“Urrgghh. . .”

  Everyone who got sent flying by Mari was slowly lifting their heads and sitting on either the grass or the arena.

  *!!!*

  They all witnessed Lukia’s motionless body falls to the floor, and their head was quickly filled with dread and despair.

  “If the 7th Strongest Believer got done so easily, what on earth could the rest of us possibly achieve?”

  . . . . . . . .

  All the fighters fell silent; they lost all hope of doing anything. It takes a few minutes before someone finally breaks the deafening silence.

  “L-LOOK!! EVERYONE LOOK!! IT’S LUKIA!! SHE’S HANGING ON THE BLADE OF THAT GIANT SCYTHE!!”

  *!!!!!*

  Someone from the audience shouted, and everyone averted their eyes towards Mari’s giant scythe. And they were all really shocked seeing Lukia because her appearance is entirely different.

  “Urrghh. . . What happened. . .?” said Lukia.

  She opened her eyes and was confused about why she was floating in the air.

  “Huh?”

  She looks down and sees that her chest was pierced by Mari’s giant scythe, and she also realizes that she was hanging from it.

  “W-WHAT?”

  But most of all, the one that surprises her the most is how her body looks. She is entirely white, including her clothing and everything, and her entire body is see-through.

  “EEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHH??”

  Lukia suddenly shouts at the realization of the appearance of her own body. But then she looks in all directions in confusion and sees her own body also lying on the floor away from her.

  “WHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTT????”

  She gets even more confused than before.

  *!!!!*

  “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHH???”

  Everyone in the stadium, the audience, the fighters, the hosts, and all the staff as well, was shocked to both see and hear Lukia outside of her own body. Mari and Eissen remain the only two who don’t have any reaction whatsoever.

  “Oh, right! I guess being that surprised is the correct response to seeing someone’s soul being extracted out of their physical body in real time.”

  “TCH! Can you not shout that loud into my ear? So noisy!”

  “WHAT ON EARTH DID YOU DO TO ME?”

  “I took out your soul from your body! How’s your first out-of-body experience feel, 7th Strongest-san??”

  “SO, YOU KILLED ME?”

  “Hmm, in some sense yes, but I guess in actuality, not really.”

  “What on earth is your Faith power?”

  “Hmm, should I spoil it or not? I wonder.”

  “Grrrr!! How long are you going to keep me out of my body?”

  “Hmmm, it depends! How long do you think you can stay like that?”

  “Huh? What do you mean? Are you implying something’s going to happen to me if I don’t go back to my body??”

  “Exactly.”

  “Am I going to die?”

  “Pretty much!”

  “And you’re okay with that?”

  “Ah, don’t worry! I have no intention of killing anyone despite the lethality of my Faith power!”

  “Then, what are you going to do to me?”

  “Franky, I am going to keep your soul out of your body, and before the five-minute mark, I’ll return you to your body, then I’ll immediately snatch your soul again, and wait for another five minutes, and then I’ll snatch it again!! I’ll keep doing it over and over again, UNTIL THAT WRETCHED WOMAN, SIERRA PENDRAGO ARRIVED!!!!” said Mari with a furious tone.

  *!!!*

  All of a sudden, Mari’s right cheek was grazed by something. Lukia instinctively points her finger at Mari and shoots a water jet stream in her ethereal form.

  “H-HUH??”

  Both Lukia and Mari were confused by the fact that Lukia just used her Faith power in her condition.

  “HUH? What just happened? Did that girl really use her Faith power from her soul?” said Eissen in confusion as well.

  Lukia acts quickly and shoots another water jet stream at Mari, but she blocks it this time with her forearm.

  “HHHRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!”

  Lukia tried to push her ethereal body out of Mari’s scythe, but to no avail.

  *GRRAAAAHHHKKK*

  Mari noticed her struggle, and she slammed the blade of her scythe into the floor, and Lukia’s ethereal body was lying on the floor. Kind of, as her current body cannot interact with the physical world whatsoever. Lukia herself doesn’t receive any harm in her current form.

  “Quit the pointless struggle, there’s nothing you can do in this state!”

  “Oh yeah?”

  *!!!*

  Lukia suddenly envelops the entire arena inside a giant dome of water.

  “BLURB!! BLUB BLLUB BLUB!!”

  Some of the fighters were caught in her dome of water, but then they all slowly and surely pushed towards the outside of the dome by a strong water current as per Lukia’s will. Eissen, on the other hand, already teleported away from his spot as soon as his danger sense activated.

  “. . . .”

  Mari stands completely still, even under this volume of water. Lukia moves her hands frantically as if she’s trying to move the water to follow her hand movements.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  *!*

  All of a sudden, Mari was pushed away from her spot, but only for a few centimeters. She quickly recovered and tried to swim back towards her scythe, but during that short time frame, Lukia created a powerful current upwards from her spot, and the strong wave lifted the giant scythe upwards, and eventually, it got launched past the surface of the water dome above.

  When Mari swims back to Lukia, Lukia’s physical body is also swept by a strong current towards her ethereal form.

  “Tch!”

  Mari immediately summons back her giant scythe, and she swings it at Lukia’s physical body.

  Mari misses her target as the body was manually moved by Lukia using the water current. And then Lukia’s physical body reaches her ethereal body, and she quickly dives into her physical body.

  *!*

  Lukia has returned to her original body. She opens her eyes and turns her head towards Mari. She immediately sees that Mari is already swinging her giant scythe, but this time, Lukia is ready. She creates a powerful whirlpool with her right fist and launches it at Mari.

  The whirlpool goes past her scythe and strikes her body directly.

  *BWWOOSSSHHHH*

  *BLUB BLUB BLUB BLUB BLUB*

  Mari’s body was pushed back about 1 meter behind, but she quickly recovered. Before she even attempted to swim back to Lukia, suddenly, the dome of water was lifted upwards into the sky, leaving Mari behind. She falls and lands on the floor safely.

  Mari looks upwards and sees that most of the water flows towards Lukia’s back and they form a pair of draconic wings. Lukia slowly descends to the floor.

  “I AM BACK, BABY!!” declares Lukia.

  With that declaration, the audience felt hope once again.

  “OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”

  “LUKIA-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNN!!!!”

  “WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

  “LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

  “SHE’S BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKK!!!”

  “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!”

  “GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! LUKIA-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN!!!”

  “DEFEAT THAT TERRORIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSTTTTT!!!”

  “SAVE US LUKIA-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!”

  The BWC fighters and the hosts stand up one by one. They also got their hopes back after seeing Lukia back on her feet.

  “As expected of the 7th Strongest, she didn’t give up but instead, came up with a plan to recover herself!” said Selam.

  “If that was me, I would’ve lost all hope and given up!” said Sylvianna.

  “LET’S GET HER THIS TIME!!!” shouts Ardina.

  “Please assist us, Lukia-san!” requests the Pharaoh.

  “WAHAHAHAHA!!! NOW THAT I KNOW WHAT THAT SCYTHE DOES, ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS TO TAKE HER DOWN WITHOUT GETTING HIT BY THAT SCYTHE!!” said Radomin.

  “Let’s do this again, Lukia-chan!” said Daniel.

  “Wait, everyone! Let me hallucinate all of you to boost your strength!” said Phil.

  “Let’s do it discreetly in between our attacks, Phil-san!” said Gabrielle.

  All of the BWC fighters, plus the two hosts, run at Mari at the same time, and they all prepare their Faith power to attack Mari at the same time as well.

  “HRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

  “RRRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

  “HHHRHRRGGGHHHH!!!”

  “GGGRRRAAAAAAAAHHH!!!”

  They were all ready to strike at Mari.

  *!!!!*

  *BLUB BLUB BLUB*

  All of a sudden, the BWC fighters and the two hosts were engulfed by a ball of water, including those who were still lying unconscious.

  “Actually, all of you are in my way! Move!” said Lukia.

  “BLUB BLUB BLURB!!” said Selam.

  “BLUB BLUB BLUB!!” said Ardina.

  Lukia lifts all of the balls of water towards the sky, and she moves them towards the audience’s seats at random. When all the ball of water reaches the water wall surrounding the audience, the balls of water merge into it, and each person is pushed inside the water wall. Now, all of the BWC fighters and the two hosts are isolated outside the arena with all of the viewers in the audience’s seats.

  “Urgh. . .”

  “A-Ardina-chan, are you okay??”

  “Y-Yeah, I’m good. . .”

  “Phil-san! You, okay?”

  “Yeah, guys! I’m all right!”

  “Pharaoh-san? You’re all right?”

  “I am fine, dear viewers!”

  “Daniel-san! Great job out there!”

  “Wahahahaha! Thank you, folks! I really appreciate the kind words!”

  The audience shows immediate care and attention towards all of the BWC fighters and the two hosts, and they show extra care towards the fighters who were unconscious. Now, all that’s left in the arena below are Mari, Lukia, and Eissen.

  “Now, listen to me, you, lowly terrorist! I AM GOING TO TOY WITH YOU UNTIL YOU’RE BEGGING ME TO STOP WITH TEARS IN BOTH OF YOUR EYES!!” said Lukia with an angry expression while clenching her right fist as a sign of dominance and confidence.

  “Oh, you mean like how helpless you look when you’re hanging on my scythe! Nice joke!”

  Lukia opens both of her hands, and water appears out of nowhere, forming into two lances in her hands. Her two lances have a swirling pattern both on the bottom part and the blade part. Her lances are both two meters in length.

  “Hm? How is forming water into a weapon going to help you?”

  “Ah! You have no idea what water can do in the hands of a master like me? A classic example of blatant ignorance!!”

  “Please! Do me a favor and back up your own words!”

  Lukia pulls her right lance backwards and prepares herself to throw it.

  “Don’t worry! If you’re afraid of missing, I won’t move from my spot!”

  “How arrogant! Then try me!”

  Lukia throws her right lance forward, and it travels at the same speed as her water jet stream attacks. Mari easily catches her spear in the center of the handle, but then Lukia throws her second lance immediately. But her target wasn’t exactly Mari; her second lance was flying diagonally downwards.

  *!*

  *BRROOOWWSSHHH*

  *GRROOOOOOOOOOO*

  It lands directly on the floor under where Mari stands, and on impact, the lance explodes into a giant tornado of water with a size so massive that its height reaches the top of the green fire dome. The gigantic water tornado goes on for a while, and then it slowly fades away and disappears completely. Mari was nowhere to be found afterwards; there were only signs of the floor being terribly grazed by the water tornado.

  “Hmm, playing hide and seek like this is so tiring. Please just come out and launch your attack, dear terrorist! I’ll counter you instantly!” provokes Lukia.

  “I’m up here.”

  *?*

  Lukia looks up and sees that Mari is falling towards the arena from a very high elevation in the sky. She spins Lukia’s other lance in her hand and throws it downwards at her.

  “Huh? The most basic information you should know is the fact that a Believer is immune to their own Faith power. What’s the point of throwing my own attack at me? Are you stupid, dear terrorist?”

  Lukia waits patiently as Mari’s attack approaches her quickly. She lifts her hand up to receive the attack with such a carefree expression.

  “Geez, why am I fighting someone like this? Her Faith power is so deadly, yet she doesn’t even know the most basic thing about Faith power? Are you serious? *Sigh*”

  Upon closer inspection, Lukia notices something weird about her own attack. It has a bit of green and black color on the incoming spinning water lance.

  “Wait a second!”

  When Lukia realizes what’s going on, Mari’s attack is already 5cm away from hitting her lifted hand. She quickly creates water and spins it really fast, and it whirls around her lifted arm. She shoots the whirling water at the incoming rotating water lance.

  *SPLASH*

  *CLANK*

  On impact, Lukia’s whirling water deflects Mari’s rotating lance, and it lands on the floor, and the water lance splashes onto the floor. Out of the splashing water, Mari’s giant scythe came out of it and landed on the floor after bouncing off a few times.

  “YOU SPUN YOUR OWN WEAPON WITH MY LANCE?”

  *THUMP*

  And then Mari herself also lands behind and near Lukia, and she cracks the arena floor in a small area around.

  “I am so glad you didn’t notice it a little bit later! Otherwise, our little warmup session would have been over in an instant!”

  Mari re-summons her giant scythe in her hand, and she swings it towards Lukia’s neck.

  “TCH!!”

  Lukia quickly creates a large amount of water, whirling around her right hand. She swings her right hand against Mari’s scythe, and she shapes her water into the head of a giant shark that is five times the size of her own body.

  *GRRAAAHHHKKK*

  The giant shark head bites into Mari’s giant scythe on its flat sides, and it stops and holds it in place.

  “Wow, I didn’t expect water to be able to exert this much power!”

  “Oh, you have no idea how deadly water-based natural disasters are! A tsunami can destroy cities in one fell swoop with just one wave.”

  “That so?”

  Mari immediately exerts more of her bodily strength, and she breaks the hold of the giant shark’s bite by pulling her scythe back. The force of the pull breaks the shape of the shark's hand back into water. Mari pulls her scythe backwards, and green fire engulfs its blade. She swings her scythe horizontally and sends a flying green fire slash at Lukia. The green fire slash flies through all of the water without a care in the world.

  Lukia reacts quickly; she controls the water wall on the audience side to grow a giant hand, and it stretches towards her very quickly. Lukia was grabbed by the giant hand and was pulled back really fast towards the water wall. She completely dodged Mari’s attack. She lands on the water wall, and the giant water hand merges back into it.

  *!*

  But then Mari’s green fire slash is still flying towards her. Lukia quickly drops her body towards the grass below, and the green fire slash hits the water wall.

  *SSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH*

  “Wow, what was that fire?”

  “Tch! You used the audience to your advantage. I had to manually disperse that fire so I don’t accidentally kill anyone.”

  “You’re a weird terrorist for not wanting to kill people.”

  “Like I’ve said many times before, MY ONLY GOAL IS TO KILL SIERRA PENDRAGO!!”

  Lukia immediately got pissed off when she heard Mari utter her best friend’s name once again. She quickly points her finger towards Eissen and shoots a water jet stream at him.

  “Eh?”

  Eissen’s danger sense activates, but before he even attempts to dodge out of the way, Mari appears in front of him. She clenches her fist really hard and punches the water jet stream, and it splashes onto the floor.

  “OHHHH?? YOU WANT TO DIE THAT MUCH?” said Mari with an incredibly murderous expression.

  “I COULD SAY THE SAME TO YOU!!” said Lukia with the same murderous expression.