A tornado of darkness surrounded Liesl, stirring up debris that forced Svenja and the others to shield their eyes with their arms. After the dust settled, they could see Liesl's body encased in a solid form of Darkness, resembling armor. Liesl, now covered in the solid Darkness, raised her sword once again, its blade glowing with a pitch black aura. “Come on, bet your attacks can’t even pierce my armor,” she taunted, staring Svenja down with a cocky smirk.

Svenja narrowed her eyes, gripping her sword tightly as she used Enfold on it and used Increase for good measure. "Yer armor ain't gonna save ya from slaughterin' ya!" she yelled, glaring at Liesl with pure determination.

“I’ll have you know that this armor has survived more turmoil than any of you have endured in your lifetimes,” Liesl shot back.

“Helloooo?” Ahina called out with a smirk.

“...Okay, maybe not you because your kind can live for millions of years. I'd say it's about time I send you up to meet Astraea herself, huh?”

“How about… You go DOWN and meet Tiffany for us?” Ahina replied before stomping on the ground, turning it into quicksand that Liesl sank into.

“Well played, well played,” Liesl applauded, continuing to sink until she went out of sight. The instant that she disappeared, a rumbling sound could be heard beneath Ahina's feet. Not taking a moment to think, she evaded Liesl's sneak attack from underground, rising from the earth which she tore through with claws of Darkness.

While Liesl was airborne, Trixie erected a pillar of ice from the ground to impale her. Liesl shot a ball of loud bass at the pillar, shattering it and sending the attack back to its sender. Using Increase and Barrier at once, Trixie utilized the Fortify technique, her aura protecting her body from being battered by the incoming ice. Svenja dashed in behind Liesl during her moment of distraction, swinging her blade down at her. In the nick of time, Liesl blocked the strike with her own blade, sending her flying back down to the ground, which left a crater as she fought against Svenja's might.

“What an eventful day! I'm squaring off against a Meteor Corp agent AND the Alliance at once? Oh, whatever will I do…?”

“Perish, that's what,” Svenja shot back with a smirk, pushing Liesl back with a wave of her hand.

Smirking back, Liesl rushed in for another strike, but before the attack could connect, Ahina jumped in front of Svenja, tanking the damage and unleashing it back at her in the form of an eruption from the earth.

Liesl stepped out of the dust physically unscathed, but the aura surrounding her was absent, signifying that her aura broke.

“Volcanic Rage, was that it?” Liesl said in a taunting voice. “A move about as explosive yet typical as your cuisine.”

Ahina narrowed her eyes. “What do you have against barbeque and grilled foods?”

Liesl chuckled with a shrug. “I mean, for a place as blazingly hot as Frigid, you'd think that its staple dishes would be drinks and food that'll cool you down…”

“Speaking of ‘cooling down'...” Trixie said, freezing Liesl's legs in place.

“Oh, we've got a jokester here! Well, I have one too, Discount Irene. Your ears won't believe it.”

“Wha–” was all that Trixie could get out before another sound projectile slammed into her face, creating a powerful explosion that left everyone deaf and broke their auras, and also freeing Liesl of her icy confines.

“Damnit, I can't hear SHIT,” Svenja complained, picking up her sword again as she struggled to stand.

“How’s that for ya?” Liesl teased with a cheesy grin.

“No, fuck YER mum!” Svenja shouted back, still unable to hear a peep as she ran in for another sword swing.

Liesl jumped out of the way and swung her sword, aiming for Svenja's vulnerable chest but missing, as Svenja managed to duck out of the way. The two swing and counterattack each other, though Liesl seems to be at an unfair advantage here, as she has her hearing still while Svenja struggles to keep herself upright and conscious.

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They battle back and forth, Liesl gaining the upper hand over Svenja with her hearing intact. She lands a heavy strike on Svenja's side, sending her staggering back and forcing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground.

Svenja tried to maintain her focus, but Liesl could see that she was struggling to do so. Liesl stepped up to Trixie, her blade glinting in the light. "It seems that I have the upper hand now," she mutters smugly, ready to strike at Trixie's exposed chest. "Any last words, Ephemeral?”

“Trixie,” Piper said in an anxious voice. “I can detect a weapon approaching from afar at incredible speeds and it's aiming for your chest, dodge it!”

Before Trixie could move out of the way, a halberd impaled her back and pierced through her chest, making her hurl up blood and caused her aura to flicker in a violent manner. This caused Liesl to jump back, looking around in bewilderment as she looked for the origin of the attack.

Looking behind Trixie, she could see a familiar dwarven figure walking up to the group with a cocky yet determined gaze.

Queen Orla? What in tarnation is she doing here of all places?! Liesl thought.

Uh-oh… Svenja thought.

Orla took a glance at Svenja and shook her head as she kept walking.

I'll deal with her later… she thought.

Piper, who's that? Trixie thought with a pained grimace.

“My readings tell me that this is Orla, the queen of the dwarves. She's known for her leadership of the Kingdom of the Forgotten…and for being a huge potty-mouth, if I may add.”

“Well, look who's here,” Liesl said, smirking at the vengeful dwarven queen before her. “Aren't you supposed to be running your crumbling little kingdom that you dwarves are oh so fond of?”

Orla scoffed and waved her hand dismissively. “Ye’re one to talk, ya glorified monkey. Maybe if ye bastards didn't take our jobs, us dwarves wouldn't be in this mess.”

Liesl gasped and put her hand to her chest with a smirk. "A glorified monkey?" she shot back. "Oh, this one's a real riot! She's going to lecture me on racism while being racist herself! Pot kettle!"

Orla rolled her eyes. "Oh, boohoo! But muh racism," she replied, mockingly imitating her own voice while making a tear wiping gesture with her right hand. "Like yer kind is so innocent. I hate ye fuckers more than I hate demons, those crafty sons a' bitches who never bathe. Now piss off, this is dwarf business!”

"Pfft, dwarf business?! That's rich coming from you," Liesl countered. "Maybe if you dwarves hadn't wasted all your time and money on booze and gambling, you wouldn't have a crumbling Kingdom on your hands."

Orla snorted. "Yeah, that's about the response I expected," she said, shaking her head. "Typical upper-crust behavior o' blamin’ others for yer own mistakes. Ye think just ‘cause I'm a dwarf, I'm some dumb little bastard who's only good for mining?”

“Poor little tink-tink,” Liesl mocked as she did a swinging gesture with her arm to imitate someone using a hammer or pickaxe.

Orla narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. “Now ya've done it, ye daft twat-waffle!”

Liesl snickered at the insult before tightening the grip on the hilt of her sword. “Oh, did I strike a nerve? You dwarves have the most hilarious insults, I'll give you that. You should put some of that creativity into your bland-ass cuisine.”

“Bitch, the fuck is wrong with beer n' taters?! Why dun’ ye just take yer privileged white arse back to yer palace an’ go have a cuppa with the other stuck-up nobles?”

"Privileged white ass?" Liesl shot back again. "Well, that's one way to describe my ass! I mean, I know it's nice and all, but I didn't know it was THAT noteworthy!”

“Mine's bigger than yers,” Orla said with a condescending smirk.

“Mhm. You should consider selling it on the streets to keep your kingdom from financially collapsing,’’ Liesl retorted, smirking in return.

Orla flinched and balled her fists. “Ye what?!”

She extended a hand out in Trixie's direction, pulling out the halberd from her chest and putting it beside her.

Liesl snickered at the dwarf queen before getting into a defensive stance. “By the way, you could knock my head clean off with those huge badonkers if you tried.” she replied in a sarcastic tone.

Orla huffed and puffed up her chest in defiance. “Oi, ‘least I ain't a flat bitch like ye,”

Liesl flashed a toothy grin, using Enfold on her blade and coating it in Darkness for good measure. “Well, at least they won't get in my way when I kick your ass, won't they?”

Orla scoffed and turned herself around before taking a bow, looking over her shoulder with a piercing glare as she held onto the handle of her halberd for balance. “Ye can fuckin' KISS me arse, ya cheap skank!”

Orla turned back around at a blinding speed, launching a slap at Liesl, which snapped her neck to the left. Then she slapped her again with the back of her hand using the same strength, jerking the knight's head to the right.

She seemed to be stunned from the attack, making Orla smirk. Seconds later, a darkness covered Liesl's neck and she twisted it back to normal with a sharp CRUNCH.

“Gotcha! You can hold your liquor, but you sure can't take a dose of your own medicine. How about we dance right now? This will be like taking candy from a baby! Or, in your case, taking a drink from a dwarf!" Liesl said cockily. “Now how in tarnation do you expect to handle m–”

Liesl was cut off by Orla's halberd blazing past her, cutting her left arm to leave behind a deep gash.

“Like that, that's how,” Orla replied with a smirk teeming with superiority.

The next halberd strike came behind her, forcing her to dodge. Then the next strike, and the next.

Ugh, she thought, as she continued dodging the attacks. How is she controlling that thing? Is she a Possessor or Interactor who can manipulate things, or did she conjure that halberd via Creation? If it's the former…as a Converter, I'm at a disadvantage here.

Orla then spun her halberd, creating a vortex of death that threatened to pull Liesl in and chop her to bits. Liesl held up her blade to block the incoming strike, using Projection on herself to prevent herself from getting sucked into the vortex. Bobbing and weaving through every attack, Liesl found herself scaling a hill, evading both Orla's halberd and the sharp rocks ready to impale her with the wrong move. Deflecting and evading, Liesl countered Orla's onslaught with everything she had, but the dwarf wasn't giving her a break and was instead having fun giving the Knight a run for her money. Reaching the top of the hill, Liesl used Increase and created a dozen balls of loud bass, and summoned more and more until they covered most of the sky above, making the earth vibrate beneath their feet.

“You hear that bass, little dwarf? Now you and the rest of those mongrels can be blown to bits!”

Orla countered by swinging her halberd at Mount Horn and cutting off a huge slab of rock, which she cut into dozens of sharp stones. She used Interaction to attract the stones around her and used Enfold on each of them. With the swing of an arm, she launched the stones at the bass balls, eliminating each one of them. Liesl’s breath hitched as her ultimate attack was foiled, but she wasn't prepared to see the stones not only survive the balls' vibrations upon impact, but appear above, in front, and behind her, leaving her with nowhere to run.

...FUCK, she thought.

Orla swiped downwards with her right hand, and every stone rained down on the Knight, the impact of the stones rivaling the shaking and vibrations that Liesl's sound projectiles made as they bombarded her with fury. Orla smirked with delight at the display of utter destruction of the hill in front of her and dispelled her halberd, crossing her arms.

“That does it,” she boasted, turning her to Trixie and the other Alliance members, who were all taken aback by the show.

“Now, as I was planning to do…”