“Ready to begin again, Saintess?” The god Kurga said with his smarmy smile, dirty grey mist drifting off his body maliciously. The relaxed atmosphere present during their little chat was nowhere to be seen, the tension in the air drawn tauter than a bowstring.

“Come on then,” Maven said as she waved them over. She was still feeling pretty confident because she had her divine arsenal on stand-by, ready to descend on the two invading gods in a moment’s notice.

Despite her failure to damage Kurga with that punch, she had at least managed to pierce his defenses and slam her fist into his face. Then, right at the moment of impact, it felt as his body somehow decomposed into pure elemental particles. No longer a solid object, the force powerlessly dispersing into a nebulous ether. The end result being that Maven felt she had just punched a nebulous ball of fluff.

Luckily, Maven managed to get a slight feel for Kurga’s mysterious element due to the direct contact. Going by her intuition, Kurga’s power likely centered around curses. It felt a bit similar to Henna’s Darkness element in nature, but dirty somehow… Almost as if it was the condensed form of all the world’s vile suffering and bitter lamentations, desiring nothing but to bring everyone down with it.

Knowing that, Maven had an idea of how to fight him. Opposites cancel each other out and the opposite of a curse would be a blessing. So, with that in mind, Maven infused her arsenal with the strongest blessing that she could imagine.

“Let’s end this ridiculous farce.” Lidar said coldly, space rippling around him as he moved to action. “We must at least take care of the Seed, even if we can’t deal with the Saintess.”

Without needing to speak another word, Kurga just gripped Lidar’s shoulder and allowed him to carry him through space. They teleported right in front of Maven, close enough to boop her on the nose if they wanted.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have anything nearly so benign in mind. The second that Lidar pulled Kurga through space, Kurga went right to work. This time, he was the one on the attack. No way he was going to let some upstart demigoddess smack him around forever.

Brandishing his curse power with reckless abandon, Kurga filled the air with writhing tendrils of pure malice.

“Kakakaka, let’s see how you handle this little love tap, Saintess.”

Maven could feel the condensed malice of thousands of screaming souls slam into all her barriers as Kurga cackled away like a madman. Kurga’s relaxed, jovial demeanor was nowhere to be seen.

“Looks like the mad dog has revealed his true colors. Not a chance you’re getting anywhere near my friends! You might infect them with something nasty.” Maven said firmly, tuning her divinity to carry the strongest blessing that she could bestow. As if resonating with her strong will, the barriers around her friends’ bodies glowed with a defiant bright light.

Thus began the battle of wills between the god and demigod, Kurga’s smoke against Maven’s barrier. In this type of divine clash, the outcome would not rely on any fancy tricks or intricate spells. Instead, the scales would be tipped one way or the other according the compatibility of one’s elements, the quality of one’s soul, and the strength of one’s will.

Maven and Kurga pit the totality of their strength against other. Kurga’s curse did its best to infect the world with its venom, while Maven’s barrier sought to purify that dark will.

Kurga won on sheer strength of will, one of the benefits of his long life. Unfortunately for him, however, Maven’s soul shone brighter than any other. Additionally, Maven’s divinity was unique. It was flexible. She didn’t know what to call it, but she could change its properties and imbue it with the perfect counter to Kurga’s curse. This is what tipped the scales and allowed Maven to shut him down.

“Let’s take things up a notch.” Kurga said. Realizing he wasn’t winning the battle of wills, Kurga opted to create a ball of purest malice in his hand - so concentrated that the curse sublimated into something horrifying…… Something which he proceeded to unceremoniously slam into Ela’s shield.

Maven’s barrier let out an awful screech as something inky and black made its way through her multi-layered protection. She could only look on, horrified, as a drop of the God of Curses condensed divinity fell onto Ela’s skin, sinking into her body viciously.