Persistence
As the fight dragged on, Fate grew dissatisfied.
He had been through rigorous training every day for the majority of his life. While he was sure these two were trained, he doubted it was to the cruel extents he was pushed to, and even those he pushed himself to.
Did these women run marathons daily, forced to swallow their own bile and keep running even when their feet split from blisters and their lungs burned like lava?
Were they thrown into fight after fight, back-to-back without regard for rest or food?
Were they given the absurd tasks of fighting hulking, lab-made creations or entire squads of armed and trained guards with nothing more than their own body and their wits?
Did they ever have to fight Autumn, a human tank that could drag fights on for hours at a time and end it all with one single punch, hundreds of times a week?
Fate knew nothing about their culture, or who these women were as people. He didn't know what they did to grow stronger, but if it was anywhere near what he went through, they wouldn't be struggling so much to kill him.
All he knew was that they wanted him dead. Spite was perhaps one of the most powerful motivators in humanity, and nothing made Fate spiteful more than death.
Fate took lives. He was an assassin, a professional. How could he be so sloppy as to die by another's hands? Death was an inevitable fact of life, but he'd be damned if he died because someone was better at his job than he was.
His Divine Energy surged, his progress through the Avatar Level creeping up from 67% (that revelation he had with Pride bumped it up from the previous 63%) to 75%.
He gained no new aspects for his Manifest Power, but he couldn't help but sigh contentedly as his power kicked in and his destroyed right hand healed at a blistering pace.
The wounds all over his body likewise healed, his skin and his lost blood replenished and his tired limbs being suffused with a fresh new wave of energy.
The woman in metal had a flash of caution flicker in her brown eyes as she witnessed this, adjusting the angle of her sword and swinging at his arm. At the same time, the one in leather to his back swung her sword at his neck.
Both passed right through him.
Fate grinned as he spun around, club going through the leather-armored woman's attempted block with her sword to connect with her exposed face. She staggered back as her sword swiped through him again.
A kick behind him sent the other woman backpedaling as well, her downward swing interrupted and her greatsword dropping to the ground.
He looked between the two with indecision, trying to decide who to deal with first, before he stepped toward the woman in leather.
She stopped her backward momentum with a firm step, eyes hardening as she swung forward.
Before, Fate's unnamed Concept worked slowly on Personification Divine Energy, due to the Level difference.
Before, that difference was enough to make their energy more difficult for him to clear, but with this new strength, anyone below a certain threshold within the Personification Level would be unable to touch him.
This threshold was something he was a bit iffy on, but judging by the speed with which he now devoured their energy – as fast as he tore apart an Avatar's energy – he estimated that anyone at or below half of his Avatar progress in the Personification Level would be helpless before him.
That was any Personification at or below 38%, which was a little under half of Fate's comprehension in the Avatar Level. He was sure that as he moved forward, this number would grow as well.
Reading their auras, Fate found that the Metal woman was about 30% through the Personification Level and the Lightning Embodiment was at 27%. Fate knew these numbers weren't exact, but they were close.
Furthermore, any Imprint with a Grade at or below his Level was rendered just as ineffective against his Manifest Power. Since he was an Avatar, Imprints with a Grade of Sprout or Seed were worthless.
What did this mean?
When he jumped up in comprehension, he could distinctly feel that the Seed Grade Imprints and Divine Energy of these two women would no longer harm his ethereal form.
Not only did they lose access to their Manifest Powers, but their weapons were also now useless. Their shields and swords were the only things that had allowed them to stave off his relentless assault, but now?
They were sitting ducks.
The Lightning woman's sword sliced through his head without making contact, wind whistling as she launched into a savage series of attacks that took advantage of the one thing she had left: her Personification body buff.
Even without her Manifest Power, she was a few steps faster than the typical Personification. With the increased strength and speed she already had at the Level she was in on top of that, she stabbed and slashed so fast that she left afterimages in the air.
But even with this newfound courage, her sword and shield were still as damaging to Fate as a slight breeze. He increased his pace, the woman stepping back again and again as she refused to let up.
With his aura, he noticed the Metal woman attempting to stand, and his expression turned lost all joviality as he made his move.
Lunging forward, he tackled the Lightning woman to the ground, using his Divine Reach to slow her escape. Due to his aura, her own Divine Reach was naught but a piece of paper against the storm that was his Grasp.
The two fell to the ground, Fate getting to his knees and raising his club into the air.
The woman threw her shield in front of her face to block the strike, simultaneously stabbing at Fate's throat with her sword, but he just smirked and brought the bone club down.
Ghost's Edge.
The club went through the shield and shattered the woman's nose just as the sword hit the air his throat occupied. He brought the club up again as the force of the blow caused her to drop her sword.
He clubbed her again and again, crack after crack ringing out as her face grew more and more deformed. Throughout it all, that shield never dropped, the Embodiment clinging to it like a lifeline, unaware of the futility of the exercise.
Until the final blow landed.