She cut the same place twice.

---

Vath’s surrounding gradually shifted from whole whiteness and back to the darkness, a place with no sun; only the stars, where he rightfully belonged.

His hand went to his waist as soon as he had returned. His pupils immediately widened at the sight of his bloodied left palm. He had received a deep cut at his right waist. A wound that enfeebled his legs; fallen he would have, but clung he onto a wall.

He turned his head, glancing over his shoulder at the violet-haired swordswoman who leaned onto her sword sheathe. Her back stood gallantly despite having weak legs. She glanced back over her shoulder; her amethyst eyes, abyss deep, stared back into Vath’s eyes.

He shuddered.

Vath then roared in an effort to overcome his shudder, but no sound came out, only blood. A cornered beast he was; like one, it was kill or killed. His arm, containing the last drips of strength, crushed the wall he clung onto. His legs stomped on his pool of blood and he marched toward Freya.

The swordswoman, shrouded in darkness, turned to face Vath. Her movement flowed and her eyes were as calm as still water. Her amethyst eyes reflected the herculean figure charging at her.

She shuddered not.

Just as they were about to clash, the final clash, the inscriptions on Vath’s body glowed a sinister black. And in the blink of an eye, as if vanishing into thin air, Vath had disappeared from Freya’s sight.

He was now behind the swordswoman, looming over her with a cloaked presence. Not being able to hide his grin, he had made a face that was indiscreet.

***

‘My men managed to write a different Extinct Formulae Magic on you,’ William had told Vath.

He had came out of a room after getting an inscription of Extinct Formulae Magic. He had thought that William had given him the same inscription again to further his strength. Those formulae stacked and Vath had thought he had gotten himself another one. That did not seem to be the case.

‘What does it do?’

‘I don’t know for sure,’ William answered. ‘But a successful test subject had managed to escape with that inscription. Though, he died not long after because his body could not withstand it. I believe it could come handy to you and serve as a trump card.’

‘A trump card that I don’t know of…’

‘The test subject had this will to escape from me. There wasn’t any signs of destruction in his cell and nothing of the like had been observed. All of a sudden, he was outside and free. That was why I believe that this inscription is related to spatial manipulation. Try it yourself.’

Right now, Vath was still inside the building. He pictured in his mind the thinking of the particular test subject, and willed himself to go out. To concentrate even further, Vath closed his eyes. When he opened it, he was outside of the building. Just outside of the wall of the building.

Short distance teleportation.

‘A nifty trick…’

***

The swordswoman was within Vath’s reach and victory was within his grasp. Victory was there in front of him, glittering like a precious gemstone. Vath had gone through an ordeal of a night and he deserved to claim his hard-earned prize. The prize called victory which he saw however, was nothing but an illusion of his own. An object that dissipated into mist as soon as he grabbed it.

She had looked behind over her shoulder, the swordswoman had done that a moment after he disappeared from her sight. Her abyss-deep amethyst eyes, once again stared into Vath’s eyes. Catching sight of the incoming jab aimed at her head, Freya dodged with a sway to the side. Just like mist she disappeared, and Vath’s grin had turned to an expression of despair.

Freya lifted Celeste up after her dodge, swinging a counter attack, aiming the blade precisely at a shallow cut she had inflicted on Vath’s chest. She was incapable of inflicting a deep cut with just one swing; to make up for it, she cut the same place twice. She had laid all the groundwork and her preparation wasn’t short. Vath received another deep cut.

She grasped victory.

***

‘How could you—tell?’ Vath uttered as he was falling down.

That teleportation trick was supposed to be his hidden trump card to finish her off. He was sure that the others from the Silver Arrow weren’t able to figure out his trick, and even if they did, they didn’t convey anything to the swordswoman. That trick should have had taken her by surprise. That trick was his method of achieving victory, but that was just an illusion. An assumption that didn’t materialize. How was she able to figure out his teleportation?

Vath fell hard to the ground; a pool of blood quickly formed below him.

‘… It’s written on your body,’ she answered.

You could… read it?

***

Freya didn’t understand why, but those co called Extinct Language used for the formulae which was said to be unreadable and indecipherable, she could read it. Not because she figured out how to read it, no. But because those words felt familiar to her; and that she just could. She didn’t know the reason why, but that didn’t matter. His opponent had fallen to the ground. There was no need for her to remain standing.

The leader of Skulls had fallen with his front to the ground; Freya had fallen with her back. That was the difference between the defeated and the winner. Those who lose had to stare at the ground; those who win had the privilege to see the stars glimmering in the night sky.

Freya had resisted the darkness creeping in the peripherals of her vision in the duration of the battle. She no longer had to anymore. The darkness could reign. It was all over.

Before closing her eyes, she saw Ori one last time that night, staring down at her from above.

‘Perhaps you’re destined to win.’

‘Ha…’ Freya’s laugh trailed into a sigh. ‘You still say that?’ Freya closed her eyes.

… Even after I got hold of destiny to win?