Nyserra's eyes sparkled, highlighting their magenta colouring shining through the darkness. Her face uplifted with ecstasy, a charming smile growing across her whole face.
Without saying anything more, I burst from the ground, slashing outwards in a cross pattern with both longswords. I closed the gap in a mere second.
Nyserra's fan turned pure black, shrouded in darkness; she easily parried my first longsword. As soon as my mind saw the troubling weapon, I shrank the longsword down, slipping past her fan and slicing her cheek.
It wasn't long enough to pierce all the way through her skull, just barely scratching her skin.
I created two light platforms down on my feet, using them as leverage, and leaped backwards, evading her counterattack, the front of her fan morphing into many dagger-like blades.
Nyserra wiped the trace of blood off her face. The cut swiftly healed, and as it did, Nyserra licked the blood of her finger.
"No wonder Lady War is interested in you. You are interesting, I've never seen an angel use light so effortlessly without the aid of their edict."
"Thank you. My heart aches with each beautiful word." I said sarcastically.
Despite my taunts, Nyserra's face didn't even move. It seemed no matter how much flattery I used, it would never work to my advantage. But that didn't mean I'd stop.
"Ahh, what a lovely thing to say."
Just as Nyserra's lips closed, I felt another surge of danger coming from behind me. I created a small barrier of light, but it swiftly shattered. I was caught off guard, so I didn't react well to the black spike appearing out of the darkness, which slashed my uniform.
A small sliver of pain came from my side before it disappeared. I'd been cut by the spike, but my healing factor swiftly closed the cut.
"Hm. Shadows, then? Any shadow on the battlefield is yours to control, how troublesome."
"Yeah. It's quite a dangerous situation for anyone to be in. Although that attack usually ends the fight in a single blow every single time, you came off with a mere scratch."
"I could say the same to you."
"Ugh, shadows. Perhaps I could have come during the day, how annoying."
Nyserra closed her fan, sending a thunderous clap throughout the streets.
From the little demonstration of Nyserra's power, it wouldn't be easy to defeat her. In the presence of darkness, she was practically absolute.
Nyserra raised her fan, opening it once again, and a flurry of spikes shot from the shadows, all closing in on my position.
It was obvious what she was trying to do if I stayed put. I'd be swallowed and impaled by a sea of spikes. No matter how much I was enjoying this fight, I didn't wish to become a scarecrow for the locals.
Just before I flashstepped away from danger, I created a stronger barrier, putting most of my strength into it, but it still crumbled anyway.
I knew my weakness was defense; I couldn't replicate my strength in offense when defending. It just wasn't possible; my power was meant for destruction.
It was the power of a sovereign, not someone who shields the weak. Despite my wish to protect the people of Order, I wouldn't be able to personally act out that wish.
If I wanted to protect, then I'd have to kill to see my vision enacted.
I flashstepped right behind Nyserra, slashing at the nape of her neck, but as my longsword impacted with her, it was undone, bursting into wisps.
As I leaped backwards, I caught a glimpse of a collection of swirling darkness on the back of her neck.
We were at least ten meters away from each other despite my earlier attack on her life; she didn't react or even signal for a counterattack.
"Hm, you are no wingless. Lady War was correct in that assessment. I've never seen any wingless flashstep before, not even the ones that are considered 'strong'."
"There is no need for flattery, I'm not into devils."
"That's a shame."
Nyserra's smile briefly turned into a frown before it returned, a string of chuckles escaping her mouth. Her eyes were filled with joy; she was clearly enjoying this fight as much as I was.
"Shadows are quite the formidable force. I congratulate you on your power, but I'm afraid I must strip it away."
I commanded the spheres of light dotted around the area to morph into beams and blast directly at Nyserra. Raising my hand, I sent my own beam of light channeling twice the strength into it when compared to the others.
They all swiftly converged on Nyserra's body, creating a blinding flash of light. Despite the flash, I was unaffected; my own light didn't affect my eyes. Due to this, I saw Nyserra move in one fluid motion, splitting all the beams of light into two.
The twelve beams' direction was interrupted, their attacks impacting and scorching the grass below.
Nyserra was completely unblemished, not even her dress was affected by my attack.
"Come on, Evernight. You'll have to do better than that. Stop using weak spells, it's boring."
I wasn't using anything powerful, so I could avoid being noticed by the surrounding civilians. It wouldn't be beneficial if Ickni knew of my movement, she'd most definitely ask me a sea of questions if I were discovered.
But it seemed that Nyserra wasn't an opponent I could defeat without the aid of my more catastrophic spells.
"In the shadows, you are practically invulnerable to attacks, right?"
"Mhm. But it's not absolute; I can only block attacks that are below my power at my peak. If anything exceeds that, I'll be hurt, but my shadows will take most of the damage."
"Why tell me that? You've just revealed your weakness."
"You would have found it out eventually. It's of no real penalty telling you now, I can see that everything you've thrown at me has been a test of mine and your power."
"Pretty much. I'm just curious about any new power I find."
"The attitude of a child. But I suppose I can't blame you, this world is sort of interesting."
Her assessment wasn't exactly wrong in the eyes of many on Earth, I would still be a child being eighteen. And I suppose I'd be something close to an ant in this world where aeonic beings exist.
Clasping my hands together, dismissing the remaining longsword, I raised myself into the air, preparing the quickest way to end this conflict in my mind.
Nyserra's smile brightened, shifting into an offensive posture, her fan twirling in her hands, opening and closing rapidly.
"Edict of Light, Artificial Sun," I shouted.
A gigantic ball of pure light reared out of the darkness, spreading its immense beams across the whole slum, plunging the city into a sea of light. Destroying every single trace of a shadow in the surrounding area.
Nyserra's face twisted with surprise, then changed into blatant admiration. Whatever she was chanting swiftly came to an end in the presence of overwhelming light. Her power wouldn't be able to rival my own without the night's embrace; her power was greatly decreased.
Due to the artificial sun's positioning, not even a single shadow remained, not even her own.
"Artificial Sun! Morph and Converge, Orbliterate!" I declared.
My sun's surface swelled before bursting, unleashing a devastating, colossal beam of pure light, swallowing Nyserra whole, unlike the other light. I couldn't see through this volume of light.
The beam eventually dissipated, and I stumbled backwards, a piercing headache appearing in the absence of the massive amount of energy I had used.
In front of me stood a scorched and barren land, no longer resembling anything close to a residential area. Luckily enough, my beam hadn't pierced the ground, so everything below was unscathed, but I couldn't say the same for the rest of the surrounding land.
I'd definitely get shouted at for this.
Nyserra stood in the middle of the impact. She seemed to be breathing. Her dress was flayed, and burns littered her exposed skin. Despite the monstrous attack, it seemed her shadows had saved her just as she had said.
She bent backwards, a flurry of graceful laughter polluting the silence. She flicked herself back up and locked eyes directly with me.
"Ahaha! I knew it, you are no wingless! That was amazing. I've never tasted such pain before. If you'd put all your strength into that, I'd be a pile of ashes!"
Even if I wanted to put all my strength into the sun, I wouldn't be able to. I had to find and recover Lilia's parents. I wouldn't allow their corpses to be burned to ashes.
"Oh, how I love the taste of defeat! It's amazing, I hope you'll give me another taste sometime!" exclaimed Nyserra.
"Uhh, yeah sure."
Nyserra pulled out a familiar device, pressing its surface, a crimson light appeared, overshadowing the surrounding darkness. A shimmering crimson portal appeared behind Nyserra.
"Bye-bye, Evernight."
Nyserra stepped into the crimson portal, leaving me alone. The portal swiftly closed behind her; there was no way I'd be able to slip through even if I wanted to.
I walked towards the basement door, throwing it open and meeting the scarlet eyes of Morgrave.