Tap Tap Tap.

The sound of two metallic batons rang around the plaza. Wind speeds started to kick, along with the sound of an object being rolled around. Alexia turned their head to the sound, and upon facing the direction a diabolo infused with the energy of Lei spun right towards her.

With a mere ducking motion, Alexia avoided the object only for it to bounce off a nearby bench and hit her in the back, searing a part of her uniform. Alexia caught herself from falling over, taking a glance up to where the diabolo returned to.

“Argh… Come on, what is that thing?”

Lei heard Alexia ask, yet remained silent. Holding out their hand, catching the returning diabolo. Once more they tapped their batons together and started to roll the toy for a few seconds, readying an attack. An eyebrow raised upon Alexia. A toy being used as a weapon? Though, now that she thought more into it, quite brilliant in reality, but rare for matches with her in them.

The diabolo rolled around, spinning faster and faster as Lei moved her batons. Swiftly, she lifted up her batons, pulling the object into the air only to smack it down towards Alexia with their right baton. The sound barrier shattered immediately, rippling through the plaza and cracking a few windows accompanied by the breakage of the barrier. A glimmering light emitted below and with a simple gesture of a finger. Alexia sent out glitters of stardust towards the Diabolo.

Upon contact, the stardust combusted, creating a momentous explosion that broke the building Lei stood on in half and kicked up dust and flames as it collided. Slicing through the smoke like butter, the Diabolo collided with Alexia, knocking them out of the plaza and into the city streets, smacking into a parked car.

As if being tugged by an invisible string, the toy swung back towards Lei who continued to spin it faster and faster with their batons. The girl would be uninjured hopping down from the debris of the building that now had crashed down.

“A diabolo… Or, you can just call it a Yo-Yo. Though fate has claimed mine to be… special.”

Lei swung the diabolo once more towards Alexia. Stardust gathered around her feet — Immediately, jumping upwards high into the air to avoid the object. Only for it to go crashing through the car causing it to explode, the diabolo moved through the building behind. Lei attempted to look up at Alexia, yet the sun shined right in her face.

Stardust continued to gather around Alexia as they floated in the air momentarily, only to kick a few bits downward. Lei ran back, only to be knocked back by the immediate blast of stardust combusting.

“Nice little trick, if I do say so myself~.”

Alexia adjusted their uniform only to hear the sound of something spinning — The Diabolo! Breaking through the building behind her, the toy now engulfed in Lei’s energy hit the girl in the back, knocking them into the rubble of the plaza.

Once more, as if an invisible string guided it, Lei held out their hand to catch it. There she watched several buildings blocks away collapse completely from her weapon. There was more to this invisible string, and even now, despite being in proximity to the stardust exploding, Lei stood up unharmed.

“Fate has yet again... dictated my authority.”

Just as she was about to spin their toy again. They stopped — That’s right, stopped right in their tracks, looking around at the shadows, then from down the road. Alexia stood up from the rubble, dusting off, as they heard the sound of rings clacking together. Yes, rings… continually clacking down the road, as the two girls stopped their bout and lay witness to Mahdri approaching them.

A sudden change in the wind directly moving up north from the south, where Mahdri walked, while the sun shined brightly overhead and dust clouds filled the city streets a couple of blocks down. The scenery ran silently once Mahdri stopped halfway from Alexia and Lei. The ends of her hair glimmered a bioluminescent orange.

Mahdri stood there for a few seconds observing the two, her eyes glancing over to the shadows nearby as well, but only for a brief second — then she’d speak.

“Is there room enough for a third? …Or is your authority too high even for me?”

Lei turned to face Mahdri once more, spinning up the diabolo and with the flick of the baton, sending it directly at the Hindu princess herself. The diabolo oozed green energy as it smacked right up against Mahdri’s face still spinning — Mahdri stood there unphased, not budging an inch only to lift up her hand to take hold of the toy, stopping its spin.

Alexia couldn’t believe it. Being hit by that toy stung, and Mahdri took it without even dodging it. Mahdri let out a breath of air in what appeared to be half disappointment and the other half exhaustion, only to adjust one of their wrist rings as they clacked together in unison.

Taking hold of the diabolo, Mahdri tossed it back towards Lei, the latter in shock ready to grimace at the thought of fighting a potential world-class monster.

Catching hold of her diabolo, Lei held it to their side, observing the princess in front of her. Princess happened to be a fitting word to describe Mahdri at this point in time. The glamor of the jewelry all indicated some higher form of class compared to the rest of them. This time, Lei kicked up the Diabolo into the air waiting for it to drop, but in doing so left herself open to Mahdri moving in so suddenly, hitting them in the gut and knocking them down. Extending out their arms grabbing hold of the Diabolo, when it was in her grasp, it started to mix with orange energy and begin to spin on its own.

Mahdri slammed the Diabolo downward towards Lei — A tiny amount of stardust blowing through and knocking the object away from affecting Lei! Jumping forth from the rubble, Alexia clenched her fist stardust gathered around.

“Let’s see you try this!”

Alexia landed next to Mahdri — Throwing out a punch so fast the gathering amounts of dust around her took seconds to catch up, each hit being thrown out breaking Mach 1. Mahdri dodged and dodged, the hits weren’t connecting — Something wasn’t right. Then, just as Alexia prepared to kick it up a notch, Mahdri caught both hands.

“Oh! Starlight, Silver! Greetings to you both, My manners appear to be misplaced. Shall we begin our bout?”

Her speech pattern changed. It unnerved Alexia a bit only for the star-powered girl to speak up while trying to escape their grasp.

“Misplaced? I don’t think manners are important in a fight… N-Now, let go.”

“Oh! But, they are. I was sleepwalking a moment ago. It would appear I allowed them to take over for a moment. And for that, I’m sorry.”

Lei looked confused slowly getting up, only to add to the conversation.

“Wait… You were… Asleep?”

“Ah! That’s right! I liked to take my daily rest before a match, but it seemed I overslept and one of my gods took over. They like to show themselves every time I fight, but alas. I have to keep a leash on them all, it can be a pain sometimes. But, do not worry! For now, Mahdri shall fight with all her strength!”

Alexia attempted to refrain from asking further, yet curiosity took hold as they continued to try to be released from Mahdri’s grip, but it wasn’t budging at all.

“Wait, all of your str-”

Just as Alexia spoke, the symbol of a red lotus flower manifested behind Mahdri along with the Om in a few spots, the energy radiating off the signs alone was enough to send out a shockwave of energy that blew away the dust and debris surrounding Alexia and Lei. Out of the corner of their eyes, they spotted Khinara who hide behind one of the buildings getting flung away!

Lei flung off to the side and managed to keep hold of her batons while grabbing their diabolo. As for Alexia, thankfully Mahdri had her. Unfortunately, she felt the grasp of arms hold her by the side — Wait, arms? That’s right, two golden arms a bit more muscular than Mahdri held onto her while being held captive still. These golden arms came out of Mahdri’s back and with their strength, she lifted Alexia up, and thus punted her into the air.

Bending the knees, Mahdri jumped up swiftly, delivering the power of two punches into Alexia, knocking the star warrior through the street. Mahdri landed with ease, with one of their golden arms wiping their forehead.

“That felt nice, so Ms.Silver, what say you and I tango?”

Her eyes settled on the unwavering and uninjured Lei, who dusted themselves off; attaching the diabolo to their side skirt. Tapping their batons again, the ground would quake in rhythm to the taps — The air around the batons increased in pressure. The two batons shimmered and shook, vibrating in her hand and with a simple flick of movement, the batons caused Mahdri’s jewelry to jiggle and move.

“Oh? I’ll take that as a ye-”

Mahdri felt their body freeze up only to be immediately pulled towards Lei, who, without a hint of hesitation, whacked both batons against their body. The golden arms, in particular, received the most damage as cracks formed from the batons hitting.

Tack! Tack! Tack!

A stronger force backed each hit until Lei smacked Mahdri in the side of the head, knocking them down. The vibrations around the batons settled down, and Lei’s breathing increased as she took a moment to catch her breath.

Mahdri rubbed the side of her cheek, blood dripping from their mouth as they slowly stood up.

“Ha Ha! Those strikes are really something…”

Holding out her hands, one of the golden arms took off the jewelry, primarily the golden bangles — Flicking one off to the side, it immediately crashed into the ground, breaking apart the cement and tiles kicking up dust into the air. The other one is thrown into the air, crashing into the side of a building, breaking through the floors, and rupturing the building's structure, making it crumble entirely.

Lei raised her batons, freaking out in her mind at what she had just seen. Those rings were weights? Just how heavy were they? This is reaching a level beyond what her powers could attest to, fate playing her like a fiddle.

“Much better~. I think we can now take this to an-”

Heat in the area proliferated — In the span of a second, Mahdri was hit by a minor star which knocked her away from the plaza and deeper into the city. Alexia rushed towards Lei who instinctively held themselves up bracing for an attack, yet it never came with Alexia jumping over her.

A few seconds later, the star exploded deep into the city, creating a mushroom cloud. The shockwave knocked Lei to her feet. The girl sat there, baffled by what was going on. It would appear there wasn’t just one monster roaming this game, but two.

“W-Well…This changes things.” Lei muttered to herself, only to stand up afterwards. The girl quickly chased after Alexia.

From the nearby debris watching, Khinara shook their head, watching the entire scene unfold.

“Sheesh… Best to just bide my time..”

Khinara merely stood there slowly, letting the shadows and light cover her body while wind speeds kicked up, breaking past 300 mph from the aftermath of the blast. In the distance, Alexia moved towards the site of the blast, looking up at the mushroom cloud that formed, electricity sharply flashing within it. A few times she’d take note of orange lightning being mixed also, clearly knowing such an attack hadn’t done Mahdri in. Her eyes peered back towards Lei following her.

“So you bidding your time? Or looking to team up? Cause honestly, I don’t mind fighting you at the same time with Mahdri.”

“A-Are you insane? It’s best to team up in my opinion, dealing with a monster like her isn’t something that should be faced alone. Just because your powers are unique doesn’t mean it can stand up to a pantheon.”

“Pantheon, huh? So she is like, Chev… Look, how about this, I can take her head and while you stay back and just pelt her with that toy, okay?”

“Listen, Starlight. I’m only saying this for your own good, too. If the rumors about Mahdri are true, you’re going to need all of my help and mine yours. That’s if Georgia even decides to show up.”

“Well, look, we’ll just have to show her a solid defeat like last year.”

Alexia stopped in her tracks, making it to the center of the city where a massive crater formed with no signs of life. Just a plethora of dust and electricity — The radiation in the air is minimal. Lei slowed down standing next to Alexia holding their batons close. It was clear the two trusted each other for now instinctively despite their talks. Both were facing off against a foe that transcended the two of them.

“The only reason she even lost last year from the showings is that it was even more one-sided against that American Devil… That monster is on par with the elites back home… Maybe more, I’ll admit…”

Lei started muttering nonsense, something Alexia promptly ignored at first, trying to detect Mahdri’s power. Her ears picked up a strange ringing noise coming from the center of the crater. A glimmer of light shined in the crater, and it began to rise higher and higher into the smoke-filled sky until the light let out a shockwave of energy dispersing the mushroom cloud in its entirety.

Within the light, a figure could be seen wrapped around in a cascade of hands. Only for the light to slowly vanish and drop the figure that now had been engulfed — wrapped in hands. The hands slowly opened up and there, Mahdri stood with a smile on her face.

“Oh~! That attack was sure something, Starlight! But, don’t worry for you see this?”

Mahdri’s finger pointed to the ends of her hair, the luminant glow of orange shimmering and shining. The oddity that even Alexia had going on with her as well.

“But this is a sign of power! A sign where only those chosen to be worthy to rival the divine may withstand extremities!”

“My hairs divine?”

Alexia gently touched the ends of her hair that shined an ocean blue — Lei understood what Mahdri really meant. After all, she faced quite a few individuals that also had a similar change in hair back home.

“Don’t take her so seriously… She is a pantheon user, after all. But, it means you’re evolving… Or have evolved. I’d say it's unfair… But, if normal humans are in awe at normal singularity users, then those that shimmer with bioluminescence are beyond what the typical human can imagine…”

“Huh… That’s kind of scary, explains a few things as well.”

Alexia did take note of her accelerated power after her hair started to change. Her eyes still focused down on Mahdri, ready to move in again to attack.

“Oh! But this is strange. Maybe I should force you to evolve, too.”

Mahdri aimed their finger directly at Lei. The girl wasn’t keen on ‘evolving’ she knew of the different types of people that could, but it ushered in a new type of disease for the body.

“I’m good…”

“Come now! That’s no way to say yes. Fine… I’ll just have to beat it out of you, after all. I’m not having as much fun as I hoped with only Starlight…”

Mahdri stomped their foot into the ground, a golden seal manifesting beneath them. Three eyes opened up beneath her, forcing the two golden arms on her back to shift downward. The earth shook with a mighty force — the pressure in the air forcing the weight of gravity downward. Atop the two golden arms, identical ones sprouted out from Mahdri’s back. Now the princess had six arms to fight.

The pressure subsided, and from her mouth, the only word she could mutter would be…

“[Asura]”