Utopian System

"It's fascinating, really," the dual voice continued as it stabilized.

"I can see her memories, feel her emotions. All that remorse for the betrayal, that twisted love for her mother..." She paused, as if listening to something. "Oh, and there's so much about you, Elio. So many complex feelings buried under layers of guilt and duty."

"Diana, you..." Elio's voice was pure ice.

"Diana? She's part of me now. Or I'm part of her. It's... difficult to distinguish where one ends and the other begins in the first minutes when they fight."

Diala Guthrand (Divine Metamorphosis)

Level 100 (19)

Skills:

Divine Cursed Soul (9/10)

Divine Elemental Magic (Wind, Fire, Water and Ground)

Chemical Magic (lvl 19)

Mana: 1900/1900

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Resistance: 1,901,900/1,901,900

Stamina: 190/190

Attack: 1900 (2090)

Magic Damage: 1900 (2109)

Strength: 380

Defense: 1900 (1919)

Magic Defense: 1900 (1929)

Speed: 380

Perception / Agility: 3.8 (A)

God Weapon 190 (19) / ((Attack 190) (Magic Damage 190))

Elemental Resistance Cape / Magic Defense 10

System's Armor 19 / ((Defense 19) (Magic Defense 19) (Magic Damage 19) (Resistance(1900/1900))

Her eyes, the same eyes as Diana's but with an entirely different gleam, studied Elio with scientific curiosity. "That's why I usually prefer more malleable minds. Virgin daughters of queens are perfect... all the power, no personality to resist the fusion. But this..." She made a vague gesture with her hand. "This is an interesting experiment."

Diana's Book began to fade until it disappeared completely.

The face contorted in a sudden grimace of pain again, and for a moment the voice was purely Diana: "Elio, I... I'm sorry. I can't... I hate you... too much..."

But the moment passed as quickly as it came, Zahyla's smile returning to dominate her features. "Impressive resistance. But useless in the long term."

Elio prepared to attack, but every calculation ended in defeat. Without enough mana, even with 1000 points of mana… without the ability to do more than 32k damage each hit... And if he somehow managed to defeat her, she would simply return, again and again...

Nine more times.

Elio uncorked his last potion, the brilliant liquid restoring 800 mana points. But the numbers were implacable; against 1.9 million resistance, even his full mana would be insufficient.

"Hatred is so illogical," she continued. "I know, because I can feel it running through this body's veins. Diana understands, knows it makes no sense to blame you, and yet..."

"The shared pain potion," the dual voice held a tone of deep understanding. "Designed for the ancients to share the weight of their existence after more than 100 years lived start to be heavy... how appropriate. Your friend already carried her mother's senseless hatred, and now my..."

The blue hair framed a face that mixed Diana's irrational hatred with Zahyla's scientific amusement.

"Shall we begin round two?" The dual voice took on a playful tone as elemental power began accumulating around her. "This time with your friend's base level… Nineteen isn't very different compared to twenty in the second ring, right..." Her smile widened.

Her speed was devastating, the 90% increase in her base statistics immediately evident.

The first exchange was brutal.

Zahyla moved with a fluidity that made their previous encounters seem clumsy in comparison. Millennia of experience finally found a body more capable of expressing it appropriately.

Elio dodged by millimeters, his perception of 96 points allowing him to anticipate the attacks, but barely. Zahyla's experience compensated for the difference in perception from her now 60, in a way that hadn't been possible in her previous form.

"It's fascinating," she continued while launching a combination of attacks that forced Elio into a desperate defense.

Each attack was a masterpiece of precision. Where before Elio had been able to find openings, now there were only perfect defenses. Where before he had been able to dictate the combat's rhythm, now he found himself constantly reacting.

"Diana respects you, you know?" A horizontal cut that Elio barely managed to evade. "She understands her hatred is irrational." A thrust that passed so close it cut a few strands of his hair. "But the human heart doesn't always listen to reason, does it?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The combination of Zahyla's millennial experience with the increased power of level 19 was proving more lethal than her previous level 10 form. Each movement flowed into the next without wasting a single bit of energy, every attack perfectly calculated.

Elio still hadn't managed to connect a single hit.

Then…

Zahyla's mask of scientific amusement cracked, Diana's pure hatred seeping through her features. Her eyes, previously calculating, now burned with a raw emotion that made the combat more erratic, more dangerous.

The attacks became an unstoppable torrent.

Zahyla launched a sequence of strikes that combined her millennial experience with Diana's visceral rage. A punch to the face became a feint for a low kick, which in turn concealed an elbow strike aimed at the throat.

Elio dodged by millimeters, his body moving at impossible angles to avoid each impact. Where Zahyla's style had previously been calculated and precise, it now incorporated Diana's familiarity with his movement patterns, making it doubly lethal.

The exchange accelerated.

Zahyla's fists left trails in the air while Elio weaved between them like water between rocks. Each blow dodged, each counterattack finding only air where his opponent had been a fraction of a second before.

A blow caressed Elio's cheek. Another passed so close to his neck he could feel the displacement of air. The speed kept increasing, the combat becoming a blur of movement that would have been impossible to follow with normal eyes.

The breaking point came when Zahyla feigned a stumble. It was a movement so characteristic of Diana, so familiar to Elio, that for an instant his guard faltered.

The kick that followed carried the 380 strength points of Zahyla's new body. The impact connected directly with Elio's chest, tearing away 300 resistance points and sending him flying backward.

Elio managed to recover in the air, his feet finding purchase against the wall. But Zahyla was already upon him, Diana's divine sword gleaming with lethal power as it descended toward his neck.

Time seemed to slow down.

The blade was too close. His enhanced perception only served to show him with crystalline clarity that this time he wouldn't be able to dodge in time.

And then something, someone, impacted Zahyla like a meteor.

Lila, her body glowing with transformation power, had burst through the chamber ceiling at the last possible moment. Her fist connected with Zahyla's face with devastating force, sending her flying away from Elio.

Diana and Zahyla's fusion crashed against the opposite wall, rising almost instantly. Her eyes narrowed at seeing the newcomer, a twisted smile forming on her lips.

"Ah," the dual voice acquired a tone of cruel amusement. "The other one who loves him. This gets more interesting by the moment."