066 - When Goddesses Clash

Medusa Areia

*Clang*

For a Singularity that was supposed to be little more than a pit stop to center themselves and gather resources for the actual challenges awaiting in the future, this place is proving to be nothing but a problem after another. A Command Spell has already been wasted in sending her out to intercept Altera.

*Clang*

Even the bets that actually paid off can't be called anything but… troublesome.

Her ascended state may be the only reason she can hold her own in this clash, but she would've distinctly preferred gargling rusty buzzsaws while getting anally raped by an hydraulic piston wrapped in barbed wire rather than assimilating fucking Athena into her Spirit Origin.

But needs must when the devil drives and fucking Athena had been the only Divine Spirit dumb enough to manifest in front of them and start giving orders while assuming her core wouldn't be swallowed by tainted tides of grail mud. The two of them are also unfortunately compatible, which really, truly, empatically does nothing to improve Medusa's mood.

*Clang*

She had hoped her first usage of the [Circle of Usurpation] would be on another version of herself, not the half-dissolved remnants of a jealous, petty, pretentious little bitch with delusions of wisdom, drowning in the curses of humanity.

At least, there was one unambiguously good thing that had come out of this whole mess.

*Clang*

The alien rainbow sword of a god of war collides with the monstrous golden sword of a goddess of war, generating a shockwave that violently pushes back the tides. In spite of fighting at the bottom of the sea, neither combatant has gotten wet in the slightest. That's the pressure exerted by their mere clashes, the shockwaves generated enough to hold back the weight of the very sea.

[Photon Ray - Sword of the War God], the Weapon of Mars that Altera claimed as spoils of war back when she rampaged through the Ancient Earth as the White Titan of Tassili n' Ajjer. A superb blade that defies common sense and Medusa wouldn't normally hope to match in a straight-out contest of strength.

But these aren't normal circumstances, and Medusa Areia has barely enough authority to put up a fight when manifesting as a Saber Class. That is… she has [Chrysaor - Monstrous Golden Blade].

Chrysaor, the Father of Monsters and… Medusa's unmet child, born from her demise alongside Pegasus. But, while she had plenty of chances to meet her other child through her normal Noble Phantasm, something about Chrysaor's nature meant he had been denied to her even as a Heroic Spirit. Until now.

Even sealed under the shape of a sword and incapable of speech, she can still feel so much from her child. Complex emotions, wordless thoughts, swirling dreams and ambitions… and they never feel as close to her heart as they do when they fight together against a worthy opponent.

In that sense, and only in that sense, this Singularity been more than just a supreme pain in the ass.

*CLANG*

"Medusa." Altera chooses to speak up during a lull between blows, an undercurrent of impatience and frustration in her usually aloof voice that only someone very familiar with her could possibly notice. "You know you can't win. Let me pass."

"You know I can't." Medusa shakes her head, a small smile on her lips upon realizing the irony of the situation. "You know how this goes."

"I defeated my own nature, in the end." Altera petulantly tilts her head to the side, not quite making the mistake of turning her gaze away from an opponent but the nearest she can afford to without putting herself at risk. "You can do the same."

"They defeated your nature." Medusa counters sadly. "And neither of them is here now."

*CLANG*

Just as they are about to be swallowed by the waves, their blades clash again. Medusa's body hovers in the air so she can stand up to Altera's titanic size, forcing her to give up the advantage of solid ground under her feet just to have a chance at keeping up. So many things had to line up in Medusa's favor, just so gold and rainbow can struggle for supremacy in something resembling equal grounds, her child is trying so hard to rise to the occasion….

It almost feels like a betrayal that she holds no real animosity against her opponent.

"...I miss them." Altera confesses suddenly, while stubbornly refusing to pull away from the deadlock. "I want to see them again."

"We'll see him, right at the very end." She reassures with a confidence she still finds herself getting surprised by. "But her… "

There's a girl Altera has never met, and yet misses like a lost parent. Someone she looks up to, through memories inherited from her past selves. Unfortunately, that girl is worlds away and entire eras into the future. Medusa could lie and say their paths will eventually cross, she certainly believes he can make the impossible happen again, but…

"Chances are slim." Altera finishes for her.

Medusa just nods.

"I see." Altera nods in turn, finally pulling away from Medusa. "Nothing left but to fight, then."

As soon as she speaks, the blade in her hands transforms into a bow, aimed not at Medusa but somewhere in the horizon… somewhere Northwest. Medusa's eyes widen behind her visor at the realization that's the direction where the Chaldean's are currently clashing with Purple Lancer and she rushes ahead, striking swift as lightning to intercept.

[Chrysaor] hits [Photon Ray] right as the first arrow is released, making it go wide and causing the rest of the barrage to get shot high into the sky instead.

Altera tsks, splitting [Photon Ray] into two shorter blades to dive into melee range again, but Medusa has other ideas.

"[Scylla]" She calls out the names of her child's children. "[Charybdis]"

Countless golden tentacles and feelers erupt from the darkness of the abyss, breaking through the curtain of water around the combatants to grasp at Altera's body, wrapping and restraining her titanic form in bondage.

In normal circumstances, Altera would effortlessly break through these restraints. Even the might of legendary monsters like them falling sort of straining the Avatar of Destruction. But here, at the bottom of the sea, the Mediterranean Sea in particular… Scylla and Charybdis are empowered to the utmost limits, while Altera herself is struggling with an unfamiliar battlefield she never had to conquer before.

This buys Medusa precious instants, barely a couple of seconds, before the golden monsters are pulled out from their hidden nests within the eaves and torn to shreds by the Titan's might. More than enough breathing room to press the advantage.

"[Hydra]"

Three golden heads break through the seafloor around Altera's feet, spewing noxious fumes that quickly envelop the titan's form. Medusa chose Hydra for two reasons. Firstly, because her legendary poison is strong enough to drive even immortals to beg for the sweet release of death, it carries a conceptual might capable of attacking a Spirit Origin and putting some real pressure on Altera.

Secondly… fumes are annoying to destroy.

It's always easier to destroy something that you can shatter with a single blow, than something that requires a more careful approach, that's a truth that remains even for mighty entities like the Avatar of Destruction. You can't simply break a gas, you can't swing your sword and cut through it. Or rather, doing so is meaningless.

If Medusa is lucky, Altera will have no choice but to individually destroy every single individual mote of Hydra Poison, but even if Altera figures out something faster, Hydra herself is a stubborn opponent, hard to put down for good, she will simply continue spewing poison and—

"Hmm!" Altera grunts, a small puff of air escaping her nostrils as every muscle in her whole body abruptly coils and uncoils, releasing a wave of sheer force all around her and forcing the poison to dissipate.

[Photon Ray] becomes a whip, and Hydra's golden heads get torn to ribbons before they have a chance to breathe again. Not even they can regenerate from that level of destruction.

… That was much faster than Medusa had hoped, but It still gave her enough time to make her own move under the cover of the obscuring poison fumes.

"[Manticore]"

This time, the monster doesn't manifest as an independent creature. Instead, as Medusa dives in for a devastating thrust, a golden stinger materializes around [Chrysaor] to lend its lethality and piercing power. It's not the mightiest blow that Medusa could possibly conjure in this form, but it's the mightiest she could realistically afford without a bigger opening, in the middle of combat with a fighter of Altera's caliber. A single strike, capable of felling even a titan.

In spite of the suddenness of Medusa's attack, the swiftness of her flight and the obnoxiousness of the various monsters distracting Altera, the titanic woman still manages to react. With a swiftness belying her size and otherworldly combat instincts, she starts dodging out of the way and raising [Photon Ray] to parry the thrust.

Even under her new form after subsuming fucking Athena, Altera's reaction speed should've been enough to catch Medusa's strike. But the monsters aren't the only ones empowered by the waves all around them. Medusa is the Guardian of the Shapeless Island, now restored to her long-lost Divinity. An Earth goddess who lived surrounded by Sea.

[Photon Ray] raises a fraction of a second too slowly, slowed down by the need to shift back from whip to blade. It cuts down some loose strands of purple hair, but fails to catch [Chrysaor] before it slips past Altera's guard. Of course, she's not aiming at Altera's heart, but sinking a poisoned monstrous blade through her shoulder will be enough to put her down for a while.

This is Medusa's victory.

[Chrysaor] bites flesh and the titan's blood is spilled.

But…

The blade fails to pierce. Only the most shallow of wounds appears on Altera's shoulder as [Chrysaor] struggles and fails to dig deeper. So focused is Medusa in the point of contact, that it takes a moment for her to realize it's not the piercing power that's failed here. Rather, the blade is not free to sink deeper because there's something holding it back.

Two fingers, index and thumb, clamping on the flat of the blade like a vise grip and refusing to relent an inch. While Medusa's bold thrust managed to slip past the guard of [Photon Ray], Altera's off-hand still managed to catch the blow at the very last second.

Disappointing, but…

"Ah." A smile that's half and half bitter and fond stretches Medusa's lips. "As expected of—"

"Not yet." Altera's warning, soft and even, cut through Medusa's words like a hot knife through butter.

A shiver runs down her spine as she glances upwards right in time to see a rainbow comet falling straight on her position. Her first attempt at pulling away falters when the same grip that kept [Chrysaor] from thrusting also refuses to let her go. With great reluctance, and painfully aware that Altera might not give her the chance to summon the sword again, Medusa dismisses [Chrysaor] and jumps away in a hurry.

The rainbow comet is only dodged at the very last second, nearly grazing her as she jumps back, sweltering heat making her skin heat up uncomfortably before she can get clear. That was a way too close for–

"Still not enough." Altera speaks up again, causing Medusa's survival instincts to blare in warning.

This time, she jumps to the side without bothering to look up, getting away just in time to avoid what can only be another rainbow comet falling on her previous position. With a sinking feeling of suspicion gripping her heart, she dares to look up again…

There's an entire barrage of rainbow comets falling upon her position.

She nimbly dodges the third one, only to realize she's landed right in the path of the fourth, which in turn sends her sprawling on towards the fifth. The sixth clips her arm, filling her mind with searing pain and blowing her away onto a seventh that hits her squarely in the back and slams into the ground.

She's not quite sure what comes next, except that it involves unreasonable amounts of crippling, mind-numbing pain. At least two more comets slam into her while she's exposed and defenseless. But the brutal attack blissfully ends there.

Dazed and aching all over, with her sight still blinded by dancing lights, she struggles with both hands to rise to her feet. But she freezes when she feels something big and heavy slam into the ground right before her. Blinking to remove the dancing lights from her vision, she manages to identify the object in question as one of Altera's feet and, looking a bit higher, she finds the tip of [Photon Ray] barely half an inch from her face.

"Ah… this is my loss, then?" She manages to gasp out.

"Well fought." Altera praises and, no matter how much it burns her pride in these circumstances, Medusa knows she's being just as brutally honest as always. "You have grown stronger."

"Right back at you. Way to make a girl feel inadequate." She grumbles. To think Altera used to be such an adorable little kid… they grow fast and mean these days. "These comets… They were that barrage you fired at the start. The ones I thought I had deflected."

"You are strong." Altera reiterates, once more tilting her head to look away without looking away, the closest to bashful that Medusa has ever seen her act in the middle of combat. "I had to improvise."

"Improvise? They weren't even homing onto my position." Back in the day, she probably wouldn't have noticed, but fucking Athena was good at noticing patterns, at least. After the fact, of course, too late to be useful. Like fucking Athena herself. "You just knew beforehand where I would dodge. Awfully risky if I had noticed."

"I took a risk." Altera acknowledges with a nod. "But I would've pushed you into the pattern even if you had noticed."

"Right…" As expected from the King of Combat, really. Speaking of which… "That first arrow… did I truly manage to deflect it?"

A small, barely-there smile appears on Altera's lips, that only those very familiar with the girl would even notice. "...I wonder?"

Medusa shakes her head, hiding a wince when the motion sends another lash of pain down her body. Before she can make a comment, though, she feels the familiar pull of anither Command Seal on her being.

"Ah, looks like I'm getting recalled." She comments with a small sigh. "Keep Rin safe for us, okay? Sakura is worried sick."

"Will do." Altera nods, waiting until Medusa starts fading away to put her blade away. "Same to you."

Well, Medusa reflects as the recall process ends and she finds herself in a soft bed, with a fretting Sakura hovering over, her goal was to just keep Altera from interfering with Purple Lancer. That means this whole mess was mostly successful, at least.

Still, she would've preferred not to pile even more worries on poor Sakura.

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