Cytortia hated tension. Tai Hua and Chuang already gave her enough anxiety for a lifetime. The World War Three between Melody Solarmaria and Remus Breaker was the last thing on her wish-list. The house wouldn’t survive. Hell, forget the house, she would get carted out in a box before the first punch.

“Guys stop,” Cytortia wailed. “Rem! Apologize right now!”

“Yes,” Rem sarcastically abided. “I apologize that my insignificant opinion hurt your feeling. Do you want a safe space? If so, go upstairs. And please don’t expect me to throw a pity party.”

“The hut doesn’t have a second floor,” Luxinna pointed out innocently.

“It’s a metaphor, Lux,” Rem grimaced.

Melody tried to retort, but she couldn’t. She had experienced dealing with arrogant hypocrite and making those people look like fools. Today was different. There wasn’t a trace of hypocrisy in Rem’s word. The boy truly believed what he preached.

“You dare criticize my method,” Melody tried another avenue of attack. “What would you do in my position? Beg and cried as everything goes to hell.”

“Simple,” Rem said. “I will calm the fuck down and read the situation. Not that it matters. Here is a thing, Princess; I never want to be a ruler. I am so sick of the concept of might make right I make it my life mission to prove that your almighty ‘power’ meant as much CNN’s trustworthiness. Which — in layman’s term — is zero.”

“You lack ambition,” Ebony commented. “A man should aim for greatness.”

“With that sentence, you prove you know nothing,” Rem returned fire. “Do you know how hard is it to shatter the abuse of power and sustain peace? You only have to win and sit on a very uncomfortable chair. I must inspire people to believe not in the throne, but in their own integrity. Something which requires more patience than you have in your entire body.”

Rem walked to the door, paying no attention to Melody’s accusing eyes.

“You claim to be courageous and run away,” Melody growled, “how hypocritical?”

“Arguing with you is a waste of time,” Rem replied. “But mark my word. Step an inch out of the line, not even Death will stop me from burying you alive.”

“How cool. Why not try it now,” Melody stood trembling with rage. She walked toward Rem slowly; each of her footsteps was haunting.

Ebony watched the scene with fascination. Melody was at it again; the girl had immense pride and quick-temper. She smirked. Well, she couldn’t lie that she liked this. That boy overstretched philosophy irked her. Melody needed to smack some sense into him.

Before a punch got thrown, an elf stepped between the demoness and her friend.

“Sorry, Mel,” Luxinna said, “can I call you Mel?”

“No,” Mel replied through gritted teeth.

“Okay, Melody,” Lux stated. “This bad-mouthing bastard is my friend. If there is anyone who can shut his loud mouth, it is me, not you.”

“Who gives you right over his mouth?” Melody bit back. “Is it the traitor or the goddess?”

Outside the house, the unfolding scenario tempted Scathach to throw a spear down the demoness’s throat, but Rem’s aura silenced that thought. She could handle Rem in a semi-second, but the last time she did that got her roped into the god’s Public Enemy #1 plan. A plan whose continual found her in this disaster.

Yeah, better safe than sorry.

Unluckily for her, Melody lacked Scathach’s experience.

“Let take this outside,” Melody challenged. “If you lost, shut up and let me squash the bastard.”

“Deal,” Luxinna said. “If you lost, I want a favor from your mother.”

Melody looked at her mother.

“Go ahead,” Ebony said, sipping a glass of lemonade. “I have a 100% confidence in you.”

“Thanks, Ma,” Melody grinned with expectation. “But it wouldn’t be a fair transaction. I want one favor for Scathach if I win.”

“Fine,” Scathach replied enthusiastically. “Where do we begin?”

…

That was how the carnage started.

Both young women stood in the backyard, glaring at each other. They eyed each other like hungry beasts thirsting for bloodshed. The air tensed with a storm of danger creeping the audience’s spine. Whirlwind of violence craned for its grand unleash. Hands clenched, and bright red-hair blew. One girl closed her eyes and absorbed herself into the fight. Another young woman knocked her sandals into place, assessing the battlefield, and planned her moves.

“This is a knock-out match. Any lethal moves will be a ground for instant loss, understand!”

The badger raised her voice to begin the battles.

“Fight!”

Golden gauntlets cladded Luxinna’s arms, while a pair of greaves form on her legs as she rushed toward Melody. The elf opened the fight with a full-body blow of electricity.

“Too predictable,” Rem grimaced.

The boy was right. Melody skipped past the punch and countered with her flaming fist. Fortunately, Luxinna was faster, way faster. The elf already inched out of the attack’s range and countered with a roundhouse kick. It was a perfect blow in posture, balance, and timing. The lightning-charge kick from such a narrow-angle would launch Melody over the house and end the battle.

Crash!

Melody blocked the kick with both her hands. The ground crumbled beneath the force, but the girl was more than fine. She was grinning savagely, reveling in her victory.

Then Luxinna noticed the faint tattoo on the demon girl’s forehead.

…

“You must be kidding me,” Scathach said in disbelief.

“My daughter is impressive, isn’t she?” Ebony smirked, watching Melody’s flaming fist crashing against the gauntlet of glass. “You know, if a certain someone arrived when I needed her the most a decade ago, maybe you would have that ultimate warrior you want to create so bad. Regret it much, Scathach?”

“Oh hell,” Scathach’s face turned green. “Luxinna will lose this one.”

Rem suddenly sensed a terrible omen.

“What am I looking at?” Rem said.

“You see that golden hue between her forehead?”

Rem nodded, in the middle of Melody’s forehead was a golden pattern of a vertically shaped oval — an eye.

“It’s called the [Heavenly Eye],” Scathach explained. “It’s an ability that rarely appeared in the Asura of the Demon-race. Dammit, if the Aztellic will explode if they know that Majesty’s blood inherits the eyes,”

“Explanation please,” Rem spoke.

“[Heavenly Eye] is a rare trait among the Asuras-race like my late husband.” Ebony explained. “It’s a prestigious innate ability gifted at birth, and can’t gain through training. Your goddess can explain this better than anyone; she has that kind of innate power too.”

“That’s right,” Cytortia nodded. “We call its Inherited Skill. A skill belongs solely to a race. For the gods, we are born with [Origin]. It is the divine core that gave the gods peerless capability in magic and combat. You could say that every major power in Phantasia has an Inherited Skill to give them an edge.”

Rem sensed he was becoming a butt of a joke.

“The elf has their gift as a [Child of Nature],” Scathach added. “For the demons, it’s differ per species. Meanwhile, the beast-men have animal’s sense and great potential for atavism. Even then, [Heavenly Eye] was another league entirely. It is one of the strongest visual power in Phantasia.”

“Guys,” Rem said. “I am new here. What could it do?”

“Aura-sight, Far-sight, Telescopic vision, Illusion penetration, X-ray vision, and vector prediction. It can also allow the user to read Mana and grant higher magical-processing power.”

Cytortia’s face fell with every word.

Ebony smugly grinned as a cross-countered sent Luxinna rolling across the floor. After losing the battle of reason, the succubus couldn’t help but enjoyed this minor victory.

“For all your bravado, all your kind have is numbers,” Ebony rubbed her victory at the young man.

“Do you know how many human’s civilization my Continent have driven into submission? Don’t be so high and mighty, boy. A race forsakes by fate like yours with no unique power of its own have no right to question mine.”

Rem said nothing. He had no energy to do it. All of his power, his calories, and his wisdom were honed to prepare himself to do what he must.

They might lose the battle, but he would win the war.

…

Luxinna crashed into the floor, raising clouds of sand and dirt. The pain from the last kick vibrated in her throat and staggered her. The disparity in strength and magic power was too much. Her opponent either matched or surpassed her punch-to-punch in all categories.

Speed is the only chance she had.

Melody dropped from above, bringing in a fire-infused kick down on Luxinna’s head. The elf gritted her teeth and rolled away. Luxinna painfully breathed as she dragged herself up for another round of exchanges. Each trade drew its strength from the countless sparring session the elf had with Scathach. Attacks with the speed invisible to the human’s eyes rained from the exhausted elf.

A lightning-coated fist missed. The spin-kick following it hit nothing. A haymaker aimed after the combo got dodged effortlessly. Finally, Luxinna poured her momentum into a roundhouse kick, only for the pair of hands coated in fires to block it and torpedoed her effort.

Luxinna gritted her teeth in frustration. How was this happening?

To Luxinna’s condolence, Melody’s overwhelming strength had limits. Although she nullified those barrages, the lightning from the last kick sent the demoness’ inside reeling. The injury nearly drove Melody to her knees. Sadly, the red fiery energies inside the demoness’ body boiled and began healing her internal wound. In a few breaths, she was more or less stable.

The development left Luxinna with only one move.

[Static Glass: Savage Lotus]

In the distance, two glass lotus formed above Luxinna.

…

“[Demonic Blood Cultivation],” Scathach said in shock after witnessing Melody’s recovery speed. “That is a long-lost cultivation technique! So the rumor that the Aztellic found it in the Forbidden Zone is true! No, there’s more, that’s the [Sunfire Fist]! It was Majesty’s cultivation technique. But how? The Aztellic reported it lost after his death.”

Cytortia shook at the techniques’ name.

“You have it all along,” Scathach accused the smug Ebony. “And you never told me!?”

“Why should I tell you?” Ebony replied with disdain. “Would you come and help me escape fifteen years ago if I give it to you?”

“Of course,” Scathach sounded offend. “Those are treasures from the Forbidden Zone. Who wouldn’t want it?”

Unsurprisingly, that last reply tempted Ebony to kill this goddess of fair-weather friend right where she stood.

“I wouldn’t want it,” Rem announced.

“I don’t want it either,” Cytortia said, looking at the battle with a hurt expression on her face. “I have too many terrible memories with cultivation techniques.”

“Are you serious?” Ebony looked at the two of them in disbelief. The disbelief transmigrated to shock the moment she realized both of them weren’t joking. “Why?”

“Shuang and Tie Hua often fight over cultivation resources, and master let them get away with it to hone their skills,” the goddess looked downcast and becoming more depressed with every word. “It was total carnage. My labs and research notes often got caught on fire during the fight.” The goddess drove into the PTSD territory as she narrated her tale. “They wouldn’t stop. Whenever I try to interfere, they will beat the hell out of me with no hesitation. And the request. God, those requests are too much. They would ask me to refine material after material, and when I refuse to cooperate, they would tell master. Master always sided with those two.”

Ebony and Scathach felt like a total scumbag as the goddess decent into a waterfall of tears.

Rem didn’t waste the opportunity to make them feel worse.

“Absolute power corrupts absolutely — how old are you not to realize it? What do you think this is? A dick measuring contest? Shove your ego in your pant and look at the damage you are causing. Scathach, congratulation, remind me not to trust you with anything more valuable than sandpapers. You sold your principle like a whore selling her body. Do the world a favor and jam those spears down your throat. Ebony, keep your smug smile and genetic dick to yourself, or I will chop it off and feed it to a cock. Stop wanking that non-existent dick in front of children, you retrograde pedo. Both of you are adult, grow some fucking responsibilities retards.”

Ebony and Scathach inched away from Rem.

That was the first time they received such toxicity, forget about a returning fire at the boy, their mind was blank for a second.

“Wow, kid, who taught you how to throw insult?” Scathach asked. Even gods didn’t have Rems burning disdain.

“Scathach, something is better left buried,” Rem stated. “That is polite by my standard.”

“Why is he this angry?” Ebony inched closer to Scathach. “What did I do to deserve this?”

Rem ignored them, as far as he concerned, the normies better at knowing nothing.

…

Luxinna received a flaming punch that sent her rolling across the ground again.

In the distance, Melody grinned triumphantly. Even with her clothes singed in multiple places, this was worth it. The demoness held two golden lotuses in her hand and crushed it with her raw strength.

“Your magic is powerful,” she taunted. “Hell, it even surpasses mine completely, but it’s not enough.”

Luxinna got up. Her eyes sagged as exhaustion caught up to her. Even with all its strength, True Magic was far from invincible. Unlike other systems that burnt one Mana, True Magic channeled magical energy from the universe by using Mana as a conducting wire. While this method came with no backlash commonly found from Mana combustion, it still overheated the user and taxed their stamina.

Luxinna couldn’t believe what happened. She had opened fire at Melody with twin beams of electricity, but the demoness predicted the attack’s vector and exploited the beam’s blind spot. It only took an instant to close the distance.

And what happened next was downright ridiculous.

Crushing the lotus charged with that much electricity should be impossible, but Melody’s toughness, with an addition of her fire energy and healing factor, realized that possibility.

Luxinna took out a knife, and pure all her remaining energy into it, turning the glass-covered knife into a red-fiery blade glowering with electricity. Here was her last chance; the attack that brought down Bruno.

“Here is a trade secret: you shouldn’t do that,” Melody said, inspecting the knife thoughtfully.

Luxinna ignored the girl’s warning and charged with all the strength she could muster. The elf lunged, putting all her remaining stamina into one desperate thrust fueled with intense lightning.

Melody took five steps back. The demoness didn’t even bother blocking. Midway through the attack, the knifes melted, turning into molten slag, vaporizing into nothingness right in front of the bewildered elf.

Melody exploited that opening to launch a punch. The haymaker hit the shocked and unprepared elf right under her chin.

Luxinna flew across the air and smashed into the ground with a painful crunch. She gritted her teeth and tried to get up, but her body remained unmoved like a dead lead.

“Your magic is too powerful,” Melody boastfully explained. “Even a finely forged steel will melt if you aren’t careful. With such sloppy control, that kind of piss-poor knife will melt before it even hit me. Quite a pathetic ending isn’t it.”

Luxinna ground her teeth.

Melody turned toward Scathach.

“As for my request, I want to see the textbook for her magic. That lightning glass interests me very much.”