Narisva didn't hesitate. One blink and she vanished using Sight Teleportation.
She reappeared behind Phaenora with a scythe already cleaving downward. However, Phaenora didn't try to block. She slammed her palm against the ground and the entire arena rumbled.
A wave of sapphire surged outward like a tsunami. It rose higher than a fortress wall, swallowing half the arena in a single monstrous sheet of crystallized blue. It devoured Narisva too. The scythe strike cut through the top few inches before the material density doubled, tripled then skyrocketed beyond normal sapphire. It crushed around her like a coffin clamping shut.
Before Narisva even dug her elbow in to break out, a sapphire glaive materialized in Phaenora's hand, identical to Vastarael's Calimostria. Narisva burst from the sapphire block in a detonation of celestial light, panting, furious and most of all, confused.
She teleported again, behind Phaenora, then in front, to her side, left, above and diagonal but very time, her scythe missed. Every time, Phaenora moved first.
Sometimes she deflected with the glaive. Sometimes she dodged by half a centimeter. Sometimes she slid on conjured sapphire plates like she trained in zero gravity her whole life. Even with Sight Teleportation, Narisva couldn't catch her and that realization hit her so hard.
Phaenora wasn't faster. She was reading Narisva's intent.
Narisva teleported again. Her blade swung but Phaenora flicked her fingers. The sapphire behind her exploded.
Hundreds of spikes shot upward, each one tracking Narisva's reappearance point with frightening intelligence. Every time Narisva blinked into existence, a dozen sapphire spears lunged for her, forcing her to warp out only to be met by more. Her scythe could cut them sure, but she couldn't even get close to swing it.
"Enough."
Light collapsed into her palms. A star ignited between her fingers.
A miniature sun roared into existence, burning so bright it washed the arena in gold-white glare. Heat blasted outward, transforming the air into shimmering waves.
"Oh? Cute."
Narisva hurled it.
The sun streaked across the arena and incinerated everything including the sapphire spikes except the arena. Even the air ripped into turbulence. The sapphire structures evaporated in bursts of white steam.
Phaenora's body blurred and a massive, Mystic Circle with seven concentric circles materialized beneath her feet. It was Vastarael's Seventh Star Protection Mystic Circle. The attack passed by her so closely it burned the ends of her hair but she was unharmed.
Narisva rose her hand as space began to bend. She summoned a miniature black hole. Narisva hurled it like a spear at her but this time Phaenora didn't dodge. Her circle changed to a Seventh Star Control Mystic Circle.
A sapphire cube erupted around the black hole, sealing it perfectly. Narisva's eyes widened. She didn't expected containment. However, it wasn't strong enough to handle it.
The cube trembled, cracked warped and was sucked into the black hole entirely. A second later, it exploded. The force was so enormous it shoved both women backward.
Narisva's pupils shrank to pinpoints. She was shocked.
She was the strongest Divine of the Third Generation. Her Boon had made her undefeatable. She had never been matched like this.
"How…"
Phaenora smirked, though her breathing was ragged too.
"Oh, Nari. You really thought you were the only monster in the room?"
Narisva didn't respond. Her whole life she had stood above everyone. Her power was absolute. Her victories were guaranteed. But now, Phaenora was matching her move for move, reading her attacks, neutralizing Celestial weapons, containing a black hole and using Omniscient and Aeterium Divinity in terrifying synergy.
Narisva felt something she never experienced on a battlefield.
Doubt.
Phaenora was supposed to be weaker so why was she fighting like someone who could kill her?
"If I keep underestimating her, I'm going to die."
For the first time in what felt like centuries, Narisva Starisnova got serious.
The scythe spun in her grip as the starry Spatial Energy around her condensed into a singular, razor-focused pressure that made the arena tremble.
She just looked at Phaenora.
Her eyes glowed with fractured constellations as her Mystic Eyes of Spatial Awareness activated fully. The entire battlefield broke open in her perception. With those eyes open, there was no distance, no blind spot or trick. Everything was hers to manipulate. She didn't even raise her hand. Gravity simply obeyed her.
Phaenora felt the crushing force slamming down on her shoulders, forcing her knees to buckle as if the world decided to triple its weight. Sapphire cracked beneath her feet.
She tried to counter with a sapphire pillar but Narisva flicked her finger and gravity hit sideways. The pillar shattered. Phaenora was hurled across the arena, smashing into a wall before a sapphire cushion formed in mid-air to break her fall. Narisva teleported beside her instantly as she used her Sight Teleportation with Hyper Relative Velocity. She was moving at speeds that bent the visual field, creating phantom afterimages of her body trailing behind her.
Her scythe came down. Phaenora barely conjured a Seventh Star Protection Circle in time. The impact shook the entire arena. Pressure vibrated through the walls like a shockwave. Phaenora realized Narisva hadn't even aimed at her body. She aimed at the circle itself, testing its breaking point.
The moment Phaenora ran to dodge, Narisva was already behind her. Narisva saw her destination before she moved. Phaenora slid backward, conjuring sapphire barriers, spikes, walls, anything to gain distance but Narisva crushed them with gravity before they formed. Narisva was calculating every possible reaction with her Spatial Mystic Eyes. Then she vanished.
Narisva reappeared, not behind Phaenora but inside her blind angle Phaenora didn't even know she had. Her glaive snapped up defensively. The scythe and glaive collided, but Narisva shifted gravity without warning. Phaenora's arms jerked downward. Her stance broke and Narisva's knee slammed into her ribs.
Phaenora flew into the air.
With Sight Teleportation activated, Narisva was already above her. Her scythe spun. Phaenora crossed her arms with armor forming from sapphire as fast as her mind could command it.
But then, gravity reversed.
Up became down. Down became sideways. Phaenora's sense of orientation shattered before she recalibrated. Even the sapphire reinforcement trembled under the pressure. Phaenora blocked but she couldn't counterattack.
She knew attacking Narisva was suicide. Spatial Awareness would counter anything she attempted before she even began the motion.
So, she adapted.
She summoned a rain of sapphire shards not to wound, but to limit teleportation.vShe used the Seventh Star Protection Circle repeatedly not as shields, but as pivot points to redirect Narisva's attack flows.
She built the battlefield itself to resist Narisva's gravitational distortions. Every time Narisva collapsed a space, Phaenora wove sapphire onto it. Every time Narisva accelerated, Phaenora conjured sapphire spikes to intercept her velocity.
She wasn't winning but she was matching. Narisva's eyes widened just slightly. This was a woman fighting with perfect logic, crystal intuition, and monstrous battle experience.
After about ten minutes, both floated above the arena. One was wrapped in sapphire light and the other wreathed in gravity and spatial fractures.
Narisva moved first. She collapsed space using Space Severance and cut a razor-thin line that sliced through the air. Phaenora slammed a massive Seventh Star Protection Circle forward but the slice shattered it.
Her eyes widened.
She formed sapphire the size of a glacier but gravity compacted it into a sphere the size of a pebble. She enveloped herself in a sapphire cocoon but Narisva simply sure Space Severance, peeling the layers open like petals.
The pressure was too much. Her body trembled. Her Divinity faltered.
"You fought smarter than anyone I've met."
Phaenora smiled weakly, panting.
"Well… Veneri did teach me to observe."
"And you did. But your body can't keep up."
She struck.
The scythe hit her sapphire armor. A second strike hit her ribs. A third came down on her legs. A fourth knocked her glaive away. And finally, Narisva's blade rested against her throat.
Phaenora was on one knee. There was blood on her lips, her breathing was ragged, her shoulders were shaking but she wasn't afraid. She had fought a Celestial apex predator with nothing but sapphire, intelligence, and stubborn will and lasted far longer than she should have.
Narisva withdrew the scythe.
"You lost."
Phaenora smirked, despite blood dripping down her chin.
"Yeah but damn… I made you work for it."