An eerie silence feel over the world as the crimson portal finished expanding as everything living waited on baited breath for what would happen next. Even the light of the sun seemed just a bit dimmer. Humans on both sides of the conflict were trembling in fear as it seemed even those in Pheoa were afraid. I personally had my mind locked up in the anticipation unable to form a single thought as I stared at that puddle in reality.

Slowly the top of someone's head began to slide up out of the portal. The hair was shining gray with faded red streaks in it. Then as the goddess continued rising up her full head and face came into view. Her skin was not pale like mine but instead more crème colored. In the middle of her face were two brilliantly blue eyes that sparkled with madness. Soon her full hairdo came into view and it was revealed to be all shining gray, her bangs sharp with large almost spikes coming from the side of her head. These curled upwards and behind her shoulders was a large fan of hair that went out on either side almost to where her elbows would be when her arms were raised. This too was curved upwards and formed what looked like a crescent blade. All along the very edges of her hair and bangs was the deep red color, almost as if her ends were dipped in dried blood like a used weapon.

Her body was tall and well built and it was clear she was older than me. If she was a human perhaps she would have been twelve or thirteen years old, though I had no idea how old she actually was. Even as she continued rising from the portal I could tell she was at least three-hundred feet tall which was difficult to imagine from the human point of view. Her entire body was covered in gallant armor from the chainmail that covered her limbs to the polished leather of her chest and skirt. All of her fabric garments like shirt and underskirt were colored in a dark blue with dark gray chaps dangling down to her knees. Shining metal disks covered her elbows and knees and on her feet were almost simple steel boots with accents of leather.

The most striking thing about her however was the way she carried her weapons of war. On her waist was an impossibly large sword. It was surprisingly not very ornate with only simple jewels on its pommel and otherwise a plain appearance. Being held in her hands however was something much more extravagant. Gripped in her right fist and held next to her body was a massive pole the size of any skyscraper, its bottom end ending with a thin blade. Going up the shaft near the top you came to a massive curved blade, like a sickle out both sides, with a small spear tip coming out the very top. All the blades were sharp and clean, their surfaces engraved with strange symbols. Gold and silver adorned the grips on the weapon with small jewels encrusted into them. A bizarre and deadly weapon of death. Like a reaper's scythe with extra steps.

All around the air seemed to be pulsing with the energy of madness, as if by simply being here ones mind could be overwhelmed with the chaos of conflict. This newly appearing goddess opened her mouth the instant she had fully exited the portal as it closed under her. Her voice sounded eerily mature for someone who looked as young as she.

“Finally!” She shouted in excitement. “We meet!”

I was so taken aback I could only stutter, my mouth hanging open as my eyes almost bugged out of their sockets.

“Wha- buh- buh-”

Swiftly my opponent twirled the massive glaive and scythe combo weapon around and in front of her. Her eyes were shining with hunger.

I stumbled backwards a couple steps while pointing my right hand at the immense weapon, the mage still gripped in my left.

“T-That's not fair! She has a weapon! Why don't I have a weapon?”

My eyes were wide in surprise still and I was openly making my complaints more so to the universe than to anyone in particular.

My opponent's mouth curled into a smirk as her voice boomed out across the landscape.

“I am Aldaney, Goddess of War and Blood! And I have come here to feast on your heart!”

Before I could say another word she charged, her eyes crazed with the scent of battle. I was gripped with panic, momentarily rooted in place as terror washed over me. The fear of death is not something I had felt since arriving here. I was going to die. My internal world went silent as all the voices of my faithful were drowned out by my overwhelming terror.

No! A still small voice inside of me pierced the chaos and madness. I was not dying here! Suddenly the chorus of voices returned as my worshipers cried out begging me to save them. Then I realized there was a town behind me! I had people to protect. I was their goddess! The full weight of my responsibility crushed down upon me greater than any fear of death. This allowed me to swallow my terror and snap my focus back to the reality before me.

This Aldaney was dashing towards me, her immense metal clad feet crashing down into the masses of people that made up her own army. I grimaced at the gruesome fate visited upon them as they broke ranks and fled screaming in terror. Out of respect for my own sanity I didn't even look at the gory aftermath of those stomps. This goddess clearly had no concern for her own troop's lives. My mind had only a fraction of a second to think about how I had heard about this goddess before and that this seemed quite wrong. But this thought was just a flash before the glint of her weapon blanked my mind once again.

She was almost upon me and thinking fast I pivoted around, turning my back on her and dashing to the east. My first priority was drawing her away from the battlefield and city so that would be no collateral damage. Even the enemy army deserved a better fate than to die underfoot while two goddesses fraught.

Aldaney seemed to be enraged by my retreat, though it was clear she had eyes only for me and likely didn't realize my intentions.

“Craven!” She shouted after me.

She immediately pivoted and chased after me, her metal clad feet thundering into the ground now away from humans. Her massive double bladed glaive was swung around as to better aim at my fleeing back.

While running I pulled out one of my floating books, the ribbon flailing in the wind as I aimed it behind me and at my closing opponent. With a thought the book flipped open and launched a blast of fire towards Aldaney. She of course dodged it effortlessly, merely stepping to the side to mid-stride while still charging towards me.

Within seconds I was in the forest, my own immense feet crushing down on trees and fallen logs which shook the earth. It was only now that I realized I still had that enemy mage gripped in my left hand. Thankfully my grip hadn't been fatal to him, though it was still quite tight. Without thinking much I did the first thing that came to mind for getting rid of him. I lifted him to my face and cast a feather fall spell on him, then chucked him back towards his army like a ball.

Now with my unwanted passenger gone I turned to face the enemy goddess once again. She was now standing at the edge of the forest with her weapon pulled back in preparation to strike. There was perhaps a quarter mile between us, though at our size it was more like ten feet. It seemed I was being given a moment to catch my breath and collect my thoughts as she stood up straight to speak once again.

Aldaney grinned in an unpleasant way. “When I first heard about you I thought you would be a dangerous goddess. But the more I was told the more I realized how weak you were.” She adjusted her shoulders. “I feared you were too be scared to come out and face at me at all.”

This time was a gift from my father and I replied to her in order to draw it out and think just a moment more.

“Y-Yeah well you're not even supposed to have blood in your power set.” I stammered back. “Y-You're the goddess of war I t-thought!”

Aldaney grinned and looked at her glaive, sliding her hand up and down the pole.

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“I've been expanded thanks to my drink of choice lately.” She then snapped her eyes to lock with mine, the crazed look returning. “Human blood!”

Suddenly it clicked in my mind. Had that- that ritual those mages tried to control me with- worked on her? No wonder she was acting so irrationally. She was in berserker mode! What the actual hell was I going to do?

By this point Sub-Chan had been including herself. The result being my second book appearing beside me and opening up. Seeing this Aldaney's face flattened into a more serious expression again.

“It seems you're ready.” She said lowering into a combat stance. “To die!”

Aldaney leapt at me with her weapon extending out with its spear tip glinting in the gray light. I barely was able to step out of the way and dodge it. It was clear she was trained well in the ways of combat where I had basically no experience outside of what I had gained in my short time in this world. Before I could even fire off a spell she had planted her feet and twisted to swing the huge blades at me.

Without another word I jumped back again as the blade swished through the air, the deadly thing slicing the air right where I had been standing. Aldaney was aiming to kill. The shock of this had left me holding my breath and I had to be reminded by my inner self to breathe. Breathing was important, even though I technically didn't need to. It kept your focus.

I took a deep breath and focused myself on dodging my opponent's attacks, barely having time to fire off a spell of my own. Not that my attacks did much good. Fire, ice, wind, or earth Aldaney dodged them all. It was at this point I realized my moves were only buying my time. No matter how I bent or dove that deadly blade would catch up to me eventually and that would be the end. I couldn't let that happen. I needed to think outside the box.

Aldaney let out a cry and leapt towards me over the trees, her glaive swinging wide and aimed directly at my neck. There was no time to dodge and I had no blade to deflect it with. Was this the end? As I pondered that something popped into my head I hadn't thought of before. It would be hard to hit a human sized target with that thing.

The sudden brain blast seemed like such an obvious solution. In an instant I shrunk down to human size, my view now now looking up through the trees from the forest floor below. It was almost like being an ant looking up through the grass at a human standing up into the sky. The now absolutely massive glaive swung through the sky with a deadly swish, its target simply not there anymore.

Aldaney to her credit only paused for a moment before realizing what had happened. She was certainly surprised to be sure, but like any warrior surprises wouldn't throw her off her game. With a slight smile she leapt towards where I had disappeared with her weapon swinging down at me.

“Nice try!” She shouted.

Even at my tiny human size my abilities were no less potent. With supernatural speed and strength I easily jumped out of the way of the incoming attack, the massive blade cleaving through the trees like a knife through grass. I only had a fraction of a second to feel bad for the animals before the threat of my enemy's feet came into the forefront of my mind. Staying tiny wasn't ideal either.

With another powerful leap I flew out of the forest and into the air, growing back to my goddess size and landing with a world shaking boom. My two books were primed and ready, twinned fire and ice. With a shout I blasted them off causing my opponent to actually stagger back and block with her blades.

“Ha!” I cried.

Aldaney had little issue blocking the attacks but she did have a look of genuine shock on her face for the first time since her appearance. This was quickly replaced with an angry grimace however as she twirling around her weapon and dove back towards me.

In another instant I had jumped to the side and shrunk down again. Anticipating this Aldaney had adjusted her aim and the massive blade headed straight for me even in the air. I had anticipated her anticipation however and thanks to my fire jets I was able to adjust my flight path and dodge out of the way, the deadly blade passing by like some razor thin plane.

I landed with a grunt in the forest below, then without a moment to catch my breath I had to dodge the massive booted foot as it came down over me. Using the nearby tree as a springboard I jumped off into the distance, hoping to put enough space between me and her that I could actually catch my breath.

Aldaney growled above me. “Get back here!”

While running away the fear of death returned to me as my heart raced. This really could be the end of me. Its not like I was used to fighting, much less someone on my level. Only a goddess could kill another goddess and this facing of my imminent death filled me with such dread. I could never hope to beat this goddess head on.

After bounding through the forest for several miles I collapsed behind a pile of fallen logs in the forest. I could still see my enemy thanks to the overwhelming light of her soul, tainted as it was. This meant she could see me as well and it would be sooner rather than later that she found me. My tiny size currently was the only thing giving me any stealth at all.

My mind raced and my emotions flared. I begged my father to spare my life. Aldaney could never be allowed to take over both kingdoms. It was simply unimaginable. The problem was my energy was running low and I didn't know how much longer I could keep this up. I contemplated using my untested ultimate attack. Using all twelve of my books and all twelve elements at once in an ultra super attack.

I had actually gotten lost in thought for a moment due and hadn't noticed Aldaney was already upon me. The sheer panic that flowed through me as I saw that massive blade coming down from the sky caused something to snap inside of me. Sub-Chan surged to the surface and took control.

“My turn.”

Sub-Chan leapt up into the air, my survival instinct personified. Blasts of flame burst forth from my hands and feet propelling my body high into the sky as I once again grew to full goddess size. Now so high up above my opponent Sub-Chan began charging my ultimate attack. One by one in rapid succession all twelve of my books appeared floating beside me like the numbers on a clock. A massive glowing circle alight with twelve colors appeared below me as the books opened and began glowing.

“Twelve element Vitasphere all out attack!” I shouted.

This attack was sadly not meant to be as it simply took to long to charge up. Before it had the change to fully charge Aldaney leapt up into the sky, impressive considering her size, and grabbed my body by the ankle. The magic circle was shattered into scattering light as I was pulled back down to earth.

Aldaney landed on her knees where I landed on my back, the forest exploding as I impacted, all twelve of my books flopping to the ground as the wind was knocked out of me. It was at this point that Sub-Chan prepped an insanity play, the last ditch suicidal move. A black hole of void magic. My body was aching and covered in bruises and cuts from the various trees I had landed on. I felt like my heart would explode. But I would not die like this, and I certainly couldn't endanger the world with a black hole.

I forced myself through sheer will to take back control of my body, looking up as my enemy stood over me with the thirst for blood gleaming in her eyes. Then as Aldaney lifted her weapon to deliver the final blow I did one final gamble. Dredging up the energy I had left I shrunk down and rolled onto my legs, leaping forward and towards my opponent's feet. Behind me the blade of the glaive crashed into the ground sending dirt and rock flying everywhere. Then I initiated my big gamble.

Now between the massive feet of another goddess I suddenly grew to my own full size. Though I was a full head and shoulders shorter than her it was still a shock even to her to suddenly have someone close to her size appear in an instant right up in her face. Her surprise was replaced with a strange glee as I reached out and grabbed both her wrists with my smaller hands.

“Oh?” Aldaney sneered. “You're approaching me?”

I didn't answer her question, instead gripping her wrists as tightly as I could and channeling what inner fire I had left through them. All the anger and rage I had fighting for my life infused into this magical attack. My eyes lit up with light as I gritted my teeth.

“Burn!”

All that heat energy went from my hands directly into Aldaney's skin, the sheer searing pain it caused difficult to imagine. The result was immediate and effective however. Aldaney let out a howl of both pain and rage as she was forced to drop her weapon and pull away with all her might. The massive glaive clattered to the ground in the forest as my bigger opponent easily wrested herself free from my grip. The look on her face was one of pure hatred as she spat at me.

“I'll kill you!” She screamed.

My face was emotionless, calm and collected as I executed my final gambit. This change in my demeanor might have caused my opponent to pause in caution but she was far too enraged for that now. With a silent stare I shrunk down again while the war goddess stumbled forward to grab me, now grasping at air above. I was not afraid of her thundering feet and instead leapt up into the air, growing back to full size while simultaneously reaching up and grabbing her chin and throat with my left hand. While doing this the clouds above began to gather into a blackened and angry mass.

Aldaney was momentarily stunned again as she found herself suddenly caught in a death grip, though she could feel my strength was far below her own. I was exhausted by now and had very little left. Just as she was preparing to bring her arms in and take hold of me I played my final trump card. With my left hand on her neck I lifted my right into the air and with a shout called out my final desperate attack.

“I call down lightning!”

Aldaney smirked with the look in her eyes matching what a predator might flash its prey. Her arms reached around and grabbed hold of me. This was it.

“Pathetic.” She said through gritted teeth. “Your magic is too weak to-”

In an instant the world went white. For from the sky came such a lightning bolt that it fully blinded both of us, the thunderclap shaking the heavens as the energy coursed through us both. Though as planned, my opponent took the vast majority of the strike. With my vision blanketed in white I felt my consciousness begin to fade and my body begin to fall to the ground.