'Wait, I'm Supposed to Become a Goddess?! But I'm a Guy!'

Liam stepped into the air, each one of his movements were featherlight, barely disturbing the space beneath his soles.

Ripples echoed in circles with every step, spreading outward like disturbed silk on water, a bead of jade against a pool of crimson blood.

His gaze stayed locked above, watching as the diagram twisted and turned again, though whatever purpose it served had already been fulfilled.

'This should be enough to keep this space safe, at least the aftermath won't spread outside'

Then, without warning, he vanished.

A flicker, then a blur.

His figure cut through the sky like a bird breaking through cloud layers, trailing afterimages that twisted and distorted the air in his wake.

He was a streak of dark velocity aimed directly at Mize.

She noticed.

Her palm shifted ever so slightly, and the compressed force she'd been holding unraveled into the atmosphere.

“Fall,” she said flatly.

The command wasn’t loud, but the effect was instant.

A crushing pressure descended from above like a collapsing sky, hammering down across the entire field.

Everything beneath her trembled under the sudden weight.

Liam’s silhouette surged faster, his motion erupting into streams of black fire that scattered like wild embers, staining the sky.

Before Mize could adjust, he was already there, though no longer fully himself.

What hovered before her now wasn’t Liam as she knew him.

A being cloaked in shadow had taken his place, its form roughly humanoid, yet unmistakably molded after Liam's own.

It stood as an echo of original his shape, his bearing, wrapped in something... Unsightly.

"Filthy smell"

Mize’s eyes narrowed. A single flick of her fingers dragged the light she held into a tighter sphere, faster than any normal awakened being could track.

The ball vibrated with immense force, drawn together in a blur, and she flung it forward with almost casual ease.

Liam’s hand lifted.

A diagram spun into being at the tip of his extended finger, folding into shape.

But this one was different, there was no deep blue glow, no serene resonance.

It pulsed with a thick, oppressive darkness that crawled out like smoke.

Mize’s lips twitched.

The sight made her nostrils flare, her expression twisting with discomfort.

From the front, Liam’s eyes, two golden discs devoid of light, gleamed a sudden interest.

But there was no time to pause.

Both attacks were released in the same heartbeat.

Mize’s blazing orb streaked through the sky like a miniature sun, while Liam’s diagram twisted forward like a bullet from a silencer.

An ear piercing whistle.

And then, collision.

Zoom!

The two collided midair.

It wasn’t an explosion, not yet.

Mize’s light flared wildly, spiraling out of control as it met the diagram’s shifting form.

For a moment, it seemed on the verge of erupting into chaos.

Then the diagram changed.

Its shape bent inward, gears rotating like a living mechanism, wrapping around the unstable light.

“Mimi, oooh Mimi… your abilities are impressive,” Liam’s voice echoed, a half-laugh threading through the air.

“But you’ve still got few experience.”

Mize’s brows shot up.

Her mouth opened, but no words came.

Before she could process it, her attack was gone.

Swallowed whole.

Swoop!

The diagram vanished as if it never existed, taking her light with it.

And there he stood, still cloaked in shadow, eyes narrowed in amusement.

“Teleportation?” Mize muttered under her breath.

She didn’t wait for an answer.

Zoom.

Liam shot forward again, closing the distance in a blink.

"I can do it too"

Mize vanished just as quickly, reappearing several hundred meters away.

But Liam caught it.

An oval of darkness bloomed beside him, and his arm extended into it without hesitation.

A matching oval unfurled next to Mize and from it, a hand emerged, reaching toward her.

She teleported again, this time farther.

Zoom.

Swoosh.

Zoom.

Swoosh.

They flashed across the sky like sparring stars, flickering and disappearing in quick succession.

Every blink brought them to new locations, the atmosphere stained with streaks of light, dark, and shimmering color from their rapid movements.

But then Mize stopped.

She let out a quiet snort, her fingers raising and extending outward.

"Ridiculous!"

A small orb of light began to form at the tip of her index, nothing like the devastating sphere she’d used earlier.

This one was more compact, hastily made, but still pulsing like a tiny nuclear reactor.

Her version of a tactical nuke, one she’d crafted on impulse after toying with Liam’s idea from before.

Smaller. Cheaper.

But still plenty dangerous.

With a deadpan expression, she flicked the orb into the black portal Liam’s hand was still reaching through.

His eyes widened.

'Crap!'

Boom.

The sky lit up in a rolling wave of fire and sound.

A thunderous shockwave cracked across the space, tearing through the sky with a force that rattled the realm itself.

Smoke ballooned upward, a gray and orange tower blooming like an angry god’s breath.

And Mize wasn’t finished.

The trick had worked, and more importantly, it hadn’t cost her much.

With barely a gesture, her hand raised again. Five fingers extended forward, each one pulsing with its own tiny light sphere.

No buildup. No flourish. Just immediate release.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Each blast crashed through the air, echoing across the skies as the makeshift battlefield buckled.

The ground’s diagrams put in place to stabilize the area, shifted rapidly, lines pulsing and twisting as they struggled to contain the residual shock.

The world above glowed with flashes of golden light and falling ash.

The air trembled.

Space itself groaned under the repeated blows.

But Mize didn’t slow down.

She stood in the sky with her arm extended, fingers still sparking, and eyes locked on where Liam had last stood, as if daring him to step through the flames again.

The explosion tore through the sky like a war drum, its concussive blast followed by a sharp, screeching howl that rattled the heavens.

Mize’s fingers shifted with elegance, her movements precise, almost like a dance.

Tiny spheres of condensed light clustered at her fingertips.

"Dance"

With a flick of her wrist, they burst forward like a scattered volley of cannon fire.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The sky lit up with overlapping arcs of destruction, each blast pushing against the atmosphere with the force of a thunderclap.

Down below, wind ripped across the ground like a storm surge, pulverizing the terrain.

Cracks spread like veins, the distant area shuddering under the invisible pressure.

Far off, two spectators stood just beyond the range of devastation, their clothes and armour fluttering in the wind stirred by the impact.

“Incredible firepower…” Aizen muttered, then laughed under his breath. “Looks like her highness might be skimming the edge of Tier 6 already. Such potential to cross realm fight is unheard of, at least back in my world"

“Indeed,” Titrus agreed, arms crossed, eyes narrowed against the wind. “To sustain this level of destruction repeatedly without faltering… her highness energy reserves must be bottomless.”

Their gazes locked on the display overhead blinding colors bending in spirals through the smoke-choked sky, the fading echoes of detonation leaving trails of dust like clouds rolling through a battlefield.

But then, something shifted.

Swoosh! 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

A black silhouette shot downward at blinding speed, slicing through the chaos.

Mize caught it in a split-second glance, her body twisting mid-air.

Her hand shot forward, fingers splaying wide as fresh arcs of energy sprang to life.

Dozens of glowing orbs ripped forward like a scattergun unleashed.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The earth cracked open beneath each impact.

But the figure, Liam, cloaked in his shadowy form, navigated through the barrage with ease, ducking and weaving.

A grin ghosted across his lips as he glanced up, golden eyes gleaming.

“She’s insane,” he muttered to himself, barely dodging another shot. “Maybe experience doesn’t matter if you can just brute force your way through everything.”

He laughed, light on his feet, then slid to a halt mid-air.

A dark oval shimmered beside him, warping space.

Without hesitation, he stepped through it like walking through a curtain.

“Spatial manipulation?” Mize's brows tightened.

Her eyes darted behind her the moment another identical portal cracked into existence in the air.

“Amateur,” she sneered. Her hand lifted, fingers steady, as five pinpoint shots of light lanced into the portal. “Try something new next time.”

But nothing emerged.

No figure. No attack.

Just her own five radiant spheres floating back out like mocking reminders.

“What?” she breathed, taken aback.

Swoosh!

Boom!

Too late.

In that brief moment of arrogance, her guard had slipped.

The very lights she had fired moments ago were flung back at her from the other side of space.

The air sizzled, heat blooming like a furnace as the explosion swallowed her position whole.

The shockwave thundered outwards, flattening debris and ripping through the sky.

Behind the gateway, Liam hovered in silence, brows furrowed.

He hadn’t expected it to work that well.

He scanned the smoke cautiously. She had to have some kind of defense. Right?

The smoke twisted unnaturally, parted by a subtle force, and from the haze, she stepped out.

Unscathed.

Only faint trails of smoke curled from her cheek and the edge of her collar.

Her face was stone, but her eyes burned.

“Presumptuous,” she growled.

This time, she was done playing around.

"Yeah, my mistake for telling her about nuke" Liam sighed.