Warm-Up

I turned away from Providia to look back at Mom and Dad.

"Ali, you look great, for being so old. And Lucas, you're still as handsome as ever. I wonder, have you mastered your skills yet, or do I have to humiliate you in front of everybody here? Do you guys want a fair match? I'll let you regain your stamina if you like... but if you take longer than five minutes, then I'll kill everybody in that dome over there." Providence said, pointing at us and pulling visible strands that were tied to her fingertips.

"Mom!" Boo shouted out from outside of the dome. Providence turned her head in irritation toward Boo.

"What?" Providence asked her, turning her entire body with an annoyed look.

"You... everything Providia said. This is just a loop?" Boo asked her.

"Of course it is. It's all a loop depending on your friend there... but I'm surprised, considering so many of you are still alive. You should've died to my Horsemen... but that's no problem. Even if you now are all White Stones, you're still no match for me." Providence said.

"Mom... I hate you. I'll kill you!" Boo yelled out.

"Good, I'm happy to fulfill all of your desires," Providence said. With a snap of her fingers, the dome released around everybody but Illya, Faith, Providia, and me. "Please, I'd like a warmup with everybody who can move, aside from Team Asterio," Providence said.

"Belle... Alexia... let's do this!" Shike yelled out.

Providence moved her body around to stretch as Shike and the others assembled. I tried to get up, but Providia's iron grip slammed me back to the ground and shook her head.

"You cannot die to her. Not without my test first." She told me.

"I don't give a shit about your test... those are my friends!" I yelled out, but Providia didn't care.

"Maybe this will give you the strength to fight me... Providence! Kill them." Providia said. I covered her mouth with my hand and slammed her into the dome with killing intent deep in my eyes.

"Sorry, Providia. I can't kill them yet. I'd like to try something different this time around." Providence said out loud.

"Like hell I'll let those kids get near you! Stay the hell away from them!" Mom shouted out to Providence, but she didn't care.

"You fight me now and you die, or you regain your stamina and die. It's really your choice, but I would prefer not to kill you just yet." Providence told my Mom.

"We need to wait until your stamina is back... we have to leave it to them. Providence won't kill them anyway." Dad told Mom. She nodded slightly and sat back down, with Providence reassuring me that she wouldn't kill my friends... but I didn't trust her.

Shike ran in with his ability prepped, and when he got close to Providence, she summoned a saber and slammed it into his hands. Shike couldn't take the force and was sent twenty feet in the air from a simple swing, landing on the ground with a ton of momentum.

Belle used her ability and Providence jumped up from the ground, smashing all of her ice as soon as it originated.

As soon as she was in the air, Boo activated her ability and charged in from above with her katana, but as she was coming down, Providence hit the side of the katana, snapped it, and then kicked Boo in the chest. Boo, with an obvious deformity in her ribs, was shot back at an indescribable speed while spitting up blood.

Mitra and Myth followed up next, but their abilities weren't enough for Providence.

Before they could even initiate them, Providence closed the distance in a blink of an eye, and punched both of them in the chests just as she did with Boo, then launched them back to the same position. As I followed their bodies, I realized that Boo was missing.

Providence blocked another attack from Boo's broken katana from behind and threw her instead of hitting her this time around. I noticed that Providence wasn't even breaking a sweat... and she was taking that many people all at once?!

"SHIKE!" Alexia shouted out. Shike turned his head and started to run in toward Providence without any weaponry... what was the plan here?

From behind Shike, Alexia put her dagger up, pointing to the sky, and held it there. Her frown was tracing Providence's movements and as Belle held herself up on Alexia's shoulder, I began to understand where this was going.

Alexia enlarged the blade just as Shike got close to Providence and slammed it down onto him. Alexia shocked Providence with her strategy, as it appeared that she struck her own teammate, but by shrinking the sword and revealing the true strategy... Providence smiled?!

Shike threw a chunk of dirt right at Providence's face and Belle summoned spikes of ice within the block, as well as summoning them right under Providence.

Providence simply flipped her body, smashed the chunk of dirt, and then cracked the floor with a single saber swing that vanished before she even hit the ground.

And as Shike ran in to redirect his kinetic energy, Providence... absorbed it?!

It was a hit that visibly shook her and everything around us while Shike connected the hit... but she wasn't damaged at all?

Providence grabbed the entirety of Shike's face and threw him backward, sending a shockwave of wind out from the point of release. Shike hit Belle and Alexia and the three of them tumbled to the floor.

"Huh?" Providence said, caressing blood from her cheek. She... she was hit?!

Panting heavily and throwing up blood in large quantities, Eo, who we all thought to be dead from a collapsed building, showed up while holding her left arm.

"Did you take that personally? I didn't expect you to hurt me after our alliance, Eo." Providence said.

"Eo... what is she talking about?!" Shike shouted out.

"This goes past this world... into the other," Eo stated while coughing even more.

"I didn't think Illya's secretary would be so inclined to attack me. What do you plan to do now? I just fought seven people at once, while one of them is crying in that dome, and the other two are too afraid to attack me right now. It's pretty obvious I've won here... so why attack me?" Providence asked Eo... who was Illya's secretary?

"Why attack you...? While I spent time in here... I learned a lot. I gained compassion for my friends, and to see you attempt to injure them to the degree that you are... well... I'm pissed, and I'm breaking our alliance. You can remain friends with Illya, but you are not friends with me." Eo stated.

What the hell is going on here?!