department either, if things came to that.

“Attacking Armina in my presence does tend to inflame my ire.” Medeia replied, her tone of voice somewhat more cold, a usual tic of hers when she was feeling irritated. “She is going to be pestering me non stop now about going after you and I cannot say that I blame her. I only wanted to play around with you as always but it appears that is not an option any longer. You need to be humiliated and punished properly which means I cannot hold back.” Neither the look in her eyes nor the sound of her voice appeared to give the impression that she was pleased about it. This was not the relationship that she wanted with the blonde or any female mage that she met, come to think about it. Every lovely lady she met had such wonderful tales to tell and Medeia took so much pleasure in hearing them, while lying helplessly and peacefully in her arms. She just did not think of other women as enemies, anything but. Men? Different story entirely. One wrong look and she would castrate them then and there.

The leaves of her armour would start to shine again at that point, a warning of what was to come and soon enough, another cyclone of nature would burst forth from her, attempting to damage Maria while draining the blonde of her health and mana. The spell lasted a while so she had plenty of casts left  and since it cost nothing after the initial cast, it did not feel taxing at all. Equinox Wave was a nice spell and one that she was appreciating today but would it strike the blonde this time around?

Despite her words about having to fight properly with Maria, she could not help but feel a tingle of excitement in the pit of her stomach. There was a time where battle had never brought her any joy but thanks to her time in Errings Rising, she had come to enjoy it for what it was. An adrenaline rush.

(1093 Words)
(29069 TWC)

Something needed to be done about Medeia’s leafy armor. It had been quite helpful to the dark angel, allowing her to tank damage which would have otherwise been devastating. Although Medeia was quite formidable in her own right, that armor had been the reason Maria had not put her on the ropes, or so the goddess believed. Putting Medeia into a corner would definitely be quite dangerous to attempt, but presently, that was the only way to go, as far as things appeared to be progressing. As matters stood, if she continued fighting this way, it was likely that the dark angel would outlast her, which was probably what Medeia was trying to achieve in this battle. While Maria herself was sure that she could probably manage herself in a drawn-out battle, it was obvious that Medeia possessed the better equipment, and loth as Maria was to admit it, it was certain that the dark angel was stronger as well. But one did not gain the reputation of a goddess of war by being unwilling to engage in battle. Even if she was not going to call this a victory, she would make sure that this battle was never forgotten by her opponent. And that meant not getting to be subdued by Medeia. In Maria’s opinion, that was presently the worst case scenario.

A strategy was needed. Maria had two options come to mind. Fortunately for her, she could carry out both of them in tandem. If both worked at the same time, that would be perfect. But if only one worked, at least it would do her some good in this fight. Her first plan of action was to cut Medeia’s armor to ribbons, and even though the leaf-themed armor seemed to be of the finest quality, with Maria’s deceptive but insane physical strength, she was sure that a third attack of hers would be able to get through the armor finally. Hopefully, with her insane level of speed, that would be workable. The second plan was to make the dark angel more involved in aggressive action, rather than play a defensive game. There was a reason that, when besieging a castle, the attackers, even though they had the advantage of aggression, were fighting at a relative disadvantage. In the end, it seemed that the second stratagem of the goddess depended on the first:  unless Medeia had another armor similar to the one she presently wore, if Maria could undermine the armor’s utility sufficiently, her opponent would have to rely on more offensive combat, in order to not become disadvantaged. It was, again, like fighting against a fortress: if the fortress walls were destroyed, the best thing the defenders could do would be to engage their enemies in open combat, unless they had other defenses which they could fall back on. Even if they did, it was unlikely that such defenses would be as good as their walls. In Medeia’s case, Maria was sure that the dark angel had other forms of defense, but it was most likely that that armor was her frontline and most effective.

The dark angel’s rapier came in as a counterstroke, after Medeia had withstood Maria’s lunge, and once again, the goddess was surprised at just how fast the weapon moved. It was much faster than Medeia’s normal speed, that much was certain, but under the effect of all the Relativity God Equations, Maria’s speed easily went beyond that of cast spells, even when buffed to great amounts. Still, it was almost as fast as she was, and she did manage, with great effort, to dodge it, remembering that her shield would be useless against the dangerous weapon. Medeia declared that, as Maria had suspected, attacking the maid was absolutely unacceptable, and the goddess would have to be punished for it. ”But you are holding back, Medeia love,” the goddess replied, even as she noted the displeasure in her opponent’s tone. ”From the little I know about you, you don’t seem to be the close-quarter combat sort, and yet here we are, exchanging slaps and tickles. If that isn’t holding back, please feel free to correct me, but until you do, excuse me for not believing you.” Maria’s intention was for Medeia to really not hold back. Because, even if the rationale was somewhat skewed, if Medeia absolutely cut loose, then the battle would surely come to an end quickly, and although Maria was not certain that she would be the one laughing at its end, it had been an unlikely outcome from the beginning. It was pointless to let it drag on.

Again, the leaves on Medeia’s armor glowed, and a torrent of swirling leaves was launched forth at the goddess, the attack quite similar to one which had been used against her back in the cathedral. This time, Maria did not try to defend against it with her shield, because she could not. The shield was one of the pivotal spells used to create her Resplendence of Dawn which was presently protecting the cathedral, and presently the goddess was wanting in defense, seeing as her two mightiest shields were presently unavailable to her. But she was not without any defense. It was time to utilize a rather useful ability granted her by her Night God Slayer magic: the ability to cast enchantments on things. This allowed her to go all over the place armed to the teeth, while looking harmless, and none would be the wiser, seeing as all her weapons and armaments would be disguised as harmless things like jewelry, which were easy to transport about. Like the Kraken’s Lament. Though it was the sturdiest shield in her possession, and quite dependable too, the reason she had not used it was because as the Pegasus came with its own shield, lugging two shields around was not the most effective strategy, but it seemed to be one that would be quite useful here. A ring on the goddess’ finger exploded into a huge kite shield, behind which the blonde mage ducked. She had no doubts that it would protect her against the onslaught of leaves, and it did not disappoint her. Medeia, however, still seemed too comfortable, in her opinion. Even as the onslaught of leaves was dying away, the goddess held forth her open hand, pointing at Medeia.

”Relativity God Storm!”


WC: 1060
TWC: 30129

There was a slight sigh that escaped the dark angel as she listened to Maria’s reply. To be underestimated in such a way was most annoying and a part of Medeia was rather annoyed by the jab at her close ranged prowess. Yes, it was true that she was more uncomfortable at short distance but that did not mean that she was in any way weak. One effective strike from her sword was enough to kill the strongest of mages in one blow. Still, she reckoned that the blonde was simply trying to either antagonise her into making an error or for some reason wanted her to tap into her more powerful forms. The former made sense but somehow, she suspected that it might just have been the latter. Maria seemed to enjoy pushing herself, far more than her host did and Medeia pondered if perhaps she should give her what she wanted. Of course, the raven haired woman was still angry with her but did she want to kill her? Had there been killing intent behind any of the Warlord’s magic so far? No. She was still trying to fight in her preferred way. To toy and tease, playing with her food until she was ready to claim them for herself.

Again, they seemed to be fairly well matched and although Medeia’s armour was taking a bit of a hiding at this point, its magic was still protecting her. The mage had not honestly known how effective it would be in battle but it had pleasantly surprised her and she would most definitely be using it going forward. It could not defend her from everything, even with its defensive strength and Medeia’s natural power in the durability department. What she lacked in speed, she made up for in both spell power and defence which together, made her the formidable force she was today. The woman knew her weaknesses, as few as they were and had trained diligently to at least try and compensate for them. Her armour though was somewhat at the end of its tether for this fight and Medeia knew that she would have to cast a more powerful ability in order to shield her from harm soon enough, since Maria was showing no sign of giving up. She had a more potent defence, one that could block or negate practically anything but there was still that slight hesitancy on her part. What was she concerned about? No. That was a foolish question. She already knew the answer. It was simply her fondness for the blonde before her that was preventing her from going all out, as pathetic as that might seem for a being such as her. The last time that Armina had been attacked by a mage, Medeia had beaten her attacker to a bloody pulp and yet…that was simply not what she wished to do.

With her latest barrage of Equinox Wave countered, Maria would launch a rather potent attack that Medeia naturally tried to defend against with her Enchanted Guardian ability. The result was a little close for combat for the witch, as her armour finally gave up the ghost and reverted back to a leaf, which found its way back into the angel’s pouch. Its job was done for today and it had nothing left to give. The Guildmaster was impressed with its work though and it just about managed to protect its owner from the blast or at least the majority. When the storm passed and Medeia was revealed, there was a rather easy to spot mark or two on her body from the blast.

“Well, I suppose that first blood goes to you.” The Warlord stated in a matter of fact tone, glancing at her bruised body. “My lovely leafy armour just could not take anymore.” She did not sound alarmed or anything like that, merely intrigued, her sword still in her right hand. “I suppose that since you clearly wish to fight me at my full strength and are unwilling to take no for an answer…I will grant you your wish. I hope you do not come to regret this.” Taking a breath, she would then add. “Priya, The Goddess of Angels.”

The result was that the angel would be surrounded by an immensely bright light which completely enveloped her form. Her hair, her eyes, her attire, everything would alter in colour. This was how she would have been, had she not fallen from the pantheon of her kind and as the light disappeared and Medeia emerged, her currently blue eyes would burn a hole through her blonde foe. She wore a majestic outfit that gave her the look of a holy queen rather than a warrior of darkness, as well as sporting a pair of wings, claws and crown that were coloured in a lovely arrangement of gold, pink and blue. Her sword had returned to its leaf form and disappeared into her pouch. It was no longer required as her claws could be used in close combat if necessary, not that she was truly interested in engaging in that any longer. Her spell damage and durability rose greatly due to the passive benefits of her takeover.

Rotating her shoulder, she would speak once more, her voice thrumming with power at this stage, taking a step towards her blonde foe. “No more games then. Let me see just how much you have grown, my dear, Aura Of The Queen.”

The last four words activated the most powerful of Medeia’s defensive techniques and her entire body was covered by an aura of radiant holy magic. Not only did it give her an incredible amount of defence but also allowed her to regain her health and mana as time passed, as well as another massive boost to her spell damage. Compared to her leafy protection spells, this was simply a different class and any spell could be negated or reflected, just by striking it. This rank of spell was beyond what most mages could cast and as she stood there, one hand outstretched ready to do battle, Medeia was finally prepared to fight properly. As she had stated before, no more fooling around.

(1033 Words)
(31162 TWC)

As the Relativity God Storm surged forth from her open palm, Maria wondered what Medeia would do to protect herself from the power of the spell storm. If the dark angel continued to refrain from fighting at the fullest of her capabilities, Maria was hopeful that it wouldn’t be enough to save her from the scintillating blast of color and strands of cosmic material. She had long since stopped playing around. She only thought it fair that Medeia did likewise, even if the result was to Maria’s detriment. The goddess did think, though, that Medeia would most likely have something up her sleeve that she would use to counter the conical array of prismatic destruction. If she did not, then how had she managed to gain such a terrible reputation? With a spell as strong as what Maria had used, the blonde mage was expectant that the dark angel would stop relying on her items, which, as everyone with proper magical lore knew, could be very powerful, but did not get to be as strong as the strongest of mages. It was logically sound: one could not make something that was greater than they were, unless the thing that had been made possessed the ability to evolve beyond expectations. While it was not impossible to find such a thing, if ever it existed, it was certain that such an object would be extremely rare, and Maria did not expect that Medeia would possess such a rarity.

”Has the Goddess of Wisdom even bothered to consider what she would do if actually Medeia decided to attempt to kill us?” Nita asked from the confines of her own mental space, the concern easy to discern by the goddess. ”Naturally,” Maria replied mentally with a laugh. ”You must really think so poorly of me if you even could imagine that I did not have everything figured out.” The goddess sensed that Nita was not in the least bit pacified. ”Maybe you’d like to give me some reassurance that I’m not going to regret you being in command of my body,” the Pergrandian ventured, to which Maria scoffed. ”Well, if you really want to know, I shall simply flee into the recesses of your mind, and leave you to sort the problem out by yourself,” came the reply. Maria sensed Nita’s alarm. ”Don’t you even dare!” Nita exclaimed, her vehemence driven more by fear than anger. ”Oh, but I shall, Nita love,” Maria replied with a light air. ”Don’t worry, I’m sure Medeia will not kill you…” Nita cut her off. ”By Arcanos, it isn’t death I’m scared of!” the Pergrandian stated heatedly. ”And what about your precious reputation? It’s got to mean something, doesn’t it? Tell me you don’t want to defend your reputation. Do you know what would happen if the world got aware of the news that the Black Maria was captured by Medeia and her crazy maid? Do you know what they’ll do to us?” Maria laughed. ”I have no idea, because I don’t like to imagine things. But Medeia seems to think you’ll find it enjoyable, whatever ‘it’ is. In any case, you darling moppet, set your heart at ease. If a goddess was worshipped as a war deity, it was because her devotees believed she could bring them victory. A war deity is essentially a deity of victory.”

As the scintillating lights faded away, Medeia stood there, but without her armor. Finally. She did seem to have taken just a little bit of damage from the blast, much less than Maria had hoped for. Still, little successes would be taken. And hopefully expanded upon. ”First blood?” Maria asked rhetorically, in response to the dark angel’s statement. ”Surely, you jest, dearest Medeia. Your rapier skills back in the cathedral drew my blood, if I may so kindly remind you.” Whatever the case, it seemed Medeia had finally decided to oblige Maria and fight at full strength, expressing concern that Maria would not rue her intention. Why the dark angel had chosen to do this, Maria did not know. But the goddess was pleased that her design had succeeded. The battle would be over soon. For Nita’s sake, the goddess was still very keen on winning, and did not wish to entertain the thought that she would be at the mercy of the lustful angel by the day’s end. While she did have the matter of her personal pride to look to, Maria was quite unwilling to let Nita down, despite her endless enjoyment at teasing the poor girl. It was the least she could do for the maiden, to protect her from Medeia, and Armina, especially. Falling before the dark angel was not an option. She steeled herself resolutely, her giant shield held at the ready, while the Pegasus arms revolved around her.

As the light faded from Medeia, it was almost tempting to assume that a different person stood before Maria. The foe before her looked like a deity’s manifestation, and Maria was sure that this was truly Medeia at her mightiest. She suspected that Nita might have been unnerved, even if just a little, if the girl had to face this form, so it was all for the best that it was her who was here. To be honest, the goddess could not help but feel a bit of concern herself when she felt the waves of power pouring forth from this being and stared into those glowing, burning eyes. Even Medeia’s (or was it Priya’s?) voice sounded infused with power. The dark mage was right. She was no longer fooling around. ”I must admit that I am quite flattered that you have decided to grace me with this form,” Maria stated, a calm smile on her face, as she stared down her foe who stepped towards her. ”I thank you for the honor.”

If Medeia had decided not to play games, Maria was glad to throw in all she had into this moment, into this climax of the battle between the Goddess of Angels and the Goddess of the Cycles of the Moon. She stretched out her arms to either side of her, then clapped them forward, pointing both hands at Medeia. ”Night God Endgame: Araphel!”


WC: 1040
TWC: 32202

It was always difficult to tell whether the blonde was taking a jibe at her or being genuine with her words but on this occasion, Medeia believed it to be the latter. Maria seemed rather calm either way and the angel felt no fear from her as such. No, she seemed genuinely pleased that the Warlord had decided to reveal her true powers, a fact that brought a slight smile to her face. The persona she was facing now was certainly more eager to battle than dear Nita and the raven haired woman had to come to accept the fact that the two were separate entities. Funnily enough, it had been exactly the same scenario between the witch herself and Priya, once upon a time. They had both had their own views, personalities, quirks but over time, they had melded into one and now there was just a single being. Priya had become a part of her. Some might call it subjugation but it had never been anything like that. The two had just become so close and the joining to begin with had been consensual. This is what they had both wanted all along and now they were whole.

Medeia might have replied to her opponents words but before she could so, Maria was attacking again. The magical power that burst from the blonde’s hands was rather monstrous and the dark being raised an eyebrow at the potency. This was a spell of the highest calibre and of that there was no doubt. It appeared that the legal mage was aiming to end the fight, here and now. A curious move and one the Hybrid Slayer thought was actually a mistake. If she had a spell of that potency all along, why wait until Medeia had taken on her most powerful form? Surely it would have been more prudent to cast it earlier in the fight? Still, she found herself nodding with approval at the guts that Maria clearly had. If more mages had her courage then perhaps Fiore would not be such an easy target for every dark mage who wished to carve a reputation from burning it. No. That was simply not true. The weakness of the country stemmed from the top and that stagnation travelled all the way down to the common man. To destroy the law had always been the goal of her guild and the longer she spent in the country, the more that the witch agreed with that credo.

As the attack reached her, Medeia would meet it with her outstretched right hand, resulting in a powerful clash of magics. She could feel the intense heat from her opponent's spell, its raw and mighty strength trying to break through her immense defence spell. Any other mage probably would have been annihilated by such an ability and the witch reasoned that one day, it may just be able to severely harm her too. Maria was a force of nature already, even if she did not know it herself just yet and Medeia’s smile widened as she slowly felt her hand being pushed backwards. This spell must have been a fusion of some kind, it had to be and the angelic creature’s desire for the blonde, both sides of her, blossomed even further. Yes, that naturally meant that Medeia wanted her arms wrapped around the beautiful woman but it was more than simply that now. She wanted to see the duo prosper, reach their potential and perhaps one day reach the same pedestal that the witch was on herself.

Today was not the day and as the witch changed the direction that her hand was facing, she would be able to reflect Maria’s spell, resulting in it flying away from Medeia and causing an enormous explosion. The damage was rather severe and the angel pondered whether any beings had been harmed by it. Not that she was concerned by that but she knew someone who might be if that was the case. Maria seemed rather hardened to the ways of war but Nita was not quite the same in that regard. The sweet and lovely flower that had attracted Medeia was so innocent in some ways and she seemed reluctant to hurt a fly, let alone another person. In truth, the Warlord found it rather intriguing that such a different pair of personalities could co exist in one body. When Medeia had spoken to Maria in Talonia, she had certainly sounded far more road weary than her host. Just who would win out in their internal struggle? Would they ever find the peace that Medeia and Priya had done?

“Now that was an impressive attack.” The Deity eventually spoke, her eyes blazing with radiance as she surveyed her foe, her voice still resonating in the same way it had previously. “You can take it from me that very few mages could survive such a blow. I am most certainly glad that I chose to take this form as I might just have struggled without it.”

Flapping her majestic wings, Medeia would rise into the air until she was a healthy distance from the ground. “I suppose that I should show you my best since you were so eager to show me yours. Please survive, my dearest Maria, as my words before were genuine. I do not seek either your or Nita’s death.”

Turning her eyes skywards and raising both arms, the Queen would utter. “Divine Judgement.”

From the sky, a bright light would begin to shine down on an enormous area around the mage’s position. Thousands of metres in range, it would increase in intensity, building and building, piercing through any defensive ability that could not prevent such things. Brighter and brighter the light would become until eventually an indescribably immense explosion would occur, dealing massive damage to all those who could not escape or defend from its wrath. This was the attack that had wiped out so many on the fields of war, destroying soldiers by the hundreds. Those fortunate to survive would struggle to move due to the ferocity of the attack and have the majority of their attributes lowered greatly for some time.

It was a spell designed to destroy civilisations but what amused Medeia more than anything was that it spat in the face of all those who believed that her kind were so self righteous and peaceful.

(1067 Words)
(33269 TWC)

Maria watched as her wave of darkness, ghostly wooden growths and strangely colored fire roared out towards the dark angel, expectant to see what Medeia’s response to her spell would be, seeing as said spell was one against which few had a defense for its level of power. Indeed, it was truly an endgame spell, as its name implied, and one that the goddess, even with her disposition to belligerence, did not think was to be so lightly used. For someone much more scrupulous, such as Nita was, it would be almost impossible to get Nita to use such a spell, unless the situation was extremely dire, and the need was quite pressing. Maria had to admit that she had always wanted to see the full power of the spell, and was glad for an opportunity to see just the extent to which it could deal damage to her foes. She had not had the chance to do so, until now. And while she was quite certain that Nita would have seen her tactics as wild and careless, she was sure that in the face of the power Medeia had shown, even the pacifistic Pergrandian girl would have to acknowledge that it was necessary to use a spell of that magnitude.

With all the hope and expectations placed on such a powerful spell, it was extremely shocking to see that with a single hand gesture, Medeia had unexpectedly diverted the spell, and sent it off into the distance, where it exploded with a resounding roar. It had all seemed for a moment that her spell was going to succeed, and yet it had not. Even as the sound of the explosion reached her ears, she could feel the alarm from Nita. But while she had expected that Nita would have been afraid for what would happen to them because the spell in which Maria had put all her hope had failed, Maria was surprised to see that Nita’s apprehension was for a different reason altogether. ”Maria! Do you think there may have been people where that spell exploded?” Nita asked in horror. That girl and her weird priorities. Maria did not know whether to be admiring or annoyed that while the duo faced almost certain defeat at this stage, and worse yet, what came after, the Pergrandian girl was still worried about the safety of others. Due to her own growing worry about the increasing bleakness of the situation, Maria decided to feel annoyed. It was a more comfortable emotion to deal with. ”We may want to look to ourselves first,” the goddess replied. ”It is true, there may have been people in the range of that explosion, and if they have been harmed… which seems to be a very likely possibility, I am immensely sorry. But that has happened, and we are presently in danger of losing this battle, which is hopefully something I might try to avoid. As such, I would rather worry about getting out of this sticky situation first.”

”I don’t think you really get it,” Nita replied, sounding on the verge of tears. ”We’re supposed to be saving people, and we just cast a spell that killed them. Do you understand what that means? How can I call myself a hero, when, not only can I not save anyone, I also get to kill them by my actions?” Maria groaned inwardly. Now was not the time for some morality guilt trip. ”Listen, love, let me bear the guilt. It was I that cast the spell, after all, not you.” That did not mollify Nita. ”You may have, but we are the Black Maria! Don’t you see that? Unless we tell people, who would know that there are two different agencies inside my body? And even if people knew, do you think me saying ‘oh sorry, but I didn’t cast the spell; it was a goddess who inhabits my body that did that’ would clear me of guilt? In the end, I’m just as guilty as you are.” Maria did not know how to respond to that. This was one of the problems of being tied to not just a mortal, but a virtuous one at that: she had something that seemed for all intents and purposes, to be a conscience. And it made her feel guilty. Gods were not supposed to feel guilt. What was she then? She wanted to console Nita somehow, tell the grieving girl that she would somehow rectify this situation, that things weren’t as bad as they seemed. But she knew she would be lying if she did. Maria considered that she was probably indeed deserving of punishment, but she had promised Nita to spare her from Medeia. Nita deserved no punishment. Besides, whatever punishment Medeia had in store for them seemed to be a rather undesirable topic for Nita. And Maria had given Nita her word that she would protect her from the dark angel. She had to keep it. Else what right would she have to be able to call herself a goddess?

Although Medeia’s praise was genuine, it rang hollow in Maria’s ears. In any case, her request, made in arrogance, was about to be fulfilled: Medeia seemed to be casting her most powerful spell, especially as she pleaded that Maria survive. And then the goddess of angels called out the name of the spell. As the skies above brightened with the luminescence of the impending disaster, the only thing Maria could do was hurry back into the scintillating light of her Resplendence of Dawn spell, trying not to show any signs of the fear that was clutching at her heart. For she had felt the power that was descending from the sky, and she had never experienced any such thing. It was almost impossible to imagine that such a power could exist. Still, she would have to try to defend against it, especially for the sake of the people within the spell she had created to shield the cathedral. Ignoring the shouts, questions and pleas thrown at her from the refugees inside the spell, she took a deep breath and waited for the light of the spell to connect with her own shield, and then she would negate it. She still had a considerable amount of magic power left, and she was fully confident that even the highest ranked spells could be negated by her Resplendence of Dawn. It would be enough.

It was not enough.

The Divine Judgment came, and destroyed everything Maria had put up like a wrecking ball smashing a picket fence into matchwood. Even as the goddess felt the spell engulf her, her mind went white with pain. This was impossible. Not only was the Resplendence of Dawn supposed to be one of the most powerful defensive spells around, it had also been designed to be able to block any sort of spell, even those which could shred through armor. That this spell could destroy it, and that she had been unable to negate it, could only mean something that Maria could not believe was possible: the Divine Judgment was of an even greater rank than her spell, and that was not even factoring in Medeia’s insane magical capabilities. And in the midst of all the pain, the goddess Maria felt what it was like to be mortal. What it was like to feel one’s life passing before one’s eyes, and to know that many things could have been done better, and to wish that there would be more time to do so. And then the pain stopped. Maria was still alive. She was much hardier than she looked, and a good number of her trinkets improved her already impressive vitality even more. But everything around her was a silent hellscape. The only motion was that of Medeia, silently flapping in the air, watching the devastation beneath. Maria took in a deep breath, as she pulled herself to her feet with great difficulty. If not for the Resplendence of Dawn, she would have probably died. The goddess tried to exhale, but the expulsion of breath broke the silence in the form of a loud sob. And the tears began to flow.

”I—I concede,” the goddess said softly, broken more in spirit than in body. ”I was arrogant, and many have paid the price for my foolishness. For that, I acknowledge my wrong.” Although this was spoken aloud, it was more for Nita’s sake that these words were spoken. She stood swaying slowly, her tears dropping to the scorched earth, as she hung her head in shame. ”Funny. I thought gods were above judgment.”


WC: 1440
TWC: 34709

There was an ominous silence that followed Maria’s words. It was as if the world itself had stopped spinning. No wind, no birds, not a single person conscious beside the two women. Medeia had purged the majority of the town and most who had been caught in the blast would not move again. This was the true magnitude of the angel’s power and precisely why the dark being had been given the title of Warlord by the people of this land. No defensive spell could have protected the people from her attack or at least none that the witch had ever witnessed. Yes, the Cardinal Of Bellum had been able to partly block it but even still, the damage caused had been horrific. Only a being that had truly come to master the world of magic could deal such a crippling blow, one that lacked the morality to care about those who died and one with the willpower to carry all of those lives on their backs for the remainder of their own lifespan. Medeia was one such creature and over the long years of her life that were still to come, there would be hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands more who would fall to her. It was as definite as the tides of the sea and the rising of the sun. This was Medeia’s world and those who survived were simply fortunate to be allowed to live in it.

Eventually, the Deity would turn around and watch the blonde legal mage from her vantage point above, her enhanced and piercing gaze locked on to the orbs of her defeated foe. She could see the helplessness in her opponent's beautiful face and for the first time, Medeia could detect weakness and submission in Maria’s voice. The Goddess had been broken by the almighty power that Medeia wielded and although the dark mage did take some pleasure from that, there was another part of her that was annoyed. She was frustrated that it had come to this and to have been thwarted for so long but what irritated her more was the simple fact that she had been pushed into harming the lovely legal mage. That had never been her original intention and it was entirely due to Maria’s stubbornness that she had been forced into it. On balance though, she reasoned that it was probably the only way that she would have ever managed to break the woman. Maria was simply too confident to have been persuaded by mere words alone, even if they were spoken by the Warlord at her most playful and devious.

She would descend at that point, landing in front of the tearful woman silently. For the moment, her spell was still in effect and her body radiated with magical power, the Warlord’s aura at a level of strength that would make most mages feel weak at the knees. Her blue eyes still did not leave Maria’s face and it was as if she was not only looking at the Goddess but her host as well. Almost as if she could see both Maria and Nita at the same time, a gaze that seemed to stare deep into the souls of the pair, one that could not be evaded. Gently, Medeia would place a hand under the blonde’s chin and if allowed, would raise it so that their eyes would meet.

“Who is it that decides who ascends to Heaven and who descends to Hell?” Medeia asked, her voice still a combination of both her own and Priya’s. “I do. Every soul that leaves this Earth was a job that me and my kin performed. It was a job that I performed for millennia among the stars and one that I still do on occasion here. The only difference now is that I decide when and how as well. Those who have died here today have been purged and judged by my holy power and their souls will be delivered to their next port of call.”

Watching the blonde for a moment, she would sigh before continuing. “I did not want to use this spell against you Maria because I knew the effect that it might have on the pair of you. Breaking your spirit was not how this was supposed to end. I admire the courage that you showed against me and I recall our previous conversation so fondly. You fought well today and against any other dark mage, you may just have managed to pull off the heroic defence of this town. Yet, you made the grave error of attacking Armina, my dear, in my presence. You were willing to harm my closest companion in order to try and score a hit on me. Do you have any idea of what such an act does to my psyche? She was abused by my kin, Maria, used as a source of entertainment by the males of my kind, violated in ways that I will not utter here. Armina is broken inside and there are times where even I am unable to fully control her but she means the world to me and I will not allow anyone to harm her, even other people that I am fond of such as you. The last time that a mage caused Armina to bleed, I dropped a meteor on Shirotsume and the damage caused there was so severe that my opponent almost died trying to reverse it. He lost an arm permanently as far as I know and will always carry the wounds from our conflict. Today was exactly the same scenario.”

She leaned in at that point, so that her face was inches from Maria’s. “If you touch her again then what you witnessed here today will be a mere trifle compared to the destruction that I will cause the next time. The name Black Maria will be remembered with disdain and scorn, a slang term that will be used by children to mock one another. That will be your fate if you displease me again.” There was no playfulness here and every word was spoken with an extreme amount of seriousness.

Her eyes would then seem to lose some of the harsh seriousness and an arm would start to wrap around the weeping blonde if she was not careful. “I will spare you from suffering Armina’s wrath today, as I believe you have been punished enough but in exchange, confirm your concession with a kiss.”

(1079 Words)
(35788 TWC)

For a while, there was silence, as the defeated goddess kept her eyes fixed on an indeterminate point on the ground beneath her, the ground which was presently scorched and stained with death and devastation. The incredible power of what she had just faced was beyond her. She had tried. She had indeed tried her best to prevent the spell from wreaking incredible destruction, but it was all in vain. Around her were the ruins of the once splendid cathedral, ruins which had managed to have a few blocks of stone still standing, whereas most other buildings in the area had been pounded to dust. Perhaps that was supposed to make her feel a little better, make her realize that at least her strongest shield had managed to prevent the cathedral from being absolutely reduced into nothing. But the presence of the devastated stones was more like a mockery to Maria, as though reminding her of the incompetence she had shown, with the cost of that incompetence being the destruction of the city, waste of many resources, and most importantly and irreversibly, the loss of scores, if not hundreds, of human lives, lives that had depended on her to be kept safe. Lives that she had jeopardized in her arrogance of her newfound power.

Looking back, Maria had to finally admit that this arrogance had always been her tragic flaw. First, when she had been a Primordial, and had fought against the younger generation of gods in her pantheon, she had arrogantly conducted herself on the field of battle, assured of her success, being a war goddess. Even when the Primordial dimension had been devastated by the countless wars, she had still been arrogant, enslaving what remnants of her enemies she could lay hands on. When she had found Earthland, she had arrogantly sought to establish dominion there, beginning by experimenting mercilessly on the ‘lesser’ beings that dwelt there without a care for their wellbeing. One of those ‘lesser’ beings had thrown a cog in her plans, a cog of such severity that in her arrogance she had sought to punish that human in an exceptionally degrading and painful way, only to end up having her soul bonded to the human’s. Even then, she had been arrogant. While considering she had fallen from her station, she always considered Nita too repressed, too pacifistic, too scared. She had always jumped at the opportunity to get to be in control of her host’s body, to show the child how things were done. And now, she had been shown, in a lesson really difficult for even a god to bear, the error of her ways.

”Nita… please forgive me….”

She could feel the hurt and despair emanating in waves from the consciousness of her host, and being connected to Nita through the truest of connections, a soul connection, Nita’s pain hit her in such a way she had never imagined. She was a failure of the worst kind. She made no attempt to resist when she felt the hand under her chin gently lift her face until her flowing eyes met with those of Medeia.

The reverberating voice of Maria’s victorious rival broke the silence, declaring her role in assigning the dead their place in the afterlife. Maria was not sure she believed that. The goddess had always assumed that the judges of the souls of their subjects would be more aloof and uncaring about interacting with them. Even among the Primordials, the ones who had served as judges were aloof to the point of over-detachment, something which had led to their early destruction as they had no allies on either side when the wars began. But whether in Maria’s original dimension or in Earthland, the same rule concerning power seemed to hold sway: Might makes right. Medeia had won; the goddess of angels could declare herself anything she wanted. And she had every right to, more or less, until someone else was able to challenge her claims successfully. She stared silently as Medeia spoke, the latter’s words and expression showing remorse for what had happened. Then Medeia’s face drew closer as she uttered threatening words, making Maria flinch visibly from her. Maria felt ashamed of herself, acting like a spanked child being disciplined by an angry parent. Perhaps in many more ways than one, Maria was the more childish one between herself and Nita. For instance, she was supposed to have more things to worry about than feeling offended that she was afraid of Medeia to recoil from her when the latter had threatened her. Even despite her shame, pain and sorrow, that defiant petulance that stemmed from her arrogance was rearing its head once more. But she stifled it, instead cringing with a sob and refusing to return her gaze to Medeia’s eyes.

She felt Medeia’s arm wrapping around her and attempted to shrink away from the dark angel, but she seemed to lack the will to successfully complete the attempt, although Medeia would certainly be aware that she had tried to pull away. This woman was indeed the Warlord of Lust, desiring a sensual conclusion to their battle. If Maria had been in a better mood, and not the one in Medeia’s arms, she would have laughed. Even though Nita responded bashfully to Medeia’s brazen advances, the Pergrandian girl was still spirited in her rebuttals. Here she was, acting like a painfully introverted schoolgirl. Maria had never felt more pathetic in her life. She could sense Nita waiting silently. On another day, Nita would have joyfully taken the opportunity to throw verbal jabs at her. It was interesting to see that her host seemed to be sympathizing with her own pain, and as such had not said anything that would further hurt her, despite the fact that Nita was suffering the same pain. And despite her initial disdain for Nita’s large heart, Maria found herself full of admiration at the sort of person Nita Fortune was. She looked up at Medeia, the fear quite obvious in her eyes, but then she placed her hands gently against the dark angel, and angled herself up on tiptoe as though acquiescing to Medeia’s demands and going for the kiss…

…only to be gone in the next instant, using the residual teleport effect of her Resplendence of Dawn spell to teleport herself as far away as possible from where she had presently been. As soon as she reappeared out of sight, Maria drew open a portal, and quickly stepped into the Interdimensional Sea, allowing herself to drift in the strange currents of otherworldly fluid.

”I’ll make this up to you somehow, Nita. I promise….”


WC: 1110
TWC: 36898