"ARAAAHH!"
Ria, the little blue-haired girl, roared as she charged at Morgana, her saw cleaver held high, its serrated edge already humming with bloodlust. She was a blur of frenzied motion, a living missile of mayhem aimed directly at the goddess.
"Ria, you idiot! Wait!" Madam X shouted, her voice sharp, but she knew it was pointless. Ria was a loose cannon, and once her bloodlust took over, nothing short of death would stop her.
Morgana didn't even flinch. Her crimson eyes tracked Ria's approach with an almost bored indifference. The living armor, Hunger, pulsed around her, its obsidian and blood-red plates shifting like liquid metal, tendrils of dark energy coiling around her limbs. The air itself seemed to scream in protest as her power churned, the crimson pillar of flames still roaring into the fractured sky.
"Die, pretty lady!" Ria cackled as she leaped into the air, her saw cleaver swinging down with enough force to split a mountain. The blade screamed through the air, leaving a trail of jagged energy in its wake.
Only when Ria's blade was inches from her throat did the goddess raise her hand—one finger, nothing more.
CLANG!
Metal met flesh—and stopped.
"!!!" Ria's eyes widened. Her cleaver trembled in place, frozen mid-swing, sparks erupting from where Morgana's crimson aura had halted its motion.
"Cute," Morgana whispered.
Then, with a flick of her wrist—
Whoosh!
Ria was launched backward like a ragdoll, her body smashing into the ground and tearing a furrow through the earth. The young Collector landed with a sickening crunch, her saw cleaver spinning away across the battlefield, leaving a trail of blood in its wake.
"Gghhh—hah! Hehehe… That's more like it!" Ria coughed, wiping the blood from her lips. "You hit hard, bitch!"
Her smile didn't fade—it only grew wider as she began to laugh.
Morgana, on the other hand, kept still, standing in the same spot, assessing the two before her with cold eyes.
'Interesting…' she thought, her gaze narrowing. 'The blue-haired one carries the concept of blood—or something close to it.'
Her attention shifted toward Madam X.
'And the red one… fire, or smoke.'
"HAHAHA" Ria's laughter echoed through the burning field, wild and manic. Her body twitched as a blue glow around her started to gather.
"Hehehe… You're strong, Goddess~ But I like strong things! They break better!" Ria's voice distorted, layered with something inhuman. Her pupils dilated into vertical slits, and black veins crawled up her neck as her aura exploded outward in a storm of blue and crimson sparks.
"Ohh~" Morgana tilted her head slightly, surprised by the sudden spike in strength.
Crack!
The ground beneath Ria cracked as she dug her claws into the soil. Then…
BOOM!
She moved faster this time—her speed was unnatural, her saw cleaver instantly appeared in her hand, vibrating at a pitch that tore through the sound barrier. She appeared behind Morgana in an instant, her weapon screaming as it sliced horizontally through the air.
But Morgana saw it coming.
Whoosh!
"Eh?" Ria's blade cut through nothing but an afterimage, and before she could even register it—
Thud!
Morgana's knee connected with her stomach. The impact sent a shockwave that flattened the surrounding wheat, hurling Ria hundreds of meters away before she smashed into a boulder, shattering it to dust.
However, this time, Ria was more mentally prepared and wasted no time in charging again.
"DIE, BITCH!" she screamed, a trail of blue energy following her every step. Her saw cleaver once again screamed toward Morgana's head.
'Is she retarded or something?' Morgana wondered, not bothering to move a muscle. 'She charges like a beast in rut. Or maybe she's just stupid?'
CLANG!
Ria's cleaver struck against Morgana's blood shield, a metallic sound echoing across the battlefield as the impact detonated a shockwave so strong it blasted Ria... again! a few hundred meters backward.
"HEY!?!" Ria shouted, standing up from the ground as she gritted her teeth in frustration. "You're cheating!"
"No. You're just boring." Morgana answered, her eyes locked onto the little girl, who was currently pouting in a surprisingly cute way. "So, this is your power. I'm not impressed."
"DON'T CALL ME BORING, BITCH! I'M RIA!"
She charged forward again, her saw cleaver howling, her body blurring with speed. The blue glow around her grew brighter and brighter, her eyes shining with an unholy glow.
Morgana didn't move; she watched as the little girl kept charging her until she was just a few meters away.
'Sigh... she doesn't learn.' Morgana was starting to get a bit bored and pissed at the same time; she came here looking to fuck some bitches, and all she got was an annoying bug who was just itching for death.
However, this time, Morgana was the one who made a mistake.
She forgot that there were two of them here, and so when she prepared to block Ria's cleaver with her shield, Madam X decided to make her move.
FUSHH!
"!!!" Morgana blinked and found a fist engulfed in orange flames hurtling toward her face. She had no time to react and was caught in the full brunt of the attack.
"URAGH!"
Morgana stumbled back a few steps, to which Ria smiled in victory.
"HAHAHA! Gotcha, bitch!" she yelled as her saw cleaver found its way to Morgana's neck, ready to cut.
Fortunately, Morgana tilted her head just right to avoid getting her neck sliced off by the sharp saw-like edge of the blade, but still, the left side of her face was cut by it.
'Fuck... I was careless,' she inwardly cursed, blaming the fault on her own weak body and the recovered memories. If Morgana didn't have those memories, she would have acted more carefully because she knows her limits. But with the memories, Morgana forgot that her current divine body was not up to par with the old body she used to possess.
She saw Madam X's attack and knew how to avoid it, but her body couldn't react in time.
'Sigh... I'm still not at my prime,' she thought. 'I have to grow stronger quickly.'
"Yup! Right in the face! Hehehe~" Ria laughed, waving her saw cleaver, happy that she finally managed to hit something. "Got you!"
"Yeah... I know," Morgana answered, her voice calm and collected.
"Hmm?" Madam X narrowed, confused by Morgana's response.
The goddess in front of her was too calm, like she wasn't bothered in the slightest by the fact that half of her head was missing. Hell, she could even see her skull and brain.
As for Morgana, she was carefully studying the situation.
'I can't fight the two of them simultaneously, at least not here.'
She was an Iron Rank, and the two Collectors—former gods—were one or two ranks higher than her, so Morgana knew she couldn't win this fight, at least not in this location.
If Morgana went all out and used everything in her arsenal, she could win against the two of them, but the cost would be too high. Lora's newborn world would definitely be destroyed by that massive fight. This is a battle between gods, not some mortal play.
'The best strategy is to separate them and take care of each one of them one at a time.'
Swiftly, Morgana activated her unique Blood skill 'Immortal Army', summoning two knights from her army of old.
Step! Step!
They rose from the ground like they just climbed the stairs of the underworld, kneeling before their goddess as the flames around them solidified into armor. Each knight stood over three meters tall, their bodies forged entirely from coagulated divine blood. Their eyes burned with the same crimson hue as Morgana's—cold, obedient, and unyielding.
One was wielding a two-handed Greatsword, the other a tower shield and a Morningstar.
"My Queen," both spoke in unison, their voices echoing with layered distortion. "Your will?"
"Wha—what the hell are those things?!" Ria blinked, lowering her cleaver slightly.
"..." Madam X's expression darkened. "Summons. Constructed from her own essence." She ground her cigar between her teeth, spitting it aside. "Tch. Dangerous ones too."
Morgana brushed the blood off her face. Flesh and bone began to grow, and in less than two seconds, the left side of her face was healed, her hair fluttering in the wind. When her left eye reformed, it gleamed even brighter than before—burning with rage and purpose.
"There," she said. "Now, we can begin for real."
Morgana raised her hand, using her divine blood to craft a longsword in the image of her old Nosferat. In one motion, she pointed the tip of it at Ria.
"Leave this one to me." Her gaze never wavered from her opponent. "You take care of the red one."
"Yes, my Queen," the two blood-forged knights intoned in perfect unison, their distorted voices reverberating across the shattered battlefield. Their crimson eyes locked onto Madam X, who tensed slightly.
"Tch. Summons, huh? Fine by me!" Madam X growled, her voice thick with defiance. She adjusted her black gloves. Orange flames licked at her fingertips as she flexed them.
"Hehehe~" Ria's lips curled into a feral grin. "You think these meat puppets can stop me?"
Morgana said nothing. She simply took a step forward and disappeared. Ria stared in surprise, and before her mind could register what had happened, Morgana grabbed her by the neck and dragged her far away from Madam X.
"RIA!" The latter tried to follow, but the knight with the tower shield blocked her path, immediately followed by a strike from the other one.
"Fucking summons.... I'll burn you to cinders!"