After carefully sensing the surrounding space, Ophis began to move.
Hundreds of golden ripples appeared behind her, yet no Noble Phantasms emerged.
Actually, there was no chance for them to appear at all.
With a soft snort from Ereshkigal, a mere half-beat after the golden ripples appeared, the Underworld's energy surged forward, violently detonating upon the ripples.
Under the corrosion of death's aura, the ripples shattered, unable to sustain their form.
But Ophis's real aim had only been to briefly divert the Underworld's targeting energy.
As Ereshkigal neutralized the threat of the Gate of Babylon, the purple sphere around Ophis suddenly erupted.
Immense, aggressive power burst forth, momentarily overwhelming all deathly energy aimed at her!
At this moment, blood-red, intricate patterns emerged on Ophis's black robes. She pointed forward with two fingers, and countless magic cannons instantly appeared around her, directly bombarding Ereshkigal.
Normally, Ophis would rely on magical formations to compress and release energy, but now, with her Mythological Mystic Code activated, she possessed absolute control over energy. Ritual preparations became unnecessary; mere guiding gestures sufficed.
"Finally decided to get serious, huh?"
Ereshkigal smiled excitedly and confidently, swiftly gathering nearby death energy into a barrier in front of herself.
But at the instant death's barrier met Ophis's barrage, Ereshkigal's expression drastically changed.
Amidst the endless barrage, she felt an energy that filled her with revulsion—
The energy of life!
Backed by life's force, Ophis's cannons punched through the barrier, slamming into Ereshkigal and blasting her into the ground, sending violent shockwaves in all directions.
With offense and defense reversed, Ophis naturally wouldn't miss the chance to strike hard while her opponent was down.
Shifting her gestures, Ophis ceased the ineffective bombardment on Ereshkigal, redirecting her magic cannons to counter the resurging deathly energy. In place of cannons, intense magical energy now condensed into her palms.
At the same moment, threads of golden radiance flowed from Ophis's right hand, intertwining with the violet energy she wielded.
Then Ophis thrust both hands forward.
Violet and gold intertwined, erupting forth like meteors raining down from above.
Ereshkigal had barely climbed out of the cratered ground when an enormous pressure pressed down upon her.
Each meteor carried energy equivalent to more than ten magic cannons, smashing into the Underworld's floor.
An explosion swept through an area of over a thousand meters, obliterating everything beneath Ophis.
Ignoring the cloud of dust, Ophis narrowed her eyes again.
She could sense this attack still wasn't enough. Although Ereshkigal had grown disheveled, she could still handle it comfortably.
About time she regained her footing, I suppose...
As Ophis expected, just as this thought appeared, her expression shifted slightly, her body leaning just a fraction aside.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom—!
Simultaneously, the Underworld's energy surged upward, exploding violently right beside her.
With half her body briefly engulfed in death's tempest, Ophis forcibly halted the corrosion of deathly energy, gritting her teeth and reallocating some offensive power to bolster her defenses.
"Not bad—you're more impressive than I thought."
Below, a flash of light cleaved apart the violet flames, and Ereshkigal emerged.
"You surprised me enough by mastering the power of 'Life,' but you've even incorporated an anti-divine concept—no, wait. Did you copy the power of the Chains of Heaven?"
Ereshkigal wasn't foolish; her intellect surpassed even Ishtar's, allowing her to quickly grasp Ophis's methods.
Ophis remained silent.
In reality, she hadn't truly mastered life's energy. She'd merely simulated it through her Mystic Code, reverse-engineering it from her earlier close encounter with Ereshkigal's death power—but there was no need to inform her opponent of that.
Ophis was somewhat troubled now.
During the Age of Gods, it was natural that gods represented the pinnacle of combat power. Even though Ereshkigal descended through human possession, she could still unleash nearly her full strength within Kur.
That power exceeded Ophis's expectations. Even at full strength, Ophis might have to devastate Kur completely to achieve victory—similar consequences to using Ea, perhaps even worse.
She needed Ereshkigal to expose a single opening...just one instant...
The reason she bombarded Kur's ground earlier instead of directly targeting Ereshkigal wasn't venting frustration or idiocy. She was testing if attacking Kur itself could weaken Ereshkigal or at least distract her.
Clearly, mere attacks on the terrain weren't effective.
"No answer? Oh well, let's move on to round two."
Ereshkigal shrugged lightly. This time, she didn't launch any obvious direct attacks. Instead, Ophis felt the energy of the entire Underworld compressing toward her.
Realized piercing attacks won't work, so switching to full-scale corrosion?
Ophis furrowed her brow, again pointing two fingers toward Ereshkigal—this time, no magic cannon appeared.
Yet Ereshkigal swiftly dodged aside.
A beam no thicker than two centimeters sliced through space, vanishing into the distant reaches of Kur.
Ereshkigal's expression hardened.
Her abdomen now bore a massive, semicircular wound, large enough that anyone standing in front of her could clearly see straight through it.
Had she reacted half a beat slower, it wouldn't have been merely a chunk of flesh from her side missing, but her heart entirely.
The beam's principle was simple—immense mana compressed to its extreme and fired like a needle. Naturally, greater compression demanded far higher control, something Ophis could only achieve when activating her Mystic Code.
Seeing Ereshkigal's wound, Ophis felt slightly disappointed.
Unless the injury was instantly fatal, wounding Ereshkigal within her domain of Kur had virtually no effect.
Still, that confirms it. Ereshkigal can sense mana fluctuations within Kur, letting her evade even extremely fast attacks.
Magic cannons might remain undetectable, but this high-density mana was impossible to conceal.
Then...
Ophis opened her right hand wide, then pressed downward.
Countless magic circles instantly bloomed behind her, completely filling the space at her back.
A battle of attrition won't work, precision strikes will be dodged, and large-scale bombardment shows little effect.
If that's the case—she'd overwhelm everything with raw firepower in a single decisive burst!