Raiku: "Huh...?!"
She flinched at Thanato's threat.
Around her, the space became like quicksand.
Raiku gave a smile and declared:
Raiku: "It's useless, you know!"
Thanato: "You think so?"
The space began to suck her in slowly.
Raiku tried to resist, in vain.
Thanato: "This isn't an assault to eliminate you. I'm just transferring you to a place from which you'll have a hard time escaping... at least, for now."
The more she struggled, the more the space engulfed her. Raiku's confidence faded; her calm gave way to anguish.
Raiku: "Let go!"
These were her last words before disappearing into nothingness.
Thanato sighed, almost with relief.
Thanato: "Phew... She could have given me a hard time, that one. We haven't seen demons of that caliber for a long time..."
On the other side, a furious confrontation was in full swing.
Sata, with a piercing gaze, tried to transform Apollo, who was rushing towards her at full speed. Yet, nothing happened.
She then deployed around her a thick mist, a magic dust capable of petrifying anyone who touched it. Apollo entered it... but reversed the spell.
Apollo: "Vice versa."
In an instant, it was Sata who found herself turned to stone. Then, again, a strange distortion manifested. She reappeared.
Apollo: "I must unravel this mystery..."
Sata (mocking laugh): "Hahaha... Very well, I'll reveal a secret to you. My technique is called Spatial Extension. It protects me permanently. As soon as an assault threatens my essence or my mind, the Extension extracts me from the impasse. But that's not all..."
She approached, smiling.
Sata: "Each time this technique saves me, it grants me immunity against the previous ability... and even allows me to turn it to my advantage."
Apollo: "What...?"
The situation was worsening. Apollo still hadn't found a flaw in this formidable ability.
Apollo: "I must understand how it works... and destroy it before it's too late!"
Sata then materialized Apollo's spear.
Sata: "Look at this... This spear that never misses its target... It's mine now!"
She licked the blade with her forked tongue, like a snake.
Apollo: "It's a deception. This spear can't be authentic! It belongs only to me. It's impossible to create a perfect copy."
Sata adopted a hunting stance, spear in hand.
Sata: "Really? Do you want to check?!"
She launched it with lightning speed.
Apollo: "Unwavering."
He parried the spear, triggering a shock wave in the world of nothingness.
Apollo: "It resists... Only the original spear possesses such strength..."
He staggered, stunned.
Sata: "That's just the beginning."
She materialized a second spear.
Sata: "Hurricane of Destruction."
By twirling it, she invoked a terrifying hurricane of mana that struck Apollo, disorienting him. In the tumult, the spear pierced him.
His divine powers extinguished. Reduced to the state of a simple mortal, he suffered the fury of the hurricane that eviscerated him, tearing off limbs and entrails.
Sata ceased her rotation. Apollo's body crashed to the ground, dislocated.
Sata (sarcastically): "Boo... You shouldn't have underestimated me. My Spatial Extension gives me absolute control over stolen objects... as well as all their combinations!"
Apollo lay, bloodied.
Apollo: "Grrrrraah!"
Sata: "It's clear that I've triumphed. You're lucky that your condition prevents you from dying... But never mind. I'm going to seal your existence."
Sata: "Maledictio Reptilium Damnat in Aeternum"
Apollo's body slowly petrified... then froze. But suddenly, the process stopped.
Sata: "What...?"
Her own body petrified, before turning to dust. Then she reappeared.
Sata: "Who dares defy me like this?!"
Space tore open. Thanato appeared.
Thanato: "Tch... I thought she'd be dead already."
Sata frowned.
Sata: "An instant death technique!"
Thanato: "How did you know?"
Sata: "My Spatial Extension allows me to analyze it... But it's a crude method. Look, I'll show you a truly lethal one!"
But no sooner had she uttered this threat than she disintegrated again.
Sata (reappearing): "Hmm... I see. So, all it takes is to express the intention to kill you for your technique to activate and eliminate me immediately..."
Thanato: "This spatial extension ability... Where did you learn it?"
Sata: "I was going to ignore your question. But since, in any case, you won't act, whatever my answer..."
Thanato: "Speak. How did you obtain it?"
Sata: "You are an emanation of the God of gods. Everything that exists, everything we know comes from him: he is the source. This source-ability, unique to the Divine, was forbidden to me. So I copied it. By reproducing it, I was able to appropriate any skill perfectly... and even improve them. Because they all come from the Source, and now... I am that Source, too."
Thanato: "Get to the point!"
Sata: "I designed my own Spatial Extension, based on the fundamental laws of the universe."
Apollo (on the ground): "The laws of the universe?!"
Sata: "Apollo, my dear... Yes. You gods only rely on great forces, great concepts. But even the smallest elements can become absolute threats. Spatial Extension is a spatial ability of the essence, amplified by the laws of deep metaphysics and meta-concepts... principles and authorities capable of subduing even beings from the realm of Jada."
Apollo's and Thanato's eyes widened.
Thanato (internally): Her knowledge is frightening... The entities of the realm of Jada even surpass the primordial gods. But are her words true? Already, how does she know this domain of Transcendence?
He turned to Apollo.
Thanato: "How do you feel?"
Apollo: "Thanato... destroy my Sources, now!"
Thanato: "What?!"
Apollo: "Do it, immediately!"
Thanato: "So be it. Stealth Death: destruction of fundamental Sources."
Sata: "Huh...?!"
Apollo's body consumed in black flames... until it vanished completely.
Sata: "You eliminate your ally so easily?!"
Thanato: "He knows what he's doing."
Sata: "Very well. Let's end this fight. Voracious gravity."
The void contracted. Gravity reached such a paroxysm that the world seemed to collapse on itself. Then, suddenly, everything returned to normal.
Sata: "Impossible..."
Thanato: "It seems I have to fight more seriously."
Sata: "What did you do?!"
Thanato: "That's none of your business. Stealth Death."
Black flames devoured Sata, who disintegrated. Then, she returned.
Thanato (internally): Even after a fundamental destruction, she comes back so quickly?!
Sata: "Here I am again... and I have a surprise. Stealth Death!"
The flames attacked Thanato... then disappeared without reaching him.
Sata: "What an enigma you are... I need to discover what annihilates my attacks."
Thanato: "I am Death. Nothing can approach me without perishing."
Sata: "What are you implying?"
Thanato: "When Death manifests, everything that approaches it... or tries to understand it... dies."
Sata: "Even just now, when I wanted to kill you, I died on the spot..."
Thanato: "Hostile thoughts towards the Death that I am... annihilate their author. That's why you disappeared."
Sata: "So, if I attack, my assaults die... and me with them. I understand better why Gravitational Voracity failed: it died too."
Thanato: "Exactly. But staying away from me won't spare you."
Sata: "I expected that. You're tough... unless...!"
She threw herself at him. Her body petrified and disintegrated again, before reappearing.
Sata: "You were right. But now... I am immune to you."
Thanato: "How?!"
Sata: "I now possess the same powers as you."
Thanato: "My powers...? That's impossible!"
Sata: "Parricidii Principatus!"
Thanato: "Transcendence."
Sata: "What...?!"
Thanato emerged behind her.
Thanato: "I know how to protect myself from my own spells. My magic... has no effect on me."
He struck her. Sata turned into a statue... then returned.
Sata: "So, your powers are ineffective against yourself..."
Thanato: "Exactly."
Sata: "Let's see about that."
She conjured Apollo's spear, infused it with Thanato's black magic.
Sata: "Hahaha... Disappear!"
Thanato: "That spear that never misses its target... no!"
She launched it.
Thanato: "Mist of Extinction!"
A fog of black magic escaped from Thanato's body, like a curse awakened.
The spear, still launched with increasing velocity, was stopped dead in its tracks by an outstretched hand.
Sata: What... what's happening?
Thanato (amazed): Apollo... There you are at last!
Apollo: It's time to finish you off.
A confident smile stretched across Apollo's lips. He radiated an assurance that Sata did not understand.
Sata: Apollo, my love... You've finally returned!
But no sooner had she spoken these words than Apollo surged before her. With a lightning-fast gesture, he struck her so quickly that she could not follow his movements.
Her technique, in reaction, petrified her for a moment before restoring her immediately.
Apollo: Absolute divine perception, awakened combination of Transcendence.
Sata reappeared a few meters away. But already, Apollo stood before her, and he struck her again. She disappeared again.
The phenomenon was becoming disturbing. Each time she was touched, the Space of Expansion activated, causing her to disappear and reappear elsewhere. But this no longer really protected her. The more Apollo gained in power, the more he anticipated the exact place where she would emerge.
What once saved her now became a burden: the Space of Expansion only served to cushion Apollo's fury, without being able to stop him.
Sata (to herself): How does he do that...? Mist of Extinction!
A new swirl of black magic, even denser, escaped from her, temporarily stopping Apollo.
Sata: Awakened Dead!
She threw herself at him. Her body, become so toxic that it corrupted space itself, emitted a lethal aura, annihilating everything approached, even immaterial.
Apollo (astonished): So, she now masters all of Thanato's techniques...
Thanato looked away, embarrassed.
Thanato: I must admit that... I am a little sorry. And beware: the technique she has just activated destroys anyone who dares to touch her. It kills instantly, down to the very depths of our essence...
Apollo: Divine Immunity.
Apollo's body enveloped in a golden aura, radiant, and the two combatants hurled themselves again into an incandescent duel.
Sata was quick, agile, but Apollo yielded nothing. Their assaults blazed the space around them.
In a surge of recoil, Sata conjured, from the void, the Spear of Death and Destruction, impregnated with Apollo's very magic.