Magic noises!

  She didn’t do anything special, anything worth noting however, she defeated the three of them in an instant and with a single movement. Something similar to what she did previously but this time around, the “knife” gained length to it, transforming it into a dagger of some sorts, not thanks to how it looks but its length. She cut through a few limbs as apparently, giving a hug is something that requires these Defects to extend one of his arms so that they could grab their prey and forcefully pull them towards themselves. Because of this, the “dagger” sliced through a few lower arms but her aim was not those limbs but the cores roughly located in the middle of their chests. Another three Shadows were defeated with this simple but effective swing of hers, only one is now running up to her although, run is not a verb that should be used in this scenario. This Defect is something akin to a giant turtle with a chaotic body to it. Its teeth are extremely sharp, far bigger than what they should be allowed to be, ready to tear apart his prey and their defences if they have any, that is. However, while the teeth are something to take note of, the speed is not; however, that does not mean an average adventurer shouldn’t fear it with such vivid dread that his instincts should take control of his body and make him run as fast as he can. But why is that? That thing is not fast at all, why should such an adventurer do such a drastic action?

  The answer is simple.

  Since its speed is nowhere near ideal for any situation at all, one of the ways that this Defect found to counter such weakness is to use magic or in other words, magic that can cover the distance with ease but also magic that is destructive enough to defeat his prey. Even when a being is killed by magic, the magic present inside of his body it’s not destructed but instead released into the world, allowing then to this turtle shaped Shadow to consume said magic. At this moment what’s happening is one of those scenarios. While Miranda is casually standing still, carefully inspecting her surroundings and her enemies, this Shadow is preparing a Shadow Ball, one whose power will reach the higher realm of B+ rank, more than powerful enough to decimate the vast majority of humans. Thanks to the massive disparity of strength between them, Miranda shouldn’t be too worried about this however, in an act of coincidence the remaining Shadows act in a way that can be considered as teamwork as a few of them circle around Miranda, getting behind her and with it, cutting of a possible “escape” of hers. While the Defect is close to unleashing his hell towards Miranda, the other Shadows are also quickly closing the gap, gently but cruelly removing any possible way for her to dodge safely as whatever direction she might do so, one of them is present there, eagerly wanting to consume her.

  Groar!

  A few short moments go by and Miranda still has to make a single movement but that does not mean the Shadows follow her, no, they are now at her neck, ready to unleash their vicious barrage of attacks towards her. Attacks that have no coordination whatsoever to the point that a few of them hit each other as they prepare to unleash their cruelty towards Miranda, destabilizing them somewhat but not enough to force them to cancel their attacks. Indeed, they will just power through it, removing any opposition that dares to stand in their way even if they are supposed allies. While these ones are mere moments from creating something akin to butcher butchering his meat, the Defect is also ready to unleash his hell upon Miranda and consequently upon all of them. There was no hesitation whatsoever, the turtle shaped Shadow unleashes the Shadow Ball violently, covering the distance between them in a blink in an eye, much faster than any of the Shadow that are currently surrounding Miranda could ever hope to be. All of them with a despicable look on their ugly faces as to them, they think that they will be getting their horrendous hands in some good food, unaware of what’s mere moments of happening to them. If we were talking about humans, what the turtle shaped Shadow just did is something that would be shun upon, criticised to no end and most probably, this individual would be sent to jail for murdering five people. However, in this scenario, there are no remorse whatsoever and in reality, while the Shadows will be blown to bits, most probably defeated in the process as they don’t posse enough strength to withstand such powerful attack, since they are who they are, no one will bat an eye and the same can be said about themselves. They wouldn’t care and this is one of the many reasons why they are feared, as long as they can consume magic, anything else is not even in their minds, even their own death.

  Is this the end of Miranda? Of course not, this is someone whose strength rounds the SSS realm. But, what can she do in this scenario?

  Blast!

  The Shadow Ball hits them dead on, an explosion follows it immediately and with it, a shock wave follows it, one that is strong enough to be felt a few good meters of distance. The explosion swallowed all of the Shadows, not a single one of them was able to escape the explosion and because of it, what happened next is exactly what anyone can expect. Their bodies were decimated with the explosion and since their defences were not strong enough to sustain such an explosion, they couldn’t also protect their cores, allowing them to be blown into bits in the process. However, while the Shadows weren’t able to survive, the girl on the other hand, has shown a glimpse of the disparity between their strength. Indeed, mere moments before the Shadow Ball reached them, she jumped upwards, enough to not only dodge it but also high enough to not suffer from the explosion or in other terms, still be within the blast radius area. It was an elegant jump with no sound attached to it whatsoever or at the very least, said sound was devoured by the explosion and its terrifying sounds. While mid-air she masterfully positioned herself in such a way that she’s now facing directly towards the Defect, reading herself to end his miserable life. It was a simple dash, one that was done with the help of magic as it seems she has no knowledge of Anemo magic, one that would allow her to propel herself towards the Defect with ease. Instead, by manipulating the magic around her, she created something akin to a very small platform while mid-air, one that it’s the exact same size as her right foot, giving her a footing and with it, the possibility to dash towards her enemy. She of course, covered the distance faster than what he could react, faster than which the Shadow Ball travelled but, her “attack” was somehow even faster than her dash but as simple as it. Something similar to before but this time around, thanks to the massive increase in defence as the turtle shaped Shadow has something akin to a carapace and even though its shape not only it’s purely made of magic, it’s also quite chaotic but, the defence is still high. This small factor “forced” her to once again increase the length of the “dagger”, now it’s something similar to a short sword. The reason for this is quite simple, the longer/bigger it is, the more magic it has on it and with it, increasing the strength of it.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Slash!

  A simple movement on her part, one where she swung her short sword from left to right once she was close enough, easily slicing through the carcass and even the core, defeating the Defect with it. With this, the battle seems to be over as all the Shadows that decided to walk towards death have suffered the consequences from messing with the reaper however, fate is not that kind in fact, it’s far too cruel. Mere moments later, as she gently makes her short sword disappear but while also getting ready to “summon” a real weapon, a crack in the universe is made. It first shatters almost as if reality itself is made of glass of some sorts but with this event, the entire reality shook with it, showing a degree of importance but more so, of the danger to what’s about to happen. Not many can shatter reality, let alone traverse between universes in such a manner as said individual is basically forcing itself through the universe or dimensions rather than “opening the door to entering them”. This of course, it’s not a simple act to accomplish whatsoever, however, it’s not impossible to do so, just as the girl is about to witness. If the invader has close to the exact coordinates of the Bubble Universe that he wants to invade, with the correct set of skills/spells and magic manipulation, he can forcefully create a “path” between the universes, allowing him and his “friends” to invade said universe. This phenomenon is quite fragile meaning that, with a slight breeze the “path” can be destabilized and those that are between the universes will end up drifting between universes or in other words, they will be in the Sea of The Universe. If that happens, death is unavailable. But that’s not the only factor to take in account as said forceful invasion is noticed by the Bubble Universe itself, its inhabitants and of course, the girl that is patiently waiting for these Defects to make an appearance.

  “More of them it seems… But at least, I can sense them now. But why here and now? What is causing this?”

  Indeed, more are coming and their numbers are not a joking matter at all.

  Magic noises!

  A fissure in the universe was created, one that is a few 50 or so meters from where she is. This fissure has close to 30 meters in width and another three or so in height or in other terms, a fissure that is quite large. From it nothing seems to happen but that only lasts for a few short seconds, ones that were indeed quite short but it allowed her to “summon” her weapon in the meantime. A weapon of death, one that belongs to the reaper and of course, the title she has, The Empress Twin Scythe. With a simple but extremely elegant use of construct magic, the girl constructs her scythe in a matter of a few short moments. First, she releases enough magic from one of her slender hands, the one that will be holding the scythe. Then, said magic starts to form the shape of the scythe and mere moments later, the scythe gains a physical form or in other words, it has been constructed. The scythe’s total length is roughly 170 centimetres, bigger than her size and with it, quite big for her to maneuver around. The blade however, has a massive size of 95 centimetres, far, far too long for a normal scythe. The scythe is made of materials that one cannot fathom what they are, the snatch seems to be made of steel while the blade seems to also follow the same design. The snatch is for the simple side, with no grips on it whatsoever, something that is unusual but since it belongs to the girl, there is no need for such as her hands should have more than enough grip to hold on the whole scythe with ease as she slices through those Defects and anyone that dares to defy the reaper and its job. Hmm, maybe the reason there is no grip might be because of the material which it is made of, one that from afar seems to be for the smooth side but upon closer inspection, it might as well be possible to compare it to asphalt from how harsh it is. Although, while it’s for the simple side, it’s coloured in a dark grey colour with a few touches of a golden one throughout the entirety of the snatch. At the “tip” or is it better to say the beginning? In that area, there is something akin to a spike, one that is somewhat long but the transition from such, its smooth and quite elegant with a “ring of gold” as it transitions to the spike. Of course, said spike at the tip of it, it’s beyond sharp but don’t be fooled as the sturdiness of it should match and maybe it’s even greater than the blade itself. But even though this spike seems to protrude from the snatch itself, the total length of the scythe is still the same meaning that the snatch is slightly shorter than what’s common for these “types” of scythes.

  This is, until we see the “Scythe Head” and its terrifying design.

  The reason for why the scythe is 170 centimetres is thanks to the “Scythe Head” as otherwise, it would have 150 centimetres as the snatch is the corresponding size for a scythe of that length although, as one said, thanks to the spike the snatch is even slightly shorter than normal. The opposite to a normal scythe, there are two “blades”, the main one where it has 95 centimetres of length and a smaller one in the opposite side, roughly with a little less than half of the length of the other one, having roughly 45 centimetres. However, don’t be mistaken by its small size as the sharpness of the blade is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly as I believe it could slice through the strongest armour out there in the world with ease and the sturdiness of it should match the rest of the scythe. The main blade is as horrifying as it can be imagined, truly fitting for a reaper. Not only it’s long, sharp, extremely so at that, it’s also quite “wide” and the tip of the blade has the diameter of a finger, one of her tender fingers for example. At the base the blade is as “wide” as the “head” although, the same cannot be said about the secondary blade, that one has roughly half the size, but it starts at the very base of the “head” and it does not cover the entirety of it. The “head” is shaped in a chaotic manner, it seems to have a shape of an oval but one that not only stretches itself to the sides thanks to the blades, a few areas seem to have been chewed one by some famine monster. To make it more terrifying, at the “tip” a familiar phenomenon happens, one where a spike protrudes from the “head” but in this case, it’s only for a few short centimetres making it smaller than the one at the base of the snatch. But yet again, don’t let the small size fool you as it’s pointy enough to kill anyone that dares to underestimate it. Indeed, if that thing stabs a human on the neck, it has written the end of said individual in that moment, allowing for the reaper to do its job effortlessly because of it. Though, the same cannot be said about the death of said individual as one doubts, he wouldn’t suffer until the very end, until his very last breath as blood keeps on descending down from the deadly wound inflicted by the short spike.

  As stated, the “head” is chaotic but nowhere near the same way as those Defects for example. The design of it is quite similar to the girl mask in a sense that, somehow, it’s able to be elegant, making it a sight to be seen because of it. Indeed, it seems to be a contradiction after all, how can something be chaotic but elegant at the same time? Understandable however, the only chaotic aspect of it is the shape, everything else seems to have been thought of down to the tiniest detail. The way it transitions into the blades, how seamless it does so, the colours present on it, everything was imagined and then constructed with pure perfection in mind. The majority of the “head” and the blades are coloured with the dark grey colour but a few noticeable traces of golden are present through the three of them although, in the smaller blade said phenomenon is much less noticeable.

  Ah, I’ve gone for too long, just like he does sometimes...