Chapter 1277 Interlude: Magical Supremacy 2/2

Having built up various small grievances over the last few months, Semiramis was looking forward to the chance to vent some of her pent-up frustrations. She was actually considerably weaker than any of the other Caster Class Servants as, unlike them, she was, in fact, an Assassin Class Servant. If not for her Unique Skill, [Double Summon], allowing her to fulfill both roles, she wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight outside her Garden of Babylon.

Hailing from the Age of the Gods, Semiramis had an advanced understanding of several forms of ancient Thaumaturgy. As 'History's oldest poisoner', combined with her status as a Demigoddess, she could cast a variety of chantless Magecraft, many of which could penetrate through magical barriers and poison her opponents. While she was significantly weaker outside of her territory, she would still qualify as a Grand Magus, the highest obtainable rank within the Mage's Association...

A stark contrast to Semiramis, though they both had impossibly long hair, Medusa was still a rather young existence who had much to learn. She primarily relied on her Innates and the abilities she had obtained from being named, meaning she predominately used potent poisons to battle against her opponents. This, combined with her inordinately fast speed, granting her a base Agility of 37B, made her a force to be reckoned with if you were unfamiliar with her capabilities.

Due to rarely leaving her own residence, Semiramis wasn't too familiar with those that made the Inner Sanctum, a place she was denied access to, their home. While she had made an effort to try and collect information on them, it didn't take long for a series of golems and a team of Homunculi to quickly turn her away. Thus, while she had heard about Medusa, this was the first time Semiramis was actually meeting Vahn's 'pet Gorgon'...

After entering the battlefield, both girls stared at each other and, despite being separated by several kilometers, they were still able to maintain eye contact. This was an inherently foolish decision by the raven-haired Semiramis but, having supreme confidence in her ability to resist such effects, she did not fear Medusa's petrifying gaze. She wanted to prove to everyone that she wasn't afraid so, when the battle finally began, she ascended into the sky with arms spread wide as the feathers around her collar began to peel away, each taking the form of a dark-grey dove.

Medusa saw the veritable wall of birds heading her way but, instead of trying to flee, she crouched low to the ground in a very peculiar stance. In truth, she still wasn't all that accustomed to walking on two legs so, rather than force herself, the lower half of her body transformed into a long, snake-like tail. She had beautiful golden scales and a peculiar white pattern that ran along the backside while, on the front, a smooth, honey-white surface allowed her to easily glide along the ground with extreme speed.

Most of the audience was surprised to see Medusa's transformation but, when they saw what she did next, a stunned silence spread over the entire crowd. This was because, after leaping into the sky, using her tail like a spring, Medusa's pale-golden eyes turned a silvery-white as a pulse of invisible energy radiated out from her body. Any dove within range was immediately turned to stone, despite the fact they were formed of Magical Energy and not true biological life forms.

After clearing the initial blockade, Medusa's hair flared out wildly while, from beneath her silvery locks, three pairs of angel-like wings sprouted out, drastically increasing her speed. This was enough to finally get Semiramis to panic as she had not expected Medusa to try and close the distance from the start of the battle. A purple magic circle appeared behind her that quickly collapsed backward to form a spatial gate of sorts as she sent a cloud of green and purple magical energy to obstruct the supersonic charge of Medusa.

Once again, Medusa strained her eyes and, just as before, a pulse spread out that turned the mist produced by Semiramis into a pale-gray substance. She then passed through without any hesitation, dissipating the cloud of poisonous powder with a burst of magical energy as she tossed her spear toward the closing gate. This was, unfortunately, a futile attempt as, right before it pierced the gate, a scale-like membrane easily blocked the spear, repelling it backward with even more force than the initial throw.

Medusa was easily able to evade the wayward spear but, as she looked around the battlefield, it was impossible to find Semiramis anywhere. She had simply vanished into thin air and, with her C+ Rank [Presence Concealment], Medusa was unable to sense her. This caused her to scrunch up her nose a bit as her tongue flicked out of her mouth in frustration, looking decidedly longer and more purple than a normal tongue...

Semiramis was cursing her past self for looking down on her opponent but, more than that, she was annoyed that Noble Phantasms were disallowed from the competition. This affected her a lot more than others as, due to various restrictions placed on her, she could only use a fraction of her power outside of her own territory. If she had her Hanging Gardens of Babylon, she would be able to use several A and even EX-Rank magical spells in sequence, making short work of most opponents.

Now, Semiramis was forced to squat down behind a pillar, an action made difficult by her massive volume of hair and ornate bell-frilled dress. If not for the fact she was invisible, she would be biting through her nails in frustration knowing that several thousand people had seen her in such a state...

Without being able to sense Semiramis, Medusa began to feel increasingly annoyed so, while her Master had prevented her from using the most potent version of her poisons, she began to lightly flick her six wings. This caused a rainbow-hued powder to begin spreading through the area and, guided by her magical energy, a reactive mist that could target foreign magical energy began to spread across the battlefield.

Semiramis was fully aware of what Medusa was attempting so, under her breath, she cursed, "This little brat is trying to compete with me in poisons..."

Despite feeling a great deal of scorn towards Medusa, Semiramis elected not to look down on her opponent as only the truly arrogant underestimated the potency of poisons. She knew better than most how effective they could be so, while she did not believe Medusa had even a fraction of her capabilities, there was a chance she had a unique poison that no amount of magical resistance could protect against.

Though it was almost impossible to discern due to her clothing, smooth black scales began to sprout all over Semiramis' body. Rather than the scales of a snake, however, they were extremely smooth and compact, much like a fish. This was due to the fact that Semiramis' mother, Derketo, was a Syrian mermaid Goddess. While Semiramis disdained her mother a great deal, she was never shy when it came to exploiting her heritage and its many benefits...

After scales covered much of her body, leaving only her breasts, neck, and face exposed, Semiramis placed her palm against the ground. This caused a malicious black ooze to form a magic circle that ate into the stone like a potent acid. Once this had been completed, she made use of her [Presence Concealment] to move undetected around the area, placing several other magic circles at various locations around the battlefield. These were each powerful curses that, upon contact with foreign magical energy, would trace the source and inflict them with various malignancies.

Unfortunately for Medusa, she was simply too inexperienced and, while her education had been going well, she didn't treat it as seriously as she should. Thus, when faced against someone that had a considerable amount of experience, both in subterfuge and actual war, it was only a matter of time before she ended up getting baited into a trap.

Despite never dropping her guard, it wasn't long before Medusa's poisonous mist came into contact with one of Semiramis' curses. Much to the latter's surprise, however, her curse was devoured by the energy in Medusa's poison. Thus, rather than take the petite gorgon out of the battle, she only left the silver-haired girl with a mild headache as the poisonous mist was released from the control of her magical energy.

Though she knew Semiramis likely wasn't in the area where her mist had penetrated, Medusa made another golden spear before tossing it down like a bolt of lightning. She was beginning to feel very annoyed and, though she could keep going for several hours without too many issues, Medusa wasn't actually that fond of fighting. Her preferred method of combat was to surprise her enemies and end the battle in an instant. She hated being on the receiving end of the same treatment so, as her opponent continued to skulk about, she was contemplating just giving up.

Deciding it was better to go out in a bang than simply surrender, Medusa's hair began to darken on the tips, gaining a purple luster. After a few seconds, her hair had formed into several large snakes, each having very realistic features that included reflective eyes and flickering scarlet tongues.

Using what remained of her surprisingly large pool of mana, the throats of Medusa's snakes would glow, illuminating the gaps between their scales, before they spat out balls of radiant purple energy. When these projectiles hit the ground, they erupted into massive explosions that could easily level large buildings. If going by the usual ranking system, each projectile would be around a B-Rank spell and, as a result of Medusa's inherent Poison Laws, they had a powerful corrosive quality to them as well.

Since she was unable to sense Semiramis' location, Medusa just began indiscriminately bombarding the entire battlefield. She didn't really care if she hit anything but, after a few volleys, Medusa felt a bit of feedback from one of her projectiles. This caused her to veer around and, instead of balls of energy, the snakes formed from her hair began firing purple lasers that refracted off a dome-shaped magical barrier that revealed Semiramis grimacing on the other side.

Having finally discovered her opponent's location, Medusa angled herself downward and began a dive-bomb towards the turtling Semiramis. Her snakes continued to focus their laser beams, leaving an expanding purple on the surface of the barrier that made it seem as though it would break at any moment. This, however, wasn't Medusa's intention so, once she was within a few dozen meters of the barrier, she stopped flicked her wings to evade backward as several black chains emerged from purple magic circles to try and entangle her body.

Semiramis clicked her tongue when Medusa was able to evade her attack but, when the latter's eyes turned silvery-white, the raven-haired Magus couldn't help but smile. Just as the pulse of invisible energy spread from Medusa's body, Semiramis' barrier changed shape, forming a concave lens with a highly reflective surface. She had mistakenly believed that Medusa was another Heroic Spirit and, knowing about the legends associated with the monstrously powerful Gorgon, Semiramis was trying to use her own attack against her.

Contrary to expectations, Medusa's energy pulse, despite being rebounded, had no effect other than causing her to float backward in surprise. When she realized what Semiramis had attempted, her cute face formed into a deep frown as a very long spear, nearly 5m in length, formed in her hands. Even the snakes in her hair seemed offended as they all began to simultaneously charge up, their throats expanding as intense purple light began to escape through the gaps of their mouth.

Seeing that her counter had no effect, Semiramis' face had an even deeper frown than Medusa but, rather than give up, an inky black liquid began to pour out from the bottom of her dress. Before she was able to completely activate her skill, however, Scáthach appeared between them and stated in a cold tone, "The battle is over. Semiramis attempted to use her Noble Phantasm so the victory goes to Medusa."

Medusa immediately ceased charging her own attack but Semiramis, feeling aggrieved, allowed the black liquid to continue expanding for a few moments. She only stopped when Scáthach turned to look directly at her, crimson electricity beginning to dance across her palms. This caused alarm bells to ring in Semiramis' mind, restoring her clarity and causing the black fluid to quickly dissolve into an inert state.

Without missing a beat, Semiramis adopted a calm and elegant demeanor as she gave a polite bow toward Medusa and chimed, "Your performance was beyond my expectations. For a moment, I felt as if we were having a true life and death battle. Forgive my lack of decorum...it has been a long time since I faced off against such a mighty opponent..."

With her words finished, Semiramis promptly exited the Training Orb. She no longer had a reason to stay and, while Scáthach was terrifying in her own right, it was the intense gaze of a Vahn that made her heart tense up. She was hoping that, by extricating herself and laying low for a while, he would forget about her momentary slip as it would make her life very difficult if she lost what little favor she had with him.

Though Vahn didn't say anything outwardly, he sent a telepathic message to request that Scáthach observe Semiramis to make sure she didn't try anything while the majority of their forces were in the Training Orb. It was not impossible to destroy the orb itself and, while they would be able to safely move everyone outside before the collapse, it was better to be safe than sorry. Even if there was less than a one percent chance she would do something, Vahn never underestimated what women were capable of under duress...

After the rather intense battle, there was a brief recess to clean the arena since there was still a large amount of malignant mist present. Fortunately, this was an opportunity for Spenta to show off and, as she was always eager to help, everyone was able to see her purification in full effect for the first time.

All it took for Spent to purify the entire battlefield was for her to stand in the center for around ten minutes. This caused a peculiar energy, formed from green and gold light, to spread across the field. As it passed, a field of flowers blossomed over the desolate land and, when it came into contact with Medusa's and Semiramis' poisons, they were simply turned into a wispy yellow mist that caused a warm and pleasant floral smell to spread throughout the area.

While this was quite the sight to behold, Vahn was troubled as Spenta's energy spread over the large statue that Medea had previously erected. It had escaped Medusa's bombardment and, for her own reasons, Semiramis had avoided trying to use it as cover. Thus, with Spenta's purifying energy having an overwhelming amount of Life Energy contained within, the previously white statue now looked like a giant formed from green shrubbery that was covered in flowers and vines...

No matter what anyone said, Vahn was intending to destroy the statue in the near future, even if he had to make it look like an accident. For now, however, they still had a tournament to finish and, with the match between Medusa and Semiramis concluded, it was time for the second string of matches.

So as not to keep the surprisingly patient crowd in suspense, Vahn pulled the first two names almost immediately after Spenta was escorted from the battlefield. When he saw what was listed, he rolled his eyes as, meeting his expectations, Da Vinci had indeed been paired with Medea. He even began to suspect that Da Vinci had made another vessel for herself, one with EX-Rank Luck as this was very clearly the result of causality itself being warped.

As expected, Medea had no intention of harming anyone so, after a short discussion between her and Da Vinci, they put on another performance of sorts just so the crowd wouldn't be upset. Thus, without any suspense whatsoever, Da Vinci proceeded to the finals while Medea happily found a place for herself next to Circe in the viewing area. After this, the next match was between Rin and Scáthach so, as could be expected, the former quickly surrendered as the latter had already shown that she was willing to inflict considerable harm onto her opponents.

Following the series of non-fights, the final round of the second set of matches was between Ishtar and Medusa. This, however, wasn't really a fight as Medusa had used up most of her magical energy in the battle against Semiramis. Thus, after a brief exchange of explosive attacks, Ishtar came out as the final victor by teleporting Medusa outside of the battlefield. She could have actually done this against Olga as well but, as she wanted to give the mortal woman a chance to test her limits, Ishtar had played around a bit...

With the second string of matches completed, the third and final set was quickly conducted. As he had expected, Da Vinci, once again, got a free win as there were only three finalists. Since Scáthach and Ishtar had their names pulled, Da Vinci was just sitting patiently at the side with her massive magic staff, a perpetual smile on her beautiful face as she monitored the equipment that analyzed each battle...

To the surprise of no one, the battle between Scáthach and Ishtar didn't last very long as the latter had several exploitable weaknesses while the former had none. The only real advantage Ishtar had was her mastery over Space but Scáthach, with EX-Rank [Magic Resistance], [God Slayer], and her [Wisdom of the Haunted Ground], this wasn't even close to being enough. She could effectively negate the effects of Ishtar's Divinity and, while the battle lasted longer than expected, Scáthach was slowly able to corner the haughty Goddess until she was forced to teleport from the battlefield itself.

With Ishtar's defeat, the only match that remained was between Da Vinci and Scáthach but, much like he had expected, Da Vinci simply surrendered the battle outright, bringing the tournament to a rather anti-climactic end. It wasn't until after the reward ceremony that Vahn was able to confirm that, for the purposes of the Tournament, Da Vinci had indeed produced a body that had almost human-level parameters in exchange for Luck that defied quantifiable limits...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Medusa is surprisingly strong...?','Ishtar OP','Leave it to Da Vinci to find a way to get to the finals without having to lift a finger...')

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