First Clash

At the sound of clashing swords, Mifa and Vitia struck each other.

Vitia jumped when attacked by Mifa's long claws that stretched out like sharp metal threads, cutting through the wood of the roof where Vitia was standing.

The woman spun in the air, using centrifugal force to throw two ten-centimeter needles at her opponent, but Mifa dodged them all and whipped the woman with her claws.

As soon as she saw Vitia fall to the ground, Mifa threw herself forward in a sprint. In the middle of the way, knives appeared in the tips of her boots and with them, Mifa kicked Vitia's ribs who spat blood at the same moment.

Mifa shortened her claws again and with what looked like black daggers, Mifa tried to strike Vitia's abdomen, which turned her body, saving herself from the blow that would kill her.

When Mifa went to chase the woman, Athena, with a wound on her forehead, fell on Vitia.

"Athena?" Mifa said with a worried look on her face.

"Huh? Ah... Hey! You are so cute..." Athena smiled and then kicked Mifa.

***

Veta stared at Athena with a intrigued expression, waiting for an answer to his question.

"Who am I? I am the queen of Basilica." Athena said and waved her hand. "Today's attack is just a hello."

Veta looked at the queen in confusion. The empire was supposed to attack Basilica in two months and even though the spies never returned, it should not have been possible for Basilica's forces to grow so much in just six months.

(Unless…) Veta cleared his expression and smiled. "You're bluffing. The flags seen aren't from Basilica and I hear the new queen is a beauty with strange powers. You might be pretty and strong, but your powers aren't that unusual."

Athena thought of her own face and even with the lousy mirrors of this world, she could see that she was a beauty.

"I'm beautiful and about my powers... If you haven't noticed, they are quite different from yours."

"How could I? You used Fortification, a Warrior skill."

"And?" Athena made a mocking expression and steadied her posture. "Well, no more chatting. Let's get this over now."

Veta clicked his tongue and gritted his teeth. The tension in the air grew heavier and they both moved at the same time.

Athena attacked with dexterity and strength in her unique swordplay which she had just acquired with the help of the Akashic Records by switching her class back to an ordinary knight.

Her sword went left and then changed direction and went up and then down without losing strength or speed.

Veta was having trouble dealing with this randomness and every time Athena moved her arm, a spark occurred when her sword hit his armor in a strong, painful impact.

However, Veta was not on the defensive. Both were predators and as a predator, his defense was an even harder attack.

Veta swung his sword in an arc in front of him and Athena dodged by arching back and coming back up with dozens of blows that were either reflected by the man's armor or deflected by his sword and shield.

(This is getting repetitive...) Athena thought and changed her swordplay entirely to an improvisation.

With more open and faster sword strokes, Athena started to use magic in the middle of combat.

Veta was stunned by what he saw, but still evaded it.

He dodged a cut and received a {Fireball} which he minimized damage with his shield.

With every swing of the sword Athena made, a different magic hit him. This was starting to annoy the man and so Veta used his skills.

"[Threaten]" Veta yelled and his eyes glowed red and a sinister aura emanated from his body.

This skill was supposed to frighten and paralyze someone who was weaker than him and it didn't work with Athena.

"Really? Threaten?" Athena said and then a weird black aura appeared in her hand. "{Terror}" Athena said as she blew the magic on Veta as if blowing a kiss in the air.

Veta widened her eyes in surprise and shout. "[Lion Heart]" And a layer of yellow aura glowed on his body, resisting Athena's magic.

"My powers are still common?" Athena asked and Veta's eyes cooled.

"Right. This will serve as a warm-up. Today your head will be mine." Veta said and advanced towards Athena with brutal attacks.

Veta swung his sword as if it were the lightest thing in the world, but Athena took all the weight off as she deflected and blocked the blows.

Athena tensed her leg muscles and leapt into a spin and unleashed a number of attacks on the man who hit Athena in the head with the greatsword like it was a bat and hurled her to the other roof, over Vitia.

The man flew in a jump to where Athena was and using his weight, he thrust the sword towards Athena, who saw the man falling towards her, kicked Mifa away and somersaulted backwards, evading the man's attack.

Vitia, who was under Athena, was impaled from behind by Veta's sword, which pierced her and buried itself in the roof.

Vitia grunted in pain, but Veta didn't stop. And following Athena, the man cut through the roof and Vitia, who let out her last breath as she was ripped in half.

The roof shuddered as it cracked and gave way, taking Vitia's body with it and causing Veta to lose his ground and disappear into the building.

Athena looked at Mifa with an apologetic look and before Veta recovered from his fall, Athena jumped towards Mifa, grabbing the girl and running away.

***

Far from Tarna, in a castle surrounded by a dense reddish-black mist, a man with long black horns, gray skin, reddish-yellow eyes and long silver hair, rose from his throne.

The man walked with the sound of the tinkling of gold in his body echoing through the place and demonic creatures curved through the hall, on either side of a torn red carpet.

"I don't know why, but there are too many saints these days..." The man said in a soft voice as he picked up one of the terrified human children in the corner of the place and in a disgusting noise of flesh being ripped and bones being crushed, the man bit the boy by the head. "Send a messenger to the others. Tell them that Mammon will take the life of one of the saints."

The man devoured the rest of the boy's body, dropped his dirty little feet to the ground and flew into the sky through a large hole in the castle roof.

***

In the imperial palace Veta and what was left of his Order heard the emperor scream in fury.

"You useless!" Sued threw a pitcher at Veta's head and the man felt the heat of the blood drain from the top of his head. "But it won't stay that way. It really won't! I do not want to give them time to rest! Attack them now and crush them! And this time I will go too. If I want something done right I should do it myself." Sued took off his tunic, revealing his golden armor with the face of a lion on the breastplate.

"Majesty, I disagree with that. I met Athena a few months ago and she was already strong, but it looked like she was still in the process of growing. She must be as strong as Veta or more." Said the second force.

"Do you know that woman?" Veta asked with a puzzled expression.

"Yes, we are friends." The knight responded with a bright smile.

The emperor looked at the fire-haired knight in disgust. "Are you friend of the enemy?"

The knight shook his head and shrugged. "How was I supposed to know she was an enemy? She's a pretty interesting person, so yeah. I'm friends with her." The knight looked at the emperor with a look that not even Veta does.

The emperor felt a shiver run over his skin and a chill in his belly. That was fear. The second was a fearsome creature and even though he was the second was, he was as strong as Veta.

"Samy, don't look at the emperor that way." Eloan, the third force, rebuked his ally.

"Hahaha... Sorry, Your Majesty." Samy said as he scratched the hair behind his head. "It's my time, I have to go. My shop needs strengthening so I don't suffer from looters." Samy said with a shy smile and then looked back at the door. "Let me know when you're going to launch the attack. I want to see Athena."

"Fearful creature." The emperor snorted after making sure Samy was no longer there.

"He might be terrifying, but he's a force to be reckoned with. Especially when he's as strong as I am and the only one of us who doesn't use weapons." Veta said in an attempt to put discernment in the emperor.

Verio looked at the Veta and nodded. "Hm... I think what Sir Veta means, is for His Highness to not antagonize Sir Samy just because he is of a race so close to the goddess Naph." Verio hid half his face with the sleeve of his tunic. "This could end up becoming a problem."