Priya's Godsfall erupted in streaming lines of pink. They curved through the air as though meteors connecting the stars above, but the ravaged one-office-building was nowhere near as scenic.
Belladoll reacted quickly. Tapping a foot, she unfurled her umbrella and dragged it across the wind. As though using the momentum of the air for an updraft, she soared up and out of the range of Priya's attack.
For a moment, she seemed to levitate in the air. However, Priya could feel that it was little more than illusion. Soon, she would come crashing down.
The pink diamond umbrella snapped closed and Belladoll began to plummet from above, but not before she sent a streaking line of pink Godsfall right at Priya.
However, to Belladoll's shock, Priya had already closed her eyes as though she didn't need to see what was happening anymore. The little princess, as Belladoll called her, stood with a calm fierceness to her, striking out a palm toward the coming beam of light.
\\[Fallen Cradle] activated, forming a condensed shield of transparent pink that almost looked fragile to the touch, as though even the slightest gust of wind could blow it over.
But the moment it touched, Belladoll's attack scattered like light through a prism—dissipating, weakening, and then suddenly vanishing.
Priya twisted her wrist and clenched a fist, the shield collapsing into an even more concentrated line as she punched out.
The location? Right where Belladoll was falling.
The logic was sound. Belladoll didn't have a flying Talent, so her ability to control herself in the air was limited. If she was falling like that, her landing location was predictable.
At least, that should have been the case if Belladoll didn't suddenly come to a stop in the air, a platform of pink diamond flickering beneath the tips of her toes.
She stood in the air just like that, dodging Priya's attack.
"Do you think dealing with me would be that easy? I'd like to see just how much Godsfall the little princess could possibly have." Belladoll sneered, her umbrella snapping open again and beginning to twirl in her hands.
Godsfall accumulated from the surroundings, being pulled into the umbrella in concentrated lines that refracted and bounced within the sparkling pink crystals. It was a sight just as beautiful as it was deadly.
Priya might have her little Skill and her little Talent, but Belladoll's Armament more than covered for that gap in overall potential, and then some.
Priya could passively absorb Godsfall? Well, Belladoll's Armament could actively suppress the Godsfall in the atmosphere by taking it herself first.
Priya could concentrate Godsfall into a higher density? Well, Belladoll's pink diamond umbrella Armament could do the same at little cost to herself.
To come here to fight her alone was the pinnacle of arrogance and the pinnacle of foolishness.
"Die!" Belladoll roared.
A guillotine formed from the skies. What looked like it would have been another beam of light forming from the tip of the umbrella instead became a blade from above.
Priya would have been taken aback if her eyes weren't closed, but she had already sensed this ability of Belladoll's long ago.
Belladoll's refraction ability was more complicated than \\[Fallen Cradle]. Though it could concentrate Godsfall just like \\[Fallen Cradle], it truly treated Godsfall itself like light. And much like light, it was capable of bouncing it off of mirrors and misdirecting it with ease.
The strongest capability of Belladoll's Talent wasn't just in its ability to increase the density, piercing, and defensive capability of Godsfall, but also in the fact she was especially adept at projecting her Godsfall to manifest its effects from a distance.
Just like in this moment where it seemed her attack would come from the tip of her umbrella…
But instead formed a heavy blade falling from above Priya's head.
Unfortunately for Belladoll, though…
Priya's sensitivity to Godsfall was far too strong. She closed her eyes this time not because she needed to concentrate more to feel the subtleties, but instead not to let her eyes weigh her down.
She wasn't a fool. She knew that her greatest weakness in this battle wasn't her actual power. With her improvement speed, even if one accounted for Belladoll's Armament, Priya wasn't very far behind at all. If anything, her power was already firmly within the C Class.
She knew her eyes could easily be fooled, and it wasn't easy to override almost two decades of instinct in just a single month.
So she took this approach instead.
While Belladoll thought that she got Priya, Priya was instead focused on the task at hand. She knew that with how unstable Belladoll was right now, this was the best opportunity.
While she had yet to put two and two together, while she had yet to grasp just how much Priya already understood about her Godsfall…
It was the perfect chance to strike.
One shot.
One kill.
The guillotine fell from above, moving with shocking pace and practically splitting the world in two. But at that instant, the concentrated explosion of Godsfall that Priya had sent earlier suddenly shifted.
Belladoll still hovered right above it, concentrating her power into this trick to kill Priya in a single go.
But just as Belladoll was about to celebrate her victory, her expression changed, and her gaze shot beneath her feet.
Unfortunately for her, it was too late.
The guillotine that had just been falling for Priya flickered out of existence, appearing beneath Belladoll and shooting upward with the same speed it had just had falling downward.
Chi.
The first thing to go was Belladoll's platform.
"NO!"
And then came the scream and desperation.
Sssss.
Finally, there was the sickening sound of flesh being torn in two.
Belladoll was bisected down the length of both of her ears, down through her shoulders, chest, and hips.
Her attack power and that of Priya's fused into one, and for a moment she stood there, falling, intact and whole…
Until she hit the ground in a crumbling mess.
Priya finally opened her eyes, a dense coldness within them.