This fated battle was brewing for years before beginning on raw coincidence — an accidental between two people.

Carolina was trashed. Nuan Yulong dashed the stuffing out of her and shoved her body down the metaphorical stairs for good measure. She was out of zombies and running on a meager level of stamina. Alas, there was one last obstacle left before she could leave the burning port city.

Her arch-nemesis was here, dressed in a white corset and jacket like a rock star.

Xia couldn’t stop smiling. She felt refreshed. Life had been going up and up for her ever since she fell down the ravine. First, she was liberated from all her burden and proven right all along. And now destiny saw fit to reunite her with the one person she hated.

“Hello Carolina,” Xia greeted her bloody and tattered rival. “Sending an unfortunate lady to their doom lately? Oh right, you did.” Xia’s expression was saccharine. “Karma is a bitch, right?”

Carolina grimaced, “Just get it over with.” The blob-haired brunette shrugged. “Yeah, I am beat,” she confessed, “but I won’t let you roll over me that easily, princess.”

Xia’s smile only grew brighter, “Please, I’m not a princess anymore. I already threw the burden away for ages, and I can’t stop being happy about it.” Xia’s eyes widened with hatred. “I sincerely recommend you do the same, but we both know your insatiable greed for power ensures any word of wisdom falls to deaf ears.”

Carolina gathered her Black Mana. “Don’t care about your advice. Glad to know your time off the ivory tower didn’t temper your rotten core one bit.”

Xia’s bright smile turned into a savage grin. White Mana cascaded around her in such quantity the entire would seem to glow with light.

“A black-heart bitch had a right to tell anyone that?” Xia smirked. “Okay, to prove my generosity, I will let you have the first shot.”

“Really?” Carolina said.

“Yup,” Xia said.

“Fine,” Carolina said, pouring forth the Black Mana. “Have it your way?”

Black Magic Rank 6: Damnation

The swallowing sphere of darkness engulfed Xia. It devoured the burning structure around them. A beat later, the Black Magic flickered and exploded as the beam of light barreled through the air, barely missing Carolina’s cheek.

Xia walked out unharmed. Her aura barely suffered any damage from Carolina’s best attack.

“Is that the best you can do?” Xia said. “That Damnation hardly stung. Better send some zombies,” she squinted, “if you have any left. Knowing you, you would already try to overwhelm me with numbers if you actually have it.”

“Quiet,” Carolina responded with another barrage of Black Magic. “I need to concentrate.”

Black Magic Rank 2: Slaughter x 6

Six balls of deadly black launched at Xia like a cannonball. In response, the head wife of the Unity Lord only reacted with a minor flick of her White Mana, filtered through her equipment.

White Magic Rank 3: Bind (Snow White)

From Xia’s jacket, a chain of White Mana snaked out and systematically wrapped itself around all the balls of Slaughter launched by Carolina. Aside from stopping the attack dead in its tracks, the glowing chain of silvery light also suffocated the Mana, dispersing the mystical projectile.

Carolina blinked and hurriedly backed away. She never knew Xia could use Bind like that. It didn’t look like another artifact either.

“Like it?” Xia said, showing the chain wriggling in the air like a serpent. “My dearest upgrade my gear with a special alteration. Since, I already let you have the first to move. I believe it is my turn now.”

During his spare time, Ciel awakened Xia’s Cloud Ranger set. Aside from awakening the ability to alter the properties of Bind courtesy of Xia’s Snow White Jacket, her equipment also gain extra blade handling, speed boost in Accelerate, a distance-shortening ability (Ground Shrinker), collision enhancement powered by White Mana (Holy Momentum), and additional White Mana enhanced strike (White Striker).

In a healthy state, Carolina won’t have a single iota of a winning chance against Xia, but exhausted? She would do everyone a better job lying on the ground and waiting for the kick.

She could barely react when Xia closed the distance like the ground wasn’t even there and threw a punch back by Aura, White’s Strengthen, and the extra power of White Striker. The glowing fist blew apart Carolina’s Aura and shattered three of her ribs. Undeterred, Carolina grabbed Xia by an arm and activated her last-shot to even the playing field.

Black Magic Rank 1: Drain

The Black Mana prickled hopelessly on Xia’s skin, failing to penetrate the resistance from her innate [White Blessing].

“Is that supposed to do anything?” Xia smiled and grabbed Carolina by the neck.

The Princess of White blasted through several burning buildings, using her incredible speed multiplier and Holy Momentum as a boost. She rammed the opponent being held helplessly in her hand through five burning structures and threw her into the new street they found themselves in.

Carolina landed on the ground in a wreck. Blood bled from her face, and she knew half of her bones had fractured. She began crawling, trying to escape from the freak of nature.

Alas, Xia wasn’t done.

White Magic Rank 6: Sanction

White Aura descended on the tattered Carolina, further pushing her down.

Not a second later, the chain of light wrapped around her body, binding her in place.

Xia took her time, strolling toward her defeated enemy and stepping on her back.

“Any last words?” Xia said.

“Yeah,” Carolina grumbled. “I hate you.”

“The feeling is mutual,” Xia said. “But I have to ask,” she softened her voice, “what have I ever done to you?”

Carolina voiced a complaint through the killing agony that was her body, “It is just who you are. The all-perfect and all-powerful princess believes nothing can go wrong.” She growled. “Sorry, Ms. Perfect but some of us are trying to survive and the brilliance from your ivory tower is annoying.”

“That is it?” Xia said dryly, finding the reasoning behind their grudge disappointing. “You helped Spade and Hunter banished me to hell for that.”

“Help them?” Carolina laughed then winced from the pain of her broken ribs. “Lady, I simply exploited the opportunity YOU created! You banished yourself to Springsong! Yes, I threw some oil into the fire, but you are the one who threw yourself in honor of a dead man.”

“You have no right to talk about my father,” Xia said, putting more weight on her foot.

Carolina stifled an agonizing scream and smugly replied, “Sorry, honey, I can’t sympathize. My father left me before I was fucking born. Let’s see what you will say when you have to struggle just to eat, crawling your way up that stupid tower like the rest of us.”

Xia said with anger, “Yeah, that is always your issue. Allegiance doesn’t matter, as long as you can climb to the top.”

“It is reality,” Carolina shrugged. “I didn’t make the rule. I simply live in it.”

Xia snorted, “And because of you, we are in this mess. If you hadn’t removed Hikari, we wouldn’t…”

Xia let her voice trailed off, as she struck upon an idea.

“You know what,” Xia said with a satisfied grin. “I think I will let nature take its course.”

The chain of light rescinded from Carolina, then the Necromancer felt White Mana seeping into her body.

White Magic Rank 1: Heal.

Broken bones, and strained muscles began knitting back into shape inside Carolina. The ache and pain across her body faded like she was receiving a heavenly back massage. The stabbing feeling in her lung had vanished.

The Black mage couldn’t comprehend why she was spared, much less healed. She turned to look at her tormentor turned benefactor and asked the mighty question, “Why?”

“Because you have a role to suffer through,” Xia turned and left with a smile, “and I hate to ruin that for you.”

Carolina watched her nemesis left and recalled Nuan Yulong’s strange parting words. She picked herself up.

Carolina didn’t know what the two had in mind, but she knew escaping to fight another was the top priority.

…

The spat between Xia and Carolina wasn't the only that was ending.

Borbonsi, the Lord of Commerce and the ruler of Onren, was down on the dirt among a few newly created craters. His treasure armor was shattered during Etaceh’s merciless barrages. He knew the situation was downright miserable. The stockpile of faith — his lifeline — had tanked from the reason he didn’t understand. The only thing he knew was that it must have something to do with the Accel raining down from the sky.

Borbonsi didn’t believe he could pull a victory, even escape was doubtful by this point

Witnessing her inevitable victory Etaceh let her overconfidence take over. Smart as she was, Etaceh’s true passion, the need to show her superiority to the entire world, reared its huge head at the final moment.

This was why she went with an overkill.

“Refocus all the generator’s output on the prime artillery,” Etaceh ordered her city. She could do it mentally, but it wouldn’t give her the field. “On Prime Intelligentsia’s authority, unlocked all the safety to the Anti-Lord weapon. Open the cylinder and prepare the Prime Flash.”

The tower of Hecate glowed with power. Ether flowed from the entire city, lighting up the complicated array carved into the city secretly. Runes glowed as power began to gather into a predetermined path carved onto the very atmosphere. 

The purple sun burned into existence above Eleanor like the giant eye looking down at the ant-like Borbonsi.

Borbonsi, even knowing there was nothing he could do, summoned forth a golden shield and used all his remaining power to supercharge his final defense.

“Fire the Prime Flash,” Etaceh said with a smirk.

The flickered and unleashed a torrent of energy upon the Lord of Commerce on the street.

There was no escape from this colossal beam. The width of the power engulfed a chunk of Eleanor. The wind from the hammering light flattened the structure building and blew apart the cloud. Anyone remaining within the blast epicenter were immediately killed by the excessive heat. The survivors gathered nearby the port were nearly blown away by the force of the Hurricane and barely hung on by the virtue of the defensive artifacts.

Inside the ruined port city, Xia and Carolina, both heading toward a different part of the city, couldn't help but to hunker down by the nearest barricade, evading the force of Etaceh’s attack.

Beneath the epicenter of the heat, Borbonsi’s shield warped and bent under the pressure. Borbonsi was surprised he held out this longer. The ember of his faith had kindled a final light it shouldn’t have.

As the shield in his hand cracked and broke, Borbonsi felt his life flashed by.

The days among his fellow Lords in the Void, losing hopelessly to Ciel. His arrival in Acceltra and his earlier conquest. Those memories flashed through his mind. Time seemed to slow as he returned to that single beach with a certain girl. The girl he couldn’t forget.

…

He remembered it like yesterday — that lapping ocean before the creation of his nation.

That girl was like a golden star. She was akin to the soul of the planet, garbed in silk. The mismatched eyes — one amethyst, another emerald — her hair was unnaturally pink like a beautiful seashell. Borbonsi found the girl, sitting by the rock, looking at the ocean. She looked like a pure and untainted teen full of potential.

He knew she was special.

“Who are you, little girl?”

The girl turned toward him. She scanned him up and down.

“I don’t have a name,” she said. “Acceltra didn’t give me one.”

“Acceltra?” Borbonsi was surprised.

The girl’s words soon turned Borbonsi’s world upside down.