Chapter 512: Within a single second

Silika and Tsukiyomi saw Lara being dragged into a portal. The two were about to make a move when they felt a rather familiar mana wave. Even though they couldn't see him it was impossible for them to not recognize who it was that created that portal and pulled in Lara. 

Silika and Tsukiyomi lowered their guard and allowed Lara to be taken. Once Lara was pulled into the portal both Silika and Tsukiyomi stared at each other. Even though they were acting rather civilized in front of Ren, the truth was the two of them wanted to start fighting, especially Tsukiyomi. In Tsukiyomi's eyes, it didn't matter how many flies wanted to swarm Ren, what was important was that she was the number one person among his women. 

Silika was also looking at Tsukiyomi and wanted to fight her but for a different reason. In Silika's eyes, there was no such thing as rankings among Ren's lovers, but there were rankings among the women themselves. She wanted to prove to everyone that came that she was the strongest among them. 

The two women wanted to immediately attack but held themselves back. They knew that the timeframe in the different world was faster than theirs, so it was possible that Ren and the others would appear any time now, so the battle between them should be decided within a single second. This was the continuation of their last confrontation. 

Even though last time Silika already admitted that in their current states Tsukiyomi would win, but here when she was in the underworld her power had increased a bit. So now if the two were to face each other the winner wasn't so obvious anymore. 

The two were already visualizing each and every action the other would take. They had already crossed blades a thousand times in their minds, and not even a second had passed in the real world. 

Tsukiyomi knew of Silika's fame when she was still Elizabeth Rogue the strongest Goddess of Death. She was one of the most famous world deities that ever existed. It was said that she could make even the Old Gods look like whimpering children. It was even rumored that aside from Leonard Tranor the Strongest Mortal Soul in her era, she could also hold her own against Ancestral Gods the strongest power among Gods second only to the ORIGIN himself. 

Even if you removed her status as a Goddess of Death Silika was a prominent figure among vampires. She has always been considered the strongest ancestral vampire even though she was half-human. Her stories and legends have endured even the test of time, and Tsukiyomi knew each and every one of those tales. This is why even she who was usually so confident was unsure if she could win against the famed individual, here in the underworld. 

Silika was also assessing her opponent but unlike Tsukiyomi she didn't have much information regarding Tsukiyomi, all she had to go on was in what she saw.

Silika knew that Tsukiyomi was an Ethereal, a race created by the Old Gods as weapons for battle that could grow alongside its user. Yet in the end, they were discarded as worthless tools that could not match up to expectations. Little did the Old Gods know that the Ethereals will later become a race that could rival most of them in power, for the maximum level of power an Ethereal could achieve was only limited by her master. 

Obviously seeing as Tsukiyomi's contractor or master was an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul, that would mean that she should probably be the strongest among all the Ethereals. Well, that is aside from Lauria the original Ethereal, who was also contracted to an incarnation of the Strongest Mortal soul.

Aside from her origin as Ethereal, Silika knew from the last time they were about to face each other, that Tsukiyomi was probably very adept at using ice spells. It was pretty easy to tell since Tsukiyomi's mana was practically freezing once unleashed. If she fully used Ren's current mana supply as her own, Tsukiyomi could probably freeze an entire kingdom. 

There was also the fact that as an Ethereal, Tsukiyomi has the racial ability to create any weapon. In fact, the original Ethereal Lauria could not only create weapons but she herself could turn into a weapon. The weapon form of an Ethereal was their strongest form, but based on what Silika could see from Tsukiyomi she shouldn't be able to use that form. If Silika's guess was correct Tsukiyomi should not be a pure-blooded Ethereal. 

...

Now with all that knowledge the two of them had on each other, they needed to create a battle plan that would ensure victory with a single strike. Silika had the advantage in long and mid-range attacks. Tsukiyomi had the advantage in close-quarters combat.

Knowing this it was obvious that Silika would try to use a large attack at the beginning to finish off Tsukiyomi before she could even get close. Tsukiyomi on the other hand would use her superior speed to get close and finish it with a single slash. 

Now the question was, if Silika's move could finish Tsukiyomi or if Tsukiyomi would be fast enough to strike Silika before she could cast a spell. If Silika does in fact hit Tsukiyomi and Tsukiyomi survives then it would be easy for the latter to win. On the other hand, if Tsukiyomi was able to get close but Silika manages to evade the strike, then Tsukiyomi would be open for a counter, making it easier for the Silika to win. 

The two of them had clear advantages over the other, and even though they had only met recently the two had been observing each other all the time. The two had formulated thousands of plans in their head and it hasn't even been a second. All of these thoughts were happening a thousandth of a second.

When the two finally decided on the plan of attack they were going to use, both of them looked and smiled at each other. As they were about to make a move, suddenly another portal appeared between them. An unconscious Lara and Valdel came out of the portal, and a second later Ren walked out of the portal. When Ren passed through the portal he immediately fainted. 

"Ren!" Tsukiyomi and Silika screamed.