Face-Off

"Why are you here?" the branch leader asked, frowning.

Mithra drew her hammer. "Give me the Eternal Night Crystal. I need it. And the locations of any others. I'm not greedy; that's enough."

The branch leader gripped his staff.

Anyone familiar with the Night Hunters knew that branch leaders' staffs contained Eternal Night Crystals. Mithra's question was essentially asking for the locations of other branch leaders.

"You fool! You're provoking…" The branch leader started to say something, but Mithra swung her hammer and struck the wall.

Bang!

A dark energy surged, and Mithra vanished.

Boom!

The branch leader's staff moved, and the Eternal Night Crystal shone, forming a Darkness pattern.

The instant Mithra reappeared beside him, she brought her hammer down. A dark energy enveloped him, instantly immobilizing him.

["Dense Darkness": A Godly miracle. It manipulates the darkness to create a dark, intangible curtain, immobilizing and nullifying the power of whatever it enshrouds.]

Mithra, also affected by the darkness, struggled to move. The miracles she had activated were also suppressed and couldn't be immediately reactivated.

The leader swung his staff again, forming another Darkness pattern.

["Heavy Darkness": A Godly miracle. It imbues darkness with weight, crushing and destroying other miracles.]

Another surge of dark energy erupted from the staff. This time, when it hit Mithra, she felt an immense pressure.

Bang!

Mithra felt as if she had been hit by a speeding car. She flew through the air, spinning comically before crashing to the ground.

Her bones shattered and twisted.

With her Reinforce Body largely suppressed, she had been hit hard.

"She has Night Eyes. She's walked right into a trap. Gouge out her eyes," the branch leader said calmly.

Several believers approached.

Suddenly, Mithra's twisted neck straightened. She stood up and grabbed the nearest believer.

Before the believers could react to her sudden movement, Mithra pulled the believer into a hug.

The believer felt a warm embrace.

Then, tentacle-like tongues emerged, seizing the believer's head and swallowing them whole. They couldn't struggle; they vanished into Mithra's chest.

Mithra, her body regenerating, stood unsteadily. "Cough, cough. Like a girl, kind-hearted. I didn't mean to be cruel,"

The four Chrysalis members exchanged glances.

"She seems more like one of us than we are,"

Mithra, swaying slightly, pulled the Hunter Greatsword from her back, her hammer and sword clashing gently.

Bang!

Mithra vanished.

The branch leader stood up, unleashing "Dense Darkness," but it failed to restrain Mithra.

With a series of sharp sounds, Mithra's figure flickered through the hall, her still-healing body a grotesque, ghostly blur.

Believers were constantly being struck down by the hammer and sword, or immobilized by the "Dense Darkness."

The four Chrysalis members, unable to continue observing, transformed and attacked.

Mithra dodged one attack, then, as another charged, she used her sword to slice through their flesh and send them sprawling.

Another unleashed a volley of fleshy projectiles. Mithra parried with her sword and hammer, dodging the attack and taking advantage of the opening to attack her target.

The final member swung a heavy hammer at Mithra's head.

Bang!

Mithra was hit, her body twisting. The "Dense Darkness" was reactivated.

The branch leader inhaled sharply.

["Paralyzing Darkness": A Godly miracle. After shrouding the target with darkness, it severs or tears it apart, destroying everything within.]

A slender, dark claw appeared beneath the branch leader's shadow, slashing towards Mithra.

The four Chrysalis members simultaneously activated Flesh Transmutation, unleashing fleshy projectiles.

Suddenly, the darkness was ripped apart.

Not by the branch leader's miracle, but by a blue sword energy that seemed to draw all sight, sense, and even spirit towards it.

Boom!

The ceiling and a corner of the mansion's roof were blown away. A howling wind swept through the hall, and three of the four Chrysalis members were instantly decapitated. Surprisingly, they didn't seem to have life locks. They died instantly. Only one had a shattered red mark reforming, granting them a second life. But another sword energy severed their chest.

The branch leader's eyes widened. Even though he had sensed the attack and tried to defend, two consecutive strikes severed his arm, still clutching the staff, which fell to the ground with a clang.

Mithra, her steps unsteady, emerged from the shadows. The black and white mane on the back of her head slowly receded, transforming back into long, flowing dark hair.

The eyes on the Hunter Greatsword slowly closed.

Only the branch leader remained standing.

"Y...you're alive?!" he hissed, sweat beading on his brow.

Mithra didn't reply, activating Stabilize.

Ding.

Much better.

"It must be the Egov… Damn it. He said he could use that power, but he vanished without a trace, and you were released!"

Mithra swung her hammer, smashing several transformed cursed creatures and leaving the remains for her maw.

As she looked up, the branch leader knelt down and threw the Eternal Night Crystal he was holding at the one on his staff.

Bang!

The moment they collided, Mithra felt a chilling sense of familiarity.

A Creature of Darkness suddenly appeared and lunged at her.

Mithra swung her hammer and knocked it down. But then, a large bat-like creature swooped down, briefly grappling with her before being impaled by the Hunter Greatsword.

Realizing something, she activated Anderet's "Remnant Night" miracle.

Daylight transformed into twilight. Before the branch leader, a rift to the Realm of Eternal Night opened between the two Eternal Night Crystals.

Unlike the rift suppressed by the Xyrin energy point, this rift was clearly two-way. Light from the real world shone into it, illuminating the dark world.

And the creatures' reaction to the light was well-known to Mithra.