NOVEL NEXT Chapter 326: I am Better.
"The same as the Godslayer, is she comparing herself to an incalculable being?" Zara furrowed her brows. "Even as I understand her intentions and see why she is doing this, I will not accept that she is the same as Sol Vestic, there is none-"
"You are missing the point here," Keele shook her head, with Renia agreeing immediately.
"She is not saying that she is the same as Sol Vestic; She is saying that her power can only be bested by power, such things as weapons are ultimately useless against her, the fist of the godslayer is one which tears through all barriers and all forms of defences, the only thing that can stop it is another fist." She explained and the Vatui woman furrowed her brows further and sighed.
"The only way Cecelia will defeat Dr'ul is through overpowering her, and let me tell you, that will not be easy regardless of the power she has, because my sister's power to alter the fabric of reality and destroy it surfaces rather easily, it takes massive amounts of energy in contrast to hers to quiet her once she gets provoked, and I have seen no such power from your elder sister yet," Renia added.
"She is fighting an uphill battle, even if she may be stronger, which I doubt."
"You doubt it?" Keele turned her gaze to the goddess of Chaos. "She barely managed to defeat the generals sent after her all of whom stood no chance of defeating Cecelia, even if they teamed up, that was only six months ago, how could she have grown so much stronger that quickly?" She queried with her brow raised in fascination.
How indeed?
"Her strength comes through warfare, there has been nothing but warfare in the Khalla-Nova Collective, all scaling cosmically above anything we experienced in our home dimension, the four of us have experienxed growth unlike ever before, those aeons of evolving our powers in comparison seem meaningless now, I for one, am more at home here than I am in my own collective..."
Renia's eyes narrowed and she unconsciously licked her lips while her hair flared around her head with the rising excitement as she thought of the feasts of anarchy she had taken part in since rejoining the fight.
"The chaos birthed by the Emporium over so many years is delicious, truly a regale unlike anything el-" The goddess stopped and looked up when she realised what she was saying.
"My apologies," Renia stood and turned her back to everyone biting her lips and teking deep breaths, her hair continued to darken and her fingers sunk into the flesh of her arm and spilt her blood when she tried reigning herself in, in the end, she gave up and sighed. "I will take my leave."
"Renia-" Keele tried stopping her, but the goddess disappeared in a burst of chaotic mana that left them all speechless. "Is she experiencing that again?" She lowered her hand and looked at Jenifer, with the latter shrugging with a concerned stare at where the goddess had been seated next to Hudor.
"Is she okay?" Hudor asked. "She seemed extremely disgusted at her own words."
"Renia's chaos mana takes on a vampiric attribute sometimes, she can directly ingest the essence of chaos through other beings by draining them of their blood; when she was first introduced to the Emporium she drank the black blood of thousands of soldiers in her fight against them, it was only afterwards that she found out that PowerPoint was the result of draining the essence out of Vatui and Godslayers, according to her, she had tasted their souls directly, she only recently rejoined the fight at the request of Master vestic," Alpha answered.
"Her mana is closely tied to death, she is one of the few gods capable of directly interacting with the soul on a level where not even Master can freely manipulate it."
"How terrible, she witnessed the tormented souls of hundreds of millions of her people," Keele lowered her gaze at the topic. "The Emporium has to be stopped, we should not be fighting amongst ourselves, they should be wiped out for all the crimes they have committed," She held her wrist when her hand began shaking from guilt. "I... do not deserve to be amongst you all-"
"Don't even go there," Hudor huffed. "Her highness considers you an ally, and you have more than helped with the relocation and protection of our people, Keele, you are a fine example of the good that can come from someplace bad, do not undermine your value."
***
"I am stronger... I AM STRONGER, I am the better choice, it is obvious!" Cecelia chanted in her head. "Why is she the one that was left in charge when I have been readily availible this entire time, what must I do to make you trust me again?"
"How much more must I prove myself even after I abandoned my personal life to return to your side?" She pondered, tossing the broken weapon to the ground and raising her fists, clenching her jaws and breathing out a steady fog of mana from her nostrils as she steeled her focus, much to the glee of the goddess of war who was sure that this would be the most durable opponent outside of Sol that she ever faced till date.
"Clear your mind, I want to beat you shitless, not senseless," Dr'ul shook her head seeing the confliction on Cecelia's face.
"You mock me at every turn, but know, this is where you will be put to shame, Goddess of War." Cecelia began to lessen the distance between herself and her opponent, one calculated step at a time. Continue your journey with empire
She was confident in her abilities as a skilled fighter, she had been taking on the strongest of opponents in her place as Captain of the 100th, she compared the much larger pool of experience she had to a god twice her junior who had been in enough fights to count on two hands, the difference was supposed to be apparent.
Cecelia swiftly understood what Dr'ul meant after she attacked and was put to the ground so fast that the soil failed to recognise that something had hit it a second time, resulting in the woman wheezing after Dr'ul parried her first attack and planted her fist in the side of her jaw causing her to flip before she hit the ground and was bedded in it.
"Pardon me, but you deserve every one of these, I will not stop until you concede defeat or fall unconscious!" Dr'ul raised Cecelia out of the ground roughly by stomping so hard that the soil erupted around them.
"To think I considered calling you elder," Dr'ul grabbed Cecelia's legs and slapped her into the ground a second time like a wet rag , spinning her with a twist of her torso and then raising her foot.
"I understand your frustrations quite well, but to feel inferior and lash out at an ally when you have no need to, it is pathetic of a creature of your intelligence and power!" The goddess stepped in her stomach planting her firmly into the planet a third time and then aiming her hand downwards at her.
"I have taken it upon myself to rid you of this absurd ego, you will do better without it!"
[Divine Cast; Flames of Anarchy]
Dr'ul's first named cast came with levels of destruction similar to Dina and Ikaris's [Incineration Maximum] it hit Cecelia like a thousand suns exploding against her torso, driving her deeper into the crust of the ghost planet until she vanished within the chaotic explosion that erupted outwards into the cosmos like a cone of crimson and then burst a second time taking a half of the planet with it.
"Come on," The goddess balled her fist sensing Cecelia's mana rapidly approaching her. "Do not relent, give this everything you've got!" She raised her hand grabbing Cecelia's hand after a sloppy attempt at a sneak attack and directing her towards the remaining half which burned as it slowly drifted away from the others into the outer.
Skillfully, Cecelia spun and landed on the boiling surface several metres away from the edge of the exposed bubbling core that was jetting exhaustive fumes and torrents of flames high into the air, giving the half planet the appearance of a giant oval shuttle shooting out flames from a chamber the size of earth.
"She easily scales stronger than the rest of us, I can tell at a glance that she has not even begun exerting herself yet." Zara praised Dr'ul's power whilst also watching her sister. "Similarly, something seems to be preventing my sister from fighting at her best."
"That something is doubt." Hudor announced his presence with words that once again drew everyone's attention to himself. "She has begun seeing the faults in her actions, she intended to humiliate Dr'ul but on the other side Dr'ul, despite being perplexed has only shown her the honour she initially lacked when they first met."
"Well, don't you make a good commentator," Keele raised her brow at the man with a chuckle.
"Naturally, I have the voice of a narrator, I was born for this role." He chuckled back, but the two of them experienced sudden shock and looked to the fight again when they felt Cecelia's mana spike dramatically, surpassing the already absurd Vatui strength she possessed when she went berserk and began exerting herself.
She swiftly blitzed and grabbed Dr'ul's legs returning the earlier treatment as she spun violently with the goddess and released her into the core of the planet then dived in after her, pummeling her through to the other side and catching her by her hair with a roar, slamming her into the other half before taking a deep breath and screaming out again.
"More!" Dr'ul arose from the hole her feet had made after she caught her balance, she leapt into the air and matched Cecelia's mana in an instant, blocking several fast jabs by the Vatui woman and catching her fist on the last punch, directing her toward the unravelling planet again and unleashing another devastating punch directly in her jaw.
"Keep it up!" Dr'ul's smile became evident when Cecelia tanked the attack and returned one of her own after holding Dr'ul by her chestplate. "Do not falter, Éloén Cecelia!" The goddess of war threw her head backwards and slammed her forehead into Cecelia's with her fangs baring in excitement. "Do not wane, fight me with your all!"
"You freak!" Cecelia snapped, spinning and turning her back to the void as she utilized one of the few techniques she had grasped from her sessions with Arla. "Shut up and accept that I am better!" She slammed her palm against Dr'ul's abdomen as they both began falling.
"Prove it!"
[Unknown Tier; Great Fireball]