The avalanche was mere moments from crushing the group with its maw of snow. Tenebrosia immediately halted as the rest continued to trample away. Grabbing a nearby giant rock twice her size, the Maiden lifted it high in the sky. "MACALGE!" She chanted, and from above summoned the demoness Mistress Hecate. The demoness grabbed the rock with her hands before adding much pressure to it and plummeting down into the incoming sweeping snowslide. As the demoness and the rock touched the ground, it released a force enough to repel the avalanche chaotically. Piles of snow and rock went everywhere, even near the trio that continued to ascend further up the mountain, but none hit them. The path below became blocked by the rest of the avalanche. The demoness Mistress Hecate immediately unmanifested once more.
Tenebrosia, however, stood there with a neutral expression. "At least the mountains have the decency to respect how hard cleaning this outfit would be," she muttered before rolling her eyes and sprinting again to catch up with her group. The snow beneath her feet failed to slow her down. The roars of the Titans returned once more, causing Tenebrosia to look back. "Damn," she exclaimed under her breath, continuing to sprint the ascent. When she tried to look forward, something caused her to flinch at her back: the Titans were ascending together to the tallest peak that was located in the middle, far beyond the clouds. The injured infernal Titan climbed the mountain ferociously and jumped violently through, while its heavenly counterpart circled the mountains before ascending through the skies. "Bravo! Bravo!" The taunting jesters of the Masked Signora spoke through the mental link between her and the Maiden. "A test proving you'd fit to rule with me in a world torn asunder… accomplished! Titans defeated, avalanche repelled… well done, my little sorceress." Tenebrosia didn't reply, choosing to continue to sprint and ascend the mountains harder. "The moment is nigh. But, I still have one problem." The voice taunted; a menacing implication. "The boy."
Tenebrosia slightly tilted her eyes. Time seemed to slow around her as she prepared to accelerate faster. In a flash, the Maiden glowed with dark magic before her sprint caused a boom. As her booming run caused the path she created to leave burning marks, cries of the boy and trumpetings were heard in symphony with the eerie, metallic sound of an unknown being. As Tenebrosia turned a corner, a corrupted and physically disturbing, twisted old Mayuno stood in the way. It stood in front of Amma, with Sekai and Aiwa on top. Its fur was gray, but its mouth was forever agape and broken. It drooled of saliva, blood, and some dark matter, similar to that of Haibiulunka. However, its size was bigger than that of Amma, almost twice. Its ribcage was already exposed, its face was melted, and some part of its skull was exposed and cracked. Veins popped, and blood dripped. Its eyes were missing, replaced with a pair of glowing, deep magenta orbs. However, its most dangerous aspect was the horns growing from the top of its head. "It seems like it ate something affected by a tumor," Tenebrosia spoke.
However, before she could intervene, a golden rift appeared from above while a crimson one appeared below, right in front of the Maiden's eyes. Two Seraphim angels descended, accompanied by heavenly runts. One of them had a glaive adorned with eyes and ethereal ribbons, wearing light armor that swayed like a spectral figure in the wind. The other had a shield embellished with materials like rubies, sapphires, and other glimmering shades of colorful stones, and at the center rested the face of a marbled, horned behemoth. Both of these Seraphims wore helmets, obscuring their faces, but their bodies were nothing but divine. From below, however, ascended a powerful demon: a giant Lilac-Mother at the same towering height as Hecate, and her consort, a Hell Knight, accompanied by abominations of the abyss. All of them formed a wall separating her and the trio. From the other side, only the muffled screams of Sekai can be heard.
—
THE SCROLLS OF REVELATIONS
[Lilac-Mother]
Species of powerful lord succubi that rule their subordinate brethren under the matriarch's powerful dark magic. The Lilac-Mother, as recorded by the divine scholars of old, was once nothing more than an ordinary succubus. However, it has absorbed many of her victims' lives, whether it be angel, mortal, or demon, leading to its transformation as a Lilac-Mother.
Interestingly enough, despite the atrocious ways she eliminates her victims indiscriminately with relentless force, she doesn't attack her fellow brethren. Nobody actually knows what the motive behind this is, but scholars theorize that this is because a succubus only works with its kin, and a lair ruled by a Lilac-Mother exiles any other demon from their home other than a succubus. Lilac-Mothers are known to manipulate the intentions of other demons of hell to do their own bidding.
Having the power to lull almost anything and anyone, regardless of mortal or supernatural, heavenly or hellish, and as a conjurer of the psyche, forming a concordat with this demon is extremely difficult, as they have a sadistic personality toward those who aren't their own. Even for Champions of the Darkness.
—
"Tenebrosia Writos, why entertain the folly of beast-men when you are ascending to the path of a god's cathedra?" The Seraphim holding the spear spoke with a booming voice. "Maybe the girl's foolish enough to think the boy is like gold; however, his stupidity and gullible nature make him as precious as the soil I step on." The Lilac-Mother speaks with a taunting grin, looking down at Tenebrosia.
"If I got a coin every time you lot piss me off, I'll be richer than any god of wealth you idiots could name," Tenebrosia responded to the ensemble. With such language, the Lilac-Mother twitched as her ego was destroyed. "Why, you little…!" The giantess initiated an attack, firing a gargantuan, azure orb directly at the Maiden. The two Seraphims, the Hell Knight, and the heavenly and hellish brutes began charging at Tenebrosia. The Maiden quickly jumped high into the sky before yelling out a chant to summon Mistress Hecate and Apate once more. "Move!" Tenebrosia boomed.
—
On the other side, a magical barrier separated the trio from Tenebrosia. Amma shook in staggering fear as he saw his own kin corrupted to the point of no return. It growled, and its horrifying features added to its terrifying look. Sekai was petrified of the sight that stood before him. A creature like Amma, something the boy would never have thought of trying to hurt. A berserked Bogg'Garok already struck his heart; a beast of aggro. But, how about a gentle giant that never asked for its torment? The thought wracked and twisted the boy's stomach. Aiwa squealed and remained on Sekai's shoulders. The Mayuno they mounted upon moved backwards, its fur curling on its own.
"Calm down, calm down!" Sekai begged Amma; the gentle beast did not listen. When the gray Mayuno, corrupted and perversed in its form, charged, Amma barely had time to react and evade the strike. The abominable Mayuno struck the barrier; it did not break. The force released only an echoing bellow. It's guttural and disturbing noises further raised the hairs on the back of Sekai's neck. The gargantuan beast turned its head to the trio; its magenta eyes piercing right through their eyes. Unable to have the wits to fight, Sekai tapped Amma's sides with his staff. "Run! Run upwards, Amma!" The beast released a short trumpet before trampling and escaping the abomination that soon followed behind.
"Oh no, oh no!" Sekai whispered under his breath. He looked back, and the corrupted fiend continued to trail behind. It began speaking with a female voice; however, its mouth did not move. "You're delaying the inevitable, little one." It spoke. Sekai spoke no words, but continued to stare in fear. "I am the nightmare your miss Tenebrosia hid you from. I am the beast that you ignore. The beast that proves this world is nothing but blood, but your nature is as stupid as a jester." The rocks cracked, and the echoes of its terrifying words rang throughout the steep and narrowing path. "Don't be so scared. Death is mercy in this world. Come to me!" It boomed its voice throughout the narrow way.
Sekai, building up the power to retaliate, pointed his staff at the beast. The talisman on his belt glowed, and the staff fired a projectile that struck the beast right in its eye. He finally had the power to fight back. A carriage he might lose, his life, and his friends shouldn't. The Mayuno released a distorted, trumpeting sound and fell back. The Padomas boy breathed heavily, and Aiwa, on his shoulders, opened its eyes. However, this joyous moment would only last for a moment.
As the gray abomination fell back, it fired a beam from its mouth and struck Amma right on the back of its knee, leaving a wound that began to melt its flesh. Time seemed to slow down once more. Amma released a sound of pain as blood gushed from the area where the hellish abomination struck. "Amma!" Sekai screamed in terror, fear, and worry. Aiwa squeaked. The brown Mayuno cried with pain and rested on a stone. It looked back, Amma's flesh was exposed, and it began to slowly wilt as a gray area appeared on the wound, slowly, yet it was visibly growing. Tears began to fill his eyes as he rushed to the wound, trying to tend it. "I can fix it! I can fix it! The magic of the talisman, it will–" Sekai was stopped by Amma's trunk. Amma gestured. Its eyes slowly closed, before opening again while he nodded. The beast was beyond salvation. Its time has come. "No… Amma…" Sekai embraced the Mayuno's trunk, before it itself let go. The abomination was back, regenerating from such a trivial wound. Amma shoved and threw Sekai and Aiwa away with the last bit of its strength using its trunk.
The Mayuno looked back one last time at Sekai, a true companion, a boy who saved him from the mistreatment of its previous master; now it's time to repay the boy's care and companionship. The beast, despite being injured and smaller than its abominable corrupted kin, staggered its way. However, Amma used its wits to try and subdue it. "Foolish, little insect." The female voice of the corrupted beast spoke. It began to charge; Amma baited it to hit a nearby mountain wall. The force was enough to produce a crack that began to grow larger and larger, until it created a fissure below. A gargantuan crevice began to open, and a small avalanche from above was being produced. Sekai had no choice but to carry his staff and Aiwa upwards. Sekai looked back as his heart was being pierced by the monumental pain. The sight was only tragic. Amma was already struck and lay dead, pierced right through its core by the beast's tusks. Blood oozed and motionless. As the gray beast noticed, it tried to put its direction onto Sekai. However, the fissure that began to grow larger only made the ground burst open from the weight of the beast, swallowing it from below to the abyss alongside the dead body of Amma. The incoming avalanche sealed the abyssal tomb, and Amma and the corrupted beast were no more.
—
"Give in! Come with us so we'll be done with what we are asked!" The Lilac-Mother boomed as she tried to manipulate the mind of Tenebrosia. "Sorry, darling. But I'm not one to play by the rules, especially to the likes of your kind," the Maiden replied, continuing to sprint towards her. Visible veins began appearing on the forehead of the demoness as it charged another attack. The battlefield was as chaotic as swirling skies on fire. The demonic Apate, returning to perform its duty as part of its concordat, battled with the two Seraphims with all of its might. Mistress Hecate already decimated the Hell Knight once she did before, grabbing its sword before swiping and slicing the legion of lesser angels and demons with it. Apate flamed the Seraphim that wielded a glaive, causing it to thrash around in maniacal panic. The one with the shield continued to charge right at Apate.
"Die, you pest!" The Lilac-Mother yelled at Tenebrosia before stomping the ground and conjuring the blood of the legion to solid spikes, with one unintentionally spiking the Seraphim with the shield. "Oh, how sloppy." The Maiden mocked the demoness before jumping high and slamming her weapon down on the lord succubus's head, causing her entire head to flatten. In a second, the Lilac-Mother shrieked; in a second, she was silenced. The sight was ghastly, and the Lilac-Mother, with a flattened head, stumbled her body on the ground. The fight was over, and infernal portals began to open from beneath the corpses of the fallen enemies. Apate and Hecate unmanifested, returning to the hellish pits of Hades.
The barrier that blocked and separated Tenebrosia from the others was shattered; its magic was only present when their conjurers, likely the legion, were alive. The Maiden walked through the narrow path, and she already sensed something was wrong. The path ahead provided a crudely built bridge, and the cliffs from the left were covered in debris and snow; trees were broken left and right. "Something's wrong," she muttered. The corrupted beast was already gone, but how? The talisman she gave to Sekai didn't provide enough power to defeat abominations at that scale. Tenebrosia continued to walk forward, and she heard the sniffles of a boy: Sekai. The Maiden bent over down on a small crevice, hidden by debris and stone, finding the crying Padomas boy being embraced by a desperate Aiwa. "Where's…" Tenebrosia asked, but stopped herself. She looked back and examined the area. A giant depression on a mountain wall, a size impossible for Amma to even do, and the avalanche. She figured it out. "Miss!" The Padomas boy rushed at Tenebrosia, embracing her maternal-like warmth. "Amma's dead! …D-dead!" He muffled at the woman's vest. "He got hit by a blight from that beast! I couldn't… I–..." The boy couldn't continue to speak as the tears fell and fell. The Dunwaku rushed at Sekai, climbing Tenebrosia's figure just to snuggle at the boy's body.
"We're going back to Windstrew. This journey is nothing but a waste." Tenebrosia spoke, picking the boy up alongside Aiwa, who embraced the mourning Sekai. The boy spoke no words as he was cradled by the Maiden. However, as Tenebrosia walked down the snowy path, the Infernal Titan returned, blocking the path. Its gargantuan body blocked the entire narrow path. The Maiden planned to summon Apate just to escape to the skies. The skies were filled with legions of angels and demons, Seraphims and the like, circling the mountains above. Above all else, the Titan of heaven soared, circling. It screeched. All of them were fully cornered. Then, the voice of the Masked Signora spoke through Tenebrosia's mind. "You're cornered, my little sorceress. There is no escape but upwards. Try to escape, and the boy will die. You might survive, however, but you'd be a murderer like… before? Would you not?"
"Damn it," Tenebrosia exclaimed under her breath. The gargantuan demon in front of her began to charge, leaving only the Maiden to run up the Moirai Summits, continuing to hold Sekai in her embrace. The path was narrow, and angels and demons surrounded any possible escape, except for continuing upwards. Tenebrosia's heart felt helpless, like a bird with its wings wet, trying to escape the ocean's wrath, only to drown in its embrace. Sekai continued to hide under the Maiden's warmth, as did Aiwa, ignoring the countless screeches and roars of both hell and heaven.
What hours may have felt like ascending the Moirai Summits with a gargantuan titan at their back, the remaining three passed through the thickening skies and reached their peaks. The mountains were so high that the skies were like a sea below, unable to see anything of everything they've been through. At the peak of the middle mountain of the Moirai Summits sits a temple, built right on its peak's edge, with angels and demons surrounding it, and the five titans they saw back at the Marches. A stone bridge spanned the gap between the peak in the middle and the other. Intricate bronze patterns and symbols from ancient history festooned the bridge, and statues of Cardinals and Maidens were worn and shattered, some even in pieces, that all stood on pedestals. Tenebrosia walked slowly, still carrying the boy in her embrace.
As the Maiden finally reached the end of the bridge, the Titan of heaven ascended and pierced the skies, continuing to fly upwards and ultimately breaking the bridge with a screech. Tenebrosia did not look back; only a stern look could be observed on her face. She also heard the crumbling at the other side. Two of the bridges were destroyed. The temple itself was still above at the furthest peak of the summit, and the Maiden took into her steps to climb the remaining crude staircase that stood in the way of her destiny.
When Tenebrosia finally reached the giant temple, there at the farthest edge, sat the woman she had fought back in Rindsow. Her chipped mask made the tattoo of the Maiden's clan on her chin visible. The Masked Signora herself, sitting at a cathedra. "Welcome, my little sorceress." Tenebrosia put down Sekai as well as Aiwa. The boy spoke no words, but his eyes rattled with fear upon the sight of the masked figure. The Padomas boy held his staff, and Aiwa cuddled on the boy's neck. Both of them only stood behind Tenebrosia's figure. The Maiden spoke no words, continuing to put up a poker face in the face of a god-like being. The angels sang, and the demons growled; all in unison for the woman on the throne.
"I must say, you've grown so much since I last saw you, Tenebrosia," the woman's voice seemed to echo. Her cape of black dragged itself as she stood, causing Sekai and Aiwa to flinch behind the Maiden. "Enough with the chatter. I feel like vomiting from how much you put me through," Tenebrosia snarked, but the Signora simply laughed. "You've got quite the tongue when it comes to a world of pain, yet so silent when you contributed to it? Especially to the boy?" "W-What…?" Sekai whispered, and Aiwa hid.
"That's right, you Padomi-child. You should be more afraid of the woman you call a guardian rather than the legion that surrounds me." The woman taunted, and Tenebrosia remained silent as her arms crossed. "With you at such a proximity, the spiritual connection between us is stronger than ever. I can… do this." Suddenly, the Signora extended her hand and lifted it to the ceiling of the world. A beam of magic was conjured from her hand as memories were transformed into physical form: the thoughts of Tenebrosia.
Back at the outskirts of Windstrew, Sekai was begging for Tenebrosia to take him along the journey in the guise of a pedagogy just so she could reach through Galamona without being bothered by anyone who viewed her as demonic. The death of Amma, the loss of the carriage, and the many troubles they've faced all through the journey made it seem like Tenebrosia was the sole problem of Sekai's current depressive state.
"Do you see, child? She's no better than you see, and she's no better than any monster you see evil." The Signora taunted, but Sekai yelled back with noticeable fear. "She would never do such a thing! Y-You're the real monster here, you… you–" Sekai paused himself. Then the Signora, without a word, reached with her free hand and placed it on her forehead. The memory shifted, and it showed the lady's perspective.
"Tenebrosia? What has happened to–" the voice of Ragena was heard as she stumbled weakly backward, with a young Tenebrosia right in front of her, wielding a dagger. "N-no… this isn't–!" Ragena screamed as she was pierced right through her heart by the adolescent Champion. From the physical remnant of the past, Tenebrosia's brooch was seen by the boy: a brooch he saw the Maiden had been wearing all this time.
"This… this is trickery! Miss, miss! Tell me it's all lies!" Sekai gripped onto the Maiden's leg, yet Tenebrosia remained stern in her look and stood still. Breathing ever so slightly. "Miss!" He cried, and Aiwa squeaked. "Time is history, and history does not lie, would it? You, of all people, should know that." The Signora laughed as Sekai's trust in the Maiden began deteriorating. "You're…" A tear ran down one of the boy's eyes. "You're a monster!" The boy screamed as he slowly backed up from the Maiden until he quivered at a corner, his back leaning on a pillar.
Tenebrosia's eyes were hidden by darkness as she continued to stand there. Suddenly, one of the Seraphim took Sekai up further into the skies with a yelp from the boy, as Aiwa struggled to grip onto his cape, but held on. "Harden your heart, join me! As gods! And if you don't… I will drop the very thing you so preciously held." The Signora threatens with a smirk, and the rest of her face was still unseen by the mask. Tenebrosia closed her eyes and opened them once more. "... What of the boy if I do accept?" Her tone was as cold as glacial ice, and her eyes no longer glimmered hope nor confidence, but dread and hopelessness. "He'll be left at the bottom of the mountains… and die without your protection. Either way, whether he survives or not, he'll still perish in the cataclysm of a new age." Tenebrosia didn't look away, but continued to stare at the lady before her. The drums of fate roared with their rhythm further, and the haunting voices of total regret haunted the Maiden. "... All right, if that's what you want," Tenebrosia spoke, before approaching the Masked Sigora in slow steps. Sekai only watched in both hatred and horror as he was dangling above the sea of clouds. Tenebrosia's mind was empty, and her heart felt nothing.
By impulse, as Tenebroisa held the hand of the Masked Signora, she punched the woman on the cheek with such force, she shrieked and stumbled to the ground. The Maiden charged by a bolt to the Seraphim that held Sekai, making quick work of its life by slicing it into pieces. Sekai and Aiwa were dropped, and the two screamed for help. Tenebrosia grabbed the two of them in quick succession and landed on the temple ground. The angels and the demons screeched, beginning to surround Tenebrosia, Sekai, and Aiwa. The giants began making their way to the three, as well as the titans of heaven and hell. Tenebrosia only gave Sekai a smirk before taking his talisman away.
"Extra lesson: don't trust strangers." Tenebrosia amplified the paper in her hand, before tucking it into Sekai's little hands, who tried to open his mouth in protest, but was too late. A ritual circle began surrounding Sekai and Aiwa quickly, before a flash of light consumed them and sent them back at Windstrew. The Maiden grunted silently and breathed deeply. Such a magic of quick transportation cost her so much mana that it strained her, making Tenebrosia drop to one of her knees. The Masked Signora stood up and grunted; her mask was chipped further to the point that a fraction of her face was seen. As the angels, demons, and titans alike began closing in on a vulnerable Tenebrosia, the Signora used her power to push all of them back. "Hold, you idiots!" She boomed, and the Moirai Summits echoed. All of them stopped.
Tenebrosia sluggishly gathered her composition, breathing heavily as she stood on her heels. The Masked Signora stood there with a look of silent fury. "Still fighting even in the face of death?" Tenebrosia only laughed briefly, "You see… I don't like being threatened. That's my job." The woman stood right in front of her cathedra, before slowly taking off her mask. The reveal caused Tenebrosia to squint her eyes out of frustration and not of surprise: Taralon. "So, it's you." The Maiden spoke as she now stood, sighing as her sluggish movement faded away.
"Indeed, I am." However, something was wrong. Her face was wrinkled and old. It's been almost two decades since Tenebrosia last saw her, so why did the woman in front of her look like she was in her last years of being alive? Her hair was still as black as obsidian, but her face wrinkled and sagged. "You're surpassing even stupidity if you believe exerting mana won't have any consequences," the Maiden spoke. "It's for the greater cause," Taralon dryly laughed as she caressed her face. "The consequences were rapid aging. I need to harvest the youngest souls as I can," those words raised an eyebrow from Tenebrosia. "The children…?" She muttered. Those captured children back at the Marigold Hinterlands, being dragged by the possessed four women. "Where are they?" "Your heart is soft. An unexpected outcome to my grand plan, but no matter." Taralon's gravelly voice implied nothing but the worst. Silence swallowed the peaks, and the horde around them was still frozen in place. "This flask is the answer," Taralon pulled out, but a small vial from her robe; it glowed gold from its yellow liquid within. The woman drank the contents within, and in an instant, her appearance regressed back to its youthful form. "You're nothing but sick," Tenebrosia scoffed. The children were a lost cause to save, except for one: the one she sent back home. "What can I say? Morality is pointless when death will all claim us, whether evil or not."
"I don't care how much nonsense you want to speak out of your filthy mouth, but do tell me, where are the Directors? I need their asses back at Windstrew. If I can't be a god, at least I get money for returning them." The Maiden continued with a smirk on her face and that confidence returning. Taralon grunted and snapped her fingers. The legion of angels and demons gathered and rallied behind her. Six angels lifted the already dead bodies of the Directors. From the Director of the Conjuration Fleet: Lady Y'zura, to the Director of the Sea Guardians: Taitromas. Beside him was the gentle giant, Director of the Environs Contrivance, Jor'dun. The mangling, decaying bodies of the Director of the Vitality of Eminence, Doyenne Coux'telaver, and the Director of the Ether Cognoscentes, Pormanus, hanged from the angels holding them. Then, the last, the Director of the Cardinals, Edward, that old, wisened man, barely alive. The only one that is alive. "People like that Cardinal deserved to be punished; he's a hypocrite. A man claiming virtue, turning a blind eye to a clan that suffered the wrath of the people for countless centuries." Tenebrosia only looked at them with one raised eyebrow. "Help… Tenebrosia… Please, I beg–" before Edward could speak further, a Seraphim came down and sliced his neck, silencing the injured Cardinal.
"I used them to combine all of our powers to awake the Antediluvians: guardians of the natural elements. Except for Edward and I… we awakened Titans. Titans of the divine and hell. All under my control."
—
THE SCROLLS OF REVELATIONS
[Antediluvians]
It is said that in ancient times, five powerful wizards of the natural elements: fire, water, earth, thunder, and life, all sacrificed their lives to combat the rampaging Titans of Elysium and Hades that destroyed the lands of the world of mortals. Five giant guardians: The Red Dragon of Fire, the Kraken of the Seas, the Thunderbird of the Skies, the Golem of the Mountain, and the Serpent of the Forests, all came together to strengthen the mortal world's Veil against heaven and hell, banishing the Titans to whence they came during the end of the First Generation.
Nevertheless, their existence was considered nothing but muttering legends due to how the Veil's strength was at a consistent state of being stable. Recorded by their ancient records, the Antediluvians are said to return once the Veil of the mortal world is destroyed, as it was during their rise. No matter life or death, they are said always to come back.
—
"All of their bodies are mine. We are one. The Antediluvians and the Titans… will fuse into the quasiessential Hydra that will bring an end to this age and create a new genesis! One that WE will rule! Shape the world, rewrite history! All in OUR control!" Taralon raised her hands as the Antediluvians and Titans roared and screeched in terrifying harmony. "You talk too much." Tenebrosia was already in front of Taralon's face, wielding Chateau Scapegrace, and smashed the weapon right into her side, causing her to crash onto a pillar and shriek. However, before the dust could settle, Taralon came screeching at Tenebrosia and rushing with her fists amplified. The Maiden unmanifested her weapon and blocked the incoming fists with her own. "You're truly getting under my skin, you murdering blight." "Good. At least I know even god-like beings get pissed," Tenebrosia snarled back.
Taralon roared and tackled Tenebrosia off the temple, both plummeting down the Moirai Summits. A battle started where two halves get to decide the fate of the world. In a coin flip, who is victorious shall lead the path of destruction or creation. "I would've given you everything!" Taralon wailed as she and Tenebrosia were like falling comets. The former's robes fluttered against the winds, and the latter's boa-feathers that hung on her bangles violently thrashed. In their rapid descent, both crashed on a mountainside with Tenebrosia's back taking the impact. A gargantuan dust appeared, and countless debris scattered below. In a flash, the two were standing at a large rock that descended the Summits. Taralon pushed her arms in two different directions, causing a magical pulse that radiated intense magic never before seen by Tenebrosia, even for the most powerful mages she encountered. "Suffer in this falling cycle! I will claim what is in you!"
Taralon charged forward first, summoning a sword made of darkness; it moved like a macabre fluid. Tenebrosia countered with one of her legs being covered by the Sombre Arts, and a blast of darkness engulfed the small, falling arena. "We could make those who've wronged us pay for their prejudice! For their hubris! Their own falling!" Taralon boomed. "Your heart is your weakness; you're weak! The countless things I've done just for you to transition into a god with ease!" She continued. Tenebrosia continued to be silent as she and Taralon parried each of their fists and magic, letting the latter ramble with her maniacal plans. "Ragena had the power to do all this; she was the one who had the essence of a Seer!" Tenebrosia's eyes intensified, squinting as the two fought in a flurry of matched darkness. "I granted you a gift that you see no value in. A gift that cost the life of an Elder like her!"
A strike parried. A burst of magic exploded from the forces the two exuded.
"I attempted with the house being set ablaze, tried separating every emotion you have from your so-called family, separating you away from Ragena!" The Masked Signora continued rambling. Another parry.
"I know you remembered your murderous sin… how does it feel killing your own mentor? You brat!" Taralon snarled. Another parry.
"The moment you killed her… so deliciously satisfying! The moment her powers floated out of her body… I couldn't siphon everything. My body was too weak… but you! You were perfect enough to absorb the half-power at such a young age! Your prowess... is magnificent!" Taralon was cut off as Tenebrosia clawed at her cheek with magic, causing her to shriek.
"But you… absolute pest! Have the gall to use your own powers against me?! The power I granted you?! From your adolescence until now?! I tried manipulating your mind just so you could be a pawn… but your powers…" Taralon wandered her words before wailing, "You're not using it right!" A blast of dark energies swirled from the parry.
"Have you learned nothing–!?" "Oh, will you just shut up and fight?" Tenebrosia interrupted, sending a direct punch to Taralon's cheek, causing her to shriek.
Taralon snapped from the impact, shrieking before kicking Tenebrosia right at her left torso. This earned a grunt from the Maiden before retaliating with a hurling kick on Taralon's pelvis. "You insolent fool! You're ruining my grand plans!" The Masked Signora wailed before charging at Tenebrosia. "Embrace the darkness! Embrace your path to the cathedra! A path of godhood!" Taralon boomed like a banshee.
With Taralon's powers and shift in the environment, the two continuously and magically fall in the sky, trapped in a loop of falling. Never meeting the ground, but continuing to fall. Gargantuan bursts of magic parried and exchanged with each other.