From afar, Ava watched it all unfold.
Then he turned his head.
Another battle demanded his attention.
Beside Demeter stood two teammates from Team Shadow. The three of them were back to back, surrounded on all sides by Xiuhtecuhtli Warriors.
On Demeter's right stood Vesperin.
Gray eyes. Long, spiked hair. His armor was black, gray, and dark red, mostly cloth rather than plate, built for smooth, lethal movement. Black-and-gray shadow energy coiled tightly around his body, seeping from him like a living presence rather than a glow.
Two blades were crossed behind his back. Twin shadow-forged short swords, slightly curved and narrow, designed for speed and precision rather than brute force. Their edges drank in the light.
Known as the Umbral Twins, the blades were called Noctis and Ashveil.
A scarf masked part of his face, fluttering slightly as he breathed.
On Demeter's left stood Umbryx.
Black and blue cloth armor layered with minimal plating, built for mobility rather than defense. Gun holsters lined his sides, with a rifle strapped across his back. In his hands rested two pistols, one glowing blue, the other black as night.
Blue, mechanical-arcane energy hummed around him in precise patterns, sigils and lines forming and collapsing like shifting circuitry. Beneath it, black-and-gray shadow energy lingered close to his body, heavy and restrained, waiting to be unleashed.
One of his eyes burned blue, not organic but active, scanning the battlefield. Runes and targeting glyphs flickered within it as it tracked movement, distances, and threats in real time. His other eye remained black and unblinking.
His hair was short, spiked, and sharp like his stare.
Demeter glanced at them both and smirked.
"I like the way you two fight," she said. "No mercy."
Vesperin answered calmly, never taking his eyes off the enemy.
"All thanks to my older brother. Vesperos. Leader of our team."
Umbryx let out a dry laugh.
"Yeah. Your brother taught me a lot. Especially how many times he saved my life in the dungeons."
Demeter's expression hardened.
"Let's not talk about death," she said. "Let's talk about victory."
She lifted her gaze toward the soldiers closing in.
"All hail the gods."
But her thoughts betrayed her words.
I need to win. I need to survive, because I need answers.
I need to find her, the Outer God who called herself The Morrígan, the Phantom Queen, and learn whether what she told me was the truth.
The truth about my family. About my past.
About Zeus.
Her grip tightened.
First, we have to find the crystal in this Hyperverse and defeat this army.
These people are ruthless.
Demeter stepped forward.
"Enough talking," she said. "Charge."
She leapt from the circle, striking first.
Vesperin and Umbryx exchanged a single glance.
Then they followed.
Together, they charged.
Demeter rushed straight into the Xiuhcan Hearthguard, the front lines of the enemy formation. Their obsidian-and-basalt armor glowed with contained flame as they advanced.
She moved first.
Blazing strikes tore through the air as she dodged between them, her fists crashing into armored chests and helms. Each punch sent warriors flying, bodies colliding midair before slamming into the ground. When her feet struck the earth, the impact fractured the battlefield. Shockwaves rippled outward, raising jagged ridges and small mountains in her wake.
The ground split as she surged forward, hurling soldiers aside like debris.
Reinforcements followed immediately.
The Xiuhcoatl Sentinels, the Fire Serpent Guard, launched themselves into the air. Blades screamed as they cut through the sky, trails of flame and serpent-shaped magic surging toward her.
Demeter dodged every slash.
She moved at immeasurable speeds, her magic gripping the earth beneath her feet. The terrain shifted in response, stone rising and folding, propelling her faster with every step.
The Sentinels chased her relentlessly.
Then she stopped.
Demeter planted her feet.
The earth roared.
A massive fist of stone and compressed terrain formed beside her, wrapped in her energy. As she threw her punch, the Earth Fist surged forward, smashing into the airborne Sentinels.
The impact detonated.
A massive explosion blossomed across the sky, perfectly contained, its force folded inward by the Gentle Fist technique. Nothing escaped its boundary except silence and falling debris.
Before she could move again, pain lanced through her arms.
A whip of fire snapped around her right wrist. Another wrapped her left.
Her body lifted off the ground.
Demeter twisted, eyes widening.
Behind her hovered dozens of Xiuhcan Tlamacazqui, all floating, all chanting in unison. Fire magic burned in their hands as spectral chains of heat bound her limbs.
She screamed as the whips burned into her skin, lash after lash striking her body.
Then something felt wrong.
"What's happening?" she gasped. "My body…"
The chanting deepened.
Her soul began to slip.
Demeter's movements slowed as her form grew weak, her spirit rising inch by inch from her body. The world dulled. Gravity loosened its grip.
With sheer will, she clenched her fist.
"Dimension Ascension," she whispered.
Power surged.
Her hands ignited with dimensional energy as she tore herself free of the burning whips. Reaching outward, she seized her own soul and forced it back into her body before it could fully separate.
She hovered in the air, eyes blazing, breath heavy as the strain set in. Dimension Ascension deactivated, the technique consuming immense energy the moment it released.
The Tlamacazqui reacted at once, hurling fire whips and condensed spheres of magic toward her.
Demeter raised her hand.
Her grimoire burst open beside her, radiating golden light as ancient runes poured from its pages and spun through the air.
"Kresh'Tal."
The grimoire flashed, then vanished.
In its place, a sacred spear formed in her grasp, glowing like sunlight on polished stone.
It was the Golden Underworld , radiant and heavy with authority, its light washing across the battlefield.
Clutching her spirit tightly, she hurled it forward.
A portal opened behind it.
Then another.
And another.
An infinite cascade of staffs erupted from the portals, stabbing through the ranks of airborne warriors. As long as the portals remained open, the assault did not stop. The sky became a storm of descending weapons.
As the spell continued, several other students appeared in front of her, weapons ready.
"Well done," one of them said as they entered the fray.
Demeter nodded, gripping her staff and charging back into the fight.
Midway through the clash, she felt a surge of heat racing toward her.
She turned just in time.
A jet of steaming, magically charged water tore through the battlefield, slicing through enemies and allies alike.
Her eyes locked onto its source.
In the distance stood the Xiuhcan Flame Lords.
Multiple commanders directed the battlefield, but two stood apart.
One of them stepped forward.
She wore pink kaiju feathers draped around her body, ceremonial and predatory all at once. Beside her loomed a massive pink axolotl, its form shimmering before collapsing inward, reshaping itself into a blade that snapped cleanly into her grasp.
Demeter smiled.
"So those are the leaders."
Before she could move again, the pink-clad Flame Lord charged.
Her blade cut through the air.
Demeter raised her staff.
The weapons collided, and a shockwave ripped across the battlefield, shattering stone and hurling debris in every direction.
The Flame Lord forced herself forward through the impact.
"I am Montezuma," she declared, her voice burning with authority. "Your campaign is useless. You will die here. You will not conquer our land. Our gods grant us grace, and we will feed you to the great fire-beast Quetzalcoatl. Sacrifices have weight. They are the price of survival."
Demeter snarled, bracing against the clash.
"You're not sacrificing me," she said. "And you're doing nothing."
Their weapons locked, sparks and steam erupting where magic collided. Then the force exploded outward, sending both of them flying in opposite directions.
They landed, eyes locked.
Demeter moved first.
She hurled her staff forward.
Portals tore open in the air behind it. An infinite storm of staffs surged through, stabbing forward in relentless waves.
Montezuma laughed softly.
"What happens," she asked calmly, "when the heat rises?"
She retreated backward at immeasurable speeds as her blade dissolved into liquid light, transforming back into its true form.
A massive axolotl beast emerged, its body glowing pink and radiant with power.
Its mouth opened wide.
A sphere of extremely hot, magically charged water formed within its maw, burning not only flesh but the soul itself. It was known as Temazcalli.
The sphere fired.
The moment it touched the incoming staffs, they began to melt.
The steam was scalding, reality-warping hot. Weapons dissolved midair as the blast ripped forward, burning through space itself.
Montezuma smiled as she watched the storm of blades vanish.
Her body shifted.
She shifted into Temāzcalli, a sacred state of living steam and superheated water, and surged forward without hesitation.
She reformed mid-strike.
Her fist slammed into Demeter's face.
Demeter was sent crashing to the ground, her skin burning where the blow landed. The impact disrupted her focus, and the portals snapped shut.
She rolled, coughing, eyes snapping upward as a tidal surge of boiling steam rushed toward her.
She slammed her foot down.
The earth answered.
A massive wall of stone erupted in front of her, absorbing the blast. The barrier hissed and cracked as the heat ate away at it, breaking piece by piece.
Before it could fully collapse, Demeter reached out.
Her staff tore itself back into her hand.
She poured everything into it.
With a roar, she hurled it forward just as the wall shattered.
The surging water wave collided with the staff.
This time, the staff did not yield.
It tore straight through the steam, cutting its way forward until it struck the axolotl beast directly.
The creature shattered, collapsing back into a blade that clattered through the air.
Montezuma appeared in front of Demeter, floating, her sword snapping back into her hand. Her body was still partially transformed, steam rolling off her skin.
She smiled.
"Impressive," she admitted. "You're strong. But you will still lose here."
She leaned forward.
Then charged.
Demeter caught her staff and planted her feet.
"No one's losing," she said.
She surged forward to meet her.
Steel met force as their weapons clashed, slicing back and forth in rapid succession. Sparks and energy tore through the air with every strike. Montezuma smiled as she matched Demeter blow for blow.
"You're strong, warrior," Montezuma said calmly, her blade dancing. "Who is your god? Who made you?"
Demeter absorbed a strike, twisted, and returned it without hesitation.
"I don't have a god."
Montezuma laughed softly.
"Gods, origins, creators. We all come from something," she said. "And we all have endings."
Her body shifted mid-motion.
"I will be yours."
She transformed into Temāzcalli once more, living steam and superheated magical water, her sword still clenched in her hand as she rushed forward.
Demeter struck.
Her staff passed straight through Montezuma's Temāzcalli form.
The water closed around Demeter instantly.
She was dragged inside a prison of boiling, magically charged liquid. Her skin burned as the heat attacked both body and soul. Steam screamed around her as Montezuma's laughter echoed from every direction within the liquid.
The blade moved inside the water.
Strike after strike.
Demeter forced her body to move as her flesh began to blister and melt, blocking the sword again and again. The weapon sliced through the steaming prison repeatedly, never stopping.
Inside her mind, panic crept in.
I can't keep this up.
I'm using my magic just to keep this water from killing me.
I can't hold it much longer.
If I use that technique again… I could be completely drained.
Her jaw clenched.
Then she acted.
Earth surged upward at her command.
Demeter invoked her earth magic, a focused spell ripping stone and soil free from the ground. The earth rose and sealed itself to her skin in thick, layered plates. Rock and soil fused into living armor, shielding her flesh from the boiling water.
The magic did more than protect her.
As the stone pressed against her body, the earth's energy flowed into her wounds. Blisters faded. Burned skin knit itself back together. The pain dulled as the natural force restored what the heat had tried to destroy.
Encased in earth, Demeter stood firm within the scalding prison, renewed just enough to keep fighting.
Her eyes ignited.
"Dimension Ascension."
Her essence spread outward.
The space inside the water prison vibrated, ricocheted, warped. The liquid shuddered as Demeter reached out and grabbed it.
The water became solid in her grasp.
Montezuma's voice echoed, sharp with disbelief.
"Impossible. How are you grabbing me?"
Demeter twisted her hands, seizing the Temāzcalli form like a physical mass. The water spiraled violently, forming a raging vortex as she slammed Montezuma through it.
The transformation shattered.
Montezuma reformed into her physical body, sword still in hand, staggering, dazed.
Dimension Ascension collapsed.
Demeter didn't hesitate.
She charged.
Her staff swung forward and drove straight into Montezuma's chest, piercing her heart and ripping through her soul.
Blood spilled from Montezuma's mouth as her body trembled.
"You are…" she coughed, smiling faintly. "A true warrior."
She fell.
Demeter stood over her, breathing hard, exhaustion weighing down every limb. Dimension Ascension had taken its toll.
Then more soldiers poured in.
Demeter bit down on her lip, tightened her grip on the staff, and charged once more.
But just beside her, another battle was already reaching its peak.
Vesperin and Umbryx.