Towa could not help but laugh when she heard Nomura and Arata's words. It was not a loud or exaggerated laugh, but a soft, almost mocking one, as if what they had just said was so absurd that it did not even deserve a serious response.
Her eyes, however, did not share that lightness; in them there was something deeper, something that did not quite fit with the carefreeness of her smile.
—So you two are saying that I am a demon… or rather, a monster —she murmured with an unsettling calm, tilting her head slightly—. Then, from now on… I will be a monster.
The air changed.
It was not something visible, there was no wind or immediate explosion of energy, but both Nomura and Arata felt how their bodies reacted by instinct.
Their muscles tensed, their breathing became slower and more measured, and their hands positioned themselves naturally on their weapons.
It was not fear they felt, but the certainty that, in any second, that situation would go from words to death.
—If you are not a demon… then, what are you? —asked Nomura, narrowing his eyes—. An angel… or a god?
Towa looked at him for barely an instant, as if that question were irrelevant.
—I am nothing —she responded with indifference—. And I will not be anyone in this world either. I only seek… to fight with someone strong.
Without further ado, she let the wine bottle she was holding fall. The glass shattered upon impacting the ground covered in corpses, but that sound was overshadowed by the slight whisper of steel leaving its sheath.
Her sword appeared in her right hand with natural fluidity, as if it had always been there, and pointed directly at Nomura.
He did not take long to respond.
With a single movement, he unsheathed his own sword, revealing a hilt that seemed made of intertwined bones, perfectly molded to fit his hand.
It was an unsettling weapon, but also elegant in its design, as if death itself had been carved to serve him.
Both stared at each other fixedly, without moving.
Towa, in contrast to the tension of the moment, continued holding a cup in her left hand, bringing it to her lips with total tranquility. She drank as if there were no tomorrow, as if that battle were nothing more than a passing entertainment.
—Stop playing games!
Arata's shout broke the silence.
His spear lunged forward in an instant, straight at Towa's chest, with a precision and speed that would have pierced any unsuspecting enemy.
However, she reacted almost by reflex, moving her sword just enough to deflect the attack. The metallic clash echoed across the battlefield, and the spear deviated only a few centimeters, enough to avoid the impact.
That was enough to show that she was not weak.
And also that, even if it didn't seem like it, she was taking the fight seriously.
—Ahh… you two are going to give me a headache… —she murmured.
In the next blink, she disappeared.
There was no transition or previous indication. She simply stopped being there, and an instant later she appeared behind Arata, giving him her back with an almost insulting carefreeness.
—You are slow…
Her sword descended toward him with the intention of cutting him, but Arata reacted in time. He spun his body and, instead of blocking with his weapon, used his elbow to strike Towa's wrist.
The impact was dry and precise, destabilizing her enough to make her sword slip from her hand.
The weapon fell to the ground.
—Looks like you don't have a good grip —commented Arata with a slight smile, retreating toward where Nomura was.
For a fraction of a second, everything seemed to stop.
The cup that Towa was holding fell to the ground.
But before it broke…
It disappeared.
Her sword also disappeared.
And she… also.
Then, as if the world had decided to restart at that instant, Towa appeared in front of them.
She did not walk. She did not jump. She left no trace.
She was simply there.
Nomura and Arata reacted at the same time, attacking without the need for words.
The spear and the sword moved in perfect synchrony, seeking different angles, different openings, but Towa responded to both attacks with a speed that bordered on the absurd.
Her sword reappeared in her hand as if she had never let it go, and the clash of weapons began to echo across the entire field.
Steel against steel.
Sparks in the air.
Impacts that followed without pause.
—Rain of fragments.
Arata's tone changed when he pronounced those words.
For a brief instant, he diverted his weapon, and that was enough.
From the ground, small bone fragments began to emerge, spreading like a silent plague.
They were not large or flashy, but there were too many… and they appeared too quickly.
It was a dangerous skill.
And rare.
Towa knew it the instant she saw them.
The memories of the original owner of the body reacted before she herself did, transmitting the necessary information to her.
That technique was not something Arata used often, and those who had seen it in action… normally did not live to tell about it.
That was why, as soon as she noticed the ground covered in bones, she stopped.
Nomura and Arata noticed it.
And they were surprised.
Not because she had stopped, but because she had recognized the skill.
The three stood face to face, motionless, observing each other.
The air was heavy.
Their bodies were tense, prepared to move at any instant, but none of them did. It was a moment of waiting, of analysis, where a single mistake could mean the end.
And then…
Towa's body began to glow.
A golden light completely enveloped her, covering her until it erased her silhouette. It was not an aggressive or chaotic glow, but something purer, more… absolute.
Her figure remained frozen in the position she was in, as if time had stopped for her.
—But what the hell is happening… —murmured Nomura, unable to look away.
The light intensified.
And then…
It shattered.
As if it were crystal.
Golden fragments scattered into the air, falling slowly around Towa. Small bright pieces that disappeared before touching the ground, as if they had never existed.
When the light completely dissipated…
She had changed.
Her clothing was no longer the same.
Her presence… neither.
A small smile appeared on her face, but this time it had nothing mocking about it. It was calm, confident… and completely different.
—I have awakened… now I have control…
Her voice was low, almost a whisper.
Until that moment, she had been limited. The body she inhabited did not fully belong to her, and her control over it had been imperfect, fragmented.
It was like trying to move a body that was not hers, depending on someone else's memories, on a memory that did not fully respond to her.
But that had ended.
Now… it was hers.
Completely.
Her magical aura surged.
It was not a gradual increase, but a contained explosion. The energy emanating from her became denser, heavier, as if space itself was affected by her presence.
Nomura and Arata did not fall behind.
Both released their own energy at the same time, responding to the change without the need for words. They knew what was coming. They felt it.
The silence broke in an instant.
—Alternate dimension.
The three spoke in unison.
—Throne of the Dragon God.
—The Ossuary of the Eras.
—Reflection of Genesis.
The words resonated with force.
And the world… fractured.
The dimensions expanded.
Three different realities collided with each other, overlapping, fighting to dominate the space. The terrain, the sky, the air… everything began to distort, as if reality could no longer sustain so many existences at the same time.
In an approximate radius of 350 square kilometers, everything was trapped.
There was no escape.
There was no refuge.
Only a field where three absolute wills faced each other, where each one tried to impose their world on the others, where the slightest advantage could tip the balance.
And in the middle of all that…
Towa smiled.
Because, for the first time since she had arrived in that world…
She felt that she was about to find what she had been searching for so much.