No sooner as Cocytus' hand fell did Cirno make the first move. With her hands raised she sent a large ball of ice and snow crashing at him. Ainz wasn't expecting her to seemingly go all out immediately on the attack, he had probably expected her first move to do something like reinforce herself or as such, and didn't really have time to get out of the attack's way.
Ainz crashed to the ground as the ball exploded in front of him on contact. It hurt, despite his magic resistances, and his Ice Immunity, the spell had hurt him. He immediately righted himself using a means of levitation.
Immediately he berated himself for letting that happen and assuming that he could power through her ice magic. 'Right, she doesn't use Tier Magic.'
They used different Magic Systems which meant what should have granted him a possible edge against her was probably not going to work. Perhaps it worked both ways. "Firebolt!"
A first-tier spell was chosen to test this theory. Cirno didn't block it as the flames made contact with her, and seemed to dissipate harmlessly over her. At first, one would assume it was magic resistance but Ainz was able to pick up that the flames dissipated in a way that seemed less like it hit something immune to it and like it hit an invisible barrier. More accurately it hit a barrier of cold air.
'Ice spells are out and possibly so are low-tier fire spells,' His first assumption that she was set up purely for ice magic was starting to seem true. However, seeing how she can bypass immunity to ice, reducing it to just a resistance it seems, such a thing wasn't an issue.
With his skeletal hands up he let loose a bolt of lightning while Cirno tried to block it with a wall of ice. On contact, the ice exploded as a brilliant flash of ice crystals and sparks of electricity danced in the air around Cirno. Reacting she jumped back and out of the way as a far stronger stream of flames came down at her. Cirno raised her hand up as a wave of cold at him intent to freeze him.
Ainz flew out of the way of the oncoming cold. Hands raised lightning gathered within them. "Triple Maximized Magic, Vermilion Nova!"
For a second Cirno thought the spell failed until the feeling of being burned consumed her senses. A pillar of flame consumed her and Cirno screamed in both surprise and pain. On reflex, she immediately let out a burst of her energy as all around a wave of ice and snow pulsed from her body. As the flames dissipated violently Cirno actually took a second to compare it to the fire users she knew.
It was nowhere near the level of the hell raven's, then again she was supposedly more of a sun powered, and Mokou's flames were technically stronger though she didn't have a need to pull them out unless absolutely necessary. Cirno didn't dwell on this though as there was an enemy in front of her. With a wave of her hand, a large pillar of ice sprung forward at Ainz while a layer of ice formed over her body into a crude set of armor while in her left hand, a lance of ice formed.
Racing forward the pillar of ice formed Ainz to move out of the way as Cirno tried to stab him with the lance of ice. Just barely was he able to dodge out of the way of the attack before Cirno formed something that looked like a hammer of ice in her free hand. Smashing it across his chest, Ainz was sent to the ground below. Cirno flew down as she tried to impale him with the lance again only for Ainz to roll out of the way.
'Is it just me or are her physical attacks strangely weak?' It reminded him of someone like himself trying to attack physically without using Perfect Warrior. 'Wait, is she a pure magic caster?'
If that was the case why was she fighting him physically? Pulling out the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown he blocked a swing with another ice construct. He wasn't being overpowered by her physically at all. In fact, he was probably a little bit stronger than her on that front! Cirno used the opportunity to point her hand at him as she readied a blast of ice.
A large misshapen and jagged mass of cold formed in front of her. For a second she wondered if she had gotten him but as the ice cleared there was nothing within it. Instead from the reflection of the ice Cirno caught sight of Ainz behind her for a second. Turning around she was met by a Ray of Negative Energy and reacting quickly was able to bring up an ice barrier to block the spell. As the negative energies clashed with her Cirno could swear she could almost sense the decay in the air. Like the spell was aimed at breaking down organic nature.
A command was sent to the frozen ground below her. Ainz felt something holding him in place as he turned down to notice that ice had formed over his feet holding him in place. 'Damn it.'
Looking back he was greeted with a barrage of icicles that slammed into him. Ainz raised up his hands as a ray of lightning arced from his fingers and slammed into a giant boulder of ice that came at him. The resulting explosion tossed them both back, breaking the ice holding Ainz in place. Getting back up he quickly thought about what to do. Pulling the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown again he used its powers to summon into being two Primal Elementals.
Both the Water and Air were poor choices. Something told him that she would just freeze the former and the latter wasn't much of a threat either. Ainz was iffy on the Earth Elemental which left the last too. Appearing in front was both the Fire Primal Elemental and the Star Primal Elemental. The burning bull-headed elemental was next to the hooded star-covered space elemental.
Cirno stared at both of them as she could feel something off about both of them. It was like they were embodiments of nature like herself but muted, controlled, one part incomplete and one part not dissimilar to when she turned to create and control constructs of ice. With a roar, the Fire Primal unleashed a large blade of flames aimed at Cirno who countered by increasing the intensity of the cold coming off of her which caused the flames to dissipate just off of her. The Star Primal unleashed a ray of light that cut through the dying flames and grazed a bit at Cirno's shoulder.
Raising both her hands mists rose from the lake and soon covered the whole area as a blizzard formed across the area. The Fire Primal Elemental was covered by the cold as it seemed to be trying to put him out while the Star Primal Elemental attempted to cut through the nearly blinding storm to attack her. As it fired at the area where Cirno had been it hit nothing as Cirno had already left the area.
Before either could look for her overhead both it and the Fire Primal were crushed under a large iceberg. The Fire Primal on reflex tried to escape with heat but all it did was convert the ice into water as steam arose from the flickering elemental that was finally put out by a large icicle shard piercing through its head.
The Star Primal Elemental destroyed the ice holding it down and was able to get out of the way as Cirno tossed down a spear made of hardened ice aimed at it. As the both of them fought, Ainz took this opportunity to start planning out what he needed. He didn't need physical defensive buffs, only ones to limit the damage and a few to keep her at arm's length without trying to trap him. Opening his inventory he had to swap out some of the useless equips for something better.
Overhead Cirno raced towards the Elemental as she called on the frozen ground from below. The ice moved upwards and held the Star Primal Elemental in place as Cirno formed what looked like a giant lance and smashed into the elemental which on reflex grabbed on the ice lance and tried to fight off being pierced through. Unfortunately, the Ice below it moved up, and soon coveted it completely. Cirno hardened the ice until it finally started to crack from the pressure she was forcing on it. With a snap, it shattered into pieces as the elemental's remains fell apart within the broken ice.
Cirno's attention turned over to her actual opponent. With a toss a small jagged piece of ice went out and hit Ainz's hands while it reached into some kind of opening in space. Cirno raced forward as she gathered energy in her hands.
"Grasping Heart!" A spectra heart appeared in his hands and was crushed. Cirno felt her own heart stop as the gathered energy within her hands dissipated.
In an instant, her body broke down into snow and ice. No sooner as it did, barely having time to fall, the fragments of cold swirled around in a vortex and reformed into Cirno. She blinked for a few moments at what had happened while Ainz, having viewed the obvious use of a resurrection spell or skill, mentality cursed as he prepared for the fight to continue. Cirno, however, had a completely different thought process.
"Wait, does that mean I lost?!" Her outburst as she turned over to Cocytus for an answer.
Silence hung over the area as the denizens of Nazarick found her outburst a bit confusing. Immediate resurrection in a fight wasn't considered losing, YGGDRASIL special PvP matches allowed it after all. "No. Immediate. Resurrection. Is. Not. A. Cause. For. Defeat."
Hearing this Cirno couldn't help but laugh. If these were the rules that they worked under then they must have never faced a fairy before. Sure, most normal fairies would take a while to reconstitute a body but Greater Fairies could do so on the spot though with great strain the more they had to. Cirno right now was at the peak of what a fairy was capable of. Instant resurrection was easier and the strain was lessened to nothing due to how close she was to the place where she was tied.
"Well, if that is the case I already won."
Such a boost seemed like the height of arrogance. That one simple resurrection was all it took to claim victory. 'She must be full of herself if she thinks that will be all it takes to beat me.'
'THIS IS BULLSHIT!'
As soon as his frustration built did it pass. Still, he had killed her two more times with the same result. He was low on MP, even with taking percussion in the battle to limit his loss of MP. Physically speaking he was being worn down and didn't think he could keep up the fight. Sure, as undead he technically didn't get tired but the fighting and cold was another matter. As for his opponent, that was a completely different matter.
Her resurrection came with no level cost. She was still at the same level she had been since the duel began or showed any signs of resurrection sickness debuffs common to repeated resurrections. Nor was she running low on MP or whatever it was that served as her equivalent. Apparently, if anything when he watched her unleash various cold spells the cost was almost immediately restored. It was as if the duel itself wasn't even affecting her. Hell, her clothes weren't showing any signs of the fighting as if they were more or less a part of her being.
In terms of magical versatility, he outstripped her. Raw damage output he also outstripped her. He was the more physically tanky of the two, something hilarious to think about as he was a spellcaster which wasn't known for taking damage, and if he wanted could probably become physically stronger with his Perfect Warrior spell. Yet, all that didn't matter if he couldn't outlast her in a fight of endurance.
Surrender was a logical conclusion if he couldn't win. However, this wasn't YGGDRASIL's official PvP tournaments. Surrendering had other implications especially with the Floor Guardians being real beings, and the fact that he didn't want to. Mentally he was thinking of a way to come out on top. This wasn't exactly a low-level resurrection spell, or perhaps it was equivalent to a skill? Either way, he probably couldn't keep her from doing so if that was the case. High-tier resurrection was the one thing he didn't have any way to counter.
Well, almost any way to counter it. There was a theory in his mind about what he could try. First, things first he had to get a fair bit away in order to allow this to work. "Greater Teleportation."
He disappeared in a flash and reappeared far out of the way as Cirno tried to locate him. A ball of lightning was sent at her from the side blasting into her and nearly tossing her out of the air. Turning to the direction, almost beyond her ability to see, was Ainz holding a wand in each of his hands. Cirno let out several icicle lances at him in retaliation. Ainz brought his other wand up as a barrier formed negating the icicles. A long-range attack barrier that protested against magical attacks at a certain range.
There was only one charge in it. Effectively unless to him for any real fighting outside of an NPC engagement back in YGGDRASIL but it seems using it was a good idea. Cirno flew up close, effectively taking the bait. "The Goal Of All Life Is Death!"
Behind him, a clock formed as he had just twelve seconds before it was done. Cirno came at him with a spear made of ice. As she readied to throw it Ainz dropped the now worthless wand and pulled out a scroll. With a glow, the spell written on the scroll was activated. A cone of flames crashed into the spear of ice creating a thermal explosion that tossed Cirno back. Cirno immediately backed up and in a surprise to him formed what looked like armor made of ice and a sword in hand. Now was his chance to get rid of the one thing that was stopping him.
A small part of him wanted to curse, wasting the second of only three charges the ring possessed but it was the only way. Shooting Star activated and with it, he could use Wish Upon a Star. "It's time I stop your skill to resurrect!"
With that, a debuff was placed on Cirno that should prevent her from resurrecting. For a brief second Cirno actually had panic as she thought that meant he had served her link to the lake. On reflex she pulled on that part but before she had time to react to what she found the hand on the clock had almost run out.
"It ends here," Behind Ainz the hand hit twelve. "I will remember you, Lady of the Lake."
A flash of light consumed the area that Ainz had brought them both to. The ice-covered wetlands were consumed as death itself slammed into the environment. Being far enough away the effect didn't reach the spectators watching it. However, those who are living could still feel that anything that was alive was dying. It did as the skill practically burned away all life down to the microbial level and made it so that everything around the area that was living would die.
As the light faded away Ainz looked on at the newly made wasteland. The mud below had been basically dried from the rapid flash of light. The grasses nearby were gone. A clear sky covered him in almost a sign of victory. She was finally dead, his spell having done the trick as she was unable to resurrect.
'Finally…' Ainz stopped as he noticed that the temperature was rapidly decreasing. Dead scorched ground was starting to turn into permafrost. 'It can't be-'
Snow and cold swirled around as yet again for the fourth time in this duel Cirno reappeared. His wish seemingly had no effect to stop her resurrection. Impossible didn't begin to describe it as he was certain he had wished to block off any resurrection skills! Suddenly, a dreadful thought entered into his mind. Her ability to resurrect wasn't a skill. Nor was it a spell as it seemed she was incapable of healing or the like that usually required it.
'A passive,' Every part of his mind wanted to rage at how utterly absurd this was. Even his undead nature was having a hard time repressing the mixture of emotions that he was feeling. 'IT WAS A GOD DAMN PASSIVE!'
No wonder she was so sure she could win. Literally, the only thing that could theoretically stop someone with a passive instant resurrection was something he did not have. If he did there was no way in hell he would use it given the cost of doing so. "Well, if that is the case I already won."
Everything made sense now. To her, this fight wasn't a struggle for life or death. This whole fight was effectively a trap, a farce the moment he agreed to it. Cirno had won the moment that it was stated that resurrection was allowed. For she could keep going no matter how many times it took. In a sense it wasn't a matter of if she could win, but a matter of how long it would take to do so. Anything could be brought down if you had a virtually infinite number of tries after all.
"... I stood no chance."
Cirno, however, was utterly horrified. Sure, the wish to stop her resurrection wasn't going to work, that was a fundamental part of being a fairy and required effort that was close to impossible to achieve without severing them from the source, but in that moment Cirno could feel what was done. Life wasn't nature, grass, trees, and animals are just a part of it. Nature included everything from volcanoes to water, to even stuff like light. Still, despite being a fairy of ice and fundamentally tied to water, Cirno felt what he had done in the moment she was without her body.
Living things just ceased to be in the area. Not only what the eye could see. In the air and in the ground the small organisms had died. What was worse was whatever it was, it was still lingering in the area. Trying to keep everything dead. This was her lake right now and part of it was now just a wasteland. In that moment Cirno countered it as best she could, flooding cold and ice to counter the effects and while she had succeeded in getting rid of the extremes, like the ever-present decaying effect on life, the area would never be truly repairable for years at minimum.
"What did you do," Around her body ice crystals started to form as her shock and horror were being replaced with anger and rage. A pure all-consuming rage that fairies rarely felt. "DO!"
At that, a wave of cold lashed out from her body. Cirno's hair started to spike a bit as ice literally began to consume it. There was a feeling of pain as she began to subconsciously push her powers to their limit, breaking whatever mental defense existed to protect her body from breaking down. A vortex of snow and ice formed around her completely obscuring her form. A lot of energy was built up and for many, they could almost feel the killing intent hidden behind her.
"Younger Dryas!"
In that instant, a flash of cold and ice rapidly outwards from her form. Everything it touched was frozen over. Large pillars of ice and snow ripped through the whole area. When the violent outburst was over snow started to slowly fall to the ground as if it was suddenly the middle of winter. Cirno stood there a feeling of visible exhaustion shown as her energy reserves were depleted and only now being restored by the natural energies she was tied to. It was slow and her body was numbed. A sign of the amount of power she had unleashed in an instant. All around here it was an ice and snow-covered wasteland. Large pillars of ice were shot out in all directions with various shapes. Reaching high into the air. The temperature around was forced into freezing, completely negating the warm summer air and forcing it to endure temperatures that were below zero.
Her power held on to this state before she released it. Causing the ice to dissolve and the snow to disappear into the water. The onlookers didn't fully escape unscathed either. The Floor Guardians had used everything in an instance to block the effects of the spell with a variety of successes, the Lizardmen would have just straight up been killed had Zaryusu not in a fit of instinct brought up Frost Pain which reacted to her and shielded them from the worst of it. Still, even they would have died had she not released the cold when she did.
Finally, there was her opponent. Ainz was on his knees, the Staff of Ainz Ooal Gown barely keeping him up as he watched the object he had hastily brought out burn away in front of him. It was the only reason he had survived but even still he was barely holding on to life or rather undeath.
'That…' He could feel the effort it took to not fall over. 'That had to be on par with Super Tier Magic.'
Cirno slowly walked up to him. The rules of the match still echoed a bit in her mind. Surrender or to the death. He was close to it and hadn't surrendered at all. She was probably going to have to kill him. Holding out her hand she gathered what energy she could as she prepared to unleash the finishing blow.
"I surrender."
Silence filled the area as the words left Ainz's mouth. Whatever was gathered within Cirno's hands was gone. "That means I won."
Cirno held a small celebration at the victory as she knew this meant the Lizardmen were saved. Speaking of the Lizardmen to them, the fight they had witnessed was extraordinary. Power was displayed that utterly showed how hopeless a fight against the undead leader was. Yet, even then the spirit of the lake was able to stand up before him. Even death couldn't stop her as she just kept coming back again and again. Finally, Ainz had used a power he claimed would stop her from resurrecting, and then after getting to a far-off distance that made it almost impossible to see he unleashed something that could be described as divine wrath.
With only a slight delay Cirno came back and then unleashed her own. An attack that could have killed them all. Zaryusu looked down at Frost Pain so consumed by the sudden feeling to use it to protect them, a completely foolish idea in hindsight, but he felt like he had to. The weapon had absorbed into itself most the shockwave of cold sparing every one of his kind and from the end, he now held it reforged. Molded into something that looked like a large talon in the shape of a blade.
Almost completely unwieldy by its looks though surprisingly light. It was also far more powerful than it had been before. More like it had been blessed by some being of great power, or that it had been remade by the source of what had made it. He was the only one aware of the changes as all the onlooking Lizardmen were at a loss for words at what they had just witnessed.
A battle between two foes that vastly outstripped any of them. Like something out of the legends of the other races. Sure, the Lizardmen who had traveled out into the nearby human kingdoms had returned with stories of their gods but to them, it didn't seem anything more than stories. Some more open-minded could believe that there was something there. Watching the two figures that had gone into battle made those aware and understand what the human stories had talked about.
For the Floor Guardians, there were no words that left as they watched the seemingly unstoppable fairy celebrate while Ainz struggled to stay up. They couldn't quite hear what had gone on but it wasn't hard to take a guess. "Did Lord Ainz surrender?"
Everyone who had watched moved closer as Cirno now did with the high of victory offered her hand up to help Ainz up. "Now that was the most fun I had in a month," Though hadn't forgotten the reason for why he was here, and her face gained a serious expression as she looked at her defeated foe. "Say, you won't going to kill the Lizardmen if you had won, right?"
Ainz looked at her outstretched hand as he thought carefully about how he should answer this. If she wished to kill him despite honoring the duel there was legitimately nothing Nazarick could do to defeat her. "No, I had only threatened it to bring you out."
"You caused an incident to get to me?" Back in Gensokyo such a thing never happened. Incidents usually didn't happen unless they targeted either Gensokyo as a whole or the shrine maiden. "Alright, I've decided," Her serious expression gave way to a goofy carefree smile. "You'll be my new friend!"
'... What?' He had come here effectively declaring war on her, fought a life-or-death duel, and now after winning she decided just to declare him her friend. This was just absurd to even think about.
The feeling of the Floor Guardians, when they returned to Nazarick with Ainz was one that could best be described as conflicted. On one hand, the whole invasion of the Lizardmen was technically a success. While it wasn't what they originally had expected they had brought out the being of notice from the lake. Whatever feeling of success though was crushed by the fact that Lord Ainz had lost a one-on-one duel with her. A passive that instantly resurrects you with no cost and quickly regenerates your MP? Such a thing sounded ridiculous and yet the Lady of the Lake possessed both.
Even then the feeling of defeat was mitigated by the fact that the Lady of the Lake decided that Ainz was now her friend. Nazarick failed to conquer the Lizardmen and in the end, got the ruler of the lake they lived in to effectively become their ally. Overall, this should be something of a victory even with everything that had gone on. Yet, it didn't feel like it to most of them.
"Please my great master forgive me for my utter failure!" There was also the issue of the captive that Cirno had returned to them.
Iguva was on the ground bowing and begging for forgiveness as soon as they had returned. The lich didn't even know about the fight between the Lady of the Lake and the Lord of Nazarick. All he cared about was the fact that he led an army, got captured, and was now in front of his creator.
Ainz for his part didn't really want to deal with this. "It's alright Iguva as you can guess you didn't stand a chance against Cirno," A part of him wondered why Cirno hadn't killed him given that he likely wouldn't tell her anything. "Even I can't win against endurance like hers."
Iguva seemed visibly shaken at such a thing. Such a thought of his creator failing seemed utterly impossible to think about and yet his master was implying as such. "May I ask what happened between you and Cirno?"
"I fought her and lost," It wouldn't be nor should it be a secret. "I could overpower her in terms of magical might, even killed her a few times, but her ability to always resurrect was something that I couldn't overcome."
The idea of beings out there that Ainz couldn't defeat seemed to be something that was beyond the lich's idea to process but it wasn't something that was so impossible that the Floor Guardians couldn't understand. They had overheard the Supreme Beings having failed, being defeated by other players individually, even as groups against some of the strongest beings in the nine worlds. Cirno's victory was one of pure endurance, not one of power, but even still it had to be acknowledged as a victory nonetheless.
"You may not know this but Nazarick had not always been in this world," Ainz figured that this might become a thing. Those who came over from YGGDRASIL for instance knew about the other members of Ainz Ooal Gown and that he wasn't the top dog there but the newly made summons like Iguva did not. "There I was not the strongest being around, in fact, several of my friends, the other Supreme Beings of Nazarick were my betters."
Iguva had a hard time understanding this. Yet, he only knew so little about Nazarick. Indeed he was extremely lucky that Cirno didn't just kill him. However, hearing his creator, a being he had absolute loyalty and the loyalty of other powerful beings, talk about someone being better than him was surreal. Yet, it was coming out of his mouth so it was a fact.
"How many Great One do you suspect exist in this world that can beat you?"
His words might seem a bit out of line to the others but it actually was something to think about. So far it seems that a being of interest kept turning up every now and again the more Nazarick moved into the world. It seemed as though as they stepped more and more into events more of those who could fight and threatened them became known. It was almost like they seemed to be popping into existence recently, or perhaps they had always been here?
"I do not know how many exist in the world but that is something I intend to find out."
Four and a half months. That was how long she had found herself lost in this strange new world. It was like something out of an old fantasy manga, light novel, or video game her mother once shared with her before she passed on. Finding humans in this world was strange to think about in of itself which pointed more to her being in an alternate universe over some alien planet that seemed very similar. The magic system was fundamentally different as well which furthers this point.
Speaking of humans and the fantasy world there were indeed multiple other races that inhabited the world and of course, there was something that was enviable. Some of them hated each other for a variety of reasons, jealousy, slavery, and apparently some ate each other. That last one wasn't surprising to hear given some youkai tended to do so. Which made her rather grateful for being a Magician as she really didn't need to eat humans. Not like being a Magician mattered much as she was still treated as a human anyway.
A lot of beastmen, trolls, and other things wanted to and tried to eat her. Most of them were now dead as she learned the power divide between her and them was vastly in her favor. For the most part until she ended up stumbling into a living skeleton's lair and had a fight with something that actually showed signs of being stronger than most of the others she had faced though it wasn't much.
'I really shouldn't have fought him,' Turns out whoever that was had been a subordinate of something that was far stronger, and now Renko was dealing with a small army of the undead.
"A single woman?" The leader of the undead was a tall skeleton of one of the beastmen, maybe a wolf or some kind of catman who was dressed in high-quality robes and golden jewels.
"Here I expected a group of adventurers of some kind," On one hand, it was disappointing that his original estimate was off. On the other hand, it looked like this woman was powerful enough that if he killed and raised her that he would have a powerful ally that could help him and by extension the Corpus of the Abyss.
Off to the side, the dimming orange of sunset was fading away as the darkness of night started to set in. The stars become visible overhead. Renko stared at the army in front of her and the leader wondering just how she ended up in this mess. "Can we talk this out instead of fighting?"
Renko was kind of getting annoyed by the fact that she was fighting a lot more than she usually had to. There was also the issue of just killing those who attacked her and it was getting a bit unsettling after a while. Renko was a Magician and not one of the more enthusiastic youkai at the act of killing after all.
"We'll have much to talk about once I raise your corpse!"
With that, he commanded his small force to attack while Renko raised her right hand into the air. In the sky it seemed like the stars gained various lines connecting together into magic circles. "Fine, have it your way."
Renko brought her hand down as from the bounds of the firmament meteors started to rain down on them. Many of the lesser undead were just destroyed either from direct impacts or the various shockwaves. The leader of the undead forces cursed before floating up and away as one of the stray meteorites came crashing down near him.
Looking down at the destruction the area was filled with little craters and the remains of various undead screwed around. Looking up with her black outside cape flowing with the wind revealing the bright color and various runes underneath Renko stared back at him. "Quite a show of power." It was one that did make him hesitate a bit at fighting her. "I admit I underestimated you."
She wasn't a normal human that was for sure. There was no way about it. Yet, she didn't show any signs of the use of Tier Magic. Looking through the Corpus of the Abyss members' eyes an unknown observer watched as the woman engaged in battle with him. As the fight went on, well it was more her having the clear edge while the Corpus member was immediately on the defensive, it was more apparent that she wasn't using Tier Magic, Martial Arts, Wild Magic, or anything more but an unknown form of magic.
Finally, with a blast of energy, the feed was cut off as the Corpus member had been killed. 'Just what has the Dragon Emperor's actions brought to this world this time?!'
There was no other way to his knowledge for her to be anything else but another invader brought in by that old fool's ritual. The Players had been bad enough especially with what they had done to the world and now something else had ended up in the world around the same time that the next Player could show up. Around the same time that for a brief moment, Wild Magic had been freed from its corruption by Tier Magic.
"Wait, does she have a hand in that?"
Could it be that her magic was the key to freeing Wild Magic from the corruption imposed on it by Tier Magic? If he could get his hands on some of it then that could mean he could use Wild Magic without the drawbacks. Combining it with the Tier Magic he had, rather begrudgingly at first, mastered alongside this third magic would make him unstable. With that he could take over the world and ensure that every new Player who comes to this world ends up dead and raised to serve him. A laugh could be heard as the plan came together.
Cure Elim Los Malvar, leader of the Corpus of the Abyss, couldn't wait to meet this woman face to face.
"So, you need to get to Gensokyo and you want to use the doorway that is connected to my lake?" Vivian looked at the three of them, well more at Myrddin, as she thought about their request. Truthfully, she almost forgot that her lake had been made a backdoor for the half-devil to get to that little artificial realm in the Far East. "Alright, but you know the rules you have to beat me in a duel!"
"I don't think that's necessary."
Vivian looked at him in confusion. "What are you talking about, you have Durendal with you!"
She motioned to the sword in his hands. It was his favorite, and the one one he practiced with the most, weapon after all. "You do know that I haven't been to Gensokyo in like fifty years, this is more for my personal defense."
"Gensokyo has moved on to a non-lethal method since the last time you were there," Myrddin turned as Ran cut into this.
"Huh," Myrddin stared at her but Ran got the feeling he wasn't staring at her but at something tied to her. "So, the current Hakuri came up with a less life-threatening method to solve her issues and Yukari ended up conspiring with Sigurd's descendant to popularize it."
In his hands magic gathered as he attempted to make his own card based on how he had seen Ran make her own after Yukari explained it. After a few seconds, the gathered energy took the form of a glowing card. Myrddin looked at it for a few moments as he started to think about what this actually could mean. It was a way to bypass the need to directly eat humans, something that was sorely needed for a few of the youkai still hidden in the Outside World and those within other refuges beyond Gensokyo.
'I am surprised that Yukari hasn't offered this to New Jotunheim as a means to secure Gensokyo's interests with its western counterpart,' Well, if she wouldn't he could. Although, he didn't rule out if she wasn't aware that might be a possibility had he visited Gensokyo again. 'Probably intended to spring it on me after a few rounds of testing.'
Whatever the case there was something else to worry about. The card returned to its creator. "Back on track I kind of foresaw I wouldn't have to and I am taking a hunch that it has something to do with the two of them."
Myrddin motioned to Ran and Chen who Vivian only now took a moment to properly take a look at. "A two-tail cat and a nine-tailed fox?" She seemed for a second to be in thought as she tried to remember something. "You're that Dark Lady's servants?"
"...Yes."
"Alright, so why does Myrddin think you will just let me open up the pathway from my lake?"
"Maybe because you look like a fairy back in Gensokyo named Cirno," Chen was confused by this whole thing but figured it had something to do with that.
Vivian blinked at this. A fairy that looked like her? "Cirno, is she a fairy tied to the lake on the other end of that passageway, also how old is she?"
"She showed up in Gensokyo about eighty years ago," Ran recalled when she first showed up in the middle of a rather harsh few days in the middle of winter which was brought on by the lake. "As for where she is tied to it is the misty lake, as she seems to have control over the lesser fairies in the area."
There was a pause for a few seconds as Vivian processed this. She turned to Myrddin, her face red with a mix of emotions but luckily she knew were to vent one of them. "MYRDDIN YOU LEFT ME WITH A DAUGHTER!"
Well, this took longer then I had liked to finish. Well, that and it kind of had to be rewritten in a few places. Choosing not to use Spell Cards was a mistake.