Her golden eyes shone with darkness..."Five million in gold."
The sky opened. From it came five million gleaming, brand-new gold coins. They fell like rain, straight onto Elizabeth's head. She frowned. Moving her hands, the threads white as snow moved at great speed. Avarice shifted and extended his hand. In a matter of milliseconds, he appeared right in front of Elizabeth, trying to decapitate her with a single blow.
"Stop!" Elizabeth's voice was full of authority. The words that came from her mouth made even the smallest particles of mana around freeze in place. Avarice's body bent and stiffened. With a crooked smile, he said, "Ten million in gold!"
His body exploded into gold coins, regrouping again. The coins shone like little suns...
"Explosions are forbidden in this place!" Elizabeth spoke again. The threads around pierced all the coins that were a second from exploding...
"Tsk," Avarice clicked his tongue, annoyed. His body was quickly rebuilt from the remaining coins. "That skill of yours is very unpleasant."
"Yes, I've been told that quite often," Elizabeth gave an adorable smile as she subtly mocked Avarice...
As a seraph of speech, her power was obviously related to words—words that came straight from her soul and could even bend universal laws to her favor, such as space, time, and fate. It was too effective but had a cost, as everything in the world does, a rule that even she couldn't fully break, especially while in her mortal form...
Elizabeth looked around, and extreme cold began to freeze the very skies.
Sighing..."Do you really want to do this?" she asked again.
"I already told you. A merchant never does anything without risk," Avarice smiled, raising his hand to the sky. "Twenty million in gold!"
Elizabeth took a deep breath to herself as she shook her head."Very annoying..."
The spear in her hand shone, and her body vanished. Twisting her body completely, she gripped the spear tightly. With a horizontal sweep, the glacier along the blade gleamed, and the illusory moon grew ever clearer: "Now, it will be a little different."
Emilia softened her right wrist. Her eyes glowed and the moon beneath her shone. The glacier descended, the ground trembled. Large icy peaks completely shattered the terrain. In her mental state, wielding her spear, she made a front slash. In her other hand, a bluish glow formed. With a gentle twist, the glacier descending from the blue moon condensed into an ice sword. The crown above her head shifted slightly, covering her eyes completely.
The sharp, crisp sound of an overwhelming clash echoed across the battlefield. From the white dust smoke, Pride emerged. His black sword, covered in red flames, slashed diagonally forward. Taking quick steps, he flexed his arm muscles, gripping the sword with both hands. His smile widened...
Emilia, holding a spear in her right hand and another in her left, stood still a few meters from Pride. She briefly looked at the sword in her hand, slowly lifted her other hand, and touched the cold crown covering her eyes. She sighed softly to herself...
"Seraph of ice, why do you keep holding back? Is it because of those stupid rules?" Pride lifted his sword and rested it on his shoulder. He shook his head in disappointment. "Why do you hide so much?"
Emilia stayed silent for a moment."Why don't you just leave already?" Instead of responding, she said they had to leave right now.
"You still have that attitude I love," Pride snorted with satisfaction. Like her, he was proud to the bone. "If you weren't a disgusting celestial, we'd make a great couple, don't you think?"
"Keep dreaming," Emilia said with disgust. Celestials and infernals were like water and oil—the two existences could not coexist in the same place without trying to kill each other. But of course, there were always some who overcame their instincts and mixed...
Pride gave a mocking smile. A small explosion sounded behind his back. Four wings with black feathers sprouted and spread proudly in all directions."If you keep this up, you'll die, Emilia."
"I'll never die," Emilia pointed her spear toward Avarice's head. "Not by someone like you."
Elizabeth watched as a sea of gold coins tried to swallow her completely. The tide of gold was extremely dangerous for her body; if any of them touched her, her body would literally turn to gold.
Moving the threads at her will, a dome of threads covered her completely."Swords," her voice gained power. The other threads turned into swords and flew directly at Avarice. His monocle shone, expanding his body which glowed intensely. The gold coins around him froze and melted, creating golden swords that blocked Elizabeth's attack.
"Imperfection!" Elizabeth said authoritatively. Avarice's golden swords bent as if they were paper and were shredded by the thread swords, flying at inhuman speed.
Avarice frowned."Thirty million in gold."
"Come on, stop doing that," Elizabeth pouted, annoyed.
"What do you want me to do then?" Avarice shrugged. "Your voice doesn't let me lower my guard."
Thousands of gold coins fluttered around him as if he were a kind of magnet. He hovered in the air, putting his hand behind his back."I don't want to strain myself too much. Now is not the time. There's too much to lose, don't you think, Elizabeth?"
"Exactly. Too much effort is just wasting energy," Elizabeth nodded. "It's useless right now. For the moment, how about we stop fighting and have a cup of tea?"
Avarice looked at the sky for a moment."I don't think I can. They could arrive at any moment... and who knows if they'll set a trap for me?" He raised an eyebrow and looked at Elizabeth cautiously.
Elizabeth likewise looked at the sky. The cold kept spreading everywhere. On the other side, black and red flames began to devour the ice..."Those two sure are excited," she murmured, falling silent for a moment.
"In fact, they'll arrive sooner than I expected. Meanwhile..." She moved her hands.
"Let's keep playing a little longer," Avarice also began moving the gold coins.
The threads formed giant orbs, and the gold coins did the same. Both collided in the center of the field, making the skies tremble in pain once again.