Two Foundation members, a male and a female, walked down the halls of the tournament, their faces obscured by black and white masks. The two were inspecting various rooms, making sure things operated at a regular pace. Their tasks for the day were almost over, the fights were going to wrap up soon, and they’d be assigned other missions, yet underneath these masks were two regular humans.

“Is it just me, or is it getting hot in here?” The male gently lifted up their mask to fan away the sweat underneath.

“What do you mean? Would you rather freeze like outside?” The female replied.

“No, no. Just… It’s starting to feel like an oven.”

The male's eyes, despite being obscured by the mask, saw into one of the rooms.

“Hey. Wait a minute, come here!”

“What now?”

The male opened up the door to the viewing room. Within the unbearable heat, several people were knocked unconscious. When walking deeper into the room, headaches became a constant for the two individuals.

“C-Contact the Seer. W-We have an issue… And get the medics here, stat!”

The female nodded and started to contact the rest. As for the male, he continued walking through the viewing room, examining everyone and checking their pulse on one individual. He noticed a lotus symbol glimmering red marked onto the floor. His head turned to the fight on the screen… Could it be… Something went through the enigma members' minds, only for him to wave off the thought awaiting the paramedics.

___

Alexia’s ears listened in to the tightening of many fists, only for a brief gust of wind to hit her face. Her eyes flashed to look at Lei, only to see the dazzling figure that happened to be Mahdri. The star-scattering girl let off a blinding jab, only for the princess to block it with a single arm, grasping her blow in the center of her palm with a tight grip.

“Stars sure are a marvelous thing… I wonder if it can be replicated…”

Just what was this royal dense even thinking?! Replicate my attack? It wasn't far-fetched, but them having a singularity with replication abilities seemed a bit beyond their scope. The gust of wind intensified with the entire weight of Alexia being flung down the street!

The ferocity at which they were thrown was enough to knock over street signs and uplift benches. Bending her body mid-air, Alexia caught herself onto a building, pressing their feet against the brick wall, the pressure immediately forming cracks.

Stardust gathered around them. Alexia lept forth ready to strike back! Light flashed across their face, followed by another ferocity of wind. In their ears, the tightening of fists rang out in the span of a second above them. By the time their eyes could glance up, multiple fists slammed into her back.

Burst after burst, the tremendous flurry of fists continued to bombard Alexia. Each blow sharply paced one after the other at a blinding speed, one that seemed to even blur to the naked eye. With a finishing smash, the building crumbled down in a cloud of dust, glimmers of gold radiating through the still falling debris and dust before a golden hand swatted outward, clearing it all away. A crater now opened where the building once stood, with Mahdri's figure coming into view with the clearing, towering over what seemed to be a peculiar pulsing of turquoise and what seemed to be a silver aura; It enveloped Alexia.

With a show of gentle elegance, Mahdri's hand raised upwards to adjust the loose strands of her hair out of her face. Not a hint of effort was present on her face, not even a drop of sweat, even amidst the sun-drenched city. Her eyes slowly lowered as she squinted, her gaze now staring down Alexia silently. Her hands slowly rose above her head. As if resonating with her action, the heat in the area rose at an intense rate, the energies around slowly starting to accumulate into a massive spiral, slowly shifting as it congregated around the princess. The vortex increased before shaping itself into a more spherical form, similar to the forms of the stars Alexia formed.

Her hand descends towards the blonde, as the Princess' now empty gaze continued to lock with the battered Alexia. With a tone devoid of any emotion or feeling, let alone mercy, Mahdri simply uttered...

"[Surya...]"

The replica star slowly descended on her command.

Stardust gathered around Alexia, fists clenched up only to send it thrusting out at the star. The collision of attacks engulfs the two in a massive light.

____

Across the city, Lei awoke only to cough up blood clenching their stomach, their aura flickering in and out around them. Gusts of wind blew past them, their eyes peering towards the massive light that took over the skyscrapers only for it to quickly collapse in on itself, reducing in size. After a few seconds, — The light combusted pulling in buildings, uplifting street signs, throwing cars into the air, and rapidly pulling in debris and dust. Lei caught into the pull, managed to stab their baton into the ground. Despite the wind speed breaking above a category-5 hurricane at the moment, her body nor the baton was pulled into the zone of impact.

Fate was a fickle thread that preserved them once more.

When the winds calmed down, silence fell onto the city. Lei pulled out their baton, looking around. Had they just blown themselves up? Lucky her, a chance finally presented itself — For once, the girl happened to smile during the match.

“T-That just leaves one more… I-I can do this... Fate hasn’t forsaken me…”

The hard part now being, where was the last fighter? Khinara had not made a move at all. Were they caught in the blast? Likely, but the match would have ended in her victory if so. Lei’s thoughts continued to go on and on about the possibilities. The sun broke through the clouds of debris in front of the girl, shining down upon Mahdri.

The Hindi princess still devoid of their usual cheery expression, their outfit only burned in a few areas, and their golden arms cracked in a few spots, yet the only new thing that changed about Mahdri was that she now had concentric circles hoisted behind her head, the outer colored gold, and the inner colored blood-red.

Lei stopped dead in their tracks, their thoughts suddenly collapsing in on the ideas of a victory — The monster among monsters survived. Lei held her stomach in pain, ready to brace for the incoming attack.

“These are the ones daring to lay hands upon my vessel?”

Those words echoed out of Mahdri, a hint of divinity that brought a cold sweat onto Lei. Once more, Mahdri lifted up their palm, only this time aimed directly ahead.

“Begone.”

Another vortex of energy conjured up onto their palm, the pressure in the air increasing by the second, forcing Lei’s body to stay in place. Fate betrayed them yet again. Why now, of all times? Why now? These thoughts echo within Lei, only for the vortex to up and vanish.

Mahdri swiftly turned around, the palm of their hand blocking an incoming star. The star immediately vanished, scattering into dust behind them. From the cloud of debris Alexia, sent out a kick! Mahdri effortlessly moved out of the way.

Alexia falling flat on their face, their injuries prevalent, and the pitiful excuse of calling what she did an attack would be a mockery to most fighters. Their uniform torn up and burned in a few areas, and even her specially made combat gloves were starting to fall apart. Blood dripped from their left foot and forehead. Not only that, but one good punch and she would be out for the count for good.

“You survived? Quite resilient… But that resilience is wearing away at you.”

Mahdri gazed upon Alexia, a single blink and their eyes noticed the faint aura around the girl starting to burn brighter and brighter. Very odd — So much so that this newly divine Mahdri tilted their head in confusion. At the start of the fight, their aura happened to be minuscule just like Lei’s, but it appeared to be burning brighter and brighter as time went on… Just like that devil…

Once more, Mahdri uplifted their hand ready to attack. On instinct, Lei started to move in to attack. Raising their batons, she’d strike hard at Mahdri. A swift strike amplified with a vibrating pressure.

In seconds, Mahdri’s own uplifted hand caught the batons, the vibration directly being sent through the girl. The ground beneath them cracked, while the golden arms grabbed hold of Lei, yet no counter-attack occurred. Then, as if breaking out of a trance, Mahdri awoke once more.

“Ga ha~. Sorry about that… Um… Oh..”

Mahdri glanced around looking at the destruction caused already. There, all three of them lay in the middle of a ruined street, with piles of debris scattered on the edges of the sidewalk, and buildings were completely broken in half. In the distance, several skyscrapers crumble down. The earth itself continued to shake in the aftermath of the titanic explosion. The air filled with office supplies, dust, and occasionally blank sheets of paper floating into the air.

It seemed her concentration slipped allowing a god to take hold. A mistake had just been committed and the princess couldn’t quite entertain the thought of being controlled in her moment of glory.

“To make it up for you both, I’ll try even harder!”

Mahdri threw off Lei, even throwing back their baton. The Chinese girl collapses onto the ground next to Alexia.

“G-Great… So I can s-safely presume no more of those… s-spirits interfering?” Alexia took in the moment to catch her breath. Even if taking a moment felt like an eternity for her — They didn’t have the liberty like all their past fights to ‘wait it out'. A tactic that blended well with the way she operated in fights. After all, this star shined weakly at the beginning of matches, but as it went on burned bright. Lei sat up. Despite only being thrown, she felt the wind knocking out their sails, yet managed to get up along with Alexia.

Lei had to think hard. This was a match she never really wanted to experience, and it always brought back bad memories of home. Her eyes peering into Alexia briefly. The girl had a plan, and if it succeeded, it would put California on top to winning. It was a gamble, but one she’d willingly perform.

“Yep! In fact, I’ll be sure to win this now!”

A bold statement that had ample power to back it up. Lei, with no hesitation, raised their baton up, the diabolo detaching and spinning upwards. A flash of gold whizzed past them, intense pressure and pain hitting their neck. Their hands let go of their batons and the Diabolo spun out ahead of them. Lei had just been clotheslined. Alexia attempted to move forward, only for her own eyes to flash gold, an intense weight pressing down around their face, forcing them into the concrete!

Mahdri allowed their golden hand to let go of Alexia, her eyes piercing over towards the now knocked-over Lei gasping for air. Sunlight continued to break past the cloud of dust and debris around them. A light of divinity that empowered Mahdri, elegantly the princess lifted up all of her golden arms. Same as before, energy gathered swirling up into a vortex — Heat in the area set fire to nearby plants, shattering windows and melting street signs.

“Sadly, I wasn’t too impressed… Especially with you trying some dirty tricks. Alas, good fight~.”

The star that now formed above her grew bigger and bigger, dwarfing the nearby buildings. The wind rustled around Mahdri. On instinct, her ears started to twitch at the sound of a chain rustling away. Yet, her eyes looked around momentarily to check. More and more chains rustled together until one of their golden arms moved on its own, breaking the hold of the star, and causing the energy to die out around them.

Collapsing into dust, a portion of the star moved into Alexia being absorbed. Mahdri looked at their golden arm, a knife dug into it, her focus looked towards the east only to be met with a flurry of knives swarming her — The golden arms covered Mahdri’s body, each knife moving stabbing in deep forcing more and more cracks.

The flurry of knives stopped — The golden arms releasing their embrace of Mahdri. At first glance, only five knives made their mark; Five, no more. Confused as to what that attack just occurred, Mahdri couldn’t think about it long, feeling a sharp pain in her side.

Mahdri glanced down, watching red liquid drip from her side. A knife sticking into them, and the one that forced it in Khinara. A smile showcased itself across the hidden girl quite the opposite of Mahdri.

“Gotcha~.” Khinara’s smile softened while the ends of their hair shined a bioluminescent glow of white.