In a way, both Stella and Summers were something like destiny's dolls. Though neither were really aware of it.
Through multiple bad jokes, courtesy of destiny itself, Summers grew to hate Stella. To the point where, once she gained power as a Devil King Candidate, Summers invested everything she had in, simply, murdering Stella and making her suffer.
But Stella had also become a Devil King Candidate, and she was much stronger than Summers. Enough that she could basically dismiss everything Summers had done as child's play.
That changed in the last attack. With Lost's help, Stella really almost died because of Summers. Stella had been willing to forgive Summers so long as she didn't present any real danger, but that ship had long sailed.
Now Stella wants to kill Summers as much as Summers wants to kill Stella.
""Thundergia!""
They both used the same Advanced Magic at the same time. Their spells met halfway and, unlikely as it was, hit each other.
Both spells had basically the same power, meaning they essentially canceled each other out. That was within the girls' expectations, so they continued their attacks.
""Fidezenon!""
Once again, they both used the same magic, essentially canceling the other's attack.
However, there was a problem with this. Stella was born with a low natural magic capacity, that's why losing the mana she gained from her fans was such a big blow to her. She was able to recover considerably by becoming Yuuto's Ace, but she still doesn't have essentially limitless mana like before.
Healing Lovers' mana was much more effective than normal mana, meaning Stella had to use less of it for each spell, and the amount she got from Yuuto was worth literally years of what she could save up from her normal capacity. But still, Stella felt uneasy. To be fair, anyone would, going from basically infinite resources to any finite amount, however great that happened to be.
It was to a point that, half out of paranoia, half out of pure perversion, Stella kept doing Healing Lovers with Yuuto the whole flight back to Japan.
But that's another story. The important part was that Stella felt like she needed to end this as quickly as possible to preserve her mana.
Unfortunately, simply using Horoscope to put a Star of Death on Summers wasn't a viable strategy, after all Stella couldn't tell for sure how or when Summers would die, and the mana consumption would be considerable.
Healing Lovers' effect on Stella was simply to make her magic circuits more efficient, both in mana consumption and power. Her Characteristic Magics didn't grow stronger like Neith's, but Stella's powers are already very strong anyway, so there wasn't any need for that.
In short, Stella wanted to put an end to this quickly.
"Transite."
Right after firing more spells at Summers, Stella teleported to her location. Stella was no master in hand-to-hand fighting, but she knew she was at least better than Summers.
Stella used body enhancement magic to repeatedly attack Summers, who was forced to either dodge or use Barricade to defend herself.
To try and hold on a bit longer, Summers used her Characteristic Magic, Illumination, on herself. Now, she was able to dodge most of Stella's attacks, but not with enough of an opening to counterattack.
"Do you not get tired?! Give me an opening!"
"And you're like a cockroach with how hard you are to kill. Just stay still!"
Stella used Barricades of her own to block Summers' escape route. With no way to retreat, Summers was forced to go towards Stella.
But obviously she didn't simply intend on getting hit.
"Prominence."
Summers used her other Characteristic Magic. But, rather than shooting out mini-suns like she did previously, she used it to make her own body emit heat like a sun.
It was hot enough around Summers that Stella was forced to take some distance. It was even possible to see undulations from the heat around Summers, not to mention the scorch marks she left on the floor where she walked.
"Freeziar."
Stella used the Advanced Magic of ice to cool the space around herself and then try to gain some territory on Summers' Prominence. All Summers did was smile, after all, no magic could beat an Arcana's Characteristic Magic other than another Characteristic Magic.
"Are you dumb? Or do you just want to waste your mana before you die? Maybe you're that desperate? … Wait… How?!"
Contrary to Summers' expectations, Stella was gaining territory on her. Summers' line of thinking that no magic, even Advanced Magic, could beat a Characteristic Magic wasn't wrong, but ultimately it still depended on the people casting the spell.
Stella's mana capacity might be a sorry sight of any noble devil, though it's still worlds above what any human could ever dream, but there was nothing else to complain about.
Meaning that, with Healing Lovers' mana, Stella was able to push back a Characteristic Magic with just an Advanced Magic. Truly, she was nothing short of the best Ace Yuuto could have asked for.
"Better start saying your prayers, because I'm going to kill you with a single hit."
"No way! No way no way no way no waaaay!"
In a moment of madness, Summers increased the power of her Prominence so much that her side of the cafeteria started catching on fire. Even so, Stella was still able to hold it back just by putting a bit more power into her spell.
"Prominence! Prominence! Prominenceeeee!"
Summers used her Characteristic Magic again. This time, she created many mini-suns and fired them off at Stella.
Stella once again used Freeziar and froze those mini-suns. Summers tried activating their Supernova, but all that happened was that they broke apart. The suns Stella froze could no longer be used as weapons.
Right after, Stella and Summers felt the ground shake below them. For a second, they were worried that the other girl was making some kind of attack, but they quickly realized that couldn't be the case.
They had no way to know, but Aspite and Noda's battle had just ended. That tremor was caused by World Revision breaking out of Ragnarok.
But that didn't matter to these 2. Stella figured it was time to end this.
"Galaxy Zero."
Stella used her other Characteristic Magic. A huge meteor blew off the cafeteria's roof, and it was headed straight to Summers.
"T-there's no way I'm losing here! Prominence!"
Summers used her own Characteristic Magic to put up as much resistance as she could. That was the biggest Prominence she had ever created. It could no longer be called a mini-sun, though it still paled when compared to the size of the actual star.
A sun versus a meteor. If it was a battle of celestial bodies, the sun would most likely come out on top.
But this is a battle of magic, not of celestial bodies. If the spells don't naturally interfere with each other, then what determines the winner is simply who is the more powerful and more skilled magician.
"Smash her!"
"Burn her!"
Above, the battle of the magic celestial bodies took place. Below, the battle of fire and ice was still raging on.
It might have looked like the battle was balanced, that any side, or neither, would come out on top.
But to say that would be to miss a crucial point. Summers was giving it her all, while Stella was trying to preserve her strength.
That said, a battle that lasted indefinitely was not what Stella wanted. So she put a bit more power into her magic. That was enough for her to overpower Summers.
Even Summers could no longer deny it. Stella had beaten her, and now her life was at its end.
"Call me soft, but I don't really like the idea of killing you. That said, I doubt you'd give up if I let you go now."
"You're right about that. As long as I live, I'll do anything and everything I can to make you suffer and taste hell."
"Yeah, I figured. I said I don't like the idea of killing you, but I like that idea even less. So you're going to die now. Anything you want to say before the end?"
"I've always hated you because you were simply a better version of me. You could do anything I couldn't, and everything I could do you'd do better. Your grades were always better, you're prettier than me, we're both blond but your hair is so much better than mine. I hate you for constantly making me feel like I'm not good enough. But I know you had no control over most of it. You think I should have hated this destiny that tied us together instead?"
"No idea, I never really stopped to think about destiny and stuff like that. But I have to admit, I'm sure I'd be pissed if I was in your place. So if there really is such a thing as destiny and someone behind it, I'll give 'em a good punch for you."
Summers could only smile as the meteor destroyed her sun and came towards her. Even now, Stella was proving herself to be better than Summers. If the situation was reversed, Summers knew she would be simply basking in her victory, rather than hearing her defeated opponent.
But this time, it didn't make her mad. Rather, she felt there was no one else she would rather hear her last words.
"Oh, but there is something I have to say. You pull off the tanned look much better than I ever could. I've always hated summer photo shoots because of it."
"Heh, we can agree on that. I guess there's at least 1 point where I'm better than you."
The next second, Galaxy Zero reached Summers, bringing an end to the Sun Candidate. At least her death was quick and painless, Stella figured it was the minimum she could do.
Stella even offered a silent prayer for Summers. This life only allowed them to be enemies, but, if they ever met in some other life, maybe things would be different.
But Stella isn't in any hurry to figure that out. She had finished dealing with her opponent, so it was time she went to check on Miyabi and Reina. After that, their goal should be to get together with everyone else to figure out what to do next.
