Chapter 130: Three Strikes

With a sweep of his cloak and the cry of Odin’s ravens, the man returned to the Norse gods and goddesses, all shaking with mirth at the agitation that spread across a few of the pantheons, while others joined in the laughing ruckus.

Yseress giggled in delight at the sudden shakeup. "Wise and cunning you are, ’Lord of Frenzy.’ And just like that, all those plots are brought back into the challengers’ hands, leaving the other pantheons in a buzz. Is such a request bordering too closely to a restriction, Lady Izanami?"

The death goddess hid her face with a fan, but her eyes shone with entertainment. "It is simply a change in format, which is not a restriction since all of them can still be put in effect; quite the devious tactic, Lord Odin. I’d expect nothing less from such a dangerous pantheon."

Odin tilted his head in acknowledgment at the Japanese fallen creation goddess as she spoke it into existence. "So it was said, so let it be done. Rachel, Conner... You may now kill each other."

Rachel could feel the pulse of battle thrumming through her veins as the bickering and yelling of gods and goddesses faded away, leaving them in the void. The water receded, and the celestial sphere sank into oblivion. As glass bars changed color, Conner breathed a calming stream of air, and words sparkled into existence, symbols tracing down their length to show what they would release.

Within seconds, the entire cage had returned to its base state with fragments of the gods’ suggestions surrounding them, providing them the opportunity to pick and choose whatever new element they wanted to add. Naturally, their own personal choices were right behind their opponents.

"Ready for this?" Rachel asked, rolling around her shoulders and loosening up as she bounced a few times on her toes, putting a spring in her step. "One wrong move, and we could unleash something pretty bad."

A big smile grew on the Greek man’s face as Conner mirrored her. "Why not make a short run at it without any additions? No weapons. No fancy armor. No pets. Just you...and me. What do you say?"

Rachel’s tail quivered at the invitation. "Work our way up to it? I’m game. We both know you can’t catch me if I’m dancing around, though. Even if we’ve both got the power, I’ve got the speed, while you only have the durability. That means I get the first strike, so how about this... I take three shots, and that gets me in range for you to grapple three times. All our natural Feats. After that..."

"...Anything goes," Conner snickered, gloves disappearing in a flash of solar light.

Nia gave her a worried stare before jogging over to the corner, Conner’s dolphin floating to the opposite side to wait for the attacks. The girl didn’t like turning off her protection, but Rachel had her pride on the line.

At long last, this Legend Quest was at its conclusion. She’d taken down a lesser god and learned things that would make General Dallas salivate when she returned; she just had to take this last win.

Making a few test jabs, elbows, and knees, Rachel hissed out the air in her lungs, testing her new speed limits after increasing the Stat. Her body was filled with 105% of the White Moon’s energy, increased by [Lunar Pool: Overload], pushing her beyond her cap. She couldn’t use Nia’s Lunar Pools in this three-strike challenge; this was all her.

Time slowed as [Rapid Mode] activated. [Divine Lunar Surge] and [Lunar Cap] multiplied her Stats based on the amount of lunar energy she carried in her pool. Now was the time to discover how far she’d come on her own, without the help of Nia or these Unique Moons.

Conner’s movements were sluggish and slow as she dashed forward, pushing aside the atmosphere in her race for the man’s face to test something she’d wanted to see since discovering his secret.

Wind whipping her hair behind her, Rachel pivoted at the last second into a roundhouse kick to add momentum to her blitz. Foot planting into Conner’s face, a stained smile lifted her cheeks as all the kinetic force she’d built transferred down his body and into the two-meter-thick glass, fracturing the floor four meters in all directions. Conner didn’t budge.

A gust rushed past them, drawing her unbound hair forward, and Rachel swept her arms to catch it all while using her grounded foot to twist away just as the legend’s slow fingers slid through her pink-hued white locks.

The cracking glass hit Rachel’s ears, making her wince as she landed on all fours, sliding on the surface as it suddenly became smooth when desired, teaching her something about the platform. Conner stumbled forward, a little off-balance in his hope to snatch her hair.

"Ugh!" He roared with laughter, balancing himself as Rachel came to a stop near the edge of their cage. "Damn! You sure you didn’t use any stupid lunar boost from the squirt over there because that was a lot faster than you used to be."

Nia’s face turned red. "I didn’t do squat, loser! I turned off all my defensive stuff. Humph. You’re just a slowpoke."

"Fair enough," he grunted, rubbing his face and working around his jaw; Rachel was busy testing how slippery or sticky the traction was on the clear surface after coming to a stop; the boots Nia put her in were far from efficient without her support and weren’t nearly as comfortable after the girl’s affixes were turned off. "I felt that... You broke past my guard and threw me off-balance, so I missed."

Rachel hopped up and down again with a smile; the floor would change its traction as desired, which was a very big discovery. "Clearly not enough; that’s a strike on both of us. Ready for the next round?"

"Go for it, hun," Conner muttered, now following her example in testing out the floor. "Interesting... You really are a sharp one."