Prior to the Carmen’s engagement with Trevor, Zalthia and Claudia were deep in combat, trading blow after powerful blow. Claudia made quick work of Zalthia’s clones, sidestepping and dodging their attacks effortlessly as she dispatched them with precise swipes of her claymore. Even though Zalthia and her scythe wielding entourage were attacking from all directions, Claudia was completely unfazed.

  Claudia eventually aimed her palm at the ground and suddenly, multiple stone pillars burst from the dirt below. The pillars fired upwards and quickly defeated two of Zalthia’s clones, piercing them before they could dodge in time. Zalthia, as well as her seven remaining clones, landed a short distance away and took a moment to assess the situation. Despite her many skillful advances, Claudia was proving quite difficult to deal with. Her skills in earth manipulation, in many ways, were completely countering Zalthia.

  “This is disappointing Zalthia. I honestly thought you'd be more of a challenge now, seeing as how everyone wouldn’t shut up about you. Scarlet Reaper this, Scarlet Reaper that, you’re still a joke to be honest…” Claudia coldly said, hardly breaking a sweat against Zalthia’s assault.

  “Hmph, you seem jealous that more people are aware of me than they are of you. I see you’re still just as shallow as ever.” Zalthia quipped back as she skillfully twirled her scythe around.

  “Jealous? Please… Why would I be jealous of a girl that’s too scared to use her own Manifest? If everyone knew how many times I’ve humiliated you in battle, you wouldn’t be so famous.”

  Claudia sent a cheeky smirk as she pressed her blade into the ground, resting her hands on the hilt.

  “Tch. You really do like dwelling on the past huh? How about you focus on the battle happening right now.”

  Zalthia gave a deep, red eyed glare as she struggled to come up with a better rebuttal, feeling small traces of truth behind Claudia’s words.

  “Why wouldn’t I dwell on it? We’ve fought what? Eight times now? And you’ve yet to truly make me work for it. If you don’t want the past to repeat itself, then stop insulting me by not using your Manifest!”

  Claudia forcibly stabbed Titan’s Ward into the ground and the entire area began to shake violently. Zalthia and her clones were knocked off their feet as they watched a large golem materialize from the dirt behind Claudia.

  “We’ve been over this already! You don’t want to fight my Manifest, Claudia. Trust me, I can deal with you without it!”

  Zalthia quickly got to her feet and dashed towards Claudia, her clones mimicking her every move. Claudia frowned, prompting her golem to punch into the ground. The force alone set off a massive explosion of rocks and debris. Zalthia’s clones emerged from the dust and they began attacking the golem, keeping it busy while she fought with Claudia.

  Zalthia slashed and twirled her scythe around masterfully, each movement appearing as a metallic blur. Her barrage was heavy and quick, but to her surprise, she was being matched one for one by Claudia. Even though Claudia’s Manifest looked quite unwieldy, she effortlessly swung the large blade with great speed. They continued to go blow for blow, dancing around the battlefield with great focus and flawless execution on both sides.

  “Ah, so it seems you’ve improved at least a little bit. This is much more like it! Now show me why you put so much ‘fear’ into people!” Claudia said with a smirk, increasing her Core Energy to new levels.

  She exerted her power and sent Zalthia backwards, leaving her wide open for an attack. Zalthia grimaced from the blow and looked down to see Claudia already in front of her, ready to continue her assault. Just as Claudia thrust her sword into Zalthia’s chest, one of her clones appeared and took the blow for Zalthia. The clone turned to stone before exploding into a cloud of dust, raining dirt downwards. Zalthia dashed back even further and landed with her remaining clones taking a position of protection.

  “Hmph, still needing to rely on those weak imitations I see. How cute..” Claudia remarked with another smirk, finding the clone’s sacrifice to be quite amusing.

  Zalthia gave her another red eyed glare before she sensed something approaching from below. The moment she looked down, a large stone fist burst from the ground and uppercut her in the chin, sending Zalthia high into the sky.

  'Ugh!! I'm so sick of this bitch!!'

  Zalthia felt the pain from the attack radiate across her jawline as she flew upwards. Once she reached the peak of her trajectory, Claudia appeared above Zalthia and swung her sword downward. Zalthia quickly blocked the attack with her scythe, but the force from the blow sent her barreling to the ground. She crashed into the rocks below, violently ripping up the earth upon impact. However, despite such a devastating blow, Claudia wasn't finished with her assault.

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  When Zalthia stood from the rubble, the very earth that cushioned her fall came alive and rose into the air. She quickly called back her clones just as all of the rocks and boulders flew at her. The barrage was brutal and seemingly endless as stone after stone crashed into the crater, shaking the ground with each terrifying blow. The attack finally ended and once the dust cleared, there was Zalthia and two of her clones crouching down.

  Her scarlet robes were completely ripped and tattered, barely covering her battered uniform. Zalthia's long, silver hair, that was typically draped over her right shoulder, was messy and covering most of her face. But, worst of all, her scythe was bordering on unusable; incredibly chipped and cracked. A streak of blood raced down her forehead as she gasped for air, dripping onto the distressed ground.

  “Might want to use your Manifest now… You know this isn’t a battle you can run away from either, so stop wasting my time and fight for real.” Claudia said with a fairly bored expression on her face.

  The wind blew heavily and as the tension increased, Zalthia slowly stood up. She softly sighed as she looked at the broken weapon in her hand, rubbing her thumb gently against its worn and scuffed handle.

  “Fine.. But know this.. Whatever happens from this point forward is on you. Your life as you know it will probably end after this battle. You’ve been warned…” Zalthia softly replied, tossing her broken scythe to the ground.

  She absorbed her two remaining clones and began to prepare herself.

  “Oh please, spare me those empty words. I'll walk away just fine from this encounter, same as always…”

  Claudia stabbed her sword into the ground again and she rested her hands on the hilt, patiently waiting for Zalthia to make a move. Zalthia gripped her shredded robe and proceeded to rip it off, feeling that it was just getting in the way at this point. She then raised her right hand upwards, clenching every finger tightly besides the index and middle finger, which remained extended.

  Zalthia closed her eyes as she traced a symbol in the air with her two fingers, moving them quickly and precisely. Moments later, a small dimensional rift appeared in front of her, glowing ominously with each passing second. Claudia looked on in confusion, wondering why Zalthia was doing all of these theatrics just to summon her Manifest.

  “Is this some kind of joke to you? Why do you need to show me such useless movements?” She asked, growing impatient.

  Zalthia slowly opened her eyes and reached into the void in front of her. With a hearty grunt, she forcibly pulled out her Manifest, Mind Reaper. The air immediately grew colder and Claudia could feel the unsettling energy pouring out from it. Zalthia twirled the terrifying looking scythe around, causing its silver strands of hair to make a slight whistling sound.

  'So that’s Zalthia of One’s Manifest? It certainly fits her look… Something feels off about it though, hmmm...'

  A slight shiver went down Claudia's spine as the skulls on the back of the scythe's blade stared at her. Then, without warning, Zalthia was in Claudia’s face.

  “When did she!?!?” Claudia exclaimed with great surprise, shocked by Zalthia's tremendous increase in speed and movement.

  She sidestepped Zalthia’s attack at the last second, the blade just barely missing her face. Claudia dashed back and raised multiple stone pillars out of the ground in quick succession, hoping that these would slow Zalthia’s approach. In retaliation, Zalthia rapidly sliced through the pillars like paper and she continued to closely pursue Claudia, not losing a single step.

  'Where did all of this power come from? She wasn’t moving anything like this earlier!'

  Claudia began to show signs of slight panic for the first time in this battle, taken completely off guard by her opponent's sudden increase in strength. Zalthia eventually closed the gap, but the golem from before reared its ugly head again. A giant stone fist blindsided Zalthia with a brutal punch, sending her flying into some nearby boulders. She crashed into the rocks but to Claudia’s surprise, she quickly recovered and dashed towards the golem with a breakneck pace.

  Zalthia gripped Mind Reaper tightly as she slashed at the golem with inhuman speed, slicing every inch of it with little to no resistance. The whistle from her scythe was loud as it cut through the stone like a hot blade to butter. Within seconds, the golem exploded and separated into tiny pieces after being shredded by Zalthia’s Manifest.

  “WHAT!?!” Claudia yelled, floored by such an impossible feat.

  Before Claudia could process what had just occurred, Zalthia was already in her face, attacking from all directions. She was absolutely relentless and gave Claudia no room to rest. Just as Zalthia had her on the ropes, she unfortunately felt pain from her prior wounds shooting through her body. Claudia noticed Zalthia's slight hesitation and took advantage of it, summoning forth two massive walls of stone. They quickly came together and caught Zalthia in between them.

  Zalthia coughed up blood as the walls pressed tightly on both sides of her. She tried to free herself, but it seemed as though it was a little too late to turn the tides of this battle. Claudia chuckled once she landed in front of her captured foe, finding the current situation to be quite amusing.

  “I’ll admit, you had me startled there for a second. Your Manifest is strong, it's a shame you didn’t use it earlier..”

  Claudia aimed her palm at Zalthia and the walls began to press even harder, causing her to scream out in pain.

  “I told you I would walk away from this perfectly fine..”

  She glared with her piercing blue eyes, but to her surprise, Zalthia began to laugh.

  “Man, you really enjoy hearing yourself talk, don’t you?? You haven’t walked away from anything yet..” Zalthia said with a bloodied smirk.

  Claudia was confused by her shift in mood, but before she could respond, Zalthia dissipated from between the two walls. Once she disappeared, Claudia suddenly felt a deep, ice cold slash hit her back. Slicing cleanly through her armor and into her flesh.

  “That was a clone you were talking to, idiot. If you weren’t so damn dense, you would've known it wasn’t real from the start.”

  Claudia quickly turned around with a stunned expression. She saw Zalthia behind her, holding that ungodly looking scythe. Its blade dripped with her blood as its energy grew in rapid fashion. Claudia retaliated with a hefty swing of her sword, causing Zalthia to dash back and create space between them.

  “I’m sorry it had to end like this, but.. Your time is up.. It’s my win.” Zalthia said with an almost saddened tone, clearly insinuating something dark.

  “What are you talking about?? You merely cut me.. That's not enou-”

  Claudia stopped talking as a heavy jolt slammed her forehead. She stumbled back and looked at Zalthia, seeing her vibrant red eyes staring deeply. Moments later, Claudia came to and found herself back at home, ten years in the past. However, little did Claudia know that her world was about to crumble before her very eyes.