*
From where she last stood, Vinia propelled forward for another clash. Yggdrasil recovered her stance and swung her great sword from overhead. Her weapon strikes firmly against the katana, an explosion of friction affects the rest of the world, sending sparks that part the clouds and bisect mountains. Light consumed their vision as even mere moments of colliding now converted into a massive unceasing explosion. The two bathe in a land of white hot energy, their weapons lift into the air again and again.
How? How is this fight continuing on for so long? Yggdrasil should have hit her limit from fighting Ledaine, she should have keeled over and died at any moment now. Ever since Vinia evolved, her senses became more discerning. Her ability to sense magic had become as sensitive as sentivity could be, gaining the capability to feel even a quantum increase in magical energy. Broad as daylight, the magic inhabiting the body is Yggdrasil, and her body has been dead for a while. She can see the soul controlling the body has a single foot in the grave too.
"There is no salvation. I 'died'. 'I' will never come back." (Yggdrasil)
There's no point in sugarcoating it, the body she inhabited was dead. She's controlling a corpse, or rather the corpse is her vessel. She hasn't fused to it like she did with Yggdrasil, but Arin's magic had indeed switched her vessel. Arin isn't coming back. Yggdrasil isn't a living being, she's closer to a specter possessing one anyway. That's why it didn't matter if the body died, she did indeed 'die' like Vinia prophecised. Death just wasn't the end.
The body won't rot. The beauty won't fade. The life flushing her cheeks wouldn't vanish. Yggdrasil is present here and now, and she wouldn't leave. When she abandoned Lastia's body to head into the underworld, she lost her anchor to reality. As an information entity, a being that isn't a legitimate spirit that could persist without a mortal coil, she needs a vessel to continue tying her existence together. The vessel is here, Arin's gift. Arin's hope.
Things were never going to be this easy. Killing Ledaine? That will be the easiest part of this entire journey, and only the starting point to prevent humanity's end. It's been some time since Ledaine's death. Due to the high energy and pressure environment, all humans that returned from the state of time reversal within the vicinity has perished. The few surrounding zones around 2A has become a land of death, with nothing but ash and soot to show for it.
"Possessor, sleep within the earth's embrace. You aren't of this world like I am, even as a Trace. All you hold will slip through your grasp, at least within the earth you will be with those you love." (Vinia)
"Hero. You carve of path of bloodshed for eternity, your return marks the end. Neither will you be able to hold anything, you've vanquished your own love and soul." (Yggdrasil)
"My duty had transcended within my own confines from the start, I exist for the world just as the world will exist for me. Both of us are at each other's whims, neither will we achieve anything beyond that simple framework. Slave to a slave to a slave, an unremarkable compassion.
Impartially, you will be subjugated by these hands, traitor. " (Vinia)
'Traitor'? Vinia said so without a single bit of inflexion. Vinia spoke in the deep voice of a young woman, matching accordingly to her current evolved form. Bright red hair like blazing fire, two pristine horns that pierce the sky with a translucent white pinkish hue. A baggy cardigan that fluttered like a cape. If Yggdrasil was the traitor, then Vinia was the knight sent to bring about the traitor's head. Hero, her title isn't far off. She sensed something far more intricate behind the title, but there isn't time to explore.
A reddish black great sword meets a pitch black katana. Yggdrasil is getting used to Vinia's movements, her own hasn't dulled like she expected when her vessel died. After all, Lastia's body was dead from the start when she piloted it. Now that she has 'died', it's like she has moved on to another stage. She hasn't quite struggled like before, even if she is barely keeping up now.
Side stepping, she thrusted her great sword straight forward. Vinia wordlessly slammed her katana onto the great sword's side. Friction exploded with heat as she rushed forward, the edges of their weapons intimately crush against one another. As the tip of Vinia's feet touch the ground, her figure vanished. She propelled herself so quickly, she appeared behind Yggdrasil. Her blade tore through the air mid swing, Yggdrasil spun her body and met it head on with her own blade.
With her swing parried, Vinia softly back stepped and vanished once more. Yggdrasil steps forward and does the same. With a powerful twist, Yggdrasil throws a horizontal swing. Vinia hops to avoid the trajectory of her sword, landing with an overhead swing aimed at Yggdrasil's head, only to be blocked by the same great sword. Her blade was pointed down, swung inward to intercept the katana.
They pivoted and began running to the right, their weapons charging at the other without a moment of rest. How many exchanges has it been? They were adapting to each other so well that their attacks began to inch within a hair's breadth of each other. Yggdrasil could feel the heat on her skin as the flat of the katana brushed past her temple, just as she took a massive swing that would take a arm and a head off of Vinia.
Vinia dives into the adjacent pocket of air, completely dodging the slash. With a spin, her leg strike at her target like thunder. Yggdrasil blocked it with her great sword pointing backwards, with that same motion she rotated and threw a slash. The clouds would part if there were any left, but their previous clashes had vaporised all matter in the surrounding vicinity. Roughly the size of a large country. With another twirl to Yggdrasil's left, she effortlessly slipped under the edge of the great sword once more. Over and over, their blades past one another, like a repetitive and deadly dance that tempts self destruction.
She knew better than to tempt fate. The world had deemed her an enemy, whether this was related to Ledaine she couldn't tell. Though it was certainly related to Keliuvinia.