Transcendence?

***Sphere of Sous***

***Celestial***

We are all back together in Lidith's lounge. The tournament is progressing and the fights become fiercer with each round.

“How long does he intend to sulk? Hey, Ascathon? Stop staring like a dead person. It was just one soul.” Lidith waves her hand in front of Ascathon's face. No reaction.

“I had a god's soul.” He whispers.

“Leave him be. He'll recover.” I avert my gaze from the tournament and take a look at Lidith. “Who is the next one by the way? Our opponents seem to know who'll fight whom.”

Lidith pulls a sheet of paper out of the frilly dress she is wearing today. “Let's see. Next is Jazira against the stupid fox. You'll have to fight the barbarian and I'll butcher the goat guy.”

She said that she'll butcher him. She is too certain of her victory!

“You really can't remember their names? Why do they even have a grudge against you?” Jazira asks while she watches the tournament.

I take a seat on Ascathon's lap and look at Lidith's paper. There are four seats beside each other in the lounge and Ascathon was sitting between us. “Heee, it looks like Jazira's match is about to start.”

As I say that, Jazira is enveloped in a bubble of light and disappears. It's the same as when Ascathon's match started.

I look down into the arena and find Jazira down there. “They could at least ask before they teleport you. What happens if you are indisposed at the moment when they get you?”

Lidith tilts her head. “Well. There were cases when someone got called to the arena with his trousers down. But it can't be helped. The tournament has a tight schedule.”

Haah? What kind of idiots are managing this tournament? “If they call me while I am under the shower, I'll destroy the arena and beat up the judges!”

Lidith forces a smile onto her face. “D... Don't do that. I want to win the tournament this time.”

I smirk at her. “You sure have high hopes in us.” I look down into the arena where Jazira is waiting in her white dress. “Ascathon said something about a commentator?”

“Ah, yes. That idiot. Do you want to listen to him? I am not interested in random rambling while watching a fight, so I blocked his voice.” Lidith presses a button on the armrest of her chair.

“... AAAnnd finally! That's what we all were waiting for! On the left we have Kumiho of the Full Moon! She is specialising in magic, but hand to hand combat also belongs to her fields of expertise!... ”

“... Then we have the beautiful Jazira the Eternal! Whow, the names of the newcomers are really something else. Seems like their evaluator was in a good mood. Unfortunately we don't know much about Jazira's fighting style. Her registration sheet only says that she is a magical maniac...”

I turn and take a look at Lidith who simply smiles at me. Then she shrugs her shoulders. “I honestly had no idea how else I should describe her.”

“... Then there is no other option than to start the fight and see for ourselves!...”

Jazira disappears in the well known white bubble and the arena under us is replaced by a screen which shows the fight. Both fighters appeared on a seemingly endless plain of dark sand and stones. It looks like some kind of volcanic conglomerate.

Kumiho immediately waves her hand towards Jazira, who is still taking a dumbfounded look around the battlefield.

“... And there it starts! Kumiho opens the battle with her trademark spell! The rumoured moonshower! It's a wide range attack spell which calls down magical projectiles in a huge area around you. There is almost no chance to escape such an attack. If fueled by enough power you can devastate continents with it. The only option is to rely on your defence!...”

A storm of white spheres rains down on Jazira. Our comrade disappears in a cacophony of explosions and dust.

I wince. “That looks like it'll hurt.” Lidith says nothing and simply nods.

“... The fight has just started and it looks like one of the fighters is already in a pinch! Kumiho continues with her moonshower while levitating over the battlefield and raining destruction down at her opponent! But the judges didn't stop the match! So her opponent must be still alive!...”

Lidith sighs. “This match is already over.”

I nod.

Kumiho continues her rampage for another ten seconds. Then she stops to assess the damage.

“... Finally! Looks like Kumiho went out of steam. But she surely laid waste to the battlefield! To destroy to such a large area at once is a feat! Though we all know that she has probably wasted a lot of energy. The smoke and dust is finally clearing! And I see her! The beautiful Jazira is still standing! She stumbles a bit, but otherwise she seems to be fine! Just a little dust and dirt on her clothes...”

“... Now she is inspecting herself. To be more concerned about her appearance than her opponent. This girl is surely something. Maybe she should have joined the beauty contest instead of the tournament! Seems like she is mumbling something. Let's listen in!...”

“She made me dirty. What's wrong with her. My dress. I just bought that one!”

Jazira pulls at her dress. Then she inspects the fingers of her left hand closely.

“She broke it... she broke it, she broke it, she broke it...”

An outburst of power blasts everything around Jazira away. A visible shockwave travels outwards and clears dust and debris! Even the ground under Jazira's feet is blown away or simply dissolves into nothingness. A huge sphere around her is emptied of any physical matter!

“...Whoa! What happened! Is that her battle aura!? It's huge. I never saw one that big. It has at least a radius of a hundred metres. Even Kumiho seems to have problem withstanding it! Several judges who were on break jumped up from their seats to assist the space time spell to uphold the battlefield. What horrific power does this girl wield?...”

Then Jazira raises her hand and points at Kumiho.

“YOU BROKE MY NAIL!”

The death ray, which is her trademark spell, is larger than any I have seen from her before. Kumiho raises her hands to erect a barrier. The death ray shears at Kumiho's barrier for several moments.

Then the barrier flickers and winks out. Kumiho disappears with a scream of pain while her body dissolves and the screen under us goes dark.

“... What horrific power! Kumiho got completely obliterated by a single spell!...”

The normal battlefield returns under us. Kumiho falls trembling to her knees while Jazira inspects her body. Then tears of joy start to form in her eyes. “~It's clean again! And the nail isn't broken anymore! Thank the gods! I thought I would have to shorten them all.~”

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