Judgement vs Time

Yui stood up and looked at Gloria. Miyachi stood up and walked towards Suzumi. Suzumi held her up and Emma crossed her arms and watched Gloria and Yui. Yui has something she wants to prove. As a Demon Princess and a Hero. She held the pendant and closed her eyes. Gloria took off her cloak and tossed it aside then her clock eye shined.

"Win or lose...I want to show people that I have what it takes! Bring balance to my friends and family!" Yui said and got ready for battle.

"Even if your focus isn't on winning...I want you to still give it your all!" Gloria said and summoned her sword.

Yui nodded and transformed into her Yin-Yang Mode then looked at Gloria. Arcane appeared on a cliff and watched the battle. She crossed her arms and took of her mask. Yui summoned her Grimoire and shot magic attacks at Gloria. Gloria slowed down the time then dodged the magic attacks and dashed towards Yui, reverting time back to normal.

"What is the counter to time?" Suzumi asked.

"Time doesn't have a counter. She can only bypass Time by countering the concept of it. She's still a beginner Zodiac User, so her Counter-Force hasn't reached that level yet." Emma said. "So the only way she can quote on quote counter time is if she's faster than time itself. But Gloria can just speed up her personal time to make herself faster. No matter what you do, you can't counter a Time Mage unless you absolutely are prepared for anything time related."

Gloria slashed and Yui dodged it. She rolled back and held her black arm out and shot a dark beam at her, but Gloria creates a time barrier that deflected the beam back at Yui. Yui surrounded herself in a magic barrier and the beam clashed with the barrier and caused an explosion.

"Gloria is at a level higher than Yui. In terms of skill, Yui can't win. Not even if she finds the will to be more powerful, she can't win." Emma said. "At the same time, this battle will help Yui level up her abilities."

"Not even ass-pull abilities will help Yui. Even if she unlocks another Passive Skill, she won't be close to Gloria's level." Miyachi nodded. "None of the Demon Princesses will."

Yui looked down and noticed a golden circle around her feet then she dodged last second and was struck by an invisible force and was sent rolling on her side and grunted.

"Her wavelength with her Zodiac isn't balanced. For her to reach Level 1 of her Zodiac Power she needs to listen to Cosima." Arcane said and watched. "The scale is imbalanced.."

Yui stood up and coughed a bit then noticed Gloria in front of her and she was kicked aside and Yui slid on her back then recovered.

"Listen to me Yui, we are not on equal footing. It is not your fault, this is a common occurrence. For us to work together we need to be one. Allow us to be equal in wavelength and soon we can balance the scales." Cosima said.

"Balance the scales?" Yui said then dodged Gloria and created a barrier and blocked the next attack then the barrier spiralled and she released a powerful force of energy.

Gloria dodged the attack and jumped back. She fixed her hair and looked at Yui. Yui looked at Gloria then nodded listening to Cosima.

"Now focus your energy to be on the same wavelength as me." Cosima said.

Yui closed her eyes and focused her energy. It was still a bit imbalanced, but soon their wavelengths connected and Yui's aura surged and she felt her power heighten.

"Once we are linked, nothing can break that link. The only thing we can do from this point is strengthen that link and bond." Cosima said.

Yui's hair slowly turned white and black and her Grimoire shined then a Libra Symbol appeared on it. She's reached Level 1 with Cosima. Her magic abilities heightened and she opened her free hand then a staff appeared in it. The Staff of Libra: Yin-Yang Staff.

"You may not possess a Demon Code, but you possess the Mark of a Zodiac. Even Demons can be True Heroes. Right now you may not be able to defeat anyone stronger than Katsuguchi..but one day you'll be like the Ancient Hero, Steven." Cosima smiled. "Now show Gloria what we can do!"

"Right!" Yui opened her eyes and smiled.

Gloria smirked and got ready then dashed towards Yui and slashed downward. Yui tapped the bottom of the staff on the ground and she warped behind Gloria then her Grimoire began flipping pages quickly and a magic circle appeared in front of her.

"Cosima in the Ancient Days was one of the greatest mages known to man. Her magical prowess was incomparable. Now that Yui has shown great potential to be one of the best mages known to date, her and Cosima makes a deadly combo." Arcane said then smiled.

"Have this! Tempest Blast!" The magic circle summoned a tornado and rushed at Gloria.

"Not bad, but it's not enough!" Gloria said and a clock appeared on the tornado and the tornado shattered.

Yui began spinning in a circle and the air currents around her began to grow more powerful until a tornado was formed around Yui and she began spinning towards Gloria.

"Accelerated Spinning Technique huh? Still not enough to best me in combat!" Gloria said and a clock appeared on the tornado then it shattered. She looked for Yui, but didn't see her.

She quickly sensed Yui and was punched in the face by Yui. The impact created a Sonic boom and sent Gloria away. The impact also created winds so powerful that it managed to create a trench in the ground. Yui panted and summoned her staff again.

"Because of her wind abilities, she can nullify her own sound. The only way you can detect her is through Aura Detection which Gloria did...except she detected her a bit too late and Yui landed a decisive blow." Emma said to herself.

Yui was punched by an invisible force and grunted and turned normal. Gloria appeared and stepped back and Yui fell to the ground and had all the air knocked out of her.

"A last second Time Facture. Gloria is as intelligent as Irea says she is. Creating a Temporal Clone and hiding inside a Time Fracture." Emma said.

"If I was to be hit by that Tempest Fist, I could've suffocated by the high wind pressure that attack caused." Gloria said. "Not bad at all Yui. I acknowledge you."

"Yeah..thank you.." Yui smiled and slowly stood up.

Arcane put her mask back on and walked away from the cliff and was pleased with the results. Yui healed herself with a Healing Wind.

Meanwhile with me and the other five Demon Princesses, we released Adriesta from captivity and she thanked us. I sat down and sighed then looked at the ground. Adriesta looked at me and the others.

"You're all Demons and fighting against the Demons?" Adriesta asked.

"We see a bigger truth...That Demon we saw is the true villain of this cursed universe. We can't stop him because he somehow altered the reality of this entire Universe. He's as dangerous as the Unknown Order.." I said.

"As we see it now, there's no stopping him." Himiya said.

"I might be of assistance. You did help me, so I shall help you in return." Adriesta nodded.

"Dammit! This whole situation is a load of bullshit!" Katsuguchi yelled. "I don't know who to believe...my own home, starting war with Humans just for the hell of it?! Why? Just why?!"

"Your anger is justified...we were all lied to. Forced to kill innocent humans for revenge." Himiya said and looked at her hands. "I can still hear their voices."

"Sitting here and malding won't do anything! Trickster has to pay!" Hinari stood up.

"Yeah but how can we defeat someone who's within his own dimension? He's completely separate from our reality." I said.

"We just break into his." Hinari said. "He is obviously using some high level time and spatial abilities. If he can alter the entire reality of this universe, he's at Nigh-Omnipotent level meaning we need to get to that level."

"Easier said than done. Demon Codes don't even raise your power by much even at Max Limit. If you're just able to destroy a city without Demon Codes, with a Max Limit Demon Code the most you'll do is be able to destroy a Continent...nothing more." Katsuguchi said. "You'll never reach Nigh-Omnipotence with a Demon Code."

"Katsuguchi..." Hinari looked at her.

Katsuguchi never sounded so defeated before. She was extremely loyal to the Underworld, but now knowing the truth she doesn't know if she can trust the Underworld anymore. I sighed and looked at the roof and thought for a bit. The only thing to do was to just continue the path to the Cave of Leo. There wasn't anything else we could do.