While the events on the Casrey incident were a bit hazy on her mind, her memories surrounding the damned Siberetti were crystal clear.

After all, she was one of the first mages she had the ‘pleasure’ of knowing first hand. And by that she meant being mercilessly pushed around.

The train trip, Iren Doyle, Cornelius Graham, Nico and Nathaniel Bliss, Baraviodos… She hadn’t forgotten about that.

Even so, as Siberina Ropperti was, she didn’t know the full extent of her abilities. She had seen her throwing glass balls, moving very quickly to evade Cornelius’ attacks and tracking her down at the start. And, she was half a witch or something, having developed a tendency to hunt and kill mages, but without reaching the level where she became obsessed with the act of murdering them.

Velvet was alive after meeting her, after all.

Now, she had some knowledge of the abilities from a mage of the Gambler Paradigm, namely, that they were more dangerous the closer one got to them.

Alrai, her ‘brother’ could break someone’s neck with one hand, and he was at Velvet’s level, not Siberina’s. So, she should be able to, at least, rip someone’s head off with a hand.

Doesn’t that sound nice? Velvet complained inwardly. She had dealt too fast with the first Fear, so the second one chose to go up a notch. More than a notch, actually. It went up to the damned moon. The red, boiling moon in the sky.

Hey, it could be worse, the third Fear could become Lothrigern, haha… I would cry for real in that case.

Now, if the Goddess of Darkness used a copy of Lothrigern, would that offend Him? She really didn’t know anything about His personality, so she wasn’t sure. Even so, she harbored some hope that the Fears wouldn't dare to imitate a Deriliam.

But she shouldn’t be worrying about what ifs, not when she had Siberina going towards her.

She knew her own possibilities, and the idea of defeating Siberina, or simply being a match to her in close combat, was ridiculous. She needed to get as much distance as possible.

But not enough distance that she lost sight of her. She still remembered how Alrai had snapped Dianthus’ back in a sneak attack, so not seeing Siberina was equally dangerous as being next to her.

Jumping back, Velvet pulled the chains holding shut Frenese’s Book, taking out a broom and flying away from the ground.

Not even a single second later, Siberina took a step, becoming a blur and appearing at the same spot Velvet was moments ago. As she looked up, towards her, Velvet looked down. Siberina’s hands did something, their movements too fast for her to understand, but not fast enough for her to not react.

Velvet put Frenese’s Book between them, using it as a shield against whatever Siberina had thrown.

She had asked Frenese beforehand, to know if doing something like that would trigger their pact, but since the book wasn’t Frenese, it wouldn’t have any effect. In fact, if Velvet managed to use it as a shield for a really powerful attack, and the book broke, the devil couldn’t be happier (not that Velvet believed Frenese could show any signs of happiness), since he would be freed instantly.

But, as he mentioned, the book was made under a myriad of powerful formations, spells, and mages (he didn’t mention if he referred to mages as spellcasters or materials, since well, the book cover was made with human skin, so it probably was both), so the idea of it being damaged by attacks was laughable.

Stolen novel; please report.

Frenese didn’t laugh saying that, though.

But, watching the sparkes of whatever Siberina had thrown being reflected by the book, without damaging it in the slightest, gave Velvet some needed confidence.

The book was big, after all, so it worked great as a shield. Not recommended to be used against someone who could steal it from her, so employing it on the Mergifari was a big risk. One she would rather avoid.

Going back to the battle, Velvet activated the formation surrounding the altar and Siberina.

Boom!

The ground exploded, crashing against Sibeina’s position. Velvet looked down with almost manic intensity, taking note of any movement coming from the dust.

A short breeze moved through the smoke.

She’s going north! Velvet deducted, following after her from a safe distance.

It was great that the island was small, since the fact that she was carrying Frenese’s Book made her go slower, and Siberina moved at an incredible speed, enough for Velvet to lose track of her, were the chase to last five seconds more.

Burning down the island doesn’t sound too bad now… But the third Fear still hasn’t shown up. Even when almost all her attention was on Siberina, she couldn’t allow herself to forget about the third drop of black goo that fell from the moon.

Even when she was flying around, nothing looked different on the island. And she had inspected the place beforehand, so she remembered exactly how it looked down to the last tree. Even under the now faint red light of the moon.

The sea, now looking like a moving pool of blood, on the other hand… it was always changing, so it was impossible for her to be sure.

Velvet flinched suddenly, realizing something.

She got distracted! A string of bad luck!

Turning suddenly, she evaded a hard object that almost slammed against her head, grazing her arm instead. Even so, the strength behind the throw made her lose her balance, falling from the broom and from the air.

Going down, Velvet managed to slow down her fall with some spells, crashing against some bushes, getting a few scratches, and losing sight of Siberina.

Shit! She couldn’t help but curse. Even when she had taken precautions against ‘fate’, luck was something extremely tricky to manage.

Velvet looked around in panic. She needed to find traces of Siberina fast, because the woman was faster than her, and-

A whoosh, no, a huracan, shot through the depths of the forest, breaking down trees and stones like a derailed train, with Velvet as last stop.

The sound was so immense, and so fast, that Velvet’s ears started to hurt, dulling them enough that she could hear her own heartbeat.

Using all her power, Velvet moved Frenese’s Book in front of her, nailing its chains as deep in the ground as she could, as fast as the island’s tiny size allowed her.

Not a second later, something crashed against it. And by crashing, it meant exploded.

What happens if one puts an immovable object against an unstoppable force? Well, for starters, for everything around the collisioning objects to be devastatingly affected.

The trees were reduced to splinters, the rocks flew away, and Velvet got shot backwards just by the force released by the impact, which didn’t even touch her.

Slamming against something hard, pain ran through her whole body, and she felt her brain shutting down for several seconds.

And, for several seconds, she stood coiled on the floor, waiting for the pain to settle down, just like the raised dust.

She would live, in part for the devil’s blood still coursing through her, and in part for the impact being considered a magic attack, which she had some resistance to.

Even so, it still hurt like hell. She didn’t want to open her eyes. At all.

In fact, maybe the pain would recede if she held still for a while.

Just a few minutes, nothing more.

Just-

Shutting her eyes closed, Velvet lost consciousness.