The black haze from Calliope touched the vines which were heading towards her. In a span of a few seconds, the green vines turned brown and decayed.

“Shouldn’t you try harder, Keeper of Nature?” Calliope asked as she charged.

A thorny bush grew in between them but Calliope’s black haze caused it to decay in a few seconds. However, the few seconds bought with the bush’s sacrifice allowed Fauna to make some distance away from Calliope.

“What is that black haze?” I asked.

“Death’s Embrace, the authority of the Primordial Death. Any creature touching it will have their Life Force drained causing them to die. It’s only limit is that it only has a short range”, Yagoo said.

“So Calliope will win if she gets close to Fauna?”

“No. The Councils don’t count as “living creatures.” They are deathless creatures with an infinite Life Force. While they can get tired, they can’t die.”

“They’ll still feel pain and discomfort though as you can see in Haato, Shion, and Mumei’s fight”, Suisei added.

More plants grew out of the ground and tried to get close to Calliope. Her Death’s Embrace wasn’t fast enough to decay them and so, she had to cut them down with her scythe.

“If you’re draining my plant’s Life Force, then I’ll just have to create ones with powerful Life Forces. Let’s see if your black haze can decay my children fast enough before they can hurt you”, Fauna smiled as she snapped her fingers.

More plants grew and headed towards Calliope. The sheer number of plants was overwhelming and her Death’s Embrace couldn’t decay them in time. But she was keeping up thanks to her amazing movements with her scythe.

“The Primordial Death is cutting plants. Quite fitting for a scythe, don’t you think?” Fauna asked.

“This scythe is meant for reaping lives. And I’ll be sure to reap yours”, Calliope replied.

“Chill for a bit. Why don’t you touch grass?”

And then the grass in their area grew longer and stretched towards Calliope. Even if the Death’s Embrace was decaying them, they had enough Life Force to whip her body.

Calliope backed away and glared at Fauna.

“Calliope’s not doing well. Is this the limit of the Primordial Death’s ability?” I asked.

“It’s just a bad matchup. Against anyone, Death’s Embrace is a formidable and deadly ability. Even dragons and demons would die in mere seconds against that. It just so happens her enemy could freely sacrifice creatures with powerful Life Forces”, Yagoo answered.

“That’s right. Even Oga wouldn’t last a minute in Death’s Embrace and you’ve seen how powerful he is”, Anya said.

“So Oga can’t beat Fauna?” I asked.

“No. Oga is strong. He can hold his own against Fauna and he might be able to win if he gets serious. Like Yagoo said, it’s a bad matchup. Calliope doesn’t have enough firepower to deal the necessary damage”, Anya answered.

“Calli relies too much on Death's Embrace so she doesn’t know how to do other attacks. Her scythe mastery is exceptional but it would only take her so far”, Suisei added.

A large creature emerged from the ground. It looked like a massive tree but its branches coiled and turned into arms and its roots were in the same shape as legs.

“It’s a bit tiring to create a living creature like this instead of just plants. But it’s worth it if you’re going to lose”, Fauna smiled.

“This is bad. That’s a treant. They are difficult to kill since they will just regenerate as long as they have Life Force.. Either you make them stop regenerating or you’ll completely erase their body”, Anya said.

“And since Calli has no strong attacks that would obliterate it, she’s in trouble”, Suisei looked at the screen worriedly.

The treant raised its arm and was ready to smash Calliope. Her Death’s Embrace probably wouldn’t decay it fast enough and so, her only option is to avoid it.

And without warning, a flaming object hit the treant. Since it was a plant, it easily caught fire and burned to ashes. Emerging from those flames was an orange-haired woman holding an orange sword and blue shield. Her arms and legs were wrapped with flames and fiery wings were on her back.

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“Calli!!!” she tackled Calliope and gave her a tight hug.

“Guh! Kiara? What are you doing here?” Calli asked.

“Ame said you’re fighting a dangerous enemy so I came to help out!”

“Ame said that? Well, whatever. I appreciate the save but this is none of your business. This is the problem of Primordial Beings”, Calli shoved her away and glared at Fauna.

“True. I have no idea why you’re fighting and I won’t be directly affected by the results of your fight.”

Kiara stood beside Calliope and flames danced around her sword.

“But Ina, Gura, and Ame are fighting. You are fighting. And the fights of my friends are also my fights. So we’re sticking together!” Kiara pointed her sword at Fauna.

“I can’t change your mind, can I?” Calliope asked.

“I can be very stubborn. And besides, I know how you hate fighting side by side with people because you don’t want to be worried about them getting affected by Death’s Embrace. Lucky for you, I’m a phoenix. I’m a deathless creature.”

“Fine, you damn bird. Let’s do this!”

“Oh? A phoenix came by?” Fauna asked.

“I have no idea who you are but I have one tip for you”, Kiara pointed her sword at her.

“And that is?”

“Don’t play with fire or you’ll get burned!”

Kiara flew up and Calliope charged at Fauna. A wave of plants grew and extended towards Calliope and her Death’s Embrace was decaying them. Kiara shot flames and thanks to them, the plants were destroyed.

Calliope finally got close enough to Fauna and swung down her scythe. However, a wooden staff emerged from the ground and Fauna used it to block her attack.

Even with Death’s Embrace, the wooden staff didn’t decay. But I could see Fauna’s face getting uncomfortable as the black haze touched her body.

Kiara dived from the sky and a powerful blast of flames erupted from her. The amount of flames she was emitting was way too different back in the Idol Fan Tournament and I was finally realizing that Kiara was seriously holding back against me when we fought.

“You damn bird! You almost burned my clothes off”, Calliope said as she got out of the pillar of flames.

“I’m not aiming for that! Trust me! I was taking my opponent seriously!” Kiara winked as she flew towards her.

“Whatever. Did that get her?”

To answer her question, a heavy downpour started and doused the flames. Strong winds blew and thunder roared. Kiara and Calliope managed to dodge in time before a lightning bolt from the sky hit them.

“Oh dear. I have to be serious now, huh?” Fauna had a scary smile on her face and the winds became stronger.

Lightning crashed from above and Kiara and Calliope did their best in avoiding them. A strong gust of wind pushed Calliope away which caused Kiara to be distracted. And in that second of getting distracted, a lightning bolt hit Kiara.

Plants grew all over the field and then ice rained down from the sky.

“You two have been very naughty girls who are being mean to Mother Nature. You deserve a spanking”, Fauna said.

Kiara shakily stood up and Calliope pushed back against the wind. Thanks to the heavy rain, Kiara’s flames weakened and since she was no longer dealing with living creatures, Calliope’s Death’s Embrace was useless.

“What’s going on? I thought Fauna’s ability is just to create plants?” I asked.

“Fauna is the Keeper of Nature. And nature is not just limited to life. The weather is part of nature”, Yagoo answered.

“And storms like these are often described as nature’s wrath”, Anya added.

Kiara and Calliope were strong on their own but they could barely hold on against Fauna. Was our plan going to succeed at this rate?

“Look! The third one has arrived!” Suisei pointed at a screen.

A brown-skinned woman with long white hair tied into twintails descended from the sky and landed in front of Gura and Lamy.

“The Primordial Dark isn’t here. I have bad luck”, she muttered.

“The Primordial Water is angry. She’s part of the Council, huh?” Gura asked.

“It doesn’t matter who. I’ll show them the terror of the cold”, Lamy said.

The brown-skinned woman did some stretches and smiled.

“I’m Sana Tsukumo, the Speaker of Space”, the brown-skinned woman introduced herself.

“Gura Gawr, the Primordial Water’s vessel”, Gura pointed her trident at her.

“Lamy Yukihana, the vessel of the Primordial Ice”, Lamy said as the ground underneath her feet froze.

“Nice to meet you two! And now… “

Sana pointed her index finger at the two of them.

“Kneel.”

Gura and Lamy’s bodies collapsed to the ground and a round crater formed with their bodies at the center.

“You cannot defy space, after all”, Sana smiled.

It was just the start of the fight and the two of them were already in trouble.