"Not so fast!" Izel swung multiple lines of wind down at the approaching Believer. As she swung her third, her arms froze in the air out of awe and disgust. The creep was at it again.
The large scar on her back crawled all the way to her head and then slid down her neck, splitting her head in two. As Astrid's body continued to ascend from the momentum of her jump, the bottomless mouth divided her upper torso in half, sucking in the wind blades with ease. The teeth on her head closed from her chest upwards like a zip, before the scar creeped like a millipede back to her spine.
"What in Y'brjl's fantasies...?" Izel exclaimed.
Kneeling Light held her sword in a cross shape in front of her, her back exploding and letting out black goo before igniting into white flame wings and carrying her further up.
Izel was nearly caught off guard, managing to block Astrid's X-directional slash with her serpent scale blade. Astrid's elbows twisted in a 180-degree motion as her ivory blades swung down, somehow managing to allow her to carry her swords for an upward attack, removing any lag that should be in between the two separate attacks and mending them into one.
A clang sounded as the opposing blades met. Izel chuckled nervously , "Four sword strikes in a single ringing clash? Are you sure you're not using my Virtue, Astrid?"
Izel leapt backwards, somehow maintaining her position in the sky.
Astrid rose her swords up and stared at them confused. "What?"
Usually, at the strike of her sword, the enemy would be sent flying like a bullet, regardless of how good their defense was. This was her first Virtue— stealing the mass of opponents and converting it into essence multiplied velocity to essentially launch her target. The Vice of this Virtue is that Astrid has to strike her opponent at minimum half the velocity she chooses to launch them, otherwise the intended enemy velocity becomes her own mass for an amount of time that is relative to the velocity she had intended to inflict and the essence utilized.
Izel of course had not caused her Vice to take effect in place of her Virtue. Endless Fault was persisting as a result of her own abilities.
Izel taunted. "What, still getting used to that new body of yours?"
Astrid squinted in focus, her flame-feather wings flapping to keep her in place.
"Talisman?" Izel stuck a hot plastic talisman on her sword's tip and stretched it over to Astrid. Kneeling Light knowing they were a new set of clothes just knocked it away.
"They're in the way." Astrid answered, just for Izel to try again . This time however, Astrid hit the sword before it even got to her when suddenly, a heavy gust of wind smashed into her face.
Astrid was caught off guard by the surprise attack, and before she could even find balance, Izel swung her sword vertically in her direction, a bolt of lightning suddenly rushing through one side of her body and out the other. While Astrid's back opened up to suck in the persisting electricity, Izel swung again, this time covering herself with her lightning slash and suddenly shooting forward like the phenomenon itself. With a downward swing, an arc of wind tore into Astrid's neck and sent her spinning into the ground, before another lightning slash right from the sky struck down into her body again.
Before Astrid could even hit the trees, Izel appeared in front of her like a sentient bolt of lightning, only this time, having her attack blocked and her body launched back into the air almost as fast. She still fell into the sparse canopy, breaking apart the trees she fell on.
'Why can she fly? And that lightning movement... did her Virtue evolve since last time.'
'She's a Believer now, so of course she has more tricks.' Vada explained.
"Oh?"
Vada sighed. "Don't tell me you hadn't already noticed?"
'How could I take these tricksters seriously?' Astrid stood up, her back exploding with white flames once again, the fire shifting perfectly to form wings to manipulate the atmosphere around her.
"Fight me on even grounds, Endless Fault!" Astrid let out a battle cry as she flew after Izel.
Endless Fault's eye twitched. "Even grounds? The nerve! Where was all of that valiant attitude when you were facing a damn Seer?!" She cut the air below her with windy night, the slash turning into a sphere and wrapping her form, this time making her vanish.
"What?!" Vada exclaimed.
Astrid strained her senses, but she could not feel anything. 'Her heartbeat, her smell, her essence... everything is —' Astrid instantly raised her sword to the side, blocking Izel's sword strike.
Izel suddenly came out of hiding, her sword moving back and forth with Astrid's as they reveled in the joys of battle and the frustration of fighting another equal in skill.
"Stop trying too hard, you psychotic edge!" Izel pushed, forcing Astrid to quickly move her second sword to hold Izel's blade back.
Astrid's hair rose up, curling into shapes of knives before shooting at Izel. "I do what I must. His existence would have given rise to a nuisance calamity!"
Izel immediately retreated, however Astrid closed the gap quickly, striking Izel's sword away and using the spare sword to slice into her neck. At least... that was the plan.
Izel's bright yellow eyes flashed with conviction, a clear contrast to that of Astrid's dark uncertain circles. "Like I said before, quit talking all that crap like I literally can't see that you're lying!"
The serpent and the obsidian sword soon split, Quetzcoat immediately forcing Astrid back before flapping its wings and flying into the sky.
Now with a lighter katana, Izel pointed the edge at Astrid who dashed right at her. Astrid struck with one blade which was parried by a sudden lightning fast swing. Her joints shifted and the sword turned to hit Izel again, while her other hand struck from the opposite direction.
Both attacks instantly got parried, Izel's sword backed by frightening levels of precision, making her parries painful to endure and nearly forcing Astrid's swords to slip from her hand.
Of course, the pain was not even a minor inconvenience for Kneeling Light, the sudden attacks from Izel that seemed to displace her swords however, were quite the annoyance.
Astrid increased the speed of her strikes, the sounds of their swords clashing spreading through the forest.
'Why?! Why is my Virtue not working?! I can feel the impact of her sword, the vibration rattling my bones... so why?' Her swords ignited in a violent burst of flames, the explosion sending Endless Fault into a tree and her body rolling across the ground from the collision.
"Flight, inhuman speed, multiplying attacks and that strange resistance to my Virtue; all from a single ability. Just how many times did you manage to hone your Virtue? Come to think of it, both you and Chevreuse must be hiding a secret, considering you're the only Prophets wielding powers of those at least two hierarchies higher than yours. Do you realize the implications of this, when people already know your Totem controls the concept of advancement itself?" Astrid lectured as she walked over to Izel who was just slowly getting up from the fall.
"Implications? You mean you give a damn about what I do to myself with my own powers?" Izel scoffed, taunting, "So you're both nosy and a murderer."
A frown appeared on Astrid's face, the prophet lunging at her foe as she argued, " He was not innocent!"
Astrid nearly halted her blade as she realized Izel was not planning on parrying, however, before she could withdraw, Endless Fault suddenly reached for the blade herself, grabbing onto it barehanded. Astrid attempted to once again pull back, however, with Izel suddenly dragging the Believer's body into hers, Astrid was caught surprised, confused and overpowered. But she finally realised how Izel was able to resist her Virtue.
Astrid raised her head to find Quetzcoat in the sky, rearranging its runic halo in preparations for a clearly powerful attack. And judging by the essence it was summoning, it was clear that even Izel would be caught in the blast.
Before she could ask the Believer what she thought she was doing, Izel said first, "On even grounds..."
Astrid cackled as she mocked, " Is this your big plan? I'm not stupid!" As she said that, she suddenly felt their bodies touch as Izel removed the thin barrier surrounding her.
"Now we're in an equal predicament." Izel responded.
"You'll die." Astrid reminded. "I'd thought you had evolved your own body, but it's as fragile as ever."
"Are you not the one insisting on a battle between equals? Where's all that sense of honor gone? Don't tell me you're scared of a little lightning?"
Kneeling Light taunted back, "To assume that our bodies are both equal is a consequence of your arrogance—"
"Then let's test it! Whoever is still standing after this, does what the other one says!" Izel looked up. "Let it rip, buddy!"
Astrid let down her wings of fire on the arm wrapped around her to push her away, but Izel did not budge.
Astrid was unwilling to participate in this petty game.
Quetzcoat opened its mouth, unleashing an immense amount of concentrated lightning. It fell like a collosal pillar of blue light, threatening to disintegrate anything it touched in an instant.
Astrid's scar moved up across her mouth allowing her jaw to open far beyond what should be humanly possible. Her mouth was now like a demon's gate to an abyss of black swirling domain. The blast was far bigger than her body, yet she was able to consume it in its entirety, nullifying the attack.
Izel, with her face covered in sweat stepped back a few times as she let out hoarse pants. She could no longer hold onto Astrid... she could no longer hold onto anything. Her entire upper arm had been burnt to stumps by Astrid's flames.
"You idiot." Astrid glared at her with contempt as Izel's knees began to buckle. But the Starlight held herself up and still did not fall.
"I've only used one Virtue so far, you know?" She cackled, the grueling pain persisting even in her attempts to not show it.
"All for what?" Astrid questioned.
"To prove a point, sparkly! A couple of months in a higher hierarchy than me had somehow turned you into a spineless coward?! What? Couldn't handle all the other veteran Believers? Is that why you choose to pick on those weaker than you?!"
Astrid slammed her forehead down against Izel's, the latter almost crumbling like a house of cards, somehow maintained by sheer will and stubborness.
"What do you know? I'm not a coward?! I killed him because I had to!"
Izel attempted to retaliate by running into Astrid and pushing her away. But Kneeling Light barely even budged.
"Shit!" She exclaimed in pain. Despite how soft her body looked, Astrid was as firm as a brick wall. "If you disregard your own ideals for the greater good, the world will move on and leave you behind!"
She ran into Astrid again. "You'll become rotten flesh, sacrificing yourself for a future you'll never be a part of! We're supposed to be residents of heaven, you know?! Why not enjoy our stay?!"
Izel slammed her head again. "C'mon, let's play heroes for as long as it's fun!"
"That's... what I'm doing!" Astrid pushed Izel away, sounding almost uncertain of her own words.
"For the third time, quit with the obvious lies! You look like you'd shatter the mirror at your own reflection! That's not what you want now, is it?!"
Astrid shook her head. She had made a mistake, which she could no longer come back from. "His body is gone... Izel. Even if I revoke my Edict, and he somehow comes back, there's no body to return to—"
Quetzcoat suddenly swiped its tail underneath Astrid's leg, forcing her to fall on her back while its master walked over to pin Kneeling Light to the ground with her feet.
Izel glared at the Believer from above, asking for the last time,
"Astrid, revoke your Edict!"